by Karen Singer
That thought didn’t exactly appeal to Jenni.
“After that,” Robbie continued, “I think I went down to the police station and met with the FBI after they were called in by Proto Dynamics to look into their missing hard drive. And it was about the same time that I heard someone first tried to kill you down on the island.”
“Yeah, and I lost pretty much everything I had.”
“It’s just things, Jenni. All of it can be replaced. Your life is much more important!”
Jenni said nothing to that. She looked up to Mr. B instead. “And then I solved Grandpa’s murder, and the next day, they tried to kill me again.”
“And about the same time, they were doing that, the guy that got away the first time they tried to kill us, tried it again. Fortunately, both Shirley and I were armed at the time. There was only one of him and two of us. He ran, but I didn’t come close to catching him. Then yesterday, I heard that the FBI managed to identify one of the dead killers who went after you Jenni. And that’s when my concern for all of us got a whole lot worse. Because according to the FBI, the one they identified, was a terrorist from Iraq, and he was wanted in connection with several different incidents throughout Europe.”
“A terrorist,” Jenni breathed, remembering when Mr. B had told them both about that at the gun range yesterday. “So where does that leave us now?” she asked.
“With a lot of unanswered questions. Too many unanswered questions.” He shook his head. “Put your heads together ladies. Let’s figure this thing out.”
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Pasha drove around the city. He tried following one of the busses for a little while. But there was no way he could do that and learn where Jennifer lived. Several times he drove past the building where the Bosch Investigating office was located. Bijan had lost his life out in front of that building. He had died while they were trying to question the private eye and his wife. Pasha figured he owed Bijan for that. He figured he was now obligated to kill the private eye…and his wife. The policeman who had actually shot Bijan was someone else he wanted to kill, but not as much as the private eye.
But his uncle wanted him to wait on killing the private eye. He wanted the skinny woman murdered first – before the private eye. Was there a way he could kill them all at the same time? Right now, it didn’t look like it.
He finally parked his car several blocks away from the office building. He walked back, passing right in front of the building. He walked back in the other direction across the street. He crossed the street and headed back to the office building. This time, he took a big chance and opened the door and went inside. As he remembered, there was an office on his left and an office on his right. He would have to climb the stairs in the middle to get to the office of the private eye.
Taking an even bigger chance, he kept his hand on the gun in his pocket, and quietly climbed the stairs, turning the corner at the halfway point and going almost to the top, high enough that he could just see the open door to their office. He could see the wife of the private eye working at her desk. He couldn’t see anything else.
He went back down the stairs, but only just past the turn at the halfway point. As dangerous as it was for him, he sat on the stairs, trying to figure out what he could do. The door to the outside opened and a woman came in. He pulled the gun from his pocket, ready to shoot. But the woman never noticed him as she turned and entered the office of the artist. As quickly as possible, he got out of the building and back into his car. His uncle wanted him to kill the Jennifer woman. But how?
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Jenni turned around in her nice new swivel office chair and looked at Shirley. “Shirley,” she said, then waited until she had her full attention.
“Yes?”
“What do you think of when you hear the word terrorist?”
“Terrorist? Um…trouble. Danger. Run!”
“I mean, besides trouble and danger and all.”
“Um…bombs and people getting killed.”
“Yeah. Me too,” Jenni replied. “That’s what scares me so much.”
“It scares everyone,” Shirley told her. “That’s why they call them terrorists.”
“Yeah. But besides the bombs and people getting killed, you know what else I think about?”
“What?”
“Religion.”
Shirley looked seriously at Jenni. “That makes sense,” she said. “Most of it is related to religion, one way or another.”
“And what religion would that be?”
“Um…probably Muslim,” Shirley told her.
“And where do Muslim’s get together? What kind of church do they go to?”
Shirley looked at Jenni for a few moments without answering. “Robbie…” she called. “How many mosques are around the Gainesville area?”
Robbie came out of his office. “Mosques?”
“Yeah,” Jenni replied. “If they were from Iraq, and Shirley says they were most likely Muslim. Then where do they go to church? Are there a lot of mosques in Gainesville?”
“Probably a few. Muslim is a huge religion, all over the world. What good will knowing that do us?”
“What if…um…some of those pictures I took of those guys at the garage?”
“Yes?”
“What if you went to some of those mosques and showed the pictures around and tried to find out of anyone knew them.”
“Damn it!” Robbie exclaimed as he turned quickly and headed back into his office. “Why didn’t I think of that?” He grabbed his phone and dialed a number. “Philly! We’ve been stupid again. We need to show the pictures of those two bozos after us around to the local mosques and see what shakes out.”
“The mosques?” Philly asked.
“They’re Iraqi right? And if so, then they’re probably Muslim and attached to a mosque somewhere, or at least they probably go to one once in a while. Somebody’s got to have seen them, and maybe they even know who they are and where we can find this other one before he manages to kill anyone else…like one of us.”
