by Bob Blanton
“Hey, I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”
“I know.”
“Now, let’s get back to this party we’re going to.”
“Right. Just remember we’re Emily and Matt Grayson. We’re new at Fallbrook.”
“I’ve got that, you’ve only told me three times.”
“Good, then you won’t blow our cover. This is the Charles’s house; their parents are away for the weekend.”
Emily parked on the street and they walked up to the house. Nobody seemed to be too concerned about who was coming or going. There were kids on the front lawn drinking and the music from the house was blaring away. It was a good thing that the neighbors were two hundred yards away.
“Good luck,” Emily said. “You should try hitting on a few girls, see if you can start up a conversation and learn something.”
“Sure,” Matthew muttered. He didn’t hold out much hope on his chances. He’d never been lucky with girls. He didn’t have much practice. He’d tried to get Emily to go out with him for over a year, and the result was they were just friends. He’d never even managed a kiss with her. And his girlfriend, Brianna, had been chasing him, so all he had to do was stop running to close that deal. And it looked like that relationship wasn’t doing too well now.
“Hi,” Matthew said as he passed by a small circle of girls as he made his way to the kitchen. There was a beer keg there. Matthew grabbed one of the plastic cups and filled it with water, then he made his way back into the living room.
He moved over to the corner. Two girls were talking about a movie. One of them was wearing a cheerleader outfit. When one of them looked at Matthew he nodded and said, “Nice game. I think we’ve got a chance at the regionals.”
The girl glared at him, clearly sending a ‘get lost message’. Matthew guessed that you weren’t supposed to talk to them unless you’d already been accepted into the ‘Cool’ group.
Not having much experience at parties except with Jason and Brianna, Matthew wandered around looking for a spot where he could be inconspicuous while he waited for Emily to get the intel.
“Move!” a girl hissed.
“Not unless you give me a kiss. Or we can go back to one of the bedrooms.”
Matthew looked over to assess the situation. The boy was about 5’ 9” and wiry. The girl was about the same height, with black hair, built like a cheerleader. Very pretty.
“Move or I’ll scream.”
“No way you’ll scream. If you do, you’ll never be invited back to one of these parties.”
The girl was trapped in the hallway that led to the bedrooms, and Matthew suspected one of the bathrooms. The guy just kept moving in front of her whenever she tried to squeeze past.
Matthew waited until the guy was on the opposite side of the entry, then walked over. He pretended to trip and spilled his water on the guy’s jacket.
“Sorry, it’s just water,” Matthew said as he stepped up and wiped at the water, creating room for the girl to squeeze out behind him while blocking the guy from moving to intercept her.
“You clumsy ass!”
“I said sorry.”
The guy pushed Matthew up against the wall with his hand. Keeping his hand on Matthew’s chest, he leaned in. “You messed with my moves. I think I’ll mess up your face.”
“Leave him alone, Evan,” the girl said.
Matthew reached over with his right hand and grabbed Evan’s hand. With his thumb in the web of Evan’s hand, Matthew twisted the hand and bent the wrist over. Evan immediately winced at the pain and crouched down to relieve the pressure on his wrist.
“Now, Evan, you can either stand up and walk away, or I’ll put you on your knees and make you beg me to let go. . . . Now, none of that,” Matthew said as he twisted Evan’s hand some more to prevent him from punching him in the groin.
“Make up your mind,” Matthew whispered.
“Okay, okay,” Evan said.
“Alright, I’m going to let you go. If you try something, I’ll put you down, then make you crawl across the floor. We understand each other?”
“We cool.”
Matthew released Evan, “Nice interception, it really helped us win the game,” he said as Evan stood. “Sorry about the water,” he added as Evan brushed Matthew with his shoulder.
Evan just gave Matthew a hard stare as he moved away.
“Thanks, I’m Cicely, damsel in distress,” Cicely said.
“I’m Matt, knight in shining armor.”
“You must be new at Fallbrook.”
“Yes, just started this year.”
“Thanks for getting me out of that. I should have known better than to go down that hallway, but I really had to pee and there’s a line at the guest bath.”
“You shouldn’t have to put up with that. I thought Evan was cooler than that.”
“No, not so cool.”
“So you don’t think he was in on the heist?”
“Heist?”
“Of the Pacific Academy mascot.”
“Oh, no way. That had to be Jerome, and he doesn’t like Evan.”
“Why?”
“Why doesn’t he like Evan, or why does he have to be the one who did the heist?”
“Both.”
“Evan’s not rich enough for Jerome and his crowd. And nobody would dare pull off a thing like that heist without Jerome being involved. He can get mean if you make him look bad.”
“How would pulling off the heist without him make him look bad?”
“He’s Mr. Cool. He has to be involved with anything that’s cool. Not bringing him in on the heist would ruin his cred. Besides, I don’t think anyone else has the balls,” Cicely said. “Are you here with anyone?”
