Welcome back loyal readers. Ben and I kind of left you hanging for awhile, and we're sorry for that. But we finally finshed writing a tough chapter and feel we can post again. So here is chapter 42, written by Ben. Our friend the Hawke should put a smile on your face as he tells the story of how he once again saved the day? Or did he?
The Boys of the Lady Lex Chapter 42 "Loose Ends" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin T. Collins
Harrison Wolfe, Zjan-Ren and Kalon Masters walked into a smoke filled run down tavern called The Rusty Nail. Wolfe had warned Kalon and Zjan-Ren that the scum who occupied this establishment made lowly street urchins look like the Pope. He warned them to be on full alert.
They all went to the bar and sat down on the worn out stools. Zjan-Ren coughed as the smoke flooded his sensitive nostrils. Kalon's smuggling instincts came into play as they walked into the tavern. He trusted no one and he knew he had to keep a close watch on everybody that was in the tavern, including Wolfe and Zjan-Ren.
"What'll it be?" snapped the old, obese bartender, who had a thick beard and evidence of what he had for lunch earlier that day embedded in it.
"I'm in the market to purchase some blue prints and I am told this is the place to come," said Wolfe.
"Whoever told you was mistaken. All I sell here are drinks."
"Very well, I will have a glass of Muldoonian Wine," ordered Wolfe.
"Muldoonian Wine? That's some high class expensive shit. I don't serve that here. All I got is rot gut that will put hair on your chest," laughed the bartender.
"Then I will have some Jeckleseed Whisky."
"Now we're talking," said the bartender. He went to his shelf and pulled out a dusty old bottle that had yellow contents inside. He twisted the cap off with ease and poured a shot for his customer. He sat in front of Wolfe. Kalon could see small grodies floating in the shot glass.
"My friends will have a shot too," said Wolfe.
The bartender smiled. He poured Kalon and Zjan-Ren each a shot. "Not many people can stomach that stuff," said the bartender.
Wolfe downed his shot and showed no emotion or reaction to the very strong whisky. Kalon and Zjan-Ren both lost their breath and had tears coming out of their eyes and gasped for air as the yellow liquid burned its way all the way down to their stomachs. Kalon immediately felt a slight buzz coming on. He didn't realize how powerful this shit was.
The bartender laughed and poured each of them another shot. Then he went on his way to take care of some other customers. A man in his 50's who looked fragile and frail came up to them. He had long, straggly knotted brown hair, his cheeks were sunken in and he had black eyes; devil eyes. He was missing some of his teeth as well. In his hand that obviously showed that he wasn't as frail or week as he appeared, he held a pool stick.
"You care to play a round of pool?" asked the man.
"No thank you," said Kalon who was definitely feeling the effects of the two shots.
"It's a pity. Your loss not mine," said the man. He started to go back to the stained, lopsided pool tables. Wolfe reached out with his sight still focused on the shelves of bottles in front of him and grabbed onto the man's biceps as he walked by.
"What's the stakes?"
"A credit a ball?" said the man.
"That's sounds reasonable." Wolfe got off the bar stool and headed over to the pool table. He picked up a pool stick as the man racked the balls.
"You break first," said the man.
After three games, Wolfe found himself losing each and every game against the disgusting creature he opposed. The creature had the breath of swamp scum.
"One more round?" asked the man.
"You cleaned me out," said Wolfe.
"Too bad," said the man. "I was going to up the ante. Say your friend's baklava for, oh I don't know, say for blue prints?"
Wolfe looked at the man's devilish grin. His instincts were right. This creature would lead him to where they needed to go.
"You're on."
Detective Bryce was getting tired. This was the fourth boy he questioned today and he still had two more to go. But he wanted to question them all before the day was up.
"Let me get this straight, this man dressed in a waiter's uniform was the man who killed the boy you were accused of killing?"
"So Douglas says," said Ben. "I never saw the man before, but I know him and the other guy were keeping a close watch on Douglas."
"And Douglas told you who these two men were?"
"Yes that's right."
"So what happened next?"
"We pretty much figured that the men wouldn't try anything in public view. So we stayed with everyone. Then we managed to make it back to the shuttle and fly back to the Lexington where we would be safe, so we thought."
"I'm listening."
