Chapter 3
After breakfast, the two Simons went to the office and met up with A.J. who was still processing leads on a case they were working on for Phoenix P.D. Rick still didn't feel at home in their new digs, since the fire they had been ensconced in a new building owned by the mayor. Now he looked out the window at the desert in the distance, wishing he had somehow taken the time off to go with Laurie.
Suddenly the phone rang, and all three men dove for it, with Rick winning out. "Simon & Simon, sweetheart!" he grinned, as his brother and son sighed in relief.
"Rick, darling, you didn't knock A.J. and Robbie over to grab the phone, did you?" she laughed over the wire. "Nah, just an elbow here and there!" he answered, snickering. "Did you have a good flight?"
"Yes, we even caught a tail wind and arrived 10 minutes early. Temple and I are going to have brunch now, but I wanted to call you first, did you have something to eat?" she asked, putting a smile on his face. "Yes, darlin', your son made sure of that! Do you want to say hi?"
"Sure, let me talk to my Robbie!" she said. As he gave the extension to their son, A.J. was already dialing Towne to let him know Temple and Laurie had arrived safely.
After A.J. got a chance to assure Laurie that Linda was all right, he gave the phone to his brother. "Ok, sweetheart, you call me tonight and let me know how it went. Go have something to eat and rest if you can." he told her firmly. "Yes, my love, I will. Don't forget to meet the guys, they should be in at 5." she reminded him
"Darling?" "Yes?'
Her voice dropped. "I love you, thank you for the snacks, Temple's going nuts over the fact you found Tidbits; she loves them too!"
Pleased with himself, he ignored A.J.'s making faces at him "I love you too, angel, tell Temple she can have the extra box in the bottom, but the last package don't open until I call you tonight."
"Rick, you shouldn't have, but thank you! Don't forget, I'm in room 446, I should be in after 9. Talk to you later!" she signed off. Ending the call, Rick hung up the phone with a deep breath, then saw the sympathetic face of Robbie. "Don't worry, son, she's going to be all right. What was that she used to tell you and Robin?"
"Only 3 sleeps until she's comes home. Thanks Pop, I'd forgotten that. It's been so long since she's been gone on any trip without us, what, almost eight years?" their son replied.
"Yeah, and it's going to be at least that long before the next time!" he assured Robbie.
"What happened, Temple?" Rick asked, not believing her first sentence. He'd barely gotten out, "Hi!"
"Rick, it was the worst treatment of anyone I've ever seen. Laurie and I went to the charity signing, and it was all right, enough security and all.
As we were leaving to go to the hotel, 3 so-called fans rushed us and threw a pie in her face, saying "go back to the reservation, redskin!" Thank God she was turning away, it only got on her coat, but still, what if it had been something else?" the journalist worried.
"Damn it! What did the so-called professionals do?" he swore. "They got all three, the organizers of the event claim they had nothing to do with it, but I have my suspicions. Laurie's pressing charges, plus because of the racial slur I told her she needs to up it to a hate crime. We're supposed to go to a dinner tonight only she told the Booksellers that if this afternoon is any indication, she's not sure she wants to go. I told that Stanley Davis, the guy in charge that I'm going to make sure everyone knows how she's been treated here. He's so embarrassed, he's told Laurie that he'll escort us himself to the event." Temple added.
He let out a breath, "Thank you, hon, for being there. I should never have let her go, I don't care what they threatened her with, she's so hurt by how these people have treated her." "I know, Rick, I know." she agreed, depressed. "She was so brave and refused to cry or anything, but I'm afraid she's ready to bust right about now. She didn't want me to tell you, but I explained that it might make the news any minute now, and did she want you to find out that way? She's in her room; let me have you talk to her."
Rick waited a moment, while he sat back in his office chair. A.J. sat staring at the speaker then shook his head. "I should have made you go with her, our business isn't that important, Rick."
Just then his sister-in-law's wavering voice came on.
"A.J., Rick?"
"Laurie, sweetheart, are you all right?" he asked. Suddenly the sound of sobs came over the phone and heartbroken, Rick picked up the receiver, cutting off the amped sound.
"Rick, I, I got pied, it would have been funny if it hadn't been so mmmmean!" she wept. Rick couldn't hold his tongue any longer "Laurie, I want you to cancel Denver. I don't care what they do to you; I want you here where you'll be safe. If you don't, I'm going to go to you!"
