Otter Under Fire (24 page)

“He’s a pain in the ass, but he’s not stupid. Defray wouldn’t wear his uniform with his name on it and wear a rubber gorilla mask to hide his face.”

“It’s definitely Defray’s uniform,” Greg said. Ron Defray had insisted that his uniform be different from everyone else’s. He had a lighter colored shirt than the shop guys and it had stripes on it.

“I’m not saying that isn’t the uniform,” Otter said, “I’m just saying it’s not him.”

“Look, he’s even wearing the bullet casing around his neck,” Greg said.

They watched the figure break into Greg’s office and pick up the boxes of security hardware that he had left on his desk.

“What’s in the boxes?” Michael asked.

“Some scrap parts,” Greg said. “I raided the hold area.”

The footage showed the figure, who looked a lot like Ron Defray, walking away from the camera. He shut Greg’s office door behind him. Greg tapped a couple of keys and they watched him walk out through the welding area and out into the parking lot. They lost track of him as he went through the gate and out into the street.

“Something about that guy tends to make me agree with Mackenzie,” Michael said slowly.

“He doesn’t walk like Ron Defray,” Otter said. “You know how his feet hurt. He walks like a stumbling buffalo.”

“Whoever was pretending to be him, imitated him pretty well in Greg’s office, but once he got out into the open he stopped limping.” Michael said.

“Too bad, I didn’t have a tracking device of some kind to put in those boxes,” Greg said with regret. “We could have tracked it to where this guy was taking it.”

“Still you didn’t do too badly for the spur of the moment,” Otter said, patting Greg on the hand.

“Run the tape backward Greg, I want to check something,” Michael said.

They looked at the tape again.

“He’s not wearing Defray’s shoes. Defray had special work boots made for his gout. They gave him room and support.” Michael said. “I remembered when he bought them; he showed me the special construction.”

“No, the guy on camera is wearing some black boots, looks like what everyone here wears.” Otter said.

“Whoever set this up wants me to think Ron Defray is stealing from the company.” Michael said.

“When was the last time anyone has seen Defray?” Otter asked. “I don’t think he was at the ball and I don’t remember seeing him yesterday.”

“The last time I saw him was on Friday,” Michael said. “He said he would see me at the ball.”

“But I don’t think he went to the party,” Otter said. “We should call him and make sure he’s ok.”

“It’s really sad,” Michael said, “that he’s been missing for days and we just realized it.”

“I think most of us were just happy he was leaving us alone,” Greg said.

“His phone goes right to voice mail.” Otter said holding up her phone. “I’ll go get his emergency contact number and see if I can get hold of his wife.”

She was gone about 20 minutes and came back at a run.

“His wife hasn’t seen him since Saturday morning. She assumed he was just working and sleeping upstairs here. Apparently he did that when they had a disagreement.”

“Even his wife didn’t miss him,” Greg said, watching the footage again.

“So he’s disappeared and someone took his clothes.” Otter said. “And nobody realized he was gone. Someone dresses up like him to steal from the company. Apparently the criminal didn’t realize that we would figure out Defray was missing once we saw the tape.”

“Maybe he didn’t care,” Greg said. “He could have planned for us to think this way and to also think that Defray was planning to steal from the company and then leave.”

“That’s kind of sloppy,” Otter said. “Takes too many chances, did he know he was being filmed or did he just assume that someone might get a glimpse of him as he was walking through the shop. Greg’s office doesn’t usually have a camera in it.”

“And Ron Defray doesn’t usually wear a gorilla mask.”

“If he’s caught, he could just say he’s imitating the Phoenix Sun’s mascot. The guys would get a kick out of that.” Otter said.

“But at eleven at night?” Michael asked.

“I know,” Otter said, “This is making no sense. Someone is screwing with us.”

“We’d better call the police, Otter, and report the break in—although since the person who took the parts already had a key, it may just be theft.”

“What about Defray,” Otter asked.

Michael sighed. “We will have to report his disappearance as well. Hopefully he’ll just turn up to work and it will all be a big misunderstanding.”

“But you don’t think so,”

“No, I think Ron Defray is missing.” Michael said heavily. “I just hope he’s not dead as well.”

“So you repair cell phones?” Tempest asked the exuberant young man sitting across the table from her. He might be 30, she decided, but certainly not any older than that.

“Yes! My business has done so well, I want to open another repair shop. I will need an advertising promotion announcing our new location.”

“OK, that sounds reasonable,” Tempest said, “We could do some flyers around the business offices and do some signs. Unless you want something else--what exactly do you have in mind?”

“I’d like you to do some research and find the five top radio stations that people listen to during morning rush hour. I’d like to put a short commercial on each of them.”

“Really,” Tempest raised her eyebrows, “What else?”

“I’d like to do three different ones that cycle between the five stations.”

“Do you know what you want to say?”

“Oh absolutely,” He grinned at her, “The first one should say ‘Did Bobby break the glass on your phone this morning? We can fix it today.’ And then the name of my store and both locations.”

“Straight and to the point,” Tempest said.

