TheMysteriousCase

Friday 3.48 pm.

"No one will ever believe me" Harvey said to himself. "I can't believe it and I'm looking at it right now!" He shook his head in mock disbelief and sighed.

"Who would ever have thought it, they are supposedly sworn enemies and here they are as thick as thieves.” He chuckled to himself. "Well, no wonder - that's exactly what they are too! Be serious man", he told himself "what are you going to do about this and how?"

Harvey carefully took another sip of hot coffee, making sure that he could not be seen by the two men over in the corner. He couldn't pick up his phone, they'd be sure to hear him as Starbucks was pretty quiet this time of day. It was sheer luck that they hadn't spotted him already.
"Luck and today's paper," he smiled to himself. "Man, I wish I could hear what they're talking about."

The two men were using paper napkins as note pads as they were intensely discussing something. They were also nervously looking about, checking to see if anyone was paying attention to them. But they didn’t see Harvey sitting quietly with the newspaper over by the window. After a while one of the men got up, shook hands with the other and left. As he hit the sidewalk a BMW with tinted windows sidled up to him and he got in the back seat and the car sped away.
The other man stayed in his seat, picked up his cell phone and in rapid succession made three brief calls and then he left too.

When he disappeared around the corner Harvey lowered his paper.
"Those two are up to something, and if they pool their resources it's something big they're planning. Not some penny ante job either, something really big."

When he got back to the SIU there was a note on his desk to call Anna.
"It's me" he said as she picked up the phone.

"Good, I need for you to pick Jerry up at 5.30 instead of at 6. I'm really pressed for time and it would make all the difference. Can you make it?"

He looked at his watch "I can't see why not. I have a report to write up, but it shouldn't take too long. See you then." He put the phone down and switched on his computer.

Joe turned around. "Problems?"

"No, I just need to wrap this up pronto. It's my weekend with Jerry and I don't want any distractions, that's all."

"Daddy!" Jerry shouted running towards Harvey as he opened the back door of the car. He flung himself at his dad and Harvey, smiling happily, swung him high into the air.

"Ready for take off, brat? Where's your bag?"

Anna came out of the house just then, carrying Jerry's overnight bag and a huge stuffed, floppy dog.
"Hi," she said, "he wants to take his bike along too, do you have room for it?"

"Sure, no problem. "Get in the car now Jerry, let's go. King is waiting for us at home."
He turned to Anna "Any last minute instructions?"

"No, go ahead."

"OK, see you Sunday then."

Monday 8.03 am.

"Hey man, what'd you do all weekend with Jerry?" Evan asked on Monday morning as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk.

"Oh man, I'm beat. The energy little kids have! You have no idea, do you?
On Friday night we went to the movies - saw Winnie the Pooh if you must know.
Saturday we went to the park, played catch and stuff and Sunday we spent at the beach."

"Isn't it cold on the beach this time of year?" Evan sounded incredulous.

"Do you really think King and Jerry would notice something like that? They love it anyway.
And they would go in the water if I let them, too." Harvey shook his head as he gathered up all the papers that had accumulated in his inbox.

Even though he complained of exhaustion after two days spent with his son Evan could see he was really happy. He couldn’t remember the last time Harvey had looked so relaxed and content. "Not since in the beginning with Anna" he said to himself and smiled.

"What are you grinning at?" Harvey asked him. "Fond memories of the weekend?"

"Something like that, yeah" he replied as he picked up the phone and started dialing.

"Hello all. What do you have for me this bright and shining morning?
All major crimes in the city solved in my absence?
All criminals apprehended over the weekend and shipped to Tallahassee with a one way ticket?
I can just kick back and enjoy the view, then." Nash rubbed his hands together and looked expectantly at the others.

"No such luck, boss" Harvey said. "Crime is rife as per usual and I have a mystery for you."

"All righty then Harv, let's grab us some coffee and we'll solve this mystery of yours topside.
I still can enjoy the view, can't I?"

Nash and Harvey were leaning on the railing on the top deck, looking out over the bay basking in the October sunshine, so rare and so welcome at this time of year.

"Well, bubba, what is it that's so mysterious you can't figure it out for yourself?"

