Cliffhanger Theater!

Laura looked back and forth nervously.  Jebediah was underneath Bob’s Pontiac, and Jeremiah was checking the trunk.  The garage was empty for the moment, but Laura knew someone could show up at anytime.  “Would you two speed it up?”

“Relax Laura, our stories will check out.”  Jeremiah kept talking as he tugged on various parts of the trunk’s interior.

“I have no doubt your visitor passes can easily be confirmed.  People will still ask questions.  It isn’t like we get a ton of visiting officers from San Diego.  That and they’ll want to know why you’re checking this car out.”

“We can deal with anyone who asks too many questions” came Jebediah’s voice from under the car.

“That’s another thing.”  Laura walked quickly by the car and lowered her voice.  “Which of you two thought it was a good idea to shoot an officer?  The cops here are practically foaming at the mouth looking for someone who shot one of their own.”

“Funny you should ask us that” said Jeremiah, as he closed the trunk.  “I regret to inform you that you’re asking the wrong guys.  Maybe you can call Mokoto and ask her.”

“She’s the shooter?”

“That’s right” Jeremiah kept his eyes on Laura as he opened the rear driver’s side door.  “We were on our way out of town when that happened.”

“What were you doing in town?”

“We came looking for Gerrard, but we couldn’t find him, and then we got word that he was dead, so there was a…a change in the ‘weather’, so to speak.”

Jebediah popped up behind Laura.  “Doesn’t that weather mumbo-jumbo bother you?  I can’t stand it.”

“Why Jebediah, you have an opinion on something.”  Jeremiah smiled as he started checking the backseat.

Laura spun around.  “Anything?’

“Nope.  I don’t think Gerrard hid the information on this car.  We’re wasting our time.”

“Well, just let me check back here, then we can waste our time elsewhere.”

Laura walked back to where she was standing before, and started keeping watch again.

***

Phil ran up to Bob, just before he opened the dumpster.  “Are you out of your mind?”

“Don’t you think it will be suspicious if they find something?  There could be security footage of the pay phone, then they’ll have us on the run, tied to a dead cop and a dead kid.”

“It already isn’t suspicious that two guys who look like they slept in a boxcar are rooting in some dumpster behind Kmart?  The longer we stay back here the more attention we draw to ourselves.”

“Then shut up and let me look and we can get out of here.”  Bob reached for the dumpster lid.

“Wait!  At least use your sleeved arm.  We don’t want fingerprints.”

“Oh for the love of…”  Bob grabbed the lid and flipped it up.  He saw and smelled a lot of garbage, but nothing else.  “One down, three to go.”

“You’re going to check all three?  Why not find us some lunch and we can really live the wandering hobo stereotype?”

“Can you can it for a second?”

“What are you two doing?” came a voice from behind them.

Old man B snapped upright.  He had almost fallen asleep, but the slamming of the door brought him back to his life, which currently had found itself in an interrogation room.  “Listen, I’m sure my friend is waiting and…hey, you’re a different cop.”

“Well, your mental faculties seem to be in order.”  The officer pushed her glasses up and yawned.  “I just need to finish up some paperwork to let you go.  Laura did most of it already.”

“Where did she go?”

“Beats me.”  The officer yawned again.  “I had a nice three hour nap before I got a call to come back in.  Something big must be about to go down somewhere.”

Old man B yawned now as well.  “Well, let’s get this done.  I’ve got places to be…Wig?”

“It’s Vig.”  Tina sat down and clicked her pen.

***

The South back exit swung open.  Laura found herself face to face with Jeremiah and Jebediah.  “I’m taking a big risk here.”

“You knew when you signed up things would get risky now and then.”  Jeremiah was smiling as he flipped through the report on Bob’s car.  Jebediah simply stood and waited.

“Well, the car is in the basement level.  I’m guessing you two want a look.”

“How thorough was your look through?”  Jebediah started thumbing through the report.

“I didn’t have much time, but I checked all the usual places police don’t normally check.”