“Of course, the second one should say, ‘The dog chewed your phone and now it won’t take a charge? We can fix that today.’”

“And can you?”

“Of course, I have six technicians all specially trained by me. We can take it in that morning; have it done that afternoon--for the simple repairs anyway, some you can even wait for. The more difficult repairs where I have to order parts takes a little longer, but we do it faster and cheaper than anyone.”

“Sounds like a great service,”

“I think so, and since I have enough business to open a second store, I think people agree with me.”

“So where are you located?”

“My first store is in Gilbert; my second one is going to be in Chandler.”

“Gee, that’s too bad,” Tempest said and meant it, “You are on the other side of the valley from us.”

“Not to worry,” The happy repairman said, “If this one does well, I plan to open another one in Glendale.”

“Then we have to hope you do well,” Tempest said. “I’ll bet you meet all kinds of people. You must have some good stories.”

“Oh, I do. You couldn’t imagine all the ways people find to destroy their phones.”

“Tell me one of your favorites,” Tempest invited.

“OK,” He thought for a moment, “Two families have an annual event up at Lake Powell where they rent a houseboat for a few days and race around on jet skis.”

“I’ve done that, it’s a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, me too, and they’ve done this for years. They imbibe a lot of alcohol as you can imagine.”

“Yes, I can imagine.” She agreed.

“So they pull up to the dock to turn the boat in and everyone is pretty tipsy except the designated driver.”

“At least they were smart about it.”

“That’s true. And then one of the very drunk family members stumbled into the man piloting the boat and they hit a pier. It rocked the boat a little.”

“Yeah, but they all have rubber around them just for that reason.”

“I know, but the one extremely tipsy wife thought the ship was sinking for some reason, so she grabbed the waterproof bag that all the cell phones were in and took them out to hold them so they would be safe. Then she jumped over the side into the water.”

“I’ll bet they weren’t happy with her.”

“No, especially since the only one she didn’t manage to take belonged to her.”

“I think it sad that someone could not come to work for several days and nobody missed him,” Otter said while they were waiting for Detective Addison to finish talking to Michael.

“Like I said before, everyone was glad he wasn’t messing with them.” Greg said, fiddling with a lap top.

“And Michael put him in an office away from everyone,” Annie said, “He could slip in and out without too many people seeing him if he wanted.”

“But he didn’t,” Greg said, “I checked all the cameras around the shop and his parking space. He hasn’t been here.”

“Except for the night of the theft,” Otter said.

“Yeah, except for then.”

“How did you guys know that someone was going to take the stuff out of Greg’s office that particular night?’ Annie asked.

“Because I mentioned in several gathering spots about the shop that I had accidentally gotten some equipment that wasn’t ours and I was sending it back the next day. I just had it on my desk and was going to take it to shipping the next morning. Whoever wanted it would know they had to get it that night.”

“Who didn’t see ‘trap’ written all over that ploy? Geeze, how stupid is this guy?” Annie asked.

“I was a lot more subtle than that,” Greg said, flashing his perfect teeth. “I didn’t quite say it that way.”

“Ah, Miss Ottenberger we meet again.” Detective Addison said as he came into the conference room.

“You must be getting tired of seeing me.”

“Your
boss
looks like he’s getting tired of seeing
me
,” The detective said as he sat down.

“Of course, he’s getting tired of this. Someone is screwing with his business. One of his employees is dead—possibly murdered and another employee is missing and possibly dead. The person who is running production for him is in potential danger. We have a shop to run and don’t have time for this. I have a new lathe coming in and six tons of bar stock to ship by Friday. This is taking me from my job.”

“I thought you found this interesting,” Detective Addison looked surprised.

“On an intellectual level, it is interesting,” Otter said, “but it’s interfering with my life and has been deadly to the lives of others. I want this mystery to be figured out.”

“What makes you think it’s all related?”

“I don’t know. Clark and Ron Defray didn’t like each other very much, so it doesn’t make sense. It’s not like Clark would have confided in Defray.”

“I saw the tape,” Detective Addison said to Greg, “Would you tell me about the trap you set?”

And they went over it all again. The three of them were adamant that the image on the camera was not Rod Defray. They seemed to convince the detective, but he left shaking his head.

“Do you think he believed us?” Annie asked anxiously. “If people think that Ron took that security stuff and disappeared, they won’t look for him.”

“This doesn’t make sense; it’s not valuable enough to throw your career away for.” Otter said. “How much was that stuff worth, Greg?”

“I don’t know, maybe five hundred bucks.”

“OK, is your job worth five hundred bucks--if you were going to steal from your employer? For me, no amount of money would be worth it but not everyone thinks like I do.”

“Only someone who has no vision for the future would steal from their employer,” Greg said. “I don’t see Defray being that stupid.”

“He’s mean and spiteful,” Annie said, “But he’s also helped a lot of people out. He has fixed cars for most everyone here, and he isn’t stupid.”

“I hope he’s ok,” Otter said. “I hope he just went somewhere to get his head on straight and he’ll be back to work.”

“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Annie sighed.

