Chapter 2
"Oh, no! You can't be serious!" The younger Simon took the letter from his infuriated brother, then looked up at him. "There's no way, Rick. Mr. Reiner's always bought Stu's way out of every mess he's gotten into. The last time I thought for sure he'd go to prison, but his father paid off a rehab place to say he needed help and they went for it!"
Seeing his girl coming down the hall, Rick turned to A.J. . "Not a word, little brother, I'll tell her at a better time. Maybe we'll go to Las Vegas for our anniversary, but there's no way I want to put her through anything like this!"
Standing up, he put a smile on his face as Laurie came up to him. "Darling, Ramona wants to see you, then Doc says she needs to rest. Coming?"
'Yes, sweetheart." he took her hand, then told A.J., "I'll call you when we get home, drive careful, ok?"
"Yes, Rick." he mock-groaned, then ducked his brother's headlock.
Heading home after making sure Robbie had eaten, Rick wearily tried to figure a way to tell his wife about the possible appearance of the hated bully from their past. As they pulled into the driveway of their home, he decided to make some tea, then play down the letter's contents.
His plan was negated as he turned off the engine, by the arms that stole around his neck, then Laurie's gentle kiss next to his right ear. Turning to face her, he saw a look of worry on her face.
"Rick, darling, what's wrong, please tell me." she said, then she put her hand to his face and caressed his cheek.
"Laurie, what..." Rick stopped, he realized she deserved to know the truth. "I can't hide anything from my girl, can I?" he replied ruefully, taking her hand and kissing it. "Let's go inside, we have to decide something together, sweetheart."
"Oh, no, Rick , not him!"
Laurie stared at the letter in her hand, then met her husband's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I wanted this to be special, darlin' but I don't want our weekend to be spoiled by that piece of scum...we can always send our regrets!" he replied. After a moment, he glanced over at her, then pulled Laurie into his embrace. Snuggling against him, she was quiet for a moment, then ...
"I want us to go, Rick, but not with Stu Reiner ruining everything for everybody, we weren't the only ones he harassed! Listen, call Doug, there's got to be a reason that Reiner and his father sent that letter to you. Let him know what the letter says, something just feels funny about it."
"Good idea, sweetheart, I'll give him a call right now, it's just after 7 there." Rick agreed. As Laurie went to put some water on, he took the extension into the living room and dialed the former class president.
As he came back into the kitchen, Rick put his arms around his wife as she was putting a plate of cookies on the table. "Have I told you how smart you are today?" he teased, kissing her neck and taking a cookie in one move.
"No, but it's not too late to start, darling!" she laughed. as he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. "What did Doug have to say?"
"A lot, most of it with a swear word preceding it! Never knew the guy had it in him!" Rick answered with a hint of admiration.
"Turns out the reunion committee had already returned Reiner's deposit, telling him he wasn't welcome because of his "criminal background". The old man contacted them and practically threatened legal action to make them let him attend. Finally Doug told him if you and I forgave him, he could come to the dinner. I read that letter we got to him, and then told him we want no part of him at the reunion."
Rick took the cup of coffee Laurie handed him, then added, "Fortunately, Doug says Reiner has no legal backing on this; since it is a private event being held on private grounds. He's going to write Reiner a letter stating that we have no intention of giving him permission to attend. I told him I was going to send a note too, just telling him not to bother us again. That should finish that!" Rick finished his cookie, then let Laurie feed him the rest of hers as she crowed, "We won't let him spoil our good time, thank you, my love." she said, kissing his crumby mouth.
Rick almost forgot about the Reiner problem during the next week; between a couple of rush assignments and visiting Ramona in the hospital. He heard from a couple of high school friends who were aware of Reiner's ploy. After admitting they were still spooked by his father's pressure tactics, they offered to write a note to the reunion committee saying they too didn't want him there.
"A.J., nobody wants Bobby Johnson there either; Doug told me he was the one who dropped the water balloon that had nails in it on the high school track during the senior gym finals. If Mr. Torres hadn't seen it in time, a lot of kids would have ended up in the emergency room." he remarked, waiting for his brother to finish a report.
