Body in the Woods, page 20
“Yes, I’ve been a frequent visitor to Hines’ home. I’ve gotten to know Hines’ housekeeper, Mariana, and her story with Heinrich Hines. I wanted to find out if her baby really was Hines’ son, so I had a DNA test done. The results were negative. The baby’s DNA doesn’t match the DNA of the body found in the woods. I’ve drawn two conclusions from that. Either Mariana is lying about Hines being the father, or the body in the woods is not Heinrich Hines.”
The look on both detectives’ faces was priceless. Wish I’d had a camera.
“You still have the report?”
“I gave it to Ms. Almazan.”
I looked over at Mirza.
“Yes, the report is at my office. I can bring it to you tomorrow afternoon.”
“We’ll be expecting it.”
With that, the recorder clicked off and Mirza and I stood up to leave. As we were walking back to the lobby Mirza asked me to bring the report to her office first thing tomorrow morning and then asked me if I wanted her to fill Vance in on the latest findings.
“Sure, I’ll bring the report by. As to Vance, I’d like to tell him about it on the way back to his house. And by the way, thank you for your help back there.”
“My pleasure.”
Vance was waiting in the lobby and didn’t say a word until after we were half-way back to his home.
“Do you have a lead, Jack?”
“I’m on to something, but it’s not clear yet exactly where it leads. Still too many ifs.”
“For God sakes, don’t keep me in suspense!”
“Simply put, the DNA of the body found in the woods doesn’t match the DNA of Mariana’s baby.”
“Mariana’s baby? What the hell are you talking about? Catch me up, Jack!”
“You really didn’t know, did you? Hines forced Mariana to have sex with him and she became pregnant.”
“Good Lord!”
“Either Mariana isn’t telling the truth as to who her baby’s father really is, or if she is, the dead man in the woods is not Heinrich Hines.”
“Oh, my God. You’re going to clear me, aren’t you? This calls for a celebration!”
“Don’t jump to conclusions yet, Vance. We still have a long way to go.”
“At least have a drink.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
CHAPTER 44
Monday, July 30
After our ‘drink’ turned into a few too many last evening, I decided not to drive back to Motel 6. I’d made a quick call to Rudy to let him know I’d pick him up in the morning.
It was now 4.30 am and I was still wide awake. No point in trying any longer. Too much on my mind. After a long, hot shower I packed up my laptop, along with the DNA report and headed for Motel 6 to pick up Rudy. On the way, it occurred to me that since the police were surveilling Hines’ home, it would be necessary to somehow sneak in without them seeing us.
Rudy was not at all happy with being woken up at 6 am. He calmed down after I reminded him that he was working for me, I was paying him good money, and therefore I called the shots. I waited while he showered and dressed and then we headed out to McDonald’s for a quick breakfast.
“Rudy, we need to be careful about today. I found out last night the police have Hines’ home under surveillance. If we’re seen entering the home again, I fully expect they will show up to question why.”
“Not good, Boss. They’re the last people I want to see. What we can do is download the contents of Hines’ laptop to yours.”
“You’ll have to do that.”
“No problem. I have a brand-new USB. We can download to it, then upload to yours. Don’t worry, Boss. You know I know what I’m doing. I’ll take care of everything.”
With that, our agenda was decided. Next was a quick call to Mariana to let her know we were on our way. I hated calling her so early, but there was no other alternative. Thankfully, she was already up and feeding her son. I told her we’d be there in less than a half hour and asked her if there was a back way into the property that would prevent us from being seen. When she asked why, I told her about the police surveillance.
She gave me instructions on how to enter the narrow back ally way that ran between Hines’ home and the home behind his. She said she’d unlock the back gate for us and from there we’d enter the back wooded part of the property. Neither we, nor the car, would be seen.
After arriving at Hines’ home and making sure everything was okay with Mariana, we settled in front of Hines’ computer. Sitting next to Rudy, I was amazed. Rudy was doing what Rudy does best. He’d started the download to the USB and while he was waiting for it to finish, he was surfing the Internet, talking with his friends in several chatrooms, and clicking on this and that.
He had to have at least ten windows open and they were lined up in small squares on the side of the computer screen. Multi-tasking at its finest all the while conversing with his friend, Buzzerd1, in London.
I happened to read one of the chat entries.
“To Buzzerd1, I’m having difficulties getting around the firewall for Orion Bank of Bermuda. I’m going to put a broadband around the firewall.”