When Otter got home her house was full of dogs. Tempest was home with the puppies and Susan had brought Duke over to get re-acquainted with his buddies. Stella was in her element, jumping on tails and batting at noses. Fortunately she was light on her feet; otherwise she would have been trampled. Spooky was horrified. Mouse was on the top of the cat sculpture, peeking over the side, eyes dilated with shock.

The puppies called Jake and Mike, came over to her for pets and kisses. They were sweet dogs, but they were big and they were only three years old, so they had a ton of energy. Fortunately, Tempest opened the patio door and the room rapidly emptied of canines. Whew.

Tempest, Susan and Otter watched the three of them run for the pool and dive in. Tempest shut the door again.

“Good thing, we have an extra strong pool pump,” Otter said, “So that it can get all the dog hair out of the pool.”

“I wish we could get out there and swim,” Tempest said. “They look like they’re having such fun, but the water is too cold now.”

“Not to worry,” Otter said nodding through the glass at the shed, “I almost have the heater installed. Then that won’t be a problem.”

“Oooh, that would be nice,” Susan said. “We could be floating in warm water, even though its 18 degrees outside.”

“Brrrr,” Otter shivered. She didn’t like the cold at all. She walked away from the door, got the laptop and sat at the kitchen table.

“What are you doing?” Tempest asked.

“I’m going to see if I can figure out the password on this thing.”

“Why do you think you can do that now?” Susan asked.

“Well, we have a bunch of numbers and elements from the list. They might be the clues we need.”

“Makes sense,” Susan said.

Tempest put a few snack trays together—none of them had eaten—and they all fixed themselves drinks. Then within sight of the cavorting canines, they sat at the table and hunkered down for a couple of hours of working on The Mystery.

Otter tried the atomic number 40 for zirconium, she typed in zirconium, and she used Michael’s numbers and then Greg’s. The little keypad on the monitor didn’t budge. She tried combining them in some kind of logical fashion, but it didn’t do anything to get her in the computer.

Frustrated Otter passed it over to Tempest who was dying to try. She went and got the list and studied it while Tempest tapped away, cursing more and more inventively as she went.

“You know, it’s interesting that he called this the ‘Christ’s sword’ project.” Otter said to Tempest, as Tempest passed the computer to Susan, “Isn’t that a controversial quote in the Bible?”

“I think the one you are thinking of is Matthew 10:34: ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.’” Tempest said. “Christians have argued over what it means for centuries.”

“And how did you know that?” Susan asked in astonishment.

“Did you know that Tempest’s greatest goal in life when she was young, was to be an angel?” Otter asked, “She kept breaking parts of her body or getting in trouble because she was always trying to figure out how to fly.”

“Seriously?” Susan asked Tempest, but Otter was reaching for the laptop.

“Let me see that thing,” Otter said as she turned it to face her. “Maybe that’s the password, the beginning of the whole thing.” She typed in Matthew 10:34, the screen changed and the squeal of the bar of a great gate pulling back sounded from the machine.

“We did it!” Tempest said, and she and Susan got up from the table and came around to look at the screen.

The screen was blank except for a blinking cursor. Otter tried to type something else, but the computer wasn’t responding.

“I’m starting to see why people hated this Clark so much,” Tempest said.

“Try getting an answer out of him when you were in a hurry,” Otter said. She thought a moment. “Hey Tempest, don’t you have voice recognition software that has something to do with dragons?”

“I do indeed.”

“Hmmm,” Otter leaned forward and looked into the screen. “Jabberwocky,” she said to it. Nothing happened. She thought a few minutes more.

“I’m going to need to go home soon,” Susan said. “It looks like Duke is getting tired and Bruce will be home in an hour or so.”

They looked out at the darkened yard and all three dogs, wet and happy, were panting on the patio.

It was something she was supposed to know, Otter thought. She leaned into the screen again.

“Twas brillig and the slythy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe:”
[9]
she said slowly. To her excitement the words appeared on the screen as she said them.

“What kind of language is that?” Susan wanted to know.

“Go ask Alice,” Otter said with a laugh of triumph. The speaker came on and Clark’s voice repeated the line back to her, which was creepy. She shuddered a little. The next screen flashed. The three of them stared at the screen for a few minutes.

“We’d better call Jeremy.” Otter said.

“I’m a prodigy with computer software,” Jeremy said matter-of-factly. He used the same tone of voice he would have used to tell someone his hair color or to discuss the weather.

“So why was Clark so interested in sending you to school?” Otter asked.

“Because you can’t get a job by just being a prodigy,” Jeremy said, “There are a lot of prodigies out there. You need formal training and some kind of degree.”

“We got into the lap top that you left on my front porch.”

“Really? Wow, that’s amazing. You know, I designed that software.”

“You designed the software, but you couldn’t get into the computer?” Susan asked sharply. She had decided that she didn’t need to go home right away after all.

“Well yeah, it’s a quiz kind of thing, but I didn’t know the answers. Each section has an alpha-numeric code and then a voice password. After you finish the task, you put in the proper code and it takes you to the next section.”