Jill called Mandy.
“Hi, Mandy, still no activity. Parks still hasn't left his house yet, I couldn't tell you if he works from home or not, but so far, there's no mysterious activity coming from him. He really is a creature of habit, always going to the same places and always taking his car. I wish I had more for you. My guess is he hired other people to kidnap Roger so he can continue planning whatever it is he's planning next.”
“Yeah, unless we follow him to a different locale than he's used to, we have no clue where Roger might be. I called Carol Stamis and told her Roger had been kidnapped. She sounded genuinely surprised and concerned. Remember, she wanted to make the commercial with Roger; Thomas didn't want to, for whatever reason. But at least I planted the bug in her ear so she can work on Thomas Parks. She can at least yell at him and demand to know what happened to the cat. We'll see if we get any leads from there.”
*****
Later in the afternoon Thomas Parks arrived at the office and Carol immediately confronted him about the missing cat.
“What did you do with the cat?” she demanded.
“What cat? What are you talking about?” Thomas Parks played innocent.
“The cat you didn't want to appear in the commercial,” Carol reminded him.
“I don't know, why should I know?”
“Because he's missing.”
“So what do I look like, his keeper?”
“You didn't want to make the commercial, so you decided to kidnap this animal so the commercial didn't get made.” Carol yelled at him.
“Look, you've been watching too many soap operas. First of all, I could just freeze the funds, which would be easier than stealing a cat.” Thomas retorting nastily.
“I could override, it's not like you have the final say in these decisions. That's why Stacy made me the manager, to make sure things got done. Too often you treat this business like a hobby.” Carol said, getting more and more upset.
“I have a very serious interest in this business and I could override your vote.” Thomas said in an “I couldn't care less” voice.
“You're going to have to look at the articles of incorporation, something I'm sure you never glanced at.”
“I don't bother myself with boring business stuff.” Thomas said dismissing her.
“Yeah, well I do, and trust me, you can't override my vote. So again, what did you do with the cat??” Carol became more upset with every passing every minute.
“Look, I don't need this, okay? I'm leaving.” Thomas yelled.
Thomas Parks left the office in a huff.
Carol Stamis still fumed about the situation. She thought he had taken the cat. He knew very well he couldn't override her vote to do projects. She hoped he hadn't hurt the cat. She also knew he didn't do the job himself. He left the dirty business to others, not bothering himself to do the work.
*****
Fred called Mandy to give her an update.
“Hi Mandy. I'm sorry to say, there's still no word on Roger. I wish I had better news for you but so far all our leads yielded nothing. Whoever did this knew what to do because we found no prints and no hair at your house, only Roger's fur and your prints, nobody else's. I also inquired more into the death of Stacy Parks. According to the doctor, she died of a natural heart attack, nothing strange about it. I don't know how Thomas Parks could have done it in order to collect insurance money. So, what insurance claims he may have had, they seem to be legitimate.”
“Thanks, Fred, for the update. I still feel there's something off with this whole Stacy Parks death. This is not unlike the feeling I got about David's murder. Something doesn't add up here, and I still feel Thomas Parks is behind Roger's disappearance and his wife's murder. But of course, we have no proof.”
“Now, Mandy, don't start investigating this case. I don't even think there's a case here. I can understand your being upset about Roger being missing, but we have no proof against Thomas Parks and if there is a murder and a kidnapping, you could get hurt. Remember the last time? You almost lost your life. Don't do this again, Mandy, I truly don't want to lose you because you went chasing criminals again. We got lucky last time, we may not get lucky again.”
“It's okay, Fred, I'm not going to go detective on you, It's just something doesn't add up here, I'm just mentioning it to you. My main concern right now is finding Roger. Thomas Parks and his insurance situation is a whole different issue. So, don't worry, All I'm saying is just because things seem normal, they may not be.”
“I'll keep it in mind, Mandy. I'll keep looking around for Roger and get back to you if I find anything else.”
“Thanks, Fred.”
And so she hung up. She kept wracking her brain to figure out what she could she do to catch this guy, one way or another. She decided to follow the insurance angle. She figured if she couldn't catch the guy on kidnapping charges, perhaps he could catch him on insurance fraud and maybe everything would come together as a result.
Somewhere Mandy had read insurance companies gave rewards if you could catch somebody who perpetrated insurance fraud; the rewards were for a percentage of the money. She felt she had nothing to lose, and if she spoke to the insurance company, they should be happy to get help in stopping insurance fraud. Insurance companies were good at denying claims, not so good at paying them. But they sure knew how to raise rates and collect premiums every month.
She had asked Jill to research what insurance company the Parks signed up with. As a result, she now had a name, and could use the information to her advantage.
Mandy went to the insurance company and she asked to speak to the agent in charge of this matter. She waited in the lobby as they paged the agent. He came out of his office, introduced himself as Ralph and asked her what she wanted. Mandy said "I'd like to discuss a case of insurance fraud." She continued speaking to the agent about her suspicions. He asked her to follow him into his office. At first the Ralph, the agent, found it hard to believe this was true.