"I remember that, Rick, the weasel tried to get back at everyone who filed a complaint against Reiner. If his dad hadn't been a politician, he'd been run out of town!" A.J. said, handing Rick the completed file.
"By the way, when's Mom going to San Diego?" Rick asked, looking at his calendar.
"Today, she was going to fly out yesterday, but she overslept and decided to spend one more day with Ricky and Ceci." A.J. replied. The phone rang and Rick answered it, thinking it would be Laurie with their lunch order.
"Simon and Simon Investigations".
"Rick, honey, it's gone, my house is gone!" a tearful voice said. "Mom?" he said, almost not recognizing her. "What happened, what do you mean your house is gone, are you all right?"
"Nooo, honey, you don't understand. My house in San Diego, it burned down last night. I just got a call from my neighbors, someone threw something into the house and it just went up!" Cecilia wept.
"Mom, are you at A.J.'s?" Rick asked. "Yes, I was just about to leave for the airport when Betty called." she answered.
"We'll be right there, don't leave the house, okay?" Rick ordered, then hung up. A.J. stared at him. "I don't believe it, why would someone target Mom?"
Suddenly he had a horrible thought; what if this was the work of...
As if reading his thoughts, A.J. stood up, "Rick, it's too much of a coincidence; call Doug and find out what Reiner's reaction was to being refused admission to the reunion."
"Already dialing, you head for Mom's, I'll be right there." he replied, seething.
Not finding the reunion head at home, he ran down the stairs to catch up with his brother. As he exited the building, he saw A.J. just putting the key in his car door. Abruptly a black van came around the side of the building, then sped through the parking lot. Rick gasped, it was headed right for his brother!
"A.J.! Behind you!" he yelled. In a split second A.J. managed to jump the hood of his car and fall on the other side, as the speeding van just missed him. Rick pulled his gun and fired off several shots, one that at least connected by the sound of it, but the vehicle continued out of the lot and vanished onto the interstate. Running toward his brother, Rick called "A.J." then was relieved when he saw him stand up, shaken but in one piece.
"A.J., are you all right?" he said, panting as he came to the passenger side of the sports car and hugging his younger brother. "Yes, Rick, thanks to you! If you hadn't called out....." A.J. grinned weakly at him, then winced as he looked down at his torn pant leg and skinned knee. Anger darkened Rick's eyes, "That's it-I got the license plate number, I'm calling Captain Ron! He almost kills you and burns down Mom's house, it ends here!"
"You're right, what if Reiner doesn't stop at us; hey, wait a minute, who's that coming?" A.J. gazed over Rick's shoulder at an approaching police car, then was surprised to see their friend Ron Johnson of Phoenix PD. Stopping next to them, he got out and greeted both brothers. "I'm glad to see you're both all right, did someone just try to hit one of you?"
"Well, I'll be.. how did you know, Ron, someone in a black van just tried to take out A.J.!" Rick replied, shaking his head in astonishment.
"Your wife, for starters. She called me, panicked that something might have happened to you two, seems someone burned down your mother's home, then left a weird message on your answering machine. Oh, and Rick," the captain grinned. "You need to check your transmitter more often, Laurie was extra worried cause you didn't have your receiver on!"
Groaning, Rick said, "I forgot, my poor girl, she must be frantic! I promised to put it on when we leave the office, I won't forget again!" "You better not, now let's get you two to your mother, she's pretty upset." Johnson told them.
Following the Simons to A.J.'s , the three men were greeted by Linda and Cecelia, who upon hearing about the attack on her son, hugged both of her children. "To think I was mourning the loss of my house, I can rebuild, but I can't get another son like you two!" she told them.
"It's all right, Mom, we'll help you rebuild, don't worry!" Rick hugged his mother. "No, son, my days in San Diego are done! We'll go back to salvage what we can, but I'd rather stay here close to my family, after all, I'm needed for the second generation of Simons!" she smiled, looking at her two boys.
Settling down with some coffee, Captain Ron had the brothers fill him in on the arson attack and the near-fatal hit and run of A.J. When he heard the descriptions of the black van that went after A.J., he called into the station and after speaking to the desk clerk, came back with some concrete news.
