Larry met me in the foyer and I thanked him for his help.
"No problem, P. Do me a favor, though. Be careful, you don't want to mess with these people. They play dirty."
"So do I. Send me the bill." I thought for a moment. "Did you get pictures of them, including Mr. No Name?"
Larry's computer is rigged with high tech surveillance equipment. "Sure did."
"Send them to TJ."
I'm walking down the stairs. Uncle Moe is right there beside me.
"I see you managed to give TJ my instructions."
"Aye, lad. Trust everything went according to plan."
"Too early to say, Uncle. We'll just have to wait and see." I stepped out into the cool evening air. Overcast. Might rain.
It was more than a couple of hours. More like six. Nevertheless, Kelly was parked outside waiting for me.
"Waiting long?"
"Not really. TJ called about half an hour ago. What's the next move?"
"Connor."
Back home Kelly made some sandwiches. I grabbed two Bass Ales from the fridge. Set the laptop up on the kitchen table. Put a CD into the player. Kato spun in a few circles and sat at my feet.
It was time to get Connor involved. I was playing catch up and the only way to get in front of this situation was to learn the identities of the players.
Louis Armstrong's 'It's A Wonderful Life' started playing. I could hear rain hitting the roof.
The first step was to upload the surveillance videos, from both my home and City Hall to my Amazon S3 account. Amazon Simple Storage Service, hence the S3, allows for the storing and retrieving of data at anytime from anywhere.
Next, I set up a temporary wall at droneme. com. These walls require no registration and cease to exist after a prearranged period of time. My wall was set up with the tag ‘picker’ and was set to expire after twenty-four hours. I posted the url where the videos were stored on the Amazon S3 account.
I also posted the following message: 'identify players asap include aka'. Although I already had the names of the two feds, I was asking my brother to follow up with all known associates. Plus, I was looking forward to discovering who No Name was.
Conner checks the anonymous wall at least once per day. Hopefully, he could use his network to uncover what the hell was going on.
We started in on the sandwiches. I filled Kelly in what I just did. She said, "Tell me how you learned about your brother."
Up until now I've been reluctant to talk about him. What the hell. I relay the story about the solicitor in London calling me, being met at the airport by a very well dressed chauffeur, arriving at 150 Piccadilly and my introduction into the world of fine cigars.
"We left The Ritz and decided to walk and enjoy the cigars. Connor managed to talk but revealed very little. Mostly, he pointed out landmarks, briefly covered the weather and made some tasteful comments about some of the women we passed.”
“Did you know that he was your brother?” Kelly asked.
“No idea. But I found his company to be quite pleasant and decided that I liked him. There are times in life when you meet someone and hit it off. I got the very strong impression that I already knew him and that somehow we could become close friends. Little did I know. We arrived at 33 St James's Square in less than ten minutes.”
"We found our way to the solicitor's office. Harold P. Smythe. He was very gracious and showed us to a couple of leather chairs."
HPS: "Well, Mr. Picker, I imagine that all of this might come as something as a shock."
Harold didn't manage to tut-tut or pip-pip, but I swore he came awfully close. "You might say that."
"In that case, let's get down to it. This is a copy of Simon Jones' last will and testament. Your father. My secretary will provide you with a copy. Essentially, it conveys what you are to receive from his estate."
Smythe rummaged in the middle drawer of his desk and retrieved a DVD. Reached over the desk and handed it to me. Appearing to be just a tad absent minded, he looked in the right hand drawer and pulled out a set of keys. He also handed them to me.
Harold continued, "There are one or two personal effects that your father wished you to have. Your brother here will arrange to get them to you. Any questions?"
Sonofabitch. I looked over at Connor and raise an eyebrow. Could it be? He's about my height, close to my weight and even my age. His eyes are brown, like mine, but his hair is dark. The build is lanky, although he is slightly broader in the chest and shoulders. The head is square and his nose is better proportioned that mine. All in all, quite handsome.
"Surprised?" he asked.
"I'll say. Didn't know I had any family. That is, except for my Uncle."
Connor smiled. "You mean Uncle Moe?"
Sonofabitch. Did I say that already?
I turned to Kelly, said, "It's time for bed."
"But, there's more. I want to hear it."
"I will, promise."
We went upstairs. Her being a woman and me being a man, well, you know, we did the things that those people do. Then we went to sleep.