A Chance Encounter Pt. 02

When I got to the lobby, I didn't see Richard. I approached the counter, showed my i.d. and informed the clerk that she should be holding a key card for me.

"Here you go, sir. If you'll sign the registration, your friends are already here."

"Thank you."

I beat it to the stairwell, and took the steps two at a time.

In the meantime, Richard had gotten to the room and knocked. Dannie opened the door, and immediately turned and walked back by the bed as instructed.

"Dannie?" Richard started as she spun away from him, then saw the valise.

"You got the papers," he said as he headed for the valise.

"I'm sorry about all..." he continued as he approached the bed.

"Fuck you!" Dannie spat out as he stopped at the foot of the bed.

Then he heard, "Hands out to the side. Don't twitch or you stop breathing," as Griff quickly closed the distance between them, shoving his pistol in his back.

"What the fuck is..."

"Shut up! Lace your fingers behind your head," Griff ordered and grabbed Richard's hands with one of his and secured them.

He quickly holstered his gun, and started to pat him down. He didn't have to go far. Richard had a small 9-mil in his waistband at the small of his back. He checked the safety, then threw the pistol on the near bed and pushed Richard towards the chair by the desk, and pulled his own pistol back out. Dannie stepped aside, and Griff spun her husband around and shoved him into the chair. Richard's hand came down reflexively to grab the arms of the chair as he fell back.

As soon as he was seated, Griff motioned for him to put his hands back behind his neck.

He complied, "Are you a cop?"

"Shut up!" He snapped in a hard, biting voice, keeping his gun pointed at Richard's center mass.

Then he nodded to Dannie, who had her cell in her hand, and she pushed a button, sending a text to me. My phone softly jingled the notice. I swiped my card, entered the room, and immediately focused on the handsome guy in the chair, nailing him with my eyes. I pulled the door closed behind me without breaking eye contact. I swiftly entered the room, stopping next to and just behind Griff.

"Okay, Dick," he called him, instead of Richard, which he flinched at, but said nothing, "you have a lot of questions, but you're not going to ask any. If this goes well, you'll get one answer that you'll like. If it doesn't, you really won't like the answer you get." Griff gave the slightest glance sideways at me.

"First, we don't give a shit about you. We're here for Dannie. It's simple. You've put her in a bad situation. You're going to rectify that. Second, she's going to start divorce proceedings against you, right here, right now. We're going to facilitate that. No, keep your mouth shut. I'll tell you when to say something."

Griff gave me another sideways glance, and put his gun away. I nodded and stepped a foot closer. Griff made a show of picking up the valise, reaching in, thumbing through the papers and pulling out three sheets, which he had already presorted.

"You can put your hands on the arms of the chair and scoot back from the desk."

I subtly leaned forward as he started to bring his hands down. He did it slowly, then scooted his chair back.

Griff spread the three sheets on the desk so Richard could see them, then stepped back.

"Okay, good. Now, here's your answer - Yes you are going to get to leave here, with your papers; like I said, we don't give a shit about you. But there is a condition: You will answer my questions and do as I say, or you my associate will beat you to death and your corpse will be sea lion food. This is where you get to say, I understand."

He faltered; his throat was dry, hoarse, but said, "I understand."

"Good. First: Explain these names and numbers."

"What?"

"Gus," Griff said to me and I swiftly stepped past him to within arm's reach of Richard.

"Wait, um, they're, they're clients and, um, contacts, and those are their phone numbers, and notes identifying their um, status...trusted, not trusted, useful, not useful, so on. It's all coded."

Griff took a hotel pen off the desk, "Break it all out for me. Don't lie."

"Yeah, it's simple," he said as he quickly scribbled.

He finished and looked up, putting the pen down. Griff studied his notations; saw how it worked and nodded to himself.

"Okay, second, explain this invoice."

Richard's eyes got kind of big. He looked at Griff then glanced at me, "That's a shipment, that um, is sitting in a warehouse. It hasn't gone out. We were renegotiating...it's a large...it's very valuable..."

"Is it stateside?" Griff asked.

"Yeah."

"Write down where it is, how to access it. Don't leave anything pertinent out."

He quickly made a couple notes. Then looked up. This wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Griff picked up the two papers, shuffled them together and set them aside, then pushed the last paper in front of Richard, whose eyes got bigger, and his mouth started twitching imperceptibly.

