by Misty Malone
"No," she answered a bit shakily. "I'm just getting nervous. It's kind of all hitting me now."
John reached over and took her hand in his. "I'll be here, honey." He looked over at Kelli and added, "And so will Cal. I told the chief Cal knows as much about it as I do, so he agreed that Cal should be in on the conversation, as well." He told them both, "Just answer his questions honestly and as completely as you can. The more you can tell us the safer we can make this mission."
They had just finished dinner and cleaning up the kitchen when Chief Nelson and two other officers arrived. John invited them into the living room and they all sat down. John sat down next to Alana, holding her hand in his. Cal sat next to Kelli, also holding her hand. John introduced Chief Nelson, Lieutenant McConnell and Detective Moss to Cal and the ladies.
Chief Nelson tried to ease the girls' nerves by saying, "Let's just talk a little bit about what you heard. Would it be easier for you to just tell us the story, or would you rather we ask questions?"
The girls looked at each other, and Alana said, "Why don't I start telling you the story, and Kelli, if I forget something, jump in there. If you guys have questions, you can just jump in."
Lieutenant McConnell said, "Police officers have a habit of taking notes. Is that okay, or will it make you nervous?"
"No, that's fine," Alana said. She took a deep breath and started relating the story. Kelli added something occasionally, and the men interrupted now and then with a question. Soon they knew as much as the girls, though they kept asking questions for some time afterward.
Eventually the men thanked the ladies and told them if they thought of anything else to let John or any of them know, and left.
* * * * *
John and Joe were called in from their road patrol duties the next day to attend a meeting. Chief Nelson was there, as were Lieutenant McConnell and Detective Moss. There were also two other detectives, two more road officers and a sergeant. Chief Nelson said as way of introduction, "Men, I've assembled an elite group here to handle this case, but let me begin by saying nothing we say here leaves this room. No one is to say anything to anyone else. All three detectives that were assigned to this case are present, and the rest of you will be brought up to date on what we know so far. This information is to be kept between just us."
An hour later they had all agreed on a plan for the next evening, and everyone had their assignments. They were all to think over the plan today, and tomorrow they would meet again and go over any concerns anyone had thought of and make any adjustments they felt necessary. They would go over the plan again in more detail, and would be ready and in place by five o'clock.
Cal and Kelli came to Alana's apartment for dinner again that night. They ordered a pizza to eat while they talked. Cal and the girls were nervous about John's involvement in rounding up the thieves. John assured them, "I'll be fine. Rounding up thieves is part of what I do every day, you know."
"I know," Alana assured him, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it. And this one seems way too real."
"Tomorrow evening I don't want you anywhere near Newjangles. I know you're curious, but I want you to stay home where I know you're safe," John told her.
"I don't want to be home," Alana said.
Cal offered, "We can come over and keep you company tomorrow, Alana, if you don't want to be alone."
"It's not that I don't want to be here alone," she said. "I don't want to be here at all tomorrow night."
John looked at her curiously. "Why?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "I just don't want to be here. Sometimes I just have a feeling about something. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does, and it freaks me out enough that I don't question it any more. I just avoid the situation if it's possible. Tomorrow night I don't want to be alone, and I don't want to be here."
Kelli was watching Alana with her eyes wide. She told John, "When she gets a feeling, listen to her, John. When we were in college, a girl that lived down the hall from us in the dorm was going to go out to a party, and Alana tried to talk her out of it. She said she just had a feeling she shouldn't go. The girl laughed and said nonsense, and she went. Alana was afraid she'd drink too much and get a DUI or something like that, but she didn't drink at all. Someone ran a stop sign and hit her on her way home, though. She was in the hospital for a week."
"Any other similar incidents?" John asked.
The girls both thought a minute, and Kelli said, "Remember that time we drove to see my mom? We had to stay at a motel for the night. Mom said she always stayed at this one motel and it was pretty nice, always clean and not too expensive. So we stopped there, but when we got out to go in and register Alana stopped and took a long look at the motel. Then she said she didn't want to stay there. She didn't know why, but she didn't think we should stay there that night, so we went across the street and stayed at a different motel. It turns out they had a fire that night at the one we stopped at first."
Cal was shocked. "No kidding! John, if she says she doesn't want to stay here, I wouldn't argue the point. How about if I come get both you and Kelli tomorrow, Alana, and we'll go to my house. John, you can come over there when you're done and fill us all in on how it went. Does that work for everyone?"
"That sounds good. Thank you, Cal," Alana said.
"I appreciate it, too," John said. "Knowing how uneasy she feels about being here, I'll feel much better knowing she's with you at your house."
"Not a problem at all, big brother."
Kelli looked at him and said, "I wondered which one of you guys is older. I knew you had to be close in age. So John's the older one, huh?"
The brothers laughed and Cal explained, "Nope, it's kind of our joke since we were in high school. He's a year younger than me, but he's half an inch taller than me. He pointed out that technically he's the big brother, being bigger."
The girls giggled as Alana said, "So big brother isn't necessarily synonymous with older brother?"
"Not in our family," John answered with a smile.
