“What are you doing?” he snarled at me.
“Showing you I’m unarmed. I don’t even have a penknife in my pocket.”
“Well put your damn hands down. If anybody were to see us they might call the cops thinking I was robbing you.”
“Well, what are you doing to me?”
“Preston, please put your hands down and turn around.” I was surprised at the tone of his voice and how polite he was.
I slowly lowered my arms and turned to face him. He was standing under a light and I could see he didn’t have a weapon in his hand. “What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Do you mind telling me what were you doing in the bar?”
That hurt! In my best hick accent, I told him, “Well shit, I thought I was playing the piano. I know I ain’t that good, but I thought you’d gets the idea when I was sittin’ at the keyboard and pushed down some of them white and black keys.”
Bullwinkle didn’t see any humor in my comment. “Not that asshole, what were you doing at that bar?”
“What do you think I was doing, I was sitting in with my buddy Tubs Tate and his group. His piano player is sick and he needed somebody for this gig. He asked and I told him I would love to play.”
The look on his face was priceless. “No shit? I had no idea you played the piano.”
I was feeling a bit snarky. “Dude there are a lot of things I can do that you have no idea about. I guess I could ask what you were doing back there. But I saw you with your friend. She’s very attractive and I was sorry to see you leave so fast.”
“I was surprised to see you there and it startled me.” Not the Bullwinkle I remembered from Viet Nam.
“Why? I live in Seattle. I do things all over town. I’m not stalking you. I have no idea if I was there before you or if you were there before me. I was just as surprised to see you as you were to see me. But I didn’t run off.”
“There are things going on that you don’t understand.”
I had a ton of questions about that but I wasn’t going to ask him. “Well, I’m sorry you left when you did.”
“Preston, I have to hand it to you, you are pretty good on that piano.” I bowed my head and smiled at him. He followed up with, “Did you ever get ahold of Snooker and ask him about Hollis?”
“How do you know about Snooker and Hollis?”
“Davidson told me about his conversation with Snooker. Have you talked to Snooker yet?
“Things are underway and I hope to see him soon.”
“What does that mean?” Bullwinkle’s voice had a bit of a snarl.
“Like I said, things are underway. I have an address for Snooker and I hope to speak to him soon.”
“I need a favor,” he said with an aggressive tone to his voice.
“Hey guy, your attitude really doesn’t make me want to bust my nuts for you! A little bit more mellow perhaps?”
“Okay. Sorry. Listen, the thing is, Hollis stole my diary. I want it back. If Hollis is still alive, I want it. If he’s dead like you say, I want to see if I can find out what happened to it.”
“Why is this diary so important? You wrote it, can’t you remember what is in it?”
He moved his feet in a nervous way and seemed to be reaching for what to say. “There are details that I kinda forgot. Will you call me and let me know what you find out?”
“I’m not going to promise you anything. But if it works out, and I do learn something about the diary, I’ll contact you and let you know what I find out. Okay?”
“Thanks.” Bullwinkle turned and in his usual way, seemed to disappear. I never could get over how he seemed to just vanish. Walter and I had discussed that many times and we both wondered.
I could tell it was late and my leg was hurting. I’d probably pushed it too hard, but come on, a chance to sit in with Tubs just doesn’t come along every day. I wasn’t going to say no! It was time to head home, let Beanie out for her outing and then hit the sack.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As I opened my eyes I sensed something was wrong. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. The room was too dark. No shadows, no outside lights of any kind, just pitch black. Normally I have some illumination from one of the streetlights around the building—call it my nightlight—to see my way to the bathroom. I turned my head to look at the clock next to the bed and the face was dark. The power was out, but how much of the area around me, and why was it out were the questions.
Carefully I slipped from bed and limped into the hallway. When I looked towards the back of the house I saw the lights around the vacant lot where I let Bean do her business were also out. The kitchen was dark. I had no idea what the problem was, but I thought it might be a good idea to retrieve my Glock from its hiding place. Once I had my pistol in hand, I moved towards the front of my place.
Looking out the front window I could see that the blocks immediately surrounding my apartment were dark but the lights a couple of blocks away were all on. This was beyond strange. Since I sleep in the same outfit I was born in, I decided it might be a good idea to put on some clothes. I was glad I was alone tonight. I had invited Sharon to go to the nightclub with me but at the last moment she was called in and I went alone to sit in with Tubs.
Once I was dressed, I headed back to the kitchen. I wasn’t worried that the elevator wouldn’t work without electricity since I have access out my back door to a vacant lot. I wasn’t stuck in the house.
Standing in the kitchen I heard a sound. At first I couldn’t make it out and after a while I realized it was a high pitched whine. I wondered what the hell it was and then it occurred to me I was hearing a drill. Somebody was drilling out the lock on my back door. I knew my pistol was loaded but I checked it just to make sure. The drilling noise stopped and I heard my heavy metal screen door being opened. I keep a powerful flashlight handy on the kitchen countertop for when I walk Bean at night and I retrieved it and held it in my left hand. The flashlight has the brightest bulb on the market and I was ready for whoever had come to visit to open the door.
