PART IV
Robert stopped at a hobby store on the way to the hospital and bought a roll of purple ribbon, some purple spray paint and a flat, wooden heart appliqué. Marcia and Robert used the purple paint to spray the heart and borrowed some hospital adhesive tape to attach a piece of purple ribbon to it. When they entered Donna’s semi-private room, Marcia stood at the side of Donna’s bed and gave an impromptu speech regarding heroism. When she had finished her accolades, Robert draped the purple heart around Donna’s neck. Donna held the heart up, smiled and said, “This is the best award I’ve ever received.”
Robert looked at Marcia and said, “Some people will do anything to get attention and time off!”
They all had a good laugh that was cut short because the lady in the bed next to Donna said the sound was annoying.
Mac visited with Donna for about an hour and mostly listened to Robert, Marcia and Donna talk about old cases, which they referred to as “war stories”, and close calls. Several of the investigators had been chased with baseball bats, some had been involved in physical altercations and one received minor stab wounds but Donna was the first one ever shot. They also discussed a couple of pending cases that would have to be addressed almost immediately upon return.
The professional conversation was winding down and little more “shop” talk was being offered. Donna looked at Mac and said, “I’m sure all this chit-chat is about exciting to listen to as a tax consultant reading off numbers.”
“Actually, I found it quite interesting,” replied Mac.
“Now that the case is over, have you given much thought about what your next step might be?” asked Donna sincerely.
“After I pay your bill, I plan on buying a new cup!” stated Mac.
Donna looked puzzled and asked, “A new cup?”
“Yeah, a new cup so I can stand on street corners to beg for change!!”
The group laughed quietly in unison, each glancing at the lady in the next bed as they did.
“Seriously, do you have anything in mind?” asked Donna.
“I love this area so much, I’ve decided to stay and try to find something within commuting distance of the cottage. I still know some people down here with other companies that may have something available.”
“Have you ever considered work as a private investigator?” asked Donna.
“Not really. I watched you guys in action and it all seems challenging, interesting and exciting. And Lord knows, it certainly pays well but I don’t think it’s for me.”
“Well, if there’s anything any of us can ever do for you, don’t hesitate to call.” Robert and Marcia looked at Mac and nodded in agreement. “I don’t just mean professionally. If you need help with anything, such as personal references, a shoulder to cry on, etc., call us. We all like you, Mac.” clarified Donna.
“Dennis and Mario are great guys that would do anything for someone in a bind. They have strong backs and make great movers too!” added Robert.
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate your kindness and I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”
Mac began to feel a familiar throb and knew a headache was speeding straight toward her. She rubbed her forehead and said, “I’m think I’m going to call it a night. I’m starting to get one of my headaches and my medication is at home.”
“Robert and I will take care of the external surveillance equipment in the morning. If you could give me a call on my cell phone when you’re up and about, I’d appreciate it. Here’s the number,” said Marcia as she wrote her cell number on a page from her pocket notepad.
“I’ll get up early so you can get the inside stuff and get out of here. I know you’re all anxious to get home,” offered Mac.
“There’s no need to get up any earlier than you ordinarily would. Mario and Dennis will also help and we’ll have everything done in no time,” said Robert.
“Okay, guys, see you tomorrow,” said Mac as she acknowledged Robert and Marcia. Then she walked to Donna’s bedside. She looked at her with admiration, bent over, gave Donna a careful hug and said in a sincere voice, “Thanks again for everything you’ve done. Take care of yourself. Stay well. Be happy. And please stay safe!!”
“You too, Mac,” replied Donna.
Mac left the room, went to the elevator and pressed the down button. She was waiting for the elevator to respond to her beckoning when she heard the habitual, whispering voice say, “The pier.”
“Explain it or leave me alone! I’m tired of your empty, cryptic messages.” Mac moved her eyes left and right, looking to see if anyone had heard her. To her relief, there wasn’t anyone within earshot.
Mac went home, took some pain medication, crawled under her favorite comforter and went to sleep. She made it an early morning the following day and after dressing, brewed a fresh pot of coffee. She peeked out the kitchen window and watched as Robert and Marcia rolled some black, camera cables.
She poured a cup of coffee, threw on a sweater and stepped out on her front porch. A trail of steam rose from her cup and mingled with the morning air. She savored a sip as if it were the finest brew, from the finest coffee beans ever grown. Then she stepped off the porch and made her way slowly to the busy investigators. When she reached the end of her sidewalk, she put her hand on her broken gate and said, “Do you guys do fence work?”
Robert chuckled and said, “It has seen better days, that’s for sure.”
“Do you mind if Mario and Dennis get started inside?” asked Marcia.
Mac shook her head and watched as the waiting men smiled and then went inside her house to start the disassembly.
“We should be out of here by lunchtime, Mac. The weatherman is predicting a thunderstorm for this evening. We’d like to be as close to home as possible when it hits.”
“I don’t blame you. I hate driving in the rain myself,” said Mac.