"Well," Harvey scratched his head and frowned "I can't seem to figure out what I really saw on Friday as I was waiting for Billy Boy to show up - which he never did by the way.
What's up with that? He calls me and wants to meet, has some info for me and then he's a no-show."

"Doesn't sound like Billy Boy" Nash said.

"No, never happened before. And as I was sitting there…"

"Where?"

"…at Starbucks on Howard, you know. As I was sitting there, looking inconspicuous as ever…"

"In that get up? laughed Nash."

Harvey looked disgustedly at his boss. That kind of comment was totally uncalled for.
"…I saw Bobby 'The Hunn' and Wayne Johnson in the corner, very cozy, if you ask me."

"Bobby Hunnsicker and Wayne Johnson? You've been dipping into the bag of 'shrooms again Harv! Those two can't stand each other, not since that botched job in Berkeley four years ago."

"I'm telling you, it was them and they were planning something and you know that can't be good" Harvey insisted.

"What were they planning?"

"How should I know?"

"Well bubba, then it's your job to find out and preferably before they do the deed."

"Nash" Joe called out as he came upstairs "we gotta go. The Narcs called. They've busted an ecstacy plant and they found some stuff for us in there too."

"What's that?" Nash asked him.

"A whole stash of explosives, mostly plastique…"

"Man, I hate plastique!"

"Yeah, me too, but they insist we get out there and take it off their hands, pronto."

They took off in the 'Cuda and Harvey went downstairs, sat down at his desk and switched on his computer. He didn't know how he should go about searching for a possible target for the two thieves and their gangs, but he had to make the attempt at least. He couldn't just sit and wait for it to happen.

When Nash and Joe arrived at the scene the forensic team were all but done, so they had access to the whole place.

"Who's in charge here?" Nash asked a technician.

"Lieutenant Fullerton, she's in the next room."
Nash and Joe went in search of her.

"SIU, at your service" Nash said as they approached the woman giving directions to another detective over by the window.

"You're here. Good. I'm Caroline Fullerton" she said, stretching out her hand, first to Joe, then Nash.

"Joe Dominguez, and this is my partner Nash Bridges, nice to meet you. You have something for us?"

"The box is over here." She indicated it's position, walking over to the corner.
"It was stashed under this table and none of the four guys we busted claimed to have any knowledge of it."

"Haven't the techs. dusted it for prints or anything?" Joe asked her.

"Not yet, we thought we'd let you see it as is first. They'll take it down to the lab and run all the tests you want later."

"So no one knew anything about it. That's hard to believe. Do they say it was already here when they moved in, or what?" Joe found the story incredible.

"We'll want to talk to these guys ourselves. Today." Nash frowned. "It doesn't look like it's been sitting here for many days. No marks on the floor and no dust."

Lieutenant Fullerton shook her head. "You'll have to wait your turn like everybody else. It's imperative we trace all the ecstacy connections as soon as possible. This lot put out some really bad stuff on the street; there's already one death linked to a batch from this little outfit."
It was obvious she wasn't budging an inch from her stand. The SIU would get their turn with the suspects after she was done with them, not a moment before.

Monday 8.55 pm.

As Harvey was leaving the Thai take away he picked up the phone from his shirt pocket and switched it on in order to listen to his voice mail. Anna's voice could be heard in the first message.

"Umm, Harvey.. we need to talk… soon. I can't do this over the phone, can we meet somewhere? Call me real soon, OK?"

A puzzled look came over his face. He really had no idea what Anna was up to this time, but it didn't sound like it was good news, to him. Not good at all.

A second message was coming through.

"Where are you, bro? I could really use your help over here, man. The time is 8.45 and surveillance sure is boring when you're all alone. And I'm hungry! Grab me some food and get over here a.s.a.p Harv!"

"This has got to be the quietest stakeout since I don't know when. Does the guy do nothing all night?" Evan swallowed the last of the Thai food Harvey had brought.

At the same time the front door opened and their object came out the door, got in his car and drove off. Evan followed at some distance; this time of night was not ideal for a pursuit in this neighbourhood, there was barely any traffic and it was too easy being noticed for Evan's liking.

"Remind me again who this guy is Ev" Harvey said.

" He's Billy Bob's cousin or something. They're supposedly close. I was hoping they'd hook up somewhere along the line. Billy Bob made himself scarce yesterday and left no trail to follow.
All our contacts came up with nothing. He just doesn't want to be found right now."

