Double Trouble

by Scott Wittenburg

  “Okay, I hear you,” she replied. “I’ll tell him you’re too busy. Thanks, anyway.”

  The disappointment in her voice seemed to pour out of the phone and envelope him. He glanced at Amanda who was trying her best to appear passive.

  “I don’t know why I suddenly feel so damn guilty,” he groaned. “What’s this guy’s name, anyway? Where does he live?”

  “Ron Fleming. He lives in Massachusetts—just outside of Boston.”

  “Would Mr. Fleming settle for a call instead? A meeting right now is definitely out of the question.”

  “That would be better than nothing. I’m sorry to put you on the spot like this but Ron has been an absolute godsend in our fight against trafficking. Not only has he managed to put a serious dent in it, he’s quite frankly one of our biggest contributors. There, I’ve said it—now you know why I’m pressing you so hard. Call me selfish.”

  “Aha, now we’re seeing the light!” he joked. “Okay, I’ll listen to what the man has to say. Just make sure you stress that I’m on a case right now and he’s going to have to accept that.”

  “I’ll call him back right now—you should hear back from him very soon. Thanks my friend, I owe you one.”

  “Actually, I think we’re up to two,” Alan quipped, recalling the other case she had talked him into taking. “You never paid me back for the first one.”

  “Two it is then. Thanks again.”

  As he disconnected Alan wondered what he was getting himself into. Beth Lindsay was an old friend who wrote and lectured on the exploitation of women and children through human trafficking. She was passionate about her work and he had become an advocate himself after rescuing six young eastern European girls who had been trafficked into the country. In the process he had also exposed a major Russian trafficking ring, which led to the arrest of two of the gang’s kingpins, currently being held in federal prison awaiting trial.

  As much as he wanted to do a favor for Beth, the timing couldn’t be worse.

  “What was that all about?” Amanda asked.

  “That was an old friend of mine, Beth Lindsay. She’s the woman who inducted me into the search for those Ukrainian girls that were abducted and trafficked last year. Wants me to consider taking another case from some retiree who apparently specializes in human trafficking.”

  “You going to take it?”

  “I don’t see how I possibly can. Not with this case just starting to heat up.”

  “Maybe I could keep working this while you take the other one. If you want to take it, that is. And if you think I can handle it.”

  “Jesus, Amanda. I couldn’t do that. As much as I have faith in your abilities, I wouldn’t feel right leaving you in a lurch. For that matter, I don’t even know what all is involved in this new case. Whatever it entails, it will have to wait.”

  Alan could tell she was disappointed and he wondered why she seemed so willing to let him bail out when saving Nick meant so much to her. Was she really that generous or was it something else? He had no idea. Maybe she simply didn’t want to keep him from doing something he felt was important on her account.

  “Want to go grab a sandwich and a cup of coffee?” he said.

  “Yes, I could eat a horse.”

  “Great, I’ll drive.”

  “There used to be an old hamburger joint not far from here. Best burgers in the world.”

  “Perfect, let’s do it.”

  As she gave him directions, Alan’s mind was on overload. He knew that until he heard from Ron Fleming he was going to feel anxious. As if on cue the sound of his phone suddenly came via Bluetooth through the car’s speakers.

  “Alan Swansea,” he answered.

  “Hello, Mr. Swansea, This is Ron Fleming. Beth Lindsay gave me your number. Do you have a moment?”

  “Sure, Mr. Fleming. Beth told me you’d be calling.”

  “I’d like to explain up front why I’d prefer meeting with you in person as opposed to talking on the phone. I’m working on a case that is extremely important and involves some people who, shall we say, aren’t above hacking into cellphone conversations? I know for a fact that my phone is secure but I doubt the same can be said for yours. I cannot risk jeopardizing this case by taking any unnecessary chances. I hope you understand.”

  “I understand. But I hope you understand that I’m not in a position to leave the case I’m working on to meet with you. It just isn’t possible.”