"It was the second day of open house. The night before the orchestra put on their concert and did a great job. I was so proud of both my brothers. Andrew plays the trumpet and Trevor plays the drums."
"So you said. Now please get on with what happened on the second night of the Open house."
"Well, Douglas and I were both in '12 Angry Men'. Douglas was the foreman and I was Juror #3. About five minutes into the first act, Douglas looked out into the audience and saw these two guys enter the hangar where we were putting on the play."
"And these were the same two guys who you saw at the hotel?"
"Yes it was."
"The same two guys who supposedly killed your friend Kiran."
"Yes. From that point on Douglas started to get nervous and was stumbling over his lines and had a hard time concentrating. But we finally got through with the play and it was a huge success. My cousin, Jesse did a superb job. Even his father told Jesse he was good and for that to come from my Uncle Steve that says a lot."
"After the play we sneaked back to our room, making sure we weren't being followed. We told Major Zjan-Ren our Chief of Security about it, but all he said was that he would look into it. The next night was our talent show. And here again these two guys showed up. But they didn't make any move on Douglas yet. I guess it was too risky yet to do so. So I guess they waited until the time was right."
Ben finished up telling the detective the story and answering all the questions that he had. He stood up and the guard escorted him to where Douglas, Andrew, and Mike were all being detained. As Ben was walking down the hall, he was so hoping that these two guys would be caught and pay the price for killing Kiran. But Ben could tell that the Detective was having a hard time believing the story all because of the time travel portion of it.
Ben walked into the cell and he was uncuffed. He was greeted by Douglas and was relieved to see him. They kissed and held each other for a few minutes. It seemed like only yesterday that they had had a long heart-to-heart and making up session about the time Ben tore into Douglas for interfering with the feud that he and Trevor were having. Then Ben smiled because only a day later he and Trevor were in the hangar that had the baseball infield and batting cage in it, and Trevor was practicing his pitching and then the two boys took turns in the batting cage. As soon as the batting session was over, Trevor's one wish finally came true. Right there in the hangar Ben made love to Trevor for the first time. Ben remembered how good it felt having himself inside of Trevor. He had never gone this far with Andrew, let alone with Trevor. As a matter of fact, Trevor was the only other person Ben had entered beside Douglas. And it was a moment neither boy would forget.
Wolfe silently smiled inside as he sank his last ball. The man didn't even get a chance to shoot this time. The man thought for sure that he wasn't being hustled, that Wolfe was just a bad pool player because of the two shots of Jeckleseed Whisky he'd had. The man looked at the two others who came in with Wolfe. The younger one was passed out on the bar while the Kriton was obliviously sloshed. Yet, the man to whom he'd just lost seemed as sober as the bomb squad.
"Now I believe we had ourselves a deal?"
"We did." The man was still figuring out how Wolfe managed to beat him.
"I'm looking for these blue prints." Wolfe slipped the man a piece of paper. The man squinted in the darkness of the tavern at what was written on the wrinkled slip of paper.
"These are some blue prints that you seek."
"Are you familiar with them?"
"Oh yes. They were stolen about ten months ago."
`Yes, I know. I want to purchase them."
"I don't have them, but I know who does."
"Who?"
"My memory is a bit foggy. Maybe after another round of pool?"
Wolfe held his pool stick vertically and pushed the man several feet back as he slammed him hard against the wall. The center of the pool stick was pushing hard against the man's Adam's apple. The man was desperately trying to push the pool stick away from his throat. He was coughing and gasping a little.
A black man who was sitting by the broken down juke box arose to his feet. He pulled out a laser pistol and aimed it at Wolfe.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Kalon as he stood up and aimed his weapon that was hidden in his boot.
"Put your weapon down now," said the bartender as he held a shotgun pointed at Kalon. "And you step way from him," speaking to Wolfe.
"Not until I get the information I'm seeking."
"There is no information here," said the bartender.
"But I believe there is," said Zjan-Ren as he held the tip of his blade of his baklava at the bartender's throat. The bartender was so focused on Kalon and Wolfe that he never saw Zjan-Ren pull out the baklava.
The bartender looked out of the corner of his eye. He could barely see Zjan-Ren standing in his peripheral view. He then moved his eyes towards the black guy and nodded. The black man lowered his weapon as did the bartender.