“From Buzzard1, no worries. I’ve already done that from here. What information do you need downloaded?”
“To Buzzerd1, bank accounts belonging a Mr. Heinrich Hines.”
“From Buzzard1, acknowledged.”
It took no more than a couple of minutes before the next reply.
“From Buzzard1, one bank account found and completed. Refer to alpha files and you’re there.”
I had no clue as to what they were talking about.
“Rudy, what was that all about?”
He clicked a few keys and another page opened on the screen.
“Here it is. You read. I need to use the bathroom. I think we passed one in the hall. Be right back.”
Amazing. These kids are so super into this shit, they don’t even live in this world. Before I could even start reading, up popped another message marked urgent from Buzzard1.
“From Buzzard1, urgent! Orion Bank knows they’ve been hacked. Abort. Do you copy? Abort!”
Jumping up, I ran for the bathroom and shouted to Rudy. The toilet flushed and Rudy came out still zipping up his pants. Never thought he could move that fast.
Sitting back down at the computer he ejected the USB and let out a few swear words.
“Rudy what did your friend mean? Bermuda knows they were being hacked?”
“That’s what Buzzard1 says, Boss. This doesn’t happen. Not to us. We’re too careful. So what I’m gonna do is disconnect from the Internet then I’m gonna erase my footprint entirely for the laptop’s hard drive. Hopefully, Orion Bank didn’t have time to get a lock on this IP address. I can say we have just about everything from the laptop hard drive on the USB, so we’ll just have to go with that.”
Rudy finished what he needed to do and tucked the USB into his shirt pocket. He then turned off the laptop and we left the office in search of Mariana.
Finding her in the kitchen, I gave an excuse for our hurried departure.
“We’re done with Hines’ laptop, Mariana. I suggest you go ahead and hide it again. But you may have a visit from the police. If you do, and they ask for the laptop, give it to them.”
“Why? Why would they do that, Jack?”
“Trust me, Mariana. It’s better I don’t tell you why. If you don’t know anything, there’s nothing you can tell the police. That way you have nothing to worry about. If the police do come and pick it up, they will go through it to look for more clues, that’s all.”
With the look on her face, I knew she wasn’t convinced. But, there were no options at this point. We’d done what we’d done.
Back at Motel 6, I had Rudy pack up his gear while I packed up the few things I’d brought. When he asked me why, I told him no way was I going to trust the Wi-Fi here and we were headed to Starbucks.
“But, Boss. I don’t need Internet to download the USB to your computer. Besides, even if we did need Wi-Fi Starbucks is probably more unsecured than this motel. We can stay here. But if you want Starbucks, I’m hungry.”
After checking out, Starbucks it was. I handed my computer over to Rudy to start the download from the USB and ordered two Grande Americanos with room and a chicken sandwich for Rudy. I figured he functioned much better with his belly full. The kid was an eating machine and never seemed to have enough.
“How’s it going?”
“Shouldn’t take too long.”
Rudy gulped down his sandwich, all the while watching the progress. My nerves were shot and my Grande Americano didn’t help.
“Okay, Boss. I’m going to try and open the alpha files first.”
“What are alpha files?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Basically Hines’ bank account at Orion Bank of Bermuda. I’m assuming that’s what you want to see first.”
Placing Rudy’s backpack on another chair, I scooted over and sat next to him. He was still clicking away on this and that, and finally turned to me.
“Here. Is this what you want?”
Holy shit. It was a monthly automatic money transfer from Orion Bank of Bermuda to a bank called St. Simmond Bank & Trust located on St. Simmond Island.
“Where the hell is St. Simmond Island?”
“No clue, Boss. But we’re gonna need Internet to find out. And I don’t think connecting your laptop here is a good idea. Use your iPhone?”
“Okay, but don’t lose that page.”
“No worries, Boss. It won’t disappear.”
We used my phone and did a Google search for St. Simmond Island.
“St. Simmond Island is located off the coast of Georgia.”
I had him do a few more searches and found more information, including that fact that there are several banks on the island, as well as privately owned properties, and historic tourist hotels.
“I think we may finally have a break in this case.”
“Ya think? We know there’s a transfer of $6000 per month to the bank on the island, but we don’t have his address, Boss.”
“Rudy, can you check his Orion Bank information to see if there was a large one-time deposit from any foreign banks?”
