Chapter Five
The next morning, about 9:30, Ralph stood in front of the mirror tying his tie.
"Come on, Pam, we've got to be there before ten!" He finished with the tie and grabbed his suit jacket, then slipped it on. "I hope they've got the air conditioning on in there today." He picked up the bag that previously held the magic jammies and tossed it, empty, under the luggage rack.
Pam came out of the bathroom, make-up bag it hand. She crossed in front of him and dropped the bag into the open suitcase. She wore a stylish blue pants suit with a white blouse. "Worth the wait?"
Ralph grinned. "Always." Then he spun her around, aiming her towards the door. "Now, come on, we've got to get going!"
Both laughed, heading out the door.
------------
Most of the conventioneers were already there when Ralph and Pam walked in, after having come through a newly-added security check-in.
"Well, it's nice to know I was wrong about how many extra police there would be here today. That's a good sign," Ralph commented. He then added in a whisper, "Though I don't think it's still enough to keep those goons out of here."
Pam nodded and asked, quietly, "Any idea on when they might show?"
"Nothing definite, but I'll guess early this afternoon."
------------
Meanwhile, a distinguished looking gentleman sat at a desk in an office on the upper level on the convention center. He mulled over paperwork, jotting down notes, and occasionally taking a sip from a coffee mug.
A knock came at his door, but he didn't look up. "It's open," he called.
The door opened and Franklyn entered, alone. "Well, Murphy, it's good to see you again."
Murphy shot up out of his chair and glared at Franklyn. "What the hell do you think you're doing here? And what the hell was that yesterday? I know that was your doing," he spoke in an even, yet angered voice.
"A taste of what may happen if you don't turn the title for this lovely little convention center of yours over to me, its rightful owner," Franklyn said.
Murphy leaned forward, both palms resting on his desk. "You're crazy. I can't figure out what's gotten into your head that makes you think this is your building."
Franklyn came right up to the desk and the two men met eye to eye. "I'm the one that came up with the first draft to have a convention center here and you copied it!"
"I did no such thing. I was waiting to get the okay on the construction permit when you came up with that gaudy blue print," Murphy said.
Franklyn put his hand out. "Give me the title."
Murphy glared at the man's hand, then slapped it away. "No."
"I'm sorry you feel this way," Franklyn said. He turned and left the office, slamming the door after him.
Murphy sighed and shook his head. He sat down, then picked up the phone. "This is Murphy. I want security tripled immediately."
------------
Franklyn made his way downstairs to the convention, which was now in full swing. He entered the main room and began to walk through the throngs of people milling about.
Both Ralph and Pam were at the Whitney High table again. Pam was speaking with another woman, who... had some sort of high position. Ralph wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about. He was busy watching Franklyn walk around nonchalantly. Ralph pulled at his shirt collar, bringing out the jammies' collar a bit. He was able to keep his focus on him as he walked... and turned away when it looked as though Franklyn was looking in his direction.
Pam bade the woman goodbye, then turned to her husband, who was now glancing over his shoulder. "Ralph," she whispered, "what're you doing?"
"It's Franklyn," Ralph replied, whispered. He gave a slight nod in the direction of the man. "Seems as though he's alone. I don't see any of his men in here."
"Perhaps he's decided to do his own staking out this time," Pam suggested.
"Looks like it," Ralph agreed, then turned to Pam. "What would you say to shadowing him and see if we can get some sorely needed information to put this guy away?"
"I say lets go."
Ralph and Pam excused themselves from the table and began to follow Franklyn as he continued his way through the main hall, then out the entrance way. He headed through the main concourse, while Ralph and Pam waited just inside the entrance way. Franklyn went out the doors, going outside, and the couple began following again. They stopped by the doors and watched Franklyn get into the black Sedan.
"Come on, we're going to have to hurry if we don't want to lose him," Ralph said.
The Sedan pulled away from the curb, where it had been parked--and ticketed--in the fire lane, as Ralph and Pam ran to the station wagon, behind the Sedan. They got in and Ralph started the car, buckling in at the same time. Pam did the same, just before Ralph hurriedly pulled out of the parking spot.
"I'm willing to bet he's going back to his office building," Ralph said.
"Probably to give his men the okay to go back to the convention," Pam added.
They continued to follow in silence. They were the third car behind the Sedan just before it turned onto Harbor Boulevard. The light changed to green and the Sedan turned, and so did the station wagon. The Sedan turned into a parking garage next to the office building, while the station wagon continued down the street a few more buildings. It came to a stop on the street and the two got out.