“Well, this shouldn’t take too long.  I know a few other places.  Any word on Jer’s car?

“Right now it’s listed as missing.  We haven’t been able to find it.”

“Lanyards?”

Laura looked behind her as she pulled out visitor passes for the two of them.  “Don’t talk so much Jeremiah.  We need to keep a low profile.  Jebediah…maybe you should talk just a bit more.”

***

Bob took a few steps to the right, and Phil started walking to the left.  Bob turned to look, and spotted Phil walking away.  “Hey!”

“What?”

“I think we should go West.”

“East.  Trust me Bob.”

Bob walked up to Phil.  “How do you figure that?  So far we’ve walked a few blocks and managed to miss Second Avenue.”

“We don’t even know if second avenue exists.  Besides, at least we agree to turn here.  I just think East is the way to go.”

“West is probably Main.”

“East is probably the mall.”

“So you want to hit the mall?”

“What’s so important on Main?”

Bob looked around, then shrugged.  “Nothing.  Nothing is important on Main.  So why the mall then?”

“I’m not looking for the Mall, but that’s where the new development in the town is.  That and I’m guessing the police station is closer to Main than the mall.”

Bob shook his head.  “Phil, if I didn’t know you better I’d say you have a criminal mind working up there.  I hadn’t even considered that.”

“C’mon.  I’ll fill you in on my bank heist plan while we go East.”  Phil started walking again, and Bob followed.

“I wonder if this mall has a Cinnabon?”  Bob’s thoughts were to breakfast, but not for long.  The sound of a car pulling up behind them stopped them dead in their tracks.

Laura walked into interrogation room three, ready for another go at old man B.  She walked in to the sound of laughter.  Mabel was laughing hysterically, and old man B had a smile on his face.  “I hope I’m not interrupting.”  Laura’s gaze didn’t leave them as Mabel slowly stopped laughing.  Old man B’s smile didn’t go away at all.  In fact, it looked like it had gotten bigger.

“No interruption.  Just passing the time.  So, can I go now?  I’m very tired.”  Mabel’s voice went from happy to pleading in the span of those few words, and her face matched the transition.

“Mabel, we’re through with you, but we may need you to answer more questions, so don’t leave town.”

“Actually, Mabel, could you wait outside for a second, then could I ask a favor?”  Old man B’s focus was now on Mabel.

“Um…sure…if…I mean, if…”

Laura glared at old man B.  This was a turn she didn’t see coming.  “All right.  Wait outside a moment.”  Mabel got up and walked to the door.  She looked back at B, who winked while Laura opened her folder.  Once Mabel left the room, old man B lifted his arms and put his cuffed hands on the table.

“They’re on a train.  I put them in a boxcar.”

Laura’s head shot up.  “What?”

“Those two fellas you’re looking for?  I put ‘em on a train.  By now you’ve seen my rap sheet, and figured out that I’ve had quite a few arrests for freight hopping.  I’ll save you the trouble.  I put them in a boxcar.  They said they had to get out of town, or disappear for a while.  Can I go now?”

“But…but why…”

“Look, I’m not getting any younger, and I’ve wasted enough of my life in these things.  Well, not all of it was wasted…”

Laura’s mind drifted for a split second, then she shook her head rapidly.  “I…well, can you of-”

“Northbound train.  Dell Rapids.  Bob had some college friend up there.”

“You’re sure?”

“As sure as an old coot like me can get.  Can I go now?”

Laura’s mind was still a jumble when she felt her phone vibrate.  She flipped open her Nokia to check her new text message:

LOOKING FOR A GOOD DEAL ON A 2002 PONTIAC.  WHEN CAN I SEE THE ONE I WANT?

***

“Michelle.”

“Phil.”

“I…I was in town, and…”

“Oh Phil, I’m sorry I left you when I did.”

“No, I’m sorry.  I’m sure it was my fault.”

“You did take me for granted.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You did put in a lot of hours, and seemed to put work ahead of me.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.”