“That’s a piece of cake.” A few clicks later, I had my answer.
“Nope, not a one, Boss.”
Euphoria was now mixed with confusion. So, Hines was alive and living on St. Simmond Island, but he hadn’t sold his invention to the Turks, or to anyone else for that matter.
“Rudy, I think your job is done and well done at that. Before I take you back to Venice Beach, I want you to delete all the information from my laptop as well as everything on the USB.”
“Boss? I’ll take everything off your computer, but I’d advise you to leave it on the USB for backup. There are all kinds of information you’re probably gonna wanna check later.”
He had a point. I needed to trust him on this one.
“You’re right, Rudy, just delete the information on my laptop.
Several minutes later he was done.
“Okay, Boss. All done.”
I handed Rudy $500.
“$500?”
“You more than earned it, Rudy. Before I take you back I need to make a quick stop in Lake Village.”
“No problem, Boss. I’m in no hurry.”
My quick stop was at Mirza Almazan’s law office to drop off the DNA results as she’d requested last night. I was relieved to know that she’d be dealing with the police. Not me. Back in the car I was undecided about with route to take.
Checking with SIRI, it looked like Lake Village Drive went all the way down to the PCH. I opted for that rather than the 101 and 405. At Santa Monica, Rudy took over the navigation to the Starbucks in Venice Beach where we said our goodbyes. He was a happy young man. And, I was eager to get on to what I knew needed to be done.
Staying on at Starbucks, I opened my laptop and Googled Zillow for recently purchased homes on St. Simmond Island. Nothing listing Heinrich Hines’ name came up. Could he be renting a place instead of buying? Checking rentals, his name didn’t come up either. But I knew Heinrich Hines was somewhere on St. Simmond Island.
There was no way I even considered hacking into the St. Simmond Bank & Trust. It would have been the easiest way to get Hines’ address, but we’d come so close to being caught hacking the Orion Bank in Bermuda, I didn’t want to risk it.
My only option was to go to St. Simmond Island and snoop around. Stalk my prey, and hope it wouldn’t be a problem to find Hines. My mind debated whether to tell Vance and his lawyer.
Thinking it over, I decided for the time being not to tell anyone about where the trail of Heinrich Hines had ended up.
Mark my words, I will find you, you son-of-a-bitch.
CHAPTER 45
Tuesday, July 31
The next morning, I was awake before dawn. After a shower, I dressed in casual clothes, packed my roll-aboard with a few pairs of jeans, shirts, and sweats, put my laptop in my backpack, prepared my gun and ammunition, and went downstairs. I’d already checked and Georgia had reciprocity with Florida. I peeked into the sunroom. Empty. Then the kitchen. Candelaria was busy preparing breakfast and luckily she didn’t see or hear me.
Hurrying as quietly as I could, I went out to my rental and placed my roll-aboard and backpack in the trunk. At McDonald’s, I ordered my usual and settled in a booth by the window.
So, Jack. Just how do you figure on getting yourself to the airport?
Call Vargas? I quickly discarded that idea. If I had Vargas drive me, then he’d be obliged to tell Vance. Nope. Gotta be another way. While I set that percolating in the back of my mind, I logged into my Delta Air Lines account and booked a first-class, one-way ticket to Atlanta and a connection to the closest airport to St. Simmond. The flight left LAX at 10:45 am with an hour and forty-minute layover in Atlanta and arrived Brunswood, Georgia at 8:45 pm. Must be a small island if there’s no airport. But there was no time to do any more research.
Finishing off my breakfast, I headed back to the rental car agency and returned the car. I asked the agent if she’d call for a taxi to LAX for me. She looked at me strangely.
“You do know a taxi from here to the airport’s gonna cost ya over $150? There’s Uber, but they take longer. So do the ride-share companies.”
“That’s not going to work. I need to catch a 10:45 am flight.”
“Well, ya know…if you pay me $100, I’ll take you to the airport myself.”
“But you’re working. How would you manage that?”
“My boss won’t mind. I’ll tell him my kid’s school called and he’s sick. Do it all the time.”
“Great.”
She picked up the phone, dialed, and turned around. She was trying to speak softly to whoever was on the other end, but I could hear her say that she needed a couple of hours off because her son’s school had called about him being sick. Evidently it worked.
“Meet me down at the end of the block. I’ll pick you up in about ten minutes.”