“Wait, you're telling me you have proof Thomas Parks committed insurance fraud by murdering his wife?”
“No, I'm not saying that, all I'm saying is something doesn't add up here and I would like an opportunity to clear this up, if possible. How much of a reward would you give if I can prove this?”
“Well, we're willing to give five percent of the original payout. In this case, he's set to get $20 million, so you would get $1 million.”
Mandy struggled to keep her excitement to herself.
“Okay, look, you may think this whole thing is insane, but a couple of weeks ago, I solved a murder everyone called a suicide and as a result we caught the murderer. I had the same feeling then that I have now. Something doesn't add up. But I want to be compensated for my trouble.”
“All right, I'll write up a contract.” Ralph said.
Ralph wrote up the contract, thinking to himself there would probably be nothing factual about what this woman told him. But just in case something about this was true, he'd humor her. Mandy signed her part and took a copy with her.
“Now, you understand, there is no payout unless we can convict and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt this as insurance fraud. This is something we take very seriously,” Ralph warned Mandy.
“Oh, I understand. Trust me; I'm not going to come back here with some half-baked idea involving a unicorn. If I catch this guy, I'm going to present the kind of evidence even a blind man can see.” Mandy said sternly. Her anger rose inside as she thought of her missing Roger.
“Okay, as long we understand each other; no payout unless there's enough proof for a conviction.” Ralph said, making things perfectly clear.
“No problem, understood.” Replied Mandy.
Mandy felt a little more empowered, knowing she had a legal document stating if she could prove her theory of insurance fraud, Thomas Parks would suffer the consequences. She hoped somehow it would bring Roger back to her. Mandy called Jill to see if anything had happened, but she didn't mention any
thing about the insurance fraud or possible reward. Jill would really think her crazy now and overreacting about losing Roger.
“Hi Jill.”
“Hi Mandy, still nothing.”
“Well, just calling on the faint hope there had been some movement by our subject.”
“Well, he went to work at one point but then he went back home. Why would anybody go to work, only to come right back home? It didn't make sense. But not much makes sense about this guy.“
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Fred called me and told me nothing happened and not to play detective. I didn't tell him anything about the tracker. If he found out, he'd have a fit.”
“You're right,” Jill agreed. “Fred is one of these police officers who wants to do everything by the book. But that's one of the great things about being a private citizen. You can do stuff like this. It's not exactly legal, but not exactly illegal either. And the end justifies the means. I really think at some point he's going to contact his buddies who took the cat. And he's going to take us right to them. It might even be a legitimate pet place, but wherever it is, I think he'll eventually go visit.”
“Well, let's hope you're right.”
Both hung up, leaving Mandy basically back where she started: no Roger and nowhere closer to catching this guy with his pants down.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Jill called Mandy with some news.
“Hi, there, I'm still monitoring this guy and he seems to be moving out of his regular circles. Right now it's too soon to tell, but if he continues, we may need to go on the chase because he's definitely on the move.”
“Well, I'm glad something is happening, even though we don't really know what it is. I just keep asking myself where could he be keeping Roger?”
“I wish these moves would tell us. But one thing is certain, he's doing something different, which in the end may not mean anything but he might make some stops along the way might tell us where Roger is being held,” Jill suggested.
“That would be great. Considering he's due for a large insurance payment, it's strange he's driving out of town. It's possible he's not going far.”
“Well, today will tell, but get ready to start chasing this guy if he starts to leave the state. That suggests he's up to something. It could be anything from kidnapping Roger to something dealing with his recently deceased wife.”
“You're right, this may be an additional part of whatever he's done or planned. And he's driving because he doesn't want to leave a trail. No plane tickets, no train tickets. Strictly him and his car.”
“Well, I'll keep you posted on what he's doing.”
“Great, thanks Jill.”
After hanging up, Mandy wondered whether she should she call Fred. No, he would become upset and he'd be telling her again not to play detective, she had no proof Thomas Parks murdered his wife. So, she'd hold off calling Fred until she really had to. Mandy didn't know what had to happen to make her “have to” call Fred, but it usually amounted to some kind of trouble. Well, this whole thing had become nothing but trouble, all because she wanted to make a commercial with Roger. Fame is a very fickle thing, she guessed. It can get you into all kinds of trouble without even trying. She kept hoping for Roger's safety.
After a couple of hours, Jill called again.
“Hi, Mandy, I'm getting a lot of movement on the tracker from Parks. We're going to have to chase this guy, because he's going out of state.”
“Out of state? I wonder what business he has he has to go out of state all of a sudden.”
“Well, we need to find out. Even though he has a good head start, we can continue to track him on the monitor and keep a safe distance away. He'll never know we're following him. I'm heading to your house now.”
Jill arrived about ten minutes later at Mandy's house.