Meanwhile, the car they were pursuing was driving along towards the city centre at a leisurely pace. The driver pulled in across the street from a liquor store and went inside.
Evan couldn't stop; the only available space was right behind the other car. They would be spotted immediately when he drove off again. He continued along the street and found a space in the next block. He pulled in.

"He's still inside" Harvey said, looking over his shoulder. Their target came out with two 6-packs of beer in his hand. He got into his car, did a quick U-turn and headed back home again. At least that was the way it looked to Evan and Harvey.

"No use wasting any more time on this guy tonight, Harv. He's gone to roost. We'll try again tomorrow. Let's call it a night."

"Do you want to go to the SIU and work the computers with me?" Harvey asked him. "I'm getting nowhere fast, trying to figure out what 'the Hunn' and Johnson are up to."

"No, I can't. I'm meeting someone later, bro. Some of us actually have a life, you know.
You should try getting one too, man. Would do you a world of good!"

"Yeah" he laughed "maybe I should. But it looks like you're having enough life for the both of us. I can live vicariously through you, sure is less hassle that way!"

Evan laughed as they drove off, back to where Harvey's car was parked, where they parted for the night.

Tuesday 7.10 pm.

Harvey was sitting at the bar with a bottle of beer, waiting for Anna. As she walked across the floor towards him, he turned his head to watch her.
She was wearing a grey silk dress with a chinese collar over a pair of silk pants of the same colour.

"Boy, is she stunning!" he thought to himself. "Remind me again why we're not together?
Oh, yeah, she hates my guts. Forgot."
"Hi" he said out loud "wanna go sit down at a table?"

"Sure" she replied. "And I want a white wine spritzer."

He put the glass down in front of her and sat in a chair across from her.
"You look like a million bucks tonight, Anna." He couldn't help himself; he had to say it.

"Well, Tom and I are going to the theatre in an hour. It's the premiere of a Eugene O'Neill-play, and there's a party afterwards, too."

He could see she was enjoying herself, rubbing it in with her new high-brow relationship.
"So," he said "what was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"

"Well, you see…" she began "I don't know how to do this!" By now she looked really uncomfortable and Harvey raised his eyebrows, question in his eyes.

"This will be a real humdinger" he thought. "Come on Anna, you can tell me anything, you know that" he said persuasively.

"All right, here goes. Tom is going on tour with a series of lectures at different universities around the world. Tokyo, Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong and then Europe with like… Milan, Paris, Geneva and a few more. He's asked me to go with him and I've said yes. It's planned to take four months, but it could become longer than that."

"Sounds great, a four-month paid vacation. I'll miss Jerry, though. That's a long time in the life of a 5-year-old. But he can call me from all the different cities you're in. We'll keep in touch often."

"Well, you see… it's virtually impossible to live in hotels like we will be doing with a lively 5-year-old like Jerry. We would all go crazy. So I've signed over temporary custody to you until I get back." She placed an official looking document on the table, pushing it towards him.

"We're leaving on Tuesday, but I thought it would be better for Jerry to settle in with you while I'm still around, so I'm packing up all his stuff and he can move into your place this weekend. How does that sound? OK?"

Harvey just looked at her. He was completely stunned. Becoming a full time single parent, just like that, and no time to make arrangements. He was getting angry.

"Annie," he said "you can't do this to me! Four days notice and I have to change my whole life around! I don't exactly have a 9 to 5 job, you know! Who's gonna look after him when I'm not there? Or maybe you've figured I can take him with me, chasing the bad guys, busting into an apartment with an armed perp. inside or what have you. You're really something else, you know that! You're his mother, you're supposed to take care of him!"

"Oh, don't you go all sexist on me all of a sudden! You're the one always complaining you don't get to spend enough time with your son. Now you get your wish. He's all yours until I get back. I'll call him every week, but I'm not taking him with me, it is not an option." Anna rose from the table.
"Call me and let me know when you'll be coming by to pick him up. I'll have him ready" she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

Harvey looked up and he could see Tom, standing just inside the door, waiting for her. He felt numb.

