Disclaimer: Chuck Norris, Aaron Norris, CBS and others own the characters of "Walker Texas Ranger". Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation and no copyright infringement is intended. This is a fan fiction intended for entertainment purposes only and I am not making any money from it.
Chapter 13: Getting Past Obstacles
Lucy set one of the cardboard coffee holders on the table while Darryl set down the second one. They had stopped at her favorite coffeehouse to bring the Rangers some excellent coffee. She was wondering if she should have brought some of the delectable cinnamon buns that the café owner Tess made from scratch, but then she saw two boxes of donuts on the table. It occurred to her that she was glad she didn't, since the Rangers already had enough sugary treats for the day.
"Wow, decent coffee," Gage commented as he jumped up from his desk and rushed to the table.
A barely noticeable smile came to her lips, knowing that she was correct in her thinking about her friends having enough sugar.
"I made that pot of coffee this morning," Sydney responded pointing at the coffee pot glowering at her partner.
"Uh, I meant, uh…" Gage mumbled, stumbling over his words as he tried to come up with something to say.
"Here's your cup, Sydney," Darryl said as he picked it up, brought it over to her and held it before her.
She took the cup from Darryl's hand and thanked him.
"Where are Walker and Trivette?" Darryl asked, working on distracting the argument that was about to come about and it had worked.
Sydney shot a look at Gage that Lucy knew meant that she wasn't going to forget his comment and that it was going to be dealt with later on. The Ranger turned to Darryl and Lucy with a friendly face. "They're testifying in court."
Darryl nodded his head. "Sounds like they're going to busy for awhile."
Lucy looked at her partner. "Not too long, I hope." The timing for this case had already passed the 48-hour mark that meant that it was going to get exponentially harder to solve.
"So, we still haven't found Nicholas Kingly," Lucy remarked after taking a long drink of her coffee.
Sydney sighed as she looked down at the cup of coffee in her hands.
"What did his former landlords and neighbors say about him?" Darryl asked.
"They all had the same story and that it was basically he was bad news," Gage answered with frustration.
"Did the neighbors or landlord see anyone interesting stopping in for a visit?"
"Nope and nope," Gage replied to Lucy's question, shaking his head.
"We still haven't found out where he was staying the last six months," Darryl reminded them.
"He could have been staying with Ana Welles."
Sydney set her coffee down on her desk and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't think so, Gage. We spoke with her neighbors, remember? She never had any visitors."
"Unless her visitors snuck in at night and left before anyone in the neighborhood woke up," Darryl mused.
Gage waved his coffee towards Darryl in agreement of his theory. "We'll just have to go speak to Kurt Kingly and see if he knows his son's whereabouts."
"Sydney and I should go," Lucy said as her empty coffee cup landed in the trash.
"What? Why?" Gage asked, setting his cup of coffee down on his desk after he had spilled some on his hands.
Lucy smiled. "You have more work to do. You need to look into the financials of Nicholas Kingly and Kurt Kingly."
"Oh, come on. I've practically lived at my desk for the past few days," Gage complained. "I mean, the only time I've been out was when Sydney and I did those interviews."
"Then another day won't hurt," she remarked as she followed Lucy to the door.
"I'm sure Darryl will give you a hand," Lucy said with a grin when she saw a look pass between the two men.
She punched the button for the elevator and waited for with Sydney for it to arrive. She started to plan what she was going to say to Mr. Kingly and how she was going to get Nicholas to come out of hiding.
"Well, he's in his office," Sydney said as she put away her cell phone.
"Good, let's go," as Lucy stepped into the elevator.
Sydney had a frown on her face as she stepped into the elevator. "He hasn't been forthcoming with any information but I have a sense that you have a plan."
Lucy tilted her head and looked at Sydney with an impish grin on her face. "We just need to push some buttons and I know exactly which ones need to be pushed."
They stepped off the elevator into the classically decorated reception room and stepped up to the receptionist desk. When she looked up at them, her lips formed a taut line and her eyes narrowed.
"Mr. Kingly doesn't want to speak to you," she said before the two women could say a word.
Lucy put on her best innocent smile and glanced at the nameplate on the desk. She wasn't surprised that Kingly had warned his receptionist about them and was slightly impressed that he had even thought of showing pictures of them to her. "Well, Ms. Greene, we just have a few questions for him. Purely routine."
"He has informed me that if you or any other officers of the law should come in here, that I should give you the number of his lawyer so you may ask your questions that way," she responded tartly.
The detective thought for a moment, considering which one of her ideas that she had though of during the ride over that would be the best one to use. She decided on one and her eyes held steady onto Ms. Green's eyes. "Yes, we could do it that way. Of course, I would ask the lawyer some questions and then, a few hours later I would have even more questions. Tomorrow I will call and ask some more questions through Mr. Kingly's lawyer. I always seem to have an endless supply of questions. I think Mr. Kingly will be spending quite a bit of money on his lawyer when he could just answer my questions without having to spend a dime."
The woman behind the desk bit the bottom of her lip as creases formed in her forehead. Lucy maintained her gaze, knowing that if she showed any sign of weakness, she never would be passed this obstacle sitting before her.
Her eyes never wavered, but Ms. Greene looked away and shifted in her chair. "I will speak with Mr. Kingly." She stood up and walked to the office door marked with his name. "Wait here."
When the office door closed, Sydney looked at Lucy with admiration. "That was a good plan."
"Yeah. It was either that or break down the door and force him to tell us where is son is hiding."
Sydney chuckled softly. "I think you chose the right plan."
Ms. Greene came out of Kingly's office and motioned for them to enter. Once they entered the room, the receptionist closed the door behind them with a soft slam.
"Good morning, Mr. Kingly," Sydney greeted.
Mr. Kingly's face was red with anger but he took a couple of breaths before he clasped his hands together and set them the desk before him. "Spare me your mock pleasantries and ask your useless questions."
Lucy ignored the chairs placed in front of the massive and gleaming mahogany desk and decided to get right to the point. "We just want to know where we can find your son, Nicholas."
She could see the trepidation appear in his eyes when he heard the name of his son.
He bounced back from his initial shock and returned to his tough executive appearance. "I haven't spoken to my son in weeks."
"Ok. Do you have an idea where he liked to hang out? Who are his friends?" Sydney asked.
"What does my son have to do with anything?" Mr. Kingly waved his arms in frustration. "I don't understand why you are even here. My computer files haven't been hacked and no one has broken in. This is all a waste of my time."
"They are simple questions, Mr. Kingly. Unless you don't want to answer our questions because you have something to hide."
"As I said, I haven't spoken to my son in weeks. I don't know where he hangs out or who he interacts with."
Lucy knew that was all she was getting to get from him. "Here is my card," she said as she pulled it out of her coat pocket, set it on Kingly's desk and used her forefinger to slid it across the desk until it was below the man's nose. "If you hear from your son, I would like to speak with him."
Lucy didn't wait for him to answer as she turned around and left the office. She said good-bye to the receptionist with a smile and a small nod of her head.
Sydney had followed silently behind her and waited until the stood in front of the elevator before saying a word. "Well, that went better than I expected. So, you got a trace on his phone?"
"No. He's not going to call from here. He's going to use his cell phone within the next half an hour."
Sydney's right eyebrow rose skeptically. "How would you know that?"
She shrugged her shoulders in reply as she entered the elevator. "I just do."
"Hmm," Sydney replied as she stepped in the elevator and stood next to Lucy.
Lucy hit the button for the ground floor. She hoped her gut instinct was right because they needed a lead on Nicholas. She hoped that her plan would work.