She then called Jason and Daniel in to see if they had found some better fitting clothing for Justin.
“Oh, yeah, Mom. I found this old tee shirt from a couple years ago. I think it is Justin’s size.” They had him put it on, and it was a better fit. “I also found this old pair of shorts that no longer fit me. They were going to go into the giveaway hamper. Try them on, Justin, and see if they fit better. Here is a pair socks for you to wear also. What color of sneakers would you like to wear? I have Converse All Stars in black, white, red, and navy blue. I will look around and see if I can find your size.”
Justin told Jason that he would like a white pair, and Jason went off to see if he could find Justin’s size. Justin put on the other pair of shorts and socks. Everything seemed to fit okay. Then Jason came back with a couple of pairs of optical white high tops, and they found a pair that fit Justin’s feet perfectly.
“Hey you are all back to normal again with these better fitting clothes and that cool new pair of chucks!” Daniel told Justin, who smiled for the first time when he heard that. Just then Bill Hunter came back with a bag of sandwiches, so they all sat down and ate lunch.
The combination of the food and friendly family environment seemed to work wonders on Justin, and much of his normal coloration began to return as he was getting over the shock of begin attacked.
After lunch they took Justin into the living room, and had him sit down in a comfortable chair. “Do you think you are able to tell us exactly what happened to you, Justin?” Edith asked. “If it is too difficult right now, let us know, and we will get you some professional help. But we do need to know exactly what happened, because a terrible crime was committed against you!”
“Mom is right,” Jason added. “Daniel and I have a pretty good idea of what went on from tracking you down, but we need to hear what happened in your own words. I know this must be tough for you right now, but it is important that you tell us while things are still fresh in your mind. I had to do the same thing after I was kidnapped. Consider it part of your recovery.”
Starting out in a very hesitant voice, Justin began to recall the events of the day. He described how bored he was staying at his cousin’s house, because nobody was interested in doing anything with him, and could care less what he was doing. That was when he decided to check out the baseball fields on his own. He then told them how excited he was about the opportunity to play some ball with Jason and Daniel, and how he had gotten dressed in his brand new pro-line Yankees uniform and new baseball shoes and socks. He then recounted everything that occurred after he left the Burr residence until he was rescued by Jason and Daniel.
“It makes me very angry that a young boy could be so brazenly attacked in broad daylight right on one of our main streets!” Bill Hunter said.
“Not only that,” Jason added, “but why? What was going on inside that warehouse? Something really important had to be going down for that man to have such an extreme reaction. Can you recall seeing anything that was going on there, Justin?”
“Those boys pulled my baseball cap over my eyes so I couldn’t see much, but while they were arguing with the man they called Rubino, I looked up to see what I could see. I couldn’t see anything other than the big trucks that were inside,” Justin answered. “One of them had a big logo and initials that said DCC, but that was the only thing I can recall.”
Jason looked over at Daniel. “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Then to Justin he asked, “Are you sure that the logo said ‘DCC’?”
“Yes, that is what I saw, Jason.”
Edith then said, “I am so sorry all of these things happened to you, Justin. It seems like you are starting to get over it. Now we need to let your parents and your cousins know what happened. They are legally responsible for you.”
Immediately, Justin began to tense up again. “No! I don’t want to go back to my cousin’s house. Please don’t make me go back there!”
“Mom,” Jason interceded, “can’t Justin stay with us until his parents get back here? He feels safe with us, and he can stay in my room if you don’t want to mess up the guest room. Please?”
“Justin, honey, I didn’t mean to upset you again,” Edith said with a little chagrin in her voice. “But we do have to let your family know where you are! It’s okay with me if you want to stay with us for now, Justin. We would love to have you as our guest!”
“Thank you, thank you!” Justin answered with visible relief in his voice. “I promise I won’t be any trouble at all!”
“Now we are going to call your parents,” Edith continued. “I am going to have Mr. Hunter talk to your father, because he knows him. But you have to be prepared to talk to them also, Justin. I know that they will want to hear things directly from you! And you also have to be ready to tell them why you want to stay here, and not go back to your cousin’s house. Do you think you are ready to do that, Justin?”
Justin shook his head ‘yes’.
Bill Hunter then put in a call to Randall Thorne. Luckily he had Randall’s cell number programmed in his cell phone because of all their bank dealings in the past. It was just past five o’clock in New York, and the Thorne family was in their hotel room, relaxing after the day’s activities with Emily. Bill had quite a lengthy conversation with Randall, explaining all the events of the day and how they had a traumatic effect on Justin. He then explained how Justin didn’t want to return to his cousin’s house, and how he was currently staying at the Hunter house. “It’s not a problem at all for him to be here, Randall. He feels comfortable with us and we are happy to look after him until you can return to the Silicon Valley.”
