by Bob Blanton
“Call me if you need me to come and get Jessie,” Mrs. Brandt said.
“I will, but I’m sure she’s going to hold out until the end. Emily has promised to give us a ride home.” Matthew was nervous about the party, not because of his prince costume but because of not knowing how he should interact with Brianna. Were they still dating or casual friends; he had no clue.
Jessica ran off into the house as soon as Mrs. Winthrop opened the door. The upstairs had been converted into a not-so-haunted house, and she was excited to explore where the ghosts and goblins were hiding as well as discover the candy.
“She’s excited,” Mrs. Winthrop said.
“She’s been excited all weekend,” Matthew said. “And I must say you’re a very convincing witch.” Mrs. Winthrop was dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West.
“You’d better be nice or I’ll get you, my pretty.”
Matthew gave out a fake shudder and ran to the stairs so he could head down to the big kid party.
As soon as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, Brianna rushed over and gave him a hug. “Matt, I’m glad you could come. And you make a dashing prince.”
“Thanks. Jessie had her heart set on this theme.”
“Hah, blame your sister.” Brianna kissed him then ran off to greet other guests.
“Hi, Matt,” Emily said.
“Hi, where’s your date?”
“She’s upstairs. We came as the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella.”
Matthew laughed as Emily spun around to show off her Fairy Godmother costume. “Does this mean you can grant my wishes?”
“I don’t know, what do you wish for?”
“I wish I knew what Brea wants.”
“Then I’m sorry. I’m not even sure she knows. You’ll just have to ride it out. You could have invited Cecily, that might have told you what you want to know.”
“I’m not sure I want to find out that way. It might be painful.”
Emily laughed. “That it might. Anyway, have you checked on Mr. Graham lately?”
“Not much; he’s in the Cayman Islands right now. I suspect he’s got a way to smuggle his money there.”
“You don’t know?”
“I wasn’t paying attention when he went there. He flew during the night, so when I woke up, he was already there and I didn’t see any money.”
◆ ◆ ◆
On Tuesday, Matthew and Emily met again to review their case notes.
“Matt, did you see that the City settled with Frankie Sutton?”
“Yes I did. I started checking on him when I heard; he’s run off to Florida.”
“Run off?”
“Yes. I saw him go to his mother’s house. He gave her a bag of cash and told her she could have the money in their joint savings account.”
“So, was his mother in on it with him?”
“No, she wasn’t too happy about the money, but she’s got three kids and her husband is in the Navy, off on deployment to the Far East. Anyway, Frankie gave her the money and told her to spread the spending around. He said the sixty thousand in their joint account was clean, so she could spend it however she saw fit, but not to let her husband get hold of it.”
“What?”
“Apparently he likes to spend money with his friends. She has to survive on her allotment from the Navy, so it’s tight.”
“So he’s going to Florida and live on his settlement?”
“Yes, apparently he grew up there. He said he’s going to live with some friends and stay off the grid for a few months. Then he’ll go to college and finish his degree.”
“So Mrs. Frye getting murdered really spooked him.”
“I’d say. Anyway, I saw that Mr. Graham flew back from the Caymans on Monday morning. Haven’t’ seen anything else.”
“Okay. Hey, don’t you get your driver’s license on Friday?”
“That’s the plan. I do have to pass the test.”
“Like that’s in doubt.”
“The driving test, not the written one.”
“Still, you’ll ace it.”
Chapter 11
Nice Car
Matthew got his driver’s license on Friday, November 5th, his birthday. His mother had taken off from work early so she could take him to the DMV. He still didn’t have a car, so since they only had one vehicle, he was still going to be spending most of his time riding his bike or bumming rides with friends.
On Saturday, when Matthew got back from his martial arts practice at the Golden Dragon, he found two black Lincoln Navigators pulled to the side of the road in front of his house. A silver Lexus SUV was in the driveway along with a black Mercedes 600SL. A woman was sitting in the Mercedes with the top down.
“Can I help you?” Matthew asked the guy who started getting out of the Lexus when Matthew rode up on his bike.
“Are you Matthew Brandt?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Then I’m delivering your car.”
“My car?” Matthew raised his eyebrows at the guy.
“Yes, this one, not the Mercedes.” The guy pointed to the silver SUV.
“I’m still confused.”
“I’m the Crown Prince’s nephew. I bought the Lexus in July, but I don’t like it. It’s a nice car, but I think the girls like the Mercedes better.”
“Okay, so you wanted to trade up to a Mercedes, who wouldn’t? But how does that involve me?”
“My uncle said that if I wanted the Mercedes, I had to give you the Lexus. Here are the keys and the papers. Have fun.”
“Wait!”
“Hey, if you don’t want the car, sell it. I got what I wanted and did what my uncle told me to. Now, I’m off to watch a polo match. Have fun.”
Matthew tried to think of something to say, finally, he came up with, “Thanks.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Matt, who’s visiting?” Matthew’s mother asked when she got home.
“Nobody.”
“Then what’s that Lexus doing in the driveway.”
“It’s our new car.”
“What?! You didn’t go out and buy a car without talking to me, did you?”
“Of course not, how could I anyway? It’s from the prince.”