"Now, who has these blue prints?" said Wolfe through gritted, clenched teeth.
"Cassidy," gasped the man. "But I don't think he has them anymore. I think he sold them."
"Where do I find this Cassidy?"
"I don't know." Wolfe pushed harder against the man's throat. "Okay, okay, he has a yacht down at the marina."
"What's his yacht's name?"
"I don't remember."
"You better remember." Wolfe pushed even harder against the man's throat.
"Pincher. The 'Penny Pincher'."
"If I find out you're lying to me, I will come back and ensure that you never play pool again." Wolfe pushed the man to the floor where he began to gasp for fresh air.
By this time, Kalon had placed the weapons out of the reach of the black man and the bartender. Kalon made his way to the door and went outside. He breathed in the fresh air. Zjan-Ren soon followed Kalon, retracting his blade and placing his baklava on his belt. Soon, Wolfe exited too.
"Do you know this Cassidy?" asked Zjan-Ren.
"I've heard of him. He's a small fish in a big pond, but thinks he is a big fish in a small pond. It's time to pay Mr. Cassidy a visit."
"Hey, it's a good thing we took those detoxicating pills before we entered. I could feel some of the effects of that whisky even with the pills. I'd hate to see what would have happened if I hadn't taken them," said Kalon.
"I think we all would be passed out for real, not just acting it like we did," said Zjan-Ren.
"That is an understatement," said Wolfe. He hailed down a cab and the three of them climbed in. "To the marina" said Wolfe. The taxi cab driver pushed start on the meter and headed down the road.
Nipper sat in the chair in the dull gray room with Detective Bryce and Brad. He kept eyeing the mirror. He knew someone was behind there, he just didn't know who. He'd been through his story a couple of times, but the detective wanted him to go through it again, just in case he missed something. Nipper thought that the detective was nice, yet he also thought it was just an act.
"Now you went to the cemetery the day after the play?" asked Bryce.
"No, sir," replied Nipper. "We went to the cemetery the day after the talent show. You see the first day of the open house we had our orchestra performance. I play the violin, my boyfriend Andy plays the trumpet. We have a cellist, a cute boy who plays the saxophone, a couple of guitar players, and a piano player. Trevor, who you have locked up in here with us, plays the drums and we have a few more instrumentalists as well. We didn't sound too good when we first started playing, but then Chaplain Kyle got us together and made us really good. We even wrote our alma matter."
Detective Bryce rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time that Nipper had strayed from the focal point. Detective Bryce could tell he wasn't doing it intentionally, it's just that when Nipper starts to tell the story and he finds himself going in a completely different direction than the Detective wanted to go. Detective Bryce had to work hard to keep him on track.
"That's all very nice. Now what about the cemetery?"
"Oh yeah, the cemetery," said Nipper. "I'm getting there. The second night we had our play '12 Angry Men'. I was Juror #11. It was fun. My brother Douglas didn't do so well. He had a hard time concentrating. He'd never been on stage before. I have lots of times, but never acting. I play the violin and so I go on stage a lot for recitals. So I am used to people watching me. But Douglas only had to deliver speeches and they're right there in front of him. He didn't have to worry about cues or memorizing or even ad-libbing before. And when those two ugly looking guys came into the hangar where we were performing, Douglas's acting abilities didn't hold up very well. But because of my friend Jesse, he managed to steal all the scenes away with his talent. So did my brother's boyfriend and my boyfriend's brother."
Detective Bryce wasn't even about to touch the last comment of Nipper's. He pretty much figured that he was referring to Ben since Ben was the brother of Andrew who was the boyfriend of Nipper at the same time Ben was the boyfriend of Douglas who was the brother of Nipper. But Detective Bryce knew that if he commented about it, he would go farther down the road he didn't want to travel.
"So what does this have to do with the cemetery?" asked Detective Bryce.
"Nothing," replied Nipper. "I just wanted to correct you that we went to the cemetery the day after the talent show not the play. The talent show was on the third day of open house. It was pretty cool. This boy named Tyler who plays the cello. He and I played a duet together. It sounded awesome. And then my boyfriend Andy played a duet with this boy named Greg who plays the saxophone. You should have heard them. My boyfriend did an excellent job. Andy plays taps and reveille every morning and evening too. He does such a good job. My brother Douglas tried to perform some magic tricks but the rabbit got away. And Ben sang a song. He has such a great singing voice. And you should have seen Jesse Hatcher. He delivered a soliloquy from Hamlet. I didn't understand all what he said because it was in English but it was really good too."
