“I think your wife is probably already dead.”
Chapter 49
Tony was starting to like the man behind the desk. He felt they’d bonded almost immediately. He thought Bud was a good man and a genuinely nice guy.
Now, not so much.
“No. She’s not dead. She can’t be.”
Bud was unmoved.
“Look, son. I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I hope she’s as alive as you and me. I just want you to think logically. I want you to consider the possibility. That’s all.”
“What do you mean, think logically? That’s my wife you’re talking about.”
“Put yourself in the government’s shoes. What reason would they possibly have for holding your wife for the long term? It’s a pain in the butt to hold people. Especially if somebody is out there looking for them. They could expend manpower and resources for many years and then finally let her go, and she could still blow the whistle on them.
“They know that. It’s much better and easier from their perspective just to do away with her. As they pirates used to say, ‘dead men tell no tales.’ Or women either.”
“No. I’m not going to accept that. I thought about that a lot while I was in jail. If they were going to kill her they had the chance to do that in the motel room. Heck, they probably could have killed her and framed me at the same time. They could have made it look like I did it.
“But they didn’t. They went through a lot of trouble to take her. Why would they go through the trouble of taking her if they were gonna kill her anyway?”
“Okay. So that’s an alternative point of view. And it’s okay to believe that, son. I’ll pretend to believe it to, if it’ll make you feel better. Just don’t pin your hopes on it.”
Tony looked glum.
“I have to pin my hopes on it, Bud. It’s all I have left.”
“Not true. You have something they want. And we’re gonna use it as bait to get Hannah back, if she’s still alive, or to find out what happened to her if she isn’t.”
Tony took a deep breath before continuing. His head was swimming and he felt nauseous.
“Okay. What next?”
“We’re going out to the impound yard to get your car. If your thumb drive is still in it we’re going to fly out to Washington, you and me, and we’re going to visit the Department of the Interior and make some waves.”
“The Department of the Interior? Why them? The Geological Survey are the ones who took her if anybody did.”
“Calm down, Tony. We don’t know who took her. The USGS might have declared her an enemy of the state. They might have asked for help from Homeland Security. And they in turn might have brought in the FBI. Actually, I hope they did. The FBI has a lot more scruples than most government agencies. In any event, when you want to get Washington’s attention you don’t start at the bottom. You go directly to the top. The United States Geological Survey falls under the Department of the Interior. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”
“Why in the world would I know that?”
“I did.”
“Okay, so you’re smarter than me. But do you really think we can get Hannah back?”
“I think there’s a good chance. If we play our cards right.”
“Okay. Let’s go then.”
“Hold on. First we have to do a couple of things. One of them is to fix one of your mistakes, before it turns into a much bigger problem.”
“Pardon me?”
Bud reached to the front of his desk and picked up the nameplate; the one which read:
BUD AVERY
Private Investigator
He slid open the desk drawer he’d taken the nameplate from a few minutes before and placed it back inside.
He took out another one and put it on the desk. This one read:
BUD AVERY
Attorney
The whole nameplate thing might have been comical under different circumstances. But Tony wasn’t in a laughing mood.
“Now then,” Bud continued. “When you went before the judge you should have pled guilty. He would have assessed a first offense fine of four hundred dollars, you’d have paid it, and you’d have been a free man today. Yes, you’d have had a record. But that’s only a problem if you plan on drinking and driving again. Which you’re never, ever going to do. Right?”
“But I…”
“Right?”
“Yes. I mean, no. I don’t plan to drink and drive any more…”
“Good. Because a second offense often means jail time. And I’m guessing you’ve had enough of that.
“We have two options here, Tony. We can change your plea to guilty. We can go to the courthouse and pay your fine, and we can consider that very unfortunate part of your life over.
“Or we can go off to Washington to find Hannah and hope the court doesn’t set a hearing while we’re gone. If they do, and if we miss it, the judge will issue a bench warrant and that’ll compound the whole problem.
“Your choice, but as your attorney of record I’d recommend you do the former.”
“You’re my attorney now?”
Bud reached over and tapped the top of the nameplate.
“Read the sign, boy. Read the sign.”
Tony sighed and resigned himself to admitting defeat. It was something that didn’t sit well with him, admitting to doing something he did not do.
But under the circumstances he didn’t have much of a choice.
“Okay. Fine.”
“So you’ll give me the okay to act on your behalf?”
“Yes. Okay.”
Without another word, Bud picked up the ancient telephone on his desk and dialed… yes, dialed… a number he knew by heart.
Tony sat silently fuming as he heard one side of the conversation.
“Hello, Judge. Bud Avery. How’s the wife?
“No, I didn’t ask how you were because I don’t care. Your wife, on the other hand, is much prettier and sweeter than you’ll ever be.
“Not really. It’s a business call. I’ve got a young client here who went before you the other day on a DUI first offense.
