The Girl From Diana Park

by Alec Peche

  Some days it felt so normal to walk into his office and work on inventions instead of dealing with one of Natalie's cold cases or some issue or sporting event with Hermione. He thought he would no longer have to worry about keeping the girl safe as the pharmaceutical company that was after her parents had dissolved and the CEO had gone to jail. His work with Hermione involved him searching for her parents. Their contact from Malaysia seem to believe that her parents had escaped capture by getting off the boat they were being held on and swimming ashore. Damian had never been able to confirm that her parents were dead or alive.

  He would clear his mind and give his employees his full attention today and see how he could move each of their inventions along.

  They were all smart, but sometimes his second set of eyes saw some modification that would make their project work. He walked into the building and waved to everyone. He set stuff down on his desk and then returned to where his people were working.

  “Did you go to Pete's last night?”

  “We did,” Haley said. “We're so excited to have Pete open here, and we all gave him hints on how to make his business successful. We'll all be his ambassadors in this neighborhood to see that his good reputation gets out.”

  “I'm going to sit down with him on Friday and create a project timeline to get him to the opening,” Lily added. “There are things he doesn't know like how long construction will take and what delays he should expect from city planning. Besides my project management background, I waitressed for a few years, so I can give him input from that perspective to make it more employee and customer friendly.”

  “I told Pete if he needs another pair of hands to help with various aspects of getting the restaurant complete, that I can help him in the evening,” Angus said. “I learned carpentry skills in prison since we made furniture for all the University of California schools.”

  “Sounds like you'll are trying to do something to help Pete. Keep me posted if there's a way I can contribute that I haven't noticed. I want to spend my entire day with each of you one-on-one working through some of the problems you're having. Chris, you're first!”

  With that explanation his staff hustled to their project cubicles as most of them were working on something that combined computer work with engineered movement or properties.

  “Pete showed us the software and liquor dispensing system you designed for him. That's was amazing,” Chris said. “Sometimes the work we do here is abstract or it's in such a beginning stage that we lose track of the idea of a finished product that's useful and profitable.”

  “Thanks, Chris. Pete and I go way back and early on in our friendship, I noticed the turnover of his staff and his harassed personality. When he told me what the problem was with alcohol, I knew I had to design something that fixed the problem for him. The first system was ugly, there was lots of duct tape, and I got the purple colored glue for PVC pipes everywhere on the white pipes, but as I came to make changes to the system, it got better and better until I could sell it beyond Pete.”

  “Thankfully you have patience with us as we seem to be much slower than you in figuring out how to solve problems with the technology we design here.”

  “Chris, I don't have all the answers. When I started down the design road for Pete, all I wanted to fix was to stop the theft of alcohol. I don't know if Pete demonstrated the system for you, but it also tracks employees hours for payroll, liquor inventory, and it even sends orders to the distributors to make sure Pete has enough liquor to serve his customers, but not too much inventory that takes up space or uses up Pete's cash. So with this wave energy technology, we're starting by trying to bring electricity to poor and/or remote islands, but as we go on, we may get into battery storage and underground electrical systems because it's all connected.”

  Damian realized by the time he left that he needed to do this with his staff more often. The weekly staff meeting updates weren't deep enough problem-solving moments for him and his team. He'd cancel those and instead devote his time to in-depth, one on one meetings. For the third time that day, he headed across the bay, this time to Belvedere arriving just before after Ariana and Hermione came home. He'd been sitting outside watching the boats on the bay as well as a gray whale that was having a blast splashing as the animal powered out of the water only to do a belly flop. He was smiling, lost in the glory of the day when he heard the door open behind him and soon he was surrounded by Hermione and Ariana.

  Ariana smelled of a mild floral scent while Hermione was wearing grass stains on her clothes.

  He put an arm around each of them and said looking out to the water, “Isn't it a beautiful day here. Look at the whales frolicking in the water.”

  The three of them sat there in silence watching the show by Mother Nature.

  “Not that we aren't enjoying the scenery and your company, but there must be a reason you're sitting on my deck chairs rather than your own,” Ariana said.

  “Given the height of my island, sometimes it's hard to see whales, and I worry when they get in my neck of the bay that they might be heading up the river where they can get stuck. I much prefer watching the whales here where they'll be safe swimming toward the Golden Gate and beyond to the Pacific Ocean. Anyway I'm here for pictures. Hermione, I'm going to make a hologram of you, and I need as many pictures of you as you have just before we changed your hair.”

  “What's a hologram and why are you doing that?”

  “I spoke with James Spinnaker and we agreed to arrange a video call with your parents. I'm not impressed with him, I think he's a pawn for someone else. So rather than have you there in person, I'll create an image of you as though you were there.”

  “That's a bummer and that's cool.”

  Damian looked at the teenager with his eyebrow raised clearly telling her to explain her comments.

  “It's a bummer that it won't be my parents on the call and it's cool that you can create a 3-D image of me from pictures. How will you make me talk?”

  “I don't think I'll have you talk, I'll set up the image so that you nod yes or no to any questions thrown at you. Once the people purported to be your parents come on screen and we see that they're not, the call gets ended.”

  “How can you tell if it is my parents?”

  “I've seen the pictures you have of them and the video of the night they were kidnapped. I'm also going to have you around, but out of sight of the camera for you to verify that they're not your parents.”

  “Yeah! I can't wait to watch this. When is the call taking place?”

  “I don't have a date and time yet, but we'll do the call from my island as our location will be untraceable. We'll do outside of school hours and against a blank wall so that no surrounding or background can be identified.”

  “Can they figure out who you are, Damian?”

  “No, the camera on my end will have software in it that distorts my face enough that they won't be able to identify me. It changes the distance between my eyes which is a key identifier in facial recognition software.”

  “Okay. I'm sure you have this all figured out. Can you do a hologram now so I see what I look like?”

  “I can give you a crude hologram tonight, but the one that I'll go with will be more nuanced.”

  “You should come to demonstrate this to my science class.”

  “Do any of the other parents lecture to your class?”

  Hermione thought for a while and replied, “No, but they have arranged guest speakers to talk to the class. I guess I might get ribbed about you from the other kids.”

  Damian smiled and said, “That would be the normal and expected teenage response. Why don't you go get that shower to get the turf off you, then you can look for pictures, and after dinner, I'll show you the first hologram of yourself.”

  “Cool,” Hermione said as she stood up and headed to her bedroom.

  Ariana just leaned against Damian and said, “You're a special man, Damian Green. I enjoy being a parent to Hermione, but
I couldn't do it without you. You smooth out all the curves of our existence.”

  “Now you're making me blush with your effusive praise. Stop. This could be the end of our days as parents, if I'm wrong and Hermione's real parents are on the other end of that call.”

  “I think you're right about it not being her parents and obviously Hermione does too. The whole thing is so shady that it doesn't feel like a reunion with her parents is possible.”

  “One question I got answered by Spinnaker was about Pete's Bar. He said he put flyers up in many places in Oakland as it was near Shepard Canyon. We would have a different problem on our hands if the 'they', whoever that is, specifically targeted locations they thought I would be at. This was all a lucky coincidence that I saw the poster. Then again, Hermione's old neighbors also saw the poster so I guess that's luck times two. Once we get to the end of all this, I'll share some information with his department about his gambling habit. It's the least I can do.”

  “It would be hard to let go of Hermione, but if her real parents are there, I'll have to do that.”

  Damian hugged Ariana, “I really think you'll be enjoying Hermione's company for the near future. This man doesn't ring true. Of more concern is who's behind James Spinnaker. I thought we were at the end of people wanting Hermione as a way to reach her parents. The kid doesn't know how to reach her parents, but whomever is after her this time, doesn't know she has no connection. Or they know where her parents are and think that by holding Hermione hostage, they could bring them out of hiding. Can you think of any other scenarios?”

  Chapter 17

  The next day Damian was back at his warehouse working on his hologram of Hermione. She'd been fascinated by the crude one he created the previous night for her, and all three of them were amazed at how different she looked now compared to the hologram made from pictures that were twelve to eighteen months old. She was of an age that her face was going through rapid change. He even showed her how he could make her head nod in agreement. Now he was working on resizing her image so that her head was larger. He asked his employees but no one had experience with holograms, and so they had been checking in on his progress during the day. When asked why he was creating it, he said it was because he was doing a guest lecture at Hermione's school.

  Lily made a note to ask Jacob's teachers to invite Damian as the work he was doing was fascinating even to kids. It was the first time she watched him create a project from scratch. Each of the inventions they were working on had been started by him, and so they had missed out on the early stages. It was fun to watch him flop as he tried things to make his creation better.

  By the end of the day, Damian felt pleased with his hologram and called Ariana and showed her. She was sure it would pass on a video call as it looked like a younger Hermione. Now all he had to do was wait for the call to be arranged.

  He left work early and returned to his island. Some days he loved sitting on a rocky outcropping on his island and fishing for the two cats. He was amused as they were near-by, ready to eat the fish as soon as they came wiggling out of the Bay. He was more fastidious and wanted to clean them for his pets. He collected enough for the next few days and made his way back into the house.

  For whatever reason, he was feeling very introspective recently. He thought about the conversation he'd had with Jen and the girls out on the Bay a few days ago. He found himself thinking more and more about Ariana. Was he ready for a new relationship and was she? In the raising of Hermione, he had gotten to know her very well, and she had many quantities that he admired and frankly none that he didn't. Through Hermione and his business, their lives were entangled. Did he want to try and tangle them some more or might he wreck the other parts of his life if he pursued Ariana? The feedback he picked up from her was she enjoyed his company, but did she want more?