“By the way, just as a word of caution, we were informed that Chad’s assistant manager, Melody Sanchez, escaped from federal authorities in Atlanta. You know her, don’t you?” asked Marcia.
“I know who she is. We never talked much. She was rarely around the store when I made my visits. Does someone consider her a threat?”
“Not at this time. She is not considered dangerous but you should be aware that she is out there somewhere. My guess is that her main efforts will be directed in avoiding apprehension. If you happen to run into her, call your local authorities. They received her profile sheet and photo last night while we were at the hospital visiting Donna,” said Marcia.
Melody hadn’t gone far. She merely fled to an adjacent county. She had to pick something up that she left behind before her final travel arrangements could be considered. Her travel itinerary would take her across the United States via rental cars using counterfeit identification. She wasn’t going to take any major forms of public transportation where her identification would be under close scrutiny. Slow and easy, just like the tortoise.
She planned to vacation awhile in California, then drive back to Texas, cross into Mexico and eventually make her way to a South American country. She would select one that was sympathetic to international fugitives and receptive to American currency.
Melody’s ultimate destination was Europe. She had never been there before and hadn’t decided on a specific country but what she read in magazines and saw on the television appealed to her sense of adventure. She was tired of doing “little favors” for people. She wanted to meet a regular man, get married and have a regular life. But there was that one last thing she needed to do before any of those dreams had a chance at real life.
Melody took a combination of public buses and taxis back to the mall where she was formerly employed. Her first stop at the mall was at a hair salon. She had her hair cut short and changed the color from sandy blonde to auburn.
Next, she went to a clothing store and bought a woman’s business suit. From there she went to an exclusive luggage store and bought a briefcase. Her next stop was her old store. She passed a sto
re on the way that had mirror panels in their display window. She stopped momentarily and nearly didn’t recognize herself. She was satisfied with the transformation and continued her journey. Melody approached her old store slowly and was surprised to see that it was open for business. There was no manager, assistant manager and no morning part-timers to run the store that she was aware of.
She entered cautiously and saw an unfamiliar woman wearing a store name badge. The woman noted Melody’s professional attire, approached her and asked if she needed any help. Melody hesitated and then said, “Hi! My name is Sandy Calloway. I’m one of your best customers. I shop here all of the time. You’re new here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. I’m only here temporarily. The store is experiencing a management transition and I was asked to help provide sales coverage for a few days.”
“Management transition? Please don’t tell me that my favorite manager has left!”
“Do you mean Chad Nuxhall?” asked the woman.
“Yes. He was always so sweet and helpful. He’s the only reason I shop in this store.”
“Mr. Nuxhall won’t be returning, ma’am.”
“Why not?” asked Melody, displaying a concerned look.
“I’m probably not the one who should be telling you. My district manager went to the food court for some coffee. He’ll be back in a few minutes. I think he should be the one to tell you.”
Melody didn’t want to wait for the district manager. She couldn’t wait. She had to get to the stockroom by herself. Melody clasped the woman’s wrist firmly and said, “It’s something bad, isn’t it?”
Melody looked into the saleswoman’s eyes and got a gut feeling that the woman was starting to weaken.
“Well, it’s not good,” replied the woman.
“Oh, my God! My husband and I have even been to his house on Chester Street for dinner. Please, please, tell me!” exclaimed Melody.
“I really shouldn’t say this, Ms. Calloway, but you’ll find out sooner or later anyway. Mr. Nuxhall was involved in an automobile accident and passed away.”
Melody thought back to a time when she and her mother were living with a man in Duluth, Georgia. It was a nice house with an attached garage, in a quiet neighborhood. Melody was eleven and there were no other children in the neighborhood for Melody to play with so she got quite lonely. Her mother bought her a kitten for companionship and the two became quite close.
One day, the kitten wandered out the open door to the garage and found a piece of twine to play with. When her mother’s boyfriend went to the garage and started his car, it startled the kitten. It ran and hid behind the rear tire and had its head squashed when he backed out. Melody was riding her bike up the driveway and saw the aftermath. She screamed and cried for over an hour. Her mother found a replacement kitten but Melody never developed the same bond with the new one.
Melody called upon the memory of the dead kitten and used it to evoke an emotional response and started to cry.
“I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you such heartbreaking news, Ms. Calloway.”
Melody wiped her eyes with her index finger and looked at the mascara on her fingertip. “I must look a mess! Would you mind if I used your bathroom to fix my face and collect myself? I have to be at a business meeting in thirty minutes and I don’t want to look unprofessional.”
“I understand completely,” said the saleswoman. “Take your time.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it. I won’t be a minute,” said Melody.
“Do you know where it is?” asked the woman.
“Yes, thank you. Mr. Nuxhall is…I mean was kind enough to let me use it on previous occasions. I promise I’ll be right back.”
Melody walked briskly to the stockroom and wasted no time opening a brown folding chair resting against a wall. She placed it directly under the unlit stockroom exit sign, and stepped up. She slid the exit sign out of the slots and exposed a hole in the wall, where a light and wires should have been. Chad used to place a battery operated night light in there whenever Mac made a store visit because one of the things on her checklist was to make sure all exit signs were lit.
