Mishaps with Dinner Read online

  "...Now, all three of you, face down on the floor, NOW!"

  Registering the perps intent, Jim gave Roberts instructions using hand signals. Together, they waited. As the two masked men stepped outside the office, Jim ordered harshly, "Freeze! Cascade PD." The two robbers, guns pointed directly in their faces, obediently froze.

  * * *

  Major Crime

  Industriously, Blair pulled up the menu and clicked on 'print.' The last of the paperwork for the Louisiana extradition was finally completed. Considering his fear for Jim's life during that trip, it felt good to know his roommate was currently involved in nothing more dangerous than a first date.

  After Tandy from the bank had turned Jim down, Blair had begun to despair that his friend would ever go out again. Thankfully, Amanda with her clean background seemed like a good choice. Blair grinned in anticipation, thinking up his questions for Jim when he returned home. With his partner acting so 'mushy' over the whole deal, it was going to be fun to bait him. Add in Steven's dented fender and he had teasing material for weeks. Standing up, he merrily walked to the printer.

  At his own desk, Rafe closed his eyes a moment. The location of the smuggling ring had to be in front of their faces, but nothing seemed to be clicking. Of course, the way his stomach was churning didn't help. He just hoped he'd be able to eat the pizza Megan was picking up for them. Food didn't sound like a good idea at the moment. Running a hand over his face, the young detective forced his mind back to the matter at hand. "It's got to be here."

  "You've been saying that for over an hour now," Brown moaned, dropping his head dramatically on the piles of paper.

  "Doesn't mean it isn't true," Rafe sniped back. He paused a moment. "What plays are playing?" Henri lifted his head to give his partner a pointed look. "You know what I mean. At the theaters."

  With a sigh, Henri sorted through the papers on his desk until he found the right one. "Okay, As You Like It is playing at the Trinity. Forever in Plaid is playing at the Grand. And The Scarlet Pimple is playing at the Burnell."

  Rafe shot his partner a look. "The Scarlet what?"

  "Pimple."

  "Pimpernel," Blair inserted, pausing at their desk as he caught part of their conversation. "The Scarlet Pimpernel is playing at the Burnell tonight."

  Rafe's face became still. "You're kidding?"

  "What's a Pimpernel?" Henri asked, puzzled.

  Blair sat on a corner of a desk as he entered teaching mode. "The Scarlet Pimpernel is a work of fiction about an English nobleman named Percy Blakeney during the French Revolution. He pretended to be a brainless fop to his wife and at court, while in secret he and his men pulled intricate rescues of French nobility scheduled to be put to death by guillotine. Kinda like a British version of Zorro or Batman."

  Rafe jumped up from his chair. "That's it, H."

  Henri looked at his partner in disbelief. "What's it?"

  "Our red flower. Percy's secret symbol was a small red flower called the scarlet pimpernel."

  "Small red flower?" Henri immediately perked up. "That's got to be it!"

  "But the play's only in town for this week," Blair pointed out, trying to catch up. "It tours all over the country."

  "Yeah, but who's going to notice one extra box among all their equipment?" Rafe pointed out.

  Henri nodded. "The production itself doesn't even have to know they have the diamonds."

  "Yeah," Rafe agreed. "And how much you want to bet their last stop was Vancouver? For that matter, how many play productions stop here after doing shows in Canada?"

  Henri stood up with his partner. "Let's grab the Captain before he leaves."

  "Wait a minute." Rafe turned to their fellow detective. "How did you know what was playing at the Burnell?"

  "That's the play Jim and his date are going to tonight."

  Rafe and Henri exchanged glances. "You know, I don't even know why we bother," Henri commented lightly. "Any time we have a big case, we should just follow Ellison and Hairboy around. One of them is bound to lead us to the perps."

  "Hey," Blair protested. "We aren't that bad." Rafe and Henri both looked at him. "Okay, but not always. Besides, Jim and Amanda should still be having dinner right now."

