CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I shook my head and my thoughts started shooting around my brain like lightning bolts. I almost didn’t hear what Caesar said next.
He asked me to meet with him so that we could figure things out together. My thoughts coalesced, and I realized there was danger there. I wondered to myself if there was a price on my head, or if Caesar was just trying to save himself. I quickly hung up the phone and stomped on it.
Either way, I knew it was time for me to disappear.
Genie and I discussed things, made plans. She wanted to head to directly to Mexico the next day, but I told her that it was too soon, that men would be looking for me at all of the border crossings. I said that the best thing to do would be to lay low for a while, to blend in and let things cool down.
Ten weeks went by and we weren’t getting any sense of anyone snooping around our area. We’d become friendly with all of our neighbors and especially with Mr. Rathrapal, the owner of the motel, and asked them to tell us if anyone came looking for us. They’d heard nothing at all. It was time to go.
First though, I had one stop to make, although Genie wasn’t happy about it at all. She tried to convince me to let it go, but I couldn’t. I was leaving the U.S., but I wasn’t leaving without getting revenge for the theft of my money years before. That stinking cop was gonna pay.
As for the money—why would I need the two point seven million when I already had about thirty-three million? (twenty-four from the jewelry job and eight million I’d earned over the years in Florida.) And as far as the thirty-two million, where was it? Ha! Well, I’d learned some things from not only Caesar, but on the internet about how to establish I.D.’s and hide money in untraceable accounts around the world. I had figured that Caesar knew the names and accounts he’d given me at first and probably had ways to keep track of them, so I got all new I.D.’s and accounts, just in case. And, it turned out that was a good decision because now, my money was safe and no one knew where I was.
The reasoning behind my getting my money back from the dirty cop were a lot more complex. I couldn’t really explain it. Maybe it was my Russian DNA or something. I just couldn’t let it go.
So, the plan was to steal back as much of my two point seven million dollars as Detective James Raine had left, and then I was going to burn his house down.
I’d thought things through over the years, and I figured that Raine had the money hidden somewhere in his home. I had checked records on him up to the past week and found that he didn’t have any storage units or any other properties in his name or any of his family or associates names where he could hide it.
I’d also run checks over the internet for everyone who had rented a storage unit or purchased property from a month before my money was stolen up to the past week, and all of it checked out. Now, I know it’s not a good idea to assume things, but in this case, I believed I was making more of an educated guess that Raine had the money close by. I knew he wasn’t so dumb as to just start spending it, so it was hidden. Probably in a wall or floor safe. I had also learned that he’d purchased a top of the line security system shortly after he’d robbed me too, so that kind of sealed the deal for me, so to speak. You know, the funny thing was, he bought the system from my old employer, and had not updated it over the years, so I knew everything about his system, including the factory emergency code to deactivate it. I could be in and out of his house in less than ten minutes.
After finalizing things, Genie and I left Georgia and traveled up to Arkansas. When we got there, we took two days and nights to recon Raine’s house and track his movements. Usually, I would take up to a week to do this, but, I wanted to get things done quickly and get gone. Caesar knew the cop’s name and might remember that I wanted to recover my money from him and might send someone there to watch for me. Plus, I figured that Raine was probably comfortable in the knowledge that he’d gotten away with it and that he would fall into patterns and habits that were predictable.
We discovered that his home was nicer than most of those in his neighborhood. There was a two-car garage to the side, where everyone else had carports, and he had a pool and what looked like a few additions to the back of the house.
The first night Genie and I were there, he went out for dinner. We followed him, being careful not to get too close to him. He was still a police detective, and would probably notice if someone without skills tried to follow him. When he pulled into the restaurant, a nice, fairly expensive one if my memory was good, we drove past and pulled into a gas station about a half mile down the road.
We waited there for about an hour, then saw his car pull out and we followed him, he drove back home and went inside for the rest of the night. The next morning, he went into work around 7:30AM, and Genie and I drove to a diner down the street, where we ate some breakfast, then went farther down the street to a shopping center. We shopped, talked most of the day, then drove back toward the police station around 6:00PM. I had learned from calling the station that Raine worked from 8am to 6pm. Monday through Saturday, so we were going to follow him to see if he went directly home from work.
He did, so that made up my mind on what I’d be doing. I’d go in tomorrow, after he left for work.
