by Brian Meeks
"Do you like them?" Luna asked knowingly.
Henry offered more purring with a hint of deep guttural grunting of approval. Henry could take a punch and keep his cool, but he was powerless against baked goods. He was sure that this day was on the right track.
They drove along in silence for a while, both of them enjoying the muffins. Before Henry asked for thirds, he thought it best to discuss their plan. "I have been thinking about what we should keep our eyes open for. It could be anything. If nothing jumps out at me, and I am sure it won't, I may need to poke around more than the shopkeeper would like."
"It could be anywhere, in a drawer, under something..." Luna said while staring off at the road ahead.
"Yes. I may need you to distract him with your feminine charms,” Henry said with an air of authority as though he were talking to the troops before they stormed the castle.
"My feminine charms, you say? I didn't think you noticed,” Luna said. She looked at him as she offered him another muffin.
Henry felt like a blush might be coming on, so he took a muffin in part to hide from Luna and in part to hide the fact that she had knocked him off his game. Luna wasn't fooled.
Henry ate the muffin and seemed to focus more intently than ever on the road ahead. Luna wrapped up the basket and folded her arms across it. She decided to have mercy on him. She changed to a more serious tone.
"Do you think we will solve the code and be able to put an end to all of this? I miss my father," she said in a low, now sad voice.
"I know we will." Henry said confidently even though he had his doubts. He had a nagging fear that they might not find the next clue, that this trip was just a snipe hunt. Without the code to the journal, which 'Tommy the Knife' was under the impression had been destroyed, they would be out of luck. As in chess, today's move would be pivotal. One misstep and all would be lost.
They drove past 'Stowe It Forever' gift shop, the one from the ad, while Henry checked his mirror. Nobody had followed them. Everything had calmed down since the DA's visit and the subsequent 'journal' incident, but he still favored caution. He drove once more around the block, just to make sure. He parked the car. They walked slowly to the shop. Luna took his arm to help keep her footing on the icy sidewalk. Henry reminded her, "Now it is going to be tough. I don't know what we are looking for, and I have no idea how we will find it."
A little bell over the door announced their presence, and a tiny man with a monocle scurried from behind a curtain leading to the back room. The shop was filled to the brim with boxes, cases, clocks, furniture, steamer trunks, lamps, and possibly lost pirate treasure. Henry whispered, "Oh, God, this might take a while." Luna squeezed his arm in agreement as she greeted the tiny man behind the counter.
"Hello there, my name is Luna and this is my...friend...Henry," she said.
"Excellent, it is good to meet you. I am Wolfgang the manager," he said with a slight German accent and a familiarity that struck them both as odd. He spoke in short fast bursts with gaps too small to allow Henry or Luna to sneak in a word. "Wait right here..." And off he went though he continued to talk, "quite a storm last night....power just came back on..." There was a rustling sound, then a loud wooden sound of a drawer being opened and closed, then another. This went on for a couple of minutes as did his ramblings.
Wolfgang reappeared behind the counter with a tiny box. A small, rectangular, red velvet mat sat on the counter, and he placed the box in its center. "This is what you have come for. I have, as instructed, not opened it. It is paid for. I hope you enjoy it for many years to come. Good day." He disappeared behind the curtain.
Henry and Luna looked at each other blankly. Henry looked at the tiny box, then at Luna. There wasn't anyone else in the shop. Luna reached over and took off the lid. Inside there was a tiny, folded piece of white paper.
Luna and Henry walked back to the car in silence. Luna held the tiny box firmly in both hands. Henry broke the silence as he put his key in the door to unlock it. "That went well, though not at all as I had expected." He opened the passenger door, and Luna slid into the car with just a nod. The sound of the door closing and the silence that followed Henry back around the car reminded him that Luna was holding a message from her father. He thought about the fear she had been living with since the day he went missing, and how she had maintained her wits throughout it all. She was a tough cookie. He got in the car and started it.
They drove for a little while, again in silence. Luna said in a quiet voice, "Should I open it?"
"Yes,” Henry said, keeping his eyes on the road.
Luna took off the lid and set it in her lap. She opened the piece of paper, then read its contents aloud.
Dear Luna,
I hope this message finds you well. We are doing fine but miss our girls. Please tell Sylvia and Winston that her father is safe. He feels terrible about what he put her through, but apologies will have to wait for later. I hope that this codex, the list of names, and the journal will be enough to put the people who would harm us behind bars.
Love,
Dad
"The rest is the remainder of the codex," she said with a sigh. "It isn't dated, so I don't know when he left this for us, but I do feel a little better."
Henry smiled at her. "Yes, I do, too. Now that we can decipher the journal, we will know what Tommy 'The Knife' has been up to and why your father had to disappear."
"It is a good thing we made that copy to give to the DA. I thought you were crazy at the time, but it looks like you were right about him,” she said as she returned the message to the tiny box.
"Yes, I can smell a rat. And the stink on him is almost overwhelming."
There wasn't much more to say. Henry drove and Luna rapped her fingers on the lid of the box. She was thinking about her father and wondering where he was. Henry was forming a plan. He would need to get some help. He would need a bit of luck.
