by Bob Moats
"Yep, you’re back to work at our business. Did you call Lacey about Mac?"
"Hell no, she’ll blame me for Mac getting shot. I don’t want to incur her wrath when I go back to work."
"I’m sure Mac has already called her. We’re lucky he didn’t get killed," I said.
Lynn came over and asked, "Jim, can you call the parents and have them come to the precinct to get their boys?"
"I’d be delighted, it is the highlight of this whole case." I went off to the side of the warehouse and called the Walkers first, then the Forents. It was a tremendous feeling to hear them expressing happiness that their boys were safe. They said they’d be down as soon as they could. I told them the boys were still with us and it would be about a half hour or more, so take care driving.
The perverts were all being led out to a couple vans that arrived, then Earl and I got in the car with the boys, Lynn was driving. The Forent boy sat in the front and we had the Walker boys between Earl and I. It was good that we had them, it would soon be over.
We arrived at the precinct and Earl and I led the boys to the squad room of homicide. Weber came in even though he was signed out, he wanted to greet the boys. The Walkers had already arrived and grabbed on to the boys as soon as they came through the door. The Forents came through the front entrance guided by an officer. They latched on to their son as soon as they saw him.
Mr. Walker came over and thanked me. "I can’t take all the credit, Lieutenant Carter and her men did a great job on this also. Plus my men on the inside made it possible to track them down. It was a team effort. Now don’t be too harsh on the boys for running off to the carnival, I’m sure they won’t do that again."
He laughed and then Lynn said, "I have the names of a couple good counselors for the boys. I’m sure they’ll need to talk to someone who can help them get over the ordeal."
"If the cost of the counselors is going to be a problem, let me know, I’ll take care of it," I offered. "Now take your boys home, they look like they could use a nice hot bath."
The Walkers thanked us again and left. The Forents thanked everyone and left also. Weber congratulated everyone and he skittered out. It was now quiet in the squad room, it sounded nice.
All was right in the world now.
It was just after eleven in the evening. Lynn still had to take her men out to the carnival and close it down. She told me they’d have a bit of work ahead to sort out the good from the bad carnies. I had told her the carnival didn’t own all the rides as they lease out space for private operators to set up their equipment. So not all the people were in on the criminal activities. Buck had told Lynn that they saw Dark with the jewelry in his trailer, she said they’d tear it apart.
I was really wearing down, so Earl and I left followed by Buck. I drove Earl back to his car and headed home. I drove in the drive and could hear the alarm going off. I guess Penny wanted to know when I got in. I parked the van and went into the kitchen nearly tripping over Willy who came bouncing into the room. I reset the alarm just as Penny came bouncing in also and latched on to me with a big wet one on the lips.
"That was nice, do you have an ulterior motive for such a greeting?"
"Lynn called and told me about finding the boys. She asked if I would remind you to come in tomorrow to file a statement about tonight and to bring Earl."
"It was nice of Lynn to spoil my surprise. So am I a hero now?"
"You’re always a hero to me, Sweetie." She gave me a big grin then went off to the other room. I heard her yelling, "I’m heading to the bedroom, care to join me?"
I didn’t think twice.
The next morning, Angelo was back in the kitchen cooking up a storm, I had dressed before going out because Penny warned me that Francis was here. I went to the kitchen and over to Angelo.
"Thanks Angelo, for what you did last night, it was really helpful in forcing Dark to give out the location of the boys."
He smiled and said, "All in a day’s work."
I turned to Francis sitting at the snack bar with Penny, "Francis, you should be proud of your son, he helped save the boys."
"I always said my son was a good person. I’m very glad the boys are safe at home now."
"Yes, they are. What are you all plotting for today?"
Penny spoke, "We’re going to my studio, I have a big name movie star on and Francis has agreed to be interviewed about her life. I’m trying to convince her to write a biography."
"Why not, everyone else is writing a book," I said just as my cell phone buzzed. It was Earl, I excused myself and went into the living room.
"What’s up?" I asked.
"I came in to see Lynn to make my statement about our part in this mess and there was a bit of a commotion. Seems Dark was stabbed in his cell last night. Did Angelo call Benny?"
"I don’t think so, but I’ll ask. Is Dark dead?"
"Unfortunately no, he’s in critical condition or so they are saying. Are you coming in soon?"
"Yeah, I’ll be in shortly. Talk later," I said and hung up. I called to Angelo and he came in the living room.
"Yeah Mr. R.?"
"Angelo, you didn’t let anyone know that we had Dark in custody did you?"
"No, never. You said to sit on it so I sat on it. Why?"
"Dark was shived in his cell this morning, he’s critical but alive."
"Wasn’t me who ratted him out, although I would have liked to."
"Same here, okay I have to go in and see Lynn. Take care of the women." I stuck my head in the kitchen and said I had to go save the world and would see them later. I went to my van and drove out.
Lynn and Earl were in her office when I got there. "Did your mob buddies have something to do with this?" she yelled at me when I got to the door.
