Chapter 7

Though I miss my home on the mountaintop, I’m slowly settling in here, supported by Amanda’s twenty-four a day personal attention. I think she has sensed I’m like a fish out of water here in this castle full of gold.

“Rusty, I’ll be so glad when we get rid of this threat we’re living under, so we can go back to our mountain home.”

We were lying in bed late on the eighth night we were here ... I had a lot on my mind about the threat she spoke of ... and Daniel who was posing the threat.

“Amanda, the more I think about it, Daniel must have hired henchmen to do his dirty work. Though I’ve never met him, and don’t really know that much about him, I just can’t see him booby trapping a vehicle or shooting at a sheriff’s deputy.”

“I agree with you on all counts. He’s never been one to do anything himself, if he can con someone else into doing it for him. He’s more of a vindictive schemer, than someone who would do those things himself. For years, I worried about him trying to circumvent Daddy when he didn’t agree with what Daddy thought was best for the company. I wish now that Daddy had been more like you and had taken care of Daniel long before he grew so angry, he killed my daddy. Even now, when I think about that, I want to take a gun and kill that sorry sonofabitch myself.”

Though Kyle was still busy with his charter and supply delivery service in the mountains, he now comes here at the end of each workday.

“Rusty, I honestly believe love is in bloom with Kyle and Alex. I hope it works out for both of them. Even Little Kyle is standing at the kitchen door waiting for him, when he hears Kyle’s helicopter fly over and land.”

“I’ve noticed that too. I just hope Alex isn’t letting her son’s infatuation with Kyle, sway her own personal feelings.”

“She told me today, that she’s as bad as Little Kyle – KAM – they call him for Kyle Alan Murdoch. She told me that she can hardly wait until he comes through the kitchen door...

“I watched her this afternoon ... Little Kyle was at the kitchen door waiting for Kyle to come in. Before Kyle could close the door, he stooped to pick up Little Kyle, and by the time he stood with him in his arms, Alex was there – waiting for a hug.”

Sheriff Johnson has provided Amanda and me with bullet-proof vests and asked us to wear them any time we’re outside. He also left one of his transceivers. This one has an alert device which can alert me, even though the transceiver is turned off.

“Keep this with you at all times, Rusty. My guys will be able to alert you of anything that would need your immediate attention.”

“Why the step-up in security? Have you seen or heard something we need to be aware of.”

“James Caldwell, Personnel Manager for Nielsen Enterprises was found shot in the head ... And now – we’ve discovered that Caldwell’s wife, Linda, is missing...

“Also, we’ve taken Matt Asner and Randy Johnson into custody, after finding blood in one of the Nielsen helicopters – blood that matches Caldwell’s blood.”

“Charles, I know you have enough pieces of this puzzle to run them through your mind and see where they fit ... tell me what you have in your head, not what these new events tell you.”

“The way I see it ... and from what little we’ve pieced together about Caldwell, he was forced to hire Asner and Johnson ... My guess is, Daniel Warren-Nielsen somehow coerced Caldwell into hiring those two pilots ... possibly using his wife in some way or another to make it happen. We have yet to put together a full background check on Caldwell or his wife, to see what may have been used against them. This is just my personal thoughts, based on what we know, and my own suspicions – but the pieces of this puzzle seem to be falling into place, the more we dig into this mess.”

“Has there been any more sightings of Daniel?”

“We have two more security cam videos of a person who closely resembles him. We’ve narrowed our area of concentration down to a ten block section in the southwest part of the suburbs. We have a positive on a set of fingerprints, collected by a very alert, convenience store owner who was able to get the prints for us when he told his customer that his drink cup was leaking on the counter and asked him to get another drink – on the house. The owner called our hotline immediately, and we were on the scene within minutes with a forensic crew.

“Our suspect now has a beard and his hair is longer than the last photo of him we have on record ... The good thing is, if there is such a thing – he smokes – and in each of the security cam videos we have, he has purchased multiple packs of cigarettes. He’ll be back – with a habit like that – and we have men in each of the surrounding convenience stores, twenty-four-seven. They have been instructed to follow him and not to approach him. We need to know what he’s up to. We need to know where he’s staying, and who, if anyone is staying with him. I have a feeling this won’t end until we know for sure what he has planned.”

