Free Fall

63

“I guess I should’ve called sooner,” says Arnie.“But that old guy, he’s scary.”

Yeah. Tell me about it.

That old guy is, of course, Joe “Six Pack” Ceepak.

“He said, ‘Boy, you need to be a man. Don’t call the cops. I heard what people are saying about your Pops. Him and me need to make a run for the border.’ And then, my mother, she said, ‘You heard him, Arnold. Not a word about this to anybody.’ So, it took me like ten minutes to figure out what I should do. Call you.”

Arnie is whispering all this. Probably doesn’t want his mother to know that he did the right thing. He called the cops.

“You’re in your room?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. Lock the door. Don’t open it till you know for sure that Officer Santucci or his partner, a nice lady named Cath Hoffner, are on the other side. Can you do that for me, Arnie?”

“Yeah. I guess. But Mister Santucci doesn’t even know Dad is gone because he didn’t see them sneak out. See, he’s out front and they cut through the backyard to our back-door neighbor’s yard and then they ran up their driveway to Swordfish Street.”

“You saw all this, Arnie?”

“Yeah. A while ago, I heard Mom being all sweet with Dad so, you know, I thought everything was all better. I went into the living room. Mom was hugging Dad but the Free Fall guy was in there, too.”

“What did the Free Fall guy say?”

“That they’d fry Dad in the electric chair for killing his father.”

Great. Mr. Ceepak couldn’t be content with scarring his own son for life, now he’s got to give young Arnold Rosen nightmares, too?

“I watched them run away from out on the deck.”

“And then what?”

“My mother told me to get my butt in the house. That I should be proud of my father for finally doing what needed to be done.”

I hear Arnie sob a little.

“Did my dad really kill my grandfather?”

I’m not Ceepak so I go ahead and lie a little. “We’re not sure about that, Arnie. So, do me a favor, and stay in your room, like I said. I’m going to call Officer Santucci. He or his partner, they’re going to take you and your mom to the police station.”

“Why?”

“You can help us protect your dad better at the police station, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Hang tight.”

“Okay. Oh, Mr. Boyle?”

“Yeah?”

“I think the Free Fall guy has a gun.”

“Did you see a weapon?”

“No, but he told Dad he didn’t have to worry about the cops and tapped his jacket, like that tough guy does in the Mafia 2 video game.”

“Okay. Thanks for that. That’s very important.”

“Officer Boyle?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let that creepy old guy shoot you. I think he’s kind of crazy.”

“Don’t worry, Arnie. I’m very good with my gun. Check out Urban Termination II the next time you’re at Sunnyside Playland. You’ll see my initials in all three top scorer slots.”

“Cool.”

“Stay in your room. Wait for Santucci or Hoffner.”

“Right.”

We hang up.

I’m up and out of the Batmobile in a flash and waving my arms over my head like a lunatic at Ceepak who is still on the porch schooling Shona Oppenheimer on the burden of proof necessary to prove Defiant Trespass in the State of New Jersey.

“Ceepak?” Yes, I am shouting.

He whips around. Sees the frantic look in my eyes.

“Good day, Mrs. Oppenheimer,” he says on the run. “If you have any further complaints or suggestions, please bring them to Police Headquarters on Cherry Street at your earliest convenience.”

He dashes across the lawn, joins me in the street.

“What’s up?”

“Your father. He just sprung David Rosen.”

“Come again?”

“Little Arnie called. Said the old guy who runs the Free Fall snuck into their house and told his father that they needed to make a run for the border.”

“And David fled?”

“Yeah. Ten minutes ago. Guess he admitted he’s guilty with his feet.”

“Roger that.”

“Santucci and Hoffner didn’t see the jailbreak because your dad took David out the back door and cut through the house behind them’s lawn. Took him over to Swordfish Street.”

“Do we know what sort of vehicle my father is currently driving?”

“No,” I say.

Then I remember that night at Neptune’s Nog, the package store.

“Wait. Dinged up Ford F-150. Maybe ten, twelve years old. Ohio license plates.”

Ceepak raises his quizzical eyebrow.

“We bumped into each other at the beer store. Remember?”

Ceepak reaches into the car to grab the radio mic.

And my phone rings again.

Ceepak holds on. Waits to hear who is calling me. Looks like he thinks it might be Arnie with an update.

It is.

“They’re heading toward the pier!”

“Arnie? Take it easy. How can you know that?”

“Dad has an iPhone and I have the ‘Find My iPhone’ app on my computer. I punched in his number. It’s tracking them. They were in the parking lot near Pier Two; now they’re heading out over the ocean. If I switch to satellite, I can tell you what they’re near.”

Arnie goes silent.

“Arnie?”

“Yeah. They’ve stopped. Right in front of the Mad Mouse roller coaster. I think that crazy old guy took Dad back to the Free Fall!”

“Okay. I’m going to call Officer Santucci right now.”

“You won’t hurt my dad, will you? When you catch them?”

“No, Arnie. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Now the radio starts chattering.

“I’ve got to run.”

“Okay.”

I end the call with Arnie.

“All available units.”

It’s not the dispatcher. It’s Chief Rossi. This is not a good sign.

“Pier Two. Reports of a gunshot. Repeat. Reports of a gunshot and potential hostage situation. All available units please respond. Initiate lockdown protocols.”

Guess Little Arnie was right.

Mr. Ceepak has a gun.