“Phil, I just didn’t love you anymore.”

“Why, why didn’t you tell me before.”

“Because, even if I didn’t love you anymore, I couldn’t bear to tell you.  I thought leaving would be easier.”

“I see.”

“It’s for the best anyway.  I’m happy now.  Isn’t that what you wanted.”

“what you wanted.”

“you wanted.”

“wanted.”

*THUD*

Phil looked around.  He was sitting on the floor of the boxcar.  Bob was standing over him with an angry look.

Jebediah poked at his pancakes.  Carefully and quickly, he was assaulting his stack with precision pokes in what was soon resembling a near perfect grid pattern.  Soon the entire pancake was full of tiny holes.

“Are you doing that again?”  Jeremiah asked the question, even though his mouth was still chewing on a mouthful of waffles.

“It’s a more efficient way for the syrup to get where it needs to go.”

“You are the only person I know who has a battle plan for pancakes.  You’re also the only person I know of who takes them so seriously.”

“I take everything seriously.”  Jebediah started pouring the maple syrup over his pancakes.  He poured quickly and, again, in a grid pattern, following his fork holes.  Jeremiah just shook his head.

Jeremiah started to say something, but instead turned his attention to his waffles.  Before the next bite could reach his mouth, he felt a familiar vibration in his jacket pocket.  He decided to take a chance that it was a text message, and proceeded to eat his waffles.  The vibration continued as he kept chewing his waffles.

“Are you going to get that?”  Jebediah asked him while he cut his stack of pancakes into six almost equal pie-shaped pieces.  Jeremiah nodded and reached for his phone.  The readout simply read XXX-YYY-ZZZZ.  He flipped the phone open as he swallowed his latest bite of breakfast.

“Hello good sir.  A fine morning to you.”

“Is it really?  I’m not seeing evidence of the occluded front I was hoping for.”  The voice was still cold and altered, but their was enough inflection to indicate the caller was not in a jovial mood.

“Well, the weather doesn’t always go as planned.”

“A stationary front would have been better.  I’m not happy with the two cold fronts I’m seeing.”

“Well, I’m hoping to shop for a new Pontiac later, so maybe that will turn things around.  It would be my luck.”

“I’m texting you a number of someone who can help you with finding the right one.  Text before you call.  Her…schedule is a bit dicey.”

“Any word from our friend Mokoto?”

“She…must have her phone off.  If you can, check into that too.”

***

“That…that is a problem.”  Bob saw the second set of tracks, and the cars off to the side without a locomotive.  The train was bending to the East, and soon the rail yard would be gone from their view in the West, which was quickly becoming a view of the Northwest.

“Hold up.  Did you see any tracks that went West?  Maybe this is one of those situations where the train has to back up to get in the yard.”

“That’s a sentence with one too many maybes.”  Bob’s eyes were back on the ground, which was slowing down.  He was starting to make out individual rocks.  “When I said we get off here, I was really hoping the train would slow down just a bit more.”

Phil watched as their view shifted completely to the North.  The train kept slowing down, but it hadn’t stopped yet.  He could feel his rekindled quest for answers slipping away.

“This is Detective Hetfield.” Will said, as he leaned on the trunk of the Pontiac on what was becoming a very pleasant spring evening, at least it would be if not for the mysteries floating in the air.

“Will, have you got a second?”

“Sure Tina. Have you found anything?”

“Well, we haven’t found anything worth finding, but we did find more oddities.” Will looked down at the baggie in his hand. He held it up, and looked at the tiny butterfly inside.

“Oddities? I’m listening.”

“There isn’t a single CD, video game, or PC-CD in this entire apartment. The hard drive has been removed from the computer, and it looks like a rush job. We found money in a jar, and some left on the counter. Nothing else is missing as far as we can tell, besides the discs. Oh, and the captain has been trying to get ahold of you. Is your radio off?”

