IMBERADO

                                                    Chapter IX

Travis had been an early riser his whole life, from his early childhood in Arizona with his family until now. A fact that occasionally gave Andy some disappointment, when Travis would wake up as the first rays of light split the dark of night. As she enjoyed sleeping in on weekends and having a more leisurely start to her day. He could also sleep the night through regardless of background noises, which would keep most people restless. This trait he acquired while serving in Viet Nam, if you couldn’t sleep while a Battery of 105’s were firing missions all night long, you didn’t sleep. But the odd thing was a single noise unexpected during that same night would bring him upright and wide awake, fully cognizant of his surroundings, also a holdover from his days in a combat zone. Andy had first encountered these traits the past New Year’s Eve when they had taken a trip to New York City, so Andy could watch the ball drop in Time’s Square and spend a couple of nights in the Waldorf Astoria across from Central Park. She had never stayed in a world renowned hotel. Travis told her she would be disappointed because the rooms there were so old and cramped with antique furniture, that any Hilton or other major modern chain hotel were more comfortable, but he booked their rooms there so she could experience it for herself, by the first morning she agreed with him, but was glad he had booked the room there anyway. Travis had slept through the entire night, even with all the traffic noises on the streets below, which all New Yorkers were accustomed to as just how the city was, and had become nothing more than background static.

Friday morning Travis was awake and drinking the coffee he had gotten downstairs in the hotel lobby, when Levi knocked on their adjoining door. “Come on in, Levi. I’m up and awake.”

“I knew you would, did you get a cup of Joe for me?” Levi asked as he came through the door, also fully dressed and ready for the day.

“Yep, sitting there on the dresser, with cream and sugar, the way you always drink it.”

“Cool, I won’t ask how you slept. I know that answer already.”

“How about you?”

“You know that answer too, like a log.”

“We are, at times, two peas.”

“Yep, so what’s our plan for today?”

“I’ve been sitting here mulling that over. It’s too early yet to get into anything on the case, so how about we head on downstairs to the hotel restaurant, after we finish our coffee, and grab some breakfast. We can make a plan while we eat and by then it’ll be closer to a time we could actually get started.”

“Sounds good to me, I’m always up for breakfast.”

Half an hour later, they sitting were at their table and the waitress had walked away after bringing their orders. While talking about the possibilities, Travis proposed a rather risky option. Since they now knew what Donna and Maria Gustafson looked like and where she might be dropping her daughter off at school, plus at least a likely time frame she should be away from her home? The area around the school had a better location for a short stake out. Once Maria was in school, then Donna should be heading for work for a normal day. That would be their best opportunity to check out her house, even if they couldn’t get inside, they could get a better look around it up close and personal. Levi agreed, he sure didn’t want to get pinched for breaking and entering, but right now that would be their best shot at close investigation of Donna’s house.

A short time later both men were sitting in the Rover within sight of the student drop-off area of Mount Saint Mary Academy. Just as cars and buses were beginning to unload students for a day of classes. They even noticed when Marie Stephens arrived for the day and walked into the school. Shortly after Marie a car stopped, and Maria Gustafson got out, grabbing her book bag and waving goodbye to the driver of the car, a grey Chevy Blazer.

As the Blazer pulled away from the curb, Travis and Levi followed at a discreet distance, just keeping the car in-sight. After following the Blazer for forty-five minutes, it turned into a parking lot for Digital Computers. Now they felt they knew the car Donna Gustafson drove. Travis drove on past the parking lot and kept going. Levi checked out the map they had and gave Travis directions to head back toward Donna’s house. By the time they were close it was almost nine a.m., most working people would be at work by now. Travis parked the Land Rover in the parking lot at Derryfield park again, they would walk back in the direction of Donna Gustafson’s house.

Travis opened the left passenger’s door and retrieved a notebook and camera from his bag sitting in the seat. Levi was doing the same as Travis hung the camera around his neck.

“I hope this works, these ID badges you made might not fool anyone, if they look too close.”

