Reunion Fever Ch. 03

"Hello Mom, Sheriff." I said, coming up to them.

"Hello, son." my mother said. "Have you solved that incident last night for the local Police?"

"What incident is that?" Lori Lovlin asked as she came up to us, wearing a denim shirt, a tube top underneath it, and a pair of jeans so tight they looked painted on.

I said "Oh, some prankster was trying to spook some people that think they're still in high school and were watching the submarine races near the Lake, if you get my drift. And no, I didn't solve it, nor do I think anything of it."

I'd said that because of Lori's presence, and I could see that my mother was not fooled for a moment. We were rescued when old Sheriff Greenwood came in with a box of table decorations. "Ah, great! Thank you so much!" Lori said as she took the box and headed towards the head tables at the far end of the room.

"Just a prank?" my mother said softly.

"And how did you know about it, one wonders?" I retorted.

"Sheriff Hall called both of us." said Sheriff Greenwood. "He said he thought it wasn't anything, but to keep our eyes and ears peeled at the Reunion Dinner tonight, and watch over Craig and Jenny Reynolds."

My mother said "I'm wondering who would want to bring harm to Craig or Jenny---"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." said a voice behind us. We turned to see Captain Leanne Wisocky and Detective Ben Watson, who had just come into the ballroom. Leanne said "I need to speak to Lori Lovlin, and her associate Niko... Niko..."

"Lori!" I called out. As she came over, I called out "Niko!" He came over.

Leanne said "I'm Captain Wisocky of the Apple Grove Police, and this is Detective Watson. You're Lori Lovlin?"

"Yes." Lori said. "What's this about?"

"And you're Nikoooo....?" Leanne said, wanting Niko to give her his last name.

But all he said was "Yes."

"What's your last name, Niko?" Leanne asked, irritation in her voice.

"Nimzovich." said Niko. "And like my client Ms. Lovlin asked, what is this about?"

"Are you her lawyer?" Leanne asked, and very astutely.

"No." Niko said, volunteering no more. "And again, what is this about?"

Leanne said "We need to ask you a few questions about your whereabouts last night." Leanne said.

"Why?" Niko said. Leanne's face flushed red; she was getting mad.

"Guys," I said to Niko and Lori, "y'all need to cooperate with the Apple Grove Police Chief and Detective Watson. And Captain, you do need to tell them what it's about if you're going to interrogate them. Now why don't y'all sit down at that table there, and the rest of us will go to the other end of the room, okay?"

Leanne did not like it, but she had Lori and Niko sit down at one of the round tables that seated four people. I shepherded everyone else towards the other side of the banquet hall.

"Hey, what are these photos on the side?" I asked, seeing several long tables with poster boards, upon which were attached photographs of families.

My mother said: "Oh, we asked people to send photos of their families. During the reception there will be a slide show of people as they looked then, and what they look like now."

But before I could look further at the photos, I heard Lori call out "Oh, Commmannnderrr?" And yes, that jarred my attention; it sounded like my dreams when Angela Harlan appeared before me...

I went over. Lori said "Would you please tell these Officers that we were with you and your wife last night?"

"They were with me and Laura last night." I said, deadpan flat, as I pulled up a chair and sat down.

Leanne said "We know you were with them at dinner at Luigi's last night. You made quite a splash with the manager, what with that big tip you gave the whole staff. So after that? You gave them a ride to your hotel?"

"Yes." I said. "And Laura and I went to Lori's room, which is next to ours."

Leanne said "And what time did you leave?"

"About six a.m." I said. Detective Watson looked shocked.

Captain Wisocky pretended to. She said "You stayed in their room with them all night?"

"Don't act so surprised, Leanne." I said. "Let's just cut to the chase, here. You know Laura and I have an open marriage, and you've seen my other kids Ross, Ian, and Tasha. So yes Laura and I stayed in Lori and Niko's room all night. Having sex."

"I'd heard rumors." said Watson, grinning as he shook his head. "You're way out of our league here in Fillmore County, Mr. Crowbar." No doubt about that, I thought acerbically to myself, but held my tongue from speaking that out loud.

Leanne knew I had thrown those last two words at her in a personal affront, but she just said: "And it's lucky for you, Ms. Lovlin and Mr. Nimzovich, that you have that alibi. We know you have issues with Craig Reynolds from your high school days, and we know you had something of a confrontation with him at the reception last night."

