The day went by slowly as Alice waited for John to wake up. She had resigned from her job with the Agony Aunt, and they wished her well in her new career. When John
finally did get up, she told him that Burrows was trying to arrange for her to go and interview the students. John wanted to drive her, and be there just in case something went wrong. He didn’t like the idea of her playing detective on her own. They were half watching the 6 p.m. news on television, and still talking about her going down to the university, when the phone rang.
Alice rushed to pick it up, hoping it was Burrows. “Hello.”
“Mrs. Timberlake, this is Agent Campbell.”
“Oh.” It surprised Alice that he’d be phoning her this time of day. “Hi, Ed,” she said amiably.
“No, it’s not Ed, it’s Agent Campbell,” he barked. “You are to call me Agent Campbell, Mrs. Timberlake.”
“Okay … okay, whatever you say.” Oh, shit. I’ve pissed him off, Alice thought.
“It seems my superiors think it’s a good idea to use you and this Magic Man to try to get to these boys, so, you’ll be under my supervision. I’ve made an appointment for you to meet the dean of San Diego University at 1500 hours. One of my agents will meet you at the gate and will go in with you. They’ll brief you on what you can and cannot ask the students; you will also be wired so every word will be on tape. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, so let’s hope you don’t fuck this up.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, all Joe wants to do is help,” Alice said timidly.
“Mrs. Timberlake, I know you think you’re helping, and mean well,” he said sternly, “but if these four boys think the police are asking questions at their college, then they’ll panic and cover their tracks. At the moment, they think they’ve got away with it, and that’s exactly what we want them to think.”
“I’ll be as discreet as possible.”
“Three o’clock tomorrow, then.”
“I’ll be there.” Alice tried to sound confident. The phone went dead.
“You’ll be where? And what will you be discreet about?” John asked. He had been trying to listen in.
“That was Agent Campbell; he’s pissed about Joe’s plan.” Her eyes gleamed with excitement. “But someone higher up has given the go-ahead, so I’m going to the university tomorrow.”
“Good God!” John was just as excited as Alice. “You’ll be like an undercover reporter.” He gave her a hug. “Girl, you are going to be big time, I can feel it.”
Alice prayed he was right.
~
Alice arrived at the university on time. She missed John’s company; he’d had to work, so it had been a lonely drive down on her own. As she approached the gates, a woman stepped out and held out her badge in one hand. She carried a briefcase in the other. Alice slowed to a crawl. Even without a badge, the woman had cop written all over her. She stood tall, thin, and muscular, and was wearing a dark trouser suit, with a white shirt. She could have been a kick-boxer––her face had a chiseled look; her hair, blond and bluntly cut to shoulder length; and her steel blue eyes stared straight through Alice. The woman was nothing like Alice was expecting. Alice noticed she was checking her license plate as she pulled up. Alice read FBI on the woman’s badge and opened her window.
“Mrs. Timberlake, I’m Agent Hannah Kelly; I’m to help you with your interviews. May I get in?”
“Sure.” Alice looked away quickly as soon as Agent Kelly sat down.
“I’ve been briefed on what you are trying to do. The dean has also been informed that we think one of his students is involved in a serious crime.” She looked at Alice and motioned her forward. “We would rather the dean didn’t know the nature of the crime, or the student of interest––not at this point, anyway. Stop by the gate, they are expecting us.” She went on, businesslike: “I’m wired up, and my team is taping every word we say. Our control van is one minute away. The dean wants to meet with us before we begin. As soon as we get that interview over with, which is only a formality to keep him happy, you’ll get wired up––that’s if you are going to start today.”
Alice pulled up by the gate and a security guard approached them. Agent Kelly opened her window, smiled, and spoke politely: “Mrs. Timberlake and Miss Kelly to see the dean.”
“Yes ladies, he is expecting you.”
Alice listened to the guard’s instructions of where to park the car. Alice thanked him and drove on. “I think it would be better if we start tomorrow,” Alice said nervously. “The best time to catch a student is on their lunch break.”