That was just the thing the four of them needed to lighten the mood a bit, which was a good way to end the night.
After Cal and Kelli left, John took Alana in his arms to say goodnight. "Hey, don't look so worried," he told her, kissing the end of her nose. "I'll be fine."
"I know you're a good officer, but I—" She grinned at him mischievously and tried to make her voice sound like his as she repeated something he'd told her a few times. "I wouldn't worry about you so much if I didn't care about you."
He laughed out loud at her antics. "I have to say I know how you feel," he said quietly. "But I'll be careful, I promise. Then you and Kelli can be the heroes that overheard something you knew wasn't right and went to the police department with it, which led to us catching the jewel thieves that have been alluding everyone for some time now."
"I don't want to be a hero," she said.
"We can keep you and Kelli anonymous if you want."
"I'd much prefer that, and I'm sure she would, too."
"We can do that," he assured her. "I'll bet there's something else you won't want, either."
She cocked her head to the side, thinking. "What's that?"
He had a stern expression on his face as he answered, "The very sound spanking you're going to get after this is all over, for being at Newjangles that day to begin with."
She laid her face on his chest and burrowed into his arms, liking how they felt wrapped around her. "I really am sorry, John."
"Sorry you went or sorry you got caught?"
"Both," she said honestly, "but mostly sorry I went. Especially after all this happened," she admitted.
"We'll talk about it more after this is all over," he said, "but first things first. I say we don't even think about it until tomorrow night's over."
"I agree. Please call me as soon as you can when it's over tomorrow."
"I will, honey, I promise. And I'll go over to Cal's as soon as I can, as well, so you can see fo
r yourself that I'm fine."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." He leaned down and kissed her, taking control of the kiss from the beginning. He knew it made her feel secure when he took command of a situation, though he wasn't sure she'd realized it yet. He felt her relax in his arms, and transfer her worry to him. When he ended the kiss, he held her a moment to be sure she was steady before saying, "I'll be fine tomorrow, honey. Don't worry." She looked much more at ease when he left.
Chapter 9
Alana was glad they weren't real busy at work Friday because she was having trouble concentrating again. She woke up early with a weird feeling that she was missing something. The odd thing was she couldn't figure out what kind of something she was missing. She wasn't sure if it was something at work, something she was supposed to do and forgot, or something about what would be happening tonight. And that's the part that had her so upset.
John called her shortly after she got back from lunch. "Hi, honey. How's your day going?"
"It's going okay, except I keep thinking about you today instead of work."
He chuckled and said, "I mean that much to you, huh? You can't get me off your mind. A statement like that does a lot for a man's ego, honey."
She chuckled. "You know what I'm talking about." Getting serious then, she added, "But you do mean that much to me, John."
"Thank you, honey, I appreciate hearing that. You mean just as much to me, too, you know."
"Thank you."
"I don't have long, we're getting ready to go, but I just had to call and say hi. Don't worry. I'll call as soon as I can, and I'll see you at Cal's."
"Okay. Thanks for calling, John."
Alana stood staring at her phone after he hung up. She made it through the afternoon somehow and went home. She was ready when Cal and Kelli came to get her, but stopped as she was going out the door. "Just a minute, I forgot one thing. I'll be right back." She went back and retrieved the ruby from the wastebasket.
"Why are you taking that?" Kelli asked.
"It makes me feel closer to John tonight."
Kelli nodded. "I understand. Put it in your pocket or something, though, to make sure you don't lose it."
Alana thought a moment, then pulled her red hair back into a ponytail as she went into her bathroom. She came out a minute or two later with her hair up in a bun on top of her head. "Okay, I'm ready to go," she said.
Kelli shook her head. "I've always liked your hair like that, Alana. You know I think it's really cute, but tell me you didn't."
"Yep, it's in the middle of it," Kelli assured her. "As thick as my hair is, it'll never fall out."
Cal looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"
"Trust me, Cal. It's safer there than it is in my pocket."
"Okay, if you're sure."
Twenty minutes later they were at Cal's house, setting out the meal they'd stopped to pick up.
Alana was quiet during their meal, even though Cal and Kelli both tried to involve her in the conversation. Cal asked her, "Do you suppose if we put your meal in the refrigerator you'd eat it later, after John gets back?"
She looked up at him vaguely. "I'm sorry, did you say something to me?"
Cal studied her a minute and said, "Something's bothering you, isn't it? I mean, not just that John's at that stakeout tonight. What's wrong?"
Giving up any attempt at hiding her concern, Alana got up and started pacing as she explained, "I'm missing something."
"What do you mean, you're missing something? You've misplaced something?" Cal asked.
"No. There's something important that I've forgotten or overlooked."
"Something about the stakeout tonight?"
"I don't know! And it's driving me crazy!"
Cal thought a few moments. Okay, I've got an idea. We haven't talked about what you two heard for a couple days. Why don't you tell me everything you remember happening and everything you remember someone saying. If there's anything you've forgotten, if you mention it now maybe it'll jump out at me."
Alana looked leery, but Kelli suggested, "What do we have to lose? Besides, maybe it'll make the time pass quicker."