"Nipper," said Bryce who was trying not to lose his patience with the young lad. "I think we established that you went to the cemetery the day after open house was over. Now please tell me about the cemetery."
"It was the day after open house. Since we did really well during Open House, Captain Hatcher decided to give us one day of special liberty on Earth. He didn't want to send everyone down at once, so only one quarter of the crew could go at a time. Then the next day another quarter would go and everyone would get a chance to go over a four day period. I knew what I wanted to do on my special liberty. Douglas wanted to do it too. Because it's been so long since we did it. But we wanted to go to the cemetery to see my mom." Nipper got very quiet at the thought of his mother.
"So you and your brother went to the cemetery?"
"Yes, sir. It was first thing in the morning. I brought my violin with me because I always play my violin for my mother. She loves it when I play. Her favorite song was Tears of a Mother. The only time I ever play it anymore is at the cemetery at her grave. I was playing that song when she died. I was the only one in the room when it happened. Dad was in space and Douglas was getting something to eat with Oma and Opa." Nipper's tone had changed. It wasn't the happy go lucky cheerful tone that it was when he was telling about the open house. It was more solemn now.
"Who else was with you when you went to the cemetery?"
"Douglas came with me and so did my boyfriend, Andy. Ben came too to be with Douglas. Andy brought his trumpet with him. Trevor came too. He didn't want to come to the cemetery. He wanted to do something else instead but we told him we would do it after the cemetery. Trevor wasn't allowed to go by himself. He gets into trouble a lot. He calls himself the Hawke. He has a small gang that he's in called the Birds of Prey. They all have a name of a raptor. Trevor's best friend, Ian, is the Eagle. He wanted to come with us, but he had to stay on the ship. At the last minute Mike the Donkey joined us. He was going to go to Texas to see his brother, but his brother told him that he was busy and couldn't see him. And since Mike's boyfriend, Ryan, had duty, Mike decided to tag along with us."
Brad Wakeman's heart sank a little. He remembered his brother telling him he wanted to see him. But he would be in trial all day and couldn't get out of it. Ironically, the trial only lasted ten minutes when the judge granted the opposing lawyer a two week continuance. Brad couldn't help think that if he would have taken the time to have Mike see him that maybe he wouldn't be here right now trying to bail his brother out of trouble once again.
Nipper continued. "We got to the cemetery. It was much warmer then the last time I was there. I went to mom's grave with Douglas and everyone else." Nipper sniffed a little bit. "I took out my violin and I began to play her song. When I played it, I could feel her listening and watching me. I could feel her warm smile looking down at me. I could feel her reaching down and scooping up each note I played as if they were fresh rose petals blowing in the wind and then bringing them up to her nose and breathing in the sweet aroma. After I was done playing, my boyfriend Andy put his trumpet to his lips and he played Taps. She never had Taps played for her before. But Andy wanted to do this for her. He wanted to do it for me." By this time, tears were rolling down Nipper's flush cheeks. It had become easier for him to talk about his mom without getting emotional, but with the lack of sleep, the stress they been under the past day, and hearing Andrew's trumpet echo in his mind, it was just getting too much for him.
Detective Bryce stood up and went to the door. He opened it and mumbled something to the guard. The guard came in and stood behind Nipper.
"I'm finished with you for the time being," said Detective Bryce. He knew he couldn't push the young boy any farther.
Cassidy was a well groomed, elderly man. He stood six feet, two inches high. He was broad shouldered and had sliver hair that was neatly trimmed. He was in his late fifties and had the look of an English gentleman. He was wearing a tuxedo as he disembarked from his yacht. He walked in a distinguished manner to the long stretch black limousine. The chauffeur/bodyguard was standing next to the open rear door. Cassidy was in a hurry, and with the combination of looking down upon his servants he didn't realize there was something different about his chauffeur. The chauffeur closed the door, walked over to the driver's side, and climbed in behind the wheel. The partition between the driver and the living room type space in the back where Cassidy sat, was closed.
"To the Museum James. We are running late." Cassidy spoke with class and character.
