Jeremy looks around and notices that much like the evening before the coffee shop is almost deserted. Jeremy is beside himself to be sitting with Tara, it is surreal, but he knows more than that. Jeremy understands the moment and asks, ‘Tell me about you?’ Tara looks blank, continues to smile and then replies, ‘I know who you are Jeremy, I have seen you, there is no need to question me, and I like you!’ Jeremy is taken back, flattered and feels a little guilty that he may be taking advantage of Tara. ‘I like you too but until now was unaware that you even knew who I was?’ ‘Don’t be silly it’s still a small community around here and yes I have seen you.’ Jeremy blushes and Tara smiles offering support.
Tara opens up, ‘Oh I am uncomplicated’, and giggles. ‘Typical mixed up child from a relationship where my mother married the wrong man, who was jailed for a jewellery heist, did time for ten years and then didn’t want to know either of us………you know, it’s pretty straight forward.’, she giggles but seems to hold back and sighs at the same time. ‘So tell me do you want to catch up with your father, or is that not on your wish list?’ Jeremy asks. Tara looks into her coffee before taking a sip, ‘Oh, it’s definitely something that bothers me……..definitely. I mean who doesn’t want to know their father? Sure, he may have done the wrong thing………’ She, pauses and for a moment, becomes emotional and has to take a breath before adding, ‘But he is still my dad, and YES I want to connect with him – why wouldn’t I?’ Jeremy could see the pain in Tara’s face and the tears that slowly weep from the edges of her eyes. He really wants to wrap her up in his arms, but knows that it is not the right time. It isn’t and Tara sits there looks up at Jeremy and again smiles, as she wipes her tears discreetly and tries to cover up any emotion. She is lovely and Jeremy is totally smitten, he wants to help.
Tara shares with Jeremy that her mother Marilyn Shield was married to Michael Tsari, who in January 1996 was convicted for ten years for a major jewellery heist in Chicago. Her mother later divorced Michael Tsari given his criminal record, and long term sentence in jail. Tara concedes that she has never met her father and given her mother’s advice that Michael Tsari has no desire to meet, nor acknowledge her, she has not pursued contact. Tara however is clearly unsure and as she had grown older has become more and more curious about her father.
Jeremy hangs off every word and like a smitten kitten is delighted to be sitting chatting to Tara. He understands the circumstances but draws comfort that she knows who he is and ‘likes him’. Wow he thinks ………she likes me. Jeremy is content. Tara says her goodbye and walks out of the coffee shop and like the evening before Jeremy watches her head off through the large coffee shop window. Jeremy finishes his coffee and follows only a few steps behind. As he thinks and focuses on Tara’s mother Marilyn Shield, he looks up only to notice that again Tara has disappeared. Jeremy is slowly starting to understand his power.
He focuses again, on Marilyn Shield and without thought walks and walks until he comes face to face with a large red door of an apartment. Jeremy really doesn’t know why he is where he is, but he knows that behind the door is Marilyn Shield. He knocks on the door and within seconds Marilyn opens the door, smiles and to Jeremy’s surprise adds, ‘Hello Jeremy, I have been expecting you!’ Jeremy smiles and says ‘It’s lovely to meet you Mrs. Shield.’ Call me Marilyn she laughs, and come in, let’s talk.’
Jeremy ponders the power of thought, the power of focusing and realises that he can summons those he wants. The sound of voices in his head too, he surmises are people asleep and dreaming. Perhaps some are calling out to him and in due course he is comfortable that he will work that out too. He focusses on Marilyn and opens the conversation with ‘I have just seen your daughter Tara, Marilyn. She is a really lovely young lady and I enjoy her company.’ ‘Yes she is, and she is growing up. We don’t necessarily see each other that often but she doesn’t live that far away, so I suppose you tend to take it even more for granted when you live close’, she laughs. ‘But yes she has grown up and I am very proud of her.’ ‘Marilyn, I gather that Tara hasn’t seen her father for some time? She tells me that her father was in prison and despite his past she would still like to reach out to him.’ Marilyn ponders and then adds ‘Yes – he was in prison, Michael Tsari is his name and there is little to be gained by Tara meeting him. I am not sure that would be wise’, Marilyn angrily replies.