"Rick, one of our patrols just found your black van, it's been wiped clean but there were 2 bullet holes in the rear tire and tire well, and one into the back seat. Also, I called to see where Mr. Reiner might be and there's an indication he might be in the area, where as this, Bobby Johnson?" Ron looked at A.J. who nodded. "is still in the San Diego area. Fortunately he was seen in the vicinity of your mother's last night, so we can pull him in and get an idea of what Reiner is up to next!!
Just then the phone rang, and Rick stiffened as Linda answered it, then relaxed as she brought the extension over to him. "It's Laurie, she wanted to know how A.J. and Mom are!"
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry, I was going to call you when I got in!" he apologized. "It's all right, darling. I knew things would be okay once you got to Mom. Did Ron tell you about the message on our answering machine?" Laurie asked nervously.
"He told us you said it was weird, what's does the message say, darlin'?" Rick replied
"It's one word, over and over, one of those electronic voices like, well, that voice box Gary Masters used in San Diego. Payback, it says, then a laughing noise, then the work Payback over and over, seven times, Rick. I think it's some sick joke, what else could it, unless..." Laurie paused, then Rick heard her catch her breath. "Laurie, it's all right, Captain Ron's going to have Abby pick Bobby Johnson up; a witness identified him as being near Mom's last night. Once we have him, we'll get Reiner too!"
"I know, darling, it just makes me nervous, what if Reiner comes after you next, promise me you'll be careful, please?" she said, pleadingly.
"Don't worry, my angel, I'll watch my step. Now you lock up and don't let anybody in the house unless it's one of us, capice?" He grinned as she giggled, "I capice, my love. Oh you make me feel better, hurry home Rick!"
"I am, darlin', I'll call you when I come down the drive." Lowering his voice, Rick whispered "I love you, I'll see you in a little while." "I love you too, be careful, darling. Give my love to Mom!" she answered.
Hanging up the phone, Rick turned to see his mother smiling at him. "Laurie sends you love, Mom, I'm going to go home now, I want to hear this 'Payback" message for myself!" Cecelia reached over and hugged her oldest boy. "You're a good husband, Rick. You made Laurie feel safer just by telling her the truth. Now you get going, I want you home before dark, you know what the roads are like!"
Abruptly the phone rang again, and Linda handed it this time to Captain Ron, who listened with an impassive face that suddenly darkened with controlled rage. "Abby, we have his stooge seen near Mrs. Simon's firebombed home, a taped message with a barely disguised voice and he wants a restraining order against Rick Simon? Tell him to go ahead and try it, Abby; in the meantime I want his son to appear in my office tomorrow morning. I want to compare his voiceprint against a taped threat made against the Simons!" the captain retorted. After listening to the San Diego chief, he calmed down. "All right, Abby, tell him to let us know when Stu will make himself available, I'll be in my office in about 15 minutes. You want to talk to Cecilia?" Ron turned the extension over to Cecilia, then stared angrily at the brothers.
"I don't believe it, Ron! The guy is trying to get a restraining order because he says we're harassing him? What is it, the whole family is looney!" Rick exploded. "No, Rick, he's not going to get one, but I'm going to ask you to stay put tonight, so I can prove the only threat to anyone's safety is Riener!" the Captain replied. "Don't worry, I'm going home to Laurie, I don't want her or Linda to be left alone until these bastards are locked up! A.J., you call me if you hear anything or ..well, if you guys need anything." Taking leave of his mother and the others, Rick walked out to his truck with Captain Ron. "I know it seems crazy, Rick, but Reiner'll have a jury eating out of his hand if you even breathe near his son! You stay home with Laurie until you hear otherwise." he ordered, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I know, I know!" Rick half-heartedly grinned agreement. "Call me if you hear anything, Ron!"
Shifting his truck into gear, he took off down the street, then roared toward the interstate. As he disappeared into the distance, the policeman went back into the house unaware of a white panel van parked a block away. A moment passed, then the van pulled away, its only occupant smirking as he drove, staring at a picture of Laurie Simon. "Just a little longer, Miss Laurie, and you'll be glad to leave him and come be with me!"
