Chapter 42

I don't know how long we sat there in silence, but Jimmy came in and addressed me.

"Sheriff, Sis sent me in to get you. We found something she thinks you ought to see."

He went back out the door before I could give him any answer. I looked at Doris and she was smiling. Jeesh, I could see right now she wasn't going to be any help when it came to those two keeping me running. I went outside and everyone was looking in bay 2, and as I walked over to see what was going on Sandra looked at me with wide eyes.

"Grandpa, I don't know what to do with all of these. They look like they are all brand new but there are no serial numbers on any of them."

I didn't answer her just walked over and looked in the door like every one else was doing. Talk about getting a shock, I got a big one. There had to be at least four hundred Harleys in there, parked any way they could fit in the bay. There was hardly room to squeeze between them. I had to agree with Sandra as they all looked like they were brand new, and when I checked several of the odometers there was less than ten miles on most of them. This was beyond anything I had ever seen before. There had to be a million dollars in Harley's in this bay and like her, I couldn't find any numbers on any of the ones I looked at. I looked at some of them and to a one they all still had the rubber tits on the tires. I knew none of them had been ridden or these would be worn off. There were stickers on the tires signifying they were all brand new.

"I think we will lock this back up until we can get someone from the state in here to try to trace where these came from. Go ahead and lock this back up and go to the next one, fellas. I will get on the phone and make some calls."

Sandra put the padlock back on the door and unlocked the next bay. The men went in and started carrying the stuff out for her to look at. I walked over, sat back down in my chair and got my cell out. I put the call through to the new Commander and he came on the phone immediately. We chit chatted for a few minutes before he asked me what I needed. I told him what we had discovered and he got real excited when I told him about the Harleys.

"Harry, I think you have solved a mystery that has been on the books for the last three years. If you have found the bikes I think you have, then your department is in for a big surprise from the Harley company. Those bikes were on the way to the west coast factory when they disappeared from the box car they were shipped in. The serial numbers were never installed because they were going overseas for government use. Harry, I will send a rep out to make sure, but if they are, then they belong to your department. They were written off and there was never a stolen report out on them. The government who ordered them prepaid and when they were lost they never reordered because they had a coup three months later. The country has since been broken up and now they don't know who's running it. We would be interested in buying a bunch of them for our motorcycle division. I will make the call and the rep will come out this afternoon from Reno to look at them. You have got to be the luckiest law enforcement officer I have ever heard of. Give us first dibs on them, will you?"

"Sure will, but are you sure of your facts?"

"I was one of the investigators, so yes, I am sure of what I'm talking about."

"Tell him to come to the motor pool and ask for me or Doris when he gets here. Talk to you later, Commander."

I sat and thought about what he had told me and wondered how they had ended up here in the bay. I figured it had to be Hubba, or the old sheriff who had stolen them, but for what purpose I couldn't for the life of me figure out. They couldn't be titled because there were no serial numbers on any of them, and they would lose too much money if they sold them to a chop shop.

"Grandpa, we need you to look at this stuff. We found some more cycles and these are all different from the first ones. Jimmy says they are all terrain vehicles and he also said there are trailers for all of them."

I took a deep breath, went to where they were all standing and he was right. There were twelve Polaris ATVS sitting side by side in the center of the bay. They had broken one of the stacked boxes open and inside were the self build type trailer for them. Now these would not be sold as we could use them in the winter for transportation if the snow got too deep. With the trailers we could pull them with the new four wheel drive units.

"Wheel those things into the shop later and assemble the trailers. We will keep these for winter use for the department. Push them over there and stack the boxes of trailers next to them. When you finish, go through the rest of the bay and see what other surprises we find there. Good work, guys!"

I watched as they did what I asked and when I looked over at Sandra, she and Jimmy had their heads together discussing something. I went and sat back in my chair figuring I didn't want to know what those two were up to now. They were laughing with each other at whatever it was. I looked at my watch and realized it was only ten in the morning. We still had two more hours till lunch. God, I hated this part of the job. I was a trained investigator not a junk picker, as Beau called me. Sandra and Jimmy were having a ball with all the stuff they were finding and to them it was a big adventure. Doris was holed up in her office and somehow seemed to be getting out of doing anything. Hey! I was the boss here not her. I got up and headed for her office again. I had just opened the door when I ran into a State Trooper dressed in a Commander's uniform coming out.

"I take it you're, Harry? I am Commander Charlie Sanders. I just had to see those Harleys. I saw pictures of them and each one was set up for desert use as well as jungle duty. They are one of a kind cycles and Harley has never produced any more of them. I own a Harley myself and I love it."

"Hold on for about five minutes, Commander, and I will be glad to show them to you."

Before he could say anything else I went up to the office and Doris was still sitting behind the desk with her feet up.

"Doris, this ain't no picnic. Get off your butt and go supervise your workers. This is your little project not mine so go do it."

She looked at me in shock for a minute, and just busted up laughing as she came out from behind the desk.

"Damn, I figured I could skate through this, Harry. I figured you would have fun looking through all that junk and I could just relax and let you do it. Oh well, looks like I'll have to go to work."

She actually had the nerve to laugh all the way down the stairs. I was just shaking my head as we went back outside again. I went over to the Commander and she went over next to Sandra and Jimmy. They talked for a couple of minutes, then she and Sandra looked at me and laughed as they started going over the paperwork in front of Sandra.