"It's impossible! I can't take care of Jerry all by myself!" he shouted at her back, but she didn't even turn her head. Other people in the bar stared frowningly at him and a waiter sidled up to his table, as if in anticipation of another outburst. He remained seated at the table for a long time after Anna had left with a dazed look on his face, the beer untouched in his hand.

Finally he rose and left. He got into his car, driving aimlessly through the streets for what seemed like hours. Around midnight he ended up outside the SIU, so he parked the car and went inside.
He sat down at his computer and switched it on. He had few ideas left on how to intercept these bad guys. He had tried everything he could think of on the Internet. His informants and Evan's, Joe's and Nash's too, had had nothing to say.

"There's only Billy Boy left" he mumbled "and that weasel is so scared of what he knows, he has completely disappeared. Wait a minute! He has an aunt or a grandmother or something over in Stockton."
He picked up the phone and called the SFPD exchange for the number to Stockton PD.

"Kowalski, Stockton PD" a sleepy voice could be heard saying.

"Harvey Leek, SFPD here. I need you to pick a guy up for me."

"Now? In the middle of the night? Aaaahh… is that you Steve? You've got to stop making these crank calls, you know. It's not funny anymore."

"No, this is inspector Harvey Leek of the SIU, SFPD. I want you to make a house call for me and grab this guy - if he's there - and hold him until I can send a unit to you."

"Oh, OK. Sorry about that." The officer sounded wide-awake now. "Who is it you're looking for and why?"

"The man I'm looking for is called Billy Boy, his real name is William Krmpotich. He's gone into hiding and I suspect he's with his grandmother or maybe an aunt. Anyway, her name is Krmpotich too and she lives somewhere in Stockton. Can you help me out here?"

"Uh, how would you spell that name, sir?"

"K-r-m-p-o-t-i-c-h, Krmpotich. There can't be more than one family with a name like that in Stockton."

"No, I wouldn't think so either, sir. I'll check it out and if we find her, we'll call on her in the morning to see if this Billy Boy is staying with her."

"No, that is not OK." By now Harvey was beginning to get really annoyed with the officer.
"I want you to find the address now and to have a unit go to her house and get this guy before he does a runner on me again. And no phone call ahead of time either, it's better to just show up."

"There's a problem with that, sir. I only have two patrol cars at night and one of them has been called to a domestic over in Sunnyvale and the other car is investigating a suspected prowler on Marigold Drive. I'm tied to the phones here, but I can find that address for you and we'll check it out as soon as there's a unit available, sir." Officer Kowalski was getting pissed off here. Who was this big city big shot, anyway? This was his district and no SFPD cop could tell him what to do.

"Fine. OK. That's fine" Harvey said, backing down. If he upset the officer he would get no help at all with this. "Give me a call as soon as you know, all right? I'll give you the number to my cell. You can reach me anytime on that, OK?"

After he hung up Harvey switched off his computer and went home to try and get some sleep. Not that that seemed like it would happen, he just had too much on his mind. How to deal with the Jerry-situation and 'The Mysterious Case Of The Two Burglars' as he had begun calling it. He was no nearer solving that riddle than he was on Friday and this was already Tuesday. No, he corrected himself, Wednesday morning actually.

Wednesday 12.34 pm.

"Where are you going, man? I thought we were heading back to the barge." Evan gave Harvey a surprised look as he was driving in the opposite direction of the SIU.

"I have to swing by Home Depot and pick up some paint and stuff, you can help me carry."

"Paint? Are you turning into a decorator now? Evan's surprise was evident.

"Nah, I'm just gonna do up Jerry's room. If he's coming to live with me I have to do something about that room. Make it his own, you know, more permanent like."

Evan gave Harvey a long stare, not saying a word at first.
"Harv," he said slowly, "are you serious? You're gonna have Jerry full time now? Has something happened to Anna? You haven't said a word about this before. Talk to me, bro!" His voice was getting agitated as Harvey just stared straight ahead, not answering the barrage of questions that was hurled at him. Harvey turned his head and looked at Evan, a light in his eyes.

"It's very simple Evan. Anna is going away for a few weeks and Jerry's gonna stay with me while she's gone.” Harvey wasn’t ready to tell Evan about how big a committment he was making, so he tried to play it down, for now. ”I am his dad, you know. Don't make such a big deal of it, man."