Marilyn sits and thinks for a while, there is silence and then she adds, ‘you know Jeremy when Michael went to jail I divorced him’ Jeremy adds ‘Yes – I was aware Marilyn. I did hear that’ ‘I had an affair and by the time Michael was sent to jail our marriage was essentially over anyway. It made sense to divorce as we had fallen out of love many years prior.’ Jeremy is taken aback by Marilyn’s admission and he looks on as the middle aged woman just stares at the lace table cloth in front of her. ‘Yes, I met a lovely man, lovely but sadly he could not commit and he went back to his wife and I have been alone and single ever since.’ ‘Tony broke my heart, he really did but he went back to his wife and it ended. Ended suddenly and Tony ….Tony Draper is his name, well…..Tony doesn’t even want to recognise that we were together, he doesn’t want to recognise anything we shared.’ Jeremy really feels now that Marilyn is pouring her heart out and much like he wanted to hug Tara, when she was emotional earlier, he similarly feels the same for Marilyn.
The two continue to chat for a while but Jeremy knows that it is time to move on and so he politely says his goodbye to Marilyn and she in turn politely walks him to the door. Jeremy soon finds himself again wandering the street, not really knowing why or where he is heading. Again he focuses, he focuses on Michael Tsari. It scares him a bit and he wonders whether a meeting with a convicted criminal is wise, but nonetheless he focuses and focuses, and soon finds himself in a park and can hear the eerie sound of children’s play swings squeaking as the wind blows them back and forth. A scruffy middle aged man, thick set, with two or three days growth on his face, a beanie on head walks towards him. It’s Michael Tsari, Jeremy knows it is. To Jeremy’s surprise the man sticks out his hand offering to shake Jeremy’s hand, and his whole face lights up as he introduces himself, ‘Hi Jeremy I am Michael.’
‘Lovely to meet you Michael, I know your ex-wife and daughter. How are you doing these days?’ Michael sits down next to Jeremy on the park bench and ponders before slowly answering, ‘Well I would be lying if I said that I am in a happy place.’ Michael half chuckles as he replies, ‘I suppose a jail sentence doesn’t necessarily help towards these things.’ He looks sideways to face Jeremy as if to seek support before continuing. ‘Let’s just say that there is more to the story than most people know and to a very large extent it doesn’t matter, and time will not undo what has occurred.’ Jeremy is curious, doesn’t speak and allows Michael to continue.
‘What if I surprised you and said that I was not alone…….I was never alone, there were accomplices when The Big Diamond Jewellery store was done over back in May ’95. In fact Marilyn was no shrinking violet and she aided Draper and that other worm Brad Young.’ Jeremy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘What do you mean? What are you saying, Michael’ he asks? ‘Exactly what I just told you’, a more gruff and angry Michael retorts. ‘The cops, the court they all knew that I didn’t do it alone but they could only ever pin it on me because Marilyn concocted an alibi for Draper…….they were having an affair for God’s sake and then Young’s mother made up some cock and bull story that he was away with her at the time. It’s all wrong, it’s just bloody wrong, but hey that’s the world we live in today.’ Jeremy could see the anger in Michael and he was shocked to hear that this man had taken the wrap and was jailed whilst the others ran free. Whoa, it’s unbelievable.
Chapter 4
Jeremy wakes and recollects the night before. Wow, what a night he thinks. He prepares for work and then heads off to the office. Like most days his routine is unchanged, a newspaper from the Corner Store and then crosses the road to the Old Coffee Stop.
As he walks in he spots Tara. He is nervous at first but then with a little courage walks over as she waits in line for her coffee, and politely adds ‘Good morning Tara, how are you today?’ Tara’s face lights up. She is surprised to hear Jeremy address her. She smiles and in a softly spoken voice, replies ‘I am well…..really well Jeremy, how are you?’ Jeremy remembers her words from the night before and her admission that she liked him. ‘Got time for a coffee and chat?’ he asks as he points to a spare table near the window. ‘Oh, yes…..yes I do’, Tara replies.
The pair nervously exchange light banter and both are stammering and stuttering, but Jeremy is excited to be in Tara’s company. It’s a start and Jeremy thinks to himself as he listens to Tara, that this may just be the start of something really good. He hopes at least. Jeremy has to get to work although he clearly doesn’t want to leave Tara, and he knows too that she would have to do the same. ‘Tara, we both have to start our day and I would love to chat for hours but can I be bold and ask if you would join me for dinner one evening?’ Tara looks up, smiles and adds, ‘Yes, why not.’ Jeremy tries to hide his excitement. ‘Well, ..what say.’ He starts to reply before Tara interrupts, ‘I am sorry Jeremy, let’s talk later as I really need to rush to work’, before standing up and walking towards the door and hurrying off to Waterman’s Downtown store. Jeremy sits for a moment, smiles and although a little disappointed, draws comfort from the positives and thinks to himself that it is a start.