After merging onto the 101, she started talking. I listened. Turned out she was a single mom. She went on about her divorce and her son for most of the way to the 405. Thankfully, traffic was moving and we were making good time. She finally wound down and asked me about myself. I described my job as a consultant to a wealthy client here in L.A. and that I was helping him set up a new business which was my specialty.
“Why the airport?”
“Need to take care of some urgent business in Florida, then I’ll be back to rent another car. Maybe we can get together when I return.”
“I’d like that. I don’t often get to meet a nice man like you.”
“Thank you for the compliment, but how do you know I’m a nice man?’
“Aren’t you? I can tell that you’re a gentleman.”
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“Becky Lovelace. Lovelace is my ex’s last name. My maiden name is Thorn from my father’s side.”
“I’m Jack. Jack Ludefance.”
“Yes, I know, I saw on the rental form. Well, now I can’t wait for you to get back.”
“Becky let’s not move to fast here. Let’s just say I’ll try and take you out when I get back.”
“Of course, Jack. I’ll be waiting.”
Oh, boy. Did I just get myself into another ‘situation’?
Thankfully, we were on Century Boulevard and approaching the entrance to LAX. Traffic slowed as we came to a security check point manned with several police cars. Today of all days, they were stopping and checking each vehicle and I began sweating making my flight on time.
Finally, we were clear and I had her stop at Terminal 3. Pulling out my wallet I handed her $100. The smile on her face was something else. I started to get out of her car, but turned back, pulled out my wallet again, and gave her another $20 and a $10. Her smile was worth it. It also helped ease my conscience knowing I had no intention of calling her when I got back.
Although I encountered no issues checking my firearm, security was not as easy. I hadn’t been lucky enough to get pre-check this time, so I stood in a long line hoping I’d make my flight in time. Fortunately, I reached my gate just as the last boarding announcement was being made. I let out a sigh of relief as I settled into my seat. Just enough time for a Blue Moon before takeoff.
In Atlanta, I used my time wisely and booked a rental car at Brunswood Airport for a week and found a Holiday Inn Express offering rooms with breakfast and free Wi-Fi for $99 a night. Not bad. My connecting flight was a much smaller aircraft. We used to call them puddle-jumpers. Wonder if anyone still does.
Brunswood Airport was as small as they get. One runway. Just one. But being small had its advantages. I was in my rental car within twenty minutes of deplaning. From there, it was a quick ten minutes over the PJ Tiger Causeway.
The look on both detectives’ faces was priceless. Wish I’d had a camera.
“You still have the report?”
“I gave it to Ms. Almazan.”
I looked over at Mirza.
“Yes, the report is at my office. I can bring it to you tomorrow afternoon.”
“We’ll be expecting it.”
With that, the recorder clicked off and Mirza and I stood up to leave. As we were walking back to the lobby Mirza asked me to bring the report to her office first thing tomorrow morning and then asked me if I wanted her to fill Vance in on the latest findings.
“Sure, I’ll bring the report by. As to Vance, I’d like to tell him about it on the way back to his house. And by the way, thank you for your help back there.”
“My pleasure.”
Vance was waiting in the lobby and didn’t say a word until after we were half-way back to his home.
“Do you have a lead, Jack?”
“I’m on to something, but it’s not clear yet exactly where it leads. Still too many ifs.”
“For God sakes, don’t keep me in suspense!”
“Simply put, the DNA of the body found in the woods doesn’t match the DNA of Mariana’s baby.”
“Mariana’s baby? What the hell are you talking about? Catch me up, Jack!”
“You really didn’t know, did you? Hines forced Mariana to have sex with him and she became pregnant.”
“Good Lord!”
“Either Mariana isn’t telling the truth as to who her baby’s father really is, or if she is, the dead man in the woods is not Heinrich Hines.”
“Oh, my God. You’re going to clear me, aren’t you? This calls for a celebration!”
“Don’t jump to conclusions yet, Vance. We still have a long way to go.”
“At least have a drink.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
CHAPTER 44
Monday, July 30
After our ‘drink’ turned into a few too many last evening, I decided not to drive back to Motel 6. I’d made a quick call to Rudy to let him know I’d pick him up in the morning.
It was now 4.30 am and I was still wide awake. No point in trying any longer. Too much on my mind. After a long, hot shower I packed up my laptop, along with the DNA report and headed for Motel 6 to pick up Rudy. On the way, it occurred to me that since the police were surveilling Hines’ home, it would be necessary to somehow sneak in without them seeing us.
