Learning to Drive... Him Crazy (14 page)

Both girls agreed, and promised they'd
cooperate as much as possible. Alana anxiously asked, "So what are
you going to do, John?"

"I've got to think about this a little bit
before I do anything. I've got to figure out whom I can trust and
whom I can't. Whoever I decide to talk to, though, I've got to do
it real soon. We've got to get things set up to intercept this
shipment coming in the day after tomorrow."

"John," Cal asked. "Didn't you say not too
long ago that something about your sergeant just doesn't sit right
with you?"

"Yeah. I just never felt totally comfortable
around him for some reason."

"Do you think maybe he's The Sarge they were
talking about?"

"Who knows. There are a lot of sergeants on
the police force, but he could be the one. I know I don't trust him
enough to go to him with this information."

Alana looked concerned when she asked, "Who
do you feel you can trust?"

"My partner, Joe. I think I'll call him and
see if he can come over. Between us we'll see who else we should
trust." He took his phone out and made a call.

Twenty minutes later Joe was asking the
girls questions about what they heard and saw. They were much the
same questions John had asked, but the girls answered them all
patiently.

Joe told them he had a safe at his house and
offered to keep the ruby, but when they told him they'd feel better
keeping it so they'd have it for the chain of evidence, he agreed.
Alana had seen enough cop shows on television to know the chain of
evidence was important. "If I give it to you I won't honestly be
able to say it's the one I found," she explained. "I'll feel a lot
better if I keep it so there can be no question about it. I've
found a pretty good place to hide it, so I'm sure it'll be
fine."

Joe readily agreed, "Yeah, you're probably
right. I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. The attorneys
would probably make a big thing about not being able to positively
identify it." Looking at both of the girls again he asked, "Is
there anything else you can remember that either one of them
said?"

"No, not that I can remember," Kelli
answered.

"I don't think so," Alana echoed.

Joe looked at John and asked, "What's your
gut telling you on this? You usually have a pretty good feel for
things like this."

"I'm not really sure. Sergeant Cutter hasn't
been our sergeant all that long, and I guess I don't know him well
enough to feel comfortable going to him. How about you?"

"Yeah, I feel pretty much the same way. He's
probably okay, but I don't know him well enough yet. The more I
think about it, I don't really know any of the sergeants all that
well. Do you?"

"Not really," John answered. "Now that you
asked me that, no, I don't know any of them all that well. Since he
called one of them The Sarge, maybe we should eliminate all the
sergeants."

"I was thinking the same thing." He paused a
moment before tentatively asking, "What do you think about going
straight to the chief?"

John sighed and said, "I've been wondering
about that myself. He'll be involved in whatever plan they organize
to catch them, anyway, so maybe we should just go straight to him
and let him decide who he wants to bring in on it."

"Let him decide who to trust and who not
to."

They talked a couple more minutes, and when
they both felt comfortable with the idea they called the chief at
his home and went to talk to him. Before he left, John said,
"Girls, I don't feel real good about you two having this
information, or the ruby, so I want you both to stay here until I
get back." Turning to his brother, he asked, "Cal, can you—"

"I'll be here when you get back, and I'll
make sure they both stay here and are safe while you're gone. Good
luck, John."

"Thanks, Cal. I appreciate your help."

"That's what brothers are for."

After John and Joe left, the three of them
talked. Kelli asked, "What do you think John was worried about? We
aren't in any danger, are we?"

Cal, whose arm had been around her shoulders
or waist practically all evening, pulled her tighter against him.
"I'm not real sure, Sweetie, but I trust my brother on this. He can
at times be a bit overprotective with the people he cares
about—"

"No kidding," Alana mused.

They all smiled. Then Cal continued, "But if
he's concerned, I think we need to listen to him. When he gets back
tonight after talking to his chief, he'll probably know more. Then
he can explain to us why he's concerned. Until then we'll just stay
here and stay inside. Do you two want to watch a movie? Are you
hungry? Do you want me to order a pizza?"