“Listen Jill, let's take my car. There's no reason to be racking up mileage on your car. This is my problem, my cat issue, and you're doing great providing the technical support. If we didn't have the tracker, we never would have known where this guy is going.”
“No problem, let's take your car then. We should take a couple of changes of clothes and some cash; we don't know how long this is going to last and how far this guy is going. We may have to stay in hotels and motels overnight.”
“You think it's going to be that involved?”
“We don't know how far this guy is going.”
So, they took a duffle bag and put in some changes of clothes and some supplies. They left Mandy's house and took off in pursuit in Mandy's car, making a pit stop at the bank to get some cash. And they were off again.
*****
In the meantime, Thomas Parks congratulated himself on how well his plan worked. Now he just had to meet his accomplice and everything would fall into place. In the middle of his self-satisfied thoughts, he got a call. “So, how's it going?”
“So far, so good. Nobody knows or cares I'm gone. The cat issue has been taken care of and the insurance payout is this week. I've had it paid as a wire transfer. It eliminates all the nastiness of a check and sends the money right to a bank account.”
“Great.”
“And Carol has been taken care of, too. She won't be making any commercials anytime soon.”
“Yeah, we don't need any activity bringing any kind of attention to us. We want people to forget things for the time being.”
“Well, I'll keep you posted. Right now, I'm on the outer limits of Jersey and heading into Pennsylvania.”
“Take your time, there's no hurry.”
“Yeah, I'm treating this as road trip, just visiting America if anybody asks me,” Parks said.
“Does anybody know you left?”
“Nope. I didn't want to alert anybody.”
*****
Mandy and Jill were still a good fifty miles behind Thomas Parks, but they had a tablet dedicated to keeping track of his movements.
“Well, he's left Jersey and he's heading into Pennsylvania. Where could he possibly be going?”
“I don't know, but he has no idea he's being followed and we're far away enough so if he's dangerous, we don't have to engage him.” Jill remained cautious.
“Yeah, the last thing we need is some psycho who recently bumped off his wife, chasing us with a gun.” Mandy said.
“Whatever happened, this is definitely strange behavior. People don't take off like this for no good reason. He's going across state lines, heading away from New Jersey. I wonder if what he wants to do is illegal in Jersey but not wherever he's going?” Jill said, wondering.
“That's a good question, what's so bad he has to do it in another state?”
“Everything about this guy is a mystery. He takes Roger, we have no idea why. He takes off, we have no idea where. There's a possibility he had other business dealings he couldn't do in Jersey, because of his involvement with Hedon.” Jill said.
“Well, I think we're going to have to plan to stay in a hotel or motel tonight. He shows no sign of slowing down and already it's getting on sundown.” Mandy said.
Out in the distance Mandy and Jill could see the sun setting as the hour got later and later.
“Well, I'm glad we packed like we did.”
“Jill, I know this sounds completely insane, but could he have Roger in the car? Maybe he's taking him far away, so nobody could ever find him.”
“I don't know, Mandy, but I think this is an awful lot of trouble to go through to get rid of a cat. Usually people are not so conscientious in taking an animal far away. Usually they just eliminate it.
“Don't say that!” Mandy said horrified.
“Well, what I meant to say is, I think Roger is still fine. Have you gotten any signal?”
“Honestly, since you started talking about Thomas Parks being on the move, I haven't checked.” Mandy took out her phone to see what kind of signal she could get. “No, I'm not getting anything.”
“Well, it's still a good-news story. It means wherever they're
keeping Roger, his signal is still being jammed. Someone is making sure if he does have a tracker, nobody is going to easily link to it.”
“Well, it makes me hopeful, but I'm still nervous.”
After a couple of minutes of silence, Mandy came up with yet another idea.
“I know you're going to think I'm completely certifiable, but do you think Carol Stamis got in his way and he decided to take matters into his own hands and right now, she's tied up or dead in the trunk of the car?”
“I couldn't tell you. I don't know what kind of relationship they had.”
“Well, the last couple of times I heard him, they were arguing over the commercial. I think if he's crazy enough to kidnap Roger, it's possible Carol would give him some more grief and he thought she was the only thing standing between him and the insurance payout worth of happiness, so he decided to kill her.” Mandy said.
“I truly don't know, Mandy. I guess we're going to have to keep following him and if we ever get close enough to check out his car, we'll see if there's a way to figure out if there's something in the trunk.”
In her head, Mandy kept hearing Fred's voice, not to get involved with this, not to play detective, and here she was following this guy who could be a repeat killer, and possibly getting close enough to engage him.
“If we do check the trunk, we have to do it on the sly, no confrontations. We don't know if this guy is armed or if he's in a dangerous mood.”
“Believe me, I plan to stay alive, so I'm not going to make any rash moves.” Jill said.
“I feel better now.” Mandy said with a sigh of relief.
Mystery at the Pet Food Corp. Page 7