CHAPTER 43
Mike had been a pretty good patient. Of course, he had been on a lot of pain meds, which helped. When it was time to leave, he was ready to run out of the hospital. They made him sit in a wheel chair while a frightening woman with sizable girth pushed him. Francis was by his side, smirking. It didn't go unnoticed.
Francis pulled up his car, and Mike got in. Their perceptions of one another had changed. Both had a new friend. Mike, not a sentimentalist, said, “I appreciate the ride.”
“You are welcome.”
The car pulled out from the hospital, and Mike said, “You mind swinging by the precinct?”
“I was given strict orders by Sally Mae to bring you straight home.”
Mike laughed. “She is a handful, that is for sure. She had the entire staff on their best behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if she was approving purchasing and scheduling the operating room.”
“Everyone was powerless against her angry face.”
Mike shook his head, “I know. It was something to watch. One of the doctors had said he would check on me at 8 am. At one minute after eight, she went to find him. I heard them coming five minutes later. She was giving him an earful all the way down the hall. He checked me out while she glared at him with her arms crossed. All I could think was how the detectives down at the precinct could use her in the interrogation room.”
Francis loved that story. He had been trying to write a novel. It hadn't gone well, so he was looking for inspiration wherever he could find it. “She is a fireball. Was the doctor ever late again?”
“He was not.”
Francis turned to the right and headed towards the precinct. “You make it quick. I don't want to incur Sally Mae's wrath.”
“I just want to see the captain. Five minutes tops.”
Francis waited in the car while Mike went inside. The squad room was mostly empty, but a few guys saw Mike and welcomed him back. He knocked on the captain's door and went in. “Cap, you got a few minutes?”
The captain stood up and walked around to shake Mike's hand. “Good to see y
ou, Mike.”
After the pleasantries, Mike said, “Captain I know I am not going to be out on the beat for a while, but I will go crazy if I don't have something to do. I'd like to work on my case, read the file, see if I can help.”
“You know I can't do that. If I did, we couldn't use you as a witness.”
Mike knew he was right, “But, Captain, I have to do something. I can't stand being out of the game.”
The captain sat back down, “Well, now that you mention it, I do have something.”
“I'll take it.”
“You don't know what it is.”
“I don't care. I’ll even take paperwork, just something.”
“You hate that crap.”
“I hate it because I want to be out on the streets, but, right now, I couldn't chase down a one-legged thief, so I'll do it.”
“Well, it isn't paperwork. You've been reading the papers; you know what it has been like. The gangs are shooting each other up, and we are stacking bodies in the morgue like cord wood. The problem is that the detectives are overworked; the cases keep coming in; and nothing is getting closed. The other problem is that a lot of the guys in the morgue are suspected of other murders. Families are waiting for us to catch their loved one's killers and to put those cases to bed, but I fear their cases will go cold, and they will never get their answers. I had this put together,” he walked over to a box with a couple of dozen files in it. “These are not the complete case files but summaries. There is also a list of all the guys who have been taken out recently. I need you to go through everything and try to get the big picture. I fear there are a lot of connections that can't be seen because they are being worked on by different detectives.”
“I'm not a detective, but I can read. I am glad to do it.”
“It is quite a mess. You may not thank me once you dig into the pile, but it will keep you busy.”
Mike picked up the box with his good arm and left with a smile. He couldn't wait to get home and start being a cop again.
Francis pulled up in front of Mike's place and grabbed the box from the back seat. Mike smiled at the 'Welcome Home, Mike' sign. The sign, written in crayon with lots of signatures and a big, printed ‘Sally Mae,’ was perfect. The curtains moved, the front door opened, and Sally Mae ran out and hugged Mike.
The house was full of friends from the department and neighborhood. Cakes, casseroles, pasta, and lots of cookies filled the table. Mike, generally a private person, wasn't used to crowds gathered in his honor, but he didn't seem to mind. Sally Mae took his hand and showed him the table of food, then took his coat.
"We are putting the coats on the bed. I am working the door. You have fun, but don't overdo."
Mike asked, "Did you plan my party?"
"I did, but the neighborhood helped. Everyone brought food and signed the banner. I was in charge, so I just told people what needed to be done."
Mike made the rounds and, though everyone wanted to ask how he was doing, he was more interested in hearing about what they had been up to. It was good to be out of the hospital. They talked about the weather and the coming baseball season. He felt good.
CHAPTER 44
"I miss him,” Luna said. She still held the tiny box on her lap. The note inside had been simple. It explained how to apply the codex to the journal and to decipher it. She read the note to Henry once, then again to herself. Afterwards, she folded the note and put it back in the box.
"It isn't safe for your father or for Sylvia's until Tommy 'The Knife' and the DA are behind bars,” Henry said solemnly.
"I know. Do you have a plan?" she said softly.
Henry didn't answer but gave a nod. The car got quiet again. He had a hint of a plan, but it wasn't clear exactly how to make it work. His decision to make a copy of the original journal and give it to the DA was a good one, and he knew it. The reasoning was sound. If the DA was dirty, as he suspected, then the copy would be destroyed or turned over to Tommy. If the DA had been on the up and up it still wouldn't have mattered as Henry still needed to find the rest of the codex. Either way, he figured the move would get the heat off Luna. It had worked.
