IMBERADO

                                                    Chapter VI

A few days later Travis was just hanging up his mobile phone and walking down stairs to his office when he heard Andy singing in the bedroom; it was Saturday and she was home;

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I want to take ya

Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama

Key Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go, down to Kokomo…

Andy probably would never cut a record deal, but Travis loved the sound of her voice and the enthusiasm with which she was singing the latest Beach Boys song. He almost turned around to go to the bedroom himself but kept going down the stairs, he needed to see if there were any replies from NDN Will or Bulldog. The phone call had been Helen, she said she had found a few Donna’s during the time Sargent Davis was stationed at Camp Pendleton, but was stalled so far on how to determine which one might have been the one Donna Chavez mentioned. Helen also asked if he and Andy were going to be home this evening and since they were, asked if they would like some company. Travis had told her they would love seeing her and she had replied it would be her and Levi. He had told her that was even better. As soon as he checked his emails for replies, he would tell Andy they were having company over for dinner. She would be pleased with anticipation. They hadn’t heard from Levi since Andy chewed him out several days ago now.

Once there and at his computer, Travis logged into FIDONET. When it came up he saw another rather cryptic reply from Bulldog1369; When some dogs learn new tricks, they can never be the same puppy you knew before and if they bite their master, they run off and join a different pack or they just go rabid Lobo before they get put down. You can never trust what the Lobo’s will do after that.

Travis was still mulling this over when he stopped at the bedroom door upstairs. There was Andy, her back to him in a pair of workout tights; knee high leggings and one of his over-sized t-shirts, dancing as she hummed to the latest Randy Travis song “Honkytonk Moon” while she attempted to dust the dresser. He quietly walked up behind her, and spun her around facing him; she was a little shocked but fell right in when he started to dance with her, she was beaming with happiness at the spontaneous surprise. When the song ended, they kissed each other deeply.

He told her about the call from Helen and that she and Levi would be coming by for dinner tonight.

“Ewhhh, that sounds delicious. I wonder what they want to tell us?” she giggled just before kissing Travis again.

“I’m not sure, but I know what would be delicious right now.”

“Oh, you do, huh. And me all sweaty from house work.”

“So, we’ll both be just as sweaty afterwards.”

“Oh my, my. Whatever am I going to do with you?”

“Up for suggestions?”

“No I have my own ideas right now.” She got out, just before Travis pulled her in close and began kissing her again, this time with much more fervor.

At six-thirty Levi’s Dodge Ram slid to a stop on the gravel driveway in front of the house. Andy and Travis had turned around in the kitchen as Levi and Helen walked in through the front door, Helen first with Levi’s hand touching the small of her back. Once inside they were both beaming smiles at Andy and Travis.

“I am so glad you two came over tonight.” Andy said as she walked to give Helen a friendly hug.

“Me, too.” Travis added hugging Helen and clasping hands with his long-time friend Levi.

“Always, I’ll go back to the car and bring in some liquid libations we brought.”

“Yay that must mean vino and beer.” Andy said with a chuckle. “Come on back to the kitchen with me Helen. I’m sure the boys can handle that.”

“You bet, we can catch up while they man-talk.”

Travis had been cooking Kielbasa and kraut on the grill while Andy made mashed potatoes in the kitchen which were about done. Travis had picked the menu for the night, it was one of Levi’s favorites. Helen and Andy had chatted and laughed quickly while setting the table on the deck while the guys were fetching in the drinks from Levi’s car.

With the table set, white zinfandel uncorked, beer on the table, food done and served, everyone sat done to enjoy a friendly meal. Travis looked at Levi and asked,“So what have you been up to, compadre; I haven’t heard from you in a few days?”

“Well, after I left here the last time, when Andy made me realize I was being a fool, and I was. I called Helen right when I got home and we set a dinner date for the next evening; and I’ve kinda been busy since then. Sorry I haven’t called sooner.”

“What he means to say is, once we talked that night, and finally both expressed our frustrations, true inner feelings and where we really wanted to be. Well, we have been trying to squeeze over a decade of missed time in even less days and nights.”

“Ahh, come on, you don’t have to tell them everything in the first few minutes, Sweetheart. You make it sound like we’ve been acting like a couple of rabbits.”