“It’s a good idea,” Philly replied. “When were you thinking about doing it.”
“Right now!”
“Now?” Philly looked around at the crime scene he was standing in. He was deep into another case just then. “Robbie, I’m in the middle of something that I need about another hour to finish up on. After that, I can probably give you an hour or two today, but no more.”
“More than good enough. I was going to do it with you or without you. While I’m waiting, I’ll have the girls draw up a list of places we can check.”
“Perfect!” Philly replied. “I’ll call you as soon as we’re done.” He looked over to his partner. “Gonzo. When we finish here, we’re going to help Robbie Bosch show some pictures around at the mosques in the city. See if we can find anyone who recognizes the guy who’s still trying to kill him.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Gonzalez replied as he nodded his head. “We should have thought about doing that before.”
“Yeah. As Robbie said, we were stupid.”
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Vahram turned off the laptop and closed the lid. He had been through all of it. The Kyle account had held mostly high school assignments. But as he suspected, the JenniFinch account had been far more interesting. Kyle had obviously been Jennifer’s brother, and it appeared that he had handed down his old laptop to her.
There were things he found there that puzzled him. A list of doctors for one thing. Was she sick? Another puzzling thing was a list of on-line lingerie companies. Disgusting! Even if she was a woman. She should be embarrassed to keep that kind of thing on her computer, let alone visit those sites.
What he found the most interesting, was all the files he found tucked inside of one single folder on her desktop that had been labeled, “Bosch.” Inside, he found folder after folder on what he figured had to be all the different cases she had worked on, going back over a period of abou
t two years. It was amazing the things he found that she had dug up. He had particularly read the files about Frederick and Todd Granger. That had been very illuminating for him. Also of great interest, was the file she had labeled as Grandpa. It seemed her own grandfather had been murdered, and she had managed to figure out who did it. But along with that file, was a list of just about everyone in Jennifer’s family. Including one family member who lived right there in Gainesville. Another woman named Sally. Unfortunately, there was almost no information at all about that one, other than that she lived somewhere in the city.
After spending several hours reading through her files, he realized that he was right in his assessment that she was dangerous. Judging by the kind of things and the amount of material she had found in all her other cases, the Jennifer woman was indeed capable of digging up far too much information. As far as he knew, his personal identity was safe. But he couldn’t be quite so certain about Pasha. He still thought Pasha and Bijan were safe from being found. The policeman had even said they didn’t have a clue about Bijan’s body. So hopefully, Pasha was still good.
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The mosques didn’t pan out. Most of them were either deserted, or practically deserted. After an hour of coming up blank, Philly and Gonzo left. Robbie decided his best bet would be to try it again early in the morning, right around the time of their morning prayers. From what he had been told, six o’clock! He decided he’d try what looked to be the biggest mosque in the city first. He’d get there at five-thirty and see if anyone would talk to him as they arrived. If not, he’d go to another one and try to catch them as they came out.
All that though, was going to have to wait until tomorrow. And maybe, since he was alone, he’d bring Jenni and Shirley along. Between the three of them, they could probably talk to a lot more people.
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“I heard that Robbie Bosch may try to go to one or two of the mosques in the city tomorrow morning and show some pictures of Pasha and Bijan.”
“That is…not good. But hopefully it will not be a problem,” Vahram replied. “We do not go to any of the big mosques in the city. We are small, but just as devout. Perhaps more so because we are so small.”
“Yeah. You know that’s why I wound up there.”
“Yes. And a welcome gift you were to us. You have been most helpful. I am forever grateful.”
“Well you could be a little more grateful by giving me some money!”
“You will get it. Soon now. Baghdad has looked very kindly on what we have done. They have promised to wire the money into my account soon. Within the next few days. You will get it then.”
“Well, it better be soon. It’s not easy coming up with all this information for you.”
“But it is necessary. And you are fulfilling a great and important part of our cause.”
“Yeah. I know. I just need the money to keep me doing it.”
“You will get it! I told you that.”
“See that it happens – soon!”
Vahram set his phone down again. The stupid policeman. Like all Americans, all he could think about was money. Unfortunately, once again he had just proven himself useful. Sometimes, he’d like to shoot the man himself!
So the private eye was going to show some pictures around at the city mosques. He prayed that Allah would lead the man to all the wrong people. He rarely went to any of the other mosques. It was too difficult. Perhaps too dangerous. And this was a good example of why he needed to keep things the way they were. Pasha and Bijan however, had been to one of the other mosques on several occasions to conduct business for him and to meet with some of the young men their own age. That situation was more troubling. But hopefully, the private eye would find no useful answers in his quest at all.
He needed Pasha to kill the Jennifer woman – soon. That would take the private eye away from the mosques, and also away from any possible links to himself. He picked up his phone again to call Pasha…and warn him.