Just to be sure of things, Genie and I watched him again that evening. Like the night before, he went out to the same restaurant and stayed an hour, then came back home. His lights turned off at around 10:00PM Genie and I left and went to a local motel I knew about that took cash and didn’t ask any questions. We slept until six in the morning, grabbed some coffee and a quick bite to eat, then drove to Raine’s neighborhood and parked down the street to wait for him to go to work. I had called the station before we left the motel to make sure Raine would be working that day and the secretary who’d answered had confirmed that he would be coming in around 7:30AM.
So, we waited. Genie and I talked quietly to each other as we watched for his car. About thirty minutes later, he pulled out of his driveway and drove in the direction of the station. Genie drove me to the front of his house and dropped me off. She then drove off to wait around the block. I would be exiting the house from the back and going through a few of Raine’s neighbors yards. I was wearing a city maintenance worker’s uniform, a utility tool belt around my waist and carrying a black nylon bag to carry the money in. In addition to all of this, I had my gun in the bag, loaded and ready to go if I encountered any trouble.
I walked up Raine’s driveway, straight and boldly to his front door. I knocked, nothing. No dogs or house guests. That was good.
I took a lock pick out of my pocket, put it into the lock and pulled the trigger on it a few times until the tumblers all lined up, then opened the door and entered the house. I walked down a short hallway toward a beeping sound and saw the alarm keyboard on the wall. I tapped in the manufacturers default numbers into it. The beeping stopped, and I walked into the living room and paused, sending out my senses to feel for anyone, any presences. Nothing.
I walked quickly around the house, opening closet doors and room doors, looking for areas that would hide a safe. I finally made it upstairs, to the master bedroom. Everything was neat and tidy. No dust on surfaces and no dirty clothes laying around. He was probably spending my money on a maid.
I looked in the room for about thirty seconds before I found the wall safe in the corner, behind a hutch. I knew the exact model of safe it was, and how to open it.
I quickly shorted it out, using some electrical wires I had with me in the bag with my other ‘safe-cracking’ tools. After the door opened, I saw what looked like most of my money there, but before I could move it from the safe to my bag, I sensed someone in the house behind me.
He must have sprinted up the stairs because when I turned to see who it was, he was already in the room. Without thinking, I grabbed the gun from my bag and leveled it at the man.
BOOM! Before I could think, it had already fired. Who was this idiot? Raine? Maybe someone that Caesar had watching the house in anticipation that I might show up? Someone that Genie and I had overlooked?
I don’t know, but whoever it was, was now lying on the floor at my feet.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself, then, looked at the safe. My money. I reached over and scooped it all into the bag. It was a good bet that a neighbor had heard the shot. Maybe the police were already on the way.
I turned again and paused as I heard the guy on the floor moan and move his arm.
I ran to the phone and punched in 9-1-1 and placed the receiver by the guy’s head and left the room. I made my way downstairs, out the back door, then through two yards until I got to a street. Genie was there waiting for me.
I could tell that she’d heard the shot from the look on her face, but she didn’t say anything. We drove out of the neighborhood and then out of the city, following the speed limit and watching for any police activity.
We made it out of the city and drove all day to the north, until we got to Cleveland, Ohio. From there, Genie and I went to a business airfield and chartered a business jet to Belize.
When we got off the plane, the weather was beautiful; about 70 degrees with a soft breeze ruffling our hair. We walked over to a car rental place near the exit and rented a car. We got something inconspicuous. Something cool, that wouldn’t draw a lot of attention….A Cadillac convertible.
In no time at all, we were driving along the coast, the top down and the wind in our hair. The ocean was on our left and the beautiful Belize countryside to our right.
Salsa music played from the radio, giving a good beat and lightening our hearts. It was a liberating sound, the promising sound of victory, and freedom.
But, all of a sudden, I could hear another sound. The sound of a faint heartbeat, starting in my ears, then kind of spreading through my body. It got louder and the Salsa music started fading away.
The next thing I knew, I was back in Raine’s bedroom. I was standing over the man I had shot. But, this time I could see his face. I leaned in closer, closer. I was so close, I could actually hear his heart beating. Finally, I saw his face clearly.
It was me.
What? Were these the final memories of mine as I died?
Nah!
The Salsa music returned. I turned to grin at Genie and she laughed. The ocean glistened as the sun lowered toward the horizon, and the rugged countryside to our right spread out. Genie’s hand joined mine and the music swelled as we drove off into the sunset.
ADIOS!