by Alec Peche
“John locked him in Hermione's room. I'll ask Officer Woodrow to bring him out.”
Damian stepped over to Ariana's outdoor sink and removed the rubber gloves he'd been wearing and washed his hands. The last thing he wanted to do was get the pepper spray in his own eyes. He'd been careful not to let his gloved hands touch Ariana or Hermione's skin. Once the door was closed to the house, they were away from the moans and curses of John O'Ryan.
Damian sat between the two women, an arm around each of them. They both simultaneously kissed his cheeks and offered thanks to his intervention. Miguel came out with one of the officers and became a part of the group hug. Then they took turns hugging him back until they were settled next to him. Damian took a deep breath and thought not today, not this time. He couldn't save his first family, but he saved his second family.
A paramedic stepped outside and asked, “Sir, can you tell me what the substance was that you splashed in the man's eyes? I need it for my report to the hospital.”
“It's pepper juice oil extracted from the Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper juice available. It meets California requirements for pepper juice content, I just used a more potent oil than found in most sprays. The eyewash quarts are a saline solution, but I believe you carry baby shampoo to get the oil off the skin. He'll have his eyesight back in six to eight hours. Just be careful that you don't get the juice on yourself.”
The paramedic acknowledged his words with, “Thanks for the goggles. It's comforting to know I can't touch my eyes. We'll return them later to you.”
“No need. I'm an inventor and have lots more pairs in my lab. Keep them for your future safety.”
Chapter 11
It was dark by the time they finished dealing with the police and the media. Reporters arrived on Ariana's street and they even had a news chopper fly over from a San Francisco news station. The three of them declined all interviews, looked around at the mess and instead decided to head to Damian's house after he installed a new lock on Ariana's root cellar exterior door. Down the road, they would be called into court to testify, but that was only if John O'Ryan was found mentally competent.
“I'm glad that it's Saturday tomorrow,” Hermione said as she dropped her overnight bag on Ariana's boat. Damian moved his boat to her dock where it would stay overnight as they'd be back in the morning to clean up Ariana's house. Ariana's cleaning service normally came on Monday, but the pepper spray mess needed to be cleaned by Ariana and Damian to make sure no one else was harmed by touching the dried pepper juice.
“I'd have to agree with you,” Ariana said covering her yawning mouth. “My adrenaline rush is gone, and I'm ready for bed at the early hour of six in the evening.”
“I'll fix you both supper once we get to my place and then you can crash for the night,” Damian said steering her boat out into the bay. It would be a twenty-minute journey and he bet the two women would fall asleep to the melodious sound of a boat engine, wind noise, and fresh air in under five minutes. He was tired himself, but was kept awake by his racing mind remembering the victory of saving this family this time!
He nudged Ariana and Hermione awake after he'd secured the boat at his dock on Red Rock Island. They followed him inside carrying their bags with Miguel bringing up the rear. Hermione threw her bag into the downstairs bedroom that Damian had made for her inside his laboratory. It wasn't spacious, but it had everything she needed after Damian added a second bathroom to his house in the lab. He still had only one shower, but at least he had two toilets and sinks which made Ariana and Hermione, his only guests, more comfortable. He'd also added a Murphy bed to his living room. It was a safe and quiet location where they could relax and not worry about their own safety.
The next morning as they journeyed back across the bay to Ariana's house, he thought about his plans for Tuesday.
“Hermione, do you have a soccer game on Tuesday?”
“No..... why?”
“I have a meeting with the folks at Fantasialand in the afternoon. How about if we fly down early and you can spend the day there with Ariana and I'll join you before and after the meeting. We'll discuss with the school that you need a break after yesterday's excitement,” Damian said. Then looking over at Ariana paused and added, “Sorry, I should have asked you if that's a convenient time. Is it?”
Ariana gave it some thought and could think of nothing that could prevent her from taking the day off. She thought it was also a good idea for the three of them to take a happy break after being held at knifepoint.
“There's nothing on my schedule that can't be re-arranged.” Looking at Hermione, she asked, “What do you think kiddo? Do you want to skip school and visit the happiest place on earth?”
“Seriously? I've wanted to go there my entire life. Mom and dad never listened to my pleas to go. I must be the only kid at school that hasn't been there,” Hermione said, letting out a cheer of victory in the middle of San Francisco Bay.
Damian and Ariana smiled at the happiness in Hermione's voice. He made a note to contact Natalie to arrange a different flight for her.
“Do you want to be there when the park opens at 8am, which means you'll have to get up at about 3:30 to make a six am flight or would you rather get there at nine and stay until say ten or eleven at night? It'll be tough going to school on Wednesday.”
“Are you kidding? I'm fifteen and I've never been to Fantasialand what do you think? Let's be there at eight and leave at midnight. I can sleep on the plane or really I can sleep the rest of my life!”
“Oh boy, you may not be exhausted on Wednesday, but I have a feeling that Ariana and I will be toast by late Tuesday night,” Damian said pleased that Hermione was so excited to visit Fantasialand. He'd have to charter a jet to maximize their time at the theme park and give them all a better sleeping option while in the air. At least getting to and from the airport would be quiet at those hours of the day.
