by Alec Peche
An hour later, everything on his to-do list accomplished or underway, he pulled his mask and snorkel down over his face and dove into the bay. He wore a sensor on his wrist, so that none of his security measures were directed at him while he swam in gentle circles around his entire island. He thought about swimming straight to the marina or to the Richmond San Rafael bridge, but he feared being too small to see by any ferries or pleasure crafts roaming the bay. Sometime later he felt like he’d excised his demons and he headed inside for a shower and lunch followed by a little fishing to apologize for leaving his cats alone the previous night. Then he’d check on his program to see if he had any answers.
His program was still running so Damian thought he would go back to his cold cases. Natalie said the SJPD was getting a search warrant for one suspect and contacting the Phoenix PD to get the same for the suspect, Greg Watson. The Medical Examiner was going to take a look at the knife wounds to see if the records that they had on the original case matched the knife with John Avery’s fingerprints. What could he do with his technology to help Natalie?
What if he went back and traced car ownership of John Avery to see if a vehicle he had in the late 1980’s was still around - maybe in a junk yard or maybe it was still on the street. Someone had carted Debbie Altman away in a vehicle since her body was not found on the street where her car had quit. First he did a little research to see if Avery had lived in any other state. No, from a variety of public records he seemed to have stayed in the Golden State and in fact, except for a few prison stints, he stayed in the San Jose area. Damian then searched for any vehicles that he might have owned in the 1980s or 1990s. Looking at the guy’s age, he decided to also throw in any vehicles owned by Avery’s parents since he would have been just about twenty at the time of Debbie’s disappearance.
Bingo, he got lucky and was excited to have some positive news for Natalie after the stress of the last twenty-four hours. The truck was sitting in a junk yard in San Leandro and was being used for parts, it hadn’t been crushed yet. Granted it had some thirty years of prints on it, and while they didn’t have Debbie’s prints as her body hadn’t been recovered, she did have some living siblings that might be used for DNA matches. He wasn’t sure how a crime scene team would investigate such a vehicle, but it seemed reasonable to say they could search the bench seat, dashboard, or the truck bed for DNA. Considering the truck had been at the salvage yard for ten years, he figured the police were lucky to locate it, but what a pain it would be to collect the evidence off of the vehicle.
He called Natalie with this latest information and to check in with her as to activity in her neighborhood.
“Hi Damian, what’s up?”
He liked how he never had to go through polite conversation with Natalie, they could just get to the point with each other as soon as the phone call was answered.
“I’ve got a new lead for you on the Debbie Altman case and it’s one that needs acting on today before evidence is destroyed.”
“Explain,” demanded Natalie.
“I located a truck that John Avery owned at the time of Debbie’s disappearance. It’s in a salvage yard in San Leandro, so I would use any police powers you have to order them not to destroy the vehicle before any CSI techs get a crack at the truck.”
“Wow, Damian! You should have been a cop. That was brilliant! I didn’t even think to look for a car the suspect might have owned during the time period in question.”
“Your mind’s been focused on avoiding being killed by the most violent prison gang in America, so if you weren’t so distracted by death threats, I’m sure you would have thought of this.”
“No, Damian I wouldn’t have thought of that - I was thinking about the case’s next steps, the search warrant and interview. I should have backtracked and applied my brain to exploring what new evidence we could collect now that we had a suspect.”
Natalie was always appreciative of his efforts to help her, but now he was embarrassed by her over the top compliments.
“Natalie, if you want me to continue working with you on these cold cases, you’re going to have to stop with the effusive praise; you’re muddling my brain with the compliments. I simply approach any problem as one of data collection. I’m not worried about any of the legal requirements that you’re bound by.”
“I swear that if you would just give up inventing all those great things you have patents for, that you’d make a supreme detective.”
“Enough, Natalie. Let’s move on,” he replied and then he gave her the VIN of the truck and the junkyard it was presently occupying.
Chapter Seventeen
Damian was tired from the long night and the swim around his island and he was sick of there being bad guys in the world. He needed to find a place to relax. He debated calling Ariana to see if she wanted to join him for a cheeseburger at Pete’s but that would require effort on his part to arrange for her transportation there. No, he’d just head over alone and soak in Pete’s company. Since he had Mike out to the island once already that day he went down to his watercraft garage to launch the rowboat. He put a thirty one pound motor on the back end which would operate for an hour on little more than a quarter tank of gas. That was plenty to get him to the marina and back and he’d just drive his truck to Pete’s.