Jeremy almost floats to the office as he thinks about Tara, and then ponders his busy day ahead. He is excited. Caroline James-Smith is first to greet Jeremy as he enters Carter Gibson’s offices. ‘Hello, Jeremy’, a bright and very bubbly Caroline almost yells as he enters the building. ‘How are you this morning?’ Jeremy is still smiling widely and whispers in her ear ‘Guess who I just had a coffee with?’ ‘Tara?’ she quips back quickly. Jeremy is shocked but still smiling, turns to Caroline and says ‘How on earth did you know that it was Tara?’ ‘Oh please…..geez Jeremy; it isn’t exactly a big secret that you are holding a candle for Tara. In fact I think the whole office knows.’ Caroline sighs and then adds, ‘probably almost like everyone knows that I have a ‘thing’ for Troy.’ Jeremy turns and says ‘Yes, well high time the two of you just went out and sorted that little one out isn’t it?’
As Jeremy walks to his workstation Matthew his boss pokes his head out of his office and waving his arm in his direction yells, ‘Jeremy…..got a minute?’ Jeremy walks into Matthew’s office, sits down and the pair start to go over some briefing notes relating to a client that is due in this morning. Jeremy however is distracted and after chatting briefly, notices that Matthew is wearing a new watch. ‘Is that a new watch Matthew? A Tag Heuer Carrera wow very nice.’ Matthew beams, ‘Yeah it’s actually my ten year anniversary with Carter Gibson and I decided that as the Senior Partners probably won’t recognise that I have been here that long, I may as well treat myself. So I bought this from the Big Diamond Jewellery store as a present to myself. What do you think?’ Matthew asks, as he shoves his wrist in front of Jeremy.
‘The Big Diamond Jewellery store! Gee that’s a store with a big reputation isn’t it?’ Jeremy adds. Matthew laughs, looks Jeremy in the eye and then retorts, ‘Well yes it is and probably one store that Carter Gibson would prefer to forget.’ ‘Why’s that? Jeremy questions. ‘Before your time Jeremy but interestingly enough it was one of the first big cases that Carter Gibson worked on around the time I started. Bad memories because for the Senior Partners the case was never really solved and it is fair to say that the likes of Brian Topping feel it was an opportunity missed, and didn’t necessarily reflect well upon the firm and its ability to wrap up a major crime. To this day it is largely felt that there were inconsistencies in the trial, information that didn’t come out and yes it’s a case that normally no one in here wants to talk of.’ Jeremy takes it all in and was now even more curious.
The pair talk for ages about the Big Diamond Jewellery store before Matthew reminds Jeremy that they need to go over file notes in preparation for the client interview that morning. Jeremy didn’t really glean much more about the Big Diamond Jewellery store than he already knew, but he was unaware that the heist was a case Carter Gibson was involved with, or that it held such unpleasant memories for the firm until now.
The day seems to drag for Jeremy. He can’t wait to see Tara again, and wants to ask her out. Was she evasive? Jeremy reminds himself that Tara had to rush to work and in any event she did say that she would join him for dinner one evening. He smiles and concedes that he would just have to be patient.
Jeremy slowly walks home reliving his day as he walks.
Chapter 5
For Jeremy though the evening is to start all over. No sooner in bed and in between thoughts of Tara, Jeremy also spends time thinking about his discussion with his boss. Until today he was unaware that Carter Gibson was associated with the Big Diamond Jewellery store and that topic too was replayed over and over in his mind. Jeremy is tiring but he decides to concentrate his thoughts on a new subject – Tony Draper. Michael Tsari had shared that he wasn’t alone so it really did make sense to find out the thoughts of Tony Draper, he thinks to himself. His eyes become heavier but he focuses on Tony Draper. He focuses hard.
Jeremy soon finds himself walking down a road that he knows he has never been down before. He walks and walks and then he faces an apartment block and walks into the front entrance of 26 Cheltenham Parade Elmwood Park Chicago. The address is emblazoned over the small porch that protects the entrance. On the directory he looks down and there on the security panel are the names, Tony and Julie Draper, Unit 4. No sooner has he entered the building, and the security door opens allowing Jeremy to proceed down the passage way to Unit 4. He knocks on the door and a big burley man with a bald head and deep voice opens the door and greets Jeremy. ‘Come on in’ Tony Draper offers. Jeremy realises that his power to summons individuals also provides a willing subject and Tony Draper is no exception.