  * * *

  Manchini's

  After watching Doug place the would-be robbers in the back of his police car, Jim walked over to the Manchinis. Mr. Manchini was holding his wife, gently rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. They both looked up as Jim approached. "Oh Jimmy," Mrs. Manchini sighed, giving him a trembling smile. "Thank you SO much, honey."

  Jim returned the smile reassuringly. "Any time. Have to take care of Brad's mom, right?"

  Mr. Manchini held out his hand. "Thank you, Detective. I wanted to do something to stop them, but with guns on Mary and Bernard, I didn't know what to do."

  "You did the right thing, sir," Jim replied as he shook his hand. "In that situation, the best thing you can do is what the robbers ask you to. If you had resisted, someone might have been hurt." Mr. Manchini nodded at Jim's words, feeling better hearing them from a policeman.

  "Oh Jimmy, we have ruined your evening," Mrs. Manchini moaned.

  Jim barely held back a sigh. "We still have the play. If she's still talking to me, that should salvage the evening."

  "Bring her back here, anytime," Mr. Manchini insisted. "Dinner will be on me."

  "Thank you, sir." Jim gave his hand a final shake, then wandered back towards the main dining area.

  "Jim?" Looking up, Jim spotted Amanda stepping off the stairs, waving his cell phone. Unbeknownst to her, a busboy pushing his cart of dishes was just rounding the corner.

  "Look--" Jim winced as the two collided. As the two apologized to each other, he rushed forward to check on his date. "You all right?"

  Amanda rubbed her hip, lifting her eyes to him sheepishly. "I'm fine." Then she glanced down at the cart. "But I dropped your phone."

  "Here it is, ma'am." The busboy pulled it out of a champagne bucket, which was half-full of melted ice water.

  Both Jim and Amanda stared as water drained out of the device. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Jim," Amanda apologized, her eyes stricken.

  Jim gingerly took it and flipped it open. More water ran out onto his hand. He looked up and gave her a half smile. "That's okay. It's the department's phone. If it doesn't work once it dries out, I'll requisition another one."

  Amanda sighed. "If they don't reimburse you, I'll buy you a new one."

  "Don't worry about it." Jim turned it off, dried it with a towel the busboy handed him, and slipped it into his pocket. "Did dinner come while I was gone?"

  Amanda shook her head. "Apparently, the kitchen was evacuated during the burglary, so it will be a while yet." She glanced at her watch. "And we only have twenty minutes before the show."

  Now Jim sighed. Surely his bad luck this evening had to break soon. Ignoring the rumble from his stomach, he lightly suggested, "Why don't we grab a few of those bread sticks, see the show, then go out for dessert afterwards?"

  Amanda's eyes lit up. "Are there any of those really good American ice cream places around? The ice cream back home is so plain compared to yours."

  Jim returned her smile. "I know just the place. And they're open late, so we can hit them after the show." Presenting his arm again, he requested, "Shall we go?" With a smile, Amanda took his arm.

  Once along the drive, Jim gave his ticket to the valet. The young man glanced at it, then back at Jim. "Ah, sir..." Jim gave him a lighter version of the Ellison glare. It was enough to scare the kid even further. "Ah, ah, about your, your car..."

  "What about my car?" Jim could only guess what else could have happened to Steven's roadster.

  "Well, sir... it had a flat tire. Jeremy's fixing it now, but it'll be a few more minutes."

  Jim sighed. Amanda gave him a commiserating smile. "How close are we to the Burnell?"

  "About six blocks." Jim glanced down at Amanda's dainty shoes. "Would you mind walking?"

&nbs
p; Amanda gave him an infectious grin. "Of course not."

  Jim returned the smile. "Let's go."

  * * *

  Major Crime

  "Sorry, Simon." Blair hung up his desk phone. "It says it's unavailable."

  Simon scowled at his detective. "Do you think he turned it off?"

  "Well, he is off duty and on a date," Blair pointed out.

  "I didn't think Ellison was ever off duty."

  Blair gave him a smirk as he wagged his eyebrows. "Yeah, but you should see his date. I'd turn off my phone, too."

