Variation on a Theme, Book 7
Copyright© 2026 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 17: A String of Crimes
Monday, August 18, 1986
Today was catering day. We had two caterers left on our list, and Cammie and Mel had one we hadn’t checked. By the end of the day, it was clear they’d found the right one. The caterer was thrilled to have both of our weddings.
I think they might have thought ours would be twice as big, with it being a double wedding. Taken literally, that wasn’t true. Our friends and family had so very many overlaps, after all. On the other hand, we had a lot of friends and the budget to feed them. Given that, it might well be twice the size of the average twenty-one-year-old couple’s wedding. Perhaps even more, since the guest list would likely continue to grow.
Cammie and Mel’s would be considerably smaller, partly because a lot of the out-of-towners would come for our weddings and not theirs. They were considering having a party the day after our wedding for the out-of-towners, though, and quite possibly sharing it with the Northeasterners. We were in favor. We might delay our honeymoons to be there, depending on how it worked out. Or we might not, since we would have been the focus of attention the day before.
Just as we were heading to lunch, Al paged both Cammie and me. Surprisingly, they had the ‘urgent’ code. Not the ‘critical’ code, but we needed to call right back. The number was the house number, which at least said the house was probably fine.
I wound up being the one to call. “Al! What’s up?”
“Steve! Got some good news for you!”
“Oh?”
He chuckled and said, “I decided some caution was a good idea. I parked my car on a side street yesterday and walked over. Today, when I went to the grocery store, I did the same thing. When I got back, the brown car was here. Empty. I have the license plate number. Technically, I can’t run it, but CSPD will, I’m sure. Would you give them a call and ask them to call me here? You’re the ones they owe something to, after all. I’ll give them the license plate and the description. Keeping it cop to cop is better for you. No one can accuse you of a frame-up or anything.”
“I’ll call right after this. Having the license plate could be a big deal,” I said.
The girls bounced a bit, grinning.
“There’s more,” he said. “And it’ll likely push them to run it. I approached carefully, treating it as a crime scene. And ... it was, officially at least. The guy was in the backyard, taking pictures of ... well, everything, pretty much. Looking in the windows, taking more pictures. I’m not sure what his game is, but I bet it’ll play out. He didn’t look dangerous. No can of gasoline. Pretty certain no tools, and no weapon. He left without knowing I saw him.”
“That’s really interesting,” I said. “I wonder what he was after.”
“It didn’t feel like he was casing the joint, per se,” he said. “He didn’t check the locks, as far as I know. And he didn’t seem to be looking for valuables. Nor weak points. No particular attention to the gas meter, for instance, which ... well, if you were looking to destroy a house, that’s a good place to start. He wasn’t wearing gloves, either, so I think his intent was just gathering information.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“You call. Call your lawyer, too. Even if we get the guy, we might want to wait a day or two and see if anything happens before confronting him.”
“I agree again. Thanks so much, Al!”
“It’s my job,” he said, chuckling. “As long as nothing bad happens, this is the most fun I’ve had housesitting in a long time. You guys are great clients, simply for entertainment value!”
I chuckled, too. “We’re glad we can keep you entertained, Al.”
“Keep in touch! I will, too.”
“Will do!”
Once I hung up, I relayed the conversation to the girls.
“Wow!” Paige said. “I wonder what he was after.”
“Me, too,” Cammie said. “Some scheme, obviously. I’m glad Al thinks it’s not theft or straightforward vandalism. We’re in a good place to handle a lot of mischief, thanks to the past mischief.”
“We are,” I said, nodding.
“I’m really looking forward to figuring this one out,” Jas said.
“Oh, definitely!” Angie said. “This is irritating!”
“Maybe I can burn his house down,” Paige said.
We all said, “No!” at basically the same time, making Paige pout ... and also giggle.
I almost called the CSPD, but thought the better of it. This felt like a job for Harry Penders. Honestly, we had a solid case to run the plate, but Harry should be in the loop for this, since it could potentially touch other parts of College Station government.
Harry was at his desk when I called, and listened curiously to the story. He agreed to pass the matter directly along to Chief Palko, and that it felt like a legitimate police matter, one that wouldn’t require bending any rules. He also appreciated the heads-up. And he agreed with Al about waiting a day or two before actually contacting the owner of the mysterious car.
Tuesday, August 19, 1986
Today was mostly about photographers and videographers. They could be the same outfit, but some of the ones we liked only did one or the other. As we were driving around, we also discussed whether we wanted a DJ. Everyone was leaning towards ‘yes.’ We would start the search for one later today or tomorrow.
While talking with the photographer who we all felt like was the best choice for that part of things, my pager started vibrating. I checked, and it was a non-urgent page from Harry. I waited until after the meeting — where we agreed to hire her and her assistant — before calling him back.
Once I got him on the phone, Harry said, “I’ve got some interesting news.”
“What’s up?”
“That plate? Stolen. From a matching car, but it’s a car from Lubbock and the police report made it clear that the car itself was still in Lubbock. And re-plated. It was stolen about a month ago. The thief is playing an interesting game. We can’t trace the car, but now we’ve got an immediate action item against the guy if we can find him.”
“That’s ... interesting,” I said.
“Odds are the guy only switches plates before doing something underhanded,” he said. “And I wouldn’t bank on catching him at the house.”
“I agree.”
“We’re putting it in front of the whole department, though. A BOLO — ‘be on the lookout for’ — on that car. Someone may know something, too. Depends. If this is a local, and he’s on the shady side ... well, a good officer will know some of the petty-crime element,” he said.
“Agreed, again.”
“I’ll keep you informed. This isn’t great news, but the good part is that there are crimes here, even if they’re minor thus far, so we can justify running a patrol down your street every so often, plus just pursuing it. It’s not just some private gripe anymore, and we’re not crossing any lines in digging deeper.”
