Chapter 6

I decided to try some medium katas and managed to find my center surprisingly quickly, given the months I had neglected the art. I was enjoying the sense of fluidity and strength when the four naked girls came down the stairs. Four Naked Girls!

They watched me end this series and waited until I repeated it faster. When I stopped and came out of the zone, the questions started.

“What was that? Is it a dance? It looked hard. We didn’t know you did this. Is it a trance?” Etc. etc.

“Each series is called a kata. It is a reflection of the moves in the martial arts. The last one was a blend of tae kwon do and tai chi. You practice until the reaction is instant and automatic. Your body deals with the ‘now’ and your mind unconsciously is about the ‘next’ until it becomes the ‘now’. And so on. You don’t have time to think about countering a strike while someone is trying to take your head off. You just block it while making a counter strike using their momentum to keep them off balance.”

“I did not know you did this.” Ellie had very large eyes. “When?”

“Not since you and Amy moved in, but a lot before. I need to get back in the habit. It’s relaxing actually and you stay in shape and sharp minded.”

“Is it hard? Can we learn?”

“Easy to begin and a lot more difficult to perfect. You can always get better with effort and concentration.” I answered, “Like your gymnastics. You improve a little each time you test a skill. You want to be perfect in that moment, but you know you can do better. Perfect stays just out of reach the better you get. But you keep reaching anyway.”

“Will you teach us?” Jenny asked with a very hopeful expression.

“Yes. I was an instructor at the dojos in Raleigh and Boston while I was in college. It will take time.”

“We can do our gymnastics at school and martial arts and exercise for both here. Will we learn to break stuff?” Lea wondered.

“The schedule works, but the tai chi takes more than two practices a week.” I raised a brow. “You will not be breaking things. You use skills to defend. The tae kwon do is more for offense, but it and the tai chi are primarily to disable an attacker. The krav maga, which I did not mention, is for war and is intended to neutralize an enemy as quickly as possible.”

“How do we get started?” Amy remembered the ‘zone’ Sir was in.

“The mental part is the hardest, the physical part is exercise, practice and repetition. Mentally, you have to find your center, the place where you are nothing and everything, you are at peace with the universe and can see outside yourself but still know and feel your body, but are a step or two ahead.”

I saw their expressions change. “It is not as difficult or arcane as I make it sound. You will know when you get there; it will be like you felt when you first really grasped a new concept. Do you remember the first time you really understood algebra? Like ‘Oh! That’s what it means! I get it!’ and suddenly it makes sense. Or a complicated spin/twist rotation? You learn not to think about pink elephants when you quit trying not to. And boom, you’re there in a quiet peaceful place in your center. That is your anchor.”

“You say it’s easy?” Jenny said, “Doesn’t sound like it.”

“You just have to find it the first time. Then you know where it is. I have some books on the martial arts and meditation you can read that will explain it better than I can. They can lead you through some breathing and relaxing techniques that will help a lot.”

“And I have the books our instructor gave us. We should compare the exercises and goals in the book to what we have here. The weight bench and chin bar will be OK as is.” Ellie began the critique with input from the other gymnasts. I pulled out my manuals and guides also.

We could make it work as a targeted exercise space, not so much for the actual specialties. However, the added speed and strength would improve the performances a lot, maybe not to the collegiate level, but they should be damn good for high school.

I have to say, four naked girls on the universal gym helped me reach my target heart rate soon enough. There is order in the universe.

Jenny took the time to send a text to Patty Mayfield. “Mark?”

“Jenny?”

“May I send a picture of the equipment if there are no people in it?”

“No problem if it’s the machines and mats, only. No BDSM stuff, no table and especially no people. That includes shadows. The outside of the shower cubicle is OK, though. I want to look before you send.” I smiled, “Eye candy for the athlete?”

“Couldn’t hurt.” Jenny went photographer for a few minutes, typed the message and showed them to me.

“That’s fine. Send away. I see you invited her for tomorrow. Think she’ll answer tonight?”

“Sorry, sir. I should have asked what day she could come to your house. That was presumptuous. I did bad.”

“Yes you did, Jenny. What am I to do with you? Truthfully, tomorrow is OK, and so is after summer school Monday. So the issue ends with the unasked permission. We’ll delay the judgment until Sunday and decide what to do with you then. You can think about what penalty to pay for your oversight and tell me. I’ll decide if it is sufficient to help you remember.”

“For what’s worth, I didn’t know her rehearsal times, but Sunday seemed conflict free and a good choice.” Jenny never looked up. “If it works out, her schedule won’t matter.”

“Time to hit the sack, girls. Wipe the cushions. Put plenty of clean towels, large and small, in the shower closet.”

I watched them follow instructions. I arranged six mats and confirmed them to be too thick. Plus, the girls could catch a foot where they touched, no matter how firmly I pushed them together.