The limo started moving away from the arena. The limo twisted and turned around the corners without much grace.
"I do say James, what has gotten into your driving? Take it easy my dear chap." The chauffeur could hear the British accent through the intercom system that was installed in the limo. But the chauffeur continued to race around the corners as if he was in the Daytona 500. Then the limo came to an abrupt stop.
Cassidy was caught off guard as both doors on either side of him opened. A large Kriton slid in next to Cassidy and shut the door. On the other side a tall, yet dangerous looking older man slid in and closed his door. Once the doors shut, the limo started moving again.
"What is the meaning of this? James?" The partition lowered and then the chauffeur turned his head while driving and smiled. "You're not James! Who are you? What's the meaning of this? You'll never get a way with this."
"I believe we just did," said Wolfe.
Detective Bryce propped his head up with his palm resting firmly on his forehead and his elbow planted on the pitted and scratched surface of the table. Sitting upright with a shit eating grin blooming from his face was Trevor Collins. He had just finished his version of what happened and Detective Bryce had to say it was the most colorful and exhilarating version of the story he had heard all day. Bryce just shook his head in his hand. The pain relievers that he took prior to Trevor's questioning seemed to have no effect on his throbbing headache.
"Pretty cool, huh?" said Trevor who was glowing and gleaming with the tale he just told.
"Are you sure it happened that way?" asked Brad who couldn't believe it himself.
"Well, yeah, why? Don't you believe me?"
"Well it does seem a little far fetched," replied Brad.
"I'm serious," said Trevor as his grin began to slip away from his face. "It happened just like that."
Detective Bryce lifted his head up and looked at the young boy who was beginning to get a little irate from Brad not believing him. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Let's try this again."
"You want me to start from the beginning?" asked Trevor excitedly who was eager to tell his tale once again.
"No, no, no, no," said Bryce quickly. "Start at the cemetery."
"Oh cool," Trevor thought to himself. He got to tell the really cool part of what happened. "My brother Andrew and Nipper just got done playing their instruments. We walked through the cemetery making our way to the exit. We were going to go to this cool game arcade that was nearby. Douglas was walking real slow. My brother wanted to walk with him, but he told Ben to walk up ahead with us. He wanted some time alone I guess. I guess he missed his mom or something. So Douglas was walking in the back by himself. We walked passed this building that was a tombstone that they put dead people in. It was gnarly looking. It gave Andrew the chilly willies. We passed it and I look and Douglas is gone. So I go see if I can find him. I go to this building and I hear voices inside. I peak inside and there are these two guys pushing Douglas against the wall. They had a knife at his throat. I think Douglas was too scared to scream. The two men said something about tying up loose ends. Then I heard them say that they had no problem killing that boy in the bunker back in October and they would have no problem killing a boy in this crypt. Something told me they were the ones Douglas told me about who he saw kill Kiran. So I barged in and yelled `let him go you mother fuckers!!!' I then punched the one guy in the balls and he fell to the floor. Then I kicked him in the face and went to the other guy who had the knife and I tackled him to the floor and broke his nose with my bare fist. I then pulled Douglas by the hand and said lets get out of here. As we ran out of that building the two bad guys followed us. They had guns and fired at us. This scared Ben, Andrew, Nipper and Mike. We all started running. I was quick. I ran ahead of everyone leading the way to safety. Everyone knew they had to follow the Hawke because the Hawke is good at getting himself out of hard situations. I saw a car and told everyone to get in. We all crammed into this car and I drove us out of the cemetery. I sat on this pillow that was in it so I could see over the top. I figured I could pilot a space shuttle so driving a car should be a piece of cake. But the bad guys were right behind us. They had stolen a car too. Andrew yelled when he looked in the box that was in the car and saw a dead body. It was pretty cool. I raced all over town trying to get rid of the bad guys, but they were pretty good at driving. But the Hawke was better even if I kept having a hard time seeing over the wheel. Then I saw a phone in the car so, as I was driving I called up my English teacher."
"Mr. Wolfe?" asked Bryce, who could see that Trevor's version wasn't going to change at all.
