“I thought of those. I brought a bunch of different sizes from the supply closet, including a super-size for the big guy.” Greg smiled.
“You’re making up for the suit,” Reggie said as he slipped on the rubber boots over his shoes. “Please tell me you brought heavy-duty latex gloves.”
“Absolutely, I did. And, yes, extra-large for you,” Greg replied. He clapped his hands. “Off we go to the heap looking for whatever the Drango’s left behind. Let’s break up into sectors so we’re not tripping over one another. No worries, the Medical Examiner will remove the main piece of garbage, shortly.”
We all had evidence bags and flags to mark whatever we found along with specific instructions to not move anything out of place. We were to carefully move items of trash aside until something which looked out of place popped up, such as a passport or other piece of identification. At this point, the brothers were believed to be Canadian.
With a slight breeze blowing, I was grateful for the mask. It kept the heavy odors out. The boots helped with stepping over the mounds of garbage and unrecognizable slimy stuff. Since the gloves went up over the cuffs of the jumpsuit, there was no way to check my watch to see how long we’d been at it. I could only guess by the sun’s position and estimated it had been roughly an hour when I heard a shout from Kai he’d found a passport. Greg immediately yelled at him to not touch it. I started to look up, but felt something underneath my foot and peered down. Poking out from beneath a chicken soup box was the side of a passport. The edge of it had caught the corner of the heel of my boot. I had nearly missed it.
I yelled to Greg, “I found a passport, too!”
Kai turned and grinned at me. He gave me a thumbs-up sign.
Greg yelled to each of us to stay put until he got there. He went to Kai’s position first and took several photographs before he touched the passport and followed the exact same steps with me. Grady followed right behind him, hands gloved and picked up the first passport. “It’s in Teddie’s name, out of France and it appears he went through several countries with it. Let me see, we’ve got Spain, Portugal and Morocco, but not a U.S. stamp in it. I don’t get it.” Grady dropped it in an evidence bag and moved along toward me. “Greg, did you call Annie yet?”
I glanced at Greg, as he photographed the passport I’d practically stepped on.
“Remember I said I was going to use Annie to try and draw them out.” Greg continued to snap away.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Well, to answer the both of you, she ought to be here any minute since I texted her a while ago.” Greg looked away from his camera. “And here she is; camera crew and all.”
We watched for a few minutes while Annie and the camera crew set up and began to film. She gestured up the hill which was our cue to get back to work. The cameraman panned up to us as Grady carefully turned his back to the camera while he picked up the passport. No personnel cared for being on the news, if it could be helped. He whispered to Greg it was from Croatia and also in Teddie’s name. Unlike the other one, it had the countries of Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran stamped in it.
Reggie texted Greg he’d found a passport, too. Greg practically ran, as well as anyone can in the midst of a landfill, to see what country had issued it and to whom it belonged. Kai, Grady and I were close behind. Annie and her cameraman had inched their way up the hillside.
We all huddled around Greg and waited while he photographed not one, but two passports. He took a deep breath and motioned to Grady. “You’ve got the honors, Brother.”
Grady put on a fresh pair of gloves, squatted down and picked up the first one. He flipped it open and said, “The winner is John Drango who resides in, well I’m not surprised nor should you be. Any guesses?”
“Oh, what the hell, I’ll take Russia for two hundred,” Mike said.
“O’Malley, you’re a smart guy,” Grady said. “Bet you can’t guess how many countries he went through to get here?”
I waved my hand. “I’ll bet Canada was one of them.”
Grady grinned and said, “This is why you’re partners. And we have one remaining passport in, Passport Jeopardy. Kai, would you like to play?”
“Sure, why not.” Kai tapped his forehead, with his wrist for a second and said, “I’m going out on a limb with this one, Grady, but I’m putting all my chips on this passport belonging to Teddie Drango, from Russia. With a Canadian stamp.” Kai winced.
Crosby slapped his gloves against his side. “I wanted to play.”
“Crosby, this isn’t theory, this is Jeopardy. I didn’t think you’d want to participate. I’m sorry,” Grady said.
