Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O 6/9
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
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.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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.”
And now
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 06 – Friday 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 bullpen Hattie spotted Frank as she headed for the conference room with the map and shouted, “Frank, conference room!”
Frank jumped at hearing her voice and was so startled that he dropped what he had in his hands, scattering papers all over the floor. Quickly he picked them up, put them on a desk and headed for the conference room.
Hattie put her bag on the table and turned to the door, waiting for Frank. As soon as he stepped in she said, “Frank, I need a more detailed map. It doesn’t have to be the large format, but it has to have more detail, storm drains, sewer access points, fire hydrants, the whole shebang.”
Frank said, “I’ll go back where I found that.” He nodded in the direction of the map.
Hattie said, “Yeah, you can start there, but I need detail. Just to be sure, bring me several, the level of detail can vary.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can find.” He turned and fled the conference room on his map quest.
Frank nearly bowled JJ over as he was exiting. JJ walked in and his head was following Frank as he ran off. He asked, “What’d you do to him?”
“I just gave him an assignment. I needed another map.”
“An assignment? He tore out of here like there was a demon on his tail.”
Shaking her head she said, “I don’t know why, but ever since he started it’s like he’s afraid of me or something. Do I make unreasonable demands?”
“Well, you can be kinda … intense.”
“Now that I think about it, he didn’t start acting that way until the day Kam-El flew me into the bullpen after I fell off the building. Could that be it? Could he think I have an ‘in’ with the superheroes?”
Glancing around before speaking and then when he did, keeping his voice low JJ asked, “Well, don’t you?”
Hattie smiled and responded, just as quietly, “Yeah, I guess I do at that.”
She pulled her laptop out of her bag and booted it up. She checked her Wi-Fi signal and brought up her personal e-mail program.
“JJ, could you get me some coffee?”
“Sure. Be back in a flash, oh, that’s another guy. I’ll be right back.” JJ smiled.
Hattie let out a groan at his obvious pun.
Once her e-mail had downloaded she looked at what she had. A smile came to her lips as she saw that she had a note from her mom. She opened it and read it.
TO: Hattie255@Metro.us.net
FROM: Mel.Kap@Metro.us.net
SUBJECT: RE: Aunt HenriettaHi Hattie,
How’s my girl? You haven’t called for a few days, but I understand. I read everything you write so I know just how busy you are.
About Aunt Henrietta, yes, she did have a heart condition. I had to go back and check. She had what’s called Angina Pectoris. Anytime she would get really excited or upset it could cause her heart to work too hard. She had a medicine that she would take and it would relieve the symptoms pretty quickly. I forget what it is called, but it always gave her a headache when she took it. She used to complain that she’d rather have the heart problem than have to put up with the headache she got from the medicine.
I hope this helps.
Keep in touch, baby girl.
MomHattie dashed off a quick reply.
TO:: Mel.Kap@Metro.us.net
FROM: Hattie255@Metro.us.net
SUBJECT: RE: Aunt HenriettaThanks Mom. That’s perfect. Just what I thought.
I’ll try to come by over the weekend to see you and Dad.
BTW: now don’t say anything to anybody, but remember the guy I was paired up with in the wedding? Well, he asked me out on a date and we had a really good time. Who knows, maybe it could lead to something. He is a cousin of Jon Kent’s and a really nice guy. He’s also my partner here at work so you’ll see his name with mine on our articles.
Love ya,
H.As she finished sending that note, JJ came into the conference room, but he wasn’t carting coffee. He had a long box in his hands. With a worried look, he said, “Hattie, this was just delivered for you. Do you have a secret admirer? Do I have competition?”
She was surprised at seeing the box; it was obviously a flower delivery box. She took it from JJ and set it on the table. As she untied the ribbon and opened the box she said, “I wonder who these could be from?” Inside was a dozen long stemmed pink roses.
JJ let out a whistle through his teeth and he said, “Wow, long stemmed roses!”
Hattie was staring at the flowers in appreciation. She wasn’t about to tell JJ, but she had never before received flowers from anyone and she was utterly thrilled and captivated by the thought that someone would send her flowers, let alone *roses*. In a distracted fashion she replied, “Not just roses,
pink roses.”
“Yeah, I can see that they are pink. Does it make a difference what the color is? Could they be from Crane?”
Teasingly Hattie replied, “Maybe I do have a secret admirer.” She looked at him and lifted an eyebrow. “Would that be so hard to believe?”
“No, no, it’s not hard to believe at all.”
Hattie looked at him and asked, “I guess they aren’t from you. You wouldn’t have any reason to send pink roses.”