  If he pursued a relationship how would they combine households? He could expand his house, perhaps add another story. His work was in Richmond, but Hermione went to school in Ariana's neighborhood and he wanted to keep her at the school as she was thriving. Maybe someday her parents would come back into her life. They'd both be happy for the girl, but they would deeply miss her. Would a relationship with Ariana survive without the sharing of Hermione?

  He had no answers tonight; he was stuck in a waiting pattern for the video call to be arranged. He decided to pass the evening watching the Warriors game against San Antonio. This year they weren't as tough an opponent as they had been in the past. Without Tim Duncan, they weren't doing as well. The big guy hadn't played a lot of minutes in the last few years, but he was the heart of the team, and with his retirement, the team seemed to have lost its soul.

  He was making some popcorn at half-time when the burner phone rang. He walked over to his coffee table and picked up the call.

  “Yes.”

  “This is James Spinnaker. Am I speaking to Ryan Thompson?”

  “You are,” Damian said, having identified that as his name to Spinnaker.

  “I'm ready to set up the video call with Hannah Sherwood. When can you arrange it?”

  “You'll have her parents? I'll end any video call if I don't see her parents.”

  “Do you know what her parents look like?”

  “Yes.”

  “When is Hannah available? Can she do a call right now?”

  “No. how about tomorrow evening at eight?”

  “Ah, ok. Is this the number I should call for a video call? Does your phone have Facetime or Skype or something?”

  “Call this number tomorrow, and you'll see Hannah on the screen.”

  “Ok.”

  Damian cut the call then. He went down to his lab to look at the blank wall and a tripod to hold the phone. He checked everything to make sure no angles would be caught on the video call. He wanted a plain blank room and when he checked his hologram against it, it all looked real.

  Picking up his phone he called Ariana.

  “Did you forget something?”

  “No, Spinnaker called so I'm inviting you guys to dinner at my place tomorrow and then we'll do the call at eight. You're welcome to stay overnight, or you can go home in the dark.”

  “I'll check the forecast, but as it's a school day, staying at your place will add thirty minutes to our drive. I'll bring Miguel, so we're prepared either way.”

  “Is Hermione anxious about the video call?”

  “I would say she's more curious. She has complete faith that you're right at all times, and so if you say that it won't likely be her parents, then that's the expectation she has.”

  “Yikes! I'm frequently wrong. If I could see the future accurately, I'd be God I guess, and a billionaire.”

  Ariana laughed and replied, “I think we're both so different from her parents and so stable, not that her parents are mentally unstable, but just life stable that she can relax around us. Besides you are brilliant and have managed to get her on every sports team her heart desires and save her from bad people several times, so you are her superhero.”

  “Please Ariana, you're making me blush with the effusive compliments. I'm sure you're a Catherine of Aragon to her as well for how you handle these bad people, and you got Miguel!”

  “Too-shay, it's all about the dog. You're right I win.”

  “See you tomorrow about six?”

  “Yeah. Have a good night, Damian.”

  “Ditto.”

  'You schmuck!' Damian thought. He could have said sweet-nothings, and instead he said, 'ditto'. You'll have to up your romance skills if you decide to try and woo Ariana, he told himself.

  He spent a few more moments thinking about the next day and then went to look at his refrigerator to see what he needed the next day to serve the ladies a meal. He'd grab a dessert on the way home from work tomorrow as well as some vegetables. The sole was biting at the moment so they'd have a fillet of sole. His menu complete he went back to the game, happy to see the usual third-quarter sweep by the Warriors taking place. He'd missed about half
of the quarter, and while he had, the Warriors had put the game to bed.

  Chapter 18

  Damian had tried the hologram several times throughout the day and was anxious to have the video call and end the interaction with Spinnaker. Ariana had begun work for a lease agreement with Pete based on his space needs. He didn't need the entire bottom floor, so Damian would build offices in the remaining space and make the upstairs a series of labs for his staff to test ideas. He could set up some safer testing processes if he created individual labs based on different testing needs. As they worked on his child dye GPS system, they'd be doing chemistry experiments that required a ventilating hood. Haley needed a glass shield to protect her from the drone as she'd crashed it into herself a few times.

  Finally, he left the office, making a stop for groceries, and he was soon loading his boat with supplies and heading over to his island. Once there he went through his usual routine of fishing, but this time he was fishing for the three of them rather than his cats. He could catch silver perch out of the bay quickly, but this time he was looking for sole and it might take him as long as an hour if the fish weren't biting. To make matters worse, it had started raining so he was covered head to toe in rain gear. Fortunately, Ariana's boat could be enclosed so they wouldn't get wet. He'd checked the weather before he went outside and the rain was expected to be light until the next day.

  His fishing luck was with him, and he soon had enough sole for the three humans, two cats, and the dog. Everyone would eat well tonight. He was in the kitchen when he got the text that they were leaving Belvedere. He set his timer for ten minutes so he could head downstairs and put out his dock and help tie up Ariana's boat.

  Working in the kitchen a while longer, he soon left to assist Ariana and Hermione with tying down their boat.