"So what?" Lori asked angrily.

Leanne replied: "The 'so what' is that someone tried to stab him... or his wife... last night. Either of you fit the general description of the suspect: short, but broad-shouldered. In fact, Ms. Lovlin, you fit the description better than Mr. Nimzovich does. Any idea who might want to harm him... besides yourself?"

That got Lori's hackles up. "I've moved on from Craig. Ten years moved on. My life is a hundred times better now than it would've been if Fat Girl hadn't taken him away from me, so I guess I should be grateful to her for that."

Detective Watson said "I believe you and Commander Troy when you both say you were together all last night from dinnertime to this morning. So I need your help... is there anyone you can think of that might want to harm either Craig or Jenny Reynolds?"

Lori said "Craig beat out Roddy Baker for the starting quarterback job when we were in school, and I've heard stories that Roddy never really got over that. Maybe the Reunion is giving him flashbacks. But I didn't keep up with Craig at all since we graduated, so I don't know who he might've made enemies with in the last ten years."

Niko said "I heard something last night from some people. Craig Reynolds obtained venture capital for the projects his company is working on, and a good number of his investors are from this area. The time to pay the money back is drawing near, and the word getting out is that his project failed, and he won't be able to repay the money. I'd think they'd wait for confirmation of the failure to go after him, but I did hear some talk."

Leanne: "Do you remember who made the comments?"

Niko: "No, I don't know anyone around here."

Leanne: "Did you invest with Craig Reynolds?"

Niko: "No. I'm just trying to be helpful, so don't start trying to pin anything on me."

Lori also said she had not invested in Craig Reynolds's projects, nor had she been asked to. When they were done, Leanne told Lori and Niko they could go but to stay in town. They got up and went back towards the others as Leanne said "Stay here a minute, Don."

I did, and when the others were out of earshot, she said quietly "I have a status report, but it's addition by subtraction. We haven't found either Roddy or Lisa Baker yet. We went to their house, and no one was there. We searched it, which we can do since he's on parole, but we didn't find anything like a 'Rambo' hunting knife."

Leanne continued: "What we did find was a lamp shattered to pieces in the corner of the room. It looked like it was on the table beside the sofa, and was knocked over and smashed on the wall and floor. Some magazines were strewn on the floor, as well. But the rest of the house was not ransacked."

"Where are their kids?" I asked, knowing they might be the best way to find their parents.

Leanne said "Being babysat. Their boy Tommy spent the night at the Owens house. You remember Owens, the pharmacist? He lives next to your old house, the bed and breakfast place. The Bakers's two girls, who are ten and six... Tommy is eight... are at Mrs. Starnes's house. She was babysitting them while Roddy and Lisa were at the reception, and neither parent came to pick them up."

"How'd you find that out, since you haven't found Roddy nor Lisa?" I asked.

"We did find Steve Greene, at his house." said Leanne. "He said he gave Roddy a ride home, and said Roddy told him where the kids were staying. He also said that if Roddy was not at his house, then he, Steve, didn't know where Roddy was."

"We tried one other place." said Watson. "Kitzi Taylor's. Roddy and Kitzi dated in high school... and an open-marriage guy like you can figure out what I mean by 'dated'..." A red crowbar was waved in his general direction, and he continued unabated: "... and it's pretty well known that Roddy and Kitzi have hooked up a lot in the years since they graduated. She was at home, but said Roddy wasn't there, and she hadn't seen him."

I said "Wasn't she married to Steve Greene... who helped Roddy get home last night?"

"Not much gets past you." Leanne said. "Steve and Kitzi lived together for four years, no children. Then they separated. Two years later, Steve went to fill out paperwork to marry Tina Fenton, and found out that some years before, Kitzi had filed the paperwork to declare him married by common law to her, Kitzi. As you know, this is a State where common law marriages are recognized, so Steve had to go through the process of filing for a divorce from Kitzi, which he did and which she did not contest. Unfortunately, Tina broke off the engagement when she heard about all that, and she moved away."

Ben Watson said "Steve and Roddy remained friends all the time Steve was with Kitzi. Maybe they had some kind of open relationship, themselves... another rooster in the henhouse, so to speak." He was grinning, so I realized he was needling me.

