Chapter 9- following the trail
"My father dropped off the bullet, we'll be around there in 30 minutes to start the search",Simon lied to Trixie down the phone line."Thank you so much", an obviously relieved Trixie replied.
Simon hung up and rubbed his hand over his face. He and Dan had only slept for a few hours and were very tired. But he knew they had to begin the search soon.
Neither one of them had talked about what had happened at the precinct yet. Both of them were afraid Simon knew. He was afraid of talking to Dan of what he had to do to survive in the gang and Dan was afraid of something else. He suspected that Dan didn't want to admit being afraid of his own father. But he could sense it in the way he acted. Both of them had had to learn to do certain things to survive .For Simon that had meant learning to use gifts that had originally also terrified him. "We want to help our friends Dan", that makes a difference", was all he could say to make it better for both of them.
Dan accepted those words offering his father a weak smile.
They left not long afterward.
"He is guilty it is easy to see that", Giles Mangan froze as he heard two of his agents discussing the Belden case. "Yes NYPD always get the easy ones", the other man complained.
Giles swallowed it seemed things were still bleak for Peter Belden and he felt a wave of guilt assail him over not getting Simon the evidence. He reached for the phone intending to ask his son if he was okay. When he got no answer at Jay's apartment he phoned the Wheeler's. "He's on his way here with the evidence you dropped off", Trixie told him. "A cold shiver ran down his arms, "with the evidence', he repeated. "Yes, thank you so much Mr Harris". He barely felt his hands replace the receiver, Simon had the evidence and he knew damn well he had not been the one who had given to him.
"You promised me Simon", Giles swore loudly. He stomped out of his office and down the hallway to Joseph Trident. "Did you see Mr Saunders yesterday", he asked. "just the morning, the group ditched me early on", Joseph explained. "Miss Belden seemed disappointed to find no easy answers. But I believe she had something in mind. However she would not share her insight with me. I suppose it is good that Mr Saunders is there to curb any rash impulses she might have".
Giles couldn't help the splutter that came out of his mouth. Joseph looked at him curiously.
"I think I may have to arrange a personal meeting and talk over some things", Giles told him seriously.
Joseph wondered why he sounded so angry.
Trixie looked at the bent bullet like it was a poisonous snake. "I thought you might have been given the gun", she remarked. "Your father has also handled that gun Trixie which may confuse things. But hopefully our killer loaded his own weapon", Simon told her. "Do you need anything to help you with the search", Di asked curiously.
"No, I just hold the bullet and go where the sensations tell me", Simon replied. He held the bullet and closed his eyes, 'the trail is within this city ", he told them.
"Then lets get going", Jim stated. "I'll drive while you navigate", he told Simon.
They were about to leave when the doorbell sounded. Jay Morgan was let into the apartment , "you were gone when I got up this morning", he said to Simon and Dan. "Yes, I wanted to get things moving", Simon replied. He didn't add, before the police discover that part of their evidence is missing because he knew Jay was nervous enough. "Before you go out, there is something I need to tell you", Jay stated.
"Well go ahead, Simon invited. "Umm I need to talk to you alone for a second", Jay sated .
Simon pulled him off to one side while the Bob whites stared at both of them. "What, Simon whispered.
"I am fairly sure that someone was watching you last night", Jay stated. That made Simon feel very nervous. "I did get a license plate so you can check to see who it was". He placed his hand on Simons, 'be careful", he stated seriously. "Of course Jay", Simon agreed. "right everyone lets get going. We'll go out the back entrance as it is closer to my car", gosh those lies were building up he thought. But he could not risk the front entrance because of their watcher. He had no idea at this stage who that could be. But didn't really want to find out.
Nobody except for Dan seemed bothered by his statements. Simon took a good look at the street before going for his car. So far he did not spot any watchers. He continued on to the car.
They were soon all settled inside. "Oh Mr Saunders I forgot to say that Mr Harris rang for you just a while ago", Trixie told him softly. "I thanked him for giving you that evidence".
Why that remark caused him to go rather pale Trixie had no idea. Simon had this horrible feeling his father was going to pay him a visit very soon. But he would find him gone . "Right Jim I am going to tell you where to go", he might as well just concentrate on the task in front of him. Concentrating on the bullet again he could feel a sensation of warmth leading him onward.
They had driven for almost 1 hour when he told Jim to pull over. The sensation was now like a burning fire meaning they were reaching their target. He opened his eyes and the hand holding the bullet and took a look at their surroundings. "We are there", he told the others.
