The Tickleton Affair, Book #5 of the Janitors Series - Bomber's car found.

Today’s excerpt is from The Tickleton Affair, Book #5 of the nine-book Janitors Series.  Dan, Mark, and John find the bomber’s car.  Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

Janet sat around in Nancy’s office for nearly an hour, waiting for her return, idly talking to Marty, who had joined her in the office.  Finally, she decided to call Dan on his cell phone.  He had been bouncing around in John’s jeep for nearly two hours when she called and didn’t answer until the second ring, due to the jostling.  “Orf.”

“Orf lesser here.”

“Hi, honey.  I can barely hear you.  Must be a far piece from a cell.”

“Yeah, you aren’t coming through too well either.  I’ve got bad news.  Two of the ‘things’ we have insured—that we don’t know what we have insured—are missing.”

“Oh, wonderful.”

“Nancy—Miss Knight—is looking for them…has been for over an hour.  She is convinced they’re still here—somewhere.”

“Okay, keep me informed.  I’m gonna go ‘cause you’re breaking up something awful.”

“Okay.  Bye, dear.”

“So long.”

As Dan pushed the “end” button, John grumbled, “With a ten-speed, there’s no telling how far he rode after parking his car.  Do you want to go further out?”

Dan shook his head.  “He wouldn’t have gone too far.  He had to get back and get gone.  How far are you from Buchanan’s house now?”

“About three miles.”

“Keep looking.”

Twenty minutes later, at a time that John was about to give up the search as hopeless, the sun caught the driver’s side outside mirror of a hidden car and flashed a beam across John and Dan in the front seat of the jeep.  John glanced at Dan, who was looking at him as well.  Without saying anything, John drove the jeep deep into the underbrush, right up to within five feet of Harold’s car.

The three men hopped out and went to the car.  There they pulled off a number of branches that Harold had carefully placed on the vehicle.  Dan muttered, “Well, no sense in worrying about fingerprints,” as he tried the door and found it locked.

Mark shrugged his shoulders, picked up a rock, and smashed the driver’s side window.  After he reached in and opened the door, he grinned.  “A trick we learned in cop school.”

Dan laughed and helped Mark search the car.  They found nothing but the car rental contract—until Mark popped the trunk release button.  There they found more than they really wanted.  In a briefcase were pictures of Arnold and Nancy, whom they had never seen, pictures of Arnold’s two houses, and Nancy’s, a picture of the Buchanan Industries plant, with descriptions and notations on all the pictures, and a notation that Arnold would be in Sedona for the weekend drew a few conclusions for Dan and Mark.

Dan put all the items back into the briefcase.  “Well, no doubt now that his job was to eliminate both of them.  And, it appears, they were getting some pretty good information from someone.  What do you think, Mark?  Phone tap or traitor somewhere?”

“I’d bet against phone tap, but possible.”

“I agree.  Back to town, John.  And thanks for doing a good job of finding this thing.”

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