The Alibi – Chapter 7

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The Alibi – Chapter 7

 
Rhinehold wore a Boston PD visitor pass on a chain around his neck. Every time Cranston held up his badge, also on a chain around his neck, Rhinehold did the same. Every time he did, the uniforms chuckled and let him pass.

The fourth time Mary Cucello, a short, overweight, mid-forties BIS Forensics specialist, broke the seal on a vacuum sealed bag. It sighed as air rushed in. She handed Cranston the enclosed white, disposable coveralls, gloves, and booties.

Rhinehold knew there was another term but they looked like booties to him. He almost asked if the coveralls came with mittens attached to the coveralls with string.

He stood waiting. The forensic specialist glanced at his pass, snorted, and looked at Cranston who was already descending into the garage’s blast zone.

Rhinehold reached towards the forensics supply unit. “What about me?”

Short, overwieght, mid-forties Mary Cucello slapped his hand away. “Read your pass, kid.”


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The Alibi – Chapter 6

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The Alibi – Chapter 6

 
MyKayla Dillinger diverted her attention from the daily sales projections on her monitor to the exodus from Women’s Fine Apparel to Home Electronics.

All the departments on her floor were emptying to Home Electronics. She stepped out from the counter and gazed down the aisle to the crowd gathering there, all eyes on flatscreen TVs all showing the same news broadcast.

Except she could see the WBZ, WHDH, WCVB, WNAC, and NECN logos in the upper left corners of some screens.

Must be something major for all of them to descend at once.

A management message scrolled across her monitor and it beeped for an acknowledgement. Tell staff and customers to remain calm. Bomb Squads are on their way. Shut down your stations, lock your drawers, and guide everyone to the Washington St exit.

A timer appeared on the screen and ticked down: 60…59…58…57…


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The Alibi – Chapter 5

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The Alibi – Chapter 5

 
Leddy sat across from Penny Lane in the Boston Public Library’s Johnson Building. Leddy always thought they’d look like those tower salt&pepper shakers if Penny could get on her shoulders. Leddy, stocky and dark like her father, Penny thin and fair like her father if he didn’t get to his Bermuda home for a weekend.

Out the window she watched firetrucks and ambulance race towards AirCon until people crowded around her and blocked the view. She switched her tablet from screen to dVids, a gift from Penny’s father, and guided her drone with a specialized pen she designed inside MIT’s Media Lab as part of the Future Entrepreneurs Club. She couldn’t stop actionable ideas from coming to her. Her advisors wondered if she were adopted. Grad students and professors attempted to copy her designs. Penny’s father, Briggs Lane, Senior Partner at Fish, Cuomo, and Greenberg, told Penny to keep an eye on her and bring any things she came up with to him.

Briggs had Penny and Leddy to lunch at least once a week and probed Leddy about anything Penny brought to his attention, but gently, conversationally, so she wouldn’t know.

Leddy thought him a playable fool. He could get his hands on tech even her Media Lab buds knew nothing about and Leddy always let him think something profitable would come of it.

But gently, conversationally, so he wouldn’t know.

She tapped Penny’s tablet. “People will see what’s on your screen.”


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The Alibi – Chapter 4

The Alibi is presenting me with several learning opportunities. I wrote about what I’m learning about Toing and Froing in Parts 1, 2 and 3. I previously learned about plotting and today it’s reinforcing “Less is More,” something I learned (obviously not well enough) when writing Search and The Shaman(I’ll no doubt write about it later when I’ve learned enough worth sharing), and kind of a specific part of Toing and Froing.

As they say in German Rast ich, so rost ich.

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The Alibi – Chapter 4

 
BRIC and HSU – Boston Regional Intelligence Center and the BPD’s Home Security Unit respectively – broadcast a Red-Level alert to every federal, state, and municipal law enforcement and governance group within the 128 beltway. The T stopped in its tracks, literally. Logan, North and South Station, and all bus depots went into lockdown. MassDOT blocked all roads south of the Charles to 203 north of Mattapan and west to 9 in Brookline east and south. Other alerts went statewide, throughout New England, the northeast to Ohio, south to Virginia, and north to Atlantic Canada. Governor Hanson ordered the National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters to patrol the streets.

Cranston’s cell flashed Leddy’s “U OK?”

“K U?”

Marete pointed at the room’s bigscreen. “Somebody’s streaming this as soon as we get the call?”

Cranston’s gaze went from his cell to the bigscreen. Leddy flashed “R U Cing this? Sold 2 NTWRKS!” His fingers clenched and his eyes closed. “That’s Leddy.”

