Second Chance

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Tuesday, June 8

Morning



“I want to know what he was discussing with the Professor yesterday,” Van Rossum demanded from Bowles and Hannah.

“How do we that?” Bowles asked.

Van Rossum stared at the former football player. “Go to his house, search his room, and look for anything and everything. If it looks like it has to do with yesterday, bring it back to me. If it looks like information on the painting’s location, bring it back here.” He opened a file and pulled out a small index card. “This is where he lives. He has three sisters, so look for a bedroom that looks like a boy’s.” He handed the card to Hannah.

“Further, the house has three stories, so start at the top and work your way down.”

Hannah showed the card to Bowles. “We will, sir. We’ll find some information.”

“Then go, get me something.”

The hired men turned and exited the office, quickly made their way to the elevator. “What are we looking for?” Bowles asked.

“We’re looking for any information that can lead Mr. Van Rossum to finding the painting. He believes this kid knows where it is. Me, I personally don’t think so. I think Van Rossum’s grasping at straws.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Look at what we’ve done over the last few days. We take the private investigator from his office and bring him here. Why?”

“Because he withheld a report Van Rossum hired him to assemble,” Bowles answered.

Hannah shook his head. “If that was the real reason, he would have had us just take it and not send him back to his office.”

The elevator came to the garage level and stopped. The doors opened. Bowles exited with Hannah following and continued his answer. “If there was nothing more to this, we would not have gone through the elaborate ruse of bringing Phillips up north and having him fooled, thinking he’s working for some others that want the painting.”

Bowles grabbed his partner’s arm and stopped him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that there’s more to this than what we know, what we’re being told.”

“Should we go to this kid’s house and look for information?”

Hannah closed his eyes and sighed. “I think we should do as what we’re asked to do. I don’t want to push Van Rossum now. You know he has more men who would think nothing of it to go after us if we don’t give him the information he desires.”

Bowles ran a hand through his hair in disgust. “You’re right. Whose car do we use?”

“We’ll use mine, since it is right here.”



He awoke with a start, almost falling out of bed. What was that? Micah asked his older self.

“What do you mean?”

That dream. Did you cause me to have that, about Antoinette being hurt?

“No, that wasn’t me. That was your fears coming through.”

Are you sure? Is there something you know that you’re not telling me?

“No, there’s nothing.” The older Micah was lying. There were things that changed, but he took what Professor DeMuth had told him the day before, to let things flow naturally. Older Micah had done enough damage, allowing the teenager to tell Antoinette what he felt, those changing the future.

He was in a quandary: Should he tell the teenager that something terrible is going to happen to her or allow things to happen?

“We need to get going,” the older Micah said.

When are you going to leave me alone?

“Not soon enough.”



The house was empty; the parents were at work, the children at school. Even the dogs were out, being picked up by an aunt to bring them to a new dog park where they could run free. No one noticed the dark green Chevy van that circled the block twice, slowing down at the Vaughn house. No one noticed when the car pulled into the driveway and all the way to the garage.

Three men exited, one wearing a cable company uniform and two wearing suits. The cable man removed a ladder from the back and put it up against the back of the house. He slowly climbed up. When he reached the third story window, he stopped and checked it.

“It’s open,” he called down to his associates. They walked to the bottom and followed him up.

Cable man pushed in the screen and gently placed it on the floor. He raised the window so he could enter. He looked around and saw that he was in the teenager’s room, the one they were sent to look in.

“Talk about being lucky,” Bowles said entering through the window.

Hannah came to the window. “Okay, we don’t have much time.”

“You’re right,” Cable man said. He turned and walked to the kid’s bed.

“If there’s anything, it’s going to be here,” Bowles said walking to the desk. He looked at the papers on top and shook his head. “It looks like he’s just a writer.”

“Check in the drawers,” Hannah directed. He opened the top left and found only pens and pencils.

“He collects pens,” Cable man said. “I thought only my brother did that?”

Hannah opened the next drawer and found some notes in it. He removed them and read a few. “I found his notes for the short story.”

“I found his itinerary,” Bowles added.

“Is there anything interesting on it?” Cable man asked.

“He has to pick up a Toni at a supermarket.” Bowles showed the others the piece of paper.

“That would be Antoinette De Fiore.” He looked at the paper Bowles held and smiled. “I know where this is.”

“How can you?” Cable man asked.

“It’s an easy deduction. It’s the only Super Eagle in the area.”

“That does make it easy.” Cable man opened a draw and saw it full with what he thought were pages of chicken scratching. He pulled one out. “How can anyone read this?”

“Mr. Vaughn can,” Hannah began. He took it from his associate and read it. “It appears that Micah writes quickly, puts down what he’s thinking, before writing the story in its entirety.”

Cable man huffed. “You got all of that from just looking at this?”

Bowles smiled. “He does it himself. I’ve seen him do it.”

Cable man took back the paper and replaced it in the drawer. He opened the next drawer and saw more notes. “I don’t think we’ll find it here.”

“We might not have to,” Bowles chipped in. He had an opened notebook. “From what I can gather, he has an idea of what Mr. Van Rossum is looking for.” He handed it to his more learned associate.

Hannah read quickly and closed it. “This is what we need. We should leave and show Mr. Van Rossum.”

The others nodded and quickly removed their selves from the bedroom.



The motel room telephone rang, causing Phillips to wonder. “Who knows I’m here?” he asked Timmons.

The former police officer shook his head. “It’s not for you.” He picked up the receiver and answered with a curt “Yes”. His attitude changed when the person on the other end spoke.

He stood straighter and apologized. He replaced the receiver once the one-sided conversation ended. He looked at the private investigator. Timmons’ face showed that it wasn’t good news for Phillips.

“It appears that things have escalated. You’re going to meet the real person behind this façade.” He took his gun off a nightstand and grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. He grabbed the investigator, brought him to his feet.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Someplace familiar,” was the only thing he said. The two exited the room, a man guarding the room followed without a word. The trio walked to another large car, a new model Lincoln. Placed into the backseat with Timmons, Phillips began to panic.

“Drive to the home office,” the ex-cop told the third man.

“What home office?” Phillips asked.

“Van Rossum’s,” Timmons answered coldly.

“Oh shit.” He realized the deception worked. He should have thought that no one else but the Van Rossum family knew about the painting and the legend but he had hoped he was wrong. He went along with it, found a few possible locations for it, including one familiar place in Schoharie County. He had given Timmons that location earlier this morning, told him that he knew someone that would allow people onto the farm location to look. Now, he regretted it.

“Don’t worry,” Timmons said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Mr. Rossum wants to see you, make sure that the information you gave lines up with what someone else is going to give us.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“I haven’t a clue. I suppose you’ll be kept around until the locations you’ve found are checked out, and if we find nothing, well, I can’t say what will happen.”

The private investigator’s heart began to beat quicker. He knew that his demise was coming, sooner than he wanted. He also thought of friends he might have placed in danger. He shook his head and stifled tears.