Rudy was not at all happy with being woken up at 6 am. He calmed down after I reminded him that he was working for me, I was paying him good money, and therefore I called the shots. I waited while he showered and dressed and then we headed out to McDonald’s for a quick breakfast.
“Rudy, we need to be careful about today. I found out last night the police have Hines’ home under surveillance. If we’re seen entering the home again, I fully expect they will show up to question why.”
“Not good, Boss. They’re the last people I want to see. What we can do is download the contents of Hines’ laptop to yours.”
“You’ll have to do that.”
“No problem. I have a brand-new USB. We can download to it, then upload to yours. Don’t worry, Boss. You know I know what I’m doing. I’ll take care of everything.”
With that, our agenda was decided. Next was a quick call to Mariana to let her know we were on our way. I hated calling her so early, but there was no other alternative. Thankfully, she was already up and feeding her son. I told her we’d be there in less than a half hour and asked her if there was a back way into the property that would prevent us from being seen. When she asked why, I told her about the police surveillance.
She gave me instructions on how to enter the narrow back ally way that ran between Hines’ home and the home behind his. She said she’d unlock the back gate for us and from there we’d enter the back wooded part of the property. Neither we, nor the car, would be seen.
After arriving at Hines’ home and making sure everything was okay with Mariana, we settled in front of Hines’ computer. Sitting next to Rudy, I was amazed. Rudy was doing what Rudy does best. He’d started the download to the USB and while he was waiting for it to finish, he was surfing the Internet, talking with his friends in several chatrooms, and clicking on this and that.
He had to have at least ten windows open and they were lined up in small squares on the side of the computer screen. Multi-tasking at its finest all the while conversing with his friend, Buzzerd1, in London.
I happened to read one of the chat entries.
“To Buzzerd1, I’m having difficulties getting around the firewall for Orion Bank of Bermuda. I’m going to put a broadband around the firewall.”
“From Buzzard1, no worries. I’ve already done that from here. What information do you need downloaded?”
“To Buzzerd1, bank accounts belonging a Mr. Heinrich Hines.”
“From Buzzard1, acknowledged.”
It took no more than a couple of minutes before the next reply.
“From Buzzard1, one bank account found and completed. Refer to alpha files and you’re there.”
I had no clue as to what they were talking about.
“Rudy, what was that all about?”
He clicked a few keys and another page opened on the screen.
“Here it is. You read. I need to use the bathroom. I think we passed one in the hall. Be right back.”
Amazing. These kids are so super into this shit, they don’t even live in this world. Before I could even start reading, up popped another message marked urgent from Buzzard1.
“From Buzzard1, urgent! Orion Bank knows they’ve been hacked. Abort. Do you copy? Abort!”
Jumping up, I ran for the bathroom and shouted to Rudy. The toilet flushed and Rudy came out still zipping up his pants. Never thought he could move that fast.
Sitting back down at the computer he ejected the USB and let out a few swear words.
“Rudy what did your friend mean? Bermuda knows they were being hacked?”
“That’s what Buzzard1 says, Boss. This doesn’t happen. Not to us. We’re too careful. So what I’m gonna do is disconnect from the Internet then I’m gonna erase my footprint entirely for the laptop’s hard drive. Hopefully, Orion Bank didn’t have time to get a lock on this IP address. I can say we have just about everything from the laptop hard drive on the USB, so we’ll just have to go with that.”
Rudy finished what he needed to do and tucked the USB into his shirt pocket. He then turned off the laptop and we left the office in search of Mariana.
Finding her in the kitchen, I gave an excuse for our hurried departure.
“We’re done with Hines’ laptop, Mariana. I suggest you go ahead and hide it again. But you may have a visit from the police. If you do, and they ask for the laptop, give it to them.”
“Why? Why would they do that, Jack?”
“Trust me, Mariana. It’s better I don’t tell you why. If you don’t know anything, there’s nothing you can tell the police. That way you have nothing to worry about. If the police do come and pick it up, they will go through it to look for more clues, that’s all.”
With the look on her face, I knew she wasn’t convinced. But, there were no options at this point. We’d done what we’d done.
Back at Motel 6, I had Rudy pack up his gear while I packed up the few things I’d brought. When he asked me why, I told him no way was I going to trust the Wi-Fi here and we were headed to Starbucks.