“I agree. If you like, I will pick you up from your hotel around 11 a.m., and we can get you wired up and be on campus as they come out for their break.”
The interview was brief. Agent Kelly told the dean what the FBI wanted––that the staff and students think that they were doing a survey for a health and safety campaign. Kelly gave the dean a list of eighteen questions they’d be asking the students about contraception and smoking. He agreed, and said he would help in any way he could. He gave them visitor badges and wished them luck.
~
At 11 a.m. the next day, Agent Kelly was in the hotel parking lot, leaning against her car, waiting for Alice. Agent Kelly was wearing a light blue, two-piece outfit. Her skirt was just a few inches above her knee, and her pale blue blouse was open enough to show a hint of cleavage.
Alice smiled as she walked up to her. “Well, Agent Kelly, I must say you look the part of a reporter.” Agent Kelly didn’t smile, or comment to Alice’s remark. “Good morning, Mrs. Timberlake.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder to a large van. “The boys are waiting to wire you up.”
Alice followed her into the van, half expecting to see Agent Campbell; however, there were just two technicians inside waiting for her. One sat in front of a computer screen and several pieces of wireless equipment. He had a mic and earpiece on, and was talking to someone.
“Okay guys, this is Mrs. Timberlake––wire her up, and let’s get this van back in the area.”
“Good morning,” Alice said shyly. The one with the mic turned and nodded. The other one gave her a weak smile. “I’m not late, am I?”
“No, we’re doing fine for time,” Agent Kelly said briskly, before her manner changed and she grinned at Alice. “Just take your jacket off, unbutton your blouse, and let dickhead here wire you up with his cold hands.”
The two guys giggled at her attempt of a joke. “I’m Agent Richard, hence the nickname.” He stood in front of her with a small microphone between his finger and thumb. “But she’s right, I do have cold hands.” He grinned at Alice and nodded toward his partner. “That’s Agent Bowen.”
“Hi.” Alice took her jacket off and undid her blouse, and pulled it out of her skirt. “Good job I didn’t wear a sweater.” She felt embarrassed as she held her blouse open, waiting for Agent Richard to tape a wire to her body, just like she had seen so many times in the movies. She blushed as she saw him looking at the way she filled her bra.
“We were teasing you about my cold hands,” Agent Richard’s half smile turned into a huge grin. “Here,” he held out a small mic the size of a button, “clip this on your bra strap.” He burst out laughing, as did Agent Bowen, who also had an eyeful of her holding open her blouse.
Alice noticed Agent Kelly look away, but caught a glimpse of a smirk on her face. Alice realized she had been had. She took the little mic and clipped it onto the inside of her bra, knowing she could have just undone one button of her blouse and reached in and clipped it on without having to expose herself. “You boys and your toys,” she thought it best to laugh it off, “good job I don’t have to wear a concealed weapon, as well.”
Agent Kelly burst out laughing. She turned to Alice, and between giggles said, “I’m sorry, but if I didn’t let them play their little joke, they would have played hell with me for the next month.”
Alice did her blouse up and tucked it back into her skirt. “It’s all right,”
she nodded, “the new girl, the old con, I fell for it.”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Agent Richard held out his hand to her: “I hope it all goes well for you.” He shook her hand.
“Okay, you guys,” Agent Kelly clapped her hands, “let’s test the mic and get to work.”
“It’s working all right,” Agent Bowen was still giggling. “Do you want me to play it back?” When he saw the look on Alice’s face, he held his hand up. “I’m just joking––honestly.”
Agent Kelly gave Alice a clipboard. “These are the questions we’ll be asking.” They climbed out of the van and walked back to Agent Kelly’s car. “We’ll work closely together. You are not to be out of my sight––not that we are expecting any trouble.”
“Sure, no problem.” Alice glanced at the questions: “Let’s hope the boys will talk to us. Maybe it would have been a good idea to offer free condoms to the students who take part in this survey.”
Agent Kelly pulled away from the hotel, with the van following close behind. She ignored Alice’s comment. “We know they are both in the east wing taking a history class. When they come out for a break, we’ll try and spot them, and then work our way toward them. Don’t go straight to them, we don’t want to spook them.”