"That's right. He is really cool. I told him we were being chased by these bad guys who killed Kiran and that they wanted to kill us. So Mr. Wolfe told us to drive to the Grand View Hotel and he would meet us there. I get us to the hotel and the doorman was mean. He wouldn't let us in unless we had an adult with us. We had to hurry and get inside before the bad guys saw us. So I remember what the Eagle did when I rescued Matt from the evil clutches of some really bad dude. He got a wheel chair to wheel him out. So I told the doorman that our Grandmother was with us and she needed a wheel chair. The doorman got us a wheelchair and I told him we would get her. We then took the dead body of the old lady and put her in the wheelchair. The door man let us through the door. We go inside and the guy behind the counter insisted that we sign in. We told him that our grandmother was too tired to sign in, but he was being a prick and said she had to sign in. So I pretended that she talked to me and told the guy that she had to use the bathroom first and then she would sign in."
"So let me get this straight. You stole a hearse with a dead body it. And you, and 11 year old boy, did a high speed chase in a congested part of the city being pursued by two guys who tried to kill Douglas at the cemetery?"
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh? But I haven't I got to the best part yet. We go to the bathroom where we put the old lady's clothes on Mike. Good thing the old lady was wearing a wig too, otherwise we would have been in trouble. Did you know that she had a scar on her head like they cut out her brains or something? It was kinda neat. After we got done sticking lots of toilet paper in Mike's bra, he goes out to the desk. But then I remembered that he was going to need a credit car or something for the room. So I quickly go back outside and I see this old lady sitting at the bus stop. Even though I wasn't in my Hawke outfit I swept down out of nowhere and took her purse. She didn't even see me do it. I go back inside the hotel and give Mike the purse. He goes to the front desk and checks into a room."
"And what name did he use?" asked Bryce.
"The name of the lady who's purse I stole. Edna Melville. After Mike got our room, we go back into the bathroom where we had the dead body sitting on the john. We put her clothes back on and then make our way to our room. But when we entered the lobby again, the two bad guys were in there looking for us. So we quickly ran into the open elevator and went up. The elevator stopped and we got out."
"And you still had the body in the wheelchair with you?"
"Yes we did. And it's a good thing too. We passed this grand staircase that lead into the lobby. We were going to run down them and get out of the hotel, but the bad guys were running up them. I saw them pull out one of their laser pistols. So I pushed the wheelchair down the stairs trying to knock the bad guys over. The body and wheelchair flew down the stairs making a lot of noise. It was pretty cool. But that didn't stop the bad guys. They kept coming. These five guys wearing the same kind of clothes like they were some sort of singers or something ran over to her. I heard one of them yell that we just pushed an old lady to her death. That we killed her. But how can we kill a lady when she was already dead?"
"You can't," was all that Bryce could say.
"So we ran down the hall and ran into some door. It was dark. We heard voices, but we didn't know where they were coming from. By this time the hotel security was after us too for killing the dead lady. So now we have the bad guys and the security guys after us. We then found ourselves on this wooden floor. And I saw light peeping under a curtain. Then I heard the voice say `Give us a hand for the Knights of the Realm.' And then this curtain opened and a spot light was on us. There were a lot of people sitting at tables and chairs in the banquet hall. We were going to run off the stage, but one of the bad guys were on the other side. When we turned to go back the way we came, the other bad guy was there waiting for us. And then the banquet hall was starting to fill up with hotel security. We were trapped. But the Hawke had a plan to get us out of there. I told Ben to start singing. Since Ben is a ham he started to sing the 'Banana Boat Song'."
Trevor stood up. He was getting ready to demonstrate what he and his brothers and friends did. Brad couldn't help but smile even though he figured this story was nothing but a farce. The Detective's head began to pound harder. He wished he never answered his phone that morning.
"So Ben started to sing Deo!! DEEEEOOOO! Day gone and we wanna go home!!" Trevor began to sing part of the song. Of course his vocal strings weren't up to the task like Ben's were earlier that day. "Douglas, Nipper, Andrew, Mike and I were Ben's back up singers. It was really cool. We sang and danced to this song. Then Ben started to lead us through the tables towards the exit as we sang the song. We made it to the door that led to the hall and bolted. We got back to the staircase and we ran down the stairs. I was really cool and I slid down the banister. But then we all crashed into this stupid idiot who had a cart full of suitcases on it. We all fell to the floor. When we got up police were coming in the front door and we were surrounded. But standing in the lobby was Mr. Wolfe, Major Zjan-Ren and Kalon. All of them work on the 'Lexington'. Before we were taken away I told Mr. Wolfe what happened. I wanted to point out to Mr. Wolfe who was chasing us, but they disappeared. And no one in the hotel said they saw any guys chasing us except security. But if we weren't being chased by those two bad guys, why would we do what we did to begin with?"
