Willow Glen Heist

by Alec Peche

  “You look like you need a glass of wine, so I’ll take the girls home in your car. I present it as a random attack and that I as an inventor provided Hermione with one of my inventions. I’ll pass a bottle on to each parent with instructions and tell them we didn’t call the police because it happened so fast none of the girls had much of a description of the man and that surely he would hide for a while since he covered in blue dye. I’ll tell them we’ll notify the police tomorrow just to see if there’s any video in that area, but I’ll take a look now to see if there are cameras. Think that will pass?”

  “It might. I would add that we wanted to avoid making a bigger deal of this with teenage girls involved. I bet they’ll never again let their girls hang out in public alone with Hermione, poor kid.”

  “Let’s go inside. Have I met these two friends?”

  “One’s a swimmer, so maybe.”

  Ariana and Damian entered her house into the living room. Damian had his arm slung on Ariana’s shoulder so they looked like a united front to the girls. Ariana could immediately see that all three kids were distracted and not enjoying the movie.

  “Ladies, you look like you’re bored with the movie. Have you met Damian?”

  Megan seem to be the spokesperson for the trio so she said, “Our hearts are still racing over the strange man that attacked Hermione, Mrs. Knowles.”

  Ariana nodded and reached over to pause the movie. “Rather than worry about the strange man, why don’t we talk about self-defense.”

  Damian opened the small bag he brought to reveal two small canisters like the one Hermione used. “I’m going to give one to each of your parents and it will be up to them to accept it and give it to you. We’re going to talk to the police later, but we don’t have high hopes as it all happened so quickly that all any of you know is that it was a man that grabbed Hermione’s arm, right?”

  The trio nodded and Damian went on, “As Hermione’s father and an inventor I insist that she carry my inventions for her own protection. Hermione why don’t you grab your ugly vest and we’ll show your friends that.”

  Hermione gave him a pained expression but did as he asked returning a few minutes later.

  Damian distracted the girls with an explanation of the vest and what his company was doing with it. He asked for their suggestions on how to make it prettier and more fashionable. In the end he had then convinced that it had been random and perhaps the man had meant to just ask for directions. Once he created a non-threatening vision of what had happened, it was time to take the girls home. He had Hermione join him, so the parents could see she was calm and unharmed. Doing his best to appear to be the concerned parent, but having everyone convinced that the poor man had simply asked directions. Both parents were so impressed with the canister that they asked for additional supplies.

  Damian and Hermione were soon alone in the car on the way back to Ariana’s house.

  “You know we’re going to have to have a heart to heart about your parents. If you want any semblance of a normal life, you have to help Ariana and I with an explanation.”

  The kid nodded and nothing more was said until they arrived back at Ariana’s house.

  Chapter 35

  The three of them had cups of tea and sat on Ariana’s sectional sofa. All remnants of the teenager movie night had been cleared. Damian had a laptop and was checking for public cameras outside the pizza parlor and there weren’t any that he could find. After dropping the girls off he went back to the scene of the crime to see if he could spot any cameras and he’d seen none.

  “Did you get a glimpse of the man that grabbed your elbow?” Ariana asked.

  “Not really, I so instinctively fired the pepper spray at him if the poor man had been asking directions, he won’t do that ever again.”

  “That was a cover story to de-escalate your friends and their parents. I think the man meant to kidnap you and if you had been less prepared he might have succeeded,” Damian said.

  “Hermione, for your own safety and that of your girlfriends you have to tell us the secrets you’ve been harboring about your parents. You’ve stayed with Damian and me since for six months now You’ve vacationed with us. You must have had plenty of evidence that we’ll do nothing to harm your parents or you, but we’re trying to protect you with one arm tied behind our backs. So do you know why the man wants to kidnap you?”

  Hermione had known from the moment she called Ariana that they were heading to this crisis point and she’d been thinking all evening about what to do. She didn’t know how she felt about her parents actions; on one hand she was pleased that they were extorting a bad company, but on the other hand, she was embarrassed about the extortion and she thought they should have reported the company to perhaps the World Health Organization. People were still being harmed by bad drugs under the current scenario.

  She had nothing but positive thoughts and feelings for Ariana and Damian; she was so fortunate to have ended up in their hands. They had been honorable and trustworthy and it was time for her to trust them with this final nugget.

  “My father worked for a Malaysian drug company. He discovered that they were selling medications that had less active ingredients than they were supposed to which means that people would have been taking less effective drugs. He decided he no longer wanted to work for the company once he found this out. People that snitch in Malaysia don’t have protections like they do in the United States. If he just notified authorities, the company executive would have had him killed. So we took a vacation and then just disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  “So what were you doing living in Shepard’s Canyon?” Damian asked.

  “Dad couldn’t find a job after he left the Malaysian drug company. We were running out of money and we were on the run. Mom home-schooled me, so despite bouncing around the world, at least I didn’t fall behind in school. Then we returned to the United States and my parents bought the house in Shepard’s Canyon. I didn’t ask questions, I was just glad to no longer be moving every couple of months.”