“Well, we’re not posing as police officers or government officials, so my hope is they won’t be that curious. We’re just a couple of guy’s working for a consultant, who is doing a survey of this area of the city. We’re not trying to enter anyone’s homes, we’re just taking notes and photos of houses on this street and the streets’ condition.”

“Yeah, I know, but we both know how some people can get when strangers are walking around their block doing just that. I just hope most of them are gone to work by now and only a few are left at home to see us.”

“You and me too, Levi. Let’s get started.”

Both men started their walk down the street from a block and half east of Donna’s house. They walked slowly and together, stopping and making notes in front of each house, Levi would take two or three photos as they talked and at every third house he would step just off the curb and shoot a photo in both directions of the street itself. When they would come to a house with an alley between the houses they would walk up it and take a few added photos. This they were doing because they had noted an alley next to Donna’s house yesterday when they drove by.

At the first house past the cross street on the block Donna lived, their first encounter with a resident occurred. The woman who came out onto her porch was elderly, and still in her house dress holding a cup of coffee

“Hey, can I ask what you two are doing? I’ve been watching you from my window, as you walk down the street taking pictures and writing in that notebook.”

“Good morning, mam. You sure can, we’re making a survey. My name is Levi, and this is my partner Travis. We’re glad to meet you. You’re the first resident we’ve seen this morning.”

“Most decent people are at work by now, Mr. Levi. What kind of survey, you don’t have any equipment that I can see?”

“No ma’am, it’s not that kind of survey. It’s called demographics. The company we work for was hired by the city to conduct it. It’s more about how many people live in the neighborhood, use the streets and what condition the streets are in.”

“Oh, doesn’t mean those fools at City Hall are going to raise my taxes, does it?”

“I wouldn’t know that, ma’am. We just collect the information with photos and turn it in to the company office. They do the calculations and write the report to the city.”

“Hmm, leg work, and my name is Doris, Doris Smithfield. No need to keep calling me Ma’am. I’ll bet those fools use it to try and raise our taxes, as if they aren’t high enough already.”

“Like I said, we don’t know anything about that. Well, good morning again Mrs. Smithfield. We’ll get back to work.”

“Alright, young fella. I’ll call down to Harriet and let her know who you two are. She lives two blocks down the street, on the opposite side. She’s the next one who would be at home this time of day. She’s nosier than me, so beware. I’m sure she’ll ask you the same questions.” With that said she turned and walked back into her house.

After Travis and Levi walked away they commented to each other on their good luck. Doris had given them just the kind of information they needed, and without even asking for it. Now they could at least surmise, that no one would be at home in the houses closest to Donna’s house or across the street. With the alley next to her house, they could get a closer look. They continued their walk just as slowly as if with real purpose.

Once at house number 260 they took the same photos and notes, but this time with real information. When they turned up the alley though, Travis spoke in a hushed tone. “You keep to our routine, there’s a gate at the back yard and I’m going to slip inside it for a while. If I’m not back before you pass back by, keep on going. I’ll catch up soon as I can.”

“Be very careful Travis, I don’t want either of us to get pinched for B and E. And try to catch up before I get to that Harriet’s house.”

“Roger that. Just walk a little slower, old friend.”

Travis opened the surprisingly unlocked gate quietly, and slipped inside the back yard. While Levi kept walking, slower now, but still taking notes and photos when he stopped occasionally. Just as Levi was reaching next intersection, Travis came up beside him, to Levi’s side nearest the houses.

“Anything interesting back there?”

“Maybe, let’s keep this up and we’ll talk more when we get away from here. Say maybe when it would look right for us to be going to lunch.”

“Yeah, I’ll be ready for that. We don’t spend this much time walking around anymore.”

“Ah, you don’t mean my old buddy is getting tired already, do yah?”

“Don’t start with me, Travis. I could use a drink and some food already. And just to be clear, I don’t mean coffee.”

“I hear you Levi, we’ll find a bar and grill for lunch.”

Doris had been right, the only other person they saw was Harriet, and she asked all the same questions plus a few more. None though, as if she thought, he and Levi were anything other than what they said they were. Another hour later, Levi and Travis were walking past Doris’s house, and shortly after that they were getting into the Land Rover, back at Derryfield Park.