"Almost home free, Dick. Last thing. As part of your divorce settlement, you are going to make things right with your wife, ex-wife."

Richard was looking at Griff, trying to decipher what was coming.

Griff pointed, "That account, the one I circled, you are going to decode the numbers for me, then you are going to call and transfer the funds from that account to the numbered account I give you. Then you get to live, and we leave."

Griff still had his finger next to the circled numbers, and Richard was staring at them in disbelief.

He looked up at Griff and his lips moved, but no words came out. His eyes darted to me, then back to the paper.

"Gus," Griff said to me.

I quickly stabbed a hand forward and grabbed Richard by his shirt.

He immediately put a hand up and nodded, "Okay, okay...but that's it?"

"That's the only question you get, and yes, that's it. If you don't fuck it up, we leave and you never see us again. But understand something. No matter what happens, in the future, you will do nothing, say nothing, to anybody, that in any way ties your wife to any of the shit you have done. And you will disclose nothing about this account or about this meeting with us. It never happened. Or no matter where you are, or how far you go, you will not escape the consequences for it. You understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Get busy, break out the account info. Use your phone. When you're set, introduce me using the name written there, and put me on the phone."

Richard just nodded, and started writing numbers on the sheet, then pulled his phone out. It all took twenty minutes, but when it was done, Griff gave me a slight nod. We were good. He took the sheets from the desk folded them and put them in his pockets, picked up the valise and handed it to Richard, but his eyes followed the folded papers.

"Those were copies, Dick. All your originals are in here. We're going to leave. You're never going to see Danielle again, never contact her, never even mention her name to anyone. Stand up. You're going to wait here for ten minutes after we leave, then you can go on your merry way."

Richard cautiously stood with Griff eyeing him, apparently deciding something.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Griff asked.

"What?" he started, then quickly, "She's in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, waiting for me."

"Okay. Lucky for both of you," Griff replied, "You're under surveillance. We got them off your tail for this meet. Don't go back to your hotel or you won't be joining your girlfriend. Ditch the Mercedes and your phone. I'm pretty sure they tracked you here through one of the two. Of course, you can do as you like. We're done with you."

Griff turned to me, "Clear the ammo, wipe the pistol and leave it."

To Dannie, "You can say goodbye if you want."

Dannie got a small smile, a smirk that turned up one corner of her mouth. She walked over to Richard, right up to him, within a foot or so, face to face.

"Say hi to Margot for me, Dick!" then ripped her knee into his crotch so hard, it made me flinch. He dropped, coughing and sputtering. He was still doubled up when we left.

I emptied the cartridges from Richard's gun in my pocket, wiped the gun and tossed it on the bed, then headed to the door. I opened it, checked the hall out of habit, then held the door for Griff and Dannie. I followed Griff and Dannie to his office, dropped off the Biscayne, then we drove to his house.

V. AFTER-ACTION REPORT

Since we didn't have lunch, Elise had prepared an early dinner - homemade enchilada casseroles, two big ones, one in a hot red sauce and one in a mild green sauce. By silent agreement, we didn't discuss the events of the day until after dinner.

During dinner, Elise told us she had arranged a showing of the house she had looked at and that the elderly gentleman wanted to meet me and my fiancée.

"What," I exclaimed, simultaneously with Dannie.

"Don't have a coronary. Lisa, my broker friend, was visiting the owner, and she told him she might have a buyer, and he was very interested, so she called me and I talked to him. I just gave you a little back story, you know, longtime cop making a career change, newly engaged, looking for just the right home for his new bride - personalized the situation. The guy really wants to meet you. I think he wants to feel like he's helping you get started out here," she finished, smiling brightly.

Griff just chuckled and shook his head. After we cleared the dishes, we changed for the pool and retired to the patio for drinks. We relaxed on the chaises by the pool and Griff brought us up to speed on everything.

"Dannie, your husband, ex-husband to be - I have a lawyer friend who will help you with that, should no longer be a problem, and I'm fairly confident you are clear of the mess he's in. Time will tell. Of course, the feds will eventually be tracking you down. We'll have a sanitized version of recent events for you to relate to them. But I'm pretty comfortable you won't have any trouble.

Dannie asked, "What was all that about numbered accounts at the hotel room?"

