Here is Ch6. I am honestly surprise I got this one finished because I
had the ideas outlined and the inability to write them in story form.
Ack! Anyway here it is. I hope you enjoy it.
*-*-*-*-*
Running late as usual, by the time Dylan arrived at the airport Alex and Natalie were already there. She parked her mustang and jumped out grabbing her purse and a brown paper bag on the way. Out of breath she made her way to Charlie's white jet with a red stripe on the side and near the nose was stenciled "Townsend Investigations". Natalie and Alex were standing next to it watching the fueling. "Hey you two," she called as she approached. Natalie and Alex turned and embraced her.
"What do you have in the bag?" asked Natalie taking it and peering inside. She pulled out the apple so she could see what else what in it.
"Pizza, an apple and my coke" stated Dylan taking the bag back, "AKA my breakfast."
Alex looked with slight disgust as the bag Dylan held, "Leftovers?"
"Kind of," said Dylan wondering if they can be leftovers if they hadn't been eaten at all the night before. No need to tell her friends that though. Natalie reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of yellow paper. "This is the airway bill that I found on the crate that contained the fake eggs. The address is 222 West Madison Street."
"I checked on that last night after I checked out our client," said Alex.
"You didn't?" asked Natalie appalled that Alex would check out Kate, who she honestly liked.
"I did," said Alex missing that Nat was talking about their client and not the address. "It's in the warehouse district. I searched through public records for a couple hours last night trying to come up with an owner."
The driver of the fuel truck signaled to them that he was done and the angels boarded the jet. Natalie climbed into the cockpit and Dylan in the co-pilot seat. "Fine take shotgun," said Alex feigning anger.
"You snooze you lose," said Dylan in response laughing. "I'll let you have it on the way back."
They took off without any problems. Once they reached the correct altitude Alex unfastened her seatbelt and crouched in the doorway to the cockpit. "As I was saying, I looked for records of an owner. Until 1977 it was in possession of Westwood Inc. a company that made, of all things, spigots, faucets and other bathroom fixtures."
"After seventy seven?" asked Dylan taking her pizza out of the bag and began unwrapping it from the tin foil.
"Towards the middle of seventy seven Westwood Inc filed chapter 11, by the end of the year they were closed. The building was bought by." she said pausing for dramatic effect.
Dylan moved her hand and pizza in a circular motion indicating that Alex should just spit it out. "Someone who should be near and dear to your heart Dylan." Dylan looked at her confused and took a bite of the pizza she had been waving around. "Natalie?" she asked with her mouth full. Alex just gave her an "Alex look". "Who?" asked Natalie in all seriousness.
"Donald Getty and Codyne Industries," replied Alex just as Dylan swallowed causing her to choke on it. Alex reached over and whacked her on the back.
"I'm fine," Dylan said hoarsely, recovering from the shock. "You don't think he has anything to do with this do you?" She didn't want to imagine that the man who she recently found out was her father was somehow connected to the Faberge eggs. "It would figure", she thought to herself. She had taken quickly to the man and it would only make sense that he was the bad guy in this caper.
Alex dispelled her fears. "No, I don't think so. The factory was in Codyne's possession until the end of 1985. Apparently this is where the weapons were made. Then it was sold when he stopped making them. The problem is that is where the trail stops. We don't know who bought it and whoever bought it hasn't used it since."
Natalie checking the jet's gages asked, "Who has been paying the taxes on it?"
"Good question. I looked and found no tax records for the property after 1985. Until then they were, of course documented as being paid by Codyne," said Alex. "Do you have another can of diet soda," she asked Dylan.
"Take this one." Dylan handed her the bright silver can with the red wave on it. "So no one has paid taxes on the property in all these years? I would think then it automatically defaults to the city of Sacramento. I guess we'll see who has been using it without the city's permission."
They flew in silence each watching the blue sky when suddenly Natalie spoke. "Did you really check out Kate?" she asked.
Dylan looked back and forth between the two other angels waiting to hear what Alex had to say. And when she did speak she simply said, "I did."
"But why?"
"The same reasons I said yesterday. Too much of what she has said didn't add up." She watched as Natalie's mouth flapped open and closed like a fish out of water. "You don't have to worry though. I didn't find anything on her. She has never been arrested and has been a model citizen. So I don't think she did it anymore."
*-*-*-*-*-*
Anthony since he wasn't looking for work as an assassin or actually assassinating anyone he went to finish clearing out Dimitri's old house. Dylan told him that she would come by once she and the angels were finished in Sacramento. Until then he decided to lose himself in the mess that he had inherited.
