A Lead in the Case

Back inside the house, Grandma Frannie was sitting on the couch across from another man sitting on the fireplace hearth. Jake recognized him the moment he saw him. He was the man who had made it possible for Jake Ryan for fulfill his dream and his oath to become a police officer.

"Jake, look who stopped by," said Frannie.

"Oh, hi, Lyle," Jake greeted him with enthusiasm, "Laura, I'd like you and Skip to meet someone. Lyle, this is Laura Dixon and her son, Skip. Laura, Skip, this is Lyle Jamison, an old friend of the family, and my father's former partner."

"Nice to meet you, Lyle," said Laura, shaking his hand.

"Same here, Ms. Dixon," said Lyle pleasantly.

"You were Jake's dad's partner in the police force?" Skip asked.

"That's right, son," said Lyle.

"Lyle's been like a father to Jake ever since John died," said Frannie.

For some reason, Lyle seemed a little uncomfortable with that statement. "Don't get started, Frannie," he said.

"Oh, yes, sorry, Lyle," said Frannie.

"Well, I guess Skip and I should be going home now," said Laura, "It was really great meeting you all, though, and I hope we can get together another time, too."

"Me too!" said Skip.

"Maybe that can be arranged," said Lyle, "I wouldn't mind finding out a little more about you, myself."

"Thank you, Lyle," said Laura. "Well, goodbye, Jake, and you too, Frannie. It was very nice coming over here tonight."

"Any time, dear," said Frannie nicely.

Laura hugged Jake before leaving. She whispered in his ear again, "Maybe sometime, we can get to know each other even better. Somehow, I don't think Brad and I have any future together anymore, and besides, I think you're one heck of a lover."

Jake blushed.

Skip hugged Jake, too. "It was great getting to know you, Mr. Ryan," he said with a grin. "I hope we can see you again. You're one cool dude!"

"Thank you, Skip," said Jake, "You take good care of those baseball cards." And with that, Jake saw Laura and Skip to the front door and said good night. Then he walked over to Lyle to talk to him.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your first day as a cop, Jake," Lyle said, "I'm really proud of you, son."

"Thank you, Lyle," said Jake. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yes," said Lyle, "For being such a snot-nosed little brat as a kid, you turned out pretty well."

Jake chuckled in embarrassment.

"So, who's the girl? She's pretty," said Lyle.

"She's someone I met today," Jake replied, "Her former boyfriend beat up on her son and held her at gunpoint."

Lyle raised an eyebrow. "So you're picking up battered women now?"

"No, no," said Jake, hiding his true feelings for Laura for now, "She just needed a friend to lean on. Besides, you know me; the only things I could ever pick up were pieces of junk off the beach."

"That's you," said Lyle, but deep down, Jake had a feeling that Lyle knew, or at least suspected, the truth, especially after Lyle said, "I noticed the way she whispered in your ear, and the smile on her face at the time. If you do have something going on with her, you have my blessing, but watch yourself. This former boyfriend of hers may return, and get you in unspeakable trouble for getting his girl."

Jake nodded. "I understand, Lyle. By the way, speaking of pieces of junk, my dog, Waylon, found this in the water just off shore. What do you make of it?" He showed him the broken piece of the packing crate.

Lyle identified it as a packing crate, the blatantly obvious, but then they noticed that there were fresh letters and numbers on it, that identified it as a crate for packing guns.

"We were talking about something like this in today's briefing about the armory heist in Strathmore. It could be connected with-"

"No, don't get started with that again, Jake," interrupted Lyle. "Every time a case involving a gun comes up, you suspect that it's connected with your parents' murder. Listen, I don't know if that case is ever going to be solved. The trail has been cold for almost as long as it's been since the crime was committed. Your father and mother are gone, Jake. Nothing's going to bring them back. They're either with God in heaven now, or if there isn't a heaven, they're one with the universe. I'm really sorry you lost them, but you have to come to terms with this, especially after so many years."

Jake looked down. "Yeah, you're right, Lyle. I guess it is about time I put the past in the past. Mom and dad are gone now, and I'll never see them again, except in old photographs."

Frannie broke in. "Now don't think that way, Jake," she said, "and you too, Lyle. Of course there is a heaven. Don't doubt it, Lyle. John and Jackie truly are there. They were God-fearing and righteous, and they always prayed for forgiveness for their sins, and they always believed in heaven. And frankly, grandson, it saddens me that their murders made you disillusioned with God and Jesus. God is always with us all, and he'll always guide you in your career as a policeman. You have to believe that, especially if you do want to see them again one day."

Jake hung his head for a second. "Yes, I suppose you're right, Gran," he said, "Well, I'll keep that in mind as often as I can. Perhaps simply being a good cop will make God happy as well as my parents. After all, at church, dad always impressed on me that police officers are God's ministers and representatives of law, order and justice."

"And don't forget, I've tried to do the same ever since he died," Lyle reminded him.

"Yeah, that's true," said Jake with a slight smile.

"Good boy," said Frannie, "For now, that's all I ask, that you try to remember not only the police heritage of your father, but also your whole family's Christian heritage."

