“Good idea. You know, she’s going to be a problem. I’m not sure what I should tell her.”
“Tell her the whole story if you think she is able to keep if to herself. She may be helpful if you have her work with you on the list.”
“I think you just made up my mind.”
Jonas decided to tell Belle everything. Then he would ask her to help him figure out where he left the case.
Jonas had been able to see Belle a few times during her childhood years. When her father moved from Lodi, New Jersey, to the old family home in Georgia, he had a more direct line to help her with some problems she encountered as an adult. With the help of her father he was able to pay her college tuition and when her divorce came about he had a chance to comfort her with a few phone calls as well as helping financially. She was always a very fine young lady. He was very proud to be her grandfather.
I remember clearly now. The record shop was closed on Sunday’s. Giving me the chance to check out the neighborhood in Lodi. I drove down Rochelle Avenue in a borrowed car. Crossed over some railroad tracks and a few blocks later Market Street. Now I should be in Lodi. Saddle River was flowing to my right so I knew the area where they lived was to my left. There it was Church Street. I drove slowly down the street. On my right was the house. Now what. I couldn’t just walk up and introduce myself, or could I? No… I parked and watched for a while. A young man came out of the front door. He was putting the garbage cans by the curb. He looks like his mother, Liz, and maybe, a little like me as well. Now I need to think…I can’t walk up and tell him, Hi, I’m your father.
I would have to think of something to ease my way back. I hope he’ll
understand.
“Wake up, Jonas, we’re home.”
“I must have dozed off. I’m sorry.”
“Not to worry. Go get some rest, while I park the car.”
It was a little past seven in the evening the sun has been gone for a couple of hours. Belle, was having dinner with Mudd. Jonas, headed to the restaurant. He was hungry and maybe Belle was there.
Jonas saw a man sitting with Belle? He immediately recognized him. He didn’t know his name but had seen him come out of the recording studio a few times. It would be fun to see the inside of a studio again.
“Hello Belle. Sorry I was gone so long.”
“Grandfather, I was getting worried.”
“Everything’s fine. I just got back and decided to have a bite.”
“Please, join us. I’ll have another place set for you,” said the gentleman who had his granddaughter’s attention.
“Grandfather excuse me, this is Muddy, John E. Mudd. He caught me singing to myself this morning as I was walking around. He invited me to see the studio where he is doing some work and then we did a bit of sightseeing.”
“How do you do sir? Nice to meet you. Your granddaughter has told me all about you,” Muddy injected.
Not too much I hope, not much to tell, Jonas thought to himself as he acknowledged his greeting.
They enjoyed their meal. During their conversation Jonas mentioned the studio. Mudd invited him to come and look it over. It would be fun. Jonas thought, he hadn’t seen the inside of a real studio in many years.
He would ask Solly if he could mingle with Mudd in the studio. Jonas hoped so. Oh, yeah!
Fifteen — Evil Meets Evil
Gerald is late as usual. Jewel is steaming. She is tired and hungry and can’t be seen or her goose is cooked. She put the twin’s bodies under the floorboards in the abandoned building and they will start to stink soon. Jewel thinks about pulling her gun out should she get stopped by a cop. The gun is well hidden; as she reaches down she hesitates. Gerald pulls into the parking area. She calms herself, rolls down her window, as Gerald pulls alongside.
“Jewel, have you been waiting long?”
“Yeah! You’re late,” she snaps, with some hate in her voice. “I’m starved get me a takeout from the pancake place?” Gerald, notices Jewel’s, upset demeanor. He realizes he was late and apologizes. Jewel is taken back. “Get me Swedish pancakes with lingonberries.”
“I’ll get it right now. You need to follow me to a safer place so we can talk. The FBI is getting close.”
“I’m ready!” Jewel replies.
Gerald was fast getting the pancakes. He handed them to her and got back in his car; with her following, they drove for fifteen minutes. When they arrived, she looked at an old beach house. They parked their cars in the narrow driveway. It was dark but with the full moon she could see the place was falling apart. The roof was sagging and the paint was almost non-existent. Why has he brought her here? She saw Gerald unlock the door and noticed the windows were shuttered. She realized the place was secure to some extent. She exited her car and walked to the door.
Whose place is this,”
“It belonged to my third wife’s family. Hasn’t been used for years. I come here once in a while to get away. I love the quiet, it’s good for thinking,” Gerald explained. “If I fix up the outside the taxes would go up and could attract unwanted attention. I don’t want anybody to come here. I’ve been paying the guy who lives in the shack we passed on the way in to keep people out of here.”
“Got it, is there a microwave?” Jewel, asks.
“No electricity. The pancakes are still warm.”
Jewel inhales the food. “Thanks, they were good, first food I’ve had today.”
“Jewel, what happened to the Brown brothers?”
“I dumped them in the crawl space on the far end of the building and closed up the opening. It will be hard to find them.”
“Good, the people who hooked me up with them are wondering where they are. I told them the last I heard, they went for a beer.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not yet, but the timing has to be on our side if we are going to secure the diamonds. They’re getting antsy. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
“What can I do?”