Melody reached into the hole and felt for a rope attached to a wall stud. Once she found it, she pulled carefully until she saw a white, plastic, trash bag. She grabbed it and pulled it from the hole as quickly and safely as possible. Once she had the bag out, she slid the exit sign back into the appropriate slots, folded the chair and put it back against the wall. Then she snatched the bag from the floor and dashed into the bathroom with her briefcase. She hadn’t closed the door for more than two minutes, when she heard someone coming into the stockroom. She sat on the toilet and opened the bag to reveal the contents.
When Melody was being interviewed by the Secret Service she wasn’t entirely truthful. Chad and Melody had accumulated quite a bit of laundered, clean cash. Chad didn’t want it in a bank account or safety deposit box because his access would be limited. He didn’t want to keep it at home because he could lose it very easily as a result of a robbery or natural disaster. The perfect place was in his store, in a wall, where no one would ever think to look.
Melody didn’t take any time to admire the $670,000. She just packed it quickly in her briefcase and shut it, making sure the clasps were locked. She wadded the plastic bag, put into the trash can and then straightened her clothing. Melody wiped the smeared mascara and opened the bathroom door.
The new district manager was standing in the office, occupying himself with busy work until Melody was done.
He walked over, introduced himself and said, “I understand you are one of our most valued guests.”
“Yes, that’s true. I shop in here so much I’ve thought about putting in a change of address card!” she responded.
“I can understand your grief. Is there anything I can do to be of assistance? And I mean anything at all. Just name it,” offered the district manager.
Melody brushed out some nonexistent wrinkles in her suit and looked at her watch.
“I’m running way behind right now. I have an important business meeting to attend. Would you please give me one of your business cards so that I can let your headquarters know how helpful you and the salesperson out front have been?”
“Certainly,” he replied as he smiled and produced a card from a small, black, card case.
“Will you be here tomorrow?” asked Melody.
“I, uh…could be I suppose.”
“That would be wonderful. It would give me a little more time to get to know you,” said Melody with a warm smile. “I really have to run now. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Melody opened the stockroom door and left the store. She went to the pay phones by the restrooms to call a cab and realized she had no change to make a call. She slipped into the bathroom, closed a stall door and removed several hundred dollar bills from her briefcase. She folded them carefully and dropped them into her suit pocket. Then she went to the food court to get change.
She went to the steak sandwich shop and was told it is against company policy to give change. An average looking young man with a little boy along his side was waiting for his steak sandwich order when he heard her dilemma. He asked what she needed the change for.
“I need to make a call and all I have is a hundred,” said a frustrated Melody.
The girl at the cash register interrupted them and told the man that his order was ready. Just before the man and boy took their sandwiches, the man stuck his hand in his pocket, turned to Melody and said, “I can’t break that but I have enough change to make a call. Here you go.” She was shocked by the gesture and watched silently as the man and child walked to a table.
Melody clutched the change in her hand and went to their table. She dropped a hundred dollar bill on the man’s napkin and said, “You’re the first person that’s ever given me money for nothing. Thanks. Do whatever you want with the money.”
She hurried to the pay phone and didn’t even look back to
see the man’s reaction. She called a cab and arranged to have it meet her at the mall entrance in 30 minutes. After she got off the phone, she went to a card store, bought a box of stationery and returned to the food court to write a letter. She detailed the actual events that transpired in the counterfeiting ring, including drop schedules, meeting places, codes, passwords and names of people who helped launder the money. She also listed the names and locations of the ring leaders in Florida and one international connection. She finished the letter in the cab and asked the driver to take her to the post office.
When they arrived at the post office, Melody produced another hundred and showed it to the driver. “I may be a few minutes. Will you wait for me?”
“You bet!” he blurted.
Melody tracked down a phone book and wrote the address for the Secret Service on the front of the envelope. She stood in line and sent the envelope via registered mail. She ran out the door to the waiting cab and said, “Take me to the car rental place on Buford Highway.”
Melody started to breath much easier when she finally arrived at the rental place. She gave the driver a hundred and instructed him to keep the change. She produced another set of counterfeit identification papers that indicated her name was Gary Willington. The man writing her rental agreement looked at the documents and then at Melody.
Melody sensed the man’s concern and said, “What? You have a problem with transsexuals? Do I stare at you because you’re straight?”
“No ma’am…er, I mean, sir.”
“Then get over it and either rent me a car or tell me you don’t have one and I’ll be on my way. On my way to my attorney to sue the living shit out of you, your company and everyone you’ll ever know for the next fifty years!!” The man sighed, filled out the necessary paperwork and escorted Melody to her car. She knew that federal authorities would be looking for a woman to rent a car, not a man. Chad and Melody were a lot of things but stupid wasn’t one of them.
Melody got behind the steering wheel, adjusted it and started the engine. She drove out of the rental place and began the rest of her life…as a regular woman.