“Did I win?” Kai asked.
“The rookie’s getting assertive,” Reggie commented.
“Yes, Kai, you did.” Grady patted him on the shoulder. “Good going. Now we have to figure out what the hell to release to the public that will interest our crew enough to either show themselves or make a mistake. Any suggestions?”
Greg looked at Reggie and said, “I think we ought to let them know the nationality of the two, but not the names. If we give them the ID’s, we’re tipping our hand one is at the Air Base.”
“I recommend we say we found the ID’s of a couple of foreigners which may or may not be linked to the bombings.” I removed my gloves and shaded my eyes. “Why tip our hand at all.”
“Be vague indeed.” Greg nodded.
Chapter 22
Greg, with warrant in hand, took Reggie and Kai to John’s—the deceased brother’s apartment to see what further evidence they could dig up. On their way to the apartment, Reggie phoned his contact at Whiteman Air Base to inform them of our progress with the brothers. His contact, in turn told Reggie that Teddie had failed to show up for his shift since their last conversation. Reggie texted this recent information to Grady, who in turn texted the rest of us to keep all of us abreast of the latest information while Grady was on his way to the State Forensics Lab with the passports to be checked for fingerprints and the possible origins of printing. Greg and Grady felt it was a foregone conclusion the passports were forgeries, but the missing passports were the ones that had gained the brothers entry into the United States. We all presumed they crossed at the Canadian Border with another set of forged passports. Wherever they came from, they were good enough to fool security at an American Air Force Base, information which could not get out to the press.
I was antsy watching Greg, Reggie and Kai drive off in one direction, and Grady and Crosby in another leaving Mike and me to deal with Annie. She stood, hands on hips—about fifty yards away and I could feel the steam rise from her. Greg had said he’d give her an on-camera interview once he’d finished up.
I elbowed Mike. “You going to talk to her?”
“She’s your friend,” Mike replied.
“You’re senior partner,” I said.
“We’re equal partners.”
I waved to Annie and looked at Mike. “Right, fifty-fifty.
I glanced back at Annie. “You lie better than I do.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Mike asked.
“Mike, I don’t know if I can do this. Annie knows me too well. She’s going to know I’m not telling her the truth.”
Mike sighed. “Fine, let me see if I can convince her.” He looked skyward. “She’s not going to believe me either.”
We walked toward her and her cameraman, who after setting his camera down, shuffled his feet. We were almost within earshot when Annie yelled, “Why the hell did Greg leave? He promised me an interview, an on-camera exclusive interview.” She threw her hands up in the air.
“Annie, Greg is and will be true to his word, I promise. They found some rather delicate evidence leading in another direction. It’s why they had to leave, to gather additional evidence to bolster what we found here. It would be premature to release any information until they’re a hundred percent certain. Greg assured me when they are; he will give you the exclusive, right Mike?” I turned to face Mike.
Annie glared back and forth between us, and said, “If you’re trying to shaft me, you’ll get the short end, friends or not.” She turned to walk away and turned back. “Game’s at Adelaide’s tonight?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Okay. Need me to bring anything?” Annie asked.
“Dessert,” Mike suggested.
“Happy too.” Annie waved over her shoulder as she walked away.
“It went, oh so smoothly,” I said.
“And you said you didn’t know how to lie. You’re great at it.” Mike chuckled.
“Yeah, I learned from you. Okay, off to the Farmers’ Market to do some dinner shopping,” I said, heading to the car.
“Oh, c’mon, I thought we were having pizza.” Mike groaned.
“Not a chance. I want something healthy, especially after hours of digging around in a dump and then lying to my best friend. Get in the car, O’Malley,” I said.
Chapter 23
We pulled into the Soundview Farmers’ Market parking lot. I eased into a space and Mike’s cell phone chimed. I leaned my head on the headrest and said, “It’s not possible, we haven’t started our shopping. Give me your phone.”
“It’s fine,” Mike said with a laugh. “It’s a text from Grady and it’s exactly as he thought— they found Canadian passports for both brothers. I’m guessing Mr. Trash guy forgot to bring the primary piece of evidence with him to dump off. Missing brother is going to be upset, if we can locate him.”