He wandered; carrying a stack of collapsed cardboard boxes into Dimitri's old bedroom it was a small dark cramped space thanks to the heavy velvet drapes that covered the small window opposite of the bed. He turned on the overhead light which cast a yellow glow about the room, the quality of which started to give him a headache as soon as he turned it on. He turned the light off and went to the window and threw back the draperies. Coughing as a cloud of dust came from them and wondered when the last time they were opened was.
As the sunlight streamed in the room he noticed the dresser heavy like the drapes. It was like most other surfaces of the house piled with papers and in this case, a few ceramic figurines. He knew he would have to tackle that but that music would make it go easier. He pushed the play button and a gently sound of a piano trombone and French horn emerged. Anthony smiled. He hadn't heard that piece of music in years, it had been one of his and Dimitri's favorites, Symphony 1: Lord of the Rings: The Hobbits by Johan De Meij. He closed his eyes and sat on the bed starting to drift into memories but shook himself knowing that he was there for a purpose and began to sort through Dimitri's things.
*-*-*-*-*
The angels pulled up in front of the old brick building at 222 West Madison Street. The building was in disrepair and a notice from the city declaring the building condemned was plastered to the plank blocked door. Dylan walked to the boards and tried pulling at them but they didn't give. "Have a crow bar?" she asked.
Natalie shook her head "no". The angels looked around then Alex pointed up and said, "How about through there?" They looked to where she was pointing and smiled. It was a fire escape that led up to the third floor where boards had obviously been removed from one of the old broken out windows. Dylan jumped up and managed to grab a hold of the fire escape and the ladder slid down towards them with a bang, showering them with rust particles.
"Great," exclaimed Natalie shaking the flakes from her hair. Then each of them grabbed the ladder and in turn climbed up to the third floor, Natalie, Alex and then Dylan. As Dylan stepped onto the rusted wrought iron platform she heard a brittle snapping sound. Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her in just in time as the platform crashed to the ground taking the second floor platform with it as well.
"Doesn't look like we will be going down the same way," said Dylan brushing her hands on the thighs of her pants. They pulled out their flashlights. Alex shined hers about the large room they were in and said, "I think we can cover more ground if we split up. I'll go upstairs, Natalie, you take this floor and Dylan you go down. We meet back here in an hour then check out the first floor as we leave."
"Sounds like a plan," said Dylan heading towards the stairwell.
Natalie wandered around the third floor shone her light around the large area of the third floor. There were large pieces of machinery covered with tarps and dust. She walked to the largest in the middle of the floor and looked under the cloth it was covered with. A rat ran out and scurried across her foot. "Aw aren't you cute," said Natalie to the creature who appraised her from the other side of the room with its beady eyes. It chattered something and then ran under another piece of equipment.
Alex went up to the fourth floor. The door from the stairwell was stuck but with a kick she managed to open it. It banged against the wall behind it. The fourth floor was empty. There were remnants of old carpet on the floor long stained by rain from the leaking roof and what appeared to be various other fluids from only god knew what. From what she could tell it used to be the office area. Some patricians for cubicles remained but piled in such a way that they formed what appeared to be tents. "Probably for some homeless," she thought sadly. Just then she noticed her light reflecting off a glass surface, an office that looked out onto the floor in the far back corner of the floor.
Entering the office Alex noticed that the boards had been pried off the window and a newspaper lay neatly folded on the desk. She picked it up and read the headline and the date. It was from two days before. Someone had indeed been there and probably to receive the original eggs. Suddenly a loud crash and a yell filled the building. She grabbed the paper as she started to run towards the stairwell when something fell out- photos. She knelt and picked them up there were two one was of Kate and the other of Dylan with Anthony.
Dylan went down to the second floor which had been apparently used for shipping and receiving, and breaks. In one corner were mail slots that would have at one point contained letters for the employees. In the other were couches that had seen better days and a pool table along with vending machines. She didn't see anything that would have lead to a clue as to who took the eggs. Everything was covered with dust and mold. She felt a tickle in her nose and sneezed loudly. She stepped forward towards a piece of paper that she saw lying under the coffee table by the couches and fell through the floor down to the first with a scream.
As she lay on the pile of broken boards she wondered why she always ended up in positions like that. She tried moving various body parts and decided that while there was slight discomfort in her left ankle it wasn't broken. She looked back up towards the hole through which she had fallen and a light shined in her eyes. It was Natalie and Alex. "Dylan? Are you okay?" called Natalie, concerned.
"Yeah, fine my ankle is a little stiff but other than that just peachy," she said picking herself up off the floor and brushing the dust off.
"We'll be down to help you in a second," called Alex. Soon her friends had joined her. "What happened?"