  “Of course, so I would like to propose a simple solution. If you wouldn’t mind purchasing a prepaid cellphone, I would be more than happy to pay you back for it. Then we can speak freely and afterwards you can simply destroy the thing.”

  Alan wondered who or what could possibly be threatening enough to make Fleming so paranoid. Whatever it was, it looked like the only way was going to find out was to go buy a burner.

  “Okay, fair enough. Give me an hour and I’ll call you back.”

  “Excellent. Have you got a pen handy? I’ll give you the number.”

  “I already have your number in my phone’s recent calls,” Alan said.

  “You have the number for this phone, which will be toast after we get off. I’m giving you the number of a different secure phone.”

  This seemed so ridiculous that he almost broke out laughing. Fleming is either a drama king or has read one too many espionage stories, he thought. He looked over at Amanda who had already taken out a pen and scrap of paper from her pocket, poised to write.

  “Okay, we’re ready to go. What’s the number?”

  “Who are ‘we?’ You’re not alone?”

  “No, I’m not. ‘We’ would be myself and my colleague,” Alan replied sharply.

  “I’d prefer you to be alone, Mr. Swansea. If you don’t mind.”

  “Listen, Mr. Fleming, I’m beginning to run out of patience with this cloak and dagger routine. You can either give me the number now or find somebody else to play James Bond with.”

  There was a brief pause. “Very well, then. I can see that this is getting on your nerves so I’ll proceed anyway. After you hear what I have to say, maybe you’ll understand why I’m being so cautious.”

  He read off the number as Amanda jotted it down.

  “Thanks for your patience, Mr. Swansea. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  “Good-bye.”

  Alan disconnected. “This guy sounds like some kind of nut. If it weren’t for Beth, I’d tell him to go fly a kite.”

  “Please don’t get mad at me, but maybe you’re overreacting. I mean, there may be a very good reason why the guy is being so cautious.”

  Alan was surprised at how seriously she was assessing the situation. Funny thing was, she had a valid point.

  “You’re right. Guess I’ll reserve judgment until after we’ve heard the facts. Is there a Walmart or Target nearby?”

  Amanda promptly Googled Walmart on her phone. “There’s a Walmart on Tenth Street.

  “Let’s go buy a cheap cellphone.”

  CHAPTER 10

  After a quick lunch at Ye Old Hamburger Inn, Alan and Amanda went to Walmart and purchased a pre-paid cellphone. Alan hooked the phone up to the car’s charger, punched in the necessary info to enable the phone to operate and called the number Ron Fleming had given him.

  “Fleming,” he heard over the line.

  “Alan Swansea calling.”

  “From your new phone?”

  “Yes, fresh out of the box.”

  “Wonderful. I realized after we spoke earlier that you must think that I’m some sort of a crazy person taking so many precautions. And I wouldn’t blame you a bit. But in my defense, my former colleague was shot and seriously wounded last week while working this case. And I have surmised that there’s only one way the bad guys could ever have found him out: by hacking his cellphone. This unfortunate incident could have been avoided had we not used our conventional cellphones in our communication. Now you know why I have asked you to take this extra precaution, Mr. Swansea
.”

  This is some serious shit, he thought. And this guy actually expects him to take over for his wounded partner?

  “I see your reasoning now,” he said. “So what’s this all about, Mr. Fleming?”

  “Please call me Ron. My problem is trying to explain the situation over the phone—it would be much easier to simply show you. My hope is that I can persuade you to meet me by the end of this conversation.”

  “I’m all ears, Ron.”

  He heard the man take in a deep breath. “The case I’m working on involves the trafficking of very young children who are being abducted and exploited for sex. My colleague has been in Florida investigating a powerful ring of traffickers that have been abducting children all over the Southeast and transporting them to Miami until they are eventually sold to the highest bidders. Many of these kids are as young as four years old and will ultimately face the inevitable fate of being either rented out or sold for sex or used in the production of kiddie porn. The sheer number of these exploited children in this single operation is absolutely staggering, Mr. Swansea.”