"Rick, would you, please darling, please come! Can you get a flight for Sunday? You know you promised to help with the tribal party tomorrow, but maybe you can get a flight Sunday morning." she pleaded, still sniffing a little.
"Yes, darlin', I will. Let me call the airline and I'll pick up a ticket when I drop Robin off tomorrow. Don't cry anymore, sweetheart, they're not worth it! You dry your eyes and put on that silver dress and go to dinner, then I'll call you at bedtime." he reassured her through the lump in his throat.
"Thank you, my love, what would I do without you?" she sighed, sounding more like herself. "You're never going to find out, angel, now put Temple back on and I'll talk to you tonight." he promised.
When he got to the ranch that night, Rick was worn out but in a good mood. Between Temple and himself, they had kept Laurie safe and ensured her a trouble free night. He had tracked down Stanley Davis, the president of the Chicago Booksellers, and put the fear of God in him. "Any more incidents, and I will personally sue you and your whole group for the abuse my wife has been put through. Why in God's name would you beg my Laurie to go to your event, then have her assaulted and insulted and mistreated. What is wrong with you people?"
Pausing to take a breath, Rick heard the chairman shamefacedly apologize, saying that many of the events participants were new fans and obviously didn't "get" the end result of her stories.
Eliciting a promise that Laurie would not be the victim of anymore "incidents", Rick talked to Temple and arranged for some blue forget-me-nots to be delivered during dinner to her.
Finding Robin already fixing their meal, he called their friends Oscar Goldman and Dr. Rudy Wells and told them, "Dinner is served!"
Hearing her father's invitation, Robin came out of the kitchen, teasing, "Pop, are you sure you don't want to be a maitre' d? I think the Heritage is hiring!"
"I'm sure, honey, one kitchen professional is enough for this family!" he declared, embracing her.
After Robbie and Oscar and Rudy arrived, Robin dished up the meal, as Rick waited to fill the guys in on the events in Chicago until they had settled down with coffee in the living room.
Predictably, her uncles were livid about the pie incident and the racial insult thrown at Laurie. "Rick, if you hadn't committed to the Chief, "Oscar grumbled, then seeing the look on his face, added, "I'm sorry, son, I know Laurie made you promise to still do it. I'm glad you're going on Sunday; I'll feel better when you're there with her!"
Rudy glanced on the somber faces of Robbie and Robin, then quietly said, "I know you two have been sheltered from some of the stuff that went on years ago, it's still a fact of life that prejudice still exists. I'm just sorry Laurie got a reminder today, the only thing is, it's a little too planned. Rick, if I didn't know better, I'd think this was some kind of set up to scare Laurie from promoting her new book!"
"Rudy, I think you've got something; first the death threat, then the set up at Temple's show, then this? It's too much, Oscar, can you check and see if Leland Johnson or Cheryl Minor are still locked up, or who they've had contact with recently?" Rick asked the OSI Chief.
"Hand me the phone, son, we'll soon find out!" Oscar declared, finally feeling of use. While he dialed, Robbie called into his office's database, trying to pull up any stale clues on the death threat that was called into the Phoenix TV station.
After half an hour of phone calls, Rick felt he had concrete proof of some kind of activity among some of Willowby's ex-employees. After Oscar contacted the maximum security prisons in Arizona where Laurie and Rick's assailants were held, a list of visitors to the two convicts was available.
"Jayson Maxwell, ex-counsel to Willowby, he's seems to be a real friend to Johnson. He's visited him 3 times this fall, then he paid a call to Cheryl Minor last month. I'm going to see if there's any sign of him in connection with
Linden House, I still think they're linked to all these going's on!" Rick told their friends.
Later, after seeing his daughter and son off to bed, Rick sent their friends off to the cabin, disappointed. Even with all the arrows pointing their way, the clue to who at the publishing house was after his wife was missing.
Seeing that it was after 9 pm, he dialed Laurie's suite at the hotel, anxious to see how the dinner had gone.
"Rick, hey, were your ears burning?" Temple teased him, answering the phone.
"No, why, was it something good", he returned, relieved at the upbeat tone in her voice.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I was listening to a catalog of your virtues from this wife of yours, man, has she got it bad for you!" Temple added, as he could hear giggling from the background.