I held the flashlight in my left hand as far away from my body as I could. If somebody was going to take a shot at the light, it would be as far away from me as possible and my hope was I wasn’t going to get shot anywhere important.
The kitchen door slowly opened and I was relieved to see just one person trying to get into my place. I switched on the flashlight and aimed it at where I thought their eyes would be. It was a direct hit and the person brought up one hand to shield his eyes. In my most commanding voice, I told my intruder, “I’m armed. I have you in my sights. Drop your weapon now or I’ll shoot.” The intruder bought up his hand with a gun in it. Before he could pull the trigger, old instincts kicked in and I shot him twice in the chest. He tried to take a step, then turned to the side and fell to the floor. Carefully I stepped forward and kicked his pistol away from his hand. After I thought it was safe, I knelt alongside of his body and put my fingers to his neck. As I held my fingers against his skin, I felt him give a little shake and then lie still. My nighttime visitor was dead. I was surprised how little remorse I felt. I thought this was a subject I needed to think about… later!
I wanted to let Sakol know first about my intruder and the manner in which I’d dealt with the problem. I called him and the phone rang several times. I was surprised how he sounded when he answered because his voice didn’t sound the least bit sleepy. “You talk. I listen.”
“This is Matt. Somebody just broke into my place and when I told him to stand still, he pointed a gun at me and I shot him. He’s here on the floor in my kitchen, dead. I haven’t called 911 yet since I want to hear from you what you want me to do.
“Call 911. I call Jeff. We come.”
For Sakol that was a major speech. I told him I’d call 911 next. Just as he was about to hang up I yelled into my phone to wait and I asked if he was sti
ll there. “What wrong?” he responded.
“All of the power is out around my building. I can see lights up the street, but the lights behind my place are out and so is the power in front.”
“I go. Be careful.” I called 911 and informed them I had shot an intruder. I also mentioned that I had contacted Sakol who was a Seattle Police officer and he was in turn contacting Jeff Davenport who is the chief of detectives. The person on the phone told me not to leave. I had to laugh. Really, where was I going to go?
I called information next and requested they put me in contact with Seattle Power and Light. I told the P & L company about the outage and they said they would get on it. While I waited, I bemoaned the fact that without power there was no way to make a cup of coffee. I had shut the door to the bedroom and I could hear Bean scratching at the door. I opened it and quickly picked her up and carried her past the intruder lying on the floor.
After I stepped out the back door, I leaned over and sat Bean down on the walkway leading out to the vacant lot. As soon as her feet touched the wood, she was off as fast as she could to find the best bush. When I stood up I noticed a red spot on my chest. I was being marked with a laser. I dropped as quickly as I could to the walkway, but I wasn’t fast enough. I felt the sting as something nicked my ear. It had never occurred to me there might be somebody waiting for my visitor. I had left my pistol on the kitchen counter and as I pushed myself up off the walkway, all I could do was watch a car go tearing up the hill. I berated myself how stupid I had been to come out unarmed.
I could hear the police on the street in front of my apartment but without power there was no way for them to get up to my apartment using the elevator. I called 911 back and explained the problem and how somebody was going to have to come around behind the building to gain access to the kitchen and the body. I had just pushed the end button on my phone when Sakol pulled up to the curb by the vacant lot in his squad car. Once Bean saw Sakol, she ran to him and as he picked her up, he said to me, “Jeff come later.” And that was Sakol’s greeting.
I explained to Sakol what had happened and why I shot the person on the floor of my kitchen. When the body was turned over they also found another pistol tucked into the front of his pants besides the one with a silencer I had kicked away. As they were loading the body into a stretcher, one of the cops milling around my apartment noticed my ear and asked me if I knew I was bleeding. Since it had stopped hurting, I really hadn’t noticed. Looking at my shirt I saw a lot of blood on the shoulder. I was advised I needed to get the ear sewed up. Visiting doctors was getting old.
While I was dealing with the police, my cell phone started to ring. I looked at the number and saw it was Orchard. I answered and his first question was, “What’s going on out there? Your friend Mouse just called me and filled me in on your break in and you getting shot.” I wondered how the hell Mouse could have found out so fast. Maybe Sakol had called him. Orchard’s next statement gave me the clue who had tipped Mouse off. John told me, “I’ve just received the dead person’s fingerprints from SPD and we are running them through our database. I’ll let you know what I find out. Please be careful. This is due to you getting involved with the search for Melissa and I think MacDonald had something to with it.” If John had gotten fingerprints from SPD, I knew Sakol must have sent them because Mouse asked him to.
“Have you heard anything new?” I asked John.
“I’m glad you brought that up. Yes, I did. I just happened to find out who her godfather is.” I wondered if he took lessons from Mouse. “Turns out that I know him. And I think I know exactly how to find him. I had a master chief named Bill Richardson who served under me in the Navy for several years and he’s still very good friends with Melissa’s godfather. The man’s name is Ilox. He also ran some very important operations for us in Turkey and the surrounding areas.” Johnny went on to tell me he was working on getting me Richardson’s address. He thought it was somewhere in Florida. John ended the call with, “I sent you home to heal, and now this. You need to be more careful.”