  “Jesus,” Alan breathed. “That’s deplorable. But how do you think I can be of any help with this? I hardly think myself qualified on the merit of just one lucky case.”

  “Oh, but you are qualified, Alan—much more than you realize. You see, we have reason to believe that some of these children have been sold to a certain party or parties in Columbus, your very own stomping grounds.”

  “That’s certainly a shock. Any idea who?”

  “Not a clue. It is my hope that you’ll be the one who finds out.”

  Alan would be fooling himself to think this wasn’t tempting. Imagining this sort of thing going on was horrific enough. But finding out it’s happening so close to home would be enough to make anybody with a conscience want to retaliate.

  Fleming certainly knew what buttons to push.

  “How soon would you need me?” he asked.

  “Immediately.”

  “Can’t it wait? I can’t just chuck the case I’m on right now. It wouldn’t be fair to my client.”

  “Couldn’t Ms. Linville take over the case for you?”

  Alan froze. How in the fuck did he know Amanda’s name? He knew for a fact he hadn’t told him.

  “How may I ask, do you know my partner’s name?”

  “I actually know quite a bit about both of you.”

  “But how?”

  “Come up to Boston and I’ll show you.”

  “So what else do you know?”

  Fleming sighed, rattling off his knowledge as if reading a shopping list. “You’re working for Ms. Linville’s uncle, who is an attorney in her hometown. He is representing a childhood friend of hers—Nick Wilburn—who is highly suspected by the authorities to have murdered his ex-wife. Shall I go on?”

  Alan was stunned. “That is, uh, rather disturbing,” He managed to say. “I don’t suppose you have a crystal ball, do you?”

  Fleming chuckled. “No crystal ball. The future is still out of my range. But I may have the next best thing.”

  “Which you aren’t going to divulge.”

  “As I said, come up here and I’ll show you everything. I can have a ticket waiting for you at Port Columbus International by the time you make the drive. How about it?”

  Alan recalled Beth saying that Ron Fleming was wealthy. That he was desperate and willing to pay a king’s ransom to have him take this case. But he wants to meet you yesterday, was how she’d put it.

  He had a feeling that Fleming wouldn’t take no for an answer. He also knew that if he turned him down, he would probably regret it. He would always wonder what he might have possibly done to help these innocent children if only he had accepted. Always wonder why Ron Fleming did what he did—the story behind his cause. Always wonder how in the hell Fleming knew what he and Amanda were doing—as if he were some kind of psychic.

  He looked over at Amanda. He saw an intelligent, resourceful person who could certainly take over the Wilburn case while he met Fleming to see what this trafficking thing is all about. Couldn’t take more than a day or two. Then he would return to Milldale and take it from there.

  “Can I call you back in a few minutes?” he finally said.

  “Certainly. I realize that you need to discuss this. I’ll be standing by.”

  “Thanks.”

  Alan disconnected. “Here’s the deal,” he said. “Fleming has been working on a case involving sex trafficking of young children down in Miami. His partner was evidently shot by this gang just as he was making some serious progress. And guess where some of these kids are being shipped to?”

  “Where?”

  “Columbus. Which is why he’s so keen on my working this thing. He wants me to meet him up in Massachusetts to go over the particulars. Won’t budge on that. Says he’ll have a plane ticket waiting for me if I leave now. My question to you: what are your thoughts about this and do you truly think you can handle things here until I get back, say in a day or two?”

  “Definitely. I’ll continue with my investigation of Blaine and see what I can find out about Sheriff Foley. Shouldn’t be that hard to do.”

  “Hold off on Foley. The guy is a trained law officer despite the fact he’s an irrepressible slob. He would very likely find out if you go poking around trying to dig something up on him. It’s just too risky. But what you could do besides scope out Blaine is see if there’s anything important on that memory card. Maybe there’s something worth pursuing. You could also do some follow-up in the event my hacker friend finds anything useful on Jodi’s laptop. That should keep you busy enough.”