Griff smiled and nodded, "Well, when I was first combing the documents, I knew those were certainly offshore bank accounts, and I got to thinking; everything you and your husband owned is going to be seized..."

Dannie dropped her head and shook it.

"Right, so I got to thinking - I studied the accounts and I couldn't ascertain what was in them, but as I studied them, I saw a pattern, and made an educated guess, picked one that I thought had the highest amount in it. Turns out I guessed pretty well. I took that sheet and reconstructed it, removing that account from the list. I put the doctored list back with the other papers your husband now has. At the meet, I had Richard transfer the funds from that account to a numbered account I gave him, and then had him close the account we emptied."

I gave him a questioning look.

"The account I had the funds transferred to belongs to a client whom I helped out of a complex and difficult situation. He has a very large, very profitable import/export business. Anyway, for an appropriate fee, he is allowing me to use that account to hold those funds."

"But..." Dannie started.

"It's your divorce settlement, Dannie. After fees, you will garner about 4.3 million dollars."

Dannie was in the process of swallowing a sip of her margarita, choked, spilled the ice-cold drink on her kaftan, then looked like she was going to faint. Elise beat me to her and took the glass, then helped her up from the lounger.

"Here, honey, I'll get that rinsed out right away," she said in a soothing voice as she helped her off with it. She headed into the house and I took hold of Dannie, steadying her.

"You okay?"

She nodded, and looked at Griff, still in disbelief, "Four million dollars?"

I asked, "Legalities?"

"Well, yeah, that. Here's the deal, that money, or any record of it, doesn't exist now, as far as that goes. It's kind of like lost treasure. The original owners are untraceable, undeterminable. Richard, nor his company has a legitimate claim to it. And the offshore bank has no claim. They were just holding it, and they were paid well for doing that. My client will legitimately contract with Dannie as a financial consultant or some such and disburse those funds to her, piecemeal, aboveboard. She'll pay taxes on the income, and there you are."

I shrugged, "Works for me."

Elise came back with one of Griff's long-tailed shirts for Dannie to slip on. It was a little cool to sit in just a skimpy bikini.

"Speaking of work," Griff said, "You're going to have to go back, give your resignation and take care of your house. I need you to hit the deck running here as soon as possible. I'm fighting a backlog that I need your help to get a handle on."

Elise looked at Dannie, "Alright, honey? Better? Why don't we all relax in the pool. The water is really nice. I'll mix up another batch of drinks."

Griff stood and stretched. I turned Dannie to me and looked into her eyes. She smiled feebly.

I remarked, "A lot to absorb, I guess?"

She nodded, "I'm...I haven't absorbed it yet. It isn't real yet." She turned and looked at Griff, then walked over to him and hugged him, "Thank you. Not just for that...which is crazy, unbelievable, but for everything."

"You're most welcome," he replied, patting her back.

Elise brought fresh drinks in big plastic tumblers, we shed our tops, and headed down the steps into the warm water.

EPILOGUE

At this writing, it's been six months since I stopped to help Dannie. She and I now live in 'our' new home. We haven't done anything official yet; we're taking it a day at a time, and waiting for her divorce to be finalized. It's still going to take a while with the 'in absentia' ex-husband issue. But I know we both feel like we've found our future in each other.

I've settled into my new career and though I miss my previous one, I'm honestly not missing it that much.

Dannie's ex apparently got away, though we don't know for sure that someone didn't catch up with him. The feds are still actively pursuing him.

A few weeks after our meeting with her husband, the FBI caught up to Dannie and questioned her. She told them about him suddenly leaving, getting visited by unknown persons seeking her husband, and him calling for the documents. She explained that she was very wary of the circumstances, and when she got to San Diego, she hired a private detective (Griff) to manage the meet with her husband. She informed them that we had advised her to copy her husband's documents, for her protection and in case the authorities were interested. She turned them over at the meeting. It all seemed to go well and so far, no blow back.

As I sit here on my patio, I'm overwhelmed by where I am now, who I'm with, and what I'm doing. And I wonder how different my life would be if I hadn't stopped to help a stranded motorist. Would I have made the same decision to quit my job and join Griff? What would my life be like if I had never met Dannie?

What I do know is that I'm the happiest I've ever been, and all because of a chance encounter on Interstate 40, in the high desert outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.

THE END

Of

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER