Chapter 26

“Oh I want that,” he said as the saliva practically oozed out of the corner of his lips. His eyes were huge as the plate hit the picnic table in front of him. He licked his lips and adjusted the giant plastic bib around his neck just before picking up a fork with each hand.

Tony sat down right next to him and reached out and picked some meat from the slab. As he chewed he said, “good to know we’re hanging on to some old time traditions Freddy.”

“It’s Frank,” he snarled in reply and then tried to slide down the bench. Then another guy sat down and pinned him next to Tony.

Tony smiled at his cousin and said, “really Freddy? I thought it was Seymour Butts these days. At least, that’s what your last phone said your name was.”

“Kiss my ass Tony,” Frank replied in disgust. Then he said, “oh and by the way, you owe me seventy two dollars and twenty eight nicks for that phone. Getting a good burn job like that doesn’t come cheap.”

Now Garcia reached out and pinched off a bite of meat. He savored the flavor as he let it melt in his mouth and then told Tony, “hey man, I’m going to start coming here to your Aunt Meme’s house every family day. Did she grill this herself?”

Tony laughed and said, “you haven’t tried Uncle Blake’s smoked pork yet.”

“I’d hope it’s good,” Garcia replied. “He is a fireman after all.”

Frank had enough. There were plenty more tables here and still some spots left to be taken. He tried to stand up but then, someone from behind pushed him back down rather angrily. That person then proceeded to bottle him in. When Frank looked back and saw the dark haired little girl he commented to Tony, “and I figured you’d be bringing your girlfriend or, is she one of them too?” Frank reeled in pain from the heel that stomped down on his toes under the table. Then he growled, “what did I ever do to you to deserve all this, huh Tony?”

Tony thought about it for a second and then said, “do you want me to start when we were kids Freddy? You know, when you stole my…”

“Geez!” Frank grunted, “you are never going to let that go are you? You got that back!”

Garcia picked at another piece of meat and said, “cars. Van’s in particular Freddy. We want to know about that.”

From behind him, Danni put her arms on his shoulders and began to rub them right before her fingers dug in and clamped down on a nerve, “right now you little weasel.”

“I don’t do cars,” he cried out as he wiggled around to get out of the nerve hold. When the girl let go he angrily straightened out the collars on his very loud shirt and then told Tony, “you should know that. Sides, isn’t this a holiday or something? Why are you people at work?”

Tony put his heel back on Frank’s foot only this time he did not stomp, he ground instead. Then, as he watched his cousin pretend like it did not hurt, Tony asked, “but you know the guys who do. Since they probably won’t talk to us we want to know what they’ve had to say lately.”

Garcia added, “about a bunch of vans gone missing.”

“OK,” Frank snarled. When Tony eased up on the grinding his cousin, once again, straightened his clothing and said, “you know if you keep this up, nobody is ever going to talk to me anymore.”

Danni’s hands went back for the shoulders and she commanded, “now.”

Before she get another good hold he said, “yeah there’s been a demand for vans lately. So what? There’s always some kind of fetish going on out there.” He looked back at Danni, “speaking of fetish’s are you sure you don’t work at Hilda’s House of Pain?” Danni slapped his ear and as Frank nursed it he said, “I thought as much!”

Tony still acted like he was having a perfectly normal and fun conversation with any relative. He did have to admit, it was at least fun if not exactly normal, “what we need to know is who wanted them?”

“How the hell should I know…” Frank felt the girls fingers again and he back tracked a little and told Tony, “look moron, all I know is there was a delivery point for the vans, and a few cars too. It was some parking garage down by Riggins Field. I don’t know, about three or four blocks from the airport.”

Garcia grunted, “there’s a lot of parking garages down there.”

Frank pointed at Tony and defensively said, “it’s not like I knew you were going to be coming here asking me that. Next time, I’ll just let everybody know I’m helping you out and ask for some addresses.”

Danni smiled and said, “I got a feeling I know which one, guys.”

They took Frank’s slab of meat on the way out and divided it up into three parts. They were still licking their fingers when they reached the place that Danni had in mind. She pointed it out with the finger she had just pulled from her mouth, “that’s it.”

Tony parked across the street and looked at the three story structure, “I don’t get it Danni. How can you be sure this is it?”

“I’m not,” she replied from the back seat, “but, we don’t have anything else to go on and,” she crossed her fingers, “this is the closest one to my Mom’s motel. I remember passing it this morning when we left.”

Garcia’s face scrunched up, “that’s it?”

Tony raised a hand, as he still looked at the structure, and he told his friends, “no that actually makes a lot of sense.” When Garcia showed that he was unconvinced Tony said, “think about it. Her mom is new in town. No way she could be mixed up with anything. Nobody could even know she’s here unless somebody has invented faster than light wireless that I don’t know about.”

Danni added, “somebody tagged her when she got off the shuttle this morning. They were probably down there scouting out new arrivals, exactly because they were new.”

“And your Mom got picked,” Tony went on. Then he added, “it would stand to reason that guys running a meat ring would have a base of ops somewhere near the airport but,” he added with a frown, “doesn’t explain everything else.”

Garcia laughed in dismay, “yeah like why they need all these vans or why they’re staying in the same motel as your Mom. I mean she picked the place, right?”

“Like the lady says,” Tony replied as he opened the door, “it’s all we got. Let’s go find out.”

As they walked across the street, Tony felt in his pocket to make sure the print outs were where he thought and then, he took his weapon out, checked the chamber, and then flipped off the safety. It was while doing all of that when he noticed that Danni was lagging a few steps behind. When he gave her a confused look she just shrugged, “I still don’t have a gun.”

Tony stopped and sighed. He thought about it but, he had nothing extra to give her. “Stay behind us but, not too far.” She nodded and they went on in. As they wound their way up the garage it was fairly noticeable that the place was mostly empty. That was not so surprising for today. Those vehicles they did see, were spread out, and most of them gave the appearance of not having been moved in some time.

When they were satisfied that they were alone, Tony pulled out his print outs and began looking at models and makes. When he found one that was not only new but, matched a print out, he then nodded to Danni. She got down on the concrete and crawled under the vehicle. She called out the numbers she found on the frame and Tony nodded.

As Danni got back to her feet, and began to brush herself off, Tony told her, “looks like we got a match here. We got lucky with this one. Somebody got it right off of a dealers lot.”

“Without signing away his first born I assume,” Danni remarked.

While Tony and Danni looked for another match, Garcia was busy poking around on the other side of the lot. He found something and called out to his friends. When they came walking back over Tony said, “well we got one positive match and several that, if we looked hard enough, I’m sure would be. What did you find?”

Gar nudged the cardboard boxes at his feet, “well I don’t see no vans anywhere but, this is interesting.”

Danni looked down and asked, “cardboard?”

Tony noticed, “those look pretty new.”

Gar flipped one over with his foot. First he pointed to the packaging straps, “I’d guess they were cut recently, maybe even today. The cardboard is dry too.”

“Definitely today,” Tony replied.

“Yeah,” Gar nodded and then pointed at the computerized printing, “these were packaging boxes from R-More Printing. You know those are the guys that make all them signs and stuff.”

Danni gave a nervous look to her two partners and asked, “what was in them?”

Garcia just pushed the box away and said, “I have no clue.”

Tony thought about any possible useful information they could get out of this. Then it hit him, “don’t they have a shop a couple of blocks from here?”

Garcia just raised his hands, “I think so but, so what man? They probably do all of this stuff at their main warehouse.”

Danni smiled. Then she looked at Tony and her smile only got bigger, “you’re a fucking genius.” She tossed her arms around Tony and gave him a big hug followed by a quick peck on the cheek. She took off running back towards the entrance all the while yelling, “well come on!”

Garcia stepped up next to Tony and said, “not like I did anything. I just found the clue is all.” Then he slapped Tony on the arm and said, “ok what did I just find?”

“That place you’re talking about,” Tony told him as he began to walk back to the entrance, “it’s right across the street from her Mom’s motel.”

When they reached the street, Danni was already across it and impatiently waiting to leave. Garcia was still thinking about this and not coming up with any answers, “so, I don’t get it?”

“Where’s the one place we’d never look for her?” Tony asked as he resumed walking for the car. Then he answered his own question with, “that would be the one place she’s supposed to be.”