  “Sounds like a plan. And don’t worry, I’ll let you know if I run into any snags or have any questions.”

  “You’d better,” he said. “Want to hear something scary?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Fleming knows about Jodi’s murder and why we’re down here. I have no idea how he knows, but he does. Creepy, eh?”

  “Shit, I’ll say! I wonder how he knows? And he lives up in Massachusetts? Seems impossible.”

  “For real. He’s promised to let me in on his little secret when I get there. Gotta say, that’s half the reason I’m actually considering this.”

  “But what about his partner getting shot in action? That sounds really dangerous, Alan. You have to promise me you won’t let yourself get talked into doing anything risky, okay?”

  “Don’t worry. As much as I want to explore what this is all about, I have zero desire to get myself killed. What I’ll do is listen to what Fleming has to say and take it from there. If it doesn’t feel right, I’m going to pass on it. Period.”

  “Just remember you told me that,” she asserted.

  “What about your uncle? I have to let him know.”

  “Yes, you should call him.”

  Alan picked up his iPhone. “Ken, it’s Alan. Something’s come up.”

  He proceeded to explain the situation and was relieved that the attorney understood the scope of the situation. Barker’s only request was for Alan to stay in close touch.

  He then called Fleming on the burner and told him he would accept the invitation to meet and that he’d be heading for Columbus as soon as possible. Ron Fleming was delighted and clearly relieved.

  * * *

  Alan pulled into his driveway and parked behind Rachel Warren’s Ford Escort. The front door swung open and out came a frisky border collie mix dashing toward him as fast as her legs could carry her.

  “Hey Pan, how are ya, girl?”

  He knelt and let his rescue dog give him a big wet kiss on the nose.

  “Hi,” Rachel greeted, making her way over to meet him.

  “Hi, Rachel.”

  “I just got back from giving Pan a walk. How was your trip?”

  “Shorter than I though it would be,” he replied. “But like I told you, I’ve got to turn around and leave again.”

  “No problem. I’ll house sit as long as you need m
e to.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Alan led the way inside his Clintonville home and made a beeline for the fridge. He got out an ice cold Yeungling, removed the cap and took a hefty swig.

  “Has Pan been a good girl?”

  She nodded. “Yup. She missed you though, that’s for sure.”

  “I missed her, too. She’s the only family I have.”

  Rachel’s expression turned glum. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Swansea.”

  One of the girl’s endearing traits was her empathy for animals, including the human kind. He now realized that she was apologizing for the loss of his wife, while all he had intended to do was make light of the present situation.

  “You don’t need to be sorry—I was just saying that for Pan’s sake. Don’t want her to think she’s not part of the family!”

  “Oh, I see,” she replied, laughing.

  “I’m going upstairs to get a few things. Have you had dinner?”

  “Not yet. I was thinking of having Nicole over for pizza and to watch some videos.”

  Alan took out his billfold and handed her a twenty. “Here’s for the pizza.”

  “You don’t need to give me that.”

  “I know—I want to give you that. You don’t know how much I appreciate your holding down the fort here. Consider it a token of my gratitude.”

  “Thanks so much!”

  Pan followed Alan up the stairs to the master bedroom. As he picked out some clean clothes for the Boston trip, he felt the same wave of regret he always had whenever he entered this room. Julie had designed the entire floor plan, right down to the king sized mahogany bed and matching nightstands. The bed looked enormous now, so vast and unfilled at night as he slept alone. Years ago, they had made great use of that bed and had planned on starting a family in the near future.

  So quickly those plans had been dashed.

  He sighed as he stuffed the clothes into his bag and left the room. He went back downstairs to his office, checked the voicemails and snail mail while waiting for his iMac to boot up. He checked his email and saw confirmation for the purchase of a one-way ticket to Logan Airport. He clicked on the link to print out the boarding pass, impressed that Ron Fleming had spared no expense by paying for first class seating. Alan had never flown first class in his life.