Danger Point

by Douglas J Bourg

  I pull into the parking lot at the same time as Murph. Adele’s is located in the former San Clemente Inn, where the press would stay when then-President Richard Nixon was living at the Western White House, located not far away from the Inn at the very south end of town. The San Clemente Inn was converted into timeshares a long time ago. Adele was approached by its owners to move her successful restaurant from downtown to the inn a few years ago. The food is fantastic, and Adele greets everyone like they’ve been friends their whole lives. Murph and I have known Adele for many moons.

  He turns to look at me as we wait to be seated. “Why didn’t you call me instead of a patrol car yesterday? I had to hear about DJ’s boat from my boss while I was cooking dinner last night,” He’s obviously pissed.

  “I tried, Murph, I really did, but it went straight to your voicemail. I didn’t think we could wait. How come you didn’t call me last night when you got my message?” I say, equally pissed.

  “Debbie and I went took the kids to a movie, then came home and made dinner. I forgot to turn my phone back on because I was having fun with my family.” He says. “Then the captain called and wanted to know why my fingerprints were all over the boat.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” How the hell was I supposed to know?

  “I heard whoever trashed the boat really did a number on it. Was there anything missing?”

  “It’s hard to tell, but at first glance we didn’t think so. DJ has a security camera set up. It comes on automatically when the hatch door is opened. If you know it’s there, you can turn the camera switch off. Yesterday, when the hatch was opened, the camera was disabled right away, but not by the switch. All that the camera recorded was a hand placed over the lens, then nothing. DJ’s downloading it to a disk right now. He wants to really have a look at it. I’ll get the disc to you later on today.”

  Before I can answer him what he’s really asking - if the puzzle box is safe, Adele spies us from across the restaurant. “Bobby! Dwayne! Give me a hug.” She says as she gives each of us a one-armed hug, keeping the coffee pot at a distance. She leaves a bright red smooch mark on both of our cheeks. She stops and holds me at arm’s length. “I am so sorry about your house, Bobby. Let me know if I can help you out in any way.”

  “Thanks, Adele; if I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”

  She leads us to our table, waiving away our server, “Back off, girlie, these two are mine.”

  As we move through the restaurant, I nod at a few people I know. Adele pours coffee and leaves us menus. “You can look at them if you want, but I’ll be back in a minute to tell you what you’re having.” She sails off to the kitchen.

  “I was watching you surf from the bluff. You must be feeling better because you looked good out there.” Murph says as he sips his coffee.

  I stir my coffee and say, “Yeah, it was good to be in the water, no matter what Dr. Gus says. It gave me some time to think.”

  Adele comes back and tells us we’re both having today’s special: Hueves Rancheros with hash browns. I can already feel my arteries starting to close. I was going to have oatmeal, but there’s just no arguing with Adele.

  “Think about what? Murph asks after she leaves. “Do we have a problem? Do we still have a box?”

  “Don’t worry. I have it hidden where no one will find it. I think it should stay hidden until we can get someone to help us open it.”

  His shoulders drop in relief, as he sits back and relaxes a bit. “Have you thought about how we get it open? The captain is all over me.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking I should call Jeannie Franks, an old girlfriend. She’s the only person I know who might be able to help us.”

  “Who is she? Can she be trusted?”

  “Jeannie’s a woman I met in Japan,” I explain. “She has a degree in Japanese myth and religion. Last I heard she was working for a museum, so she should have connections. She might know of someone who can help us find a way to open it. I’ll try to call her when I get home.”

  Murph looks at me. “Home, Bobby? Where is that exactly these days?”

  “Right. I almost forgot for a second. Do you think they’ll let me stay on the boat yet?” He shakes his head. “I guess I’ll have to hang out at DJ’s house.”

  Murph sets down his cup and continues, “I’ve been doing some research on my own and there’s a Japanese artifacts exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. I was thinking we should meet up there later this afternoon and see if someone there can point us in the right direction.”

  “That’s a great idea. We’ll have to tell them we bought a novelty item and we don’t have the directions to open it, or something like that.”