"OK, I won't. And I suppose he's in school most of the day anyway, it'll just be for a couple of hours in the evening." Evan's total ignorance of what parenthood entailed shone through in his comment. Harvey laughed out loud as the entered the hardware store.

"Ha, ha! You really don't have a clue, do you?"

They quickly worked their way through the store, picking up brushes, a paint roller and tray, one can each of red, blue and silver paint and a roll of paper to cover the floor with. The purchases were packed into the back of the car and they were headed for the barge when Harvey's phone rang.

"This is officer Peterson; Stockton PD. Officer Kowalski gave me your number and asked me to call you. We apprehended a man last night named William Kr.. umm… Kr…I don't know how to pronounce that, sir. Did they have a sale on consonants that day, or what?"

"Yeah" Harvey laughed "I guess. Krmpotich, that's how you say it. You say you have picked him up for me? Great news, thank you. Where is he now?"

"We have him here in our holding cell, sir. But we can't keep him much longer, he hasn't done anything as far as I can see."

"I'll send a car for him right away, he's needed here in San Francisco. It'll be there in an hour or so. Please don't let him out before it gets there. He's a witness in an ongoing investigation and we really need to talk to him." He looked over at Evan and winked. Stockton didn't have to know the whole truth. As long as they didn't let Billy Boy go, he'd say anything.

Harvey raised his head from the papers in front of him when he heard the commotion over by the entrance. He saw two uniforms escorting Billy Boy, who was struggling wildly to free himself, in spite of being handcuffed behind his back. He rose to meet them.

"I'll take this animal off your hands now, gentlemen."

"We'd sure be glad if you do" the senior officer replied.

Harvey stood by as they uncuffed Billy Boy.
"He seems to have given you a bumpy ride. I'm sorry about that. He's normally well-behaved, aren't you Billy my boy?" Harvey tilted his head and raised his eyebrows questioningly at Billy Boy, who only glowered at him in response, not uttering a word.

"Thanks for all your help guys" Harvey said as they turned to leave.

"You're welcome" the senior officer called out as they walked away.

"Now, Billy" Harvey said as he led the way to the back of the barge. "You've given me enough trouble over the past few days to last you a lifetime. So we're gonna sit down here at this table and you're gonna tell me what this whole rat race has been all about. Beginning with you standing me up on Friday. And we're not moving until you're done."

"Harv!" Evan shouted as he slammed down the phone.
"Harvey, where are you, man?" Let's go! Get a move on, man!" He shrugged into his jacket as he was striding up and down, looking for his partner.

"Oh, so you've found your man at last. Good. But he'll have to wait for a while Harv. We have bigger fish to fry right now. Lock him up 'til we get back, will you. We have to go now. Come on, man!"
Evan was on his toes, eager to get going. Harvey looked up at his partner with a resigned face.

"You've got to be kidding, man. Can't you handle it yourself Ev?"

"No, no, no, Harv. You don't know what's happening. There's an armoured car being held up on the Bay Bridge, like right now. Three cars have boxed the van in and the drivers are being held hostage. The whole bridge has been closed off. Apparently they're threatening to blow everyone up."

Harvey sighed and rose from the table. He called to an officer to take over for him with Billy Boy.
"You can book him and put him in a holding cell until I get back."

"What's the charge?"

"How about: Pissing me off."

Shall I put that in writing?" the uniform asked.

"Nah, write it up as obstructing an investigation or something." Harvey chuckled. He went to get his jacket and followed Evan.

Wednesday 8.28 pm.

Wayne knew that his three associates were beginning to feel itchy, wanting to get out of the apartment. But he also knew that if he let them, they would hit the first bar they could find and get well oiled. He could picture the scenario in his mind; a modern version of the Three Stooges, drunkenly bragging to everyone that'd listen of their big heist in progress. So even if they were all bored out of their skulls, he was not about to let them loose on the town in the foreseeable future.
So he worked them hard all day and tried to keep them occupied with video games and card games and whatever food they wanted all night. Up until now it had worked out, but he was well aware of the fact that that could change in a minute.
However, they were nearing their goal fast, which boosted the morale no end and it was time for the other crew to step into action.