“But, Boss. I don’t need Internet to download the USB to your computer. Besides, even if we did need Wi-Fi Starbucks is probably more unsecured than this motel. We can stay here. But if you want Starbucks, I’m hungry.”
After checking out, Starbucks it was. I handed my computer over to Rudy to start the download from the USB and ordered two Grande Americanos with room and a chicken sandwich for Rudy. I figured he functioned much better with his belly full. The kid was an eating machine and never seemed to have enough.
“How’s it going?”
“Shouldn’t take too long.”
Rudy gulped down his sandwich, all the while watching the progress. My nerves were shot and my Grande Americano didn’t help.
“Okay, Boss. I’m going to try and open the alpha files first.”
“What are alpha files?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Basically Hines’ bank account at Orion Bank of Bermuda. I’m assuming that’s what you want to see first.”
Placing Rudy’s backpack on another chair, I scooted over and sat next to him. He was still clicking away on this and that, and finally turned to me.
“Here. Is this what you want?”
Holy shit. It was a monthly automatic money transfer from Orion Bank of Bermuda to a bank called St. Simmond Bank & Trust located on St. Simmond Island.
“Where the hell is St. Simmond Island?”
“No clue, Boss. But we’re gonna need Internet to find out. And I don’t think connecting your laptop here is a good idea. Use your iPhone?”
“Okay, but don’t lose that page.”
“No worries, Boss. It won’t disappear.”
We used my phone and did a Google search for St. Simmond Island.
“St. Simmond Island is located off the coast of Georgia.”
I had him do a few more searches and found more information, including that fact that there are several banks on the island, as well as privately owned properties, and historic tourist hotels.
“I think we may finally have a break in this case.”
“Ya think? We know there’s a transfer of $6000 per month to the bank on the island, but we don’t have his address, Boss.”
“Rudy, can you check his Orion Bank information to see if there was a large one-time deposit from any foreign banks?”
“That’s a piece of cake.” A few clicks later, I had my answer.
“Nope, not a one, Boss.”
Euphoria was now mixed with confusion. So, Hines was alive and living on St. Simmond Island, but he hadn’t sold his invention to the Turks, or to anyone else for that matter.
“Rudy, I think your job is done and well done at that. Before I take you back to Venice Beach, I want you to delete all the information from my laptop as well as everything on the USB.”
“Boss? I’ll take everything off your computer, but I’d advise you to leave it on the USB for backup. There are all kinds of information you’re probably gonna wanna check later.”
He had a point. I needed to trust him on this one.
“You’re right, Rudy, just delete the information on my laptop.
Several minutes later he was done.
“Okay, Boss. All done.”
I handed Rudy $500.
“$500?”
“You more than earned it, Rudy. Before I take you back I need to make a quick stop in Lake Village.”
“No problem, Boss. I’m in no hurry.”
My quick stop was at Mirza Almazan’s law office to drop off the DNA results as she’d requested last night. I was relieved to know that she’d be dealing with the police. Not me. Back in the car I was undecided about with route to take.
Checking with SIRI, it looked like Lake Village Drive went all the way down to the PCH. I opted for that rather than the 101 and 405. At Santa Monica, Rudy took over the navigation to the Starbucks in Venice Beach where we said our goodbyes. He was a happy young man. And, I was eager to get on to what I knew needed to be done.
Staying on at Starbucks, I opened my laptop and Googled Zillow for recently purchased homes on St. Simmond Island. Nothing listing Heinrich Hines’ name came up. Could he be renting a place instead of buying? Checking rentals, his name didn’t come up either. But I knew Heinrich Hines was somewhere on St. Simmond Island.
There was no way I even considered hacking into the St. Simmond Bank & Trust. It would have been the easiest way to get Hines’ address, but we’d come so close to being caught hacking the Orion Bank in Bermuda, I didn’t want to risk it.
My only option was to go to St. Simmond Island and snoop around. Stalk my prey, and hope it wouldn’t be a problem to find Hines. My mind debated whether to tell Vance and his lawyer.
Thinking it over, I decided for the time being not to tell anyone about where the trail of Heinrich Hines had ended up.
Mark my words, I will find you, you son-of-a-bitch.