“Make sure the people you hire are not connected.”
“I will.”
“The FBI is getting close as well. They’re a step ahead of us. We have one chance to find the case before them. My contact thinks he should have an answer very soon. We have to be ready to act. He thinks there may be more then one location for the case.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I need you to get four guys who can think on their feet should things get hairy. They need to be ready to travel at a moment’s notice. Can you do that?
“Not around here. I’ll need to go to Philly, I have some friends who will help
me get the people you need.”
“Good, when can you get started?”
“I’ll need some money. First for expenses and I’ll have to shell out some cash to
have the guys stand by.”
“Not a problem. I’ll call when I get the cash together.”
“How far will they have to travel?”
“Not sure but I’ll have tickets for a flight should they be needed. We will be sending two men to each destination. When the information comes everyone will have to move quickly. Make sure they all know what is expected of them and tell them they will be paid well.”
“I’ll take care of everything. I need to get out of this area before I’m spotted.”
“I’ll contact you in the usual manner as soon as I have the cash ready. Tomorrow afternoon, at the latest. Chateau 54 should be pretty quiet tomorrow which will give me a chance to run to the bank and meet with you.”
“I’ll be waiting. Time to get out of here, my bones are chillin.’ Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow then.”
Jewel, drove away.
There goes Jewel, out of sight. I’ll wait a little longer before I get the cash. I don’t want her knowing I have a bunch of money hidden here. None of her business. I have to watch her close. She’s a bit too sure of herself. If she c
an get the muscle I need, everything should work out. I’ll still pick the most likely location and go there myself. Jewel will go with me and the others will take location two and if necessary location three. I’ll need to get cell phones for each group. I’ll do it tomorrow. Let’s see, $20,000 should cover the early outlay. I’ll take another 5 grand for myself. I’ll need a gun should we drive. I’ll take this 9mm pistol for now.
Sixteen — Detective Mother
Mudd was still sound asleep when Mother left. The Parkway had the usual traffic. He would be in Atlantic City by noon. James hadn’t called and until he did, Mother, wouldn’t know where to go for lunch. He leaned back in the seat and tried his best to enjoy the drive.
As Mother drives his mind goes back to Dartmouth College. It was February, 1964, Winter Carnival.
We were booked for the weekend. Five of us were in the station wagon as we pulled a trailer with our instruments. There was so much excitement in the car I forgot to check the gas level and before I knew it the car stopped running. Fortunately, we were on a slight down grade and I was able to pull over. We could see an exit with a gas station close by. But could we coast there with a trailer? I didn’t think so. We were in a fix. Within 5 minutes of pulling over, a car stopped the driver got out and in a stern voice said to me.
“Have you ever been towed before?” I answered “Yes,” but not with a trailer.
“Make sure you keep up with me, keep the tension on the tow line.”
He hooked up his car to the front part of my car. He knew what he was doing.
His wife told me. “Don’t get the impression he’s a grump. It’s just how he is. He will get you to a gas station.”
“Are you all ready?” he hollered.
I told him, “Yes.” I was a nervous wreck. He took up the slack and got us moving and moving and moving. Now I was really nervous. I did the best I could and we managed to get to the gas station. He unhooked the cars while the tank was being filled. The man, who never gave his name, went inside to wash his hands. I spoke to his wife and told her I would like to pay him for towing us. She told me not to do it, he wouldn’t like it. Just thank him. We all got out of the car. Some of us shook his hand while the others cheered him. What a nice person, came out of nowhere helped us out of a big mess and went his way without giving his name. The closest thing to acknowledging us was to beep his horn as he left. After all these years, the memory of him still reminds me there are many good people in the world whom you meet when you need them most.
We had a successful weekend working three different frat houses; Friday night, Saturday night and the big party on Sunday afternoon. We packed quickly and headed home. We wanted to get to our favorite stop. It was a small bar and restaurant just across the border from Vermont entering New York state. We called it, the tequila stop, the owner called it, Spardella’s. We arrived there just before eight o’clock in the evening. The Ed Sullivan Show was about to go on and the Beatles would perform. We were in luck and got five seats at the bar. The Beatles were fantastic. As we watched we had six rounds of tequila.
The owner knew us as we usually stopped on the way up and back whenever we worked the college circuit in New England. He insisted we have something to eat before we get on the road again. “It’s on me guys.” When we left all of us felt a lot better. Especially me, as I had to drive. The owner got me off to the side and gave me two six packs. “Let the guys have a beer on me, but you drive.” I thanked him. I was glad he had us eat and the beer was a nice gesture. Home we went. A long but safe drive. One of the great weekend’s playing with the fabulous Norsemen. Oh yeah, the Beatles were great too!
James called Mother to tell him where lunch would be. He was glad he called or his daydreaming would have caused him to miss Exit 40 and the White Horse Pike. Now it was only fifteen minutes to Atlantic City.
It was good to see the guys and even more exciting to be able tell them what Muddy had overheard from the Brown twins.