So here they were, waiting for 'The Hunn' and his men to show up. He had stocked up on beer and chicken wings and the pizzas should be arriving any minute. A party was the best way for everyone to get acquainted and on friendly terms. The success of the operation depended on it, no one would be served by suspicion or jealousy and there would be more than enough to go around when the bounty was going to be divided up between them.

A knock on the door effectively put a stop to his train of thought, that would be either 'The Hunn' and his men or the pizzas. He rose to answer it.

Thursday 12.16 pm

Liutenant Fullerton waited for them as they ascended the stairs.

Hi there, Caroline." Nash gave her one of his 1000 W smiles.

"Oh boy," Joe thought to himself "here we go again."

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." She held out their visitor's passes at them, turned on her heels and quickly marched down the hallway, without even the shadow of a smile in return.
"Follow me, please."

Nash and Joe walked behind her in silence. Nash looked over at Joe, raised his eyebrows and shrugged as if with his eyes asking Joe: "What's with her?" In reply Joe frowned and with his hand motioned: "Leave it!"

She suddenly stopped in front of them and turned, pointing towards two doors, one on each side of the corridor.

"We have put two of the suspects in here, one in each of the interrogation rooms. We assumed you would want to question one each for higher efficiency. When you have finished with these two, just say the word to the officer in the room and the other two suspects will be brought up from the holding cells."

"And one more thing: The interrogation rooms are fully equipped with both video cameras and regular tape recorders. You will, of course, receive copies of all tapes as you leave."

"Uh…we usually conduct our interviews in pairs" Joe said. "If it's no trouble to you I think we'll just do our regular song and dance routine."

"Please yourselves. I don't mind. If you have any questions afterwards, I'm available until 5 p.m." She made as if to leave when Nash called her back.

"Hold it, sister. I want to see transcripts of your interviews with all four suspects as well."

"I don't see the point of that. Our investigation has no relevance to your line of inquiry."

"That's where you're dead wrong Caroline. It all ties together at some point and if you don't have the whole picture, you're likely to miss it."

"Very well, I'll see to it there are copies of our interrogations waiting for you when you're done."

"Thank you." Joe called out after her as she walked away.

"Bubba, you'll get nothing for your efforts. She's all work and no play, that one. Come on, let's get this over with." He opened one of the doors previously indicated by Lt Fullerton and pushed Joe in front of him into the room.

"You can't hold me any longer." Billy Boy folded his arms across his chest as Harvey sat down at the table.

"Oh yes, I can. You're not going anywhere until you've told me the whole story." He leaned across the table, giving Billy a fixed stare. "Begin with Starbucks on Friday afternoon. Where were you?"

"I set you up to show you. I wasn't going near that place with Wayne Johnson and 'The Hunn' in there. They know me. Didn't you see them?"

"You set me up?" Harvey leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head."This'll be a good one. Go on."

"I didn't think you'd believe me if I told you Johnson and 'The Hunn' were planning a big one. So I set you up to see for yourself instead. Don't tell me you missed them."

"No, I saw them all right, but why did you run out on me after?"

"Because Mike told me 'The Hunn' had told Mike to lose me after I screwed up with the explosives."

"How did you screw up?"

"I lost it. The box with the dynamite, I mean. I had it with me when I made my usual rounds and when I got back; I didn't have it with me anymore."

"You lost the dynamite?"

"And I went back to all the places I had been all day long. D'you know how many there were? And the box was just gone. Man, was 'The Hunn' ever mad at me!"

"So you were part of the operation. What's the target?"

"Haven't you figured that out either? Man, you're losing it, Leek." Billy Bob grinned at Harvey, who didn't look at all amused.

"Come on now, we haven't got all day." Harvey was getting impatient.

"There's a wholesale jeweller, M. Pollock & Co. They're having a big exhibit today. Lots of imported rocks of all colours and sizes on display for their customers. Johnson came up with a plan to tunnel the way into the show room; it's in a basement, kind of a vault. That way no one would notice the place being burgled for, like hours."

"And where is this Pollock & Co. situated?"

"On the corner of Mission and 3rd."

Thursday 4.24 pm.

"That was a total waste of an afternoon. I can think of at least 10 other things we could have been doing that would have paid off more." Joe was venting his frustration over the men they had just questioned as they rode the 'Cuda towards pier # 32.

