A/N 1: Sorry for the cliffhangers. Well, not really. I heard from a lot of you today so I'll assume what I did worked.
53 – The Stalking Sequestration
Back in Pasadena, Penny, Sheldon and Nora were sitting around anxiously waiting for news. Any news. It had been at least an hour since Nora had reached out to the local police outside Omaha. They'd said there was a patrol car in the area but after that nothing. Penny was thinking the worst.
"Oh my God. You don't think Hernley would hurt my parents, do you Nora?"
"Penny, so far he hasn't directly harmed anyone except Leonard, and like I said before, I don't think he planned to do that."
"But we have no idea where he is. He could be in Omaha."
"Yeah. Yeah, he could."
"Penny, your father is very capable of defending himself. He is armed as is your mother. Have you attempted to reach your aunt?"
"That was the first thing I did after my dad didn't pick up. My aunt says mom is spending more nights at the farm. So they're probably there together."
"This is good news isn't it, Penny?"
"Yeah, I guess, but it also means they're in one place if Hernly is out to get them."
"Shall I prepare something to eat while we wait?"
"Thanks, sweetie, but not for me. I don't think I could eat a thing. I'm too nervous. What's taking so long? Nora?"
"Penny, I just don't know. And I don't want to speculate. There are lots of reasons the phones could be out. We just have to wait until the police out there call."
"But the longer it takes the worse it could be, right?"
"I've been doing this a while. One really has nothing to do with the other. Really, try not to work yourself up."
Penny was starting to wish she had some vodka around just so she could calm herself down. "No, bad Penny, no drinking," She said to herself.
Sheldon had no idea what to do. He tried to hold Penny but she shook him off and kept on pacing. He looked questioningly at Nora and she reflected his expression right back at him. They both felt completely helpless. They both knew that all they could do was be there for Penny, no matter what the news was.
Suddenly, Penny's cell phone rang. It was a 402 area code but she didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?"
"Hi, slugger."
"Dad! Are you okay? Is mom okay? What's going on?"
"We're all fine."
"I've been trying to get you for it feels like hours."
"Yeah. We had a bit of a situation out here."
"What happened?"
"First you need to hear something. Is anybody else there?"
"Sheldon's here. So's Nora…Detective Glass."
"Okay, put your phone on speaker."
Penny put her cell phone on speaker. First there was silence and then some rustling. And then they heard what sounded like an animal in pain. It was almost inhuman screaming and crying.
"Did you hear that, slugger?"
"What is that?"
"That, sweetie, is your pal Paul Hernly. He's been going on like that for about forty minutes. The police are here and they called for an ambulance but you know it takes them a while to get out here with all the cutbacks. There isn't really anything we can do except leave him there writhing in pain until they get here. Considering the pain he's put you through I'm not really having a problem with that."
"Dad, what happened? Why couldn't I reach you?"
"Well, as far as we can tell, and the police checked, Hernly cut the phone line and rammed the nearest cell tower with a car. And you remember we don't get the best cell reception out here anyways."
"Except in the laundry room."
"Yeah, I know. That's always been a little strange but I remember it worked for you and Sheldon."
"Anyway, we were watching a movie and your mom noticed that you hadn't called at your regular time and when she tried to call you she couldn't get any service. We tried the landline and nothing. We started to get a little worried. That was when the lights went out."
"Oh my God."
"We figured something was going on outside the house and your mom and I had talked about what would happen if we spotted Hernly or someone like him at the farm. So we got our shotguns and she went out the back door and I went out the side door and we circled around to the front."
"Your mom spotted something first. Someone was approaching the house and then they lit a torch."
"Someone was going to burn the house down with you in it?"
"That's my guess. Anyway, your mom acted quickly and shot the guy right in the balls with a beanbag round. I heard a scream and fired at him and got him right in the ass with a load of rock salt. Guess we got him coming and going."
"But what happened with the torch? Is the house okay?"
"That's almost the funny part. When your mom shot him he lost his grip on the torch and when I shot him he tried to grab it before it fell to the ground. He grabbed the wrong end. He's been on the ground screaming ever since."
"Dad, we called the police."
"I know. Billy Mosbacher pulled up right as this was happening. He saw it all. I'm calling you from his radio. They patched it through at the station."
"Mr. Queen, this is Detective Glass. Can I speak with the officer?"
"Nora, right? He's a little tied up right now. I'm sure your folks out there and our folks have a bunch of legal stuff and jurisdiction stuff to go over. When the ambulance gets here they're going to take him to the hospital. He'll be kept under police guard. But, believe me, the son of a bitch is in no condition to go anywhere."
"How's mom?"
"Your mom's great. After Hernly went down and we put out the torch she went over to him. When she recognized him she gave him a couple of boots where the beanbag hit him and told him that's what he gets for fucking with our family and friends. I guess she picked up a little rough language while she was in California. Would you like to speak to her?"
"Sure."
"Hi sweetie."
"So I guess you guys had a little excitement tonight."
"Your father and I would have preferred to watch our movie but all in all I can't say it's been a bad evening. I'm glad it's finally over."