I grinned in amusement. "You're not getting over that, are you?" I said. "Seriously, my wife is a full Professor of Psychology, and her specialty is sexual psychology. She'll set your ears burning about the subject matter... but in all seriousness, she may can give y'all some helpful information about all that, and you can maybe use that to determine any motives for the (air quotes) 'Ninja at Pennington's Farm'..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As we finished talking, Laura called me over to the boards with family pictures on them. Lori and my mother Phyllis were also standing there. When I got there, my wife pointed one photo out to me. It showed her and me, with Carole, Jim, and Tasha standing in front of us, striking a pose.

"I-yi-yi." I said. "I'm sorry, Lori, but that's going to have to come down."

"Why?" Lori and my mother said simultaneously. Just then, Leanne and Ben called Laura over to their table, and I'd find out later that after vouching for Lori and Niko's alibi, they really did ask her about open marriage situations, and how that might pertain to Roddy, Kitzi, Steve, and Lisa.

"Where did you get this?" I asked.

"I took that photo the last time I visited you." my mother said. "It's a nice picture."

"Yes, it is." I said agreeably. "But Mom, you know that Laura and I are subject to potential dangers that most people are not, and our enemies may try to get at us through our children. Oh... that's Tommy Baker in the photo above us." I observed the photo and saw what Roddy and Lisa Baker and their girls looked like. I also observed that no one in the photo was smiling, and the kids looked a little worried, as if they were walking on eggshells.

"When did you see Tommy?" Lori asked.

"He was at the house next door to The Troy House when I stopped by there yesterday." I said.

"You must never forget a face." Lori said, seemingly in awe.

"And that's why we need to take my family photo down." I said. Then I looked over and saw Craig and Jenny Reynolds's family, with their two daughters. I took the Troy family photo down, then said "There's an ugly gap here. Let me fill it..."

Seemingly innocuously and at random, I took the Reynolds family photo and put it in the space. Lori showed zero interest in that, but my mother was peering at the photo with great interest.

"In fact, Mom, Lori, watch how this works." I said as I took out my Police iPhone and snapped photos of the photos. "Now some nefarious person could come in and do that with our family photo, and they'd have my kids's faces." Then I glanced down at my mom and said "Do you see that, Mom?"

My mother looked up at me in shock, realizing what I was truly asking. "Yes, son. And you're right. I should've realized that long ago. I apologize."

"No harm, no foul." I said. "Okay, I need to make a couple of phone calls. I need to get some GPS data from our Federal friends..."


Part 9 - Reunion Intrigue

7:00pm, Saturday, October 2nd. Laura and I came into the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel right behind Lori Lovlin and Niko Nimzovich. Lori was wearing a glittering Apple-Grove-blue dress that hugged her lovely body perfectly. Niko was wearing a black suit and white shirt, and a black bow tie. Somewhat overdone, but he actually carried it fairly well.

Laura was in a black dress that was glittery like Lori's, but showed off more of her shapely legs. I was wearing my dark gray suit with armor lining, a white shirt and Wildcat-red tie, with a round lapel pin that had the TCPD logo on it. My service weapon was in its holster under my jacket (I still have my Federal carry permit), and my TCPD badge was on my belt, but almost on my hip so that it was not easily seen.

We stepped up to the table at the entrance and found our nametags, which my mother and Sheriff Greenwood were handing out. Mine had my Senior yearbook photo printed on it, which wasn't the worst photo I'd ever had taken of me. We went on in and to the open bar, where Laura got white wine and I got a Scotch on the rocks.

"Is it bad?" Laura asked when she saw me ever so slightly grimace when I tasted it.

"No, it's fine. It's Johnny Walker Red Label" I said, then added: "It just made me realize what a whiskey snob Sheriff Griswold has turned me into." Laura chuckled at that.

Dinner would start at 8:00pm. Laura and I were at a big round table seating eight near the front, and the others at the table were from my Class. Class Officers from the Reunion were at the head table, with a lectern in the middle. My mother had told me that Lori Lovlin had seated Craig Reynolds next to her and the Class VP between Craig and Jenny, and my mother had done the right thing and switched the place settings so that the VP was between Craig and Lori.

I saw Captain Wisocky and Sheriff Hall in their uniforms with jackets, and I knew they were here for security as much as anything else. I also knew that Deputy Biggs, Sergeant Stegall, Detective Watson and several Uniformed AGPD Officers and Deputies were on the scene.