"Oh, no! You can't be serious!" The younger Simon took the letter from his infuriated brother, then looked up at him. "There's no way, Rick. Mr. Reiner's always bought Stu's way out of every mess he's gotten into. The last time I thought for sure he'd go to prison, but his father paid off a rehab place to say he needed help and they went for it!"
Seeing his girl coming down the hall, Rick turned to A.J. . "Not a word, little brother, I'll tell her at a better time. Maybe we'll go to Las Vegas for our anniversary, but there's no way I want to put her through anything like this!"
Standing up, he put a smile on his face as Laurie came up to him. "Darling, Ramona wants to see you, then Doc says she needs to rest. Coming?"
'Yes, sweetheart." he took her hand, then told A.J., "I'll call you when we get home, drive careful, ok?"
"Yes, Rick." he mock-groaned, then ducked his brother's headlock.
Heading home after making sure Robbie had eaten, Rick wearily tried to figure a way to tell his wife about the possible appearance of the hated bully from their past. As they pulled into the driveway of their home, he decided to make some tea, then play down the letter's contents.
His plan was negated as he turned off the engine, by the arms that stole around his neck, then Laurie's gentle kiss next to his right ear. Turning to face her, he saw a look of worry on her face.
"Rick, darling, what's wrong, please tell me." she said, then she put her hand to his face and caressed his cheek.
"Laurie, what..." Rick stopped, he realized she deserved to know the truth. "I can't hide anything from my girl, can I?" he replied ruefully, taking her hand and kissing it. "Let's go inside, we have to decide something together, sweetheart."
"Oh, no, Rick , not him!"
Laurie stared at the letter in her hand, then met her husband's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I wanted this to be special, darlin' but I don't want our weekend to be spoiled by that piece of scum...we can always send our regrets!" he replied. After a moment, he glanced over at her, then pulled Laurie into his embrace. Snuggling against him, she was quiet for a moment, then ...
"I want us to go, Rick, but not with Stu Reiner ruining everything for everybody, we weren't the only ones he harassed! Listen, call Doug, there's got to be a reason that Reiner and his father sent that letter to you. Let him know what the letter says, something just feels funny about it."
"Good idea, sweetheart, I'll give him a call right now, it's just after 7 there." Rick agreed. As Laurie went to put some water on, he took the extension into the living room and dialed the former class president.
As he came back into the kitchen, Rick put his arms around his wife as she was putting a plate of cookies on the table. "Have I told you how smart you are today?" he teased, kissing her neck and taking a cookie in one move.
"No, but it's not too late to start, darling!" she laughed. as he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. "What did Doug have to say?"
"A lot, most of it with a swear word preceding it! Never knew the guy had it in him!" Rick answered with a hint of admiration.
"Turns out the reunion committee had already returned Reiner's deposit, telling him he wasn't welcome because of his "criminal background". The old man contacted them and practically threatened legal action to make them let him attend. Finally Doug told him if you and I forgave him, he could come to the dinner. I read that letter we got to him, and then told him we want no part of him at the reunion."
Rick took the cup of coffee Laurie handed him, then added, "Fortunately, Doug says Reiner has no legal backing on this; since it is a private event being held on private grounds. He's going to write Reiner a letter stating that we have no intention of giving him permission to attend. I told him I was going to send a note too, just telling him not to bother us again. That should finish that!" Rick finished his cookie, then let Laurie feed him the rest of hers as she crowed, "We won't let him spoil our good time, thank you, my love." she said, kissing his crumby mouth.
Rick almost forgot about the Reiner problem during the next week; between a couple of rush assignments and visiting Ramona in the hospital. He heard from a couple of high school friends who were aware of Reiner's ploy. After admitting they were still spooked by his father's pressure tactics, they offered to write a note to the reunion committee saying they too didn't want him there.
"A.J., nobody wants Bobby Johnson there either; Doug told me he was the one who dropped the water balloon that had nails in it on the high school track during the senior gym finals. If Mr. Torres hadn't seen it in time, a lot of kids would have ended up in the emergency room." he remarked, waiting for his brother to finish a report.
