Double Fugue Page 13
Outside the conference room, Daniel, Jason, Marlon, and Benjamin Binkley were waiting. “We have a breakthrough, gentlemen! Dalton Fredericks has confessed to the conspiracy and told us where Ethan Savage is being held! We are going there now to release him.”
“We want to go, too!” Daniel exclaimed.
“Come on then. You boys and Marlon are responsible for breaking this case, and since you are riding with me anyway, I was planning to take you along. I’m sure Ethan will be happy to see at least one face he knows, Marlon.” He then talked to Sergio. “Can you bring along the team of deputies from downstairs. They should be through with people exiting by now. Do you know of a doctor we can get a hold of in case the nurse isn’t cooperative?”
“Yes, I’ll see who we can get. Let’s get over there under sirens right now and assess the situation. His estate is near the start of the Seventeen Mile Drive. We’ll turn off sirens about half a mile before we get there, so the nurse won’t be alerted and try and escape.”
About five minutes later, four vehicles took off for the Savage estate, including Lieutenant Garcia and his party. On the way there was a radio call from Sergeant Ascuela. “I checked out the map and there is a tiny alleyway that goes behind the rear of the property. I am sending a car part way up the alley from each direction, while you guys just use the front entrance. When we have the place surrounded I will give you a signal to proceed.”
The operation went without a hitch, and on Sergeant Ascuela’s signal the police stormed the small guest house. Inside they found the woman who was acting as Ethan’s nurse, and in a small bedroom they found Ethan still unconscious.
“What drug have you been giving him,” Ascuela demanded of the nurse, who said her name was Bettina Crawford. “Can you bring him out of it?”
“He has been given doses of chloral hydrate. He is doing fine. He was just about to wake up naturally from his last dose. I can easily bring him out of it with a stimulant.”
“Then do it!” Sergeant Ascuela ordered. “Be very careful. You are already in a lot of trouble and you don’t want to make things worse for yourself.”
“I would never intentionally hurt Ethan. He is one of my favorite musicians!”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it,” Lieutenant Garcia said.
“Just like everyone else, I need money to live on!” Bettina replied.
She prepared an injection of the antidote, and administered it to Ethan. She then got out some smelling salts, held them under his nose, and within thirty seconds Ethan began coming out of his stupor. His eyes fluttered open. “Where am I? What’s going on.”
As his eyes began to focus he looked around at all of the people staring at him. Then he saw Marlon. “Marlon, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me, Ethan. Can you sit up?”
“I think so, if you could help me.” Marlon helped Ethan sit up on the bed.
“You’ve been drugged for the past 24 hours and held here as part of a conspiracy to rip you off,” Marlon told Ethan. “This young kid here, Daniel, who you already met, saw what happened and went through hell to do it, but eventually was able to let the authorities know what was done to you. This whole conspiracy against you was the work of your business manager, Dalton Fredericks.”
“Dalton was ripping me off? That S.O.B. I should have known that he wouldn’t take my retirement easily. Explain what happened again. My head is still very foggy.”
“I’ll let these policemen and the kid explain it to you,” Marlon replied. “They are the ones responsible for rescuing you.”
“Hello, Mr. Savage. My name is Lieutenant Antonio Garcia from the Silicon Valley Police Department. This is my colleague, Sergeant Sergio Ascuela, from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. Before we do any explaining, let me ask you if you need immediate medical attention. We can easily bring you to a hospital.”
“I am a little woozy from being knocked out, but the last thing I want to do is go to a public hospital. I have a very good doctor on call when I am here in Monterey named Henry Saint Claire. Please call him and have him come over here immediately. He will know what is best for me. Is there anything to drink here? I could really use some strong coffee.”
Sergeant Ascuela got on his cell phone and put in a call to Dr. Saint Claire. He then told one of his deputies to arrest Bettina Crawford and take her to headquarters. He told another deputy to look around in the kitchen area for drinks and to make coffee if he could find it.
Ethan Savage continued to talk with Lieutenant Garcia. “I understand about all of the law enforcement people here but who are those boys over there? I think I recognize one from yesterday.”
“Their names are Jason Hunter and Daniel Holmes, and they are the ones responsible for your rescue. Daniel was the fan you spent some time with yesterday. It was just after your meeting with him that you were administered the first knockout drug and then replaced with a look-alike double who was all set to announce a completely different list of charities than the ones you had intended at the press conference this afternoon. By a fluke, Daniel witnessed this switch but he paid a real price trying to tell the authorities about it. I’ll let Daniel tell you his incredible story from yesterday.”
Daniel came up to the bed and recounted his entire adventure from yesterday. He then described how he enlisted Jason’s help and eventually they were able to persuade Lieutenant Garcia to look into things. He then talked about how they convinced Marlon to come with them to Monterey and how the whole conspiracy gradually started to unravel. Thanks to Jason’s quick diving tackle at the press conference, the main perpetrator of the whole conspiracy was caught on the spot.
“Once we got Dalton Fredericks into an interrogation room, it was real easy break him down,” Lieutenant Garcia added, “because we had already turned the actor who was impersonating you, and we had the two rogue deputies in custody for kidnapping Daniel.”