  “First I have to go into the office and fill out a bunch of paperwork that the captain wants on his desk today.” Murphy says.

  “What are you going to tell your boss?”

  “I’m going to try to spin a good story and hope we can figure this out before I get fired for lying to the captain.”

  We stop talking as Adele comes over with two huge platters of food.

  “What are you two troublemakers up to anyway? Sitting over here, being all quiet and secretive?” She sets our plates in front of us. They smell fantastic.

  “You know us, Adele, always up to no good.” Murphy says, shaking his napkin out onto his lap.

  “Well, enjoy being up to no good. I always do.” She says with a smile as she sails off to another table. Her feet must ache by the end of the day, but she always seems to be having so much fun.

  “What time should we try to meet up?” I ask as I talk around my first bite of food. I close my eyes. There is nothing like an amazing breakfast after a great morning of surfing.

  “I’ll call you when I’m getting ready to leave the office. Bring the box with you but keep it out of sight. We don’t want anyone to know we’ve found this thing.”

  I have to out wait Murphy, but he finally reaches for his wallet and pays for our meals. We wave at Adele as we leave the restaurant and she blows us a kiss. Murph gets into his car and rolls down the window. “This is only going to get worse,” he warns me. “So make sure you’re carrying at all times, okay?”

  “Gotcha, Murph. See you later.” Crap. I hate carrying my gun.

  ◆◆◆

  Across the parking lot on the far side of the oleander hedge, sitting in his car, he watches them leave the restaurant. He checks the car’s computer monitor to activate the tracking device he placed on Bobby’s van while they were inside the restaurant. It’s working perfectly. This should make it pretty easy to keep an eye on all of them.

  ◆◆◆

  After leaving Adele’s, I drive to DJ’s house and let myself in through the garage door.

  DJ yells down, “Bobby, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “Come on up. I’m in the office.”

  I set my keys on the kitchen counter and run up the stairs, two at a time, to find DJ sitting at his desk in his home office, going through some paperwork. “How was the surf?” he asks as he leans over and lights a cigarette. You can sure tell Maria is out of town. She’s going to kill him for smoking in the house. No matter how much he cleans up, she’ll be able to tell. Women can always tell.

  “The surf was good, and after that I had breakfast with Murph at Adele’s. He found out there’s an exhibit of Japanese artifacts opening at the Bowers Museum. We’re driving up there later today to see if they have anyone on their staff might be able help us open the box.”

  “The box! With the boat and all, it just totally slipped my mind. Where was it? Don’t tell me it was on the boat.”

  “No, it’s safe,” I don’t want to worry him anymore than that.

  “Have you tried to open it yet?” DJ asks.

  “Not yet. I’ve been tempted, but I keep thinking about what Micky said, and I don’t want to mess up what’s inside. I think I’m going to try to call Jeannie Franks. You remember her, don’t you?”

  “You bet
I do. Are you sure? You guys didn’t part on the best of terms.” He blows smoke out the open window.

  “I know, but that was years ago.”

  “She was pretty pissed when you left Hawaii and you didn’t even say goodbye.”

  “I was just thinking she might know somebody in L.A., San Diego or maybe even San Francisco who can help us open it.” I’m trying not to think about the last time I saw Jeannie.

  “Yeah,” he says, “I wonder how much of a bruise the box will leave when she throws it at you.”

  “If we can’t open it or we destroy the evidence inside the box, we’re screwed. Once we explain that to her, she’ll be cool.” I think I’ve almost convinced myself.

  “You’re a brave man. Okay, give her a call and let’s see if she can help us.”

  “Uh oh. This may not be as easy as I think, anyway. I had all of her information at my house. I’ll have to find another way to contact her.”

  “Google, dude.”

  I kiss the top of his head, “My hero!” I jump back as he takes a swipe at me.

  “You asshole,” he says as he wipes at his hair.