"Nothing that a diet couldn't cure. I have to tell Anthony not to cook such great food," said Dylan with a smile. "Hey what did you find," she asked seeing the papers in Alex's hand.
"A clue. Someone had been here recently, by the date on the paper I would say two days ago." She gave the paper to Natalie. "And two photos."
"Photos of what?" asked Dylan.
"Our client," Alex said handing Dylan the first one. "And you," she then handed her the second one. Natalie shined her light on the photos from over Dylan's shoulder.
"This was taken at Dimitri's," she said about the second one. "Right after our meeting with Kate on Sunday."
"Are you sure?" asked Natalie
"Positive," replied Dylan. "After the meeting I went home and changed into this," she pointed at the picture. "So I could help Anthony clean up the house."
"But why? Not why about the house but why about the photo. Why did they take your picture?" Dylan shrugged at Natalie's question. She didn't like the idea that they were being watched.
*-*-*-*-*-*
It was much later than Kate had planned to drive out to her Uncle's house. Things at the museum, last minute preparations for the exhibit had taken up most of her day. It had bothered her bad enough before that she hadn't gotten a hold of Dimitri but now the guilt was consuming her. Her parents had always been too busy for her with their jobs and she had sworn that she would never be so involved with her work that she neglected her family.
She pulled into the overgrown driveway and heard the branches scrape the paint on her car. She cut off the engine and went to the front door and knocked. There was no answer but that wasn't surprising. Her Uncle Dimitri had been losing his hearing and was stubborn about getting a hearing aid. She knocked again and still no answer but she could hear strains of Dvorak's Symphony Nr. 9 from behind the door. She gave a sigh of relief, he was home. She tried the knob. It opened easily and she stepped inside. "DyaDya Dimitri!" she called just as the booming introduction to the fourth movement began.
Anthony had gone downstairs after awhile to finish up the living room. It hadn't taken him long to finish with the papers and begin on the photographs. Dylan had called from the jet to let him know she would be home soon. He was glad to hear from her, although he knew he had no reason to he worried about her when she was gone. He went into the kitchen and opened a bottle of red wine and carried two glasses into the living room, lit candles around and turned on his favorite symphony to prepare for her arrival. Meanwhile he flipped through old pictures in albums that once belonged to his friend. He never heard the door open and the old man's niece enter the house.
had the ideas outlined and the inability to write them in story form.
Ack! Anyway here it is. I hope you enjoy it.
*-*-*-*-*
Running late as usual, by the time Dylan arrived at the airport Alex and Natalie were already there. She parked her mustang and jumped out grabbing her purse and a brown paper bag on the way. Out of breath she made her way to Charlie's white jet with a red stripe on the side and near the nose was stenciled "Townsend Investigations". Natalie and Alex were standing next to it watching the fueling. "Hey you two," she called as she approached. Natalie and Alex turned and embraced her.
"What do you have in the bag?" asked Natalie taking it and peering inside. She pulled out the apple so she could see what else what in it.
"Pizza, an apple and my coke" stated Dylan taking the bag back, "AKA my breakfast."
Alex looked with slight disgust as the bag Dylan held, "Leftovers?"
"Kind of," said Dylan wondering if they can be leftovers if they hadn't been eaten at all the night before. No need to tell her friends that though. Natalie reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of yellow paper. "This is the airway bill that I found on the crate that contained the fake eggs. The address is 222 West Madison Street."
"I checked on that last night after I checked out our client," said Alex.
"You didn't?" asked Natalie appalled that Alex would check out Kate, who she honestly liked.
"I did," said Alex missing that Nat was talking about their client and not the address. "It's in the warehouse district. I searched through public records for a couple hours last night trying to come up with an owner."
The driver of the fuel truck signaled to them that he was done and the angels boarded the jet. Natalie climbed into the cockpit and Dylan in the co-pilot seat. "Fine take shotgun," said Alex feigning anger.
"You snooze you lose," said Dylan in response laughing. "I'll let you have it on the way back."
They took off without any problems. Once they reached the correct altitude Alex unfastened her seatbelt and crouched in the doorway to the cockpit. "As I was saying, I looked for records of an owner. Until 1977 it was in possession of Westwood Inc. a company that made, of all things, spigots, faucets and other bathroom fixtures."
"After seventy seven?" asked Dylan taking her pizza out of the bag and began unwrapping it from the tin foil.
"Towards the middle of seventy seven Westwood Inc filed chapter 11, by the end of the year they were closed. The building was bought by." she said pausing for dramatic effect.