"Not guilty, Angelo says he was mum about it. Could be someone in there who didn’t like child abductors?"
"We’re figuring that. They put him in general population instead of in solitary. I didn’t know, too late now."
"Whatever, they didn’t finish the job, he survived," Earl said.
*
Chapter 22
We finished making out our statements and then Lynn treated us to something out of the lunchroom machines. Big spender.
"We went through all of Dark’s office and found most of the jewelry. He really wasn’t all that smart, but he had a track record of jewelry heists. From what I hear from Bill Kestor, this is the only time he’s been caught. Also seems they did slip in the little person and he hid in the store until closing, then he would disable the alarm and open the back door."
"See, I was right," Earl beamed.
"Yes Earl, you were. It’s good you’re on our side," Lynn mugged. "We got the two hikers in this morning and they identified the truck from the carnival lot, so we got Dark for the murder also. All nice and tidy."
"So what’s going to happen to the carnival?" Earl asked.
"We let all the people go who could prove they were just leasing space from Dark to set up their rides and the rest of the equipment will stay until we can figure out what to do with it. They pretty much pulled up stakes this morning and are mostly gone, leaving only a few rides that were owned by the business."
"Are the sideshow freaks and geeks gone too?" I asked.
"All but Ben, the little person, and a couple other carnies that Ben ratted out for a deal. He’ll still go away for robbery but in a friendlier prison than here, he wouldn’t survive in our jails."
Lynn’s phone rang and she answered, listened and then hung up. "News flash, Clark County won’t be footing the bill for Dark’s trial and his stay in jail, he just bit the big ride in the sky. They said his internal bleeding was worse than they thought and couldn’t save him."
"I’m not sad, he deserved what he got," I said. "If we’re finished here, I need to go to the office to see if Lacey is having fits because Mac got shot. I hope she doesn’t tear the place apart too badly." I stood and Earl said he was going also.
; "Hey guys, thanks again. It’s always a pleasure working with you," Lynn said.
We were back at the office building and parked. Earl exited his car and followed me in the back door. We carefully entered as the cow bell on the door clanged and then I waved to the camera, but Lacey popped out of the storeroom next to the back door with a scream and scared the hell out of me.
"Gotcha!" she said with a laugh.
"You’re in a good mood for almost losing a husband," I said when my heart slowed.
"Yes, but I didn’t and that makes it all the better. He came home last night and we celebrated his victory over the bad guys. He’s resting today, I wore him out," she said with a smirk.
"I’ll just bet he’s worn out, three days without him must have been tough."
"I managed. Now you have some people in the front who want to see you." She walked away and Earl and I went up front. We came into the inner lobby and found the Walkers sitting on the couches.
"What do we owe this visit?" I said.
"Just stopped by to say thank you again, and apologize for being pains in the neck," Mr. Walker said as they all stood.
"Pains, never. Just concerned parents." I looked to the boys who were a lot cleaner than I last saw them. I turned to Lacey and asked, "Lacey, where’s Willy?"
"He’s in your office sleeping on your chair," she replied.
I turned to the boys and said, "Go down that hallway to the second door on the left and wake up my dog. Be careful he’s small and fragile." They both smiled and went off.
"You may lose your dog, but I’ll make sure they leave him here," Mr. Walker said. "We also stopped to say we talked to a social worker who deals with abused and troubled children, it won’t cost us anything since it’s government funded and I qualify for aid. Thank Detective Carter for recommending them. The social worker talked to the boys and they seem to have taken it in stride, but we will be watching them."
"Good, I hope it all works out." I could hear laughter and little yips from my office and then Willy came running out and over to me. I picked him up as the boys followed him out.
Mrs. Walker reached over and petted Willy and asked the boys if they’d like a dog also? They bounced around and replied that they did.
"Well, you can’t have mine. My wife would kill me if I gave him away."
Mrs. Walker looked to her husband and said "We’ll go look in the pound and have everyone pick out a dog."
We all said our good-byes and they left. I watched them go to their car and the boys hardly looked like they went through a harrowing experience. I put Willy down and went to my office followed by Earl.
"I could use a nice cheating husband case right now, the kind where I sit in a parking lot spying on him," Earl said as he sat in my client chair.
"You’d just fall asleep."
"Me? Never, I do my job and do it well. Do you think you’d be interested in purchasing one used carnival?"
I gave him the finger and he laughed, "You have no sense of adventure."
"You buy the carnival, then you can be the whole freak show."
Buck popped his head in the door, "Hey guys, what’s up?"
"Just unwinding, are you getting out of your carnie mode and back into security?"
"I have to retrain my men, they were all goofing off while I was gone, it’s good to be back," he said and went to his office.
"Yes, it’s very good for everyone to be back," I said and sat back in my chair.
THE END
REV. 092211
Thank you for purchasing this book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing them for my faithful readers. Please feel free to email me to tell me what you thought about my stories. I can be reached through my website at murdernovels.com
Thanks again!
Please read more about Jim Richards books on the website http://murdernovels.com
Rev-092011sm
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22