By noon, they had all evidence of a crime scene collection and pepper spray cleaned from the kitchen and rooms that John O'Ryan had visited or passed through while inside Ariana's house. Fortunately, Ariana had no carpeting in those areas or she would have been forced to tear it up. Life returned to normal and Damian made plans to meet the women at Ariana's house where they would drive to a private hangar at San Francisco Airport on Tuesday. With arrangements made and both women feeling secure with John O'Ryan in police custody, Damian left to return home and get some of his own work done.
He decided to visit Pete's Bar to relax and for a good burger and to see if a new notice was posted at the bar, then he planned to stop by his warehouse to catch up on some work there. He was happy to see there was not a new poster of Hermione gracing the hallway wall. While Pete was serving customers, he sat reflecting on the past five years he'd been visiting the bar.
“You look more introspective than usual Damian. Do you need my bartender's ear?” Pete asked.
“Actually I was thinking that I've been coming here for five years and for some reason this is a place of brilliant insights for me. Is it your cheeseburgers, your beer, or your companionship?”
“You varied a little over the years on your cheeseburger flavors, and had a variety of beers so it must be my companionship, or have you had the same result when I haven't been here?”
Damian thought for a moment and said, “I can't think of when I've been here and you haven't been. Don't you take any time off?”
“I start late and I don't close anymore. Your software program has allowed me to retain reliable staff and work fewer hours myself for more money. I have no complaints.”
“Good.”
“Actually your program is working so well, I've been scouting for a second location. I'm fifty years old, but I have my business in order and so I'm thinking about expanding. It seems like it would be the next step,” Pete said and then with a worried glance added, “I'm assuming I can get your software at a second site?”
“Of course I'll install it at a second location. Could I t
alk you into putting your second location close to my warehouse? You'd get a weekly catering order out of that. I don't order from your bar because the extra fifteen minutes of travel time cools off the burgers too much no matter what containers you use,” Damian said and then had another thought, “Have you zeroed in on a location yet?”
“No still searching.”
“Do you have someone that can take over for you right now?”
Pete stared around his bar doing a calculation of the business expected and said, “Yeah for an hour or so, why?”
“I'm heading over to Richmond to my office to get some work done. I have a large three-story building and the top floor is completely empty while the second floor is hardly used. I could move my company upstairs and make space for you to open a new bar. I don't have enough employees to single-handedly support your bar so you'll have to check the neighborhood for commercial purposes. I'll finish my beer and we can go.”
“Okay,” Pete said as he turned to notify his employee of his absence.
Damian took the last swallow and gave Pete the address adding, “I wasn't thinking about renting the space out, this is a totally impulsive offer on my part, and you should feel no pressure to agree. I'll outfit your next bar with software where ever the location is.”
“Of course you would Damian, you're a man of principles. Maybe a second restaurant location is the problem your brain solved at my bar today,” Pete said with a grin.
“It might be my second spontaneous brilliant thought today.”
“Second? What was your first?”
“Hermione and Ariana were held hostage yesterday, but they're fine now. I have a business meeting at Fantasia on Tuesday and so we're taking her out of school for her first visit to Fantasialand. She's so excited by the prospect that she's moved on from yesterday's situation.”
“Oh my God!” Pete said stopping in his tracks at Damian words. “Are they both okay? Were they hurt? Who took them hostage? What kind of people have you pissed off?”
“Hermione had a knife held to her throat, but she wasn't cut and Ariana's fine as well. Ariana had a stalker come back into her life after he was released from prison. He'll be back in prison for the remainder of his life I hope.”
Pete resumed walking to his car, shaking his head, but planning to hear more once they arrived at Damian's warehouse. He didn't want to waste time in the parking lot as he had to get back to the bar.
An hour later, Damian shook hands with Pete giving him a lot to think about. Pete liked the building and had ideas of how to transform the space, and he would have signed a contract then to make this his second location, but Pete knew he needed to do due diligence on the traffic flow and needs of this area. Pete told him he planned to visit the location at a variety of times over the next two weeks as well as visit the food and bar joints closest to the warehouse.
Damian shook his head thinking about the impulsive offers he made that day Fantasialand and a second bar for Pete. It wasn't like him to make decisions like that without thinking them through. His life had changed dramatically since both Ariana and Hermione had appeared on his island, he'd become more spontaneous, perhaps he had to, as he included more people in his trusted circle, like Pete. He went back inside and spent some quiet as the CEO of his company. He checked the Project Management spreadsheet that Lily set up when she came on board. She worked with each of his employees setting up a timeline of tasks to be completed on the way to the eventual launch of any of the company's inventions. Damian had heard of such a system but had never used it, but now he was grateful that he could so easily understand where each of his projects was and where they were going. It helped his employees as well think twenty steps ahead of where they were. They all knew where they were going and Damian could see that he would likely have two inventions to try out in the world by the end of the year, pleased his products would be both commercially and socially viable in a few years. Soon he back on the boat heading home after checking in with Ariana and Hermione. They'd had a quiet and peaceful day as her security system was doing a good job of keeping reporters away from their home.