Dylan moved her hand and pizza in a circular motion indicating that Alex should just spit it out. "Someone who should be near and dear to your heart Dylan." Dylan looked at her confused and took a bite of the pizza she had been waving around. "Natalie?" she asked with her mouth full. Alex just gave her an "Alex look". "Who?" asked Natalie in all seriousness.
"Donald Getty and Codyne Industries," replied Alex just as Dylan swallowed causing her to choke on it. Alex reached over and whacked her on the back.
"I'm fine," Dylan said hoarsely, recovering from the shock. "You don't think he has anything to do with this do you?" She didn't want to imagine that the man who she recently found out was her father was somehow connected to the Faberge eggs. "It would figure", she thought to herself. She had taken quickly to the man and it would only make sense that he was the bad guy in this caper.
Alex dispelled her fears. "No, I don't think so. The factory was in Codyne's possession until the end of 1985. Apparently this is where the weapons were made. Then it was sold when he stopped making them. The problem is that is where the trail stops. We don't know who bought it and whoever bought it hasn't used it since."
Natalie checking the jet's gages asked, "Who has been paying the taxes on it?"
"Good question. I looked and found no tax records for the property after 1985. Until then they were, of course documented as being paid by Codyne," said Alex. "Do you have another can of diet soda," she asked Dylan.
"Take this one." Dylan handed her the bright silver can with the red wave on it. "So no one has paid taxes on the property in all these years? I would think then it automatically defaults to the city of Sacramento. I guess we'll see who has been using it without the city's permission."
They flew in silence each watching the blue sky when suddenly Natalie spoke. "Did you really check out Kate?" she asked.
Dylan looked back and forth between the two other angels waiting to hear what Alex had to say. And when she did speak she simply said, "I did."
"But why?"
"The same reasons I said yesterday. Too much of what she has said didn't add up." She watched as Natalie's mouth flapped open and closed like a fish out of water. "You don't have to worry though. I didn't find anything on her. She has never been arrested and has been a model citizen. So I don't think she did it anymore."
*-*-*-*-*-*
Anthony since he wasn't looking for work as an assassin or actually assassinating anyone he went to finish clearing out Dimitri's old house. Dylan told him that she would come by once she and the angels were finished in Sacramento. Until then he decided to lose himself in the mess that he had inherited.
He wandered; carrying a stack of collapsed cardboard boxes into Dimitri's old bedroom it was a small dark cramped space thanks to the heavy velvet drapes that covered the small window opposite of the bed. He turned on the overhead light which cast a yellow glow about the room, the quality of which started to give him a headache as soon as he turned it on. He turned the light off and went to the window and threw back the draperies. Coughing as a cloud of dust came from them and wondered when the last time they were opened was.
As the sunlight streamed in the room he noticed the dresser heavy like the drapes. It was like most other surfaces of the house piled with papers and in this case, a few ceramic figurines. He knew he would have to tackle that but that music would make it go easier. He pushed the play button and a gently sound of a piano trombone and French horn emerged. Anthony smiled. He hadn't heard that piece of music in years, it had been one of his and Dimitri's favorites, Symphony 1: Lord of the Rings: The Hobbits by Johan De Meij. He closed his eyes and sat on the bed starting to drift into memories but shook himself knowing that he was there for a purpose and began to sort through Dimitri's things.
*-*-*-*-*
The angels pulled up in front of the old brick building at 222 West Madison Street. The building was in disrepair and a notice from the city declaring the building condemned was plastered to the plank blocked door. Dylan walked to the boards and tried pulling at them but they didn't give. "Have a crow bar?" she asked.
Natalie shook her head "no". The angels looked around then Alex pointed up and said, "How about through there?" They looked to where she was pointing and smiled. It was a fire escape that led up to the third floor where boards had obviously been removed from one of the old broken out windows. Dylan jumped up and managed to grab a hold of the fire escape and the ladder slid down towards them with a bang, showering them with rust particles.
"Great," exclaimed Natalie shaking the flakes from her hair. Then each of them grabbed the ladder and in turn climbed up to the third floor, Natalie, Alex and then Dylan. As Dylan stepped onto the rusted wrought iron platform she heard a brittle snapping sound. Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her in just in time as the platform crashed to the ground taking the second floor platform with it as well.
"Doesn't look like we will be going down the same way," said Dylan brushing her hands on the thighs of her pants. They pulled out their flashlights. Alex shined hers about the large room they were in and said, "I think we can cover more ground if we split up. I'll go upstairs, Natalie, you take this floor and Dylan you go down. We meet back here in an hour then check out the first floor as we leave."
"Sounds like a plan," said Dylan heading towards the stairwell.