He stopped by the harbormaster’s office to let him know that his little dinghy was parked in an area of the docks with little traffic.
“Hi Tom, I left my dinghy in its usual spot and I’ll be back in about three hours.”
“Hi Damian, I was about to call you. I had some kid sniffing around your truck earlier.”
Damian stiffened wondering how anyone from the Aryan Brotherhood had found him. Had they followed him from Natalie’s house? He’d watched his mirrors and hadn’t seen anyone following him and he got off two different off ramps to see if anyone followed him off and then on again and no one did. What the hell?
“Can you describe the kid?” Damian asked.
“She was young, Caucasian, and checking the doors of various cars in the lot. I think she was just looking for a place to stay tonight, maybe homeless or a runaway. Sometimes those kids fantasize about sneaking aboard a boat and leaving this town.”
Damian relaxed, the only women in the Brotherhood were wives or girlfriends who carried drugs or messages. This girl seemed too young for that role.
“Have you seen her here before today?”
“No, but she isn’t the first kid that strayed into the marina.”
“Thanks, Tom, for keeping an eye on things. See you later.”
Damian walked over to his truck and walked around it looking for anything out of place. He didn’t find any problems so he hopped in and set off for Pete’s. It had been a very unsettling day and Pete’s beer, cheeseburger, and companionship was exactly what he needed to right his world. He hoped that Natalie had been able to get Avery’s truck checked for DNA or at least make sure that it wasn’t wrecked or touched overnight. He’d thought about going over to the yard and buying the truck so Natalie would have the evidence while she processed the paperwork, but that would surely screw up any chain of evidence order that the police and the district attorney liked to see, so he’d let it go.
When he got to Pete’s place, it was a slow night; and so he sat at the bar and chatted with Pete about operating his own home brewery. By the end of the evening, he’d made a decision that while he could pretty much engineer anything, perhaps brewing beer would not be satisfying considering the variety of beer he liked and the small quantity he imbibed when home. He had this feeling that he’d brew beer but he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the quantity he made and he’d either end up dumping it into the bay, or perhaps on his compost pile. He’d stick to buying it from his local grocery store. Much like the swim earlier, the time at Pete’s had served to relax his mind. He thought he could go home now and get a good night’s sleep. He was soon back at the marina and waved at Tom as he went by.
It was dark n
ow, but he knew his way to his dinghy as he had docked it in the same place for years. He wasn’t worried about anyone stealing it as it was a cheap boat locked behind the entrance gate to the slip. No one would bother it. He stepped down into the boat and cast off. He’d be in trouble if the Coast Guard stopped him as he had no lights on the boat. He didn’t worry about it though as he knew the path to his island in the dark and he could always see other boats in the lights of the cities surrounding the bay. If for some reason he needed illumination, he could turn on the app of his cell phone for light.
Just as he hit the remote door for his watercraft garage, he caught the blanket moving in the front of the boat. He put his hand on his own water gun ready to aim and fire at whomever was under the dark blanket in the front of the boat. With his water gun in his hand, he reached forward and flung the blanket to the side to uncover a frightened young girl.
Oh God, it was probably the same one who had been sniffing around his truck. She was clutching what looked to be a stainless steel dinner knife.
Damian debated what to do for a few quick seconds - whether to turn around and head for the marina or shoot the kid with pepper spray. Instead he aimed his remote at the garage and the dock began to fold out. His passenger watched wide eyed, dividing her attention between Damian and the water craft garage.
Once the dock clicked into place, he asked, “What’s your name?”
She was mute for so long, he wondered if she spoke a different language, but then she finally said “Hannah.”
“Well, Hannah, I’m Damian and this is my home. I’d like you to put your knife down as my water gun is loaded with pepper juice which will make your eyes hurt for several hours if I have to fire at you. It’s dark outside here; why don’t we go inside and talk about why you were in my boat?”
Why after seven years of no visitors had he had so many in the last week? Were the gods trying to tell him something?
He directed the boat toward the dock and gave Hannah ready access to the ladder on the side of the dock. She took another look at him and then out at the dark water and apparently decided to take her chances with him. She scampered up onto the dock and advanced into the garage. Damian could see she was thin with brown hair tucked up under her hat. She kept his tarp around her as she was cold. He decided he needed some female help with the situation and quickly texted Ariana, seeing if she was awake.
She replied back immediately, “Yes, why?”
So standing on his dock he called her.
“Hi, what’s up?” Ariana hadn’t known Damian very long but she knew that if he contacted her at this hour of the night that something was off.