“And why would he give you a car?”
“His nephew wanted to change cars, so the prince told him he had to give us the other car.”
“That’s a new Lexus.”
“It’s four months old.”
“That’s still new. I don’t know what I think about you driving a car like that.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I think you should drive it and I’ll drive the Explorer.”
Mrs. Brandt smiled as she gazed at Matthew. “That doesn’t sound fair, they gave the car to you.”
“But I don’t really need it. I’ll just be driving to school and things like that. You’re the one who has to drive down to UCSD to work. I’ve already told my friends that I was getting a used car.”
Mrs. Brandt walked over and gave Matthew a hug. “We’ll see about it. Do you have all the paperwork?”
“Right here. The title just has his signature, you can add your name and it will all work out.”
“Let me think about it. We’ll talk again tomorrow.”
“Sure. Hey, where’s Jessie?”
“She’s playing with Sonja today. I have to pick her up at one. Do you want a ride?”
“Sure, Emily and I are working on a story for the paper. Do you want to drive the new car?”
“Not until we have it on our insurance. Are you going to have lunch with Emily?”
“I think so.”
“Why don’t you make sure, otherwise you might go hungry.”
Chapter 12
Flight of the Phoenix
Matthew and Emily had finally figured out that Mr. Graham was getting all the money. Matthew was also sure that the flights to the Cayman Islands were how he laundered the money, or whatever, since putting the money in an offshore ac
count didn’t actually launder it. If you started to spend it, the IRS would definitely come calling, wanting to know where it came from.
What they hadn’t been able to figure out was how he was getting the drugs. After analyzing his calendar and the calendar of the charter company he used for his flight to the Caymans, Matthew had determined that Mr. Graham made a trip to the Caymans every four weeks, and two weeks later he made a trip to Catalina Island. The timing of Graham’s last trip to Catalina coincided with Dante’s sudden replenishment of his supply of pills, so Matthew figured that it must be related to how he was getting the drugs.
Matthew had considered the ATR42 Graham was chartering for the flights a strange choice. The plane couldn’t make it from San Diego to the Caymans without refueling. It was a mixed-use, cargo-passenger jet. It was configured to hold up to eight passengers with the rest of the space used for cargo. And Mr. Graham had been chartering the same plane for over two years.
Now, Matthew was tuning in on Mr. Graham as he prepared for his trip. What Matthew couldn’t figure out was what Mr. Graham was up to. He was meeting the charter flight from Fallbrook to Catalina, but instead of going to the normal passenger boarding area he had driven up to a warehouse at the airport.
Matthew watched via his portal as Mr. Graham supervised the loading of three small pallets into the cargo hold of the jet. Mr. Graham then shook hands with the guy in the cargo hold and walked to a nearby pickup. He’d left his pickup in the airport parking lot, but now he drove the other pickup out of the airport and headed west. This definitely piqued Matthew's curiosity.
“Emily, this makes no sense. Graham has reservations on a plane to go to Catalina and he’s driving off in another pickup.”
“When is the flight scheduled?”
“Not for another two hours.”
“Maybe he forgot something.”
“Yeah, maybe, but why use a different pickup?”
“Well, we’re convinced he’s up to no good, so should we follow him?”
“To where?”
“You said he has reservations at the hotel on Catalina.”
“Yeah, but he also has reservations on that jet and he’s heading west in a pickup away from his house and the airport.”
“Let’s head toward Catalina. You can track where he actually goes and we can adapt as necessary.”
“Are we going to spend the night?”
“How long is Mr. Graham supposed to stay?”
“One night.”
“So we should plan on it. Do we have to stop by your house so you can grab some clothes?”
“It would be convenient.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Since they were leaving from Rancho Santa Fe, close to I-5, and because Emily drove like a demon, they had a solid head start on Mr. Graham even after stopping at Matthew’s house. They reached the ferry terminal at Dana Point well ahead of him. Emily parked the car in the long-term lot while Matthew bought them tickets on the ferry.
“Is he still heading this way?”
“Yes, he just handed his keys to some guy and is walking this way,” Matthew explained. “I think the guy works for him. I’ve seen him at the office.”
“Are they going to Catalina together? Maybe it’s business.”
“No, the guy is heading back to the freeway.”
“Fine, let’s get on the ferry and find a place to hide from him.”
“Just go to the back. He’ll probably take a seat up close to the exit.”
◆ ◆ ◆
The ferry ride was uneventful. Matthew did a quick check on the jet; it was just heading over the ocean south of Catalina. “Why would Mr. Graham drive when he could have flown on the jet?” As they exited the ferry, Matthew caught Mr. Graham instructing a taxi to take him to the airport. “Emily, go check us in. I’m going to follow Graham to the airport. Something is weird about that jet. It doesn’t look like it’s going to land here.”
“Shouldn’t I go with you? If he’s up to something you might need backup.”
“No, I’m just going to see what he’s up to and check on the jet. It should be there by now, but it’s still flying. It’s almost to Long Beach.”
“Why can’t you just use your portal?”
“It’s too hard to check out a wide area with it. Too much tunnel vision. It’s better if I can look at the area and use it like a pair of binoculars.”