"Boys of your nature like to cause havoc in all shapes and sizes," replied Bryce.
"You do believe me? Don't you? I mean about the bad guys chasing us?"
Detective Bryce looked at the young boy. The basis of the story matched the others he heard earlier. Douglas was threatened in the cemetery. They ended up being chased and stealing a hearse to getaway from them. They called up this Mr. Wolfe character and headed to the Grand View Hotel. They dressed in a lady's clothes and pushed her down the stairs. And they did sing the Banana Boat song. But it wasn't Trevor who rescued Douglas out of the crypt. It was Mike. It wasn't Trevor who drove the stolen hearse, that was Ben. It was Andrew's idea to use the Lady's body as their grandmother to get in the hotel. And Nipper's idea to have Mike, who was the only one who fit in the clothes, to dress up like her to sign them in. It was Douglas's idea for Ben to sing on stage. Detective Bryce realized that in the previous five versions he heard, everyone played a part in this cat and mouse chase, except for Trevor Collins. Everyone conveniently left him out of their story, except to say that he was there. But Trevor on the other hand told the detective the same story but where he had everything to do with it. Something in his gut told him that either the other boys were covering up for Trevor or that Trevor wanted the spotlight and to be the center of attention in this crazy escapade.
"You were the one held responsible for the death of your friend Kiran, right?"
"Yeah, but I didn't do it. Those two bad guys did." Trevor started to get defensive.
"And your two brothers were accessories to the crime?"
"Yeah, I guess, but we didn't kill Kiran. Those two bad guys who chased us did. Go find them and you will find out."
"And when the judge sentenced you to the 'Lexington', he told you specifically that if you had any other offenses before the age of 18 he would send you to some adult hard labor work farm?"
"Yeah, he was an asshole."
"But the threat was only made to you, since you were the one who usually got into trouble at school and the one who was held accountable for the death of Kiran."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Did you believe the judge when he made that threat?"
"Yeah."
"Then why tell me everything that you've done? This could land you in a hard labor work farm."
"I don't know. I guess because Mr. Wolfe once told me that the truth will set you free. And I believed him."
Detective Bryce looked at Trevor. He nodded in agreement. "Very well." He stood up and went to the door. He opened it and the guard came in. As the guard was escorting Trevor out, Trevor stopped at the doorway, turned, and looked at the tired Detective.
"You do believe me, don't you?"
"Yes, yes I do."
Trevor smiled and then exited the room.
Wolfe stepped out of the limo. A lifeless hand fell limp, sticking out the door. Wolfe slammed the door shut which caused the hand to be pushed back inside. Kalon stepped out of the driver's side, which was the same side Wolfe was standing on. Kalon was holding a laser pistol that was warm to the touch. Zjan-Ren climbed out of the other side. He looked over the roof towards Wolfe.
"Next time you want to fire your weapon, make sure I am not sitting next to your target in close quarters," said Wolfe.
"Don't ridicule me. That man pulled out a gun from a cubby hole in the back. He was going to shoot at us. I had to defend us."
Wolfe just let out a disgruntled sigh. "Come on, at least we got the information we were looking for."
"What about him?" asked Zjan-Ren.
"Leave him. The police will find him soon enough. All of us were wearing gloves, so they can't track us down," said Wolfe.
"But that vermin back at the tavern could tell the police we were looking for him," said Kalon.
"Relax, no one will trace this back to us. Now let's go find those two thugs so we can get our students off the hook."
The sun's rays started to push the night's dark blanket over the horizon. Mike, Ben, Douglas, Nipper, Andrew and Trevor had spent two nights in jail at this point. Yesterday was the day of questioning. Detective Bryce did not want to release them yet. He told Captain Hatcher and the parents of the boys that he had more questioning for them, but in reality he feared for their lives. He believed the boy's story that two guys were trying to find them. It was just the details that now left him confused. He trusted the security of his jail more than the security of the' Lexington'.