"Ralph," Pam said, getting his attention, then motioned to the parking meter, "I don't have any change." The meter read "Violation."
Ralph walked up to the meter, glanced around, then pulled up his right shirt cuff. He pointed his index finger at the red "Violation," making it disappear and moving the little black arrow up to the two-hour mark. Turning, he caught the disapproving look on Pam's face. "Don't look at me like that. I don't have any change, either." He gave a half grin, then reached for her hand.
They crossed the street and headed towards the front doors of the building. "We can go in here. When they brought me here before, they took me in the back way. Whomever's out front won't recognize me," Pam said.
Ralph nodded. "Works for me." He pulled the door open, letting Pam in first and following directly behind. "Wait a second, Pam..."
Pam rejoined him, seeing that he was looking at a board noting various people and where their offices were. "Right. We very well can't go up to the desk asking for Franklyn."
Ralph pointed at the board. "Sixth floor, Snyder." They turned away and walked up to the desk.
The receptionist turned to them with a smile. "May I help you?"
"Yes, we're here to see Snyder. We don't have an appointment, but were hoping he'd have a few minutes," Ralph said.
"Sure, let me just ring up there, make sure Mr. Snyder is there." The receptionist picked up her phone and dialed a number. She spoke quietly for a few seconds, then hung up. "Mr. Snyder is actually in a meeting right now, but he should be out in about a half an hour. You may go upstairs and wait for him, if you'd like."
"That'll be fine, thank you," Pam said. They headed for the elevator banks and Ralph pushed the up button. It dinged and the doors opened. They stepped inside, Ralph hit the six button, and the doors closed.
"I can't help but wonder how many people working in this building are legitimate, if any are," Ralph commented.
"Hm. I'm still trying to remember how I recognized Franklyn," Pam said.
"I'm sure there will be something in his paper work that will jog your memory," Ralph said.
Pam nodded. "It isn't that it will really matter if I remember him or not, it just bothers me, though."
The elevator dinged at the sixth floor and the doors opened. They stepped out to find an empty hallway.
"Down this way," Pam said. "I overheard one of the gun men mention Franklyn's file room. It should be at the end of the hallway."
"Lead the way," Ralph said.
They continued to the end of the hall, then Pam tried the knob on the last door. "Ralph...?"
Ralph grinned. "What would you ever do without me?"
"Don't you mean what would I do without those magic jammies of yours?" She gave him a wink.
"You got me." Ralph pointed an index finger at the knob. A moment later it turned and the door opened under its own power. "Voila."
They entered the room and found that it had a similar set up to an office, but the room itself held several file cabinets and very little else.
"This could take a while. Ralph, any way you might be able to vibe in on at least which cabinet is holding what we're looking for?"
"If it's been touched recently, probably, though I'd guess that other files have been touched recently, too." Ralph paused and shrugged. "I'll do my best." He walked over to the nearest cabinet and placed his palms flat on the top-most drawer. He did this for every drawer of every cabinet and any time he got vibes from one, Pam placed a sticky note on the drawer. By the time he finished, half of the drawers had sticky notes.
"Well, at least we only have half as many to look through," Ralph commented, then sighed.
Each of them pulled a drawer open and began flipping through file folders. They started a small pile of papers relating to other buildings that caught Franklyn's interest, including the office building they were currently in.
Ralph pulled a folder out and flipped it open. "Pam... I think I found it. Look."
Pam walked over to him and read the open page over his shoulder. "I remember this case. Murphy owns the convention center and Franklyn was trying to steal it away from him by saying he had the original idea, but he never produced the blue prints he said he had so the court ruled in Murphy's favor. That's how I recognized Franklyn. I'd done research for this while one of the firm's other partners handled it. This was just before I had become a junior partner."
Ralph flipped through the other pages. "It seems as though this file holds all of the different buildings Franklyn's had an unhealthy interest in. There's all sorts of notes on supposed dealings, including how to steal these places away from their rightful owners--"
Suddenly, the office door opened and Franklyn stepped in, flanked by Joey. "Well, what have we here? It would seem as though our two heroes have returned for more," Franklyn said.
Ralph handed the file folder to Pam, then slipped off his suit jacket and handed that to her, also. He turned to Franklyn. "I've had just about enough of you and your hired goons."
Joey snorted.
"Have you, now?" Franklyn asked. The rest of the men came in next. "Now, what do you think?"
Ralph rolled up his shirt sleeves, so that the red sleeves of the jammies showed. Snickers rose through the men, the occasional comment about long, red underwear making its way to Ralph's ears.