Once they arrived on campus, they all pulled into a student parking lot close to the building where the boys’ classes were. Agent Kelly and Alice got out of the vehicle and headed toward the building. Alice spotted Scott Bailey and Alfred Cohen as they came out of class together and caught up with three other boys. She spoke into her mic: “They are heading toward the football field,” Alice stated. She stayed with Agent Kelly and watched until all the students split into groups.
“Let’s start with the two groups of girls just in front of our target––you take the ones to the left.” Agent Kelly wore a false smile.
With her ID and visitor’s badge on show, Alice walked up to the girls and asked them if they minded taking part in a survey. Alice was slightly embarrassed asking the questions about contraception. “Do you insist a boy wear a condom, or do you rely on the morning after pill?” Some of the questions made the girls laugh. One of them pointed to the boys behind her and asked Alice, “Are you going to ask them the same questions?”
Alice didn’t look at the boys. “Yes––do you think they can answer honestly, or are they going to brag about the conquests they’ve never had?” she joked.
“Oh, those guys will brag that they can have any girl,” one young woman said, loud enough for the boys to hear. “I don’t know if they know about the morning after pill, though.” She started laughing. “You better tell them it’s for the female; otherwise, they’ll be taking them and thinking they’re safe.”
Alice laughed with the girls, and the boy next to Scott shouted to them: “Hey, what’s so funny?”
“It’s a survey about sex,” the girl shouted back, “so you’ll be all right, Chuck; I told her you were on the pill.” The girls laughed hysterically at her joke, but it helped Alice, as the boys hollered back that they knew just as much as them. “Hey, Mrs.,” one of the boys shouted to Alice: “You’ll have more sense out of us than you will out of those halfwits!”
“You haven’t heard the questions yet,” Alice yelled to him. “Let me finish here and I’ll be with you in a minute.” Alice noticed Alfred Cohen get up and leave. She looked over to Agent Kelly and could see she was watching what had gone on while she was interviewing the other group.
“Okay guys,” Alice said as she walked over to the boys, making sure she didn’t make immediate eye contact with Scott. She was smiling at the boy who had called her. She showed them her ID card. “I’ve just a few questions on health and safety––in other words––sex and smoking.” There were numerous nervous laughs. “I don’t want your names, so, no matter what you say, nothing will come back on you. All I want are some honest answers.”
Alice flew through the sex questions, and most of the smoking questions. “All right, just three more questions and I’ll leave you in peace. If you sat at an outside sports event, like a football game, would you notice if someone near you smoked?” They all shook their heads and mumbled, no. “If you were to sit indoors, somewhere like a movie theatre, where there were smokers, would you notice it more indoors and see it as more of a health hazard?” They all agreed indoors could be a risk.
“Do you boys go to the movies often?” Alice tried to make small talk as she jotted down their answers, hoping Scott would say yes. “If you were with a girl, would you really notice anyone smoking?” They all laughed and said probably not. She paused briefly, noting their reactions to the questions. “Or, is taking a girl to the movies not the date of choice anymore? Where do you take your girls these days?”
“A spin in the car will do for me,” one of them said, and his friend gave him a friendly punch on the arm, as if it were a private joke.
“Tenpin bowling does it for me,” Scott piped up, looking directly at her.
Alice could feel her heart start to race when Scott said he went tenpin bowling. “My husband loves bowling; he drags me with him sometimes. He plays twice a week, Fridays and Saturdays. Do you play often?”
“Most Saturdays a gang of us get together,” he said.
“Nice! Okay guys, last question. If you liked a girl, and you were thinking of asking her out, but you discovered she was a smoker, would you forget her? Or wouldn’t it bother you?”
Alice had mixed answers, but she didn’t care. Scott Bailey had said he went tenpin bowling. And that was all Joe wanted her to find out. Joe had no intention of bumping into Scott at the bowling alley, but the FBI didn’t know that. Their little plan to fool the Feds, and get into one of the guy’s minds, had worked.