“Yes. That’s right. That’s the one.
“Yes. The one who pled innocent.
“Yes. I thought it was a dumb move too.
“I agree.
“Yep. Anyway, the young man saw the light of day and removed his head from a place God never intended it to be. He wants to change his plea to guilty.
“Yes, sir. Four hundred dollars? Any wiggle room there? The guy’s currently out of work and I’m already gonna charge him an arm and a leg.
“Yes, sir. Two hundred will help him out a lot. Thank you, your honor.
“What’s that? Dinner on Sunday? Tell Martha I wish I could, but I’ll be out of town for a couple of weeks. Can I get a rain check?
“Sounds good. Thanks a lot, Judge.
“What’s that? Okay, I’ll tell him. Have a good day now.”
He hung up the phone and said, “Judge Martin wanted me to tell you you’re an idiot.”
“You sounded awfully friendly with Judge Martin.”
“It’s a small town, Tony. People here all know each other because we see each other day in and day out. Being friendly with people you may or may not like makes things a lot easier to deal with.”
“So what do we do now?”
Bud stood up and grabbed a light jacket from a coat rack behind his desk.
“We go to the courthouse to pay your fine. Then we go get your car.”
Chapter 50
Bud crawled into his raggedy old car and buckled his seatbelt.
“Buckle up even if you don’t believe in it,” he told Tony. “Not using a seatbelt is another way the local cops use your money to pay the town’s bills.”
“Peachy. Just peachy.”
“After we leave the courthouse we’ll head out to the highway where they pulled you over. Just in case they never sent the word to tow it. Did the cops let you take the keys w
ith you when you got arrested?”
“I put them in my pocket when they told me to get out of the car.”
“Good for you. With any luck it’s still there. We’ll just drive off in it under their noses. Which way?”
“Turn right up here, onto Highway NN. And how come Missouri numbers their highways with letters instead of numbers?”
“Don’t get me started on why Missouri does strange things, Tony. I could fill your ears for days about some of the things it does. It’s my home state and I love her, but we’ve definitely got a bunch of oddballs who run her.
“Oddballs who insist on doing things their own way, whether they make sense or not.”
As they rounded a curve Tony was disappointed to see his car was no longer where he’d last seen it.
“It was here,” he said while pointing to the shoulder of the road. “Right along through here somewhere.”
“That’s too bad, Tony. I was hoping your good luck was going to hold.”
“My good luck? I didn’t know I had any of that stuff.”
“Well, you found me. You don’t know it yet, but you soon will. That’s the luckiest thing that’s happened to you since this whole ordeal began.
“And it’s kind of ironic they chose this particular place to pull you over that night.”
“Why?”
Instead of answering, Bud simply pointed to a stretch of chain link fencing directly behind the spot where Tony’s car once was.
A large sign affixed to the fence read:
CITY IMPOUND LOT
No Trespassing
“At least they didn’t have to tow it far.”
“Any chance they’ll give me a discount on the towing fees, since it’s so close?”
“You haven’t been listening, have you?”
“Meaning?”
“This little town of mine is money hungry. They want to take you for everything they can. They don’t give discounts. It goes against their nature.”
“The judge gave me a discount on my fine.”
“Well, I guess you could look at it that way if you’re a diehard optimist. Of course, you say you weren’t drunk and shouldn’t have had to pay a fine at all. So dropping it from four hundred dollars to two hundred wasn’t really that generous, now was it?”
“No. I suppose not.”
Bud pulled into the impound lot and both men walked into the office.
“Hello, Bud. How you been?”
“Well, you know, Stan. Still gettin’ out of the bed each mornin’, still puttin’ my pants on and goin’ to work each day. Ain’t much changed.”
“I’m glad you’re still rememberin’ to put your pants on. You runnin’ around in your underwear ain’t somethin’ I particularly want to see. What can I do for ya?”
“This here’s my client, Tony Carson. He needs to pick up his car.”
“Oh, yeah. I pulled it in myself, just this morning.”
He turned to Tony and said, “That’ll be two hundred and eighty dollars, young fella. One eighty for the towin’, eighty dollars for a day’s storage fee, and twenty dollars for the convenience fee. Cash or plastic, no checks.”
Tony thought the charges were outrageous and almost said so.
It was only Bud’s hand on his forearm that prevented him from doing so. He couldn’t wait to get out of this hillbilly town.
Once the transaction was done, the man behind the counter said, “Go through the gate and down about fifty yards or so. You’ll see it on your right.”
As they walked through the yard Tony commented, “I really wanted to punch that guy.”
“No you didn’t.”
“I didn’t?”
“You’ve already got enough problems, my young friend. Let’s get rid of some of your existing problems before we add any new ones, shall we?”
Chapter 51
Tony reached into the small tear in his seat and fished out the thumb drive which held Hannah’s data.