"That's a thought. Okay, sure. I always seem to start the story, Kelli. You start this time."
"Okay. Jump in there if I forget anything." Kelli started the story, with Cal and Alana listening carefully. When she got to the two men's conversation in the back room, right around the corner from where they were looking at shoes, Kelli paused.
"What's wrong?" Alana asked.
"I'm trying to remember who said what and in what order."
"The first thing I remember is when Jansen said Wilson was supposed to keep looking because The Sarge was upset."
"Oh, that's right," Kelli agreed. "He said The Sarge and Dex were not happy at all."
Alana jumped up. "Oh, my gosh, that's it! That's what I've been missing!"
"What?" Cal asked. "What have you been missing?"
"He said Dex was upset! Oh, no!"
Alana started to panic, but Cal got up and went to her. He took her shoulders in his hands and held her steady while saying, "Calm down, Alana. Take a deep breath and calm down."
She looked into his eyes and momentarily saw John. The brothers looked very similar, and for a moment she saw John's eyes, and it helped her calm down. When she was breathing a little better Cal said, "That's it, Alana. That's better. Now, what have you been missing?"
"Dex. Jansen said Dex is upset. Cal, he could have been talking about John's partner!"
Cal narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about? I thought John's partner was Joe."
"It is, but his full name is Dexter Joseph Decker. He and John grew up together. John said from the time he started school he went by his middle name. He said he hated the name Dexter, and he hated Dexter Decker even more. So everyone called him Joe. When he joined the police force, most people called him Joe, but some of his superiors that didn't know him called him Dexter, or shortened it to Dex. John said Joe wasn't about to correct his bosses, so some of them still call him Dex. Cal, he could have been referring to Joe."
Alana was starting to panic again, and pacing. She said, "In fact, they more than likely were talking about Joe. Who else would be referred to as Dex?" With panic-stricken eyes she headed quickly for the door. "That would mean John's partner is in on this! I've got to get down there and warn him. John could be in real danger!"
Cal took Alana by her shoulders again and caught her eyes with his. "Alana, listen to me. To help John now, you have to calm down. Take another breath, and stay calm so you can help me here."
She knew he was right, and forced herself to take several deep, calming breaths. "Okay. I'm okay now. Cal, what can we do?"
"Are you calmed down now? Are you going to stay here if I let go of your shoulders?"
"Yes, I'll stay here. I'm sorry, Cal. I panicked."
"That's okay, but promise me you'll stay calm and stay here. Going down there would put John in way more danger, believe me."
"Okay, I see that. I'll stay here."
"Okay. Now, the first thing I'm going to do is call the FBI. I'm sure they'll want to talk to you two, but we have to do all this very quickly."
Ten minutes later a knock sounded on Cal's door. He went to the door and opened it after seeing the FBI badge of the man standing on his porch.
"Come on in, Officer. I'm Cal Humphries, this is Alana Carpenter and Kelli Anderson."
"Nice to meet all of you. I'm Captain Tom Wallace. Two more agents will be here within a matter of minutes, but let's go ahead and get started. We have to move quickly."
They sat down on the couch and Captain Wallace explained, "We followed this case up until there seemed to be a connection here locally. Then it was turned over to the local police department, and they've taken the lead from there. Obviously that was a mistake on our part. But we do have background information on the case, so we're not completely in the blind here. Now, we need to start from the beginning of your
involvement to bring us up to date, but I want to wait for the other two agents. There's a team of men being assembled even as we speak, and as soon as we have all the info we'll get them out there."
The doorbell rang again and Captain Wallace said, "I'll get it, I know who's coming." He went to the door and came back with two men. "Folks, this is Agent Brad Barstow, and Agent Larry Kline. This is Cal, Kelli and Alana. Let's all sit down and get started."
The girls told their story yet again, while the three men listened and took a few notes. They asked a few questions, then Captain Wallace made a call. He put his phone on speaker, and said, "Folks, the man on the other end of this phone is Lieutenant Ed Berry. He'll be coordinating things from the office.
"Ed, here's what we have." He relayed everything to him, along with the ideas he and the two agents at Cal's house had come up with."
Lieutenant Berry asked, "Is there some way we can get ahold of John, to let him know what's going on?"
"I can try texting him," Alana offered.
"Texting is probably going to be our most likely way of reaching him, but I don't want anyone texting anything that would alert anyone else who saw his phone that we're on to them. That could put John in danger, if his partner or anyone else saw it. Is there any way you can get him to call you, but make sure he knows it's imperative that he's alone when he calls?"
Cal suggested, "When we were kids we used to play cops a lot and we developed our own sort of code. I could try that, see if he remembers and picks up on it."
"What was the code?" Captain Wallace asked.
"If we put something in the message that was not true but not everyone would know it wasn't true, it meant urgent. Then the phrase 'when you have a minute to yourself' meant it was top secret, no one else could know or hear."
Captain Wallace smiled. "You guys were serious about playing cops."
"John has never wanted to be anything but a cop. We had quite an elaborate code worked out, and only the two of us knew it."
"It's actually a pretty good code. Go ahead and give it a try, see if he responds."