"I remember that, Rick, the weasel tried to get back at everyone who filed a complaint against Reiner. If his dad hadn't been a politician, he'd been run out of town!" A.J. said, handing Rick the completed file.
"By the way, when's Mom going to San Diego?" Rick asked, looking at his calendar.
"Today, she was going to fly out yesterday, but she overslept and decided to spend one more day with Ricky and Ceci." A.J. replied. The phone rang and Rick answered it, thinking it would be Laurie with their lunch order.
"Simon and Simon Investigations".
"Rick, honey, it's gone, my house is gone!" a tearful voice said. "Mom?" he said, almost not recognizing her. "What happened, what do you mean your house is gone, are you all right?"
"Nooo, honey, you don't understand. My house in San Diego, it burned down last night. I just got a call from my neighbors, someone threw something into the house and it just went up!" Cecilia wept.
"Mom, are you at A.J.'s?" Rick asked. "Yes, I was just about to leave for the airport when Betty called." she answered.
"We'll be right there, don't leave the house, okay?" Rick ordered, then hung up. A.J. stared at him. "I don't believe it, why would someone target Mom?"
Suddenly he had a horrible thought; what if this was the work of...
As if reading his thoughts, A.J. stood up, "Rick, it's too much of a coincidence; call Doug and find out what Reiner's reaction was to being refused admission to the reunion."
"Already dialing, you head for Mom's, I'll be right there." he replied, seething.
Not finding the reunion head at home, he ran down the stairs to catch up with his brother. As he exited the building, he saw A.J. just putting the key in his car door. Abruptly a black van came around the side of the building, then sped through the parking lot. Rick gasped, it was headed right for his brother!
"A.J.! Behind you!" he yelled. In a split second A.J. managed to jump the hood of his car and fall on the other side, as the speeding van just missed him. Rick pulled his gun and fired off several shots, one that at least connected by the sound of it, but the vehicle continued out of the lot and vanished onto the interstate. Running toward his brother, Rick called "A.J." then was relieved when he saw him stand up, shaken but in one piece.
"A.J., are you all right?" he said, panting as he came to the passenger side of the sports car and hugging his younger brother. "Yes, Rick, thanks to you! If you hadn't called out....." A.J. grinned weakly at him, then winced as he looked down at his torn pant leg and skinned knee. Anger darkened Rick's eyes, "That's it-I got the license plate number, I'm calling Captain Ron! He almost kills you and burns down Mom's house, it ends here!"
"You're right, what if Reiner doesn't stop at us; hey, wait a minute, who's that coming?" A.J. gazed over Rick's shoulder at an approaching police car, then was surprised to see their friend Ron Johnson of Phoenix PD. Stopping next to them, he got out and greeted both brothers. "I'm glad to see you're both all right, did someone just try to hit one of you?"
"Well, I'll be.. how did you know, Ron, someone in a black van just tried to take out A.J.!" Rick replied, shaking his head in astonishment.
"Your wife, for starters. She called me, panicked that something might have happened to you two, seems someone burned down your mother's home, then left a weird message on your answering machine. Oh, and Rick," the captain grinned. "You need to check your transmitter more often, Laurie was extra worried cause you didn't have your receiver on!"
Groaning, Rick said, "I forgot, my poor girl, she must be frantic! I promised to put it on when we leave the office, I won't forget again!" "You better not, now let's get you two to your mother, she's pretty upset." Johnson told them.
Following the Simons to A.J.'s , the three men were greeted by Linda and Cecelia, who upon hearing about the attack on her son, hugged both of her children. "To think I was mourning the loss of my house, I can rebuild, but I can't get another son like you two!" she told them.
"It's all right, Mom, we'll help you rebuild, don't worry!" Rick hugged his mother. "No, son, my days in San Diego are done! We'll go back to salvage what we can, but I'd rather stay here close to my family, after all, I'm needed for the second generation of Simons!" she smiled, looking at her two boys.
Settling down with some coffee, Captain Ron had the brothers fill him in on the arson attack and the near-fatal hit and run of A.J. When he heard the descriptions of the black van that went after A.J., he called into the station and after speaking to the desk clerk, came back with some concrete news.