Helen just looked at Levi and raised her eyebrow with a playful smirk on her face. Travis and Andy muffled quite laughter.

“Okay, Helen is right, but I was so stunned that she actually wanted to be with me, as anything other than a friend, that I just lost all control. I wanted to spend every minute I wasn’t physically at work with her, and thank God and Greyhound, she wanted the same thing.”

“I’m just tickled pink that everything is working out for you two. You guys deserve to be happy together.”

“Thanks Andy, I couldn’t be happier finally, with this old ex-grunt.”

All four continued eating the Kielbasa and Kraut, Levi especially as he was on his second serving already. But a little later the topic of conversation moved onto the case.

“I have been searching records from the years Davis was stationed at Pendleton, Travis. Pendleton is a huge Marine facility and only having a first name to go on has been difficult, to say the least. But I think today I got over the first gauntlet. There are quite a number of them. Tomorrow I’m going to go through them and cull out ones that were married (I sure hope she wasn’t a cheater), then I plan to whittle it down more by those whose age was let’s say ten or so more than his. What do you think?”

“Sounds like a plan to me, thanks for the help, Helen.” After getting a sip of beer, Travis told everyone about the last cryptic reply from Bulldog1369.

“Crap, does he always have to make it a riddle to be solved?”

“He’s a hacker, Helen, he is never going to say anything that could openly look suspicious. Just in case anyone is trolling around for definite words. But I get his gist. I think. At some time Davis went off the reservation, who knows why, and started doing things on his own agenda. Could be for money, could be for some kind of revenge, or it could be he just wanted out and knew the Agency wouldn’t agree. But I take it Bulldog believes we might not be the only ones trying to find him, and if this killing is not the only freelance thing he’s done, then they won’t want any notoriety attached to him that links back to them.”

“Okay, I get that. So, we need to play the game very discretely, leaving no tracks back to any of us?”

“This is no game Sweetheart, I know you know that.” After saying this Levi turned his attention from Helen to Travis and continued. “I told Helen this morning, I heard from that old friend who works with ex-Marine groups. He talked to a guy who remembered him from Forced Recon training years ago, said he was a natural. Tough as nails, smart and I mean real smart, and most of all a dead shot. We’re talking sniper quality, match shooting nationals category. Hadn’t heard much about him after he got stationed away from Pendleton though. Said he was kind of a loner at the time, except for some blonde WM. Said he couldn’t forget her either. Not that she was drop dead gorgeous, but tall, at least six feet and they spent a lot of time together; a lot of it at the range in their off hours, tearing up targets with tight group hits for hours. Oh, and the guy said he had a tattoo on his left chest, an eagle with its wings back and talons gripping his nipple. Said you wouldn’t know it was there unless Davis had his shirt off.”

“Did he happen to remember anything else about the woman?”

“My pal didn’t push it, told the guy he was trying to get a group of old Recon guys together for a stress support group.”

“I didn’t bring it up earlier, so Levi could, but I’m adding that info into my next culling search, I just hope Davis wasn’t playing the field too much and that the tall blonde is this Donna.”

“What I got from his old principle and his aunt, I’d wager he played it close. One gal at a time. It sounded like he didn’t care for his mother’s free-wheeling ways too much.”

The rest of the evening was more cordial. Travis asked if they wanted to spend the night instead of the long drive back, Levi laughed as he answered “Sure would, I had Helen pack an overnighter, just in case.” At this all four broke out in laughter.

While Travis and Levi cleaned the grill and took out the garbage, the girls talked in the kitchen while they did the dishes.

“Helen I have a question for you, away from the boys.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Well, since Travis and I got engaged I have been thinking. We haven’t picked a date yet, and we’re not specifically in a hurry. But I would really like it if you would consider being my Maid of Honor, when the time comes.”

“Andy, I would be so honored to do that, yeah. But, I supposed you would have a friend you knew longer that you would want to stand up with you?”

“No, I mean yeah, I have known some other girls longer. But, I’d really like it if it was Travis, Levi, you and I standing there that day.”

“Well then girl, it’s your day and I will be right there for you. Thanks.”

Both women were still hugging when Travis and Levi came in through the slider.

