by C. J. Carson
“Really, and what might that be?”
“I can’t say, it’s a surprise. It is going to be your housewarming present.”
“That’s a great idea; I love it! That’s amazing and I have to say that I am so honored that the first painting with your new easel will belong to me.”
“Yeah, well, save your thanks until you see it.”
“I’m sure I’ll love it. Look, my ride is here and I have to get going. I don’t know how long I will be gone, but I am guessing it is going to be a long day.”
“No worries, I won’t even miss you. I’ll be too busy painting and enjoying our new digs.”
I swung my handbag over my shoulder, picked up the wooden box from the coffee table, and headed to the lobby. When I got there, I walked to the desk.
“You must be Charles.”
“Yes, ma’am, Charles Edwards.”
“Well, Charles Edwards, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Thank you. Your ride is right outside.”
As I walked to the door, Guile greeted me. “Good morning, Allie, and how are you this fine morning?”
“I’m great, Guile, and yourself?”
“I’m phenomenal! Will you be needing your car later today?”
“No, not today at all.”
Moving to the cruiser, Officer Antonio Moretti opened the door. Before I got in, I looked back. “I have to say, Guile, you really made an impression on my mother yesterday.”
“I’m so sorry, Allie, I didn’t mean to overstep.”
“No, not at all. I don’t think she has reacted like that with anyone for years. She has been so recluse since my father passed away.”
He blushed. “She seems to be a very nice woman. You are lucky to have her.”
“I know. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how grateful I am to have her as my mother.”
***
When we arrived at the station, Officer Moretti parked the car and walked me to the door. Once I was safely inside, he smiled. “Detective Payne will call me when you are done today and I will be back to pick you up.”
“Thank you so much, sir, I appreciate the ride.”
“Please, call me Antonio.”
“Okay, Antonio, it is. I’ll see you later then.”
I walked to the front desk. The woman behind the counter had her back to me.
“Excuse me?”
She turned around and smiled. “How can I help you?”
“I’m Allie Callahan, and I am here to see Detective Payne.”
“Please have a seat. I’ll let him know you’re here.”
Not five minutes later, Jake came to meet me in the lobby. “Good morning, Allie, come with me. Payne is waiting for us in the war room.”
“The war room?”
“You’ll see, come on.”
We took the elevator to the second floor and entered a large conference room. I looked at Jake and then at Payne. “What is all this?”
Payne smiled. “Welcome to the room where we always make plans to wage war for some of our most complex cases. We are going to be spending all of our time here until we catch this guy. Carl and I have been going through files and looking at things since yesterday. Please come in and we’ll catch you up on what we have started.”
Stepping into the room, I placed my bag and the wooden box on one of the tables. Large whiteboards covered the four walls, showing a diagram and several photographs. At the top of each grouping was the name of one of the four cities Carl Johnson said he had files from. There were also boxes systematically placed on the floor under each city grouping. I moved to the far end of the room to take a closer look at the board labeled Los Angeles. I stepped up to take a closer look at each photograph. As I scanned the photos, I was drawn to one in particular. It was of a young woman wearing a beautiful turquoise necklace.
Payne broke my train of thought. “Allie, let me—”
“No wait, Payne, let me look first.”
Walking up to the whiteboard, I scanned each photograph. Stepping back for a more panoramic view, I folded my arms over my chest and said what I was thinking for all to hear. “My, you really have been a busy boy, haven’t you? You are a very talented and powerful man. I can see that now! But you are no match for the holder of the heirloom, are you? Hear me, you have no power here. We have only begun to discover your motive, but we will meet soon!”
Compelled, I moved toward the wooden box and opened it. Payne, Jake, and Carl watched intently as I pulled out each layer of trays in the box until I came to the bottom. Retrieving a small bowl, and a wrapped clump of sage, I lifted the bowl and placed it on the table. Pausing, I then I picked up the sage. As I did, it ignited in my hand. Everyone gasped, including me. I walked around the room and allowed the smoke to cleanse the space, and then it went out as quickly as it had started. I placed it in the bowl on the table and turned to Payne. “Okay, I’m ready now.”
Speechless, the three men sat motionless.
Payne walked over to the box. “So, this must be the heirloom you told us about. How the hell did you do that?”
“Honestly, I don’t know myself. I know sage will cleanse the energy in a space, but I have never had anything spontaneously combust like that in my hand. I am learning not to question things and just go with the flow.”
Carl walked over and looked down at the box. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I am in a sci-fi movie. If I hadn’t seen that with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.” After a long pause, he released a heavy sigh. “Okay, let’s get started.”
Carl and Payne spent the next two hours bringing Jake and me up to date on their progress so far. I sat quietly and absorbed everything they had to say. After they reviewed what they had with us, I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table. “So, can I summarize what I think you’re saying?”
“Sure thing.”