Chapter 19
Five o’clock? Mr. B couldn’t be serious about that. And he wanted to be at the mosque to start asking questions by five-thirty? That was insane! Didn’t he have any idea how long it took her to get ready in the morning? Obviously not! And without her extra padding, she had to take even more care. Fortunately, she had some new makeup now that helped her feel better about the way she looked, but it wasn’t enough to make her look the way she needed to. Her entire body, from the neck down, was nothing but an embarrassment to her.
She needed padding to make her body look better, but she needed another paycheck or two in order to get that padding. She needed even more paychecks in order to start seeing a doctor. And she needed more paychecks to pay for the hormones she needed that doctor to prescribe for her. And how many paychecks would she need in order to pay for the final surgery she would need for the operation to finish the job that the hormones would only start? A lot!
She needed – money! She needed…all new clothes. She needed…to feel safe again, for herself and her Aunt Sally. She figured that since she needed the paycheck so much, maybe she better be ready for Mr. B to pick her up at five o’clock…like it or not. And if they could actually figure out who was trying to kill them, then she’d really love to stop carrying a gun around with her everywhere. The darn thing was too big and heavy! Just having it in her purse scared her to death.
She was two minutes late getting outside, where Mr. B and Shirley were already waiting for her. As she got into their car, the main thought that hit her, was that at least today she wouldn’t have to take the bus to work. She pulled her cellphone out and looked at the pictures. She and Shirley had gone through many of the pictures she had taken at that storage garage. From them, they had managed to produce two good face shots of the men they needed to know about. All three of them now had those pictures loaded onto their phones to show around. But who in their right mind would be able to see or think that clearly to answer their questions at five-thirty in the morning?
A little while later, they were standing on the sidewalk leading up toward the main entrance to the mosque. It was so early that the sun wasn’t fully up yet. By the lights along the sidewalk, Jenni could see that the building was bigger and more ornate than she had imagined it. Just looking at the building fascinated her. It was so…different. Yet, so beautiful. Not at all like any of the churches associated with the Christian religions.
The people started arriving, one or two at a time. Robbie went to each of them to show his pictures. None of the people recognized the faces. Eventually the people started arriving in greater numbers and all three of them were pressed to catch as many of them as they could. Many of the people brushed them off with no time or interest in looking at their pictures. The ones who did look, never recognized either of the men they were after.
At six-o’clock. Robbie got them all back into the car and they headed for the next mosque. When the doors opened, it was like a flood of people hurrying away. Mostly men. All three of them again tried showing their pictures.
Jenni went to person after person, asking if anyone recognized the men in the pictures. She finally grabbed the arm of a younger man as he hurried past. “Can you please look at these pictures. We need to know if anyone has seen them or knows who they are?”
“Why” the man asked.
Jenni went with the story they had cooked up in the car. “They were in a car accident. One of them died and the other one is still unconscious. We’re trying to help the police identify them.”
The man stood there while Jenni shoved her phone where he could see it. “Hey,” he said, “I think I’ve seen him here once or twice. But I don’t remember his name.”
“This one died,” Jenni told him. “So if you remember anything at all, it may help.”
The man looked around and finally spotted a friend. “Johnny!” he called to one of the other younger men leaving the mosque. “Look at this, see if you remember this guy’s name.”
Jenni waited while “Johnny” came over. The man looked at the picture. “Oh hey. Yeah. What was his name? Um…something different. Kind of strange. Yeah, I got it! Bijan! That was it. He doesn’t go here, but he comes by once in a while for some of the events we hold. His brother…I don’t remember his name, usually comes with him. Cool guys. Why did you want to know?”
“They were in an accident and the police haven’t been able to identify them yet. So we’re asking around.”
“Oh wow. That’s too bad. I hope they recover.”
“This one, Bijan, died,” the first man replied.
“Oh man! That’s too bad. Like I said, he was a cool guy.”
“Do you know his last name?” Jenni asked.
“Not a clue. I didn’t know him that well. He and his brother just showed up to some of the events we held.”
Jenni flipped to the other picture. “Is this his brother?”
“Yeah. That’s him.”
“And you don’t know his name?”
“Sorry. I just can’t remember.”
“Is there someone around that might know him better?”
“I don’t know. I guess you’d have to ask around. They’re not from here.”
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“An accident, you say?” the man asked as Shirley turned her phone around to show one of the pictures. “Oh my! It’s Bijan.”
“Bijan?” Shirley asked.
“Yeah. He and his brother have been to some of the events we held in the past. They don’t come around much, but I’ve seen them a few times.”
“You said his brother?” Shirley asked. She changed to the other picture. “Is this him?”
“Yeah! Pasha. Did he get hurt too?”
“He’s still alive, but unconscious. I’m afraid his brother…Bijan…died.”
“Oh. That’s too bad. They were nice guys. Both of them.”
“Do you know where we can find their families?”