"I hear you're a pretty good shot."
"Not really, honey. I was aiming at his head."
"Well, you did get him where he does most of his thinking."
"I guess you're right, sweetie. Oh it looks like the ambulance is here. I was sort of hoping it would take a little longer."
"Mom, it's not like you to enjoy someone suffering."
"I'd say this is an exception. I plan to feel guilty about it in church, but for now I'm happy because he deserves that and more."
"Mrs. Queen, I guarantee we have an airtight case against him out here. He'll be going away for a long time."
"Is that Nora? Thank you so much for all you've been doing for Penny. Is Sheldon there?"
"I am."
"Sheldon, please give our Penny a big hug for us. It looks like this horrible time is just about over."
"I will be most happy to deliver your message."
Sheldon draped his arm across Penny's shoulders.
"Sweetie, they're loading him into the ambulance. Looks like they gave him a shot or something but he won't stop screaming. We have to go. The police want us to go to the station and make a statement. Your dad wants to get the power back on first. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Okay, mom. I'm glad you and dad are safe. Bye."
Penny put down the phone and sat down on the couch in Sheldon's new spot.
"I can't believe it's actually over."
"In truth, Penny, it isn't. Hernly will certainly face charges and stand trial in Nebraska and then will need to be transported here to stand trial. We will all likely need to testify."
"I know all that, Sheldon. But the thing is, he can't do anything to us now. We can stop looking over our shoulders. We can go on with our lives."
"I was under the impression we were doing that very thing."
"We were. But Hernly was always there. There was always the possibility that he would do something else."
Nora tried to be comforting.
"Listen, we'll still keep an eye out. Hernly was pretty devious. But I think that it really is almost over. I'm pretty sure that the DA will want to go to trial quickly. There's lots of evidence against him. There are lots of witnesses. And he has nobody on his side."
Nora stepped aside to call her captain and give him an update on the events in Nebraska. She hung up and came over to Sheldon and Penny and sat down.
"I'll probably meet with the DA tomorrow to go over exactly what's going to happen. He's going to have to speak with the folks in Nebraska but here's how I think it'll go. Hernly will be arraigned and charged in Nebraska and will probably be tried there. What he did there is fairly clear. The police are still gathering evidence but he'll probably be charged with intent to commit arson, possibly intent to commit murder and malicious mischief for the cell tower and phone lines. Your parents and the officer that witnessed everything will probably be the only ones that need to testify at trial out there. After that arrangements will be made to bring him here to stand trial on the charges we assemble. You'll probably need to testify but we also have deals with the idiots from the strip club and the porn producer to testify against him. We also have Bryan. I think this will all move along fairly quickly. He won't get bail because he's already shown he's a flight risk. I'll be surprised if this all isn't tied up and Hernly is serving time within two months, three at the most."
"That would be great, Nora."
"There is something I advise that you do though, just to be safe. Get an attorney to represent your interests. People like Hernly hire the kind of lawyer who likes to turn things around and accuse the victim. You should have someone whose only job is to protect you. Don't depend on the police or civil authorities to do that. They'll do whatever they can to make their case and if that involves throwing you or your friends under the bus they'll do that without a second thought. I'm saying that as someone on the inside. You need your own advocate."
"Penny, you know how difficult it is for me to admit I do not know something, but you have already witnessed my abilities in a courtroom. We must do as Nora advises. Luckily I believe we have the funds and our needs will be for a finite time. Perhaps we can speak with Howard. He has a number of relatives in the profession."
"I can also give you some names of attorneys who are good and charge reasonable fees."
"Nora, I really don't like the idea of spending good money to protect myself legally when I'm the victim."
"I know, Penny. It doesn't really make sense. But please do it if only to make sure that Hernly has no way of making this go on forever."
"All right. I'll do it."
"Well my day is probably going to be starting pretty soon so I'm going back across the hall to get ready to go in to work. I'll let you know what I can when I get home tomorrow. That's another thing. I may not be able to tell you everything. That sucks but it's how the law works and in the larger scheme of things it makes sense. I'm not trying to keep secrets from you. I hope you understand."
"I do. We both do. Just try to let us know if something like that comes up so it doesn't turn into a thing."
"Okay, we'll figure something out. Good night, guys. I guess you're going to have your first really peaceful night in a while."
"Yeah, that'll be nice. Good night, Nora."
The next day Penny gave Howard a call and he put her in touch with one of his cousins, Seth Wolowitz, who offered to help her out for a reasonable price. Seth told Penny that she probably wouldn't need him but that he'd make himself available and would attend any meetings she had with the prosecution, preliminary hearings and the trial. He told her that if nothing came out of it he wouldn't charge her as a favor to Howard.
A/N 2: I finished the final chapter of the story today. Unless something unforeseen occurs we will end at Chapter 60 with a tiny little epilogue attached. I still have a number of loose ends I'd like to tie up. What I'd really like to know between now and then is whether you'd like to see me continue playing in this little alternate universe. In addition to our regular cast (who I don't own), would you like to see more of Nora. And Billy. And Ida.