“No, I’ve been talking with Jonas at the Grand Prix. He thinks they’re after those other two for the accident. My gut tells me that there’s a lot more going on.”

“Ah, the infamous detective gut feeling.”

“Hopefully more famous than infamous when this is over. Is FBI around? Pass him the phone.” A few seconds later, another voice came on the line.

“Detective Hetfield?”

“So, what’s your take on the missing items?”

“Frankly, if Gerrard was going to bolt town, that’s what he would grab. The fact he was reported dead, combined with the missing landlord, tells me the landlord is in the morgue and Gerrard is long gone.”

“Why then, do Robert and Phillip have FBI files?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t have that answer yet.”

“Do you know anything about origami?”

“Excuse me?”

“The Pontiac. It had a small origami butterfly inside. It was folded out of a gum wrapper. It seemed very out of place.”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, you head to the morgue and flash your credentials. I’ll check with my captain, and then we’ll see if either of us can answer any of each others questions, unless you have another idea.”

“Detective, you strike me as an honest cop. We’ll try it your way, but if we don’t get any answers, we’ll try it my way.”

***

Old Man B wandered around another train. Where the hell was the fence again? The evening darkness was confusing him, and the glasses that were a few prescriptions out of date were doing him no favors. This is just great. Now I remember why I don’t help anybody anymore. A loud bang caused him to freeze in place. For a moment, he was back in Korea, behind enemy lines, holding his gun, and trying to go south again. He took a deep breath, and the Korean landscape melted away. He was back in Sioux Falls, and lost in a rail yard. He looked to the left, and saw the chain link fence. He walked with a rapid pace towards it, getting more excited with every step. As he lifted up the fence and bent down, he found himself rising back up. A strong hand was on his shoulder, clutching a generous portion of fabric.

“Going somewhere?”

“Evening Jonas.”

Officer Jonas Bernard looked up and saw Will Hetfield looking over the Grand Prix.  “Hey detective.  I thought you were on the Stevens case.  What brings you here?”

“Tina tells me the captain wants us to find the owner of this car.  I have reason to believe the two might be connected.”

“Oh?  I just though we were looking at this car in connection with the 229 accident?”

“The 229 accident?”

“We’ve had a few calls about a red Pontiac driving erratically, and a HyVee gas attendant spotted the car an hour or so ago.  She said a man came in to buy two drinks, but he was behaving oddly.  Some witnesses to the 229 accident reported a red Pontiac exiting the interstate shortly after the hi-po went off road.  You think the two we’re looking for are also involved in Stevens’s murder?”

Hetfield looked at the backseat, then at Jonas.  “Nah, not really.  I just heard some scuttlebutt that the captain was acting oddly and that we were looking for these two for reasons that nobody knew, so I thought it was worth checking out.  Tina can handle the crime scene for a few minutes, plus some FBI guy showed up.”

“Jonas, look at this.” came the voice from inside the car.   Jonas and Hetfield looked in the car, where another officer was holding a tiny origami butterfly.  “I found it on the dash.  Did you ever see one that small before?”

***

Mokoto sat down.  She took a long drink from her beer, and looked at Jeremiah and Jebediah.  She didn’t care for working with them, but missions where she didn’t have to actually spend time with them were always better.  Jeremiah sipped from a glass, and looked around.  “So, we need to decide our next move.  The boss wants an occluded front.”

“Doesn’t it bother you two that he insists on using weather terms to give us our orders?”

“With so many governments trying to track him down, a certain degree of misdirection is key.  Besides, I’ve tried to look at is as a learning experience.”

“I don’t really get this order.” Jebediah admitted, while Jeremiah took a breath.

Mokoto took a long drink, knowing that the ever talkative Jeremiah would take this one.  “Well, in our terms, we have to work together, and be unpredictable.  An occluded front in nature is usually home to a wide variety of weather.”

Mokoto slammed down her bottle.  “It also usually leads to a drying out, something we’re not doing now.”