“Well, it would seem that this guy has definitely been looking for someone he considers an adversary or enemy. It also would appear that he is cautious and does not want to get too close unless he has the advantage of the element of surprise. Maybe because he is worried about exposing himself or he knows his adversary has an advantage over him. My guess is he knows about the box. I think I need to tell you about a conversation I had with my mother yesterday. What she told me might help us tie some of these loose ends together.”
Payne leaned back in his chair. “We’re all ears!”
“Well, to start, I knew there had been a falling out with my grandfather and the tribe, but I never really knew why. My mother told me about a huge disagreement the elders had regarding this box. It was passed down to my grandfather because he was a medicine man. Actually, my mother was quite surprised when she saw I had it. She hadn’t laid eyes on it for years.
“Apparently, it had been passed down from one generation to the next. The recipient is usually a medicine man or a healer of some sort. The only woman that it had ever been passed to was a woman named Catori, and she was my great-grandmother.
“Evidently, this box is the reason my grandfather was shunned from the tribe. The elders could not agree on who the next recipient of this heirloom should be. As a custom, there is a retreat held for the elders, at which they decide who in the tribe is worthy enough to receive it. During the retreat, two candidates were being considered.”
Payne raised his hand. “Wait, two candidates?”
“Yes. You see, I was considered and probably would have been the choice automatically given the extent of the gifts I apparently have. The one kink in that is that I am not a full-blooded Indian. My mother believes the decision was challenged not just because of that, but also at such a young age I was not embracing my gifts. I was only nine. She said she believed the other person being considered was an older, but still a young man. We believe it was the fifteen-year-old great-great-grandson of one of the tribe’s greatest warriors.”
Carl got up and moved over to the board. “Do you think your stalker cou
ld be the other candidate?”
“That’s what I’m beginning to think. I mean, it at least has to be someone who would understand the importance of this box. Who is the most obvious? It makes sense that it would be another tribal member.”
Jake moved over to the wall. “So, some of these people up here must be descendants of your grandfather’s tribe?” He paused, faced us, and stood akimbo. “Something is off with all this. If it was someone from the tribe, why would he be looking all over the country for you? You have always lived in this general area, haven’t you?”
I reached over to put things back in the box. “We thought of that, but maybe that other candidate was taken out of the area by a parent or grandparent. Perhaps my grandfather was not the only one who was outcast by the tribe.”
“How is it that your mother was surprised to see this box if it went to you after your grandfather’s death? Why wouldn’t you have talked about it before?”
“Good question, Carl. My grandfather’s dearest friend, George Pappas, gave it to me. He has been like family to me since I lost my dad and grandfather. The box was in his possession, with some very vague directions on when and how I should receive it. I think if we go down that road, we will get stuck in the weeds and it will not prove to be fruitful.”
Carl turned to Payne. “Nonetheless, I would like to get him down here today and ask him a few questions.”
Jake stood up. “I think this might be a good time to have some lunch sent in and take a break. All in favor?”
I pushed back from the table. “Sounds good to me. I’ll call George and see what time he might be able to come down to talk with us.”
Chapter 30
WE FINISHED EATING BY ONE-THIRTY, BUT George would not be available until four o’clock. We decided to review things in the boxes of paperwork, one city at a time, beginning with Los Angeles. With a box in front of each of us, we began systematically reviewing their contents.
I was halfway through my first box when I found a handwritten note. “Carl, is this a note from the suspect? Shouldn’t we compare it with the writing on the note in the Patricia Cole case and the one left at my house?”
Payne looked up. “Absolutely! What does it say?”
“It says: When I was a child, I loved playing hide and seek!
As an adult, I love to seek and hide!
Catch me if you can!”
I looked up at Carl. “Have you ever seen this note?”
“No, and anything he left us in New York was typed and printed!”
Payne looked puzzled. “Well, we have both handwritten and printed notes from him here. It seems we may have just hit pay dirt.”
I passed the note over to Payne. “No, I have a feeling the handwriting will not be helpful. If he left things for us in handwriting, he couldn’t have written it. He is way too smart for that. I’m sure someone else wrote those notes, even if he coerced them into writing them either voluntarily or forcibly.”
Jake took the note from Payne. “Here, let me get the message that was left with Patricia Cole and we can see if the handwriting looks the same.”
He pulled the note from Patricia’s case file and laid it down on the table next to the note I had found. “What do you all think?”
Payne leaned on the table and compared the two notes. “I think it’s close enough to have an expert look at it! Let’s give any notes we find, written or typed, a spot on the boards. The more we find, the better. Then we’ll have them all analyzed together.”
It was unanimous, we all agreed.
The afternoon was spent putting together anything that might link these cases. It was like the biggest jigsaw puzzle I had ever worked on. Promptly at four o’clock, Payne received a call that George was there to see him.
“I’ll go down to the desk to get him.”
Five minutes later, Carl returned with George, but much to our surprise, he wasn’t alone.
Shocked, I stood up. “Dakota Channing? What are you doing here with George?”