"Rick, one of our patrols just found your black van, it's been wiped clean but there were 2 bullet holes in the rear tire and tire well, and one into the back seat. Also, I called to see where Mr. Reiner might be and there's an indication he might be in the area, where as this, Bobby Johnson?" Ron looked at A.J. who nodded. "is still in the San Diego area. Fortunately he was seen in the vicinity of your mother's last night, so we can pull him in and get an idea of what Reiner is up to next!!
Just then the phone rang, and Rick stiffened as Linda answered it, then relaxed as she brought the extension over to him. "It's Laurie, she wanted to know how A.J. and Mom are!"
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry, I was going to call you when I got in!" he apologized. "It's all right, darling. I knew things would be okay once you got to Mom. Did Ron tell you about the message on our answering machine?" Laurie asked nervously.
"He told us you said it was weird, what's does the message say, darlin'?" Rick replied
"It's one word, over and over, one of those electronic voices like, well, that voice box Gary Masters used in San Diego. Payback, it says, then a laughing noise, then the work Payback over and over, seven times, Rick. I think it's some sick joke, what else could it, unless..." Laurie paused, then Rick heard her catch her breath. "Laurie, it's all right, Captain Ron's going to have Abby pick Bobby Johnson up; a witness identified him as being near Mom's last night. Once we have him, we'll get Reiner too!"
"I know, darling, it just makes me nervous, what if Reiner comes after you next, promise me you'll be careful, please?" she said, pleadingly.
"Don't worry, my angel, I'll watch my step. Now you lock up and don't let anybody in the house unless it's one of us, capice?" He grinned as she giggled, "I capice, my love. Oh you make me feel better, hurry home Rick!"
"I am, darlin', I'll call you when I come down the drive." Lowering his voice, Rick whispered "I love you, I'll see you in a little while." "I love you too, be careful, darling. Give my love to Mom!" she answered.
Hanging up the phone, Rick turned to see his mother smiling at him. "Laurie sends you love, Mom, I'm going to go home now, I want to hear this 'Payback" message for myself!" Cecelia reached over and hugged her oldest boy. "You're a good husband, Rick. You made Laurie feel safer just by telling her the truth. Now you get going, I want you home before dark, you know what the roads are like!"
Abruptly the phone rang again, and Linda handed it this time to Captain Ron, who listened with an impassive face that suddenly darkened with controlled rage. "Abby, we have his stooge seen near Mrs. Simon's firebombed home, a taped message with a barely disguised voice and he wants a restraining order against Rick Simon? Tell him to go ahead and try it, Abby; in the meantime I want his son to appear in my office tomorrow morning. I want to compare his voiceprint against a taped threat made against the Simons!" the captain retorted. After listening to the San Diego chief, he calmed down. "All right, Abby, tell him to let us know when Stu will make himself available, I'll be in my office in about 15 minutes. You want to talk to Cecilia?" Ron turned the extension over to Cecilia, then stared angrily at the brothers.
"I don't believe it, Ron! The guy is trying to get a restraining order because he says we're harassing him? What is it, the whole family is looney!" Rick exploded. "No, Rick, he's not going to get one, but I'm going to ask you to stay put tonight, so I can prove the only threat to anyone's safety is Riener!" the Captain replied. "Don't worry, I'm going home to Laurie, I don't want her or Linda to be left alone until these bastards are locked up! A.J., you call me if you hear anything or ..well, if you guys need anything." Taking leave of his mother and the others, Rick walked out to his truck with Captain Ron. "I know it seems crazy, Rick, but Reiner'll have a jury eating out of his hand if you even breathe near his son! You stay home with Laurie until you hear otherwise." he ordered, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I know, I know!" Rick half-heartedly grinned agreement. "Call me if you hear anything, Ron!"
Shifting his truck into gear, he took off down the street, then roared toward the interstate. As he disappeared into the distance, the policeman went back into the house unaware of a white panel van parked a block away. A moment passed, then the van pulled away, its only occupant smirking as he drove, staring at a picture of Laurie Simon. "Just a little longer, Miss Laurie, and you'll be glad to leave him and come be with me!"