“Relax Mo.  We need to give the local authorities a chance to sort through things, then we make our move in the late night hours.  We’ll be out of town by morning.”

“Don’t call me Mo.  You know I hate that.”

“Mokoto, we think you should hit the morgue and check on Gerrard.”  Jebediah said this with no inflection or emotion, but almost as an order.

Mokoto glared at him.  “What makes you think I should do that.”

“Well…” Jeremiah started, but Mokoto put her hand up .

“No, I want him to answer.”  Jebediah said nothing.   She stood up and reached into her jacket.

Will Hetfield’s face twisted in confusion and anger. He lowered his phone and it beeped. “They didn’t get any body this afternoon with the name, and no body that fits the age and gender. Are you saying he faked his death?”

“Possibly. That would be my guess.” Clayton replied. “How did you find out about Gerrard’s death?”

“I didn’t know about it until I talked to officer Bucholz. He was checking on Stevens, who was checking on his apartment. Tina, do you know anything else?”

Tina had been leaning on Steven’s squad car, but she started walking closer to the men. Once she was within a yard, she spoke softly. “The captain told us about it this afternoon.”

Will leaned in closer. “Tina, why are you almost whispering?”

“It was weird Will. The captain was in his office for about 20 minutes with two guys in black suits. Then he comes out and mentions that there was a death in Sioux Falls today, and he might need somebody to check on the man’s apartment later. He didn’t seem himself, and from what other officers told me, Stevens wasn’t even given the guy’s name before they sent him over here.”

Clayton’s left eyebrow perked up. “This Gerrard character is no stranger to manipulating computers, but even he wouldn’t have been audacious enough to have associates snow your Captain. Plus, as far as we know, he didn’t have associates.”

Will looked at Tina and then at Clayton. “Alright. FBI, if you want to help here, we could use you. After that, I say we work together to get to the bottom of this. I’ll see if the captain knows anything. Clayton, you can flash your badge and check into the morgue story. Tina, I need you to ask around and see what else you can find out about anything else odd about today.”

“I can think of one thing. The Captain has us looking for two men named Phillip and Robert. I have no idea why, but we have Jonas combing their car right now. It was found abandoned near Main Street.”

***

The rusty yellow Pacer came to a stop. “Okay boys, out of the car.”

Bob looked out the window. “Where in the world are we?”

“Never you mind. Just follow me.”

Bob started getting out of the car. Phil didn’t.

“C’mon Phil.”

“No way. I’m not going to wander into some trees with a creepy old man. This just seems like our worst idea of the night.”

“Fine. I’ll go by myself. If your paranoid delusion is correct, you let me go off to die alone.” Bob walked about five steps forward before he heard a car door slam and the sound of somebody walking quickly.

“Sometimes, I really, really, really don’t like you very much.”

Old Man B was up ahead, and he was on the other side of a chain link fence. He held up the fence. “C’mon. This hasn’t been fixed since my days of getting out of town in a hurry.” Bob crawled under the fence, and after a few glares from Old Man B, Phil followed suit.

“Where are we anyway?”

“Turn you in? Why in the world would I do that? Hell, I’ve ran from the law before. What you two need to do is get out of town. I’ll help you with that if you want.”

Phil sniffled again. “You’ll help us run from the law? Why?” This question got the “why ask why” look from Bob.

“Cause I don’t hate you two. You’re quiet and keep to yourselves, and you typically leave me alone.  Besides, after all those years in that apartment I could use a dash of adventure. Now, do you two want out of town or what?”

“Yes, yes.” Bob said, enthusiastically.

“Well, then pipe down and stay down. My evening plans will have to wait.”

“Plans?” Phil asked, almost wishing he hadn’t afterward.

“If you must know, Karla Kupcakes is at Scarlett O’Hara’s tonight, and I was going to get some autographs.” Old Man B said, as he patted the brown paper bag in his front seat.

“Forget I asked” said Phil, as he laid down in the back of the Pacer, really trying to use any kind of mental floss that would take away that image.