"All right, Mrs. Brown, let me have a word with my missus, so you can get your beauty sleep!" he bantered. "Rick, darling, thank you for the beautiful flowers! You know I'll never forget you, but that was so sweet!" she exclaimed, taking the phone from her friend.
"I wish I could have seen them, how did it go tonight?" he replied, reassured that she was feeling better.
"Oh it was a good dinner, I was apologized to several times tonight, and Rick, I have a sneaky feeling the whole thing was a set up. I heard a couple of book agents talking; they thought Linden House was up to a reverse sabotage with my book. It's frightening to hear someone discuss how valuable a tape of my book would be before the book is out!" she explained.
"That's it, that's the missing piece! Laurie, you are the best! Wait until I talk to Oscar and Rudy. In the meantime, I want you to open up that small package in the bottom of your tote." he answered
He heard the rustling of paper, then a faint "Ohhhh". "Darling, where did you find this?" Laurie finally spoke. "Rudy and Chief Joseph made it, sweetheart. I wanted you to have something just in case someone takes your watch from you. You'll be safer with something you can hide, darlin'!"
"I love you, it's so beautiful! What a wonderful early Christmas present!" she made kissing noises in the receiver. "That's for you and Rudy and the Chief! Please thank them for me!"
"I will my angel, now you get to bed and I'll say good night, remember you're meeting Robin at the airport an hour after you get in.", he reminded her.
"I'll be there, did Oscar and Rudy and Steve get in ok?" she asked, trying not to yawn.
"Yes, as a matter of fact we had dinner with Oscar and Rudy, Steve stayed overnight with A.J., he loves seeing Linda and Ricky." Rick replied, then yawned himself.
"Time for both of us to get some rest." Laurie laughed, "I love you, Rick, be careful and I'll call when I meet up with Robin tomorrow!"
"I love you, Laurie, now get some rest and talk to you tomorrow," Rick hated to get off the phone. He blew a kiss through the receiver, then said good night and hung up.
Closing up for the night, he let Mike in, who immediately raced for the foot of their bed. "All right, mister, but no scratching or hogging the covers!" he told the dog.
Shutting his eyes, he figured he'd be up all night, then he turned on his side, only to find a cold wet nose facing him. "Oh well", he sighed, petting Mike's head. "Good dog."
After breakfast, the two Simons went to the office and met up with A.J. who was still processing leads on a case they were working on for Phoenix P.D. Rick still didn't feel at home in their new digs, since the fire they had been ensconced in a new building owned by the mayor. Now he looked out the window at the desert in the distance, wishing he had somehow taken the time off to go with Laurie.
Suddenly the phone rang, and all three men dove for it, with Rick winning out. "Simon & Simon, sweetheart!" he grinned, as his brother and son sighed in relief.
"Rick, darling, you didn't knock A.J. and Robbie over to grab the phone, did you?" she laughed over the wire. "Nah, just an elbow here and there!" he answered, snickering. "Did you have a good flight?"
"Yes, we even caught a tail wind and arrived 10 minutes early. Temple and I are going to have brunch now, but I wanted to call you first, did you have something to eat?" she asked, putting a smile on his face. "Yes, darlin', your son made sure of that! Do you want to say hi?"
"Sure, let me talk to my Robbie!" she said. As he gave the extension to their son, A.J. was already dialing Towne to let him know Temple and Laurie had arrived safely.
After A.J. got a chance to assure Laurie that Linda was all right, he gave the phone to his brother. "Ok, sweetheart, you call me tonight and let me know how it went. Go have something to eat and rest if you can." he told her firmly. "Yes, my love, I will. Don't forget to meet the guys, they should be in at 5." she reminded him
"Darling?" "Yes?'
Her voice dropped. "I love you, thank you for the snacks, Temple's going nuts over the fact you found Tidbits; she loves them too!"
Pleased with himself, he ignored A.J.'s making faces at him "I love you too, angel, tell Temple she can have the extra box in the bottom, but the last package don't open until I call you tonight."
"Rick, you shouldn't have, but thank you! Don't forget, I'm in room 446, I should be in after 9. Talk to you later!" she signed off. Ending the call, Rick hung up the phone with a deep breath, then saw the sympathetic face of Robbie. "Don't worry, son, she's going to be all right. What was that she used to tell you and Robin?"
"Only 3 sleeps until she's comes home. Thanks Pop, I'd forgotten that. It's been so long since she's been gone on any trip without us, what, almost eight years?" their son replied.
