Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O 5/9
This version is rated PG-13
This story is a sequel to Hattie Kaplin - Reporter – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C - N
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
Previously
JJ nodded his understanding as she turned and walked up the block. Since it was near the midpoint of the detonations she walked to the intersection with twelfth and stopped. Speaking to her earpiece she said, “Send me one.”
The reply came immediately, “Late model, red, Toyota, passing … now.”
Hattie started the timing it and watched the traffic as it flowed by. When the target vehicle passed she looked at the time. It was almost three minutes. She noted the time in her notebook. She spoke again and said, “Let’s do it again. I want to clock at least five for an average. Once we have five, I’ll need you to move back a block and we’ll do it from there.”
She heard back, “Gotc’ha. Here’s the next one, blue convert … now.”
Hattie timed this one and three more before JJ moved a block away. They repeated this process until they had a good average for the travel. In the course of their survey they found two cars that passed JJ’s location that didn’t pass Hattie indicating that they had turned off somewhere.
Finishing up and putting her pad away, Hattie spoke again and said, “Care to join me partner?”
“Be right there.”
A few minutes later JJ walked up. She said, “I think that’s enough for tonight. Would you like to escort me home?”
Laughing he replied, “Since we live in the same building, where else would I be going?”
Hattie smiled coyly and said, “You just took all of the romance out of my offer.”
“Oh, sorry, how about, my lady, I would be happy to escort you home. Door to door service and all that.” Crooking his arm at her he made a slight bow.
She hooked her arm through his and giggled as they turned in the direction of home.
When they arrived at her door, Hattie unlocked the locks on her door and partially opened it. She turned to him and putting out her hand said, “I had a lovely evening. Thank you.”
He took her hand and started to lean in for a kiss.
She shied away and coyly said, “I don’t kiss on the first date.”
He was disappointed and it was evident on his face, but he made the best of it by taking her hand which he still held and bringing it to his lips, kissed the back of it.
After he released her hand she slowly withdrew it and he said, “Until the next time.”
In a dreamy tone she said, “Yeah, the next time.” She disappeared into her apartment. Closing the door, she leaned back against it for a few seconds. Coming to a sudden decision she whirled around and threw the door open, only to find an empty hallway. Disappointed she again closed her door, this time she threw the locks.
And now
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Chapter 05 – Thursday morning
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 Canon universe also called – Prime
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As soon as they walked into the newsroom Hattie headed for the conference room. When she was inside she dropped her bag on the table and pulled out her notebook. Picking up a marker she approached the board. Opening to the page where she had the times recorded she started making an information table.
She noted both the times to target and also how many divergences they experienced. The times and the number of divergences from JJ’s position on eighth eerily paralleled the recorded detonation sites as well as fit her self-proclaimed time limit of five minutes.
Just as she was finishing the table, JJ entered with fresh coffee for each of them and a couple of donuts, maple for Hattie and plain cake for himself. As he was placing these on the table he was looking at the new data. He said, “You know, I think we’re onto something.”
Stepping back Hattie continued looking at the data. JJ put her mug in her hand and she was so focused on the data that she didn’t even take her eyes from the board as she lifted the mug mechanically to her lips and took a sip. Suddenly realizing what she had in her hand she looked at JJ and smiled her thanks.
He asked, “Okay, where do we stand?”
Using the mug in her hand as a pointer she indicated the table of travel times and said, “I think we have to look at eighth as the source.”
“Why eighth?”
“The travel times fall into the five minute window that I think fits best and even the amount of divergences fits.”
“Okay, so, the bombs are given to the drivers or stuck to the cars somehow around eighth and Main, on the northbound side. How?”
“I don’t know just yet.”
“I think if someone ran out into traffic to hand someone a bomb it would be noticed.”
“But, from our evidence, the bomb was attached to the underside of the cars.”
“That would be even more memorable. Just imagine, someone runs out into traffic and crawls under a car to fasten a bomb on the undercarriage. I’m sure someone would notice that!”
“Yeah, I guess they would. Someone would have reported something like that, assuming they were still alive that is, and no one has.”
“There has to be another way. I’m still having some trouble thinking. Do you still have a headache?” Hattie asked.
“No, mine cleared up last night.”
Hattie reached into her bag for the small bottle of aspirin she had dropped in there and felt stiff paper. She pulled out the card that Jack Crane had given her and looked at it. She dropped it back into her bag and found the aspirin bottle. She popped two and chased them with a swallow of coffee.
In a few minutes though the pain had gotten worse instead of better. She let out a groan of pain and JJ was immediately by her side. “What is it Hattie?”