And if I haven't mentioned it, the way Fillmore County works is that the towns, such as Apple Grove, Rome, Providence Springs, and Springer, have Police jurisdiction for a radius of several miles outside of their city limits, and the unincorporated county beyond that is at the mercy of the woefully understaffed County Police. Ergo, the Hilton Hotel was within the jurisdiction of Apple Grove's Finest.

People were looking at the long row of photos on the left side. At the end of the row, nearest the door and away from the head table in back, was a table with a lot of business cards on it. To the left of that table was a glass door that led to an atrium, a roofed but open area with a poor imitation of a Japanese garden, and the gated-in swimming pool at the far end. It was overcast but not raining; still, most people remained inside.

Lori and Niko had peeled off from us and were talking to others near the photos, so when Craig and Jenny Reynolds came in, we went to greet them. As Laura greeted Jenny, I think I surprised Craig when I did not ask about the attack the previous night, instead asking if he had met with my nephew Todd.

"Yes, I did." said Craig. "Things went very well, and I think we'll be closing our deal Monday, touch wood. It's just a matter of our legal beagles dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's."

"Sounds good." I said. "Do you guys still live here in this area?"

"No, we live in Capitol City." said Craig. "And if this deal goes through, we may be moving to your Town & County, and go to work for BOW Enterprises there."

"Good, we'll be glad to have you down there." I said. Just then, Roddy Baker came into the ballroom, looking around almost wildly. He was in his suit and tie, but it looked like he'd dressed rapidly and carelessly. He saw what he was looking for, and came up to us.

"Hi Craig." he said. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really need to speak to you for a moment---"

Craig said "Roddy, have you met Donald Troy? The Donald Troy?"

"Hello, sir." said Roddy as he shook my hand. "I apologize for butting in, but I need to speak to Craig for a minute. It's urgent, really urgent."

"I'll leave y'all to it, then." I said. "Oh, did your wife come in with you?"

"Uhh, no." Roddy said. "She's feeling under the weather." He managed to get Craig to walk away from me and back through the main doors, where they talked in the Hotel lobby as people passed them by.

Your Iron Crowbar is a sneaky Iron Crowbar, and a curious one. That lapel pin I was wearing was actually a listening device. I put the earbud that went along with it into my ear, and then stepped out into the hotel lobby, acting as if I was looking for something.

I headed down to the north end of the hotel, the side of the hotel where my room was and also where the swimming pool was, and noted that a door led from the hallway to the outside area and the pool, which was otherwise gated in and could not be accessed from outside the hotel. I observed that the door was under the surveillance of a hotel security camera, as was the door to the outside at the end of the hallway.

I then began walking slowly back, aiming the lapel pin towards Roddy and Craig, and I listened to a conversation that should not have concerned me.

"I really need that money back." Roddy was saying, trying hard not to be animated, but clearly agitated.

Craig said "If you wait three days, you'll have 20 times as much."

Roddy: "I understand, but I can't wait that long, I need it now."

Craig said "Look, I certainly don't carry that kind of cash on me, and I don't have access to it now." He handed Roddy a card and said "Call me tomorrow, and I'll see what we can do. Excuse me, I have to get back to Jenny."

"All right. Thanks." Roddy said as he pocketed the card, an unhappy look on his face.

I had walked on past them and was at the door when Craig came up behind me. I went inside and spotted Laura and Jenny, and stepped up to them, and Craig was right there.

"Honey," Jenny said, "would you mind getting me a glass of wine from the bar? Commander, do you recommend the Scotch they're serving tonight?"

"Uh, try a bourbon." I suggested. Craig stalked off toward the bar. I noticed that Roddy was already at the bar, getting a drink.

Jenny's action had obviously been done to get Craig out of the way for another moment. Laura had been talking to Jenny to determine if the younger woman had any residual issues over the attack the night before. Must be the matronly psychiatrist in her, I thought to myself.

Sure enough, Laura said "Don, Jenny was just telling me about that incident last night while they were... parking. Do you think it was a prank, or something possibly more serious?"

"Yes, I heard about that." I said. "I'm glad you weren't hurt. It sounds like a prank, though a scary one. The only thing I'd ask is if you know of any reason someone would want to bring your husband to harm. Or you, for that matter."

"No." Jenny said. "We're about to close a deal with BOW Enterprises. Craig told me their CEO Todd Burke is your nephew, by the way. But I don't know why anyone would consider that deal a threat to us."