***

“Detective, we just got word in about this place. It was rented by a Gerrard…Dinkley?”

Tina snickered. “What is so funny about that, Officer Vig?” Will asked.

“Well, Dinkley is the last name of Velma on Scooby-Doo. I never knew it could be a real last name.”

Will shook his head. “Where is this Dinkley fellow?”

The officer in the doorway hesitated for a second. “Uh…he’s dead Detective. We sent Stevens here to look for some evidence of some kind.”

“Evidence of some kind? Who sent him?”

“Captain Hale.”

“How did he die exactly, this Gerrard fellow?”

The officer shook his head. “I’m not sure. All I could get out of dispatch was that it was some kind of heart attack.”

“We needed to send an officer for evidence of a heart attack?”

“I…I…don’t know exa-”

“Tell you what. Find something out, or find me someone who knows what’s going on here.”

“Right away.”

Tina looked at Will. “You’re being a little hard on Bucholz. He hasn’t been on the force for more than six months, and he was the officer who found Stevens.”

“Well, I want to be the officer who finds the guy who shot Stevens, so excuse me if I don’t coddle Bucholz.”

***

Jeremiah pulled the car into the parking lot. “Anything?”

“Nothing. These discs are all junk. My scan of their hard drives doesn’t show anything either.” Jebediah closed the laptop. “Now what?”

“Now we need to get at that Grand Prix. I’m guessing the police are going to tow it away.”

“What we want isn’t there. Gerrard probably has it on his body. We need to get to the morgue.”

“That sounds more like something up Mokoto’s alley. Do you think she’s up to it?”

“She’s up to it. She’s a professional.”

Jeremiah opened the door. “Do you want anything?”

Jebediah nodded. “Just something tall and dark, no sugar, and no cream.” Jeremiah walked into the coffee shop. Once he was inside, Jebediah pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled through a short list of contacts to one labeled “weatherman”. He began typing.

CAR AND FRIEND IN HANDS OF JOHN Q. SHOULD WE GET INDOORS?

Within a few seconds, his phone vibrated. He looked at the screen.

REMAIN CALM. I THINK AN OCCLUDED FRONT IS FORMING.

Old Man B straightened in his seat and grabbed his chest. Slowly, his hand went inside his jacket, and pulled out a phone. He flipped open the phone. “What? No. No. Oh for Pete’s sake! No. Uh-uh. Forget it! Maybe? Nah. What on earth? Are you a moron? No! Okay, see you tomorrow Clarence.” Old Man B tossed the phone into the passenger seat.

***

Jeremiah started the car. The black Cadillac rolled away from the apartment complex. Jebediah sat the stack of discs on the dash. He reached into the backseat and pulled out a laptop computer. “This shouldn’t take too long, we only found about 75 discs.  What if the disc is in the car?”

“We’ll worry about that later. There’s no use in worrying about what we can’t control. When can you check their hard drives?”

“I didn’t lift their hard drives. I turned their computers on before we left. I can hack in from outside. Besides, the odds are that Gerrard wouldn’t have tried to put the data on a computer like theirs. One didn’t even have a virus program.”

Jeremiah opened his mouth as if to talk, but stopped. He reached into his jacket and produced a vibrating Nokia. The two exchanged glances, and then Jeremiah answered the call. “Hello?”

“Where are you two?”

“Mokoto? So nice to hear from you.”

“Can it. How did the trip to the CD store go?”

“We got everything we wanted, except we didn’t see any releases from Grand Prix.”

“I was going to pick that one up, but I decided to get an album by the Police.”

***

For a Friday night, it was slow going at the 66 Station. Francis turned another page, and looked up. A tall woman was walking in from the gas pumps, and she was talking on a cell phone. Her long black hair blew in the evening breeze. Francis stared as she walked in and headed right for the beverage cooler. She was easily the best looking customer of the night, or the week, or even the month.  She didn’t notice him staring, as she was still talking on her phone.