Wolfe, Zjan-Ren and Kalon arrived in the city where their adventure started; the city where Trevor had told them what happened before being carted off to jail. They heard on the radio that some second hand crime figure was found murdered in his limo. The reporter continued to say that Cassidy's body guard, James Vorgen, had been accused of murdering Cassidy. Evidently, Vorgen was accused of embezzling money from Cassidy. So Vorgen murdered Cassidy and ran with the goods. When the police went to apprehend Vorgen, he resisted arrest and ran. But a trigger happy police rookie shot and killed Vorgen. The murder of Cassidy was considered closed.
"See, I told you things would all work out," said Wolfe. He was just surprised that the news didn't report that Vorgen's whereabouts was called in by an anonymous caller. But Wolfe didn't care. He didn't need any publicity whether it was anonymous or not. "Now let's go pay a visit to a couple of lowlifes."
One by one, each boy was brought into a dark room by themselves. They looked through the window and saw ten guys lined up. All of them were similar looking, but each boy picked the two who had chased them and tried to kill them. Once the identification was made, Detective Bryce took the two men for questioning. Surprisingly each man confessed to chasing the boys and why they were chasing them. Both men openly admitted to killing the young boy in the bunker back in October.
The shorter accused even went as far as to tell Detective Bryce that he had stolen the St. Christopher medal off of the boy and kept it for himself. They boy's name was engraved on the back.
When Trevor heard this news, he was surprised. He knew Kiran wore the medal when they were playing that day, but he never knew it was missing after his body was taken out of the bunker.
With some checking and a little deeper investigating, the innocence of the Collins boys was proven. Not only were they at peace with themselves about Kiran's death, but they were now at peace with the law.
Detective Bryce told Ben, Trevor, Andrew and their parents that he talked to the judge that sentenced them and the judge said that they did not have to go back to the "Lexington", unless they wanted to go back to collect some personal things. They were free. And he continued to tell them and the other boys that all charges were dropped from the events that happened a few days prior.
Ben, Andrew and Trevor walked up to their uncle. "Uncle Steve," said Ben. "Is there a way we still can be cadets on the 'Lexington'? We don't want to go."
"I'm sorry boys," said Hatcher. "But unless you're a juvenile delinquent or your parents work on the 'Lexington', I can't have you boys stay. It's all in the rules and regulations that SFA set forth."
This was not the answer that the Collins boys or the Daniels boys wanted to hear. Tears were already beginning to shed. Special bonds were made over the past few months and none of the boys wanted to break them. But Uncle Steve had an idea that might solve the dilemma.
"Excuse me, Detective Bryce," said Hatcher.
"Yes Captain?"
"Surely, stealing a hearse with a corpse in it cannot go unpunished, can it?"
"Captain, all charges were dropped considering the circumstances."
"Let me have a word with you in private," said the detective. The two men disappeared. Within three hours, the Collins boys were standing in front of a judge being sentenced to the "Lexington" for no more then one year and no less then one month. The boys rejoiced at the news. The judge looked up at Captain Hatcher and winked.
Kalon sat next to Zjan-Ren on the shuttle that was hurling towards the "Lexington". Captain Hatcher, Dr. Daniels, Mike, Douglas, Ben, Andrew, Trevor and Nipper were all on the shuttle as well. But one person was missing.
"Where's Wolfe?" asked Kalon.
"He said he had to drop in on an old friend."
"Is his old friend Watercress?"
"The name that Cassidy said he sold the blue prints to? I don't know. Even Cassidy didn't know who Watercress was. What makes you think Mr. Wolfe would?"
"Because Mr. Wolfe holds more information in that head of his than the library does in his living room," said Kalon. "And one day, I will find out what that information is."
Admiral Whitaker entered his darkened office. He was in a foul mood after listening to the news. Plans weren't going right. It seems he hired the wrong people to do what needed to be done. He sat down at his desk and started to go over some paperwork.
In a dark corner behind Admiral Whitaker, a shadowy figure began to emerge. Whitaker looked up as the door to his office was slammed open.
"I'm not through with you yet," yelled Jake Masters as he stormed into Whitaker's office. The shadowy figured backed up and disappeared into the shadows of the room.
To Be Continued.....