Chapter Ten: Plan - Part One
Two hours later, I had Dani and Lester with me, covering up the letters with tarps. I'd have to get the whole roof cleaned, and if that didn't work, I'd have to get a new roof. The pink was so bright that I wouldn't be surprised if you could see it from a helicopter.
Lester had sworn he had told no one I was here, and that he didn't put the lettering there. I believed him.
I don't remember what shock was like, it's just one of those things you try to forget, but I'm pretty sure I was close enough to it. I sat down on my drive way, exhausted to the point of numbness, and I just couldn't worry about anything. I knew it should've worried me that someone else knew I was in Hervey Bay, but I was so exhausted. I was ready for a nice long sleep, but that would mean I'd have to get up. And I didn't want to do that at that moment.
"Bomber, calm down. It's just a random graffiti. And if worse comes to worse, we both know someone who would help in a second." Lester said, leaning against my fence. It took me a second, but when I figured out who he was saying I held in my glowing red eyes.
"There is no way in hell I am calling Ranger! I came here to be here by myself! I will not. Bring. Him. Here." I had stood up sometime during my rant and ended up chest to face with Lester. I could almost feel the steam coming from my ears
"I wasn't talking about Ranger, bomber. I was talking about Dom. But now that you said it, why did you automatically think of Ranger? Your subconscious trying telling you something?"
"Spidey-sense, Lester, not subconscious. And no, the Sense isn't tingling yet." I didn't answer his question about Ranger, because I didn't know myself. No good letting him know that though.
"If you ever want to talk to any of them Steph, I have a secure line not connected to Rangeman. I can hook you up, no harm to your haven. Just a thought," and he walked away to his car.
Dani looked at him walking away, more likely watching his nice butt. I was thinking about what he said, and I couldn't think of a single good thing I could say to them. Nothing I would want to tell them, and I couldn't say I'd been thinking of them because I hadn't really. I was living my life, and they wouldn't want to know about the life I was living without them – a good life. Who would want to know that?
"He has a point, Chicky, you should probably tie up loose ends. Then, maybe, you could not worry about them ever again," Dani shrugged and sat down next to me on my drive way.
"I'll probably always be unconsciously worried about them coming here to drag me back, and I don't think that a phone call will help with that, Sugar. But I'll give it some thought, and I do miss Lula and Connie… not that I love them more than you and Jackie, but I love them differently. I guess it's kind of like you have a high school sweet heart and then you have your husband – different loves. I just want to forget this high school sweet heart story, and move onto matrimonial bliss. Wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, but not at the price of losing my family. Selene, you need to get past this, and you need to do it before they do find out where you are. I don't want to lose you, Chicky, you're part of the family here and if they do decide to drag you back, we'll be on the other side playing tug a war with you as the rope. Got it?" Dani grinned.
I laughed and threw my arms around here, hugging her. "Come on, I have some popcorn and a few movies begging to be watched. Let's call Jackie and get him here for a night in," I got up and pulled her up too.
"That's fine with me, as long as we can actually get a hold of him. I seriously don't know where he goes anymore." Dani complained to me as we walked to my front door. She opened it and went to collapse on my L couch in front of the large TV I got a few months ago. I closed the door and looked through the movies.
"Neither do I. It's confusing. Does he seem even more happy than normal to you? I could swear he is just getting happier by the day." I put Nightmare Before Christmas in the DVD player and sat back as well. I sunk into the cushy sofa.
"Yeah. Think he has a new honey? The last time that happened he was practically delirious. Plus, he is hardly around and we don't know where he is. He's gotta be somewhere."
"If he did, wouldn't he have told us? I mean, we're his very good friends, maybe his best friends. Why would he keep it from us?" I pressed play on the DVD player, and listened distractedly to This Is Halloween.
"I don't know. I mean, he has kept things from me before, but I don't think he would keep me out of the loop about this. He would be really happy, unable to keep it a secret from us. We'll just have to interrogate him."
I laughed, "Oh yeah, with the spotlight and good cop, bad cop routine. Could you actually picture us doing that?"
She turned to look at me with a wicked smile on her face. I thought about it for a second, then returned the smile.
"Something tells me, we're going to go find a spot light." Dani nodded.
&&&
The office was quiet again. With hardly anybody in Hervey Bay that would come into the office, it was left silent besides Dani's typing. More people were jumping bail once they realised that the lead bounty hunters were away, so I had a lot to do. But today was the day.
"You got everything Dani?" I asked under my breath as I walked up to the office counter.
"Yeah, everything is set and ready to be used. I can't believe we're actually doing this," she giggled, "I feel like a super cool spy or something."
"For this to work, we have to be super cool spies. This is a dangerous mission, I mean, he could smother us with whatever his hairstyle of the moment is," I said, remembering his afro.
"Not to mention stab us with his stiletto heals," she hmmed. We took a minute to imagine Jackie attacking us with his label stiletto healed boots before we shuddered from the visual.
"So, super cool spies. We can work with that… But you did get the extra thick rope, right?" I asked, flashing to the visual again.
"Yes, got a discount on it too, since I loaded up on plants and planting supplies. You are still going to help me in my yard, aren't you?" Dani had decided that her yard was too plain after watching Better Homes and Gardens on local TV. I found it interesting to watch people do all the work of finding what works and doesn't in a garden or home, so all you had to do was go and buy what they said. Easy as. Still didn't mean I was redecorating my own home.