  DJ hits a few keys and I we see Jeannie’s name pop up as curator of Asian Artifacts at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

  I pick up my cell phone and dial her office number. After a few rings, it goes to voicemail. Hearing her voice makes my heart lurch a little. I hesitate and wonder: if I leave a message, will she call me back? Or is she still mad at me for leaving her in Hawaii all those years ago? I decide to leave the message anyway. “Jeannie, this is Bobby Paladin. I hope you’re doing well. I know, I know it’s been a long time. Would you please call me when you get this message? I really need to talk to you.” I leave my number and pause before adding, “Please, it’s important Jeannie, Aloha.”

  DJ snaps me out of my daydream. “I want to go to the Bowers Museum with you.”

  “Sure. Why not? Murph is going to call me when he’s finished at work. He’s at the office spinning some story to get his captain off his ass.”

  ◆◆◆

  While DJ and Bobby are inside the house, Alexis keeps an eye on them from a discrete distance. She moves around DJ’s neighborhood, not staying in one place too long to avoid being noticed. Prior to leaving Laguna Beach, she placed a small, magnetic realtor sign on each door of her car. The signs have a fake name and a phone number that goes straight to an answering service. She arrives at DJ’s house just after Bobby pulled his van into the driveway.

  John G. had called her that morning to stress that if she had to make a choice between following Bobby or DJ, she was to stick with Bobby. In a few hours he wanted her back in the office. She knows he wants to know who it was she’d seen following them, but hadn’t come to her yet. She’s sure it will. She just hopes she remembers before it’s too late.

  She’s been keeping an eye on a cable truck moving around the neighborhood. No one ever gets out of the truck. She tries to get pictures of the truck driver, but it’s impossible to do without him noticing her. She wonders if the man was trying to do the same thing to her. She decides to place a call to John G. “I think the person from yesterday is staked out on DJ’s street in a cable van. I’ll keep you posted. I just wanted you to know.”

  After she hangs up, she drops that phone on the seat, opens her purse and takes out another cell phone. She presses a pre-programmed number. “Sir, we have a situation. There appears to be another party interested in Bobby Paladin and DJ Frasier. I managed to get a picture of him but not a full frontal shot. He has a beard that may or may not be a fake. I’ll upload the photo to you and try to get a better one. Will you see if Intel can come up with a name? I think it’s the same guy that I saw down at the harbor, but I’m not sure.” She pauses to listen, “Yes sir, I’ll update you as soon as I know more.”

  Alexis hangs up the encrypted satellite phone and uploads the information. She hopes the Facial Recognition software is good enough to pull something out of the bad photo. She has to assume the guy in the cable truck is the same one from the harbor yesterday.

  She stays in the neighborhood for a while longer, walking through the streets with papers in her hand, trying to look like she’s handing out flyers. She decides that DJ and Bobby look like they’re staying put for the day, so she leaves for Laguna. She doesn’t want to be late for her meeting with John, especially with the mood he’s been in these last couple of days. The cable truck was still there, but, to paraphrase Freud: sometimes a cable truck is just a cable truck. She sure hopes so.

  ◆◆◆

  The driver of the cable company van notices the realtor’s Toyota. There are no houses for sale in this neighborhood that he knows of, so he’s suspicious. He’ll run the plates as soon as he has a chance. He has to stay too far away to get a good look at her. He watches her putting fliers in doors, so maybe she’s just trying to drum up business. He doesn’t like that she’s hung around for so long, and feels better once she’s gone.

  He watches as Paladin and Frasier come out of the house and get into the van. With the tracking device on the van, he can follow at a safe distance. A cable truck is great cover; he can go anywhere in it and nobody’s curious.

  ◆◆◆

  After driving for the last forty five minutes listening to DJ talk about work, we exit the freeway in Santa Ana. Another 10 minutes down Main Street and we pull into the parking lot of the Bowers Museum. DJ and I climb out of the van as we watch a cable service truck pull up to the kiosk to pay for parking.

  “What’s a cable van doing at the Bowers?” I ask as we walk to the front of the museum.

