Chapter 33

 

 

Around ten in the morning, Don calls me to let me know that Agent Millhouse has managed to drop a convincing hint of the Fox News interview to her media contacts which will take place on the six o’clock news tonight.

 

“This will endear her to her media contacts as well as initiate the spread of the upcoming news event throughout the journalistic world because like almost every other group of professionals they have an efficient grapevine too. Chet, I sure hope I don’t botch this up. I’m no actor. I can’t even fool my little nieces and nephews when I play Santa on Christmas Eve.”

 

“You’ll do fine, Don. Think of it as pulling the wool over the eyes of Piedmont. That should add all of the believability you’ll need.” Laughing I add, “Has he come out of his office yet?”

 

Laughing in reply he says, “No one has seen him. I don’t know if he even went home last night. Devious rapscallion that he is, I wouldn’t put it past him to be trying to come up with something that will save his sorry hide from being exiled from the epicenter of FBIdom.”

 

“I’ll be watching you on the news tonight. Wear a blue shirt. It looks better on TV than a white one.”

 

“Listen to the man. All of a sudden he’s a TV production know-it-all.”

 

Laughing I say, “Hey, after watching TV for over four decades I’ve become somewhat of an expert on boob tube attire. And don’t forget to hold that tummy in. Remember you’re going to be an ambassador for the Bureau and you want to make a god impression.”

 

Before he can come back at me I hang up and start to tap Janet’s number into my cell when Felicity comes over to my desk and says, “You have a visitor.”

 

Looking over at her desk, I see a young carrot topped boy about thirteen or fourteen years old and I ask Felicity what he wants. “All he will say to me is that he has to talk with you.”

 

I’ve never had anyone so young come through the door before and my curiosity is aroused, so I tell Felicity to bring him over. As she returns to her desk I ask, “Are you looking to hire a PI?”

 

“Oh no. I couldn’t afford one if I needed one anyway. I know who you are and what you do because I heard my dad mention you once to a customer. I’m Timmy Ryder. My dad owns the luncheonette across the street and I sometimes come in to help him bus the counter and booths and do other things after school, on school holidays and weekends. I’ve seen you come in a number of times to have a sandwich, fries and a soda.”

 

“Okay, so why do you want to talk with me?”

 

“I want to know if the reward for information about the Crusader’s whereabouts is still on the table. I know you’re working with the FBI because I’ve seen you on TV and my dad has been reading about you in the papers, so I figured you’d know about the reward.”

 

“Do you know where the Crusader is staying?”

 

“Answer my question first please.”

 

Pushy kid, but he’s got manners.

 

“As far as I know it is. It was made by a private citizen and not the FBI, but I could find out for sure if you’ll give me some idea of the kind of information you have.”

 

“You won’t try to pull a fast one and keep the reward for yourself?”

 

“The reward is only being offered to private citizens. Law enforcement personnel or anyone working with them are not eligible.”

 

This seems to placate his concern and he says, “We could really use the money. My kid sister needs an operation and we can’t afford the medical expense. The luncheonette is doing okay, but it doesn’t bring in the kind of money it will cost to make my sister better.”

 

I decide not to pry into his sister’s medical problem and instead ask, “What do you know about the Crusader that you think will lead to you getting the reward?”

 

“I know what kind of car he drives and I have his license plate number.”

 

“How do you know it was the Crusader’s car?”

 

“I’ve seen his picture on TV a lot and the other day when I was riding my bike from school to the luncheonette I saw him driving out of the bank parking lot and memorized his plate number until I could get off my bike to write it down before I forgot it.”

 

“We’ve been assuming that the Crusader has been wearing disguises because his picture has been plastered everywhere. I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing one when you spotted him.”

 

“He was wearing sunglasses and a Washington Nationals baseball cap when I first spotted him. He had pulled up behind another car waiting for a break in traffic to pull out onto the street. While he was waiting for the car ahead of him to pull out he took the glasses and cap off to rub his nose and brush his hair with his hand. It was his hair that made me take a closer look otherwise I would have ridden right on by and never given him a second look. His hair looks like a skunk’s pelt or a zebra’s coat, black with wide white streaks.”

 

“Why didn’t you call the police right away with this information?”

 

“Hey, this guy shoots anybody he thinks is his enemy. I figured the police will get this guy sooner or later without my help so there’s no need for me to stick my neck out just for some money. When I found out about my sister though that changed everything.”

 

“Okay Timmy. Do your folks know about this?”

 

“No, I didn’t want them to worry about my safety. They have enough worries with my sister.”