“You officers have done an outstanding job today,” Ethan said smiling for the first time. “You are to be commended for your quick thinking and action! Marlon, my old friend and band mate, you still know how to deliver the goods! And Daniel and Jason, I owe you a both great debt of gratitude, but especially to you, Daniel. You put your life on the line for me! Not only are you a promising young musician, but you are a hero and true friend!”
Daniel was back on Cloud 9 with the praise from Ethan Savage. His smile could have lit up a football field.
“Daniel, I always knew you were the best,” Jason added, patting him on the back. “Now someone else recognizes that also.”
The deputy who was responsible for refreshments brought in some cups of fresh coffee and some sodas he found in the refrigerator. Everyone chatted for a little bit longer. There was a knock on the door, and in came a deputy with Dr. Saint Claire.
“Henry, am I glad to see you!” Ethan exclaimed. “Just don’t prescribe any sedatives!”
Dr. Saint Claire gave Ethan a quick preliminary examination, and then asked him if he was strong enough to walk over to the main house. When Ethan answered yes, everyone walked with him over there. At this point the deputies, Sergeant Ascuela, Lieutenant Garcia, Marlon and the boys took their leave.
“We have a lot more questioning to do, and we need to inform the press that you are now safe,” Lieutenant Garcia told Ethan. “Is there any statement you would like to make?”
“Can I do that through my publicist?”
“Not if your publicist is named Timothy Butterfield. He was the other man we caught escaping from the press conference.”
“Man, good help is getting hard to find these days!” Ethan said shaking his head. “Just tell everyone how grateful I am for your assistance, and that I will be making a statement about what happened and the disposition of my assets in a couple of days, after I have recovered from the drugs. Goodbye, and thank you all again.”
THE PRESS CONFERENCE, PART II
(Saturday Afternoon and Evening)
Back at the Monterey County
Sheriff’s Office, Lieutenant Garcia and Sergeant Ascuela were able to wrap up things rapidly. Dalton Fredericks had written out a full confession. With the main conspirators in custody, Lieutenant Garcia was able to put in transport orders for all of the conspirators, and have them brought back to Silicon Valley. He got on the telephone to the district attorney’s office there to give them a heads up on what was coming up. A meeting was set up for Monday morning to determine the full extent of the charges to be filed for each conspirator. Garcia decided that he would finish his interrogations on Sunday at his facility so he could be prepared for the Monday meeting but also so that Daniel, Jason, Marlon, and he could get back home as quickly as possible.
Lieutenant Garcia also put out an arrest warrant for Oliver Samuels. The two officers he had put on Samuel’s trail had not been able to locate him all day. Lieutenant Garcia figured that when Samuels went back to the barn to get Daniel and found him missing, he had decided to go into hiding.
Because the case was getting wrapped up and Ethan Savage had been safely rescued, Sergeant Ascuela and Lieutenant Garcia scheduled a news conference for 5:00 PM. All the media had been hanging around, sensing that a huge story was about to become public. Sergeant Ascuela called Benjamin Binkley and asked if they could use the meeting room in the Pomeroy Building, because there were so many media representatives already there with more on the way. Binkley was more than happy to cooperate, as this was one way of erasing the black eye that he felt his law firm had received by putting the fake Ethan on the podium earlier in the day.
The press conference was a sensation. Lieutenant Garcia and Sergeant Ascuela both made statements summarizing what the case was about and whom they had arrested. They then had Daniel tell his story and talk about how he and Jason were able to alert the authorities about the crime. Daniel had agreed to do this because he had already been through a press conference earlier in the summer when Jason’s kidnapping had been solved, so he knew what to expect. They then took reporter’s questions for another half hour, finally wrapping things up around 6:00 PM. Within thirty minutes, the story was all over the Internet and the network news media. The detective team of Hunter & Holmes was receiving national attention again.
Ethan Savage was the media’s next target. He had called in his security company for assistance at his estate, but realizing that the story had become huge and out of control, he agreed to a press conference late Sunday morning.
Around 8:00 PM Lieutenant Garcia was finally able to drop off Daniel and Jason at Jason’s house after the long ride back from Monterey. Jason had talked to his parents several times since the rescue of Ethan to tell them about the successful resolution to the case, and then to alert them about the press conference and media coverage. Bill Hunter was extremely pleased that he had called in the security company yesterday. Edith had kept some dinner warm for the boys which they quickly devoured, not having anything to eat since their sandwiches at 12:30 that afternoon. Daniel was still upset that he hadn’t heard anything back from his parents, even though he had placed several more calls to them during the course of the day. He was just finishing eating when he heard his cell phone ring. It was Melinda Holmes, his mom.
“Daniel, I am so sorry that we haven’t been more in touch with you, but we have been quite involved with some business activities, and now we are spending the night at Big Sur. We should be back home tomorrow afternoon.”
“Mom, have you heard any news lately? Do you know some of the incredible things that happened to me yesterday?” When she answered no, Daniel gave her a quick summary of what he had been through. “That’s why I have been trying to contact you and Dad. Thank goodness Jason and his parents have been here to help me out!”