Chapter 12
Damian was yawning as the three of them boarded the charter jet for Fantasialand. He remembered taking his own girls there twice. They were overtired by the end of the day but had a wonderful time there. He wondered how it would be for a teenager. He thought the magic would still be there.
Looking over at Hermione he said, “I like the disguise you're wearing. It changes your features, but doesn't look onerous to wear all day.”
Ariana examined Hermione and had to agree. “I'm glad you suggested we change her appearance to hide her from the cameras. We spent some time yesterday using make-up to change the contour of her eyes and then I went to a theatrical supply place to get some putty to change her jawline. With her hair already changed and the ball cap and sunglasses it's good. Did you run her picture through your facial recognition system to see if it figured out who she was?”
“I did and I'm happy to report that none of the potential matches were Hermione.”
“It's just unfortunate I won't have a slew of pictures to show my friends when I go back to school on Wednesday.”
“Tell you what, after my meeting I'll know where the cameras are in the park, I'll find a few places you can take off your disguise and shoot some pictures. That is if Ariana is carrying spare putty for the repair to your disguise.”
“I have some putty, but I think I'll be able to re-use the putty currently on her face.”
“Good. Since the plane is in the air, let's see if we can catch a little sleep for the big day ahead!” Damian suggested as they finished shutting all of their window shades to make the cabin dark. A little over an hour later they were entering a car that would deposit them at the front gates of Fantasialand.
Damian hated to leave the two women as they were having so much fun. Ariana hadn't been to the park since being a child herself and he was having a wonderful time enjoying Hermione's pleasure in the park. It was her first visit to an amusement park in her life. Damian felt bad for not taking her before now. He vowed to get her to the other major Southern California theme park on her next school break. They needed to make up for lost time.
He appeared at the entrance just as Natalie arrived by taxi. They were soon joined by a member of the security staff that directed them through a backstage area and beyond to the administrative offices. Damian carried a powerful computer tablet containing his excellent facial recognition software. He was anxious to see if his strategy would work to find Olivia Roth. If it did, it would likely create long-term privacy problems for the park, but he wasn't going to think that far ahead.
Soon Damian was shaking hands with Mark Morante, a man he'd worked with over a decade ago.
“This is retired Detective Natalie Severino,” Damian said making the introductions.
“You hear about cold cases on television, and you think of old murders. I can't imagine how it feels to a parent to have your child stolen and the weeks and months that go by with no information. I'm glad you people never let up,” Mark said shaking Natalie's hand.
“We don't ever stop an investigation into a crime, and we hope each time it's opened by a new detective that they'll solve what we couldn't. There's no professional jealousy, just a desire in our cores to solve a case and get a criminal off the streets. Damian has been a huge help with solving some of the old cases. His ability to sort through large pieces of data to find the needle in the haystack has helped me solve several other cases.”
“Really?” Mark said looking over at Damian. “You're a man of many talents: genius, inventor, and now crime solver. Congratulations, Damian!”
“Yeah, well let's not waste your time. I have my software here,” Damian said embarrassed by Natalie's and Mark's compliments. “If you could put me in front of your most traveled camera in the park and give me access to that camera's storage, I'll get to work.”
“I thought I'd take you
into our camera control room and you can look at the cameras and decide which is highly traveled, but yet gives you the full face image that you're looking for.”
Damian and Natalie were shown into a room that looked like a network station monitoring a football game.
“Which area of the park do you find five to ten-year-olds? I assume roller-coaster type rides don't contain many girls under ten.”
“You would be surprised where parents take their kids when they shouldn't. Most of the time the parent is selfish, wanting to ride a thrill ride themselves rather than for their child who is terrified. We have a lot of car and train rides that are slow with minimal drops,” Mark said looking at his list of camera locations; he pointed out several monitors.
Damian thought the photo quality of the rider faces was good in five of the seven. Then another question hit him.
“Have all of these rides been in place for the past five years? Do you have footage going back five years on cameras fourteen, five, thirty-six, nineteen, and sixty-three?”
“Yes to all of your numbers. Some of those rides date back to the 1950s, although we didn't have cameras on the rides for several decades. If you're done picking your camera views, let's go to a conference room where I have a computer set up to pull footage for you.”
“Mr. Morante, I really appreciate your cooperation,” Natalie said excited that they might finally have a new clue in Olivia Roth's case. “I think I mentioned that as each detective looks at an unsolved case, they bring with them new forensic technologies in addition to a fresh set of eyes. I have the added advantage of Damian's computing power and the way he thinks about data as evidenced by our presence here.”
As they walked to a conference room, Damian made a mental note to tell Hermione that she could avoid having her picture taken anywhere in the park as long as she was looking down at the camera. The cameras were all somewhat high overhead. He'd come to that conclusion after watching people in the security monitoring room.