“I just returned to my island and discovered a female stowaway in my boat. Can you come out to my island and help me with her?”
“Is she injured?”
“Not that I can see, but I don’t know what to do with a teenage girl.”
“How do I get onto your island?”
“There is a watercraft garage with a dock on the bridge side of the island. I’ll leave the lights on for you to find it and call me when you’re approaching.”
“I’ll bring Miguel since it’s a kid.”
“Thanks, Ariana. I really owe you for your help with this one.”
“No I still owe you for refilling my tanks. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. Does she need any clothing? How tall is she?”
“She needs a jacket and I’d guess that anything you have would fit her.”
“Okay, I’ll call you when I’m close.”
Damian ended the call and looked over at the girl.
“Hannah, I know a lady who lives on the opposite shore, who is going to come here in a boat with her dog and a coat for you in about twenty minutes. For now, you’re going to have to come inside and wait. Do you want something to eat or drink? I’ll give you a jacket to wear.”
Damian pulled the small rowboat inside the garage while he waited for Hannah to speak. Then he pushed a keypad in the back of the garage and she saw the room open into his lab.
Hannah walked in looking around at the various gadgets on counters and computer terminals and said, “What is this place?”
“This is the lower level of my house where I invent things.” Pointing to his wave energy invention he said, “I’m trying to design a technology from waves that will provide electrical power to poor island countries.”
Hannah nodded and said, “Makes sense as that may be their one natural resource.”
So Damian thought, the girl had some intelligence about her. He continued “I’ll save the explanations for another time; let’s go upstairs.”
He watched the girl to see if she would follow him and she did as she peered at his laboratory taking it all in.
Upstairs he took her into his kitchen and soon had a glass of milk and a turkey and cheese sandwich in front of her. She had a lightweight jacket of his on but she was drowning in it. To his great surprise his two cats had come inside at his arrival and as usual the one hopped up to beg for turkey while the other gave Hannah the evil eye.
“Hannah, the one on the chair is Bella and she’s begging for turkey despite the fact that she had fresh fish about four hours ago. The cat on the floor giving you the suspicious look is Bailey and he’s the harder one to win over. You are the first stranger who has visited my house that Bailey and Bella greeted.”
Hannah reached out and gave a tiny piece of turkey to Bella, even though the kid herself was starving. Damian often thought you could judge another human being by their treatment of animals. He thought he would save questioning Hannah until Ariana arrived. He could see this was going to be a late night, his second in a row. He boiled water to make tea and then his cell phone buzzed with Ariana’s number showing in the caller ID. He did a quick glance around his kitchen and didn’t think the kid could get into any trouble for the few minutes he’d be gone. He handed her his TV remote and said, “I need to guide this boat in; I’ll be back in five minutes, Feel free to turn on the TV.”
He left her and went back downstairs and through his workshop and out the door to his dock. He could see a small boat approaching and relaxed a little. It was never good for an adult male to be in the company of a teenage girl even if she would have been the same age as his youngest child.
He waved to Ariana and her boat eased towards his island. He helped her tie it to the dock, as Miguel jumped out of the boat and headed for what he hoped was a great doggy adventure.
“Thanks, Ariana, for coming so quickly. I don’t know what to do with a teenage girl except to get an adult woman to help.”
“What’s her story?”
“I was waiting for you to question her. Her name is Hannah and I fed her a sandwich and some milk, gave her a jacket of mine to wear. She has intelligence as she immediately understood the impact of one of my projects that I’m working on.”
“This is quite a place, Damian, I had no idea you had this secret garage built inside your rock island. I may need to go back to calling you ‘Manny’ as you seem even more carved from this rock.”
Damian winced at that and said “Let’s go inside.”
As he left the door to his workshop open, Miguel had already entered the house but was held back from the second story by Bailey blocking his way at the top of the stairs. Just as Hannah had done, Ariana walked through the workshop staring at everything wide-eyed quick on Damian’s heels to reach his upper level. Damian reached the top of the stairs and picked up Bailey which allowed Miguel to proceed toward Hannah.
Ariana called out, “Hannah, he’s a friendly dog, he just wants a piece of your sandwich, but don’t give it to him.”
“Why not?” the girl asked.
“Because I don’t want to teach him bad manners,” Ariana replied. “Besides you look like you need the food more than he does.”
“What his name?”
“He’s Miguel and I’m Ariana.”
Hannah reached down to rub the dog’s head. Damian thought it was time
now that he softened the girl up with cats and a dog to find out her story.