JJ sputtered, “No, no I didn’t. Not that I don’t want … I just haven’t … you know, we’ve been kinda busy with this case and all. Should I send pink?”
“No,
you shouldn’t send
pink, unless you want to
thank me for something. You should send
red. Well, since we have established that they’re not from you then who sent them?”
“Why don’t you check the card?”
“I don’t see one.” JJ hadn’t seen it, but Hattie had palmed the card when she opened the box because she wanted to see who they were from before JJ did.
“Are you in the habit of receiving anonymous flowers?”
She was looking at the flowers with a happy smile. “No, I am not in the habit, but I would like to be, that is if there was someone that wanted to send me flowers occasionally. It is rather nice, don’t you think? Now, of course, I’d prefer to get flowers from someone that I know.”
“But, we just started dating!”
“That keeps you from sending flowers? Well, I guess it all depends on how fast you want to get to number four. I’m going to go see what I can find to put them in.” Hattie left the conference room and headed to the supply closet. When she was in the supply closet she read the card. It was unsigned, but she knew just who it was from. She found an old coffee urn, put some water in it and brought it to the conference room.
When she started taking the flowers out of the box to arrange them, in her impromptu vase, she let the card fall to the table.
Seeing the card fall, JJ said, “Hey, there *
is* a card,” as he pounced on it. Thinking better of how he was acting, he handed it to Hattie and said, “Here, I don’t want to look. What does it say? *
Are* they from Crane?”
Hattie took it from him and read aloud:
“Thank you. I appreciate what you did for me. The docs say I’ll walk again, thanks to you. You’re my hero.” She smiled and said, “This is sure turn-about. Usually you send flowers to someone *
in* the hospital. This time a person in the hospital sent flowers to someone on the outside.”
“Huh?”
“Long story, short – on Saturday, I was on the scene right after the bomb went off. I had a chance to practice my first aid. These are from the guy I helped. I’ll tell you the whole story sometime.”
With a relieved sigh, JJ said, “Okay, as long as it wasn’t Crane. I guess I’ll go get that coffee.” He left the conference room on his errand.
As soon as he left she pulled up a search page and checked a medical information site for Angina Pectoris and just what medicines were prescribed for the condition. One of them jumped out at her and she checked the side effects of the medication. Occasionally she would glance to the side, look at the roses and smile.
As she was finishing her reading JJ came in with the coffee and as he was approaching the conference room he saw Hattie looking at the flowers and smiling. He made a mental note. JJ carried in the coffee and he sat it on the table beside Hattie as she finished her reading.
As she stood up she said, “Don’t go away. Be right back.” She went to the supply room and found a pair of plastic gloves normally used by the copier tech when changing out the toner cartridges in the laser printers and copiers. She also found a plastic bag used for spent inkjet cartridges. When she walked back into the conference room JJ watched her. She put on the gloves and delved into her bag. She found Crane’s business card and pulling it out she dropped it into the plastic bag and sealed it.
JJ watched this activity and asked, “What’s that all about?”
With a grim smile she said, “The pieces are starting to fall into place.” She pointed at the page she had been reading.
“Huh?”
“Read that.”
After reading the medical information page he nodded in understanding and said, “Oh, I see what you mean. Wow.”
A few minutes later when Frank came in, he had several maps. JJ and Hattie were huddled over printouts of the documents she had copied the previous night.
Hattie took the maps and said, “Okay, Frank, I need you to get together with research and find me anything you can on bombings where the explosive used was nitroglycerine anywhere in the US between January and July this year.”
“Just nitroglycerine?”
“Yes, just nitroglycerine. That should narrow the field considerably.”
Frank left on his errand.
Indicating the copies of the document that Hattie had obtained from Robbins’ office, JJ asked, “What can we do with this information? It wasn’t obtained legally so it can’t be used in court.”
“Yeah, but it may be enough for Cardona to get a search warrant then he can get it legally.”
Hattie pulled a map off the top of the stack and spread it out on the table refolding it until the part of town they were interested in was what they were looking at. She was looking specifically at the area around the intersection of eighth and Main. This map had water mains and fire hydrants marked. She set it aside as not suitable. Picking up the next one she folded it the same way and they started looking at it. This one had electrical services indicated. This one she also set aside.
By the time they got to the fourth map, they were becoming discouraged.
Disappointment evident in her voice, Hattie complained, “None of these has given us a single clue as to how this is being done.”
Trying to be upbeat, JJ said, “There are only a couple more.”
