overdrive.
“Okay, let‘s hear it but make it quick, I’m at work.”
“I know! Why do you think I called your main line? Met Marge, she seems like a lovely woman, introduced myself and told her I was Felix Unger. Love doing that, mom and dad never would have appreciated the fun I’d have with my name over the years.”
“Did I just hear you correctly? Did you say you told her who you were? Are you friggin’ nuts?” The director was starting to wig out.
“Yea, she knows I’m interested in learning more about the land that Bev is flogging and I wanted to talk with somebody there that knows it all. That’s how I ended up with you. You’ve really got ‘em fooled over there, Iggy.”
“So what’s this grand scheme?”
“On Thursday night when our guys at work, you know at Bev’s, you’re going to be my alibi and I’m yours. Have your secretary put in your planner that you have a meeting with Felix Unger, representing Jenson Development, to discuss the land we’re looking at. Between now and then you get together some information about the land, and do whatever it is you do when you’re doing a consultation. We say we met out at the property, looked things over about six and then grabbed a bucket of chicken and ate it at your place. Of course you’ll do all that on your own, but I was with you the whole time. Got it? Most likely we aren't even going to need it but we need our stories to be straight. Any questions?” the mobster asked.
Ignatius could have spent the next ten minutes shooting holes in Felix’s brainchild but opted to just agree and be done with it. “Whatever. I think I got it, like you said, I don’t think we’re gonna need it. You contacted our thief yet? Tell him I’ll be putting the stuff in his box Wednesday night once all the neighbors are asleep.”
“Okay Iggy, now go and give Marge the appointment and don’t forget what we’ve said. Hell, who knows, maybe I’ll even drop by and introduce myself to you in the next day or two.”
“Oh, Jeremy’s not going to like that.”
“Oh, Jeremy’s not going to find out, is he?” he said in a very threatening tone. “Just do what you’re told Iggy,” concluding his message without a goodbye.
While the two conspirators discussed how they might save themselves if their plans crumbled into chaos, a very sad and lonely Seymour Wood sat in a holding cell of the Valdosta Police station. He had been fingerprinted, photographed and dumped in a cell by himself, charges were pending and a date was being scheduled for his arraignment before the judge. They had not allowed him contact with anyone but had offered to make arrangements for his attorney, which he declined, knowing that he didn’t need one. Innocent men don’t need attorneys.
“How can this be happening? Who would have wanted to frame me? I don’t have anything! I don’t know anything! What’s the point? I just don’t get it,” he ran it over and over again through his mind.
He noted the cute deputy still hanging around the police station and he wondered what she was waiting for. She walked by close enough that she could hear him if he spoke loudly.
“Hey, Deputy Guest, please can I ask you something.”
She hesitantly walked to the cell enclosure and asked him what he wanted.
“What’s going on, why won’t anybody talk to me? They haven’t even let me call anybody.”
“Can’t say much. The gun we found in your locker, technically in your possession, is having some tests run on it. Checking it for ballistics and serial number confirmation. That’s about all I can tell you but I’ll make sure you get your call, be right back.”
“Hold on a second, why are they running all the tests on the gun?”
“Seymour, don’t you get it? The gun you had is possibly the one taken by The Stalker last week, and the black dude shot at The Dixie Diner, was shot with a.38. We’re looking at charging you with a whole list of crimes if the information on the gun comes back as we think it will.”
“But deputy, I didn’t have anything to do with all that stuff! I’m just a student, you’ve got to believe me!” he pleaded with the young woman.
Again her intuition told her he was telling the truth but the facts were staring her in the face, even if she didn’t want to believe them. “I’ll get you that phone Seymour.”
A few minutes later she returned with a land line and a long cord plugged in across the room. He tried desperately to remember her phone number but could not. The library, he’d call the library, surely she would be the one to pick up. The phone rang a couple of times before a voice answered.
“Valdosta Public Library, Jared speaking, how can I help you?”
“Crap, Jared, what are you doing answering the phone?” a demoralized Seymour said.
“Well, howdy doody to you too, who is this?” the teenager asked.
“It’s Seymour; I have to talk to Blanche, right away!” an unmistakable degree of urgency in his voice.
“Well, hold your horses, I’ll get her.”
Five minutes later her sweet voice filled his earpiece. “Seymour, I was hoping I’d hear from you today. I’ve done nothing but think about our date the other night. I have a story to tell…..”
“Blanche, Blanche, listen to me! I’m sorry I cut you off but I’m in trouble and I need your help!”
“What do you mean you’re in trouble? What’s going on? Where are you?” she heard the pitch in her voice rising.
“I’ve been arrested. I’m at the police station and I didn’t know who else to call. This is going to kill my mom and I wanted somebody to break it to her gently, could you do that for me?”
“But why have they arrested you? What have you done?”
“I haven’t done anything, that’s the crazy thing about it. Somebody planted a gun in my locker and they think that I’m The Stalker and shot that black guy on Saturday night,” he said, between sobs.
“They think you shot Jasper?” the words of the police officer with the meager mustache jumped through her mind.
“Who? Who’s Jasper? Blanche, you’re not making any sense. They think I shot that black guy that was involved in the drug shooting on Saturday.”
“I know. That was Jasper. I was there! That was my friend that I told you about; he was the one that was shot. Seymour, please tell me you really don’t know anything about this and you didn’t have anything to do with shooting Jasper! It would just break my heart if you were involved somehow.”
“Blanche, of course I’m not involved! I would never do anything to hurt you. Somebody is setting me up and I don’t know why. Please believe me! I need someone to trust me. I need your help. I don’t know who else I can phone, you and my mom are the only people I can trust.”
“Seymour, I do believe you. What do you want me to do?”
The cell phone rang a dozen times; he looked at it in the palm of his hand, knowing who was at the other end. He was so ready to be done with Felix, and whoever, but he also knew he would not see his money if he didn’t do the one last ‘outing’ they required of him.
“Yeah,” he said, a lack of excitement in his voice.
“Lester, you ready to conclude our business arrangement?” Felix asked.
“Absolutely, I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things,” he said, thinking of Blanche.
“Your info packet will be there Thursday morning when you get up, just as before. This one has to be specific, on time, and nobody gets hurt. The info will be in your packet.”
“What do you mean ‘on time’?” Lester inquired.
“We’ll have the occupant away from the house from 8:00 p.m. to about 10:00. You’ll have the house to yourself, do this one up right, tear it apart like you were in a frenzy. This one has to put the police and the media over the top,” his handler informed him.
“They obviously don’t know about Seymour’s arrest and the implications,” he thought. “Okay, I’ll be there at 8:00 p.m. and out before 10:00. Anything you want left at the scene, pictures or anything like that? I could do some more artwork if you like.” Lester’s plan would move ahead regardless of how it would impact his employer’s scheme. He wasn’t stupid, not by a long shot, he knew it was just a matter of time before they figured out that Seymour had nothing to do with the shooting or the break-ins, but before that revelation came he would need to be on his way with Blanche.
“Nope, you just keep doing what you think is working, you’ve been very good at what you do. Your money will