“Are you telling us Lou, Herb and Freddie went back to look at the dead body and found him alive?” Asked Vince.
“Yes, exactly.” Mother said.
“By the way which one messed his pants?” asked Chuck.
After they all finished laughing, Mother said, “No one ever told me.”
They laughed again.
“It’s a shame the guys were in the accident. I miss them,” James noted.
“Here, here!” James continued, as they saluted their friends.
Chuck, changed the subject, “What about the music for the movie? I know things have been hectic but have you and Muddy worked on the sound track?”
“We have. We’re almost ready to finish the theme song, The Long Road Back.”
“Super.”
“Also, we’re ready to hire musicians to record the tracks.”
“I’d love to come to the session,” Vince said.
“I’ll let all of you know the recording schedule as soon as it’s set.”
“Looking forward to hearing the music move forward,” Vince confirmed.
“The building Mudd and I found will work for the big scenes. It’s centrally located and could also be a storage place for the sets and other equipment. And the price is right. How about the director has he agreed to terms?”
“The bum is giving us a hard time. He thinks we have an endless amount of cash,” Chuck, told Mother. “I want to dump him if ya’ll agree,” Chuck snarled.
Mother could always tell as Chuck’s southern accent would come back whenever someone was pushing him too hard.
“I was talking to Carl, about some of the changes in the script when he asked about the possibility of directing the picture. He told me he has learned a lot just being around some good directors. I understand if you don’t want to use him but I thought I’d mention him to you especially now when the director is being a hard head.”
“Why don’t you have him call me and we can set up a meeting. If we feel he can do the job, I’m good with hiring him,” Chuck concluded, everyone agreed.
“I’ll have him call you in the morning.”
The guys relaxed and talked for the next hour about how much better they were feeling since they found out the guy wasn’t killed, about the FBI and the situation with Muddy and Jewel. Many things were still up in the air but the pressure was off. They agreed their lives would have been a lot different had they known the whole story. They wondered why Lou, Herb or Freddie hadn’t told them they found the guy alive.
On the drive home, he called his son Carl and told him to get in touch with Chuck. They’re looking for a new director. Give it your best shot he told him. Noodles should be getting back to him soon with the information about Gerald. There was really nothing he could do until he heard from Noodles. He missed the heavy traffic and was back in his office by 6:30, sat down in his heated chair and took a deep breath thinking the day was done. The phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Hey, it’s me,” came Noodle’s voice.
Noodles had a tone in his voice which sounded like someone was strangling him.
“Noodles, take a deep breath,” Mother told him.
“I can’t,” he replied. “My company’s reputation is at stake. How could this happen?”
“If you tell me maybe I can tell you.”
“I’m sunk.”
“Noodles, tell me what you’re talking about.”
Noodles proceeded to tell Mother, what he had found when he rechecked Gerald’s employment and credit records. The complete file had been removed from the servers with no trace of how it was done. Last year when Noodles checked Gerald’s records he had a complete file; a lifetime of work and a 780-credit rating. Noodles company also checked to see if the records have been looke
d at recently and found no evidence of any such thing. His records were so clean a red light should have popped up. Very few people have such squeaky-clean credit reports. Noodles felt he should have dug deeper; he repeated it was his fault.
“No, don’t blame yourself. We had the same responsibility here at Chateau 54. He looked so good to us we jumped when he passed wind. You’re absolutely right, he was too perfect. We should have taken more time,” Mother spoke calmly.
“Thanks, but my company is at fault,”
“Listen, Noodles, let’s stop blaming each other and see what we can do to correct this.”
“Where do we begin?” Noodles asked.
“Solly can help.”
“Good, I’ll continue my search, his name has to pop up somewhere.”
Mother found Solly and explained the problem.
“I don’t think he has a record, the office checked everybody when we put Lundgren here. Was Gerald here at that time?” Solly asked.
“I’m not sure let me check. Wouldn’t you have if he came after the fact?”
“You would think so,” Solly replied. “It could have been missed. I’ll check with Weisman.”
Solly went to call from his office. Mother waited and tried to think if he had missed anything.
Solly returned, “Nothing on file. Agent Weisman is going to do a thorough search. He’ll get back to me in the morning.”
“How old is Gerald?”
“Around 55,” Mother told Solly.
Solly left the office in a rush. As fast as he could move. He had come up with something.
Seventeen — The Saga Continues
Muddman ‘s mind is rambling as he babbles to himself.
Wonder where Mother is? Haven’t heard from him since early this morning. Belle has been busy with her grandfather this evening; I think I’ll catch up on some needed rest. What is all the noise in the bathroom? Better take a look. The mirror is the trouble maker. What’s the blinding light? It looks like a gym loaded with teenagers. My red pearl drum set. Behind the drum set is a large banner…it says: WELCOME SADDLE BROOK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, it’s a dance. And there’s Charlotte Lynnley, the woman who claimed she was going to make Mother a movie star. Fame and fortune for my pal. Money and girls for my partner. I never realized how jealous I was but this night I would change everything. The fame, money and girls I wanted in! But how? I had to have a plan.