By noon they were in the Chilis, near the Mall of New Hampshire on Willow Street, having beers and waiting on burgers with fries. While the waitress was gone, Travis relayed to Levi that the house was pretty much as they thought. It was a small two-bedroom bungalow with a fireplace and a basement. He had seen no special security measures, cameras, or enhanced locks on windows or doors. The yard appeared to be well kept; there was a swing-set and wading pool for her daughter in the backyard. Travis thought it would be an easy place to break into if they had more time, when they knew Donna would be gone.

“The one thing I did get into was the phone company connection box, on the outside of the house.”

“So, did that give us anything to look into?”

“Yeah, two things actually. First, she has two phone lines, not just one we would think. I’ll bet you a dollar against a hole in a donut, the second one is for a computer hook-up. Secondly, who ever the installer was, he tagged the lines with the last four digits of the phone number, instead of line one and line two.” As Travis said this, the waitress brought their orders and then left again.

“Now, that could save us some time. What are you going to do next?” after asking the question, Levi took a bite of his Cheeseburger and picked up a french-fry.

“If I had a computer, I would send a message to NDN Will. I am pretty sure he could turn one of those numbers into an IP address for that computer. If we had that, he or I one, could track down at least some of her activity on it.”

“A hacker can do that?”

“A good one can, at the very least we could see what other IP addresses she connects with on a regular basis. One of them might be a link to Davis.”

“Okay, but you only have the last four digits. The area code is easy to guess at, there’s probally only one for Manchester. But what about the exchange three digits?”

“Well, we’ll check that against the information we got from Dexter’s contact.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Let’s finish our lunch and head back to the hotel. We can mull things over from there.”

Once they were back in Travis’s hotel room together, Travis played phone tag with Sheriff Dexter. Finally, on the last call, Travis was sure of the phone numbers. Then Levi made a call to Billy Ray.

“I hope you’re up for dinner with Billy Ray and Marie tonight?”

“Sure, sounds good to me, why?”

“Billy said, George is taking a computer language course at UNH, maybe he can get us to a computer you can use.”

“Good Idea. Let’s hope so.”

They all met at Alberto’s Italian Restaurant on Antrium Road at seven PM. During dinner George said he could get Travis to a computer at the computer lab if he wanted to. He had a friend who worked in the lab on Saturdays when students ran their programs for glitches. He was sure his friend would let Travis send a couple messages out while no one was around using it.

The next day at nine AM they met George there. George’s friend was glad for the company, and he thought it was cool, to be helping out a private detective, like ones he saw in the movies. He took Travis to the CPU he could use. Travis signed into FIDONET and put in the message to NDN Will. Levi watched Travis writing the message while George and his friend talked to one side. When Travis was done and had hit the send button, he wrote another one to himself at his AOL account, this message was actually for Andy. When Travis was done with both messages he signed off the computer and turned around in the chair.

“That message didn’t make much sense to me, are you sure your contact will understand what you’re asking?”

“Yes, I’m sure he will, Levi. I intended for it to look that way. I asked him to look up both phone numbers and see if either of them has an IP address, then I can do some work on my own on that one. I also asked him to call me on my mobile, if he would, we’ve never talked directly and he might not do it. But he can at least send me a message in FIDONET. Then I sent Andy a message to my regular email, so she can be watching for a message from him on FIDONET, just in case.”

“Okay but I didn’t see any phone numbers in the first one to your contact, that’s why I asked?”

“Good, you’re not supposed to see them easily. I put words in for Eye Pea and the words for the numbers too. That way it doesn’t look like phone numbers. Then I did the same for my mobile number except I asked that in Indian slang he would get, but maybe not anyone else, just in case our communication got intercepted.”

“I hope he calls. That would be faster for us.”

“I agree, it would, but hackers are a different breed. They’re very skeptical and don’t want themselves known usually, to anyone.”

At this point George’s friend interrupted the conversation.”Mr. Cody, we need to get out of here before my supervisor comes back. I’ll help you more later on, if I can.”