Franklyn smirked and decided to take the cue from his men. "Do you really think you're going to scare us with your red underwear?" This caused them all to laugh, including Franklyn himself.
Ralph, trying his best to stay calm, so as to not make human-sized holes in the floor, couldn't keep from blushing in embarrassment. At least I can hopefully hide the rest of the suit from them. He took advantage of the men's laughter and advanced on Franklyn. He picked him up by the lapels with ease. He would've used one hand, but didn't want it to be that unrealistic. Still, the men gawked, surprised by Ralph's display of strength.
"Put me down! Do you hear me? Put me down!" Franklyn called out.
Joey aimed a kick into Ralph's side. The foot connected, sending Joey to the floor, holding his foot in agony.
"You fool!" Franklyn said, swinging his legs back and forth, trying to make Ralph drop him.
Ralph glanced at the blubbering Joey, then back at Franklyn. "You want to get down? Well, why didn't you say so!" Ralph tossed him lightly across the room, where he hit the wall and landed in a heap, unconscious. Ralph dusted his hands off, then waved on the rest of the men. "Who's next?"
Steve stepped up, grinning. "How about me, little man?" He didn't wait for a response and simply stepped up to Ralph and swung a fist toward his jaw. Ralph caught the fist in both hands and held it. Steve pushed with all his might, trying to finish the swing, but Ralph kept a steady hold on the meaty fist. Slowly, a grin formed on Ralph's face and, as it did, Steve's eyes widened. Ralph pushed Steve's fist away, spinning the large man around. Once Steve did a complete 360-turn, Ralph stopped his spin by sending a punch of his own into the man's gut. Steve doubled over, coughing.
This set off a chain reaction among the other men, getting the idea they'd be better off to all charge Ralph at once instead of one by one, seeing as how even Steve had trouble.
As the remaining men advanced on Ralph, Pam slipped out the door and back down the hall until she found an open office with a phone and dialed 911. When she returned, she found many bodies sprawled on the floor, either groaning or unconscious.
Ralph stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips, surveying the 'damage.' He held his arms out and grinned. "Ta daa!" He stepped over a few 'bodies' and went to Pam, putting an arm around her shoulders. Together, they headed back down to the main floor to wait for the police.
------------
Epilogue
A few days later, the station wagon pulled into the drive way of the Hinkley home. As the couple got out of the car, the front door of the house opened and Bill came out.
"Welcome back, you two, it's about time!" Bill said, box of Milkbones tucked snuggly under one arm.
"Good to see you, too, Bill," Ralph said, rolled his eyes, then turned to Pam. "We'll unpack the car later."
The trio walked into the house and gathered in the living room, Pam and Ralph on the couch, and Bill taking up a seat on the coffee table.
"Anything exciting happen?" Bill asked.
"Not really, we just had several very nice, relaxing days," Ralph said, a knowing grin crossing his face.
"I know that look, kid, you look like you just ate a canary," Bill said.
"Really, Bill," Pam said, the same grin crossing her face.
"Bunk! What a bunch of drivel. Come on, you two, what really happened?" Bill said.
Pam sighed, turning to Ralph. "It looks like we're going to have to tell Bill all about our adventure after all," she said, grinning.
"Adventure?" Bill echoed, his interest piqued.
Ralph reclined back, propping his feet on the coffee table. "You got us, Bill. We had a scenario."
"Without ol' Uncle Bill? Why didn't you call me in for back up?" Bill asked.
Ralph gave a slight shrug. "Truthfully, we really didn't need you."
"That isn't what I heard." Bill leaned over and pulled a many-times folded newspaper out from under the coffee table and unfolded it to show them the front page. "Your bust made the headlines."
The couple just grinned at each other.
"Go ahead, rub it in the geezer's face. You know Carlisle's been going on about this since it happened? He can't get over how two civilians were able to bust the head man while half a dozen FBI agents couldn't figure out heads or tails in the guy's scheme."
Pam relayed how she recognized Franklyn to Bill, also explaining how it was that they were able to make the bust.
Bill stood. "This is the last time I'm letting you two go on vacation without me. From now one, where one of us goes, the others follow."
"It's going to be awfully cramped in the bathroom, then," Ralph quipped.
Bill groaned and headed for the door. "I'll see you later. Maybe then all three of us can work on a scenario together." He closed the door after him.
"That went rather well," Pam commented.
"Yeah, not too bad," Ralph agreed, then paused. He draped an arm around Pam's shoulders. "How would you like to celebrate our bust?"
Pam grinned. "I'd love to."
They both leaned in and met in a kiss.
The End