 

I’m beginning to like this kid. He’s got guts and he cares about his family.

 

“Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. You give me a description of the car and the license plate number and while you’re sitting there and listening to every word I say Im going to call the FBI agent I’ve been working with and give the information to him and tell him where it came from so he’ll know who should get the reward if it leads to the Crusader’s capture. Fair enough?”

 

Timmy doesn’t answer right away. He just stares at me like he is trying to see inside my head to see if I am telling the truth or not. Finally he says, “If things go the way we want them to, how long will it take for me to get the reward?”

 

“I’m sure we can speed things up enough so you can get medical help for your sister ASAP.”

 

“Okay. He was driving a 2012 spruce mica Toyota Tundra pickup that looked like it just came out of the showroom. The license plate number is EH – 8562 and it has one of those special antennas on the roof of the cab for transmitting and receiving all kinds of frequencies.”

 

“What a come down. The guy used to drive an Audi S7. And what’s spruce mica and how do you know about it?”

 

“I know a lot about trucks and cars. It’s a shade of green like the spruce tree. Now, please call this FBI guy now. I’m supposed to be on a field trip with my class at school and I snuck away to come here. I want to get back before my teacher notices I’m not with the group.”

 

“Okay.”

 

I call Don, put him on speaker so Timmy can hear both sides of the conversation and then introduce Timmy to Don and tell him about Timmy’s concern about getting gypped out of the reward. “Don, we might have finally caught a break.” I relay what Timmy has told me and Don says, “Thank you for coming forward, Timmy. I know this guy is kind of scary and it took courage for you to approach Mr. Dawson. Don’t you worry about getting the reward. It’s yours if this leads to putting an end to this man’s killing frenzy.”

 

“Thank you sir.”

 

Don says, “I’ll run the plate through the data base and see what turns up and see that the police departments within a hundred mile radius get this info right away and ask them to issue BOLOs ASAP.” Click.

 

“Thanks for your help Mr. Dawson. The next time you come into the luncheonette you’ve got a triple decker pistachio cone waiting for you. I know that’s your favorite.”

 

“Looking forward to it.”

 

Timmy splits and I reach for my phone again to call Janet. This time no one comes into the office who wants to talk with me. “Hi Chet.”

 

“Hi Janet. How are you feeling his morning?”

 

“A lot better. Thanks for asking. Where do we stand on the TV interview?”

 

“That’s one of the reasons I’m calling. It’s a go at six tonight on Fox News and Agent Millhouse managed to poke the journalist rumor mill, so things should go as planned.”

 

“Great. What are the other reasons you called?”

 

“There’s only one other. We caught a break out of left field a few minutes ago.” I tell her about Timmy Ryder’s visit and what Don’s in the process of doing with the info Timmy gave us.

 

“Chet, that pickup has to be a rental or a used one he bought using an alias and phony ID or someone’s name whose identity he stole or the truck itself was stolen. Aldrich is just too cautious to leave a trail that easy for us to follow by using his own name. From what I’ve learned about the Aldrich’s, he normally drives an Audi and she drives a Cadillac Escalade.”

 

“You’re probably right, but if that car is spotted anywhere it will attract cops like a picnic does ants. Hopefully, Aldrich will be behind the wheel or somewhere nearby. For the moment, it improves our chances of catching him. Of course, he can always change his ride.”

 

“It would be nice if things went down that easily, but this guy is extremely lucky and very smart, so I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

 

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

 

“Do you have any plans for dinner tonight?

 

“I haven’t given it any thought.”

 

“Tonight’s my mom’s last night in town and she wants to coddle me one more time before she leaves with a home cooked meal and she’s a fabulous cook. I haven’t a clue about what she’ll be serving, but it’ll be good I know that. Would you like to join us?”

 

“A culinary surprise is a lot better than the ones the Crusader has been throwing at us. What time and what kind of wine does your mother like? I’ll bring a white and a red so we’ll have all bases covered.”

 

“You don’t have to do that.”

 

“Yes I do if I want to make a good impression on your mother.”

 

After a slight pause Janet softly says as if someone is close by and she doesn’t want them to hear, “You want to impress my mother?”

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

Laughing she says, “A word of warning, climbing Mt. Everest would be easier than impressing my mother. She sees ulterior motives in everything. Mr. Dawson, do you have an ulterior motive?”

 

“Oh yeah.”

 

Laughing even harder she says, “If you come over sometime between five-thirty and six we can watch Ericson’s TV debut together.”

 

“I’ll be there. Bye.”

 

Yeah, the lady definitely has gotten to me.