“Does one of us need to come back right away?” Randall answered. “We have reservations to leave first thing tomorrow morning, which will get us back to the Bay Area around noon. Even if I left immediately and caught the next flight out, it is a six and one half hour flight. I wouldn’t get there until midnight and it would be after one o’clock in the morning before I could to your house. It would probably be easier all around if we just kept our reservations. What I don’t understand is why Justin refuses to go back to his cousin’s house. They were supposed to be looking after him this weekend.”
“I think you had better talk to Justin about that. Here, let me put him on the line.” Bill handed the phone to Justin.
Soon Justin and his father were having a very animated conversation about what had gone on that day. When the subject of why Justin refused to return to his cousin’s house came up, Justin was adamant about it. “They don’t care about me, Dad. I’m sure they agreed to watch me because you asked them, but once I was there I didn’t exist as far as they were concerned. They all had their own things to do, and none of them included me. When I am with Jason and his family, they at least care about me. Without Jason, Daniel, and Jason’s mom and dad, I would have never made it through today! Please don’t make me go back to the Burr house!”
Justin then talked to his mom for a while. He repeated a lot of the things he told his father, but toward the end told her, “I’m really tired of being left out of our family activities or being ignored. If you don’t want me around, maybe I could go live somewhere else!”
Upon overhearing that, Bill and Edith looked at each other with the unspoken thought of what have we gotten in the middle of?
Bill then got back on the line with Randall Thorne. “So everything is set for Justin to stay with us. Should I call the Burr’s about this, or would you prefer to? Okay, I will leave that to you. It would be good to get Justin’s things since he is spending the night. Here is our address.” After Randall wrote it down, Bill continued, “When you get back to San Francisco airport tomorrow, give me a call and I will give you directions to our house. We’ll see you tomorrow. No, it’s not an imposition. Justin is a very polite and nice kid, and the boys were planning to play baseball together today anyway. Okay, goodbye.”
While Bill Hunter and Justin were talking with Justin’s parents, Jason had gotten on his
cell phone and called Captain Antonio Garcia of the Silicon Valley police. Jason and Daniel had worked with Garcia on their past cases last year. Now Garcia had been named Chief of Detectives and promoted to the rank of captain. Jason didn’t immediately get through, so he left a message briefly outlining the day’s events. Within ten minutes, Captain Garcia had called back. “It sounds like you are getting involved in detective work again. Is Justin there? Good! I want you to stay put until I get there. I’ll be coming right over.”
About ten minutes later, an unmarked Silicon Valley police car pulled up into the driveway and Captain Garcia got out. He had a rugged, good looking face, an athletic physique, and permanent five o’clock shadow. After he knocked on the door, Jason was immediately there to answer it. “Lieutenant or I should correctly say, Captain Garcia. How are you? Congratulations on your promotion!” The two shook hands.
“It’s good to see you again, Jason, although that probably means some new crazy case! Thank you for the congratulations. I probably owe some of that promotion to you. Those two cases we were involved in last summer certainly didn’t hurt my profile in the department! And is your friend Daniel here, also? Hello, Daniel, good to see you again!” The two shook hands. Captain Garcia then acknowledged Jason’s parents. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter.” Greetings were exchanged and then the boys and Captain Garcia went into the dining room to meet with Justin. “And you must be Justin Thorne,” Captain Garcia said after introducing himself. “I am sorry to hear that you were a crime victim in our city today. Let’s see what we can do about solving it!”
Jason and Daniel went through the basics of what had happened that morning, and how they had to track down Justin, when he seemingly had disappeared. Then Captain Garcia had Justin tell his story as best he could from the beginning. Garcia had his notebook out and was taking notes as the boys were talking.
When they were finished, he said, “I suppose it does me no good to mention that you should have immediately called me at the scene of the crime, so we could get a team over there when everything was fresh.”
“We are aware of that, Captain,” Jason replied. “The problem was that Justin here was in such a state of distress and trauma that he could barely speak to us. Calling in squad cars, paramedics and a bunch of strangers all standing around watching him could have driven him into a coma. He was so upset, just bringing up the subject of what happened to him was causing him great emotional stress and we were people he knew. He had no clothing and had been attacked and left bound, gagged and blindfolded for several hours. We had to get him out of there for his own sanity! His parents were out of town, and he really needed tender loving care. Luckily, Mom was here and she took over and worked her magic. That is why you were just able to hear a coherent statement from our young friend, Justin. He has had a very rough time dealing with what happened to him, and at least here he feels at home and safe!
“Daniel and I would never try to disrupt an investigation and we certainly were careful not to disturb the crime scene, other than to release Justin and get him functioning again. You have to admit that this is a very strange case, Captain. Is this an example of a normal mugging?”
“Good point, Jason, it’s not. Normally the mugger wants to daze his victim, grab what he wants, and then get out of there as fast as he can. For the muggers to actually take their victim prisoner, bring him inside a building where something else was going down, and leave him there bound and gagged indicates that something much bigger was going on.