"Yeah, and it's going to be at least that long before the next time!" he assured Robbie.
"What happened, Temple?" Rick asked, not believing her first sentence. He'd barely gotten out, "Hi!"
"Rick, it was the worst treatment of anyone I've ever seen. Laurie and I went to the charity signing, and it was all right, enough security and all.
As we were leaving to go to the hotel, 3 so-called fans rushed us and threw a pie in her face, saying "go back to the reservation, redskin!" Thank God she was turning away, it only got on her coat, but still, what if it had been something else?" the journalist worried.
"Damn it! What did the so-called professionals do?" he swore. "They got all three, the organizers of the event claim they had nothing to do with it, but I have my suspicions. Laurie's pressing charges, plus because of the racial slur I told her she needs to up it to a hate crime. We're supposed to go to a dinner tonight only she told the Booksellers that if this afternoon is any indication, she's not sure she wants to go. I told that Stanley Davis, the guy in charge that I'm going to make sure everyone knows how she's been treated here. He's so embarrassed, he's told Laurie that he'll escort us himself to the event." Temple added.
He let out a breath, "Thank you, hon, for being there. I should never have let her go, I don't care what they threatened her with, she's so hurt by how these people have treated her." "I know, Rick, I know." she agreed, depressed. "She was so brave and refused to cry or anything, but I'm afraid she's ready to bust right about now. She didn't want me to tell you, but I explained that it might make the news any minute now, and did she want you to find out that way? She's in her room; let me have you talk to her."
Rick waited a moment, while he sat back in his office chair. A.J. sat staring at the speaker then shook his head. "I should have made you go with her, our business isn't that important, Rick."
Just then his sister-in-law's wavering voice came on.
"A.J., Rick?"
"Laurie, sweetheart, are you all right?" he asked. Suddenly the sound of sobs came over the phone and heartbroken, Rick picked up the receiver, cutting off the amped sound.
"Rick, I, I got pied, it would have been funny if it hadn't been so mmmmean!" she wept. Rick couldn't hold his tongue any longer "Laurie, I want you to cancel Denver. I don't care what they do to you; I want you here where you'll be safe. If you don't, I'm going to go to you!"
"Rick, would you, please darling, please come! Can you get a flight for Sunday? You know you promised to help with the tribal party tomorrow, but maybe you can get a flight Sunday morning." she pleaded, still sniffing a little.
"Yes, darlin', I will. Let me call the airline and I'll pick up a ticket when I drop Robin off tomorrow. Don't cry anymore, sweetheart, they're not worth it! You dry your eyes and put on that silver dress and go to dinner, then I'll call you at bedtime." he reassured her through the lump in his throat.
"Thank you, my love, what would I do without you?" she sighed, sounding more like herself. "You're never going to find out, angel, now put Temple back on and I'll talk to you tonight." he promised.
When he got to the ranch that night, Rick was worn out but in a good mood. Between Temple and himself, they had kept Laurie safe and ensured her a trouble free night. He had tracked down Stanley Davis, the president of the Chicago Booksellers, and put the fear of God in him. "Any more incidents, and I will personally sue you and your whole group for the abuse my wife has been put through. Why in God's name would you beg my Laurie to go to your event, then have her assaulted and insulted and mistreated. What is wrong with you people?"
Pausing to take a breath, Rick heard the chairman shamefacedly apologize, saying that many of the events participants were new fans and obviously didn't "get" the end result of her stories.
Eliciting a promise that Laurie would not be the victim of anymore "incidents", Rick talked to Temple and arranged for some blue forget-me-nots to be delivered during dinner to her.
Finding Robin already fixing their meal, he called their friends Oscar Goldman and Dr. Rudy Wells and told them, "Dinner is served!"
Hearing her father's invitation, Robin came out of the kitchen, teasing, "Pop, are you sure you don't want to be a maitre' d? I think the Heritage is hiring!"
"I'm sure, honey, one kitchen professional is enough for this family!" he declared, embracing her.
After Robbie and Oscar and Rudy arrived, Robin dished up the meal, as Rick waited to fill the guys in on the events in Chicago until they had settled down with coffee in the living room.
Predictably, her uncles were livid about the pie incident and the racial insult thrown at Laurie. "Rick, if you hadn't committed to the Chief, "Oscar grumbled, then seeing the look on his face, added, "I'm sorry, son, I know Laurie made you promise to still do it. I'm glad you're going on Sunday; I'll feel better when you're there with her!"