  “So your parents told you what they were doing when you moved to California?” Ariana asked.

  “No I was afraid of the answers so I didn’t ask questions. Not even when they had the two safe rooms built. It was the drills.”

  “The drills?” Damian repeated, puzzled.

  “We had to do drills on how fast we could get into the safe room. Dad or mom would time the drill. I went along with that until they did a drill at two in the morning. I refused to participate until they gave me a better explanation for why we were doing it. So they finally told me the truth.”

  “What did you think of their explanation?” Ariana asked.

  “I was disappointed. It didn’t seem the honorable thing to do,” Hermione shrugged.

  “So what exactly did your father do?” Damian asked.

  Hermione had been so caught up in remembering the moment her parents had explained the situation to her that she hadn’t realized that she hadn’t told Ariana and Damian.

  “Dad said he’s blackmailing the drug company for fifty thousand a month and he’ll stay quiet about how they make drugs.”

  “Ah,” said Damian while Ariana remained silent in thought.

  “So this guy that’s been trying to kidnap you is doing that for what reason?” Damian mused.

  “I don’t know,” Hermione replied. “I’ve never met him or remember my parents being seen in his company.”

  “Either he’s trying to capture you to bring your parents to heel, or he’s trying to kill you afraid that you know the company’s secrets,” Ariana speculated.

  “Since he hasn’t tried to kill you, I think we have to believe he’s using you one way or another to reach your parents,” Damian said. “That’s good news as it means your parents are alive, otherwise I think they would just kill you and be done with it.”

  “Maybe he thinks I know where my parents are.”

  “Do you?” Damian asked.

  Herm
ione reacted as though slapped and uttered a small, sad “no”.

  These two adults have been nothing but kindness and affection and she hadn’t held up her end of the bargain by coming clean to them.

  Ariana leaned forward, sighed, and hugged the girl.

  Damian waited for the two women to settle down and separate.

  “I think we need a plan. I think instead of protecting you, we should set about trying to capture him.”

  “So how do we do that?” Hermione asked a little fearful. She had felt quite strong carrying around Damian’s magic juice. She didn’t want to be held captive by anyone.

  Chapter 36

  “Good question,” Damian replied. “I don’t think we’ll see him out in public for a few days. It will take quite a bit of washing to get the blue dye off and his eye will hurt for at least thirty-six hours. Do you remember where it hit his face or body?”

  “Just that it was the right side of his face. When he took off, he had his right hand on his right side of his face. So the dye would be on his right hand and it might have rolled into his neck.”

  “Did you see the car he got into?” Ariana asked.

  Hermione thought back to the incident and said, “No I think it was on another street.”

  “Really? He was going to drag you at least a block and a half to his vehicle and he thought you go quietly? Doesn’t sound like a smart guy,” Damian said.

  Hermione brightened at that thought and replied with a smile, “No he doesn’t sound smart as I would have screamed at the top of my lungs the whole time.”

  Ariana reached out a fist to share a fist bump with Hermione and said, “That’s my girl!”

  “So how do we trap him ladies?” Damian asked.

  There was silence in Ariana’s kitchen as they all mulled over options in their minds.

  Then Damian said, “Let’s be more thoughtful then our man was tonight. Here are some suggestions of parameters to design an event to capture this guy. First we need to do it somewhere quiet where he can’t call for help, second, Hermione will have to be the bait and be safe at the same time, and third, we should confine him out on San Francisco bay as he probably can’t swim ashore. Any other ideas?”

  “Should we try following him to wherever he lives?” Hermione asked.

  “I think that would take time as we would have to find him to follow him,” Ariana surmised.

  “Perhaps we can do both. I’ll start searching for cameras in the areas that you two encountered this guy. Then perhaps on Monday we need to find a place each day to leave you alone with us nearby,” Damian said. “I can rearrange my schedule to do that.”

  “How are we going to subdue him, once we find him?” Ariana asked.

  “Good question,” Damian said. “If he’s the same guy that we got in your driveway, then we’re close to damaging his eyesight with as many pepper juice hits as he’s taken.”

  “How about a net like the one that dropped on him at my house?” Ariana asked.

  “He could still yell for help.” Hermione said.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll be inclined to call for help as we have proof that shows he’s an attempted kidnapper in the United States,” Damian said. “I think that’s a good option Hermione and I’ll just need to figure out how to activate it. I t would be best if it was fired from a spring loaded gun. That way we wouldn’t have to be too close, just close enough for the spring to drive a net at and around him.”

  “Besides I don’t think he’ll yell for help. I think we can tell him to be quiet or we’ll turn him over to the police on kidnapping and stalking charges,” Ariana suggested.

  “I agree,” Damian said. “I’ll work on getting two net firing guns.”

  “Why not three? I can carry one too,” Hermione said.

  “No you probably can’t with school security and it might scare him off,” Damian replied.

  “Where should we lay the trap?” asked Ariana.