"Man, why'd you let those bozos get to you like that? Those four have taken enough chemicals between them to clean out the stock of your average drug store." He grinned at Joe.

"Damn if they didn't consume half of what they produced even! You can't blame them for not remembering. They're lucky to recall their own names, on a good day. We'll have to approach this from another angle. Let's get back to the barge and make some phone calls."

"I need to make a stop along the way, Nashman" Joe said. "Inger is dead set on going to the new O'Neill play everyone is raving about. Could you please go by way of the Ticket Outlet on the corner of Mission and 3rd?"

"Sure bubba, anything for Inger, you know that." Nash laughed and made a right turn at the lights.

When the 'Cuda arrived at the address Joe wanted, they couldn't find a parking space handy.
A large white, unmarked van occupied two spaces and was halfway up on the sidewalk to boot. Near it was erected a small, white tent over an open manhole in the street.

"Look at that" Joe said indignantly "some days I wish I'd kept the citation pad I had when I was assigned to Traffic."

Nash pulled into a spot further down the block.
"Don't worry Joe, I'll go and have a talk with them if you'll go get those tickets.

Joe disappeared into the Ticket Outlet as Nash walked up to the van and rapped on the back door. No one opened, so Nash turned his attention towards the tent instead. He looked it over and frowned. Why wasn't there a roped off area around the tent, he wondered. And lights, there should be red or yellow blinking lights too. The whole set up was beginning to look all wrong in his eyes. He opened the flap and peered down the manhole.

"Nobody home, or what?" Joe said behind his back. Nash jumped.

"Man, don't you know any better than to sneak up on me like that Joe? I could just as easily have taken you out."

"You didn't have a gun in your hand. I thought it looked fairly safe." He grinned at Nash.
"Can we get back to the SIU now?"

"Not just yet. There's something not right with this get up. I'm going down" Nash said as he started to climb down the ladder. When he reached the bottom he pulled out his gun and unlatched it.

"Coming?" he whispered up to Joe.

"Why is it that it's always Nash who finds these weird spots to hang out in?" he mumbled to himself. "It's not as if I'm the one who likes to play Boy Scout time and again. Now we'll be chewed out by the phone company or somebody for tripping up their cables and interfering with what is not our business." The last part of that sentece came out in a slightly raised voice, loud enough for Nash to overhear as he carefully made his way down the tunnel.

"Ssshh, I can hear something down there" he mouthed and gestured farther along the way.

They came to a spot where a large hole had been hacked out of the concrete wall. Large enough for a man to crawl through, which Nash promptly did and Joe followed. Here they found themselves behind a partition in a boiler room in the basement of a large building.

"Where are we?" Joe whispered to Nash as he peered around the partition wall.

"I have no idea, but judging by the size of that boiler, we're in a high rise. I'm guessing we're only a couple of floors below the Ticket Outlet you were in before. But where do we go from here? That's the million-dollar question."

"Didn't you say you heard voices in the tunnel? There's no trace of anyone here."

"Yeah, I did. They must've come this way. What can possibly be their target, I wonder. Do you know what businesses there are in this building?”

"No." Joe raised his eyebrows and gave Nash a stare. "Do you?"

They carefully made their way through the basement, but there was no trace of any human activity to be found. Finally, Nash decided they should take the elevator up to the ground floor, maybe something could be discovered there. Otherwise they would have to call for backup, the whole building would have to be searched.

Exiting the elevator in the lobby, nothing unusual was going on as far as they could tell. People were entering and leaving the building at will. Some rode the elevators upwards and others were coming down and leaving. All behaving as if this was any ordinary day at the office, which it probably was too, to them.

"This makes no sense, Nashman" Joe said after they had studied their surroundings for a few minutes.

"Why would anyone go to the trouble of entering through a tunnel, hacking a great, big hole in the wall when they could have entered by the door like any normal person?"

"Prezzactly, Joe. Something must've gone wrong down in the basement. Only question is what and why. And the van is still parked oustide, too. They - whoever they are - must still be inside."

Nash flicked open his phone in order to call for backup. All offices had to be searched for unusual activities of any kind.

"Harvey? Nash here. You have to call out the troops and ride over here. We're in the office building on the corner of Mission and 3rd. There's something very wonky going on here and we need to search the place."