‘The wife is away at present so I am batching,’ Tony offers. Jeremy wastes no time and straight away poses his first question. ‘Tell me Tony, what do you know about the Big Diamond Jewellery store heist?’ ‘Everything…….everything, why wouldn’t I?’ Tony replies. ‘So you were there Tony? I mean you played a role in the heist?’ Jeremy quizzes as he nervously awaits Tony’s response. Tony looks Jeremy in the eye and then proudly declares ‘Yeah I was there’ He pauses and then adds ‘Well I was there but according to history I wasn’t’, he laughs. Tony then walks over to a large antique desk that is in the corner of the room and placed neatly upon it is a banker’s lamp. It is the only item on a very tidy desktop. Tony looks at Jeremy as he turns the lamp upside down, removes a small key embedded in the felt lining, and then unlocks the small drawer underneath the desk. Tony doesn’t talk but beckons for Jeremy to come closer gesturing with his right arm. Jeremy walks closer and Tony pulls out a pile of papers that are maps of the underground area and surrounding shops. On several of the papers the words ‘Big Diamond’ is marked in pencil.
Jeremy thinks to himself that it is almost as if Tony wants to prove his involvement. Jeremy rifles through the papers with Tony, as Tony points to several papers that outline detailed plans to drill into the wall from the shop adjoining the jewellery store. ‘Yeah, there were three of us. One man alone couldn’t have done this…..but those coppers knew that.’ Tony laughed as he shared the story. Jeremy looks down into the drawer and notices loose diamonds and a large glittery ladies choker covered in diamonds. Tony notices Jeremy’s eyes hone in on the drawer and then quickly closing it shut, adds ‘You can’t blame a guy for keeping some memories’, he laughs as he defends himself. Jeremy is curious though and after some thought he says to Tony, ‘Why then have you kept all of this information? I mean the detailed notes and the jewels?’ Tony pauses and then he stands and looks at Jeremy. ‘Memories, I suppose. Like I told you! Besides that was ten years ago and the heats off.’ ‘So you a
re okay with one man taking the wrap, whilst you and Brad Young got off?’ Jeremy asks.
‘Yeah I sleep pretty good’, Tony responds proudly with a chuckle. ‘We were just smarter than Michael and arranged some Alibi’s. It’s not rocket science and besides it wasn’t as if he wasn’t there.’ ‘The cops knocked on our doors the following day and Youngy and I were ……..well we had our cover lined up’, Tony responds again content with his defense. Jeremy is a little in disbelief and can’t quite understand Tony’s attitude but it is clear that Tony is comfortable with the outcome.
Jeremy is satisfied with what he has uncovered but has one more burning issue that he is keen to get answers to. ‘Tony, tell me about Marilyn Shield? You seemed to disown her yet she defended you. I mean she was your alibi.’ ‘Yeah she was my alibi and yes we were close. I mean we shared a lot more than just an affair, we were together for some time you know’, Tony adds in a softly spoken voice that almost defies his character. ‘The thing is though, I had a chance. I had a chance to go back to my wife and that could only occur if I put Marilyn completely out of our life. And I did.’
Jeremy says his good bye to Tony and meanders his way back to his apartment. It has been a long day. Without even thinking he places his finger in his ear and tried to numb the voices that are again in his head. He thinks for a moment and as he walks he ponders whether his power of summonsing individuals also means that people could summons him? He ponders it and then decides to clear his mind of all thoughts.
Jeremy walks still keeping his head clear of any distraction. He soon faces a door that is attached to a small cottage. He knocks and just like earlier, the door is answered, and a middle aged woman who introduces herself as Sara invites him in. I am Sara Worthington she adds speaking softly and with a slight Irish accent. Jeremy smiles at Sara and notices her good looks. She is aged probably around fifty and is immaculately groomed, and well attired. Jeremy is in unchartered waters. All of his dreams that he had entered until now were people he had summoned, and Sara is a voice in his head who has seemingly summoned him. ‘What is troubling you Sara?’ Jeremy thinks is a good place to start. ‘Oh, I am lost, alone and my husband passed away several years ago.’ Sara adds. Jeremy is sad to hear of Sara’s plight and thinks that all he can do is listen and be someone for her to download her thoughts with.
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