Marete turned to Cranston. “Maybe UAS should hire her. She got there faster than our own drones did. Tell her we’ll want that video. And anything else she got.”

His boxer’s thumbs fudged a reply. “I’m on it.”

Leddy TXTed back “$$$$$?”

He tapped Leddy’s image and put the phone to his ear. “Keep filming and send it to me. And anything your friends pick up, too.” He listened. “Who? Tell her she’ll be arrested if she doesn’t.”

Marete kept his eyes on the bigscreen. “That’s AirCon headquarters. And whatever happened it looks tactical.” His deskphone rang. A moment later he came out of his office. “Bill, the big boss says your frontman on this because you already have a history with AirCon and Dunn.”

“That’s a homicide, not a bombing.”

“I said frontman, not lead. You don’t have the background to lead this. You do have the contacts and experience to front it so nobody bothers the lead.”

“Who’s lead?”

“FBI, DHS, MSP and BPD are fighting over that now. And I’m sure AirCon’s people are stomping all over everything with news crews close behind.” Marete pointed at Rhinehold. “Take Tonto with you.”


Read The Alibi – Chapter 5.

The Alibi – Chapter 3

The Alibi is presenting me with several learning opportunities. I wrote about what I’m learning about Toing and Froing in Parts 1, 2 and 3. I previously learned about plotting then came “Less is More,” something I learned (obviously not well enough) when writing Search and The Shaman(I’ll no doubt write about it later when I’ve learned enough worth sharing), and kind of a specific part of Toing and Froing, and today it’s “if you’re not sure, remove it” dealing with revision

As they say in German Rast ich, so rost ich.

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The Alibi – Chapter 3

 
Cisily Throne lay on her stomach on a white and black checkerboard beach towel. The Lady Eglesia‘s Volvo Penta IPS occasionally thrummed gently when Throne’s seventy-five foot power sail’s thrusters adjusted its position over its Boston Harbor anchorage. The low vibration transported Throne back home, to one or two elders clapping, others singing, and the didgeridoo.

She missed being washed in the didgeridoo’s sound, of feeling the Old Ones take semi-human shape and walk into camp.

But that was thirty-five years and half a world away.

Today she let the sun warm her back and stretched out until her fingertips and toes touched the Lady Eglesia‘s forecastle deck’s treated wood. Her left hand touched her mobile and she shoved it so hard it skidded to the fore-railing before banging to a stop.

She seldom took time off and when she did, it was understood – Nobody bothers the Big Dog.

Cisily let the sun warm her back and chuckled.

The Lady Eglesia served as her vacation while at work. A short dinghy ride from dock to boat, a stripping of her work clothes, and she could close her eyes and be back home protected by the brilliant magenta shield of Hamersley Range swimming in pools of still, clear water, listening to the birdcalls of tiny white corella and pink galahs as they flew overhead. At night she would power out into deep water where the city lights grew dim. She’d shut down the Eglesia‘s running lights, lie on her back and watch the stars, so different from her northern Australia home, and remember the stories of her Banyjima, Yinhawangka, and Kurrama ancestors.

A passing launch tooted its horn. Throne rolled sideways on the towel and waved. Boys lined the lauch’s deck and applauded. She smiled, shook her head and lay back down. Both men and women still appreciated her late forties body. Long legged, full hipped, narrow waisted, and with just enough breast to keep a partner satisfied without getting in the way. Her skin glistened without needing oils or balms or ointments, she was the best match of her biracial birth. Growing up she was desired and hated, a dark skinned lubra in a white goddess’s body, assumed the child of rape and none knowing her black father and white mother cherished her and each other, she used all that she was wisely.

And today and for the past ten years she was Chief of AirCon security. When BHP Billington’s people came to the States to evaluate AirCon’s electronic frontier solutions, they brought Cisily with them to keep them safe. AirCon CEO Leo Dunn admired her and what her Billington employers said about her.

Would she like a new job here in the States?

Sure and here are my terms.

His smile grew wide and he laughed. “You’re not one to be fucked with, are you, Ms. Throne.”

A smile creased her lips but she kept her eyes on the AirCon CEO’s. “Depends on who’s doing the fucking, doesn’t it, Mr. Dunn?”

Her mobile alarmed.

She raised her head and saw a cloud of gray smoke climb AirCon’s thirty story Innovation Square headquarters like some Wind Spirit King Kong with swirls of denser smoke pulling and pushing like the great ape’s arms and legs.


Read The Alibi – Chapter 4.