“That’s okay, you’ve done plenty. Thank you for letting us in to use the computer.”

Travis, Levi and George left the computer lab quickly. George told his friend he would see him on Monday morning, before classes. And would treat him to beers Monday night at some hangout Travis hadn’t heard of. Outside George left in his dad’s car, while Travis and Levi left the campus in the Land Rover. It was noon now so they drove back to Chili’s for Burgers and beer.

By three pm they were sitting in the Digital Computer building parking lot. They had been musing over what their next best plan should be. There were a few cars in the lot besides theirs and Levi thought he might be able to go inside to snoop around, maybe ask some innocent questions, if he just had a ruse to be there. But they decided not to risk it, it wasn’t worth the possibility of Donna Gustafson finding out that anyone was asking questions, not yet anyway. Driving by her house again was pointless, as well. They had been on her street three times already, any more might be noticed by a neighbor and come up in backyard fence chatter. So they drove back to the Radisson and went up their rooms. Once inside they opened the adjoining door between their rooms. Levi stretched out on the sofa in his room and quickly fell off into a power nap.

Travis called Andy on his mobile. She had seen the message on AOL, but there hadn’t been one come in yet on FIDONET. She was going over to her dad’s for dinner and said she would relay to him where things stood so far in New Hampshire. They also talked about a date for a wedding, Andy wanted it to be during the spring and Travis told her that sounded great, so they at least now had it narrowed down to the middle of April, in just a few months. Andy was ecstatic, and her being so made Travis smile. She would also go over that with Sheriff Dexter. A few I love you’s and missing you’s later they hung up. After that Travis also stretched out on his sofa, a warm glow in his heart.

Then Travis’s mobile rang and he picked it up. “Cody.”

“There was another named Cody, many generations ago. He had long white hair and was a noted white buffalo hunter turned showman and braggart. I had thought Imberado was Tsiltaden.”

“He is, and proud of his heart and that blood, that is in part of that clan of the Chiricahua from many generations back, as far back as the stories are told. But I am also Blanco, of men the Tsiltaden called brother and friend. May I assume I am talking with NDN Will?”

“You can be sure you are talking to one who is Tsitsitas, who’s grandfathers and uncles were once of the dog soldier society. We were the last to surrender to the blue coats, of all our kind. But yes, also you know me as NDN Will. You take risks Imberado, I think for the greater good, that is why I decided to sing with you through the winds of the air.”

“It is my honor to finally speak with you, you have aided me much before and still, you have my deepest thanks.”

“Thanks between such as us are unneeded, but appreciated. There may come a day when I need such aid from you. I have tracked your coyote numbers and found one is tied to a computer, while the other is not. I also dug deeper through the electronic maze shrouding it and found those numbers in kind, that this one was in contact with in recent times. One of those numbers surprised me briefly, because it was one I knew well already.”

“Your saying that one of the numbers that the coyotes bitch contacts, is one you have had contact with also?”

“You catch on well, yes one is a number I contact, and one that contacts me as well. You also know this number, even better than I.”

“Wait, I think I understand now. The number you are talking about is mine.”

“Yes, brother it is yours and I have looked at the dates of the conversations, some are on the same dates that you have contacted me.”

“The same dates that I messaged you?”

“Yes and others on different days as well. But you have not contacted that number in several days now. Does this help in knowing who this one is in true life.”

“It does my friend. Within the system we usually talk, they are known as Bulldog 1369. Now I understand why that one has tried to warn me away from tracking down the coyote. Bulldog 1369 is actually the coyotes female.”

“Be careful Imberado, a coyote female can be even more dangerous than the male.”

“Except this one does not know that I now know who and where she is.”

“So you have found her, but not him as yet?”

“I have. I have seen her, been to her den; her work and know where her young one schools. I will see her again where she fakes worship, tomorrow.”

“Track carefully, they are most dangerous when they feel their young are threatened, or their prey warned.”

“Agreed, but this one does not know yet that I am so close, she knows my wire name, hopefully not my real life one. I will take greater care now. Thank you so much NDN Will, your help has been far more than I had hoped.”