Amanda came over as Charles and I talked. She had heard the last part, and told Charles, “Daniel has never smoked! He could not stand to be around Daddy when he smoked a cigar.”

“Then he’s purchasing cigarettes for someone who must have an addiction to tobacco, as many cigarettes as he’s purchased lately ... That’s based on what we have on record ... We have no way of knowing if he’s visiting other areas of the city.”

“Amanda, did your, ex-friend, Marissa smoke?” I asked.

“No – never that I saw anyway.”

Amanda called Alex over... “Alex, do you know if James Caldwell smoked?”

“James never smoked! I heard him say that on more than one occasion, but his wife is a chain-smoker. I’ve seen her light another cigarette before she even snuffs her last one out. I know this from the times she would come to the office to visit James. They had to step outside so she could smoke. Not long ago, she came to see him, and James came back after they’d had a lengthy argument outside, that could be heard all over the office.

“He was so upset, I followed him into his office, to try and calm him down. He was crying as he told me his wife was leaving him...

Charles asked, “What else can you tell us about her, that we may have missed?”

“Linda is at least ten years younger. They met when she came to work at Nielsen, as James’ secretary. Within a year, James and his first wife were getting a divorce and James married Linda the same day his divorce was final.”

Charles told her, “Alex, you have just put a lot of missing pieces together in this puzzle we’re working on! Until we know otherwise, we’ll assume Daniel is purchasing cigarettes for none other than, Linda Caldwell...

“I’ll call my guys and have them dig deeper into her background. There has to be more than a kidnapping, connecting Daniel to Linda Caldwell.”

“Charles, if he and Linda Caldwell are involved in James Caldwell’s death and you found his blood in one of Nielsen’s helicopters, I’m sure you threw a monkey-wrench into their plans when you arrested his pilots – Asner and Johnson.”

Charles agreed... “My thoughts exactly...

“Amanda, do you know if Daniel has ever actually flown one of Neilsen’s helicopters? It appears he went to a lot of trouble to get those two hired as pilots for Nielsen.”

“I know he’s flown co-pilot with each of them. I’ve seen them come and go many times – with Daniel riding co-pilot ... but I’ve never seen him actually flying one alone.”

I told Charles, “From my own personal experience, I can tell you – a man can fly a helicopter long before he’s certified. If Daniel – Johnson and Asner were flying with any regularity, Daniel could have conned them into teaching him the basics of flying a helicopter. If he flew much with them at all, he could have logged many hours behind the stick...

“Based on what we’ve just been discussing, I’d say Daniel was planning all along to rid himself of Caldwell, Johnson and Asner sooner or later, and anyone else who may be involved in his scheme – whatever his scheme is.”

“Rusty, until we know different, I’ll go along with your thoughts on that. I’ll have Detectives Green and Johnson get on top of this and trace it back. This has turned into more than an attempt to kill or kidnap Amanda. That would only get him revenge. I have to believe he’s after something bigger, since there’s no way he could ever get his hands on the Nielsen fortune ... Unless ... he may be thinking of a massive ransom...”

It’s over now ... and I’m glad we survived.

Until Kyle told us later, we knew nothing about the way it all started...

Daniel – with Marissa and Linda Caldwell, hijacked Kyle’s helicopter at the regional airport where he services and fuels his chopper. They forced him to land here at the Nielsen Estate, threatening to take over and crash his chopper into the Nielsen home if he didn’t do as they told him.

We learned later, they had two Mexican drug dealers already on the ground, taking out the deputies before they forced Kyle to put the chopper on the helipad just at dark.

No one in the house knew where little Kyle was until it all went down ... When he heard Kyle’s chopper, he shoved a chair over next the back door, opened it and ran across the grounds to meet Kyle.

Kyle grabbed KAM and held him as Daniel told him “Call your friend ... the big guy who married that Lesbian-Whore sister of mine. Tell him to bring her out here or we’ll kill you and the kid.