"Nash, hold on a minute. Did you say Mission and 3rd?" Harvey could not believe his ears.
"We're on it" he said as four patrol cars pulled up outside, lights flashing. Evan's truck also managed to find a space on the sidewalk and Harvey entered the lobby with a whole team of uniforms, Evan right behind him.

"What!" Joe exclaimed, as he watched their colleagues approaching.

"You're moving fast today, bubba" Nash chuckled. "What's the occasion?"

"You called for us" Harvey replied, laughing too.

"Nah, we were actually headed for this address, believe it or not. Billy Boy finally came through. An importer of precious stones, M.Pollock & Co. is the target for Johnson and Hunnsicker and associates. It turns out they're having an exhibition of some sort with all kinds of goodies for sale. Entry to the show room is by invitation only, so our sneaky friends are climbing the fence instead, so to speak."

"So that's it." Nash had found the missing pieces in the puzzle. He quickly glanced around the lobby until he spotted a wall with all the businesses listed. He pointed towards it.

"Joe, get over there and find out where this Pollock and Co. are located while I fill Harv and Evan in on our story."

Nash dispatched four uniforms up the staircase and then he split the remaining people up into three groups for the elevators. When all had arrived at the 6th floor, with no sign of any suspects, they slowly and quietly gathered by the door of M. Pollock & Co. Very carefully Nash tried the handle, the door was unlocked. With a look at each one around the group and on the silent count of three, he flung the door open and they all rushed in, weapons raised.

Inside, all they found was a frightened and bound receptionist, whom they untied and ungagged.
"Where is everyone?" Nash asked her, flashing his badge.

"They took them down to the show room." She pointed the way they had entered.

"Can you take us there too?"

"But they all had guns. They'll shoot me!" She was crying now.

"Take it easy." Joe tried to comfort her. "Can you tell us where the show room is?"

"It's down in the basement, it's vaulted for security. There's a sign pointing towards the boiler room and it's the next door down from that."
They left for the basement again, leaving one officer with the receptionist.

Just as they approached the show room, the door opened and a man came out with a gun to his back. At the other end of the gun was Wayne Johnson, with the rest of the crew right behind him. Evan, who was closest, jerked the door fully open as Nash yelled:
"Police! Drop you weapons!"

Some of the thieves, looking wildly about, trying for a way out, made as if to escape, but all soon realized the game was up. Slowly they put their guns down on the floor and just stood there, hands on their heads.

"Cuff them and take them away." Nash motioned to the uniformed officer in charge.

When the thieves were all gone and Mr Pollock and his employees were sitting at a table making preliminary statements, Nash and Joe took Evan and Harvey into the boiler room to show them the hole in the wall.

"What happened was, they botched this one up too. They were supposed to make a hole directly into the jeweller's show room. Instead they ended up here, 10 feet short of their goal." Nash and Harvey peered out into the tunnel.

"Man, I hope they don't end up sharing a cell. They'll kill each other this time." Harvey and Nash both laughed.

Friday 3.49 pm.

When Harvey pulled up outside his house, Jerry quickly unbuckled the seat belt and jumped out of the car. He ran up the steps and pulled the handle, but the door was of course locked. King heard the commotion outside and started barking on the inside.

"Daddy, give me the key, I can unlock the door. King wants to come out." Jerry bounded down the stairs again, all excited.

"Hold it." Harvey searched his pocket for the keys.
"Careful now, don't let him knock you down those stairs." He began unloading the car. Boxes with toys and bags with clothes.
"The kid has more stuff than I do" he thought to himself, smiling happily.

Once inside the house, Jerry and King were running around the whole house, shouting and barking, while Harvey was struggling with the luggage.

"Wow, daddy, it looks great!" Jerry called out from his room.

"You like it, huh? I thought you would" Harvey said as he entered.

The walls of Jerry's room were painted alternately red and blue and an artistic neighbour had helped him make plastic stencils. So now the walls were decorated with a wide row of dancing bears across the middle. The blue walls had bears in read and silver and the red walls had bears in blue and silver.

"But you've forgotten something, dad." Jerry looked about him, frowning.

What? What have I forgotten?" Harvey looked worried for a second.

"There's no bed for King, dad. I want him to sleep in here with me now."

THE END