Chapter 5

Day 5

Mike began day 5 with a five mile bike ride in the suburbs and a hot shower. His mind was clean and his body was clean. He really felt good. His mother had breakfast on the table when he returned from his shower.

Mike: Mom could I have coffee this morning?

Mom: Since when do you drink coffee.

Mike: I figured I needed a new harmless bad habit.

He said it with a confident smile. His mother returned his smile and felt better since he had a job which he seemed to be enjoying. She had begun to think instead of his taking care of her, she would be taking care of him into her seventies.

Wes woke up with a mild hang over. He remembered the lie he had told Mike, so as he promised he went directly from the bed into an old running suit of three layers. He knew that in a block he would be soaking wet but he wasn't sure he would make it much farther than one block.

He actually made a mile total. The neighborhood was pretty rough but he like that about it. Even the gang bangers moved out of the way when he ran. They didn't know him or what he was capable of, but they still made room for him. Unless there were four or more of them in the respect me mode, then he had to growl like a dog at them before they made room for him the first time.

He returned home to shower and dress for the day. After his shower he washed his hair three times then took scissors to it and his scraggly beard. Then he went to the closet and found his one gray suit.

I sure as hell never thought I would wear that thing again, he thought. He looked at himself in the mirror. I still looked a little scruffy, but that's the style, he thought.

He reached into the medicine cabinet for the bottle of white pills like the one he had given Michael. The label read Aspirin. He smiled at the trick he had played on the unsuspecting kid.

May woke up in her own bed for a change but she wasn't alone. The very young man was the high school son of a friend. He had phoned his mom to say he was sleeping over with one of his basketball teammates. So she woke him not with a kiss but by shaking him.

May: Get your ass dressed and out of here and don't ever come back.

She couldn't even say she was drunk. She had just wanted him and took him. Now all she wanted was him out of her bed before he did something stupid in keeping with is age. Something like taking a picture with his cell phone. That's why she had stolen it the night before.

May (showing him the phone): I'll hand this back to you on your way out the door. If you are not dressed and out the door first, I will take it with me to work and deliver it to your mother. (an obvious bluff)

Salina (standing in the hall): How is your daughter?

Mother: She still does not sleep and the fever is still with her.

Salina: Take her to the free clinic two blocks over. See Father Eye before you go inside. He will accompany you. Tell him I sent you.

Mother: Thank you.

Salina: I have to go but take her now. It will be a long wait to be seen but she needs to be seen today.

Eddie was half way through his drive at that exact moment. Why the shit am I driving half an hour every morning and night to do this? I don't need the money or the aggravation, he thought.

The answer was simple, unfinished business. Lucille had hit on it, no one liked to be call off a case till all the leads were exhausted. They were all worked to death of course, but he was the one who should have made that decision. So maybe it was about career closure, he thought as he pulled into the neighborhood.

Speaking of unfinished business he needed to decide what he had to do next on the house renovation. He was trying to do it in some logical order while living in the house. Thinking about the house was his distraction.

He parked the car on the third floor of the deserted parking garage, then entered the almost portable office structure.

Salina: Lucille called. She won't be in. Her exact words were, 'Tell Detective Alexander to carry on without me.' Eddie just nodded.

He hardly recognized Wes when he walked through the door only five minutes late. Mike followed behind him by a minute or two. May came out of the Bathroom.

Eddie: Meeting please. What is the plan of attack for today? In other words where are we?

May: Wes and I are going to see the operations manager of the shipping company.

Eddie: Let Wes handle the interview follow his lead. May, I know you think that you know more than the rest of us, but if it gets technical Wes is the expert witness. What time is the appointment?

Wes: We decided not to make an appointment. May is going to call his office just to be sure he is there, then we are just going to walk in. She can show her Department Of Justice ID. That will get us into see him I'm sure. They obviously do a lot of business with the company.

Eddie: Sounds good. Mike what are you up to?

Mike: I'm going to try to trace the movements of that Seabold woman and fantail it with news stories of violence in whatever town she was in at the time. The super computer at the NSA can do all those calculations in a day.

Eddie: Do I want to know how you got them to cooperate.

Mike: Probably not.

Mike's smile was a huge conspiratorial one. Eddie just shook his head and looked away.

Eddie: Salina what are you up to today?

Salina: I am going to continue reading case files, unless you have something else? (she obviously was hopeful that he did.)

Eddie: No nothing else at the moment.

May and Wes left the office together. May took one look at the dirt covered, trash filled car which belonged to Wes. She just shook her head.

May: I'll drive.

Wes: I can make room for you. (he was grinning)

May: I'll drive, I don't remember when I had my last tetanus shot.

Wes recovered a canvas bag from the car before they left. They drove for about ten minutes fighting the crosstown traffic. When they finally came to a fenced-in warehouse, they were forced to leave the car outside the fence. It looked as though the employees parked there as well.

Wes: (Into his cell phone) Mikey boy, run me a couple of license plates.

Wes gave him the plate numbers off the higher end cars. He went through them methodically till the got to the Operations Manager's car.

Wes: Thanks Mike, you are a genius.

He turned his attention to May who had overheard it all.

Wes: Time for us to go work our magic.

Once inside finding the office was easy.

May: My name is Mayfield Jeffery with the Department Of Justice. We are here to speak with the Operations Manager, or to do a thorough inspection of the warehouse it's his choice.

She hadn't even given the reception a chance to refuse the meeting, before she gave her ultimatum. Wes didn't really like May but he had to admit she had a really nice combative nature.

Avery Taylor: I'm Avery Taylor is there something I can do for you?

By that time they were in his office. May just walked in and sat down without being invited. Wes pulled up a chair beside her.

May: We are investigating Bluestone Shipping. You were assistant Operations Manager there before they went belly up.

Avery: Yes but they have been out of business for fifteen years.

May: They have been bankrupt not simply out of business. That's what we want to talk about. You have several very delicate cargo shipments for the US government, and we want to know about your Bankruptcy.

Avery: I wasn't involved in the decision to take the company into chapter 11. I'm afraid I can't help you.

May: Actually we know all about the finances. It's the motivation of a perfectly sounds business to seek court protection while it reorganizes itself right out of business, that interests us. So unless you would like us to review all your dealings with the US Government, since Bluestone reinvented itself as this company, you will answer some questions for us.

Avery: I think I will have to consult with our lawyers.

May: I think he will advise you to cooperate with this court order for all your financial and shipping records for the last fifteen years. Or you can just answer our questions and save us all a lot of grief.