  "Your phone's off or lost half the time anyway." Simon stared at his cigar a moment. "Still, I don't like the idea that he's going to be in the same area as our possible diamond smugglers without any warning. I want you and Megan to back up Brown and Rafe on the warrant. I have a bad feeling about this."

  Blair studied the older man a moment. That sounded more like Simon-the-friend than Banks- the-Captain. "Do you think this could get dangerous?"

  Simon sighed. "We are going to have a theater full of people and possible smugglers. Yet if we don't search the premises now, we may lose Rodmore. I'd feel better if we had more than just a couple of detectives and a few patrol officers on the scene. And it would be nice if we could possibly warn Jim before everything goes down."

  "No problem," Blair replied with a shrug. He stood up to find Megan.

  "Oh, and Sandburg?"

  Blair turned back. "Yeah?"

  "Be careful out there. I don't want to share the pool with Rhonda simply because Jim decides to run me over after you get hurt."

  Blair resisted the urge to stick out his tongue.

  * * *

  The Burnell

  Although Amanda had easily matched Jim's walking stride, they were a few minutes late to the theater. By the time they reached the doors to the auditorium, the usher had closed them. "I'm sorry, but I can't seat you at this time. You will have to wait until the overture is finished."

  Amanda sighed. "At least we'll see most of it."

  Jim nodded, wondering if the fictional Percy ever had as much trouble with his double life as he did taking care of Cascade. "I'm sorry about this."

  "Not your fault someone decided to rob the restaurant," Amanda pointed out. She closed her eyes. "You know, you can hear the music from here."

  Jim closed his eyes, too. He had heard it earlier, but was never sure where normal range started and his own extended range began. Relaxing, with Amanda's vanilla fragrance under his nose, Jim let the music flow over him.

  Then other sounds intruded. "Sir, if you let us pass..." Jim's head tilted slightly, recognizing his partner's voice. What was Sandburg doing here?

  * * *

  Backstage, The Burnell

  "We have a performance under way!" The backstage manager crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You have to wait until after the final curtain."

  Henri leaned forward, waving a thick piece of paper under his nose. "Do you know what this is? This is a search warrant for the entire theater. That means we can search where ever we want to."

  The manager looked even more fierce. "You can not enter here."

  Seeing Henri's face grow angrier, Blair stepped in front of him. Matter-of-factly, he explained, "Sir, if you let us pass, we can search the basement now, and not bother anyone until after the show is done. OR, we can search under every seat in the theater while your performance is under way. Which would you prefer?"

  Grumbling, the manager stepped to the side. Blair gave him a brilliant smile. "Thank you." The four detectives, followed by a couple of patrol officers, walked through the door.

  Megan leaned closer to Blair. "Nice."

  "Thanks." Blair beamed at her. "That was straight from the Ellison 'threaten them where it hurts the most' rule book."

  Megan chuckled. "But you do it with such flair."

  "Have to. I can't scare 'em like Jim can."

  Behind them, Henri was studying his partner. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine."

  "Babe, you haven't looked this green since you ate the bad chip dip at Nelson's retirement party."

  Rafe rolled his eyes. "All right, I'm a little nauseated. Let's just find the damn diamonds and wrap up this case, so I can go home and pray to the porcelain goddess in peace."

  Henri raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should go back--"

  "After fishing your snitch out of the sewer, I want this guy." Rafe picked up the pace to catch Blair and Megan. Henri could only sigh and follow.

  * * *

  Lobby doors, The Burnell

  Jim frowned as he listened to his partner serve the search warrant. The accompanying voices of their Major Crimes colleagues didn't ease his mind. Why were they here? And what was so big that Simon would send four detectives instead of just two?

  "Jim?"

  With a shake of his head, Jim glanced down into Amanda's gray-blue eyes. "Ah, I'm going to have to make a detour. You go ahead; I'll join you in a few minutes."

  Amanda lifted an eyebrow. "I can wait."

  Jim waved his hand. "Don't worry. I'll catch up with you later." With another smile, he trotted silently down the hall and around the corner.

  Puzzled, Amanda watched him go, recognizing the same confident grin he used on her at Manchini's before chasing the robbers.

