Unanswered Questions
by Deanna Jordon
It was late on a Sunday night when A.J. Simon rose to escort his client to the office door.
"Remember, A.J. two men have already been killed so far in the past week because of thing. Please be careful." The woman looked at A.J. with haunted eyes.
"Don't worry, no one knows you came here and there is nothing to connect us. I'll meet you Wednesday morning at the pier. Goodnight. Get some sleep now." Gently but firmly, A.J. pushed his client out into the hall and closed the door.
Walking back to his desk, he ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair and thought about the bizarre case he had just accepted. Fleetingly he wished his brother, Rick, was back from his Mexican vacation, then thought better of the idea. "With that man around, I'm surprised that San Diego is still standing." Wearily, A.J.. started in on the pile of paperwork stacked on his desk.
Officially the investigative firm of Simon and Simon was closed for the weekend but a frantic phone call from an obviously frightened woman had compelled A.J. to make an exception this one time.
. . Outside the office window and three stories below, a man dressed in dark clothes watched as the mysterious dark-haired woman hurried to a midnight blue '87 Ford Taurus and drove off. The man waited five minutes, then alighted from his tan '85 Chevy Caprice and strode into the building. Once inside he slipped a .9 mm Berretta from a shoulder holster and quickly screwed its silencer onto the end of the barrel. He crept up the stairs and emerged into the hallway of the fourth floor. He catfooted down the hall to the office of Simon and Simon and grasped the door knob. Silently opening the door, he entered the office and saw A.J. in front of the file cabinet in the far corner by the window.
"Spread out your hands and turn around real slow." A.J. stiffened perceptively and did as he was told.
"Hand over the package,"
"What package?" A.J assumed a quizzical air.
"Don't get cute with me Simon. l followed the girl. Now give me the package and maybe I'll let you live." The intruder gestured with his gun.
Now A.J.'s voice and eyes turned cold. "Kill me and you'll never find that package. You know as well as I do that you won't find it without my help. The girl..." A sudden noise out in the hall interrupted him and the gunman looked behind himself at the sound. In a flash, A.J. was behind his desk and reaching for his gun. Just as he brought it up to fire, the gunman fired first. A.J. slumped to the floor behind his desk with an ominous red stain spreading on the lower right side of his shirt.
Early the next morning, Rick Simon opened the elevator gate and stepped into the hallway, jauntily tipping his hat at a fine-figured blond as she hurried down the hall to catch the elevator. Upon reaching the office he shared with his brother, he stopped and looked warily at the open door. Gently, Rick pushed open the door and peered inside. He hadn't seen his brother's car downstairs and didn't expect anyone to be in the office. His sharp eyes took in the open file cabinet, the over turned desk chair, and the scattered papers on the floor. Before entering the room, Rick took his .44 Magnum out of his shoulder holster and grasped it firmly with both hands. He entered the room silently, his lean body tense with the anticipation of danger. Carefully, silently, and thoroughly, Rick checked the office and found it empty. Just then the phone rang startling him. Rick slowly picked up the phone.
"Simon and Simon Investigations" the caller was Lieutenant Downtown Brown of the San Diego police department . Now he was calling to speak to A.J.
"A. J.'s not here Town, but someone else has been. " Quickly, Rick told Town what he'd found and that he was going to call A. J. at home.
"Don' t bother, he's not there."said Town. He went on to say that one of his men had found A.J.'s car abandoned outside of town and that the officer had gone to A.J.' s house. A.J. wasn't home but the morning paper was still outside. The car had been towed to police impound.
"You better get some of your fingerprint guys over here. I'll look around and see if anything is missing. See you later Town." Rick hung up and, using his handkerchief and a pen to move things around, methodically began to search the room for any clues the intruder may have left behind. He examined the area around the file cabinet and his own desk for clues. He was moving towards A.J.'s desk by the window when Town and two plainclothes police officers walked in.
"Any word from A.J. yet?" Town asked.
"Nothing" was Rick's worried reply.
While the two men talked, the plainclothesmen began to dust the room for fingerprints. None were found but one of the men called out from behind A.J.'s desk. "We've found something lieutenant. Looks like A.J. met a client last night."
Rick and Town walked over to the desk and examined the calendar. "Carla Stromberg 9: P.M." Rick read aloud. I've never heard of her and it doesn't look as if A.J . took any notes. That's unusual for him."