“This headache just won’t quit.” Suddenly something came to mind. Headache, Aunt Henrietta, her namesake, she had suffered from headaches. No, she had suffered from a heart problem. A heart problem that made her take medicine. The medicine caused headaches. What was that? <Oh, it’s so hard to think with my head throbbing like this.>
JJ said, “Maybe you should take the rest of the day off.”
“I can’t! It’s Thursday already. He’ll strike again on Friday. More people will die if we don’t stop him.”
“But, if you’re not thinking straight, how can you figure anything out?”
“I’ll manage, somehow. We have to stop this. We have to figure out how he is planting the bombs on the cars.”
JJ tried to take the lead so that Hattie could baby her headache. “We know that he couldn’t enter the traffic stream and crawl under the cars to plant the bombs. We know that it had to be done somewhere around eighth. How could he get under the cars and no one see him?”
Hattie, with a weary or pained tone asked, “What’s under the cars?”
JJ replied, “Well, let’s see, shocks or struts, springs, brake lines, miscellaneous wires and tubes …”
Waving her hand in the air to stop his recitation, she said, “I know all of that. What’s under the cars? How is he getting under them? We know he isn’t putting them up on a mechanic’s lift so there must be some way he is getting under them without running out into the street. How is he doing it? Ooooooo, my head is splitting. I need to lie down for a while.”
“Want me to take you home? I could tuck you into bed.”
Even though she was in pain she had to reply to that, “We’ve only had two dates. You’re not entitled to tuck me into bed yet. Not until after at least *four* dates.”
Puzzled JJ said, “Two dates??? I thought that last night was our *first*.”
“Yeah, well, about that, I decided that we could count the reception as our first date, so I came back out for a goodnight kiss, but you had already left.”
“Aggg, I wish I had known. I would’ve stuck around.”
“Well, better luck next time.”
“Yeah, next time, unless you like Crane better. You were looking at his card again.”
“Actually, I don’t even know why I kept his card. Hey, this headache got worse right after I handled his card. We both got headaches right after shaking hands with him.”
“Yeah and your headache was worse than mine. Could that be because he held your hand longer?” JJ pointed out.
“Could he have been wearing some kind of cologne or aftershave that we’re allergic to?” Hattie asked.
“It wasn’t just us, remember? You said that there were a number of people that were affected. How could all of us have been allergic to the same thing?”
“I wonder if Crane could have been poisoning everyone.”
“We need to check his background. What exactly does he do for Robbins?”
“He said something about ‘Special Projects’ didn’t he?”
“I guess this downtown walking mall would fall into that category.”
“See if you can pull his financials and how are you doing on Robbins?”
“I expect the report shortly.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Later
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JJ came into the conference room where Hattie had her head down on the table resting. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and shook it.
She stirred and lifting her head looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. He said, “Wow, you really look like you have been through a war. Are you sure you don’t want to go home?”
“Positive. We’re running out of time. What do you have?”
“Okay, I’ve been going over Robbins’ financials. There’s a problem with them. It looks like his campaign war chest had been nearly empty and recently has seen a large, a very large influx of funds. I’ve traced some of the money back to some large corporations, but no where nearly enough to hang a case on.”
“What about Crane?”
“He was a recent hire. He’s only been with Robbins for five weeks. I tried to trace back to previous employers and I got nowhere.”
“So, Crane made us and a lot of other people sick and he started with Robbins a few weeks before the bombings started. Have you found out what ‘special project’ he was hired to honcho?”
“No, I haven’t been able to find anything.”
Hattie got up and started packing her bag. She said, “Let’s get out of here. I need some decent sleep to get rid of this headache. Later, you and I are going to pay Robbins a visit.”
“Huh?”
“Do you still have those coveralls handy?”
“Now, wait a minute, what are you planning?”
“Let’s get out of here. I’ll explain in the car.”
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Thursday evening
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Later that evening a cleaning crew moved down a corridor in a building downtown. They wheeled their cart up to the door of a particular office and stopped. Neither would have been recognized as Hattie or JJ. Both had on wigs and ball caps. They had darkened their complexions and JJ sported a big bushy mustache. Both had on glasses with dark frames.
Hattie pulled out a lock pick set and went to work on the lock.
JJ was intently looking on at this activity when Hattie hissed, “Stop watching me and keep a lookout for guards.”
“Uh, right.” JJ jerked upright and started pacing back and forth checking the opposite ends of the corridor.
A few seconds later there was an audible click and the door was opened. Hattie hissed, “Okay, come on.”
They wheeled the cart inside and then closed and locked the door behind them.
Going to a set of filing cabinets they started rifling the contents.
They each held a mini-light in their mouth aimed at where they would be looking. Hattie went through several drawers without finding anything incriminating. She said, “You keep going through these files. I’m going to check out the inner office.”