"You have a knack for finding stuff, Jake," said Lyle, suddenly changing the subject back to the packing crate. "Stop by my office tomorrow on your way to work if you find anything else interesting tonight, and maybe we can look into this gun-running case of yours."

"Thanks, Lyle," said Jake, "I appreciate it." And soon, Lyle left the house, too.

"Oh, Jake," said Frannie, "I overheard you and Skip talking about baseball cards. If you're interested, I found an old box in the garage full of your old collection of cards, if you want to look at them. I put them in the den."

"Thanks, Gran, I appreciate it," said Jake gratefully.

In the den, Jake looked around at his late grandfather's old office. It was well decorated, with lots of bookshelves, a lounging chair, and a computer. Jake was interested in checking out the computer, but first he wanted to look at his baseball cards.

The box was on the shelves. He took it down and opened it. Inside were his old collection of baseball cards and a small safe. Jake spent a few minutes sitting in the chair, enjoying looking at his old treasures, before examining the safe. It had a three-number combination. Fortunately, he knew where to look to discover the combination. His father's police badge was hanging on the wall behind him in a glass case, right next to a picture of his dad in his police uniform. The number on it was 172. He used that as the combination, and successfully opened the safe. Inside it was mostly empty, but in a corner, there was an old Indian head nickel his mother had given him once. He took it, just in case he found a use for it.

Then he sat in front of the computer and turned it on. There were the usual utilities, word processors, and computer games like Ringworld, in the computer's files, but he wanted to look at the Cobb case, which had to be unlocked with a password. However, he knew what the password was, due to an old love letter John had written to Jackie on the computer a little while before they died. Jake typed in "Jackie" as the password. He found a set of financial ledger pages and a blueprint for a warehouse. The ledger pages referred to the payments of shipments for automatic weapons.

Ah, ha! This looked interesting. He hadn't expected to find another lead so quickly. He knew that it was useless trying to avenge his parents' deaths according to Lyle, but he still hoped to at least put their murderer behind bars, and this could lead him to that killer. He made a printout of this information and took it.

Going back into the living room, he asked his grandmother if she was still up. She said that she was turning in for the night just then, and asked him if he enjoyed looking at his baseball cards. Jake said that he certainly did. Her heart glad, Frannie said good night to him, and he returned the good night, and they both went to their bedrooms and went to sleep.

The next day.

Jake got up a little extra early so he would have time to drop by Jamison and Ryan before work. Leaving a note for his grandmother, he turned on his motorcycle and drove to his father figure's office.

"Jake, how's it going?" he said to him when he came inside.

"Oh, fine," said Jake, "As a matter on fact, couldn't be better."

"I'm not sure if I quite believe that," said Lyle, "But anyway, why don't we look at the map over there, and discuss this piece of a packing crate you showed me last night?"

"I was just about to suggest that myself, Lyle," said Jake.

They took a look at a map of Jackson Beach and the little islands out in the ocean nearby.

"It's just a guess, but judging by the currents, that crate could have come from any one of the channel islands," said Lyle.

"So why don't we search the islands?" suggested Jake.

"Are you kidding?" said Lyle. "There are too many of them. We could look for a whole year and never find a thing, or our presence at the islands could scare away the perpetrators we're looking for. We need a more solid lead to go on, anything."

"Well, as a matter of fact," said Jake, "I have something that might be a solid lead." He handed over the blueprints and ledgers. "Have you ever heard of a guy named Cobb?"

Lyle's eyes brightened, just a little. "A few days before your parents were killed, John and I were rousting a guy named Cobb down at Tony's Lounge, but he got away. We tried to catch him, but we lost him in heavy traffic."

"Well, Cobb's name is on this file I found in my dad's stuff," said Jake.

"Cobb dropped something outside of the bar, but I never found out what it was," said Lyle, "Maybe it was a computer disk your father grabbed before I could see it. This could be the break we need."

"There's some stuff about Cobb and another guy with the initials S.C.," Jake informed him.

"We need more information on Cobb," said Lyle.

Jake checked his watch. "I better be getting to work now, or I'll be late."

"Sure thing, Jake," said Lyle agreeably. "If you find any more information on your folk's case, just let me know, bring it in, and I'll see what we can do. I'll call the ATF guys and see if I can get them to look into this."

"I'll FAX Richard Cobb's information to police headquarters. Maybe they have some information on him," said Jake.

"Good idea, Jake," said Lyle.

Jake put Cobb's information into the FAX machine and FAXED it to the police. When it came through, Jake was amazed, to say the least.

"Well, what do you know?" he exclaimed, "Richard Cobb's got a rap sheet as long as your arm! We can even get a mug shot of him! I should get one from Barry at the evidence lock-up. This also ties him with one Forest Follet we've been told to look out for. Follet was responsible for the burglary of the National Guard Armory."

"That fits in with the 9mm ANG ammo found in Sandoval and Walker's car," said Lyle, "The pieces are starting to fit, Jake. It's the best lead we've got. You get back to work, Jake. When you're off duty come back to me and we'll work on it."

"Yes, sir," said Jake, saluting him smartly. Then he walked back outside to his bike, ignited its engine, and drove to work at last.