Trixie looked at the street. "It's not what I expected, she stated. "Just what did you expect Trix", Jim chastised, "some gangsters hideout or something". "This is so normal, Honey agreed as she looked at the row of neat and tidy looking houses. This was obviously a reasonably well off neighbourhood. "Yes well normal people commit crimes too", Dan reminded them.
"Our killer lives in that house", Simon told them pointing to a lovely blue hued bungalow.
"So what next Trix", Di asked as she looked at the house ."We stay out here until he comes out, then we take photos of him. We will need to find out who he is", Trixie told them.
"How is that going to help us Trix", Jim challenged." Mr Saunders has brought us here but we still need to find evidence."
Trixie offered Jim a glare . He did not support her ideas as much as he used to. That was of course because he was jealous about her relationship with Dan. She was offended by that, afterall Jim also liked someone else. "I am aware of that Jim", she told him rather coldly. "We will have to do the same as the police would, find a reason for this guy to commit the crime."
She turned to Simon, "I am going on the probability that the attempt to steal the baseball memorabilia was planned."The fact the collection was advertised in the local papers as being at the stadium leads me to believe this."
"My next observation would be that if he planned to steal the collection then he must have had a buyer."
Simon was looking rather impressed. "So we just find out who our suspect has been meeting", Di asked.
"There would not be many people who handle the sale of illegally obtained baseball cards", Trixie guessed. "They'd only be worth something to a collector".
"That would depend on if he planned to sell the whole collection or just offload certain cards a few at a time", Simon told her. "If he was going to only offload a few cards then there would be no buyer".
Trixie frowned not liking the sound of that. "I think he'd only risk a crime like that for a huge payout", she countered. "That makes more sense especially because he was prepared to kill for that collection".
"Well it is worth several million", Simon told them. "So we look for someone who was going to buy the cards from our killer", Trixie stated. "They may not admit to that as it might make them an accessory", Simon warned. "I will tell them we are just interested in our killer", Trixie swore.
Jim swallowed, "so we are making bargins with criminals now", he stated. Trixie turned her firey gaze upon him, "my father is innocent Jim Frayne and yes I am prepared to overlook some indiscretion on the part of others to prove that. The authorities do the same sometimes. It is the big fish who is of interest".
Deciding this was a battle he could not win Jim backed off. "There is our big fish", Simon remarked glancing toward the house. Trixie saw a man of about 30 begin to water his garden. He looked so ordinary, about 5 ft 11 dressed in tidy jeans and an Elvis tee shirt. 'Are you 100 percent positive that is him", she asked Simon. Simon could feel a very warm sensation when he looked at the man. He was definitely the one who had loaded the bullet in the gun. When he concentrated harder he could feel something else that chilled him, the sense of death upon the man. "It is him", he told Trixie in a soft shocked whisper.
Trixie wanted to rip the car door open run across to that man and call him every horrible name she could think of. She settled for hitting the side of the car hard instead. They had to establish who this man was before they could begin to solve the crime.
Getting out the camera, Trixie began to get photos of the man. "Maybe Mr Harris can help us with the identification", she suggested to Simon. Simon closed his eyes, how was he ever going to walk into his fathers office and expect help . His father must guess what he had done and would not be impressed. Simon doubted he 'd try and arrest him or anything. But he also had no desire to step one foot into the lions den. "Maybe we can find out some other way", he suggested. "If Mr Harris helps out to much it might look like the FBI is interested in the case. That may make things worse for your father".
Trixie didn't think things could get much worse but conceded that perhaps the added attention might not be beneficial. "Anybody in the area could tell us who he is", Honey suggested. "We could say we were interested in buying his house or something".
"That's a good plan Honey, "Trixie complemented. "Why don't we take the camera to those shops we passed not long ago and get the film developed. Then we can start asking questions".
They were about to drive off when the door to the house opened again and two children came running out. "Daddy, Daddy " they laughed. As Trixie watched their killer scooped the children up and kissed them soundly.
"He's a father", a shocked Di unnecessarily stated. "Yes and when we convict him he'll go to prison for a long time",Dan said softly. 'He's a killer",Trixie stated fiercely, "goodness knows what he might do".
The man gave his children another kiss and they snuggled into his arms. Even though she was still angry another part of Trixie also felt compassion for those children. Their lives would be affected because of this. She felt a tear run down her face. This was the reality of detective work, sometimes you had to split up families. The career she had once dreamed of no longer seemed so bright, to save her family she had to ruin the lives of another.