Stepping through the door Hattie did a quick survey. There was a single two drawer file and a desk. She moved to the desk and found a locked drawer. She went to work with her lock picks again. The drawer lock yielded a lot quicker than the door and she was soon surveying the contents. She started to smile as she perused the content of this file. She spread a file out on the desk. She pulled out a small camera and started snapping pictures. When she had finished she put everything back where she had found it and relocked the drawer.
Moving to the outer office she closed the file JJ was looking at, shut off his light and placed the file back in the drawer. She said, “Let’s get out of here.”
JJ looked at her and said, “You found something, didn’t you?”
JJ could barely see Hattie nodding her head in the dim light filtering in through the window. Hattie said, “The mother lode. Let’s go.”
After listening at the door for almost a minute and hearing nothing, carefully, Hattie opened the door and surveyed the corridor. It was empty so they scooted out and closed the door behind them.
As they started to move down the corridor a guard came around the far corner and approached them. He stopped in front of them blocking their way. He asked, “I haven’t seen you two around here before. What happened to Jesus and Maria?”
Trying to be flippant and using a Hispanic accent, Hattie replied, “Well, jew know, you have to take bacation sometimes. It is July, a berry popular bacation month. We’re de relf crew.”
As he dropped a candy wrapper into the cart receptacle he said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. How long will they be gone?”
Building on her story, Hattie replied, “I doan no. Eet could be a week or two. Dey doan tell us nosing, just go here, go dare. Clean dis inodoro. Dump dat trash. Chew know how it is.”
Looking around at all of the closed and darkened doors he said, “Yeah, I guess I do. Okay, see you around.” He moved off toward the other end of the corridor and they moved toward the elevator.
Suddenly the guard stopped, turned and called to their retreating forms, “Hey, wait a minute. Where are your IDs?”
Hattie and JJ both froze in mid step.
Thinking furiously Hattie slowly turned and hitting on a plan, reached into her pocket. She pulled out a rectangle of plastic that was part of her lock picking kit and held it up.
In the dim light of the corridor and at that distance the guard could see that she had something in her hand, although he could not make out just what it was. He said, “You should be wearing that. Have a good night.” He turned and headed away from them.
When he turned the corner JJ pushed the button for the elevator. He was fidgeting all the time they had to wait for it to arrive. When it did he practically jumped inside dragging the cart behind him, not waiting for Hattie to push it. As soon as she was in Hattie pushed the button for the basement. Releasing a relieved sigh, JJ said, “That was too close.”
Hattie chuckled and said, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
JJ replied, “Easy for you to say. I never did anything like this in all my time at the Gazette. I thought he had us for sure.”
Even though Hattie had been scared of the same thing she put on a show of bravado, “You’ll get used to it. Just stick with me.”
When the doors opened there were a man and a woman standing there. JJ spotted them as the doors parted and said in a whisper, “Oh no. Here we go again.”
This other couple was dressed in coveralls, similar to those that Hattie and JJ had on. They were facing each other, the woman was wagging her finger in the face of the man and they were arguing. Hearing the elevator open they turned towards it and the woman, presumably Maria, asked, “Who are you and what are you doing with our cart?”
Hattie started shoving JJ out of the elevator and away from the couple who were standing back as she said, “We were just inspecting your equipment. You are in violation of several ordinances. Don’t you realize that you have to separate the recyclables from the regular trash?”
Maria started to object, but Hattie interrupted her. She said, “We’ll overlook it this time, but in the future make sure you put all of the framzits in the trash and not recyclables.”
Pushing JJ in front of her she started down the hall.
Behind them they could hear Jesus say, “See, I toll you I deedant move de cart!”
Once they had some distance they ran the rest of the way down the corridor to the stairs to street level and they didn’t stop running until they reached JJ’s car.
Hattie was laughing as she said, “Do you think she’ll ever find a framzits?”
As he peeled off his moustache he was laughing almost too hard to reply, but he finally managed to choke out, “I don’t know, but if she does, I don’t think she’ll put it in with the recyclables.”
“Let’s go partner, we’ve got things to do.”
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When they got to Hattie’s apartment she immediately pulled her laptop out of her bag, dropped it into its docking station and booted it up. She had been fortunate during the Metrostaff incident that she had been carrying her laptop so when her apartment had been searched it had not been found. Since then she had made it a habit to keep it with her at all times.
She pulled out the memory stick from the camera and dropped it into its slot. She downloaded the pictures to her hard drive.
JJ didn’t know just what to expect, but what he saw was a document, actually as she scrolled through the pictures he saw that there were several documents.
As he was looking over her shoulder, a whistle escaped through his teeth and in a reverent tone he said, “Wow, you weren’t kidding. This *is* the mother lode.”
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