"Here's something else unusual." Town, who had been examining the carpet for clues bent down behind the desk and wiped his finger on the dark carpet near the window. "Blood probably A.J.'s. Now for the big question, did A.J. surprise the intruder or did the intruder surprise A.J." the black cop looked silently at Rick's anxious eyes.
"I'll have Nickson check out the hospitals." Town didn't add that he himself would check out the county morgue.
"I'll see if I can get a line on this Carla Stromberg person. If she isn't part of this, maybe she saw something that could help us. Rick's face was drawn with worry.
Rick spent the rest of the day calling every Stromberg in the area. He also went to A.J.'s house to look for clues. He did find that A.J.'s gun, a .38, was missing. Rick. reported the missing gun to Town then decided that it was time to tell his mother about A.J.'s disappearance and possible abduction.
Wearily, Rick walked into his mother's house and tried to smile at her enthusiastic greeting. Noting his lack of response, Cecilia Simon, a small petite woman in her early 60's went to her son and grabbed on to his arms.
"What's wrong Rick? Where's A.J.?" Cecilia's face clouded over worry as Rick gently led her over to the divan and sat her down. Rick seated himself then broke the news about A.J..
"A.J was working late last night and apparently someone jumped him in the office. When I got there this morning the place had been ransacked and A.J. was gone. Town thinks that A.J. may have been kidnapped, but we don't know why yet." Rick held his mother tightly to him as she began to cry softly. He fervently promised to do everything he could to get his brother back safely and added Town's promise to his own. Rick stayed for awhile longer then called Town's girlfriend, newswoman Temple Hill to come and stay with Cecilia and answer the phone. Rick knew that if there was any way possible A.J. would establish contact.
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"Why'd you have to shoot him?! He's no good to us like this."
"I didn' t have any choice. He pulled his gun on me. He's still alive and he knows where the chip is! As soon as he comes around, I'll get it out of him."
"You can't get anything out of a dead man and he's as good as dead."
A.J.'s assailant and his boss looked towards the narrow cot that held A.J. His face was deathly pale and a blood-soaked bandage was wrapped around his waist. He was unconscious and the only sign of life was the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
"Find the girl, Sims." barked his boss. "Maybe she can be persuaded to tell us where the chip is. Watch the Simon's office. She may show there again. Get Banks to watch the brother, he may stumble onto something."
"Yes Mr. Holm." With that Sims departed and Mr. Holm closed and locked the door to the small room that A.J. was in. Then he too left the warehouse and locked the doors placing a "CLOSED FOR REPAIRS" sign on the door.
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The following morning the San Diego papers carried the story of A.J.'s disappearance. Town and Rick hoped that it would lead to some kind of information about A.J.'s location or his abductors.
That afternoon, Rick received a phone call from Ed Manson, an old friend of his who owned a small pawn shop.
''Rick, I heard about A.J. and maybe I can help. Can you come down to the shop right away?" Ed listened as Rick said the he could be there in fifteen minutes. Rick called Town to have him meet him at the shop, then left saying a silent prayer as he went.
When Rick and Town reached the pawn shop, Ed had closed up for the afternoon and led the two men into the back room. "I sure hope that I'm wrong, but is this A.J.'s gun?" Ed held up a .38 for Rick and Town to examine. Rick took the gun and examined it closely. Silently, he handed it to Town and nodded his head yes. Town looked the gun over and checked the cartridge. The gun was empty but had been fired recently.
"It looks like whoever stole this fired a few rounds, to make sure of the aim before he sold it. It's A.J.'s gun, there's no doubt there, but it doesn't tell us where A.J. is. Where did you get the gun? Town listened thoughtfully as Ed identified the seller as Bud Sims. He didn't have an address for him but thought that he might be into petty theft.
"I've refused to buy from him before, but when I saw the gun I thought it looked so I bought it and called you Rick." Ed added that Sims had made a remark about soon he wouldn't need to pawn things off. "He sounded as if he was about to strike it rich."
"Thanks, Ed. If we can find this guy, maybe he can lead us to A.J." Rick and Town left, taking the gun with them. They went directly to Town's office intending to start a computer search for Bud Sims. Instead, they found a visitor waiting for them in Town's office, a woman with long dark hair and honey brown eyes.
The woman stood up and introduced herself, "I'm Carla Stromberg. I heard that you were looking for me. It's about A.J. Simon isn't it." Town began explaining about A.J.'s disappearance and asked if she had seen or heard anything the night she talked to A.J.