George moved toward me. “Allie, I have a lot of explaining to do and there seems to be no time like the present.”
“You aren’t kidding! What is he doing here? What does he have to do with all this? Every time I think there can’t be any more surprises, someone or something proves me wrong.”
My frustration was getting the better of me, and as I briskly turned to walk out of the room, the paper stacks on the tables flew up and swirled like a small tornado. Standing in the doorway, I turned around and looked back. No one said a word for at least thirty seconds.
Finally, Jake chuckled and broke the silence. “I’m just guessing, but another gift you knew nothing about?”
Everyone broke out into laughter.
I pursed my lips and squared my shoulders. “Well, isn’t that just the cat’s meow?”
After a few minutes of laughter, Carl piped up. “Allie, remind me never to piss you off.”
Dakota turned to George and then to me. “I would say we didn’t get here any too soon. Allie, can we talk with you in private for a minute?”
“I think anything you and George may have to say needs to be said to this entire group. I have to say, Dakota, none of this makes sense. I mean, I have only known you for a few days. How can you be involved with this whole mess?”
“Okay, that’s fair, but we need to keep what is said in this room.”
Carl spoke up. “Well, where have I heard that before? I’ll tell you the same thing I told Allie. I promise not to divulge anything said in this room without speaking to you all first, but I can’t guarantee confidentiality if we need to involve other agencies.”
I peered at Dakota. “That’s the deal, are you in?”
“I have been in for quite a while now; you just haven’t known about it.”
Turning to George, I probed, “Okay, which one of you wants to go first?”
“I guess I’ll start. First, let me say that I have known Dakota for most of his life, almost as long as I have known you. He was introduced to me by your grandfather. Well, I should say he and his father were introduced to me by him. When Dakota was about ten, your grandfather brought them to my shop.
“Dakota’s father, Paco, a member of the tribe, was a lifetime friend of your grandfather’s. After the falling out with the tribe, your grandfather and Paco had very little contact with each other. Not long before his passing, your grandfather reached out to Paco and Dakota. He knew you would need the protection and the guidance that only someone of the tribe could provide you. He entrusted me with the responsibility to be the go-between and keep them informed after his passing.
“As time went by, Paco and I became good friends. About twelve years ago, when Dakota turned eighteen, we both sat down and explained what his role would be if he chose to help us. That was always up to him. It was his choice.”
George turned to Dakota. “Would you like to add to that?”
“Sure! To be honest, when my father and George first approached me, I was pretty young, not even out of my teens. I was rather full of myself, like any kid that age. I thought I was invincible and could conquer the world. Don’t get me wrong, I was in from the start, but as a foolish young man, I didn’t contemplate the gravity of what I would be taking on. It wasn’t until your grandfather passed and my father told me the full extent of what could be at stake, that I understood how important this was.”
I was ready to erupt, and couldn’t hold it in any longer. “So, you have known about me for years, but never thought it necessary to introduce yourself? With all that you knew was at stake, you didn’t once think I needed to know that someday or somehow these gifts of mine might erupt and cause me great concern? Did you not consider the danger I might be in, having this heirloom in my possession, with absolutely no knowledge of its importance?”
I looked at George, with despair on my face. “You are like family to me! I have loved you and trusted you all these years, and not once did you approach me or indicate that I might have t
hese gifts and the enormous responsibility that must come with them!”
A tear streamed from George’s eye. “That’s fair. I knew when your grandfather asked me to take on this responsibility there was a great probability that you would be very angry with me. It was his wish that we wait to tell you everything. You have every right to be angry and upset with us. Please give us time to fully explain.”
I walked up to him and brushed the tear from his face. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“Your grandfather feared that without him here to help you discover your full potential that it might be too great for you to handle. He wanted us to keep watch over you and protect you until things unfolded naturally. In full disclosure, I don’t think even your grandfather knew the extent of what your gifts would be. He said that it could be so overwhelming that it might break you if you were pushed too soon or too hard. I am so sorry, my dear, that he is not here with us now.”
Looking up, my little friend in her hospital gown stood between George and Dakota, holding them by the wrists. As she tipped her head and her expression of sympathy for them came across her face, a feeling of calmness came over me.
I hugged George. “Okay, I still have lots of questions, but it’s clear we aren’t going to sort this all out today. We do need to stay focused on the task at hand, which is catching this guy.”
Walking over to the whiteboard closest to me, I looked at Dakota. “So, you might recognize some people in these photos. I mean, one, or some of them, might be from the tribe.”
“Truthfully, Allie, I think it’s my father who might be able to identify them. He would be the one who might remember anyone estranged from the tribe that long.”
George interjected. “I believe you’re right. You were both so young when Allie’s grandfather, Dancing Wolf, was shunned from the tribe.”
“Allie, you never told me your grandfather’s name,” Payne said, rubbing his chin. “George is right. If anyone might remember someone from the tribe that long ago, I think he would be our best shot.”