“My sister,” Matthew said. “I don’t have my license yet, so I rode with her to the game, and of course that means I had to ride with her here.”
“I know how that is. So you’re a sophomore?”
“Junior,” Matthew said. “Birthday’s in November, I started early.”
“So you must be smart.”
“I guess.”
“Then you must be smart enough to know that Evan’s going to watch for you to leave, and then he and his friends are going to do a beatdown on you.”
“You think?”
“Smart money says so.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“When you’re ready to leave, give me a sign and I’ll make a distraction. If you go down the hall, third door on the left is the master bedroom. It has French doors that lead outside. You can work your way around their lot and meet your sister on the street.”
“Wouldn’t that tarnish my armor?”
“Not as much as getting a beatdown from Evan and his friends. If you win, you ruin our chances for next week’s ballgame, and that’s Homecoming. If you lose, well . . . you get the picture.”
“Okay, I’ll let you know when we’re ready to leave.”
“See you around.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Matt, did you learn anything?”
“I heard that Jerome has to be the culprit.”
“That’s what I got, too. Did you get a read on him so you can track him?”
“Of course,” Matthew sighed.
“Good, so are you ready to leave?”
“Yes. Can you pick me up at the corner?”
“Why?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“Whatever.”
Emily left and Matthew gave Cicely the high-sign and then made his way to the back bedroom. Matthew heard Cicely calling her friends to come dance with her. They were high-kicking like the Rockettes as Matthew closed the door to the master suite.
It was easy getting out the back door, but then Matthew found himself in a fenced yard. Since he wanted to stay away from the house and Evan and his friends, Matthew used his portal to make a step stool so he could hop over the six-foot fence.
GRRR, ARF! ARF!
“Crap, I should have chec
ked for a dog!”
Matthew set his portal for three feet and jumped on it. Then he hopped up, raising it up another foot just as the dog reached him. Two more hops and he had it over six feet up. He made it larger so he could lay down on it since he could hear the neighbor opening the door.
“Kahn, what’s going on?!”
The owner came out the back door and looked at the dog who was below Matthew growling.
“What’s the matter, boy? Is it a raccoon?”
The dog continued to growl at Matthew.
“Come here. Come!” the owner ordered the dog.
After a couple more orders, the dog went over to the owner, still looking over his shoulder at Matthew. Once the dog and owner were back inside, Matthew reached out and grabbed the top of the fence to pull himself along it to the front of the yard. He had planned to cross the yard and go out the other side, but he didn’t see a way to cross the twenty yards from one side to the other. He’d just have to get by the guys in the front using his portal to shield himself.
Once he was past the fence, Matthew dropped to the ground. Then he opened his portal so that it was vertical, one end on each side of him. With it at seven feet in diameter, it would make anyone looking his way see past him through the portal to the other side. So unless they were looking close to the ground they shouldn’t notice anything. He carefully walked out to the street then turned and jogged down to the corner.
“It took you long enough,” Emily said as Matthew got into her car.
“The neighbor had a dog.”
“I thought I heard barking. What did you do?”
“I used my portal to get high enough that the dog couldn’t reach me. I should have thought about a dog. Damn, not a very good undercover reporter.”
“Hey, we all make mistakes. So, why did you have to sneak out?”
“I got crossways with Evan. It was suggested that I should avoid him on the way out.”
“Whatever. So it’s this Jerome Graham that everyone thinks is behind the heist.”
“Sounds like it. Now we’ll have to see if we can find the statue through him.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Sunday night, Jerome’s father returned home. Matthew was hoping Jerome would say something or do something to prepare for his father’s return that would give a clue as to where the mascot statue was so he tuned in.
“Jerome, what the hell have you been doing all week?!” Mr. Graham yelled when he entered the house.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing is right. You didn’t even empty the shredder bin.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
“Yeah, I can tell how sorry you are. What have you been doing, drinking beer and watching football I’ll bet?” Mr. Graham opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer while making note of how many beers were in it.
He walked into his office with the beer and the stack of papers he had with him. Matthew continued to watch Jerome thinking he should do something to clean up, but he just continued to watch the Sunday night game.
Matthew was just about to give up and call it a night when Mr. Graham came storming out of his office. He was holding a clipping from the newspaper.
“What the hell is this?!”
“What?”
“This!” Mr. Graham yelled, shoving the newspaper clipping at his son.
“It’s nothing, someone just stole the Pacific Coast Academy mascot.”
“And you’re going to tell me you weren’t behind it?”
“No . . .”
“Don’t lie to me!”
“Nobody knows it was me.”
“Except for the friends you got to help.”
“Yeah, but they’re not going to rat me out.”
Mr. Graham’s fist flashed out as he punched his son on the jaw, knocking him to the floor.
“I told you to cut this kind of crap out last year. I have sensitive business deals in the works and I don’t need the police nosing around scaring off my partners and clients.”
“Sorry, Dad. Nobody’s going to find out. The police don’t have a clue.”
“And where is the statue?”