"Yes I did. A.J. was kidnapped and probably murdered because of me. I'm a courier for Valley Electronics. Recently, the Company hired me to take delivery of a microprocessor chip and hold it for transfer to the Pentagon. There was a security leak at the plant and the vice-president didn't want the chip on the premises. I had two partners to help me guard the chip until my contact from the Pentagon arrived. My partners were murdered when a bomb went of in their car last week in Los Angeles. I found out Sunday that my contact from the Pentagon was killed in a small plane crash in Wyoming . I went to A.J. and gave him the chip to keep until Wednesday. He was going to meet me at the pier and I was going to sail to New York and meet a new contact there next week. I read in this morning's paper that A.J was believed to be kidnapped so I came right over." Carla added that A.J. had taken the chip and was going to hide it after she left so that only he would know where it actually was.
"Sounds like A.J. was trying to make a life insurance policy for himself." Town said. He went on to speculate that A.J. might still be alive and just hidden somewhere. "But where would he hide a microchip?"
"I'll bet that it is still in the office. I'd also bet that Carla was followed and the intruder, probably this guy Sims, went up to the office right after Carla left. That wouldn't give A.J. much time to hide it and if the intruder had off found the chip, he wouldn't have taken A.J." Rick said. "Town, find out what you can about Sims and Carla and I will search the office for the chip." Rick gathered Carla up and left the office, determined to find the chip not noticing the tan Ford Escort behind them.
Rick and Carla searched the office for two hours. carefully looking through every book, piece of paper, and any other place that might conceal an object as small as a microprocessing chip. While they were looking, Rick asked what was so special about the chip.
"The chip has the guidance codes for the Navy's new experimental air to sea missiles. It is the only complete copy of the codes. If that should be lost or stolen, four years of programming will go down the drain and new codes will have to be devised which will take about another four years." Carla explained.
" I guess that would be a good reason for somebody to steal the thing. A good businessman could sell the chip for a few million dollars and set himself up for life. That means that Bud Sims is probably working for somebody higher up. A petty thief wouldn't have the connections necessary to make such a sale." Rick and Carla left the office and went back to the police station to see if Town had found anything on Sims through the police computers.
"Our friend Sims is a very interesting man. His rap sheet sounds like a mother's worst nightmare. He's had trouble with the cops in five states since he was seven years old. Started out with shoplifting, went to pickpocketing and graduated to car theft and robbery. He is currently out of jail after serving a five year sentence for stealing the mayor's car and driving it over a bluff. I have his current address and was thinking of driving over there. Would you two like to tag along?"
"Just try and stop us" Rick muttered as he gestured for Carla to proceed him out of the room.
The three proceeded to Sim's house, Rick and Carla in Rick's truck and Town following in his car. They found that Sims wasn't home so Town decided to question some of his neighbors. A search of the neighborhood turned up nothing so it was decided to watch the house until Sims came back and then follow him from there. A watch was set up across and down the block from Sims house by Rick and Carla. Town had to go back to the office but promised to return that night. He also promised to call Cecilia and tell her what was going on. None of them noticed the tan Escort behind them.
The watch continued until midnight when Town returned with food and the news that an international weapons buyer was in town. " We're sure that he wants something big and this microchip of yours is just the thing to attract him." Town said to Carla.
The watch continued until dawn, when a car pulled into the driveway and a man alighted and went into the house. After a few minutes, Town got out of the truck and went up to the house. He knocked and waited for an answer. After a long wait, the door swung opened and a man peered out.
"Are you Bud Sims?"
"Yes. Who are you? Don't you know that it is only 6:30 in the morning?"
"I'm Lieutenant Brown of the San Diego police department. I'd like to ask you about a gun you sold to Ed Manson at Manson's pawn shop yesterday."
"I didn't sell a gun yesterday. I'm an ex-con and cons ain't allowed to have guns. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to get some rest." With that, Sims slammed the door shut in Town's face. Town walked back to the truck and climbed in.
"Well he is definitely hiding something. I'll have a couple of my men watch him. He's working for someone and I want to find out who that someone is." Town adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could look behind him. "By the way, have either of you seen that guy before?" Town pointed out tan car behind them.
"No but let's see if he is really interested in us. Carla, you go in Town's car back to the office. Town and I will see if we can get this guy's attention." Rick held up his hand to forestall any argument from Carla. "If this guy follows you, then we follow him. Otherwise we let him catch us. " Carla nodded and climbed out of the truck and went to Town's car and drove off. The tan car with the spy waited a couple of seconds then drove off after her. Rick went after both cars staying as far behind as he dared.