Rudy glanced on the somber faces of Robbie and Robin, then quietly said, "I know you two have been sheltered from some of the stuff that went on years ago, it's still a fact of life that prejudice still exists. I'm just sorry Laurie got a reminder today, the only thing is, it's a little too planned. Rick, if I didn't know better, I'd think this was some kind of set up to scare Laurie from promoting her new book!"
"Rudy, I think you've got something; first the death threat, then the set up at Temple's show, then this? It's too much, Oscar, can you check and see if Leland Johnson or Cheryl Minor are still locked up, or who they've had contact with recently?" Rick asked the OSI Chief.
"Hand me the phone, son, we'll soon find out!" Oscar declared, finally feeling of use. While he dialed, Robbie called into his office's database, trying to pull up any stale clues on the death threat that was called into the Phoenix TV station.
After half an hour of phone calls, Rick felt he had concrete proof of some kind of activity among some of Willowby's ex-employees. After Oscar contacted the maximum security prisons in Arizona where Laurie and Rick's assailants were held, a list of visitors to the two convicts was available.
"Jayson Maxwell, ex-counsel to Willowby, he's seems to be a real friend to Johnson. He's visited him 3 times this fall, then he paid a call to Cheryl Minor last month. I'm going to see if there's any sign of him in connection with
Linden House, I still think they're linked to all these going's on!" Rick told their friends.
Later, after seeing his daughter and son off to bed, Rick sent their friends off to the cabin, disappointed. Even with all the arrows pointing their way, the clue to who at the publishing house was after his wife was missing.
Seeing that it was after 9 pm, he dialed Laurie's suite at the hotel, anxious to see how the dinner had gone.
"Rick, hey, were your ears burning?" Temple teased him, answering the phone.
"No, why, was it something good", he returned, relieved at the upbeat tone in her voice.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I was listening to a catalog of your virtues from this wife of yours, man, has she got it bad for you!" Temple added, as he could hear giggling from the background.
"All right, Mrs. Brown, let me have a word with my missus, so you can get your beauty sleep!" he bantered. "Rick, darling, thank you for the beautiful flowers! You know I'll never forget you, but that was so sweet!" she exclaimed, taking the phone from her friend.
"I wish I could have seen them, how did it go tonight?" he replied, reassured that she was feeling better.
"Oh it was a good dinner, I was apologized to several times tonight, and Rick, I have a sneaky feeling the whole thing was a set up. I heard a couple of book agents talking; they thought Linden House was up to a reverse sabotage with my book. It's frightening to hear someone discuss how valuable a tape of my book would be before the book is out!" she explained.
"That's it, that's the missing piece! Laurie, you are the best! Wait until I talk to Oscar and Rudy. In the meantime, I want you to open up that small package in the bottom of your tote." he answered
He heard the rustling of paper, then a faint "Ohhhh". "Darling, where did you find this?" Laurie finally spoke. "Rudy and Chief Joseph made it, sweetheart. I wanted you to have something just in case someone takes your watch from you. You'll be safer with something you can hide, darlin'!"
"I love you, it's so beautiful! What a wonderful early Christmas present!" she made kissing noises in the receiver. "That's for you and Rudy and the Chief! Please thank them for me!"
"I will my angel, now you get to bed and I'll say good night, remember you're meeting Robin at the airport an hour after you get in.", he reminded her.
"I'll be there, did Oscar and Rudy and Steve get in ok?" she asked, trying not to yawn.
"Yes, as a matter of fact we had dinner with Oscar and Rudy, Steve stayed overnight with A.J., he loves seeing Linda and Ricky." Rick replied, then yawned himself.
"Time for both of us to get some rest." Laurie laughed, "I love you, Rick, be careful and I'll call when I meet up with Robin tomorrow!"
"I love you, Laurie, now get some rest and talk to you tomorrow," Rick hated to get off the phone. He blew a kiss through the receiver, then said good night and hung up.
Closing up for the night, he let Mike in, who immediately raced for the foot of their bed. "All right, mister, but no scratching or hogging the covers!" he told the dog.
Shutting his eyes, he figured he'd be up all night, then he turned on his side, only to find a cold wet nose facing him. "Oh well", he sighed, petting Mike's head. "Good dog."