They finished up so we killed the lights. “Keep the phone on. Patty might contact you. By the way, what is her number and address, if you have it? I’ll put her on the phone filter list. Is her whole name ‘Patricia?” I asked Jenny as we came to my floor.

“She is in the student guide. If Ellie will get hers, I’ll look her up. May I borrow your guide?” Polite to a fault.

“Wait here I’ll get it.” Ellie dashed up and was down in less than a minute. Naked girls running up and down stairs is now one of my favorite things.

“Here she is” In the Bronx, on the Grand Concourse, Which was not as Grand as it used to be, but not too bad.

“Thank you both. I’ll see you in the morning. Pleasant dreams. Before you drift away, try to feel every cell in your body. Pretend you are outside looking in. It’s a start on finding your center. Good night, I am glad you’re here.”

I entered Patty’s information into a search bot after the girls entertained with a naked exit, and let the little spy find out what there was to find about Patricia Mayfield.

I had pleasant dreams myself and remembered then all in Technicolor. Some dreams are so good they don’t know they are dreams. I like that about dreams.

At 6:00AM, I bounded out of bed fresh as ever. After the usual routine in the bathroom, I decided to make coffee in the office kitchenette and see what the spies had to say. Twenty minutes and a cup of Colombian later, the laptop revealed its secrets.

Most of the customers were good. Some were better. Roadie Magic had survived the night as the intrusions had ceased. Their computer was running smoothly as ever.

Patty’s life was a confusion. Her mother had passed away early in her life and her dad remarried. Life was good. Then her dad was killed in a construction accident. Now she had two secure trust funds from her share of two insurance policies and more from the accident. Everyone sued everyone and Patty collected from them and everyone else.

Then her stepmother remarried a man with two young girls that resented Patty for some reason. Then the stepmother died. The double-step father remarried to a woman with two boys of her own. All this from obits, news reports, court records, deeds, marriage licenses, all public records and Facebook entries. Perfectly legal open sources.

No, Patty was not the spawn from hell. Ovarian cancer, the construction accident, heart attack and bad luck did the dirty work. Patty did not off the deceased. But she did collect more money from her step mother’s life insurance. The double-step father wanted it. The policy paid the trust fund anyway.

Now, Patty lived with people who were not related to her, was tolerated by her double-step sisters and triple-step brothers, and got basic room and board and minimal attention from people who otherwise ignored her. Her tuition and a little extra for maintenance came from one of the trust funds, which would be untouchable until she graduated from college or reached twenty-five. The trusts would pay college tuition as long as she maintained 3.5 GPA.

Her current tuition payments, more than enough for her school, and the maintenance allowance were directly deposited into her personal bank account. Something that annoyed the double-step father to no end. He knew how much money she would get and he wanted it. He wanted the house, which was held in trust for Patty. The triple-step mother wanted it more and was pressuring Patty to change her beneficiary from the local food bank to her double-step dad.

No wonder she kept quiet about what passed for her family. Poor Passed-around Patty was a hand-me-down orphan. Well, she did have a lot of money coming later, but had adults who wanted to take it away before she got it.

She had one consistent bright spot in her life. The trustees were powerful attorneys and friends of her real parents and fiercely protected her interests. However, they were elderly and would pass her affairs to strangers whom the triple-step mother may find more malleable.

Patty Mayfield needed a job to supplement her housing allowance. She needed a safe place to live. She needed access to an education. She needed to get away from those people in the Bronx.

Patty needed emancipation now and the case had to be handled by her attorney-trustees. And I needed to confront her today in private, admit to snooping and start the ball rolling immediately.

I started printing the custody information timeline. Then came the Facebook pages, blog entries, tweets, emails and other social media, even from the parents’ pages. There was more than enough to show that, not only was she unwanted, she was in danger. Lawyers were retained to contest the will, and drug her into signing a new will.

Patty was in dire straits.

Mark bolted up the stairs. “Jenny! Front and center, bring your phone. Everyone else, get dressed like regular teenagers going to the park to throw a Frisbee or hang out. Jenny, hurry. You are not in trouble! Meet me in my office.”

A minute later, a naked Jenny careened in. “Shut the door and listen. I ran an extensive search on Patty to find out what I could about her family life. It is a legal nightmare in a blender. Without going into details, people are trying to rip her off, and if they get control of her considerable trust, I fear for her safety.”

“What can we do?”

“You contact her as soon as you can this morning and convince her to come visit.” I pointed to the stack of paper being printed out. “There might be enough evidence already to get Patty emancipated. It is doubtful if the pseudo-parents can stop her from simply walking away now. They have nothing on paper to keep her except that she is a minor, and she has been passed from person to person by habit. She was never adopted.”