“Okay, but be careful.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Matthew handed his bag to Emily and grabbed a cab. He didn’t want to be too far behind Mr. Graham. When they arrived at the airport, just minutes apart, Matthew jumped out of the cab and threw money at the driver. He’d lost Mr. Graham; it took him a second to find him. He wasn’t going to the terminal as expected, instead, he’d had the cab drop him off close to the hangar. A jet had just landed and was starting to taxi off the runway; it was the same type of plane that Mr. Graham was supposed to take from Fallbrook. Mr. Graham hopped on the fuel truck that was heading to where the plane would stop to unload passengers. But when Matthew checked there were no passengers.
Between the fuel truck and the jet’s pilots deplaning, there was a lot of confusion around the small jet. The co-pilot opened the plane’s cargo hold and handed a suitcase out. Mr. Graham stepped out from behind the pilot and grabbed the suitcase and waved at everyone as he started toward the terminal.
“What the . . .” Matthew looked at the plane again. “No way.” The identifying number on the jet’s engines was the same as the one on the plane at the Fallbrook airport. But . . . Matthew used his portal to check on the other plane. He had done it enough times that he had a read on the pilot, so it was easy to open his portal in the plane’s cockpit. It was still in the air. He took a minute to listen in on the pilot’s conversation over the radio.
“Long Beach Airport this is flight . . .”
Matthew was confused. He took his portal outside the jet to check the numbers on the engines. They were different than they had been at Fallbrook.
The pilot chatted with the crew that was refueling the jet that was sitting on the runway on Catalina. It took quite a while to refuel which was strange since it’d just flown from Fallbrook, well, not really; the plane from Fallbrook was landing at the Long Beach Airport some twenty miles away.
Matthew did a quick check on Mr. Graham. He was taking a taxi to the hotel. Completely weird, “Why would he come to the airport to pick up a suitcase?” Matthew tried to check out what was in the suitcase; it was a bit difficult since the taxi was still moving, but based on what he saw, it was just regular luggage.
Once the plane was refueled, the pilot started it up again and taxied toward the hangar. When he got there, the copilot opened the rear hatch and slid a large crate to the edge. A truck had driven up to the plane and they moved the crate onto the back of the truck. The copilot closed up the hatch and the jet started to taxi toward the long-term parking. Matthew skipped along the side of the terminal and headed toward a side building that would give him a better view of the jet, with the sun over his shoulder. He wanted to get another view of the jet’s numbers and would need the extra light so he could zoom in. How could they have changed? Once the jet finished parking, Matthew zoomed in on the numbers. Up close they looked a bit odd. Not quite the crisp black on white that they appeared to be from a distance. As he examined them more closely, he could tell that the area around the numbers was different from the paint on the rest of the plane. Then it hit him. “Digital paint!”
As Matthew was turning to leave, he noticed a woman was watching the truck that had picked up the crate from the plane. She was edging along the far end of the building Matthew was using, but around the corner. Suddenly she jerked upright. Matthew zoomed in to check it out.
“That’s right, don’t move. Now back up toward me so we’re out of sight,” a man ordered. Matthew could see that he was holding a gun on the woman. She looked pretty calm for someone with a gun pointed at her.
“Hey, I was j
ust looking.”
“Yeah right.” The guy reached under the woman’s jacket and pulled a gun out of the small of her back. He stuck it in his pocket. “Who do you work for?”
“The freight company. They think Jimmy there is stealing.”
“Nice try. Hands behind your back.”
Matthew recognized the copilot from the jet. He pulled a zip tie out of his pocket, keeping the gun pointed at the woman’s head. “I’m going to tighten these up. If you move, I’ll shoot you right in your spine.”
Matthew started to move toward the two. He figured he could block the copilot’s gun with his portal and take him out, but first, he wanted to make sure he was the bad guy. Why would the copilot care about a woman watching them unload a crate?
“Kid, don’t move!” A gun pressed against the back of Matthew’s head. “Brad, we’ve got another one.”
“Do you need help?”
“Just keep her covered and I’ll take care of it.” The copilot pushed the woman against the wall of the shed while the pilot zip tied Matthew and pushed him along toward the jet. “Let’s put them in the jet and see what Stan wants to do.”
“Okay. Now you two don’t make a scene or we’ll just have to finish this right here.”
Matthew allowed himself to be pushed along. The pilot opened the jet back up and forced the two prisoners into the jet. “Take them into the back and zip tie their feet. I’ll call Stan.”
Matthew zoomed his portal over to Jack so he could listen in on the phone call.
“Stan, we had a couple of spectators watching us unload the package.”
“Who are they?”
“Don’t know yet. The woman had a gun, the other one is just a kid. Brad is going to search them now. . . . Brad, any ID on that woman? And make sure you get their cell phones and turn them off.”
“Yes, boss,” Brad said. He didn’t seem to like being ordered around. He searched the woman’s jacket and pulled out a small wallet. “Her ID says Barbara Peters, DEA. Nothing on the kid.”
Matthew had used his portal to hide his wallet in one of the seat pockets. He didn’t want them to connect him to Emily since she was at the hotel where Mr. Graham was checking in.