Carla deliberately took a back street once she noticed the tail. She knew that Rick and Town wouldn't be far behind and she decided to lay a trap for her pursuer. Speeding up, Carla took a turn down a street that she knew deadened a few blocks later. She smiled as she saw that the Escort had made the turn. Reaching the dead end she slammed on her brakes and smiled in satisfaction as the tail car turned sideways and hit a trash dumpster in an effort not to hit her. Rick came barreling up in his four-wheel drive and stopped behind the car, effectively blocking the man in. Calmly, Rick and Town stepped from the truck and confronted the man. Town identified himself and asked for the man's ID as well.
"I ain't done nothing wrong and you don't have any right to harass me!" The man fairly shouted into Town's face.
"You were following this young lady and she complained about it. I could arrest you on a charge of misdemeanor harassment or you could tell us who hired you." Town laid out the man's choices with an air of finality and left no doubt that he would do as he had threatened.
"'I ain't working for nobody. I saw this neat looking broad and decided to follow her home and maybe get a date. Ain't nothing wrong with trying to have a little fun."
Rick lost what little patience he had left and, grabbing the man by the collar, he forced him up against the car and shook him hard. "My brother is missing, maybe dead and you're involved. I want to know who hired you to follow us and where I can find him and my brother." Rick's voice was low and filled with all the hate he could muster. When the man didn't answer, Rick began to tighten his hands about the guy's throat, completely cutting of his air supply. The man tried to loosen Rick's grip and looked at Town for help. Town simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "A.J.'s one of my best friends. I suggest that you tell him what he wants to know. If he kills you, I'll make sure that he gets off on a temporary insanity plea." A moment later the man capitulated.
"Sims Bud Sims. He's the one who hired me."
"Who hired Sims?" Rick demanded.
"Some bigshot by the name of Frederick Holm." The man gasped for breath as Rick released him.
"You know this guy Holm, Town?" Rick asked. "No" was the answer. "
"I know him." Carla spoke up for the first time. "'Up until two months ago, he was the head of Research arid Development at Halley Electronics. He was fired for allegedly trying to open the vault sate before hours one morning. He talked himself out of criminal charges but he was fired nevertheless. He was very bitter about the firing and he did have numerous contacts in the scientific and military circles."
"He could have known when the chip was being transferred and contacted a buyer. It wouldn't be that hard for someone with military contacts." Town looked at the prisoner thoughtfully for several moments before deciding to take him in on a charge of suspicion of conspiracy. He promised that he could get the judge to withhold bail for a few days. Now he turned to the prisoner. "One more question, where can we find this guy Holm?"
"I don't know. Sims is the one who always met me somewhere. I've never even seen Holm. Bud just mentioned that he was working on a really sweet deal with this guy named Holm." Since the man could tell them nothing else, Town took him back to the station and Rick and Carla went back to watching Bud Sims's home.
The two didn't have long to wait before Sims came out and got in his car. Carefully, Rick followed the suspect across town to the waterfront district . The man drove up to a warehouse gate, unlocked it, and drove up to the warehouse. Rick parked the truck out of sight anal followed on foot with Carla close behind. Each of them could see the "CLOSED FOR REPAIRS" sign on the door. Sims ignored the sign and pulled out a key to unlock the door to let himself in. Just as Rick started to follow, a bronze Continental pulled through the gate. A large, important looking man got out of the car and let himself into the warehouse.
"That's Holm!'" Carla whispered excitedly.
"Are you sure?" Receiving Carla's affirmative reply, Rick cautiously whispered "Go call Town and tell him what we've found. A.J. is probably inside if he's still alive. While you're doing that, I'm going inside and see what I can find out." Carla, knowing that any argument wouldn't be well received, simply nodded yes and silently crept away.
Rick pulled his gun and cautiously circled the warehouse, looking for a way in where he wouldn't be seen. What he found was a second story window with a pane of glass missing. Holstering his gun, Rick climbed up the rusty fire escape and entered the warehouse. He decided to stay on the second story catwalks to avoid detection and made his way to where he could hear two men talking.
"The buyer will be here tomorrow and I have to have that chip!" The man identified as Holm paced up and down angrily.