"I'm not really hungry," Alana said, "just
nervous."

"Me, too," Kelli agreed.

"You should eat something," Cal said, always
concerned about Kelli's lack of concern for nutritional meals.

"Let's cook some dinner here," Alana
suggested. "Maybe it'll get our mind off this for a little
while."

"Good idea," Kelli agreed. "What are we
going to fix?"

"I think I have everything we'll need to
make lasagna. That should keep us occupied for a while. How does
that sound?"

She was looking at Kelli for a response, but
Cal smiled and said, "I think it sounds like a delicious idea!"

Cal went to the kitchen as well, hoping to
help steer their conversation away from the subject at hand.

An hour later they had lasagna in the oven,
lettuce torn for a salad, salad dressing made and stored in a
separate bowl in the refrigerator, and a loaf of French bread
split, spread with garlic butter and sprinkled with cheese, ready
to go in the oven when the lasagna came out.

"I think we've got everything pretty well
ready," Kelli said as they sat down in the living room.

"Oh, I forgot about dessert," Alana said.
"What can we make for that?"

"Who's going to have room for dessert?"
Kelli asked.

"I have to agree there," Cal said. "I don't
think anyone's going to miss dessert a bit."

"I have some really good ice cream," Alana
said. "If we're hungry we'll have ice cream."

"Sounds perfect," Cal assured her.

Fifteen minutes later, just as they took the
lasagna out of the oven, John returned. Alana popped the bread in
the oven while they set the table. John told them all what he found
out over dinner.

"The chief is going to call together a bunch
of people tomorrow and we'll make our plans. We're going to be
there waiting for the shipment Friday night. Hopefully we can catch
the driver or drivers, along with anyone else that's there to help
unload, and Wilson and Jansen. If Jansen's not there, the chief
said he'll send someone over to pick him up at his house."

Alana asked, "That won't tell you who's
behind this whole operation, though, will it?"

John chuckled as he said, "You have been
watching too many cop shows, Alana. You're right, though. We're
hoping there's not many of them and all or most of them are there
to help unload, or that they'll answer our questions after they're
arrested, in exchange for a lighter sentence."

Cal was the first one to ask, "Before you
left you were concerned about the girls being safe. What's that all
about?"

"I'm probably worried more than I need to
be, but I don't like the idea of anyone knowing they're in any way
involved in this investigation. In fact, Chief Nelson wanted you
two to go into the station tomorrow so the group of officers that
he assembles will be able to ask you questions about what you heard
and saw. He's hoping if we're all there talking about it someone
will say something that will remind you of something one of them
may have said, that you'd forgotten about."

"So we have to go in there tomorrow?" Kelli
looked worried as she asked the question.

"No, you don't," he assured them. I told the
chief I wasn't comfortable with that idea because if other officers
were involved they might see you at the station answering
questions. We talked about it, the benefits versus the possible
problems, and he agreed to come over tonight instead."

"Tonight?" Alana looked at him, eyes wide.
"He's coming over here tonight?"

"Yes. He's going to get one or two officers
he trusts, and they'll come over to ask you questions here instead
of at the station." Sensing some hesitation on her part, he asked,
"Is that a problem?"

"No," she answered a bit shakily. "I'm just
getting nervous. It's kind of all hitting me now."

John reached over and took her hand in his.
"I'll be here, honey." He looked over at Kelli and added, "And so
will Cal. I told the chief Cal knows as much about it as I do, so
he agreed that Cal should be in on the conversation, as well." He
told them both, "Just answer his questions honestly and as
completely as you can. The more you can tell us the safer we can
make this mission."

They had just finished dinner and cleaning
up the kitchen when Chief Nelson and two other officers arrived.
John invited them into the living room and they all sat down. John
sat down next to Alana, holding her hand in his. Cal sat next to
Kelli, also holding her hand. John introduced Chief Nelson,
Lieutenant McConnell and Detective Moss to Cal and the ladies.

