WfW ~ 10 May ...

 I'm writing as part of my commitment to the American Cancer Society to write for 30 minutes a day in May.

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I am also writing with Words for Wednesday, which can be found here.

 "Jack, I just can't get over how much junk this guy accumulated in this attic.  It's like looking for a little ring box in a corn silo of boxes that are just an inch larger.  I can barely move in here, and the dust and cobwebs are going to kill me tonight from my allergies."

 "Stop whining, Simon.  We are running out of time.  We've got to find that planner and the tapes or .... wait.  Look at this box.  Is that jade?  Oh my gosh, I think I found it!  It's not a paper planner or cassette tapes, but here is a thumb drive in one of the drawers and I bet you a bottle of your favorite whiskey that this is it!"

 "Guys!  Guys!  We got to go!  Someone is looking in the front windows, and it ain't the cops!"

 The two of us did a fireman slide down the attic stairs, almost knocking Rose over, and made it out the back door into the alley just as we heard the glass break in the shop's door.

 Back at the office, Jack plugged the thumb drive into his laptop's USB port.

 "Um, shouldn't you run a malware application before you fry all of our hard drives, Jack?"

 "Relax, Simon.  I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday.  It's running."

 A blue screen popped open, and I sighed and turned around.  Suddenly the voice of the Artisans Loft shopkeeper could be heard through the laptop's speakers.  Whipping around, I found himself looking right into the shopkeeper's eyes.

 "If you're listening to this, it means that I'm not alive anymore.  Before I go any further, I want to ask a few favors of you, whoever you are.  First, I need someone to go to my house at 41265 Picadilly Lane and take care of my cat.  Make sure that whoever killed me did not also go to my house and kill her or let her outside when they were ransacking my house looking for this.

 Secondly, I have a lady friend, strictly platonic companionship, who lives across the street from me and watches my house while I'm at work.  Please make sure she is safe.  She should be able to tell you if she saw anything or anyone going into my house after I was murdered.  I am assuming that I was murdered because I'm in good health right now with no expectations of a 'natural' death any time soon.

 Finally, my father is in a nursing home in a little Florida town called Sopchoppy.  At the end of this recording, I will provide information on a bank account and a safe deposit box.  There are enough funds in the box to make sure all my father's needs are taken care of for the remainder of his life.  Please ensure that is taken care of, and whatever is left of the funds is to be given to my lady friend to make sure she can move somewhere safer than this backwoods hick  town."

 Jack and I looked at each other before Rose spoke up behind them.

 "Man, he was really terrified."

 Both of us jumped, and Jack fell back out of his chair.  "WHAT did I say about knocking?!?!?!"

 "Jeez.  Jumpy much?  I've been standing here only for the last fifteen minutes."

 Stomping her feet she turned to leave, and Jack shouted after her "DON'T SLAM THE DOOR!"

 "Sopchoppy?  Talk about this place being a backwoods hick town."  I sighed again.  "He was pretty scared though.  Are there any other documents on the drive?"

 "There are JPEG images of cars and license tags, we'll need to run those down.  One that looks like it was taken from a planter.  Maybe that fake plant that was on the jewelry counter?  He must have had a remote for his phone because he's almost in the picture, but he got a great shot of the 'Men in Black.'  Then there is another picture of a man who stood to the side the entire time he was talking to him so no shot of his face, but a great shot of a tattoo on his upper arm and hand."

 "Interesting.  Anything you recognize?"

 "No, but I can run them when I'm running the images of the men in black.  There is an image of his planner page with a 10:15a appointment for 'Gov't,' 'Lunch with Henry at@ The Farm' at noon, then nothing else the rest of the day.  Judging by the time stamp on the image of Mr. Tattoo Guy, he came in at about 11:57a, just before he went to lunch.  Henry must have come into the shop to get him for their lunch."

 "I've had lunch there.  It's out on Hedgerow Street at the other end of town. Pretty good food.  They also have interior and exterior security cameras.  I'll check with them to see if we can get copies of the videos that day."

 "The Farm has security cameras?  I didn't realize that they were that progressive."

 "It's just you that's still living in the dark ages, Jack."

 "What are you talking about?  I knew how to run a malware check on this, didn't I?"

 "Says the man that still hasn't figured out how to set the time on his DVD player."

 "How long do you think it would have taken him to get out there, have lunch, and get back?"

 "Mmmmm, it's about 20 minutes from where his shop is, if they caught all green lights through town.  Depending on what they ordered for lunch it can take 30-45 minutes to get the food and eat.  Maybe a little less if they ordered whatever lunch special they had.  Another 20 to get back to the shop.  I'd say they might have been gone for about two hours.  Enough time for someone to break into the shop without making it obvious and be hidden inside when he got back.  But I really doubt that is what happened."

 "Why do you say that?"

 "Well, think about it.  He needed time to download the images and his message onto this thumb drive, which he probably didn't have time to do before he went to lunch.  Plus the wav files there are audio files, so I am pretty sure he recorded his conversation with the government guys, and maybe even the tattooed guy.  He had to have had another recorder somewhere because I don't think he could have taken pictures AND recorded them at the same time on his cell phone.  Not without making it obvious.  Those pictures of the cars and tags, do they look like they were taken at street level or maybe higher up?"

 "Hmmm, higher up.  From that angle, I'd say he has an exterior security camera also that overlooks both his street parking and the lot behind his shop."

 "This was one paranoid guy even before he got the coins.  I'd say we should take a look-see at the exterior of the shop, but it being as wet and dark outside as it is now, I doubt we'd be able to see anything."

 The sound of sirens filled the air, and we both looked out the window.  Three firetrucks went screaming by, towards town.

 "I have a bad feeling about that, Jack."

 "Me too.  What do you want to do?  Should we go to the cops with this?"

 "Not yet.  I want to see who his distinguished visitors were first.  And I want an industrial-sized Advil for this allergy migraine I have now."