“What, you don’t think I’m being careful?”
“Well, I know you need to go and have that ear sewed up.” How the hell did he know that? “You’re not being careful enough. You now have a plane at your disposal. I’ll send you the address for Chief Richardson and then I want you to go and see if you can find Ilox.”
I told him just before he hung up about CV and the strange phone call I’d received. When I finished, Orchard agreed CV was on a fishing trip and he thought I had handled it well. As we ended the call, he again insisted I take care and watch out. “It’s all tied together. I just have to figure out how. Now, go and get that ear fixed,” he finished.
“As soon as I’m finished here I’ll do that and then I’ll be on my way,” I promised him. “I’ll stay in touch.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eventually the police left and about then the power came back on. I took Bean out again and this time I was rewarded with all sorts of puppy things and one of them I had to pick up. When I got to the kitchen she was already pawing at the pantry door. It was treat time!
Now that I had power, I made coffee. I headed to the front and curled up in my old chair, my best place to think. Suddenly I had an idea and I wondered if Ralph was up. I decided I really didn’t care. I was doing him a favor so I called him. “Ralph?”
“Marr! Woomph ta dat.” I had obviously woken him up.
“Ralph, it’s Matt. Sorry to wake you but I have a question.”
“What?”
“Do you know what university Melissa graduated from?”
It took a moment for him to answer. Finally, he responded, “No. Why?”
“Don’t worry about it, later dude.” He waited too long and for some unknown reason he was still playing games with me.
“Don’t hang up I wa— And the phone was dead. In less than two minutes my phone rang.
I knew who it was. “What?” I answered.
“It’s me, Ralph.”
“I know. I recognize the number.”
“I had to think about this for a moment. As I remember, she graduated from a school in Utah, I think. But I don’t remember the exact name of the school. Why did you ask?”
“Thanks Ralph, I’ll let you know when I know more.”
I heard him shouting “Wait!” but I hung up the phone anyway.
Now I finally had a couple of things to work on in regards to the elusive Melissa Herman. But what could I do with the information I just got from Ralph? I’d told Ralph a lot of people were looking for Melissa, but I was afraid to ask Ralph too many questions for fear he might figure exactly how hot she actually was, and the danger she was in. I didn’t want him to know she was being hunted by a lot more people than just him, if he didn’t already know that.
I dropped Bean off at Sharon’s and I had to deal with a lecture about my tattered ear. I was forced to get in her car and she took me up to the hospital where she worked. She took me in a back room and numbed the ear and sewed it up. As she patted me on the top of my head she joked, “You’ll have to give up wearing an earring in that ear. There isn’t much left to pierce.” Somehow, I didn’t find her comment as funny as she did.
I was now ready to head out to Boeing Field, that is I would be when John finally got me more specific information on how to find Richardson. I returned home after grabbing a cup of coffee and headed for my office. I fired up my computer, wondering how you would go about finding somebody who had graduated in computer science from some university in Utah? How many different degrees are there in computer science programs? And how many schools offered them? Thank God for the internet. It took some time, but I finally found it online and amazingly there were just four schools that offered a degree in computer science in Utah. I didn’t think she was Brigham Young material and on the second school I lucked out.
In the alumni record of grad
uates was, ta da, Melissa Herman.
And what do you know, there was even an address in Florida that wasn’t the same as on her business card. I didn’t hold out much hope, but I was further along than I’d been twenty-four hours ago.
I was still waiting for more information from Johnny, but with my new information, I was getting close to start my search for Melissa Herman.
I was close to being ready for Florida.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I’d put as many things in motion as possible and if I hung around my place waiting for John to call with directions to Bill’s place, I was going to go crazy. I know myself well enough that I know my patience gene was improperly installed when I was assembled. In a nutshell, I do not do waiting well. I really didn’t have anything I had to get accomplished at the apartment, and I was just waiting to hear from John so I thought I would head for one of the old buildings I own downtown where I have a garage on the top floor and I store all my old cars. I turned down the alley behind the building and my phone went off.
I didn’t recognize the number right away. “Hello, this is Matt.”
There was no return greeting, just a male voice, “Have you got a minute?”
Totally puzzled. “Who is this?” I asked.
“This is Davidson. I need to talk to you.”
Damn! This was a major surprise. Why he was even calling me again, and I still wondered how he got my number? “Yeah, sure, I have a minute. What can I do for you?” I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I also didn’t want to become friends with this psycho either.
“Ah… look, our conversation the other day bothered me. Anyway, I was curious and I wanted to find out what Snooker had to say. So I just finished chatting with him,” he said.
I replied, “I can understand why you would wonder what was going on. What did he have to say?”
“I asked him about Hollis and what did he actually see. Snooker swears he saw Hollis, alive. Snooker also claims that actually he spoke to him.”
The Gypsy Queen: A Matt Preston Novel (Matt Preston Series Book 3) Page 13