Chief Nelson tried to ease the girls' nerves
by saying, "Let's just talk a little bit about what you heard.
Would it be easier for you to just tell us the story, or would you
rather we ask questions?"

The girls looked at each other, and Alana
said, "Why don't I start telling you the story, and Kelli, if I
forget something, jump in there. If you guys have questions, you
can just jump in."

Lieutenant McConnell said, "Police officers
have a habit of taking notes. Is that okay, or will it make you
nervous?"

"No, that's fine," Alana said. She took a
deep breath and started relating the story. Kelli added something
occasionally, and the men interrupted now and then with a question.
Soon they knew as much as the girls, though they kept asking
questions for some time afterward.

Eventually the men thanked the ladies and
told them if they thought of anything else to let John or any of
them know, and left.

* * * * *

John and Joe were called in from their road
patrol duties the next day to attend a meeting. Chief Nelson was
there, as were Lieutenant McConnell and Detective Moss. There were
also two other detectives, two more road officers and a sergeant.
Chief Nelson said as way of introduction, "Men, I've assembled an
elite group here to handle this case, but let me begin by saying
nothing we say here leaves this room. No one is to say anything to
anyone else. All three detectives that were assigned to this case
are present, and the rest of you will be brought up to date on what
we know so far. This information is to be kept between just
us."

An hour later they had all agreed on a plan
for the next evening, and everyone had their assignments. They were
all to think over the plan today, and tomorrow they would meet
again and go over any concerns anyone had thought of and make any
adjustments they felt necessary. They would go over the plan again
in more detail, and would be ready and in place by five
o'clock.

Cal and Kelli came to Alana's apartment for
dinner again that night. They ordered a pizza to eat while they
talked. Cal and the girls were nervous about John's involvement in
rounding up the thieves. John assured them, "I'll be fine. Rounding
up thieves is part of what I do every day, you know."

"I know," Alana assured him, "but that
doesn't mean I have to like it. And this one seems way too
real."

"Tomorrow evening I don't want you anywhere
near Newjangles. I know you're curious, but I want you to stay home
where I know you're safe," John told her.

"I don't want to be home," Alana said.

Cal offered, "We can come over and keep you
company tomorrow, Alana, if you don't want to be alone."

"It's not that I don't want to be here
alone," she said. "I don't want to be here at all tomorrow
night."

John looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just don't
want to be here. Sometimes I just have a feeling about something.
It doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does, and it freaks me
out enough that I don't question it any more. I just avoid the
situation if it's possible. Tomorrow night I don't want to be
alone, and I don't want to be here."

Kelli was watching Alana with her eyes wide.
She told John, "When she gets a feeling, listen to her, John. When
we were in college, a girl that lived down the hall from us in the
dorm was going to go out to a party, and Alana tried to talk her
out of it. She said she just had a feeling she shouldn't go. The
girl laughed and said nonsense, and she went. Alana was afraid
she'd drink too much and get a DUI or something like that, but she
didn't drink at all. Someone ran a stop sign and hit her on her way
home, though. She was in the hospital for a week."

"Any other similar incidents?" John
asked.

The girls both thought a minute, and Kelli
said, "Remember that time we drove to see my mom? We had to stay at
a motel for the night. Mom said she always stayed at this one motel
and it was pretty nice, always clean and not too expensive. So we
stopped there, but when we got out to go in and register Alana
stopped and took a long look at the motel. Then she said she didn't
want to stay there. She didn't know why, but she didn't think we
should stay there that night, so we went across the street and
stayed at a different motel. It turns out they had a fire that
night at the one we stopped at first."

Cal was shocked. "No kidding! John, if she
says she doesn't want to stay here, I wouldn't argue the point. How
about if I come get both you and Kelli tomorrow, Alana, and we'll
go to my house. John, you can come over there when you're done and
fill us all in on how it went. Does that work for everyone?"