“Does Grady need us for anything?” I asked.
“Nope. I already texted back and he said we’re free to do what we want. Oh, outside of telling Annie what’s really going on. He says he’ll take care of it when we meet up later. I guess he’s planning on a casual interview before dinner,” Mike said.
“Lovely, a relaxing appetizer before the game.” I sighed and opened the car door. “I have to take the boys for a short walk before we go in.”
“No problem, I’ll go with you. It will give me a chance to stretch a bit after all the bending over. Nothing like scraping through mounds of tossed out junk to start your day,” Mike said, as he picked up Koa and gently set him down and then did the same with Kai. We walked along the riverbank, in silence, and watched the seagulls swoop down in search of their midday meal. The sun glistened on the wings of a gull as it rose up from the rippling water with a fish dangling from its beak.
“Too bad you don’t have your camera,” Mike remarked.
“I know. What a gorgeous sight,” I agreed.
“It’s in the car, right?” Mike asked.
“Yes, it is. When you see something spectacular, where else would it be?” I smiled.
Mike looked down in the direction of the bridge. “The Army Corps of Engineers did an amazing job of getting I-95 and the Rail Bridge back in working order so quickly.”
I sat on the grass and waited for another gull to fish. “I’m decompressing and trying to forget about everything for a bit. You ought to try it.” I pointed to the grass and said, “Sit for a few minutes and pretend nothing else exists, other than the lapping of the water against the rocks. Close your eyes and give it a shot.”
“I can’t, I’ll fall asleep,” Mike replied as he sat down and closed his eyes. His head dropped forward and he was snoring within a couple of minutes.
I reached over and gently touched him on the shoulder. He fell over onto his side. He opened his eyes, stretched his arms and said, “Nothing like a power nap to refuel you. Let’s go shopping!”
We put the boys back into the car, and I grabbed my special Farmers’ Market bag which entitled me to a small discount from most participating vendors, since I had paid a small fee at the beginning of each year. To be able to purchase farm fresh food from a wonderful group of people made it all worthwhile. We began to thread our way through the building crowds of people from one food vendor to the next, each selling their either freshly grown or personally cooked tasty items underneath individual tents. The wafting smells of the varied cuisines were making me ravenous. Music played, giving it a festival atmosphere. I noted some people stopped and reached in between those who stood in front of them, and grabbed samples of chips or cheese and gobbled them, without purchasing anything. They’d move on to the next vendor, and inquire why they didn’t have samples, get a bit huffy and go off in search of more free food, while their shoulder sacks remained empty.
“Got some freebie seekers floating through here.” Mike pointed to an elderly woman pocketing a handful of cheese and chips. “I can’t believe it, she even took the toothpicks!”
I laughed, and said, “I thought you’d pick up on the freeloaders.”
Mike nodded in another direction. “Guy over there is arguing why the crackers aren’t free. Doesn’t he get these people are making a living? Hey, there’s fresh pizza over there. I gotta try it. You said they didn’t have pizza—you lied to me, Jensen!”
“I did not. I was very clear about what I said. I said we were not having pizza for dinner. That’s what I said, and we’re not.” I crossed my arms.
Mike licked his lips and stared at the pizza man. “I have to have pizza.”
“Yes you do, because you’re drooling and it’s pathetic. Please go forth and devour immediately,” I said.
“Thank you. I’m gone.”
Mike took off like a shot while I headed off to my favorite taco guy, Milton. I quickly picked up a bag of homemade treats for the pups from Paul, the biscuit maker. I then stopped and bought two freshly roasted coffees and sat down next to Mike who was in heaven with his oven-baked pizza.
Mike took a pause between bites. “This is unbelievable. No wonder you come here every week. I’m a convert.”
“I knew you would be, plus you get the side benefit of people watching.” I smiled in between sips of my exquisite coffee and bites of my freshly made taco.