Natalie wandered around the third floor shone her light around the large area of the third floor. There were large pieces of machinery covered with tarps and dust. She walked to the largest in the middle of the floor and looked under the cloth it was covered with. A rat ran out and scurried across her foot. "Aw aren't you cute," said Natalie to the creature who appraised her from the other side of the room with its beady eyes. It chattered something and then ran under another piece of equipment.
Alex went up to the fourth floor. The door from the stairwell was stuck but with a kick she managed to open it. It banged against the wall behind it. The fourth floor was empty. There were remnants of old carpet on the floor long stained by rain from the leaking roof and what appeared to be various other fluids from only god knew what. From what she could tell it used to be the office area. Some patricians for cubicles remained but piled in such a way that they formed what appeared to be tents. "Probably for some homeless," she thought sadly. Just then she noticed her light reflecting off a glass surface, an office that looked out onto the floor in the far back corner of the floor.
Entering the office Alex noticed that the boards had been pried off the window and a newspaper lay neatly folded on the desk. She picked it up and read the headline and the date. It was from two days before. Someone had indeed been there and probably to receive the original eggs. Suddenly a loud crash and a yell filled the building. She grabbed the paper as she started to run towards the stairwell when something fell out- photos. She knelt and picked them up there were two one was of Kate and the other of Dylan with Anthony.
Dylan went down to the second floor which had been apparently used for shipping and receiving, and breaks. In one corner were mail slots that would have at one point contained letters for the employees. In the other were couches that had seen better days and a pool table along with vending machines. She didn't see anything that would have lead to a clue as to who took the eggs. Everything was covered with dust and mold. She felt a tickle in her nose and sneezed loudly. She stepped forward towards a piece of paper that she saw lying under the coffee table by the couches and fell through the floor down to the first with a scream.
As she lay on the pile of broken boards she wondered why she always ended up in positions like that. She tried moving various body parts and decided that while there was slight discomfort in her left ankle it wasn't broken. She looked back up towards the hole through which she had fallen and a light shined in her eyes. It was Natalie and Alex. "Dylan? Are you okay?" called Natalie, concerned.
"Yeah, fine my ankle is a little stiff but other than that just peachy," she said picking herself up off the floor and brushing the dust off.
"We'll be down to help you in a second," called Alex. Soon her friends had joined her. "What happened?"
"Nothing that a diet couldn't cure. I have to tell Anthony not to cook such great food," said Dylan with a smile. "Hey what did you find," she asked seeing the papers in Alex's hand.
"A clue. Someone had been here recently, by the date on the paper I would say two days ago." She gave the paper to Natalie. "And two photos."
"Photos of what?" asked Dylan.
"Our client," Alex said handing Dylan the first one. "And you," she then handed her the second one. Natalie shined her light on the photos from over Dylan's shoulder.
"This was taken at Dimitri's," she said about the second one. "Right after our meeting with Kate on Sunday."
"Are you sure?" asked Natalie
"Positive," replied Dylan. "After the meeting I went home and changed into this," she pointed at the picture. "So I could help Anthony clean up the house."
"But why? Not why about the house but why about the photo. Why did they take your picture?" Dylan shrugged at Natalie's question. She didn't like the idea that they were being watched.
*-*-*-*-*-*
It was much later than Kate had planned to drive out to her Uncle's house. Things at the museum, last minute preparations for the exhibit had taken up most of her day. It had bothered her bad enough before that she hadn't gotten a hold of Dimitri but now the guilt was consuming her. Her parents had always been too busy for her with their jobs and she had sworn that she would never be so involved with her work that she neglected her family.
She pulled into the overgrown driveway and heard the branches scrape the paint on her car. She cut off the engine and went to the front door and knocked. There was no answer but that wasn't surprising. Her Uncle Dimitri had been losing his hearing and was stubborn about getting a hearing aid. She knocked again and still no answer but she could hear strains of Dvorak's Symphony Nr. 9 from behind the door. She gave a sigh of relief, he was home. She tried the knob. It opened easily and she stepped inside. "DyaDya Dimitri!" she called just as the booming introduction to the fourth movement began.
Anthony had gone downstairs after awhile to finish up the living room. It hadn't taken him long to finish with the papers and begin on the photographs. Dylan had called from the jet to let him know she would be home soon. He was glad to hear from her, although he knew he had no reason to he worried about her when she was gone. He went into the kitchen and opened a bottle of red wine and carried two glasses into the living room, lit candles around and turned on his favorite symphony to prepare for her arrival. Meanwhile he flipped through old pictures in albums that once belonged to his friend. He never heard the door open and the old man's niece enter the house.