“The mugging itself appears to be the idea and work of those two kids. They must have been some sort of lookouts for the main guy you call Rubino. I don’t think that an adult would have any interest in kid-sized uniforms or athletic shoes. But why would they do something that would only in the long run bring attention to the other, bigger operation that was going on in the warehouse?”
“I remember now that the man they called Rubino was very angry at my two attackers,” Justin said, entering the conversation. “I overheard him chewing them out for being stupid and greedy. Those kids really wanted my clothing and shoes. They were especially mean and threatening in the way they took them from me!”
“The key point seems to be that the mugging wasn’t of great concern, but the fact that Justin would be able to report it to the authorities was,” Daniel said. “I think that he was tied up to prevent him from reporting the crime until whatever operation was going on in that warehouse was completed and the participants were long gone.”
“The important question becomes what was going on in the warehouse that was worth taking the chance of escalating a mugging into a kidnapping?” Captain Garcia stated.
“Tell Captain Garcia what you saw on the big truck, Justin,” Jason prompted his young friend.
“I didn’t see much, but I did see this big logo that said DCC,” Justin answered. “And when he talked to me he said something that sounded like ‘swordfish nachos.’”
“DCC?” Garcia asked. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“That’s what I saw, Captain. It had the letters DCC on it.”
“When we were searching the warehouse, we saw drops of white paint on the ground. I think Justin ran into the latest chip hijacking!” Jason stated. “A truckload of chips is a multi-million dollar theft most likely. That would explain why Justin was put on ice by the criminals.”
“Boys, if this is true, you have given me a great lead on the DCC case. I am going off now to check that out. But I am not done with Justin just yet. Tomorrow we will need for him to work with a sketch artist to see if he can come up with some likenesses of the criminals.”
“Can I make a suggestion on that, Captain,” Jason said. “Send your artist over early in the morning. Justin’s parents will be arriving back here around noon, and when they do you will have a whole new layer of complication to deal with after they get here.”
“Thanks for the tip and suggestion, Jason. That will save a lot of time.”
“We want to get to the bottom of this case just as much as you do, Captain.”
After Captain Garcia left, Jason said, “Justin, you did great making your statement, and helping out with the police investigation. I’m really proud of you! Now let’s do something fun. We were supposed to go play a little baseball today. There are several diamonds at the local elementary school playground. Let’s go play some ball until dinner time.” Jason found an old mitt in the closet that Justin could borrow. Then the three went over to the local elementary school playground and played some baseball. They took turns batting and fielding, and Justin had a great time. When they were finished, Jason said, “You know, you don’t need fancy equipment or clothing to have a good time, you just need the right people!”
Now it was time to go home. Daniel got on his bike to return to his house. Jason and Justin walked back to Jason’s home. When they arrived there, Edith was just finishing making dinner. Tonight she had prepared enchiladas, a green salad, and refried beans topped with cheese. “Wash up, boys!” she called out from the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready!”
At the dinner table it was quite obvious that Justin was in a lot better mood than before. He chatted along with the family about baseball and various shows on television. Bill Hunter mentioned that Justin’s cousin Jonathan had stopped by with his bag of clothing and other things. “He told me that he felt terrible about what had happened to you, and that no one in his family had been there for you when you needed them.”
After dinner Jason and Justin went up to Jason’s room and played some video games. They took a break and Jason asked Justin if he would like to talk about things. “Well, sure, Jason. What do you want to talk about?”
“After all of the things that have happened to you lately, and hearing about some of the problems that you are having with your family, I would imagine there are a lot of things that are troubling you. I can tell you that being a crime victim is really difficult to deal with. I can tell you these things not because I am some know it all or think
I have all the answers about life, but because I have experienced them myself.”
“What do you mean when you say being a crime victim is difficult?”
“Over the next few days and weeks your mind will play tricks on you, and you will go through all of these different emotions. There will even be times when you blame yourself for what happened today. This is just part of the recovery process. If you feel really stressed by this, don’t keep it inside. Talk to an adult you trust or go see a counselor for advice. It will really help you. Or talk to me. I would be glad to talk to you if there is no one else you can talk to.”
“Really, Jason? You would take time out for me?”
“Justin, I am your friend! Now we are not going to be total tight best friends because we are different ages, but there is no reason that we can’t stay in touch and continue to help each other out. I’ll never forget how much it meant to me when you gave me that baseball card and note after my kidnapping. I was still down about a lot of things, and we were still trying to solve the case. You sending me that card out of the blue was like a shot in the arm. And soon after that everything fell into place and the case was solved!
“Well, I did that because you helped me learn how to really play baseball. You didn’t have to do that, but you did, and it changed my life. Finally I could succeed at something that would give me some respect. That meant the world to me, Jason.”
“That is how the world of friendships works, Justin. You do something nice for someone and they return the favor. It doesn’t even have to be someone you know very well, but I guarantee that you are better for doing it. And that’s how you build up new friendships. Get out there and do something nice for someone. You do that enough times, and someone is bound to be touched by it, and then they want to be your friend.”
When The Chips Are Down Page 6