Alice waited until Agent Kelly had finished with her group, then they walked back to the car and headed back to the hotel. The van followed shortly after. Alice felt pleased with herself; it was like being an undercover cop.
When they arrived at the hotel parking lot, they got out of the car and Alice followed Agent Kelly into the van, where they were met by a stern looking Agent Campbell.
“Is that it?” Agent Campbell had been listening to Alice talking to Scott. “He said he sometimes goes bowling?”
Alice’s heart sank. “That’s all Joe needed, he’ll go there and mix with the crowd,” she stuttered.
“What if the other boy, Cohen, smelled a rat? He split as soon as he knew you were going to ask them questions.” Agent Campbell threw his hands up in frustration. “More than likely he’ll ask Bailey what questions you asked him.” He shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll be going bowling.”
“I’m sorry,” Alice said sheepishly, “I hope I haven’t screwed this up.”
Agent Campbell took a deep breath, and then gave her a half smile. “Let’s hope not.” He motioned for her to come closer to listen to the last part of the tape she did with Scott Bailey. “No, you didn’t screw anything up––you played your part well enough. It’s Agent Burrows who I see is forcing our hand to use the Magic Man, and the big brass want to see how Joe can be of help to us, so they are allowing it, and watching with interest. It won’t be your fault if everything goes to hell; they’re the ones pushing us.”
Alice drove the three-hour trip home, feeling pleased with herself. She couldn’t believe she had done it. In such a short time, her life had changed so much. Joe had popped into her head just before she interviewed the girls, as planned, and as she was talking to the boys she knew, when Joe’s whispering stopped, he had jumped into Scott’s mind. As soon as the interview was over, Joe popped back to her mind to tell her she had done well. It didn’t spook Alice so much, anymore, Joe popping into her head. She knew Joe had to be there to make this partnership work—he was like a nosy neighbor, popping in for a cup of coffee and a chat.
When she arrived home, John was up. She told him what happened, twice over, before she finally calmed down.
Chapter33
Jo
e was in Scott’s dreams on Thursday night, and again on Friday night. He had all the information he thought the Feds would want, but Burrows wouldn’t find out until Sunday,
after the supposed meeting in a bowling alley. He had made sure Scott would go bowling on Saturday afternoon, by planting the urge in Scott’s mind. Not that Joe had any intention of being at the bowling alley, but he hoped the Feds would be there looking for him.
Alice and Joe waited impatiently until Sunday morning when Alice could finally phone Burrows to tell her the good news. When she did, Burrows was over the moon with the information Joe had gained for them. However, she reminded Alice, in a cordial way, she should have phoned Agent Campbell first, he was the agent running the case. Alice quickly called him.
“Hello, Agent Campbell,” Alice greeted him boldly. “You’re up early, Mrs. Timberlake. But, I was hoping you’d call today.” There was a hint of doubt in his voice: “Any news from Joe?”
“Yes! I’ve got so much; I don’t know where to start.”
“Okay––give me a minute to switch my recorder on.” Alice could hear Agent Campbell rustling about on the other end of the line. “Okay. Go ahead.”
“First, let me tell you there were four vans. They rented a different van each time from different car rental companies. They also used false names each time.”
“That figures … go on.”
“I’ll keep the best news until last.” Alice took a deep breath and relaxed as she read from her notes. “The names of the other two boys are Brian Butler and Chris Tucker. The four of them are on the swim team, and they also go bowling together.” Alice heard Agent Campbell mutter, well done, and she continued: “It started with a fantasy over a hot red-head at the school; they all had a crush on her. She was seeing someone, but it didn’t stop them fantasizing about her—picturing her naked. It started, more or less, as a joke. The four of them said they would love to give her one. Brian Butler mentioned it would be easy to find out what she looked like naked. He’d get some of his father’s chloroform, soak a rag in it, sneak into her bedroom when she was sleeping, put the rag over her mouth, and she would be his to do with as he pleased. That’s when Alfred Cohen came up with a plan.”
Get Out Of My Dreams (Joe the Magic Man Series Book 1) Page 23