  * * *

  Basement, The Burnell

  After leaving the two officers to stand watch at the door at the top of the stairs, the four detectives trotted down the narrow passage to the large room below. Rafe couldn't believe how full the basement was. Every manner of costume and theater prop was there, tossed about in a very disorderly fashion. "We have to search for diamonds in THIS mess?"

  Henri thought a moment, then shook his head. "No, they are supposed to be packing them up for shipping tonight. You couldn't do that in here."

  Blair had picked up a fortune teller's globe from the corner. Glancing at the two older detectives, he pointed out, "You know, this is the old part of town. A lot of the original buildings were full of secret doors and passages."

  "Whatever for?" Megan asked, holding up a worn black sweater that was larger than some small tents.

  "Either hiding loot from pirating, or hiding valuables from the Native Americans." Blair gave her a wide grin. "They were also used during prohibition for speakeasies and making alcohol."

  "So where would you hide a secret room," Henri pondered.

  Rafe pushed his way through to the wall behind them and began to tap on the deep red bricks. Henri nodded and fought his way past racks of clothes to the wall on the right. As Megan picked her way left, Blair more or less followed a winding path through the props towards the rear. Tripping, he stumbled into a set of bookshelves, displacing both books and shelves. At the same time, a section of wall two feet from Rafe slid away. All the detectives' mouths dropped open as a hidden room was revealed to contain Rodmore and six partners, leaning over a table counting sparkling gems. The smugglers in turned stared at the detectives, uncertain what was going on.

  Henri was the first to break the stalemate. "Freeze! Cascade PD!" his deep voice boomed as he drew his weapon.

  One of the smugglers drew his weapon and fired as the rest of them scattered. Blocked from the stairwell, Blair instantly ducked for cover. Henri shot the perp in the arm, then flinched when a ricochet flew past his ear. The two uniformed cops raced into the room, then tackled a huge man running towards them. It took both of them to subdue him. Henri maneuvered around the clothes racks to block the rest of their suspects from making the stairs, Megan only a few steps behind him.

  Rafe, the closest to the smugglers yet unnoticed, stepped back towards the shelter of an old- fashioned trunk. Suddenly, his foot slipped on a pile of fake snow spilling out of a box. He fell hard, gun flying out of his hand as his stomach rolled in protest.

  * * *

  Auditorium, The Burnell

  In the theater, Amanda was following the usher to their seats when the sound of muffled shots echoed off
the walls. The actors on stage looked startled for a moment, then the man playing Percy piped up in his foppish British voice, "The French certainly are frisky tonight."

  The audience laughed, but Amanda wasn't so sure it was funny. She could still see Jim's smile in her mind. Then she realized that if her date had run into trouble, he no longer carried his cell phone to call for help. Yet she still had hers. Turning to the usher, she whispered, "I'm sorry, but I believe I will go on a 'detour', too." Silently, she tiptoed back up the aisle and out the back door.

  * * *

  "Damn!" Jim muttered as he clamped his hands over his ears. The shots were not so muffled for the sentinel. Jim's hearing had been wide open, the voices of Blair and their colleagues leading him toward the back of the theater. In spite of the ringing in his ears, Jim quickly shook his head. If someone was shooting, his friends were in trouble.

  Dashing ahead, Jim yanked open the basement door. Hearing sounds of struggle, he pulled his gun and cautiously slipped down the stairs. The scene that met his eyes would have been comical if it hadn't been so serious.

  Closest to him were two uniformed cops, struggling to cuff a huge bear of a man. A little further in was Brown, fighting hand-to-hand with a husky man in a Detroit Tigers jacket while trying not to get entangled with a rubber fern. Connor had managed to tackle another smuggler, preventing him from reaching the door. When the man beneath tried to buck her off, she punched him.

  Towards the center of the room, Sandburg had grabbed a wooden staff and was currently holding two smugglers at bay, whipping and spinning the staff like he'd been doing it all his life. Jim winced when the staff connected with a glass vase and smashed it to the floor. He was about to go help his partner when he spotted Rafe to the left.