“Daniel, are you okay? Do you need us to come home right away?”
“Mom, I am exhausted from all of the activity over the past two days and frustrated that we don’t seem to be communicating very well lately. Yesterday I did see a doctor and he said that I didn’t have a concussion but just a bad blow on the head. I am so relieved that the people responsible for kidnapping Ethan Savage and me are now behind bars and that he is safe. Everything is okay at our house. When he heard about what happened to me yesterday, Mr. Hunter called the security company and had them station cars at our house and here. I will be spending the night with Jason’s family again. Why don’t you finish enjoying your vacation and then we will talk again when you get back here tomorrow.”
“Okay, Daniel. You know that your father and I love you very much! Please remember that!”
“I love you too, Mom. I’ll see you and Dad tomorrow.”
After Daniel hung up the telephone, Jason said, “So are things better between you and your parents now?”
“Well at least we are talking again. I still feel that they are not telling me everything about what they are doing. Mom seemed really low key and defensive about all of the events of the past couple of days.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. Right now we have other things to deal with.”
“What do you mean, more things?” Daniel asked sounding a little upset.
“Take a look online!” Jason told him. “Your story is all over the news pages. I think that we are going to be targeted by a lot of reporters in the next few days.”
“It’s not just my story, Jason. It’s our story. You were a big help on this case.”
“Yeah, we are a team, Daniel. But just like our first case was about me, this one is mostly about you!”
“So what can we do?” Daniel had some frustration in his voice as he added, “I don’t want to have to hide out all day. I want to actually enjoy the summer while we still can. Maybe we can get away somewhere tomorrow.”
“I have an idea, Daniel. It’s a good one because it kills two birds with one stone, as the saying goes. We should give the Molinari family a huge thank you for rescuing you. At the same time we want to get away from the reporters and media. Why don’t we call the Molinaris up and invite them to go with us on a bike ride tomorrow. After all, that’s what got interrupted when the storm hit and they discovered you in the barn. Let’s do a little shopping, get them a few presents, and have a picnic lunch, all on the foundation, of course.”
“Does that qualify for foundation assistance?”
“Yes it does, Daniel. You are a valued board member, and became a teenaged crime victim. If you had been taken from us, or been held prisoner for an extended period of time, that would have been a major setback to the foundation and to me personally. Not only did the Molinaris rescue you, but as a result of their actions, we were able to rescue Ethan Savage! I think that deserves something special, don’t you? And purchasing some gifts and going for a nice bike ride sure beats sitting around here all day!”
“Well now that you put it that way, I am all in favor, Jason. I’ll call David Molinari right now!”
David Molinari was pleased to hear from Daniel. He told him that they had seen the stories on the news, and that young Davey was still excited about their adventure yesterday. “As soon as we got home yesterday he went and put on his old pair of black high top Converse shoes,” Mr. Molinari said with a laugh. “Now he won’t wear anything else!”
They agreed to meet at a local park at 10:00 in the morning. Then they would bike together to one of the picnic spots on Valley Road, and meet Marie there sometime around noon. “By the way, lunch is on us,” Daniel said emphatically. “There will be a delivery to your house by eleven tomorrow morning. Be sure to have Mrs. Molinari wait for it!”
“It sounds like a lot of fun, Daniel. Davey and I will see you at the park tomorrow morning!”
BICYCLING WITH THE MOLINARIS
(Sunday)
Both Jason and Daniel were up early the next morning. Exhausted from the previous day, they had both gone to bed around 10 PM. After showers and a light breakfast, they were ready to go shopping for the gifts and food Jason wanted to present to the Molinari family. Last night they had talked Jason’s father Bill into dr
iving them around. But first they marveled at the Sunday paper. All over the front page was the Ethan Savage story, and one of the articles went into detail about how Daniel was one of the key players in recognizing that a crime was committed and all of his struggles to get free from his captors and notify the authorities. There were photos from the press conference on the front page and inside the paper.
“Hey Daniel, you are big time now!” Jason said with a laugh. “We had better get our shopping done fast and get out of town before all your groupies descend on us!”
“You are enjoying this way too much, Jason! Sure it seems great in print now, but you know it was no fun living through that experience with the cops.”
“You remember what I said about walking through the field of slippery snakes? Well you made it, Daniel, now enjoy your rewards!”
“I don’t know about that, Jason,” Daniel answered with frustration in his voice. “It seems that my reward from you is to be mercilessly kidded about it.”
“Isn’t that what friends are for?” Jason said with a huge smile.
“I thought I was supposed to be the bubble popper, not you!”
“You know what they say, Daniel. Turn around is fair play!”
Bill Hunter walked into the room. “All right, Jason, why don’t you lay off Daniel for a while. You remember the emotional roller coaster ride you had after your kidnapping. Show a little sympathy for your friend!”
“He knows I’m only joking, Dad. I remember that I needed some fun and humor after my ordeal.”
“Yeah, but give him a few time outs,” Mr. Hunter suggested. “He has had a rough two days, wouldn’t you agree?”
“All right, Dad, I’ll lay off the jokes for now,” Jason said taking the hint. “Let’s get going on our errands. We have a lot to do!”