“Glad of that, at least,” I said.
“Thanks for jumping right on this!”
“The same back to you.”
When I hung up, I updated the girls.
“He sucks,” Paige said. “Doubling down on burning down his house!”
“A stolen plate won’t justify arson, love,” Angie said.
“Party pooper!”
Over lunch, we started talking about DJs. Or, more broadly, music, since Angie had an idea.
She said, “You know ... that band at our prom — and Lizzie and Janet’s prom — um... ‘Jeff Pratt and the Pratt Pack’? I kinda liked them.”
Mel said, “Oh! Heck, I hired them! And they were reasonable. Not cheap — a DJ would be cheaper — but we’re actually not hurting. A lot of bands are outside of our budget, though.”
“Of course, our budget went up when someone reminded me that we’re not exactly starving students,” Cammie said, giggling. “It’s still surreal, even after I said I was getting used to it. If you’d told me three years ago that I would be in my junior year in college and wouldn’t have spent a penny of my parents’ money, I would’ve laughed my ass off at you. If you added that I would be in a really nice house and would have spending money to do things like go to New York, I would’ve thought you were seriously nuts! Thank goodness I don’t have to lean on them! I...”
She paused, then said, “I was going to say, ‘I’m glad I don’t need to do what Amy’s doing.’ Except ... it’s not like I’m...”
She looked at Mel.
“Not like we’re not working. We are. Camel is work! But it’s the work we want to do. Just starting early.”
Mel gently said, “It’s not about the money, though. Or not entirely.”
Cammie sighed and said, “It’s not. They screwed themselves. I’m doing much better, but ... well. Thank goodness my in-laws are nice! And Aunt Penelope and Uncle David. I still...”
She sighed even more deeply. “Part of me hopes we can reconcile one day. But that will require massive changes, either on their part or on mine. Or both of ours! And I can’t change what I would need to, nor can I even compromise in a ‘keep it quiet’ sort of way. Mel is going to be my wife. I’m going to be her wife. I can’t have a relationship with them if they can’t use the word ‘wife’ and mean it, and ... that’s asking a lot.”
Mel hugged her tightly and said, “Yeah. I hope so, too. But ... like you said ... most of the changes have to come from them, and...”
“We know that’s unlikely,” Cammie said. “And ... I mean ... it’s not like I’ve ever expected them to be at my wedding, considering. So that’s not a change.”
We all hugged her before moving on with our plans. If anyone knew how much life could change, it was Angie and me. But even we didn’t see an easy path. If there was a path, it might well be like Sharon’s, filled with deep regret and introspection followed by a slow reconciliation. And even that might be a pipe dream.
We all agreed on checking with Jeff Pratt. Mel said she wanted me to call, notwithstanding having hired him before. So — after getting his number from the phone book — I called and left him a message, giving him the wedding dates and asking about availability and costs. I mentioned having seen him at the Memorial proms. It wouldn’t be that big of a surprise if he knew who we were, at least in general. Mel had hired him (at least twice), I’d been pretty visible at both of those, and Angie and Paige had stolen the show at theirs.
We got another page at four in the afternoon, as we were driving to meet with one of the videographer candidates. It was from Harry again.
“Hey, Harry,” I said, once we’d stopped at a payphone. “What’s up?”
“You won’t believe this,” he said. “Or ... well. You probably will.”
“Hit me.”
He chuckled and said, “Code Enforcement just got a wad of complaints about your property. Seriously, it’s a lot! Fence location, setbacks, violations on electrical, plumbing, drainage, curb height ... the works.”
“Any of them valid?”
“Eh. Some of them? Technically? But they say it would all count as grandfathered, particularly because a number of them are related to the remodel, which they signed off on. At my advice, though, Code Enforcement is going to pretend there’s an issue for the moment. We want to see where the smoke comes out.”
I said, “I’m going to guess it’ll come in the form of pressure for a quick sale. ‘We’ll take this troubled property off your hands.’”
Cammie made a face, then stuck out her tongue at the phone, making Jas and Angie giggle a bit. Paige, in turn, mimed striking a match, then waved her arms like a big explosion, adding to the hilarity.
Harry said, “Me, too. That’s not exactly criminal, but it’s damn shady. But trespassing to get pictures for the complaints is criminal.”
“Yeah. Hopefully, we can get the guy.”
“I can’t go into detail yet, but we may have a line on that. Meanwhile, make sure your lawyer is up to date. I can’t see how this gets you in legal trouble, but the odds of you threatening to sue other people are going up by the minute, it feels like,” he said.
“Gotta agree, Harry.”
He chuckled and said, “This is fun! I like it when my job aligns with doing something ... nice. Pressuring bad guys, taking care of good guys.”
“Glad we’re making your day,” I said, chuckling. “And I mean that.”
“You guys are interesting. I have a feeling someone is going to have a bad day when they find out what they’ve stirred up.”
“I sure hope so!”
He chuckled, and I did too, as we hung up.
Again, I updated everyone.
“Code enforcement!” Cammie said. “Duh! That’s a good strategy. If they could make that stick, they could force the owner into tens of thousands in repairs. Now, from what I’m hearing, it’s something an owner could fight. Meaning, if they buy it, they won’t need to fix all of that. But an owner who just wanted an investment might get spooked.”
The pager went off while we were talking. This time it was Maxine’s number. Cammie called her right back.
“Hey, Maxine!” she said.
She paused, then said, “Don’t tell me. They’re claiming the house is up to its ass in code violations and we would be well advised to sell on the cheap.”
She paused again, then chuckled. “We literally only found out about it five minutes ago. We’ve got a parallel investigation. One of our contacts in College Station city government called and let us know. We hadn’t had time to call you.”
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