Now, he had it. He was sure the first move would be to go over the journal. Henry hoped there would be something in it tying the DA to Tommy. If there weren’t, it was going to be considerably more difficult to reel in both of them. Henry explained his plan to Luna; she smiled and gave a slight nod.
They decided it would be quickest if they went to Sylvia's house and worked on decoding the journal together. Henry drove with a sense of urgency. This case had been going on for too long. It needed to come to an end. He needed to finish it.
The thickness of the forest hid the smoke. When the car rounded the last curve, Luna gasped. Sylvia's house was but a shell. The charred walls smoldered, the snow around was gone, and a gray, ashen muck radiated out from the once beautiful home. Henry slowed the car down and finally stopped. He looked at Luna and said, "Stay here!"
She took her hand off the door handle and put it back onto the tiny box. She looked frightened. Henry pulled his revolver out of the glove box and opened the door. He stepped out of the car onto the wet gray muck and gave Luna one more look. She understood and had no intention of getting out of the car.
He walked up to where the front door had been, pushed his way through, and stood in the entryway. He looked up and saw the sky where there should have been a second floor. Henry pulled back the hammer on the gun. The click of the revolver seemed louder than Henry had remembered. It was unnaturally quiet.
He walked towards the hallway that led to the study. Then he saw something familiar, something awful. He rushed up and leaned over the crumpled body of Winston. He gently rolled him over. Winston gave a little gasp.
"What happened?" Henry said holding Winston.
He took a pained breath and coughed. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "Tommy and his thugs came and took Sylvia. I tried not to..." Winston coughed some more. His body shuddered.
"Stay with me. We are going to get you to the hospital. They will fix you up..." Henry lied.
"I let you down, sir,” Winston said shaking.
"You have been great. Where did they take Sylvia?" Henry asked. He sensed there wasn't much time.
"I don't know. I don't know. I tried not to tell, but Tommy had a gun to her head. He said she was dead if I didn't talk,” Winston said softly. He was fading. He added, "They know about the copy."
"Hang in there, buddy,” Henry said even as he felt Winston let go. It wasn't the first time Henry had seen death; a short prayer and a few seconds of holding onto the feeling so that he wouldn't ever forget, and Henry was back in the present. He found a sheet in a closet that was only partly burned and placed it over Winston.
It was strange how, in the gray muck, at the moment that Winston's life slipped away, the fog in Henry's mind surrounding the end game lifted. Henry walked to the car. Luna had stayed in the front seat, clinging to the tiny box. When he told her about Winston and Sylvia, she hung her head, sobbed, and pulled the tiny box to her chest.
Henry had to see Big Mike.
CHAPTER 45
Henry pulled the car out from the drive and made a left onto the main road. He still had the smell of wet, charred wood, murder, and arson burning his nostrils. Luna wept quietly. They drove in silence for about five minutes and pulled into the first gas station they saw. The attendant, an old man with an oil stained rag in his back pocket, came out to meet him.
"Hey there, old timer, you got a phone?" Henry said.
"Sure, but it's for customers. You buying any gas?"
Henry handed the man three bucks and went in to use the phone. His first call was to the fire department. Nobody had noticed the fire before he and Luna had gotten there, or emergency personnel would have been on the scene.
He then called the hospital. They told him Mike had gone home that morning. Henry looked out front; the old man was cleaning the windows and eyeing Luna. Henry ma
de one more call. "Hey, Mike,” he said when he heard a voice on the other end.
"No, this is Joe. Mike is in the kitchen. Who is this?"
"It's Henry Wood. Do you mind putting him on? It's important."
"Sure, I'll get him."
Henry heard the phone being set down. From what he could hear, Mike must have gotten a welcome home party. A few moments later, he heard someone hobbling towards the phone.
"Henry, how is it going?" Mike said in his once-again familiar and booming voice.
"Not so good, my friend, but before I get to that, how are you doing?"
"I am on the mend. Still got the arm in a sling, but the bruising has gone down, the headaches have stopped, and I am itching to get back on the beat. They tell me I have to rest for two more weeks."
"I am glad to hear it, buddy," Henry said with no small amount of relief in his voice. He needed some good news, and Mike’s made Henry feel a little better about bothering him.
"Thanks....now tell me what is up?" Mike said. He lowered his voice and changed to a serious tone.
"I need to see you. I need to see you now. May I come over?"
"Sure thing, Henry. We can talk in the back if it needs to be private," Mike said.
"Thanks...on my way," Henry said and hung up the phone.
He returned to the car and thanked the old man. Henry took Luna's hand as he pulled out of the station. "Don't worry. I have a plan."
She squeezed his hand and smiled. She had stopped crying and was trying to steady herself. The rest of the drive to Big Mike's house passed without a word between them.
CHAPTER 46
The street was packed with parked cars and there were two people standing outside smoking and talking. A car was just leaving, so Henry took the spot. "Luna, I need to talk to Mike. I am going to ask him to keep an eye on you..."
Luna immediately flashed a look at Henry and objected, "I am coming with you!"