“When do I start calling? May I tell the others?”

“The people she lives with are real self serving assholes. Wait until 8:30. Go get dressed now and think about how to sweet talk her into coming over this morning to visit and see a movie or something. It is important she not suspect you know anything she hasn’t previously said. She may give it away by accident. That can’t happen”

I followed an energized Jenny as far as the living room. She went to dress. The others were already in your basic teenager garb, jeans, shorts, sneakers, blouses and tee shirts. Innocently cute. And nervously curious.

“This is going to be an intense day. Discovered some things about Patty’s home life that scare me. She must get out of there. There is a chance this house will be evaluated for suitability as a new home for her. It has to be spotless. Your rooms have to be the clean version of a teen’s room.”

I looked at Amy, “This is not criticism of the way you run the house. It’s the little things we don’t think are unusual. Sexy lingerie in the bathroom, a demi-bra in Ellie’s size visible in a laundry basket in sight on the dryer and revealing sleepwear are game breakers.”

“How much time do we have?” Leah asked.

“Figure up until 10:00 maximum. Close and lock the basement door. Look around for a cabinet or bookshelf to put in front of it, maybe something from the second floor. Fill it with computers and monitors from the workspace like a sample display near my office. Make that door look unused if it is noticed at all.”

Amy said, “Hop to it girls. The boss has given us our marching orders. I’ll make something we can eat on the run and join the fun.”

“Girls, I’m calling some people who will get involved rather soon. The timeline may change. You’ll know when I do.” I did my ‘get respectable’ change; regular shoes, khakis and a sport shirt. Time to take the battle to the bad guys.

I took a chance and tracked down the home phone of the senior partner of the law firm managing Patty’s fund. “Nichols residence. This better be good.”

“Mr. Nichols, I think it is in a bad way. I am Mark Allyn of Zephyr Computer Systems and this is about Patricia Mayfield. I have reasons to think her life is in danger.”

His voice went from annoyed to cold serious in an instant. “Talk to me, Mr. Allyn, and talk facts. I love that girl like a grand daughter and she has been through hell in her family situation. What is going on?”

I went through the information gleaned so far. It was a long conversation. He hissed. I continued. “I am in the business management and digital security business. When my housekeeper’s little sister wanted to invite her over to visit and commented on Patty’s hesitation to share her home life, I was curious about who would be admitted to my home and office. So I ran a search on her name. Maybe I’m a little paranoid, but business paranoia is my business.”

“Your search may have overstepped a little, but it meshes what I suspected. Is the information admissible?”

I heard the girls moving around and on the stairs.

“I don’t use Google, my search engine is more specialized. But I assure you, 98% is public domain, even the social media if not specifically marked as private. They didn’t or they linked to someone who reposted it in the open.” I confessed, “The emails are problematic. The Twitter posts are open to the public. The step sibs post everything they hear as if no one will see it. They are bragging about how they will spend Patty’s money when their mom gets her hands on it.”

“You’ve done the heavy lifting already so I’m interested in how you plan to go from here, short of hiring a gunslinger?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing now, Mr. Nichols. She needs to get out of there either by emancipation or because there are so many degrees of separation she could just walk away. I suspect that would involve Child Services and the foster care system because of her age, and that will probably be worse.”

“Emancipation might be the best way. Can you arrange an appropriate place for her to live?”

“Absolutely. I’m on Amsterdam, just north of Lincoln Center. If we can meet this morning before noon, I will send a car to get you. I also ask that you have your best investigator come also to review the documents. That person will know what is free and what might have required a search warrant or a more roundabout path to make legal.” I chuckled, “I will hand you a retainer to establish our official relationship as you come in the door. You already work for Patty.”

“You watch too many movies, Mr. Allyn. I’ll take a cab and be there at 11:00 with my super snoopers. Have coffee.” Nichols himself laughed, “I warn you, my retainer is doubled on Sunday. Give me two dollars.”

“I’ll have to look under the couch cushions, but I think I can raise that much on short notice. See you at eleven.”

Giving the report to my accomplices, I said, “Patty’s attorney/trustee, with his chief investigator, will be here at 11:00. Like I told Jenny, her situation at home is a threat to her physical safety. She has a double-step father and a triple-step mother, so simply put, she has seen a lot of tragedy already and they would profit from her disappearance. But only after they commit felony fraud to gain access to her considerable trust funds.”

“She did turn out to be a rescue project!” Amy said. “What happens now? Or what do you want to happen?”

“Jenny, what’s the word on Patty?”

“She will be here by 10:00 and was happy to get out of the house. I imagine she’s on the subway now and will get off at 66th Street.”

“You all done good. Serendipity smiled on her when you decided she was the one to invite in. If it works out the way I want it to, she will live here.”