Chapter 3

Patricia Whyte sits behind the counter at her small bookstore reading the latest novel by Jamaca Kinkaid. A small bearded man walks into the store. Patricia glances up and returns to her reading. In the back-room the phone rings.

Patricia looks out of the door of her office into the main part of the store. She searches for the small bearded man she saw when she had glanced up earlier. Her eyes found him looking at a book in the section marked CHILDREN'S BOOKS. While her eyes look at him her mind begins to notice certain details about him. His curly brown hair, that is receding from the front of his head. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. The way his nose comes down from his forehead and spreads to cover a good portion of his face. The way he is searching for a book. The short bearded man seems to have found the book he was looking for. The book was rather large. To Patricia it seemed out of place in the children's section. The man picks up the book and as he is about to open it, it explodes.

Patricia stands in the doorway of her office paralyzed with shock. The screams coming from the other customers and workers only dimly registers in her brain. The horror of what she had just seen takes up most of her attention. Then the realization of what she is involved in hits her. She feels someone trying to pry the phone from her hands.

Patricia gets out of the office and lets Sue handle the situation for now; she just need some fresh air and time to think. Time to figure out how in the world she is going to get out of this.

Chatper 4

"So son how are you doing?" I say.

"I'm doing okay," replies Gary.

"Are you doing well in your studies?" asks Lisa, Gary's mother.

"Yeah, I'm doing well. I might even make the dean's list," says Gary.

"That's good to hear son. Have you decided what you are going to major in yet?" I ask.

"I thought I might wait until lunch and surprise you," says Gary trying to buy some time.

"Sure Gary," I say thinking that Gary still hasn't figured out what he wants to do, "that will be fine".

"What else is on the tour?," asks Lisa.

"Well I thought ...." begins Gary.

"Hey Gary! Wait up!" yells Erica.

"Erica. Hi," says Gary. "Oh great, another surprise I get to tell my parents about," thinks Gary. "Why did she have to come around now? Why didn't I say anything about her before now? Oh we.., things can't get much worse. I hope".

"Are these your parents Gary?" asks Erica.

"Yes. This is my mother Lisa and my father Clarence," says Gary.

"Please to meet you Erica," says Lisa.

"Yes, pleased to meet you," I add.

"I was just taking them on a tour," says Gary.

"Has Gary taken you to lunch yet? No? Great. There's this little place not far from here where Gary and I like to go," says Erica.

Lisa and I both look at Gary with raised eyebrows.

"You mean Gary hasn't told you about us?" asks Erica.

"No, I hadn't. But I guess that really doesn't matter now, does it?" says Gary.

"Sorry Gare," apologizes Erica.

"I tell you what," says Lisa, "How about we all go to this restaurant that ... Erica suggested and discuss all those other things that we should know about?"

"That sounds like a good idea honey; let's do that," I say, "Coming Erica?"

"So Gary, tell us about this surprise major," I say.

"Don't we have to order?" asks Gary nervously.

"No dear, we don't. Now tell us about your major. You do have one?" says Lisa.

"Yes, Mom, I have a major. As a matter of fact, I declared my major during my sophomore year," says Gary.

"Well what is it?" I say, starting to become impatient.

"Come on Son, you know that you can tell us anything. We won't get mad; we promise".

"Okay, Pop. My major is ..."

"Excuse me," says the waitress, "there's a phone call for an Erica Whyte."

"That's me," says Erica and excuses herself.

"Go on dear," says Lisa.

My major is ... art," says Gary wincing.

For a long instant there is silence. Then Erica comes back to the table.

"What's the matter," asks Gary, seeing the concern on her face.

"I'm sorry but I have to leave," says Erica hurriedly.

"Why?" asks Gary.

"It's my mother. She's pretty shaken up and she wants me to come home right away," Erica explains.

"What happened? Was she hurt?" asks Gary.

"It seems there was an accident down at the store. She didn't go into details".

"How are you going to get home?" asks Gary.

"I called a cab. Did you tell them what your major is?" asks Erica.

"Yes he did," I say. All eyes focus on me. "And I think it's terrific that Gary wans to be an Art major. What do you plan to do after you get your degree son?"

A big smile comes across his face as he goes on to tell us about his future plans.

Chapter 5

"You know Gary seems pretty happy about his choice of major," says Lisa as we drive away from the restaurant.

"Yeah. It's good to see him so concerned with what he's doing," I respond.

"Do you want to check the bookstore now?" Lisa asks.

"We better. I don't want to rush this job, but J.H. would have a fit if he thought we were here just to sightsee."

We drive out to the bookstore. Outside of the store there are remnants of what appeared to be a sizable crowd. Covering the door and broken windows is police tape. We pull over and get out of the car.

"What happened?" I ask one of the bystanders.

"Some guy got blown up," he says.

"Who?"

"Don't know. I wasn't here when it happened," he responds.

"Do you know where the owner is?"

"Don't know. I think she might have gone home or she's with the police."

"Last time I saw her, she was with the police," someone from the crowd says.

"Thanks," I say.

"What do we do now?" asks Lisa.

"Let's see if we can get any more information. Then we can decide what to do next."

We don't get much more information from the crowd. Most of the people who know anything useful have either left or aren't talking. The only thing we can be sure of is that there was an explosion and that a man died as a result of that explosion.

Together we theorize that there was a bomb in the store, and that the guy who died was somehow connected to the bomb being placed in the store. What we don't know is if there is a connection between the bomb and Mrs. Whyte.

Together we decide that hanging around the store is not going to help us much we decide to leave and see if we can dig up any more information on Mrs. Whyte. If we are lucky we just might get something to help uncover why J.H. is interested in getting rid of her.

We spend the rest of the day researching Mrs. Whyte and come up with next to nothing. She had a small jail record and never did any real time. She wasn't connected to any of the Mafia families, as far as working for them or having any close relatives inside the Mafia. She wasn't connect to any gangs or drug rings. She was clean as far as illegal activities go. J.H. had mentioned going to her for some information, so we checked the secret and information gathering agencies. Nothing turned up there either. She was either very well hidden, very high up, or too small to be considered worthy of anybody's attention.

"I don't get it," I say after spending nearly three hours on the computer looking over her files.

"You don't get what?" asks Lisa. She had been checking with personal connections and contacts for information. She hadn't gotten anywhere either.

"Why J.H. is so concerned about this person."

"We know one of his motives is revenge," she says, "And that she has some information that he does not want to get out."

"Yeah. That much I know. What I don't know is where she might have gotten her information or for that matter, what kind of information she has."

"Maybe it was pillow talk," suggest Lisa.

"I don't think so. I've seen a picture of this woman. J.H. may be sick at times, but he's not desperate."

"You never know."

"We'll keep it open as a possibility, but I doubt it. Where else could she have gotten information about J.H., and what kind of information was J.H. looking for?" I say to myself."

"Why don't you ask him?" asks Lisa.

"Why don't I ask him?" I say just to hear it again.

"I don't think he'll just come out and tell us, do you?" I say to Lisa.

"You never know, if he really wants us to this he'll tell us, besides he's a friend."

"Hello J.H., it's me. No, we haven't decided yet. I need to ask you a couple of questions. No, you don't have to answer them, but they would help us decide more quickly. Okay sure. Thanks."

"You know you're wonderful," I say as I hang up the phone.

"I know," she responds smiling, " So what did you find out?"

"First off, he doesn't know where she might have gotten her information. But he can verify that it's correct and potentially harmful. As far as the information that he needed , it was about a book. He needed her to verify the value of a certain book that he had acquired. He wouldn't tell me what the book was or what the value of it was. I guess friendship goes only so far," I say.

"That's it?" asks Lisa, "That seems pretty tame to go through with this drastic a step".

"That depends on the information she's using. Besides, we don't get paid to scrutinize the motives or morals of our clients."

"That's true. Now that we know what J.H. needed her for, what good does it do us?"

"Well, now we know that she is and expert in book values and probably has some connections in the book world. Also, she might need the money to buy some expensive book that has recently been put on the market," I answer.

"I'll check my sources in the literary world and see what I can find out," says Lisa.

"And while you're doing that I'll see if I can find out anything about what happened at her bookstore," I say.

By the end of the day we had gathered together a sizable amount of information about Mrs. Whyte.

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