“Hidden.”
“You destroy that thing. I don’t want one a single piece of it to be found and traced back to you. Do you hear me?!”
“Sure, sure. I’ll take care of it tomorrow night.”
“You’d better! If you can’t follow the rules around here, then pack your bags. Maybe you should find your mother and go live with her.”
Matthew shook his head as he closed his portal. He felt sorry for Jerome, well almost. What kind of father punched his son? And what was he going to do to get their statue back before Jerome destroyed it?
◆ ◆ ◆
“Emily, we’ve got a problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jerome’s going to destroy the mascot.”
“Why?”
“It’s kind of weird. His dad found out about it and got really mad, he even punched him. Then he told him to destroy the statue so it couldn’t be traced back to him. Something about not wanting the police nosing around and spooking his clients.”
“When is he going to do it?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“No.”
“Crap.”
“I know. The only thing I can think of is to follow him.”
“How will that help? He’ll destroy the statue, or do you plan on stopping him?”
“I could stop him but it would be better to get to the statue and hide it or something before he gets there.”
“But you don’t know where it is.”
“But if I follow him, maybe I can figure it out before he gets there.”
“Then what?”
“I move it.”
“All the way back to PCA?”
“I guess that would be a problem. We need a truck.”
“Hey, I can borrow our gardener’s truck”
“We’ll need to be up in Fallbrook by four.”
“Are you sure it’s in Fallbrook?”
“No, but I bet that’s where Jerome will start out, he’s got school just like us.”
“Okay, I’ll figure out how to get a truck we can use by 3:00 when school lets out, you keep track of Jerome.”
“Got it.”
Chapter 9
Repossession
Right after school, Emily drove Matthew over to her house where they exchanged her Porsche for the gardener’s pickup. It was an older Dodge Ram. Matthew looked in the back, making sure there would be enough room for the statue.
“Nice truck,” Matthew said.
“Yeah, he’s got a nice business. He takes care of several properties out here. So, where’s Jerome?”
“He’s heading home right now.”
“Do you think he’s going to wait until dark?”
“Probably. It depends on where the statue is. I’m sure he doesn’t want to be caught.”
“I guess not. His father really punched him?”
“Yeah. Knocked him to the floor. He was really pissed. Told him that if he couldn’t follow the rules, he should pack his bags.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Yeah. He seemed like a real jerk.”
“I guess. Anyway, while we’re driving, what’s going on with our other friend?”
“You mean Dante?”
“Of course.”
“I haven’t figure out what he does with the money. He collects on the weekends. But when I searched his apartment on Saturday and Sunday night, all I found is about five thousand on Saturday and ten or so on Sunday. On Monday, he takes it to work with him and puts part of it in his bank account and the rest in a safety deposit box. He must have at least two to three hundred thousand in the box.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of money. So where does the rest of it go? You know he’s bringing in well over a hundred thousand a week, sixteen dealers with thirty to forty clients paying seven hundred every
two weeks.”
“Yeah, that’s between 168K and 224K per week.”
“So where’s the money? Were you able to figure out how much the dealers were giving him?”
“Not exactly, but the envelopes were over half an inch thick, so if they were all hundreds, that’s around twelve K.”
“Here we are, what should we do?” Emily asked as they drove past the “Welcome to Fallbrook” sign.
“Find a diner where we can hang out, Jerome is at home right now.”
“When does the sun set?”
“Six-thirty.”
“If he’s waiting for that, it means we have two hours.”
“We should have dinner. After that we can go out toward his place; we don’t know which way he’ll be heading once he’s on the move.”
“The Fallbrook Café, an imaginative name. Let’s eat here.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Matthew poked Emily. “Jerome just got a sledgehammer out of the garage.” He and Emily were half a mile down the road from his house backed into a lane that led to an empty house that was for sale. The Grahams lived in a community of houses with one-acre lots.
Emily started the truck up. “Which way is he heading?”
“East.”
“So back to the other side of Interstate 15?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Pull over,” Matthew instructed Emily after they’d been following Jerome for about thirty minutes.
“Why?” Emily asked as she pulled over the side of the road.
“I have to give Jerome a flat tire.”
Emily scooted over to the passenger side of the pickup so she could see what Matthew was doing. He pulled a board out of his backpack then inserted a nail in a hole. “I made this up last night. I’ll lay it here and use my portal so Jerome’s tire runs over it.”
“Wicked. But do you know where the statue is?”
“I’m pretty sure; he’s turned off the road onto a private dirt road. I’m betting the statue is in the shed at the end of the road.”
“What happens if it isn’t?”
“We have to wait for him to fix the flat.”
By this time Matthew had the board on the road. Emily could tell that he had opened his portal by the look on his face.
“Got him.” Matthew picked up the board, removed the nail, and returned them to his backpack. He hopped in the back of the pickup. “Drive another quarter of a mile and I’ll hop out. Then you should go on by the road and pull into the next side road and wait for me.”