“People watching is one of my favorite occupations. We need some down time after all this craziness, and we need to come up with our next move, Grady’s gonna expect it,” Mike said, brushing away the crumbs.
“This probably isn’t the place to talk about it. Let’s do our shopping then go sit by the river and bounce around some ideas,” I suggested.
“You’re getting paranoid, Laura.”
“I haven’t heard from our pals in a while and let’s say the silence is bothering me,” I responded.
Mike nodded. “Maybe they’re meeting up with the other brother, to exchange more info.”
“It’s an interesting possibility and it would explain why they haven’t contacted me—they don’t have anything concrete, so nothing to tease us with,” I said.
Mike grinned. “A little nutrition gets the brain going.”
I closed my eyes and drank in the atmosphere, the music playing from the coffee vendor’s tent, the scents in the air and warmth of early fall on my shoulders.
Mike snapped me back to the present. “Sorry to interrupt your rest period, but those people who were snatching samples are back at it and they keep circling.”
“Maybe they’re vultures dressed like people so no one will kick them out,” I replied, keeping my eyes closed.
“Yeah, it is close to Halloween so you never know who’s gonna show up in costume,” Mike remarked. “I’m gonna try and get close to ‘em to see what’s going on, ‘cause there’s something odd about them. You stay here.”
“I’m perfectly content to not move. Yell if you need anything.” I waved, keeping my eyes shut. No sooner had Mike left then my phone chimed. I picked it up, expecting to see a text from Annie or Adelaide, but it was from Cho. It read: Partner no follow. I leapt to my feet, scanned the grounds and spotted Mike near Robin, the woman who sold fresh pasta and
the makings for pizza. Mike had his hand up, shielding his eyes from the sun, as he searched the crowd for our suspects. Our elderly, freeloading friends had to be Cho and Jelly. We’d been had—they were stalking us. I scooped up my things and sprinted over to Mike’s position and checked faces as I went. Nothing—they were gone.
I caught up to Mike who continued to scrutinize the crowd. “Anything?” I asked.
“No, they’re long gone. I can’t believe it, Laura, we had them and they got away. Dammit, they slipped away.”
“Cho texted me.” I held my phone up.
“Nervy bastard.” Mike read the text and forwarded it to Greg and Grady. “Let’s walk around and show their photos to vendors to see if anyone recognizes them. Even with the get-up they had on, I want to be sure. We know it was them, but we have to be a hundred percent. We need at least one witness ID who says, yeah it was them.” Mike slapped his side.
We split up and showed photos of them to various people, vendors and shoppers alike. Most shook their heads and said they had no idea who they were. A few people said they resembled someone they had gone to school with a few years ago in another state. Someone said Jelly reminded them of a babysitter they once had. Someone else said Jelly brought back horrible memories of a girlfriend he’d broken up with a couple of summers ago. I started to walk away and stopped. I thought for a second or two and went back to the young man and asked if he’d attended Soundview Technical. He said he’d gone there for a semester but his grades hadn’t been good enough, so he’d dropped out, switched his major and was now interning as a history teacher at a local high school. He said he’d recently been getting a barrage of harassing phone calls. I introduced myself, and he said his name was: Anthony A. Twist. I inquired what his middle name was, and he said it was: Andrew. I showed him another photo and he said it was indeed Jelly, also known as: Nari Kim. He said he only knew her as Jelly, and he said she often spoke of Kim Jong Un. He thought she was trying to impress him with being his niece, because of the haughty manner in which she brought it up. Then she would insist it wasn’t true, it was only a fantasy of hers, one all North Korean girls had. When he began having difficulty with school, she promised her Uncle Kim would take care of his grades if he did what she asked. Anthony said he couldn’t cheat—he had to come by his grades honestly. Shortly afterwards, he said the threats began. Jelly said if he didn’t follow her orders, Kim’s henchmen would make him disappear. Anthony said threatening notes began to appear under his door, written in broken English, but he had no idea who they were from. I did. I texted Mike, I wanted him to hear this; it could be our first real big break in connecting the group to someone else.
Case of the Mouse Trap Legend Page 11