  “Good question. He must be watching you Hermione to have known about your movie plan today. We could start delaying picking you up from school and Ariana and I will stay low in my truck waiting for his approach. He hasn’t seen my truck, so he shouldn’t be suspicious. Where else do you think would work?”

  “I’m not sure that would work as there are other people about at school and they would see us shooting him with the net,” Hermione said.

  “We have some time to decide on location and I need to design the cargo net gun. I know the engineer that designed those guns used to shoot t-shirts into an arena crowd so I’ll start with that. I could have it ready by tomorrow, but ladies you are both more familiar with this city and your schedules to understand where we might entice the man to strike. Hermione do any of your friends walk home from school towards this house? Ariana and I could tag team you on this road and see if we can entice the guy. It’s generally deserted so it makes a good place to start.”

  “What do you mean tag team?” Hermione asked.

  “Ariana and I could pace your walk and switch whether we were front or back as you walked.”

  “Okay,” Hermione said with a lack of confidence in her voice.

  “Sweetie, we’re all in this together and we haven’t so far failed to protect you yet still gave you some freedom to have a life. We could keep you safe by just moving you to Damian’s Island, but that sounds like a lousy existence for a teenage girl, but it’s up to you. Damian and I believe we can protect you; we just need a quiet place to take down this man so you can get on with your life and not be afraid of being kidnapped.”

  “Look if you don’t like the plan we draw it, if you don’t feel safe, we won’t do it, we won’t push you into a situation that you don’t want. Okay?”

  Hermione looked at these two adults that come so late but so competently into her life and felt the tears come. How could she love these two people that weren’t her parents, but felt like they were. She certainly felt safer as they given her tools to better take care of herself than her own parents and mom and dad wouldn’t be on the run if they hadn’t tried to take money from their old boss.

  She stood up and gave Damian and Ariana hugs saying, “It’s been a long day, I’m going to go to bed now.”

  Damian called out, “Hermione is everything okay? You understand that you’re safe?”

  “Yes I do,” was all the teenager said before she left the room.

  Once she was out of earshot, Damian whispered, “She’s okay, right?”

  “Yes, she is. I think she’s feeling guilty about her feelings towards us versus her parents. I think she’s happy with us and at times doesn’t miss her parents and so feels bad for that.”

  “Okay,” Damian said looking relieved. “Is there anything more I can do for you two? Do you feel safe here?”

  “Since you upgraded my security, I’m rather like Hermione with ‘my bring it on’ attitude. I’ll talk scenarios over with her during the next few days on where we want to stage this baiting situation.”

  “Okay,” I’m going to head home to see if I can find anything on our perpetrator and see if I can get my hands on the cannon gun tomorrow. Then I have to figure out how to get the net in and we’ll have to practice our aim.”

  “Ever since I washed up on your island, it’s been an adventure. Now I’ll add net gun shooting to my resume.”

  He just smiled, leaned over to kiss her cheek and he was out the door heading for his boat. She knew he didn’t need her help shoving off for his journey back to Red Rock Island. She found herself standing at the window watching his boat light grow fainter in the distance, the palm of her hand on her cheek. Where had his kiss come from?

  Chapter 37

  Leon Williamson sat with his partner Dave Kowalski outside of an apartment in Traverse City. The Michigan State Troopers had been contacted by a police department in California in regards to a woman living in an apartment in their city being a suspected bank robber. They found it hard to believe that inside this low income apartme
nt could live a woman who robbed a bank of sixty million nearly ten years ago.

  “If I robbed a bank of that much money, I would be living in some country beyond the long arm of the United States like Russia or Tonga. I wouldn’t be living in a cold part of the country in what looks to be the low end of the housing options,” Leon said.

  “Yeah well how would you get the money and goods out of the country? Don’t you think the airport would notice that you had bricks of dollars bills in your luggage?” replied Dave.

  “Okay then I would try across the border into Mexico and keep going until I reached some place where the authorities wouldn’t check my luggage,” Leon said.

  “According to the report out of California, it would have taken a U-Haul trailer to carry all the cash and goods away from some city named Willow Glen.”

  “Okay then I’d rent a yacht and sail down the coast carrying extra gas supplies so I could anchor into some small port where I could buy customs officials off.”

  “How would you pay for the yacht? In cash? The marked bills would then come to light and you’d be caught,” Dave replied. “Maybe this woman or women were smart and laid low exchanging money and goods. Those California police said there might be twins inside this location or at least involved in the crime.”

  “I would think that it would be the one person you could trust to keep your mouth shut, a twin sister or brother that is. What a shame in some ways if we catch them this long after the robbery. They should have settled for keeping less of the goods and left early for parts unknown.”

  “Even that might have hurt their cause as we cops would eventually discover a thirty million dollar stash.”

  “Dave, you’re spoiling all my fantasies here. I’m trying to enjoy the thought of splitting that money with my older brother and what a trip that would be.”

  “We'll just keep in mind that however much you think it would work, in reality it’s very hard to outrun the long arm of the law.”