  “Maybe the museum has cable problems like everyone else. I wonder if they have to wait the whole day like the rest of us.” DJ says.

  “Or maybe the cable guy is a culture buff after watching hours of PBS on company time.” I open the door for an elderly couple entering the lobby. DJ follows them in and the door closes behind us.

  ◆◆◆

  He parks the cable truck on the far side of the parking lot. He knows it would have been smarter to have switched vehicles, but there just wasn’t time. A cable truck is great for surveillance in a neighborhood, but he hopes it won’t draw attention here at the museum. To be on the safe side, he plans to change out of his cable uniform in the bathroom inside the museum. Before getting out of the truck, he puts an Anaheim Angels ball cap, shorts, Rainbow sandals and pair sunglasses into a fake tool bag. He gets out of the truck holding the bag, and a clipboard so he looks the part of a cable guy until he gets into the building. He’s worked hard to hide the limp from an old gunshot injury, but it’s difficult when he’s been sitting for too long. He follows at a distance and watches as they walk up to the Museum box-office.

  He follows Bobby and DJ into the museum, noticing Paladin carrying a backpack down at his side. He hangs back a bit as they enter the Japanese Exhibit Room and are swallowed up in the crowd. He walks to the empty men’s room, slips into a stall and changes into his new disguise. He lifts the trash bag out of the garbage can and puts the tool bag and clip board in the bottom, before replacing the trash bag.

  ◆◆◆

  There’s really not a lot we can do, other than explore the museum, until Murph gets here. Then we can make some discrete inquiries for assistance in opening the puzzle box. I love this stuff, but it’s not DJ’s thing and he gets antsy pretty fast. I have to stop him before he tries to hit the gigantic drum hanging on a stand outside one of the rooms. I think I know now why I didn’t have children. We enter the Japanese Exhibit. Today’s the first day and it’s pretty crowded. DJ puts his hand on my arm and stops me.

  “Bobby,” he says. “Is that who I think it is? Doesn’t that look like Jeannie standing over there?” He’s pointing toward a group of people.

  “Dude, you’re hallucinating. There is no way that’s Jeannie. She’s in Hawaii.” I pause and say slowly, “I think.”

  I stare in the direction DJ is pointing. The woman in the middle of a group of people looks lik
e an elegant tour guide. She seems to be explaining things to the group, first in Japanese and then in English. She turns around slowly, nodding, smiling and answering questions. I don’t know if she can feel us staring at her, but eventually she looks across the room and our eyes meet. She stops talking, quickly puts a hand to her mouth and stares back at me. She looks exactly the same as she did in that museum in Japan the first time I saw her all those years ago. She bows and says something to the group, excusing herself, and starts walking hurriedly towards where we are standing.

  “Bobby Paladin is that really you?” she asks, her eyes wide.

  I can’t seem to say or do anything but stare. I’d forgotten how truly beautiful she was. Finally, DJ elbows me and says, “See? I told you that was her! Jeannie, what are you doing here? Bobby and I were just talking about you this morning.” He gives her a big hug.

  “You mean you didn’t know I was the curator of this exhibit? I assumed that was why you were here, to say hello,” she says as she stares at us. “The publicity department released my name in conjunction with the exhibit, and here you are.”

  I’m still confused by the fact that she’s standing right here, in front of me, but finally I find my voice. “We didn’t know that you were even in California. We went on the Internet to find out some information about a Japanese artifact, and we saw that there was going to be a large exhibit here at the Bowers. We decided we’d drive up here to try to find someone to answer some questions – about what we found – you know, something that was made in Japan.” Crap. I’m a blathering idiot.

  She smiles, “Look, guys, this is the first day of a major show here. This is the first time many of these artifacts have been seen outside of Japan, and it’s the biggest show I’ve ever put together. I have to finish up with the VIPs from the museum, and deal with the press, but I’ll only be about an hour, hour and a half at the most. Then maybe we can grab something to eat and I can look at whatever it is you have. I promise I won’t be longer than an hour and a half. Can you wait that long?” She says all this while never taking her eyes from mine.