“I’m glad it’s still here,” he said to Bud.
“So am I. That’s not only an insurance policy for getting your wife back, it’s likely your only hope for doing so.”
“So now what?”
“Go to your motel and collect your belongings. I’m going to stop at the office supply store. I’ll meet you back at my office in about an hour.”
“Yes sir.”
“And Tony?”
“Yes sir?”
“If you see any of the local cops, drive like a little old lady on her way to church on Sunday. Use your signals, drive below the speed limit, and make sure you come to a complete stop.”
“Yes sir.”
Tony found his belongings piled into two boxes behind the desk clerk’s counter.
At least his clothes were neatly folded and nothing seemed to be missing.
On his way back to Bud’s office he realized he was famished, then thought it odd he hadn’t noticed before. The jailhouse food was so disgusting he’d eaten precious little of it. He hadn’t had a decent meal since before he was busted.
He pulled into a burger joint and got an order to go.
He sat in his car and ate while he waited for Bud in front of his office.
It only took a couple of minutes.
When Bud pulled alongside him and parked his car Tony got out, bag in hand, and said, “You hungry?”
“I could eat, sure. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. I figure if you’re really gonna help me find Hannah, the least I can do is buy you dinner.”
The old man smiled and Tony thought how uncanny it was that he resembled his grandfather so. Same smile. Same features. Same personality.
Then he shoved the thought out of his mind.
There were more important things to think about.
In exchange for the burger and fries, Bud handed Tony another bag.
This one was plastic, yellow in color, with the words STEWART OFFICE SUPPLIES across its front in blue letters.
“What’s this?”
“Thumb drives. Five of them. I want you to use that extra computer over there and make some more copies.”
“But why?”
“It’s the only leverage you have against the federal government. And those guys don’t play. As soon as they learn what you have they’re likely to move heaven and earth to find it.
“If they do… find it, I mean, you’ve lost your leverage. Unless, of course, they know there are other copies out there.”
“Smart. I never thought of that.”
“That’s why I have a ‘private detective’ name plate and you don’t.”
Tony sat before a second desk and blew the dust from the keyboard.
“My secretary used to sit there until business slowed down and I had to lay her off. But the computer still works. Make five copies. There’s a permanent sharpie in the desk drawer.
“On the first copy write your first name and ‘6 of 10.’
“Then ‘7 of 10’ and so on.”
“But there won’t be ten copies. There will only be five.”
“I know that. But you don’t want the government to know that. If they found all five copies, we want them to still believe there are five more out there somewhere.
“It’s all mind games, sure. But we need to convey to the government that we hold some pretty good cards. If they think we have nothing to bargain with they’ll tell us to go to hell.”
“Okay. What do we do with the copies?”
“We’re going to hide one in my office. Give me another.
“The other three you’re going to mail to three of your friends.”
“Not my family?”
“No. Your family is the first place they’ll look. And they’ll be the first to roll over if the government starts making threats to prosecute you for being a threat to national security. The government might be able to convince them they’d be doing what was best for you by turning over the thumb drive to them.
“Your friends are much more
likely to thumb their noses at the government.”
“What do I tell my friends?”
“Call them. From my phone, not yours. Ask them for their mailing address and tell them you’re going to send them a package. Tell them to hang onto it and make them promise never to give it to anyone other than you.
“Tell them the government might send some heavy hitters looking for the package. Tell them to hide it securely, and no matter how much the government leans on them, not to divulge that the package even exists.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Tell them that in the event of your death they are to immediately give the package to a national news agency.”
“Seriously? You think they’d kill me?”
“I think they’ve already killed Hannah. Why wouldn’t I think they’d kill you as well?”
“I still don’t understand why the government would want to cover this whole thing up so badly.”
“You’re a good kid, Tony. But you’re naïve as hell.
“The Washington establishment has it easy. Way too easy. The congressmen spend seventeen times as many days doing fund raisers and running for reelection than they do actually in session doing something. I’ll bet you didn’t know that, but it’s true.
“And when they actually do something, they typically screw it up. But there’s absolutely no accountability. They cannot, by law, be held legally responsible for the mistakes they make.
“The worst thing that can happen to them is being voted out of office. And that’s not likely either. An incumbent is eight times more likely to be reelected than to be removed. I’ll bet you didn’t know that either, but it’s the absolute truth.
“Government bureaucrats, like the ones in the Department of the Interior, have it even easier. If you knew how hard it was to fire a civil servant it would make your skin crawl. They simply don’t get fired, no matter how bad they screw things up.
“The worst thing that ever happens to a civil servant who screws up royally is that they’re given an easier job with fewer responsibilities and less visibility.
“At the same pay. They simply hide their bad employees and count the number of days until they retire.
The Yellowstone Event: Book 1: Fire in the Sky Page 15