“So, what did we miss?”

“Nothing, just girl stuff.”

At that both women turned and hugged their guys. A little while later everyone retired for the night. The next morning the girls made breakfast around nine and the guys cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Later the four took a long walk in the woods around the property finally stopping on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River for long minutes. When they got back to the house Levi and Helen thanked Travis and Andy but said they needed to get headed back. Laundry and dull stuff like that needed to be done before they went to work on Monday morning.

After they left, Travis and Andy spent the day lounging around just enjoying each other’s company.

It was two-fifteen Tuesday afternoon when Travis’s Motorola rang. When he answered it he heard Danny Markel’s voice.

“You were right, old son.”

“How so?”

“Had the ME go back and take a closer look. He found a small puncture mark he had missed. That gave him a reason to look closer at his heart. He now says, it looks like someone gave our principle a big injection of an air bubble and when that reached his heart, wham bam, you get what looks like a simple heart attack.”

“Not so simple, and if you didn’t have a reason to look for it, our boy gets away with murder.”

“You’re still sure it’s him?”

“Just as sure as I am that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning. But if you can try to keep that quiet for a while yet. You can see this guy is dangerous, play it up low key as a suspicious death only for now, maybe with a possible drugs connection.”

“That’ll work for a little while. But I hope you can connect the dots before anyone else cashes in their chips and hopefully not in Texas.”

“Me too, Danny, thanks for the help.”

“Any time buddy, and any time you want to move back to the Lone Star State, you just let me know and I’ll have a real job waiting on you.”

“Don’t go holding your breath now. Ya hear?”

“Bye now”

“You too”

After hanging up the phone Travis decided it was probably time to talk to Sheriff Dexter again. So he locked the house after leaving Andy a note, got in the Land Rover and headed for Leesburg.  When he pulled into the county parking lot he saw Julie Dinsmore leaning against her car talking to coroner James Hardy.

“Hi, Mr. Cody.”

“Hi, Julie and you too, James. What are you two doing on such a nice day?”

“Not much, just deciding where we’re going to have dinner tonight. You here to see the Sheriff?”

“I sure am, is he in his office?”

“He is, go on up when you get inside, it will be okay.”

“Thanks Julie. So when are you two going to make this thing permanent?”

“Soon now, we’re negotiating the date tonight.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. I know James better than that, you’ll decide and he’ll say okay Sweetie.”

“Well, that’s a negotiation ain’t it?”

 Travis went inside and upstairs to Sheriff Dexter’s office. While they were catching up and sharing information, Travis answered his mobile phone.

“Travis Cody, can I help you?”

“I found her Travis. Davis’s girlfriend from Pendleton.”

“That was quick.”

“Well that new information we talked about helped out a lot. Her name is Donna Gustafson and she was a Crypto technician back then, but she moved into computer programming. She lives and works in Manchester, New Hampshire for Digital Computers.” Helen was talking softly, so Travis knew she was still at work. “That’s not all. She never married, but get this, she has a daughter born in nineteen eighty-one named Maria Antonia Gustafson.”

“Now, you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that connection.”

“Nope, I thought you would want to know straight away. I’ll call when I get anything else.”

“Thanks, Helen. Don’t do anything to get a bead on you. I’m with Dexter right now and I’ll fill him in too.”

“That’s great. Tell him I said hi, and make sure that grunt of mine is okay.”

“Consider it done. Talk to you later, be safe.”

“Ten four.”

As soon as he hung up, he filled Dexter in on the new information. Dexter had an idea how he could pursue a little more now, without it looking like Donna Gustafson was being investigated and told Travis he would call if and when it bore fruit.

“Hey, why don’t you and Andy come over to the house tonight for dinner? Maybe I’ll hear something by then. If not, well we can just spend a couple of hours together, anyway.”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll talk to Andy when she gets home. You know she’s gonna say yes, so how about six-thirty.”

“Good, I’ll see you both then. Now get out of here, I have work to do.”

“See you later, Sheriff.”

“Yeah, later.” Dexter said, he was already dialing a number on his desk phone. So Travis closed the Sheriff’s office door as he left.

Back home Travis went straight to his office and logged onto FIDONET.