"Yup. What else would I be doing? We'll hopefully rope Jackie into it too," Dani giggled at my lame attempt at a pun just as Jackie walked in. Dani quickly tried to stifle her laugh, but ended up choking.
"What's so funny?" Jackie asked. I looked at him. Today was checkers. Black and light yellow checker top, and black and grey checker pants. I was tempted to look at his socks, but refrained in the case that he may actually stiletto me.
"Nothing really, just telling Dani a Phantom joke I read on the web," I said. Phantom was Dani's new obsession, a.k.a Phantom of the Opera. I liked the 2003 movie, but Dani went all out – books, and all the movies. It was rather disturbing, but also quite funny when she hummed a tune from the musical unaware she was humming.
"Oh, okay. How are we today, girls?" He asked, sidling up next to me at the counter.
"Oh, nothing, just making plans like usual. So tell me, Jackie, where have you been? We hardly ever see you. Where do you go?" Jackie looked like a deer caught in headlights. He looked for an escape route as I rounded on him, Dani coming out from the desk. "You going to tell us? We can do this the easy way, or the fun way. And when I say fun, I meant for Dani and I."
Jackie tried to make a last minute save, "I don't know what you're talking about."
I rolled my eyes, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. But, since you won't tell us, the fun way it is." I pulled out my stun gun behind my back, waiting for it to boot up.
"Hey, Jackie, we're your best friends, you can tell us anything, I mean— " Zaaaap. Dani and I caught Jackie before he hit the ground.
"Very good distraction. Guilt tripping, I never would have thought about it. Gave me the time though, so any avenue when needed," I nodded in approval at Dani. She'd done very well at distracting him so I could use the stun gun without causing too much of a scene.
"Yeah, but when I guilt tripped him, I started feeling a little guilty. I mean, he is my best friend, and I'm stun gunning him? Doesn't seem right," she said.
"Well, he's the one not telling us something. We haven't kept anything from him, so why should he keep something from us?" I asked, heaving Jackie over to the couch. He'd be out for a bit. I already knew that nothing bad would happen to him with the stun gun, because I'd checked ahead. Ever tried making a conversation about what would happen if you were stun gunned into a normal conversation? Not as easy as it seems. 'Hey, would you die if I used a stun gun on you?' not the smartest idea. "Besides, I'm the one who stun gunned him, not you. You're completely innocent."
"You're right. You're the one who did it, so you're the one to blame. Gotcha," she nodded. "Hey, uh, Lee? How exactly are we going to get him into the upper office?"
I thought about it. We'd have to heave him over to the elevator, down a long hall, through a heavy door, and get him situated on a seat like a dead weight, and then tie him up while trying to get him to sit straight while he had no reaction. Oh, and without trying to wake him up. I hadn't thought it that far through. Truth is, I wasn't expecting my stun gun to actually work. Isn't that the way things would normally go for me?
"Uhm… I don't know?" I asked. This is one of those times where I wished I was the Hulk. Super human strength and all. Though, I don't think green is my colour…
"Well, why don't we get someone to help? Call Lester, maybe?" She blushed. Awee, that is so cute. Dani has a crush on Lester. But then again, any woman in her right mind would have a crush on Lester.
"Maybe. Hey, how's it going with Gavin?"
"Oh yeah, everything is going great with Gavin. He took me out to the Bemuda Triangle club the other night. It was so much fun," she giggled. "You should have seen his clubbing outfit," she got a far-away look in her eyes.
I thought about Gavin for a minute, then tried to imagine him in a clubbing outfit. I couldn't manage it, because all I'd seen him in was a casual suit. When I was able to imagine him in tight jeans and a bright polo shirt, I had to shake it out of my head. It was best not to go there, because in my mind it wasn't pretty.
"Okay. I'll call Lester," I sighed. I was going to get a lot of crap for this. Lester took every moment he could to ridicule me, because he didn't get the chance often enough.
I walked a little away from Dani and the unconscious Jackie, just in case I woke him up. I didn't think it was healthy to be stun gunned twice in the span of an hour, if he woke up.
Just as I was about to press Call Send, Lester walked in the door. I saw the surprise in his eyes as he looked at Jackie with Dani standing over him looking worried, and me just about to call someone on the phone. He did what any sane person would think.
"What happened? Did somebody attack Jackie?" He asked.
"In a way," I replied. "We're going to try and get some information out of him, but we just discovered a hole in the plan. We can't get him upstairs."
Lester looked at me for a minute, calculating what I just told him. Then, a grin spread across his face.
"You knocked him out?"
"Stun gunned him."
He started laughing straight out. A loud laugh that echoed in the room.
I looked at Jackie, worried he would wake up. He stirred, but didn't sit up or open his eyes. Hallelujah.
"So, who were you going to call? Obviously not the police," Lester had a shit-eating grin on his face.
"No. I was going to call you. Can you carry him upstairs?"
"I don't know if I want any part in this little scheme," he said. "What do I get out of it?"
"Amusement. You get to watch us torture the information out of him," I replied, smiling a little.
"Torture him, how?"
I nodded to Dani, who pulled out a hand full of pink feathers out of her purse. The feathers were the kind you could find at a craft store, which came in several different colours. The pink ones were all that was left of Dani's collection of them. She told me she used the other colours in a craft experiment with Gavin. I hadn't questioned any further than that.
Lester raised an eyebrow at them, and then looked at me.
"Jackie is extremely ticklish," I grinned.