CHAPTER 45
Tuesday, July 31
The next morning, I was awake before dawn. After a shower, I dressed in casual clothes, packed my roll-aboard with a few pairs of jeans, shirts, and sweats, put my laptop in my backpack, prepared my gun and ammunition, and went downstairs. I’d already checked and Georgia had reciprocity with Florida. I peeked into the sunroom. Empty. Then the kitchen. Candelaria was busy preparing breakfast and luckily she didn’t see or hear me.
Hurrying as quietly as I could, I went out to my rental and placed my roll-aboard and backpack in the trunk. At McDonald’s, I ordered my usual and settled in a booth by the window.
So, Jack. Just how do you figure on getting yourself to the airport?
Call Vargas? I quickly discarded that idea. If I had Vargas drive me, then he’d be obliged to tell Vance. Nope. Gotta be another way. While I set that percolating in the back of my mind, I logged into my Delta Air Lines account and booked a first-class, one-way ticket to Atlanta and a connection to the closest airport to St. Simmond. The flight left LAX at 10:45 am with an hour and forty-minute layover in Atlanta and arrived Brunswood, Georgia at 8:45 pm. Must be a small island if there’s no airport. But there was no time to do any more research.
Finishing off my breakfast, I headed back to the rental car agency and returned the car. I asked the agent if she’d call for a taxi to LAX for me. She looked at me strangely.
“You do know a taxi from here to the airport’s gonna cost ya over $150? There’s Uber, but they take longer. So do the ride-share companies.”
“That’s not going to work. I need to catch a 10:45 am flight.”
“Well, ya know…if you pay me $100, I’ll take you to the airport myself.”
“But you’re working. How would you manage that?”
“My boss won’t mind. I’ll tell him my kid’s school called and he’s sick. Do it all the time.”
“Great.”
She picked up the phone, dialed, and turned around. She was trying to speak softly to whoever was on the other end, but I could hear her say that she needed a couple of hours off because her son’s school had called about him being sick. Evidently it worked.
“Meet me down at the end of the block. I’ll pick you up in about ten minutes.”
After merging onto the 101, she started talking. I listened. Turned out she was a single mom. She went on about her divorce and her son for most of the way to the 405. Thankfully, traffic was moving and we were making good time. She finally wound down and asked me about myself. I described my job as a consultant to a wealthy client here in L.A. and that I was helping him set up a new business which was my specialty.
“Why the airport?”
“Need to take care of some urgent business in Florida, then I’ll be back to rent another car. Maybe we can get together when I return.”
“I’d like that. I don’t often get to meet a nice man like you.”
“Thank you for the compliment, but how do you know I’m a nice man?’
“Aren’t you? I can tell that you’re a gentleman.”
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“Becky Lovelace. Lovelace is my ex’s last name. My maiden name is Thorn from my father’s side.”
“I’m Jack. Jack Ludefance.”
“Yes, I know, I saw on the rental form. Well, now I can’t wait for you to get back.”
“Becky let’s not move to fast here. Let’s just say I’ll try and take you out when I get back.”
“Of course, Jack. I’ll be waiting.”
Oh, boy. Did I just get myself into another ‘situation’?
Thankfully, we were on Century Boulevard and approaching the entrance to LAX. Traffic slowed as we came to a security check point manned with several police cars. Today of all days, they were stopping and checking each vehicle and I began sweating making my flight on time.
Finally, we were clear and I had her stop at Terminal 3. Pulling out my wallet I handed her $100. The smile on her face was something else. I started to get out of her car, but turned back, pulled out my wallet again, and gave her another $20 and a $10. Her smile was worth it. It also helped ease my conscience knowing I had no intention of calling her when I got back.
Although I encountered no issues checking my firearm, security was not as easy. I hadn’t been lucky enough to get pre-check this time, so I stood in a long line hoping I’d make my flight in time. Fortunately, I reached my gate just as the last boarding announcement was being made. I let out a sigh of relief as I settled into my seat. Just enough time for a Blue Moon before takeoff.
In Atlanta, I used my time wisely and booked a rental car at Brunswood Airport for a week and found a Holiday Inn Express offering rooms with breakfast and free Wi-Fi for $99 a night. Not bad. My connecting flight was a much smaller aircraft. We used to call them puddle-jumpers. Wonder if anyone still does.
Brunswood Airport was as small as they get. One runway. Just one. But being small had its advantages. I was in my rental car within twenty minutes of deplaning. From there, it was a quick ten minutes over the PJ Tiger Causeway.