“Well, I don’t know.  No, you can’t burn my Police.  Look, just check what you have.  No, I’ll call.  J…J…no, you listen…”  She stood with her hand on her hip.  Francis was still staring.  His glance happened to wander from her body to her head, and off to the side he saw her face reflected in the glass.  She was staring at him in the reflection.  He quickly went back to his magazine.  Great, my chance went from infinitesimal to zero he thought.  The cooler opened and quickly slammed.  He kept looking down as the slow sound of boots came towards the counter.  “No.  No.  We do this my way.  I’m not the boss of you, but today I am the boss in this town.  We don’t need to make that call.  Just…just do what you’re doing and keep your eyes open.  Dammit!  Don’t even go there.”  He heard a button being pushed quite angrily and the sound of a phone going into a pocket. 

“Hmm-mm.”

Francis glanced up.  The woman was standing at his counter, with her arms crossed and a stoic look on her face.  He tried to think of any of a dozen smooth lines, but she spoke first.

“Gas on number three.  And this.”  She put a bottle of the cheap bottled water on the counter.  Francis tried to think of a snappy comeback, but he was again interrupted as another customer came in.  Except it wasn’t a customer.  It was a man in a ski mask, waving a gun at his face.

“No heroics.  Just empty the register.”

Mokoto rode past the Grand Prix a third time. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Bob’s car. The car did her little good, as she saw a policeman searching it this time. The warrant must have been called in she thought to herself, as she decided to take another pass all around downtown. They had a good twenty minute head start on her on foot, unless they called a taxi. The needle of her gas gage was starting to touch the large E as she took a hard left.

***

Officer Travis Bucholz didn’t like it. He saw the other squad car parked, but there was no sign of Officer Stevens anywhere. Stevens was known as the most forgetful officer on the force, so he was holding out hope that Stevens just lost track of time. The spot right in front of the apartment was available. That already seemed out of place. Why didn’t Stevens park here? Officer Bucholz had a bad feeling. He parked the car, then made sure his radio was on and his gun was ready. He slowly approached the door. He knocked loudly. He was about to knock loudly again, but he noticed some damage to the door, which looked like it had been kicked in at some point. He tried the doorknob, and the place was unlocked. He swung the door open, and he then quickly backed away towards his car, recoiling from the sight of Stevens face down in a large pool of blood. Quickly, he reached for his handset. “This is Bucholz. I’ve got a ten-double zero. Repeat, ten-double zero.”

***

Mabel Gravley saw her life flash before her eyes. She remembered her childhood in Minnesota. She vividly remembered her first kiss with Chris Tobin on the playground. She saw her prom date and remembered the fun they had that night. She saw herself marching in a protest against Vietnam. She recalled her sadness when her first cat Ginger had died. She remembered meeting Richard at her alcoholics anonymous meeting in the early eighties. There was the elope to Vegas, followed by a divorce than ended her marriage at the same time as Ronald Regan left office. She relived moving back to Minnesota, then winding up in South Dakota for reasons she barely remembers, other than his name was Rafael. She recalled her sadness at Richard’s funeral, and his brother Michael getting her the job as apartment manager, which led to her taking a job at the humane society. Then, her brain saw the can of orange juice rolling on the floor towards the men who would take her life. She heard a metallic noise, and felt the impact on her chest. It didn’t hurt at first. Then, it didn’t hurt at all.

“Here’s your keys. Lock up and get out.”

It was the voice of the man who spoke very little. She opened her eyes and looked down. Her keyring was on the floor in front of her, and she was once again alone.

***

The door of the bookstore swung open, and Old Man B slowly walked to his car. He swung open the passenger door and tossed a brown paper sack onto the seat, then slammed it. He then walked around the back of the car. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t tell what it was. B shrugged it off and opened the driver door. He plopped down and turned the keys. The Pacer turned over, and he checked his mirror. A black motorcycle with a female rider roared by. “Not bad, not bad” he grumbled.

Suddenly, a cell phone started ringing.