Picking up the next one and blowing off the dust, Hattie queried, “Where do you think he got this one? It looks as old as a pirate’s treasure map.”
After refolding it and spreading it out on the table Hattie shouted,
“BINGO!!!!!“ She put her finger tip on the map. “That’s it! Do you see what I see?”
“Yeah, a side branch off that line. I wonder why it didn’t show up on any of the other maps.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While Hattie and JJ were discussing the ramifications of what they had discovered, Frank came in with a sheaf of papers. He said, “You were so right. Limiting the search to just nitro sure did shortcut the process. Here’s the stack.” He placed the papers on the table.
Immediately moving over and grabbing the top sheet to scan Hattie said, “Thanks Frank. That was quick work. While we’re going through this stuff, could you bring us some coffee?”
“Sure thing.” He turned to the door and exited.
Hattie was looking at a story from Missouri and JJ was looking at a story from Cincinnati.
JJ said, “I don’t think this one is what we are looking for. Yes, it involved nitroglycerine, but it was being used by a crook to blow a safe. The job went bad because he used too much and blew himself up along with the safe.”
Perusing another story, Hattie said, “I think I may have pay dirt here. This is from Missouri … St. Louis. It says that members of a local gang, get this they called themselves the Clanton Gang.” She started to chuckle.
JJ apparently didn’t see the humor and he just looked at her as if he was lost.
Surprised at JJ’s lack of response, Hattie asked, “Don’t you get it?
Ike Clanton!”
JJ’s expression didn’t change.
Hattie asked, “Where did you go to school?”
“Jefferson.”
“Our kids are definitely not going to Jefferson. Maybe you’ll recognize him by this, ‘The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral!”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral!” Suddenly what she had said hit him and with a startled expression he said, “Wait a minute! OUR KIDS? Our kids aren’t going to Jefferson? OUR KIDS?”
With a wicked little grin she said, “That is, of course, unless you really insist.”
He was smiling from ear to ear as he said, “Our kids. I like the sound of that.”
“Well, they aren’t here yet and if we don’t solve this mystery they may never arrive.”
With renewed vigor JJ grabbed another story and started perusing it. He said, “This one if from Missouri too. Clanton Gang again. Hey, this one mentions the James Gang. What is it with these people taking the names of gangs from the 1880’s for their names?”
Just then Frank returned with the coffees. As he was placing them on the table Hattie said, “Frank, another assignment. Research the James Gang and the Clanton Gang. They operate in Missouri around St. Louis.”
Nodding his head in acknowledgement Frank headed out of the conference room again.
Picking up another story, JJ said, “This looks like an op-ed piece.” JJ started reading the article aloud,
”The recent dispute between the Clanton Gang and the James Gang has resulted in a number of deaths. The Clanton Gang has been losing members to mysterious explosions. The explosive being used is nitroglycerine. The retaliation against the James Gang has been violent to say the least.
The benefit to the community has been a reduction of overall criminal activity. The populace has been able to rest easier that their life savings are intact and that financial institutions have not been attacked recently.”Rifling through the articles Hattie said, “I just checked the dates on these articles. The last one is dated about eight weeks ago. According to the last one, the police were hoping to break the case shortly. They were getting close to issuing a warrant. It seems like as soon as this announcement was made the bombings stopped. I’d suspect that the bomber, whoever he is, decided to fold his tent and clear out. Now it looks like he has taken up residence here. It sure looks like if we can solve
this case, we will solve
theirs as well. What say, partner, you up for solving
two cases at the same time?”
“I’d be happy to solve
this one so that we can get on to that other thing.”
Hattie laughed and said, “Let’s not rush into anything.”
“But, you said …”
“I know, just give it some time. After all, we’ve only had two dates so far.”
With a rueful expression he replied, “Yeah, I wish I’d known that last night.”
Hattie laughed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Frank returned he was smiling. He said, “This has been a history lesson. There have been two James Gangs. One was run by Frank and Jesse James and the new one is run by Ben and Jerry. There was a gang called the Clanton Gang run by Ike Clanton and a new one being run by Frank and Rich. The heads of both gangs claim that they are descended from the original family members. That appears to be where any similarity ends. They both operate more like the Mafia and organized crime than Wild West gangs.”
JJ said, “From what we have seen, there’s one way they are alike. They kill each other off.”
Hattie replied, “I think that the one that was doing the killing with the bombs was not a regular member of the gang. I think he was, to use the old west terminology, a hired gun. Either that or he was a regular member of the gang and just took it on the lamb because the cops were getting too close.”
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