"I'm telling you, Simon hid that chip so well that no one can find it. His brother doesn't know where it is nor does that lady courier. If they did, the Pentagon would be here in full force looking for us. As things are now, we only have to deal with a woman and a detective. I'll take care of them tonight, no sweat." Sims patted an underarm holster meaningfully.
"That's your answer for everything isn't it." Holm snapped irritably.
"It keeps problems from coming back. When do we dump Simon? I'm tired of trying to keep him alive." Sims listened as his boss told him to save A.J. till tomorrow at least.
At that moment, sirens sounded outside the warehouse as police cars circled around the building. Town's voice could be heard ordering his men to take up defensive positions around the warehouse. Holm and Sims looked around them in fright as as Town's voice came again, this time directed at the two of them to abandon the warehouse.
Rick took advantage of the confusion to descend to the first floor and begin a search for A.J.. It didn't take long for him to find the locked door and guess that A.J. was behind it. He knew that in order for him to rescue his brother, it would be wise to have some backup so he excited the building the same way he had entered it. He went around the front of the building and found Town.
"Did you find A.J. in there? " Town asked.
"I think so. I did hear them talk about the buyer wanting to take possession of the chip tomorrow night. I'm going to need some backup in there so I can get to A.J."
Town agreed, so he assigned an officer to take control of the assembled men, then he and Nickson went with Rick to enter the building from the rear. The three men crept over the catwalks to Rick's previous position. They found the locked room and began to maneuver around stacked boxes and crates toward the suspects. When all three of them were in position, Town called out sharply "Throw down your weapons and put your hands behind your heads!"
Both, Holm and Sims did as they were told. As Town, Nickson, and Rick closed in however, Holm became desperate and flung himself at a stack of crates, tumbling them down and creating mass confusion in the warehouse. Sims turned and tackled Town as Rick ran after Holm. The suspect didn't get far before Rick grabbed him and spun him around. Holm looked at Rick and knew that Rick was going to kill him. Rick's arm pressed cruelly against Holm's throat, and his voice was low and harsh. "Where's my brother?" His answer was the small locked room that he had found earlier. The next question was delivered with an intense fierceness that promised dire punishment if the response wasn't favorable. "Is he alive?"
The answer was a quick nod of Holm's head. Rick released his prisoner and threw him at Nickson. Town had subdued Sims and now he held out a keychain with two keys on it. "One of these opens that door over there." Town said, his tone full of unspoken hope.
Rick took the keys and ran to the room. The first key he tried opened the door and he crossed the room in a single leap to the cot that held his brother. A.J. was pale and barely breathing and the stain on the bandage alarmed Rick badly. Town had thought to call for an ambulance and now the paramedics came in and gently administered what aid they could before loading A.J. in the ambulance and speeding away. Rick, Town and Carla were right behind.
At the hospital, A.J. was taken to the emergency ward and from there he was taken right to surgery. Cecilia and Temple arrived after Rick called them and Cecilia demanded the entire story from Rick. After he had finished, the five sat in silence for over six hours before a doctor came into the waiting room.
"Well, it was close but I think that he will be fine. The bullet didn't hit any vital organs and we managed to control the hemorrhaging in the bowel. He'll sleep for the rest of the night and tomorrow will be soon enough to see him." With that, the surgeon convinced A.J.'s family and friends to go home for the night
. The next days Rick, Cecilia, Carla, Town, and Temple all crowded into A.J.'s room. He was still pale and weak, but he was able to talk plainly and was very delighted to see his family and friends. He told of Sims attacking him and of occasional snatches of talk he had heard in the warehouse. He also listened with avid interest as Rick and Town took turns telling him about how they had found him. When the whole story was out, Rick asked the last question.
"Where is the chip? Carla and I searched that office for two solid hours and never did find that chip." Rick looked at the grin on A.J.'s face and groaned. "You didn't?"
"Yes I did. It's the best place to hide something that small and no one would think to look there. A.J. smiled at Rick. "It was your idea in the first place."
"Excuse me for butting in, but what was Rick's idea?" Carla asked.
For an answer, A.J. held up his hand and pointed to the small Band--Aid wrapped around his thumb. "Who would hide a valuable microchip under a Band-Aid?." A.J. grinned arid unwound the bandage to reveal the chip as the rest of the group laughed. He handed the chip to Carla and explained that Sims had never noticed the bandage because people wore them all the time.
"Well, now that this case is finished, how would you like to work on another one for Me?" Laughter filled the room as A.J. declined the offer as graciously as he could.
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