Family Business

Jigsaw Puzzle

Thursday May 30th Sternwood Hospitality and Financial Services, Jersey City, 8.00am

Lieutenant O'Kelly struggled to calm Prudence's mother "Our daughter is out there, you let those crooks go off with her car and do nothing, they might have her!" Her husband wiped the tears from her eyes "what if they have her, every minute counts" states Mr Sternwood, as he struggles with his emotions of tiredness, frustration and fear.

O'Kelly, ignores his phone ringing in his inside suit jacket "Look, we believe they are not linked as they would have taken the SUV direct to a yard for breaking, we are monitoring and as soon as our guy connects with the guy that organised it at 9am we will strike today, if the FBI arrested them this morning, we risked the mission."

A senior FBI agent walks into the boardroom "Lieutenant" he states "Agent Melanie Shipley has been trying trying to contact you, we got a location from where they made the phone call and Apple has got us the phone GPS"

O'Kelly reassuringly places his hands on Mrs Sternwoods shoulders "We're closing in, we're going to do nothing to put Prudence at risk!"

8am David Mallet Massage studio Forest Hill Newark
Davids first customer of the day lay on the massage bench. A twenty year old male from Harlem in New York. The young man didn't come all that way for a massage, he came for something else. Getting an appointment with John for the something else was not easy, you needed to know someone that new David. David worked the knots on the youths back, some relaxing music played in the background. The youth held his phone in his right hand and typed he handed the phone to David, David read the message "I am in trouble with a rival gang in New York, I need a gun and fake ID and somewhere to hide until I have the ID. I can't go back and my uncle wants me gone from his place"

David reads the message, he feels sorry for him "he hands the phone back to the young man and begins to type on his own phone which he shows to the young man it reads "how much cash have you for me?"

The young man types a reply on his own phone and hands it to David it reads "I have eleven hundred dollars, my uncle says he can give me three hundred dollars but no more!".

David again types a reply to the young man on his phone and shows it to him "delete those messages off your phone, that amount will suffice. Get your uncle to take you to the phonebox. He knows the one I am referring to at 1pm. I will give further instructions then."

The young man gets up, off the massage bench and hands the cash over to David. At 8.15am David puts up a "Sorry I'm closed helping external clients" and gets into his minivan decorated in livery advertising his massage parlor. He drives 20 minutes to a lock up parks his van, gets on his orange Harley Davidson motorcycle and speeds out.


Thursday May 30th Lake Mohawk, Sparta, New Jersey, 8.30am

Florence places the food tray of pancakes, black coffee, maple syrup with a banana on the floor of the room as she unlocks the door. She opens the door and enters carrying the tray. She is still filled with guilt from hitting Prudence. She smiles at the sight of her in her red suit and white string bow blouse with the bow strings still untied "Now that's much better Prudence", She rests the tray on the chest of drawers. "Tie up your blouse, you look like a stressed businesswoman with them untied"

Prudence stares at the breakfast her appetite abandoned her "I am a stressed businesswoman!".

Florence takes the strings and begins to form a bow "honestly Prudence, you want your family to know your well looked after".

Prudence chuckles sarcastically, "Gretchen beats me, you beat me, I am locked in this musty room which is affecting my breathing, I can't lie on it" pointing at the bed. Part of her wanted to grab a hold of Florence's wrists and try and over power her but she doubted she could and reminded herself of her physical limitations. Florence stood away and admired her bow "Now you look like a proper businesswoman, your family will be delighted to see you looking so well!".

Prudence chuckles sarcastically again, "I'm kidnapped, they would rather me be with them, of course you can change that by taking me up on my earlier offer!"

Florence clenches her teeth, she has been struggling with her conscience ever since she hit Prudence "Eat your breakfast, we will be filming soon". She walks out locking the door behind her.

Thursday May 30th Bowers Motel, Jersey City, 8.30am
Bill Reinhardt removes his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose "Bill, if the FBI are looking for these people, we can't ignore them, they were hear!".

His wife and business partner in running the hotel Anne, the voice of reason in the relationship "They start pokin their nose in here, we'll never get rid of them!" he argues.

"Well if we don't, then they will make life more miserable for us and I ain't doin jail!". She picks up the old lilac phone from the office desk and begins to dial."

Thursday May 30th Sternwood Hospitality and Financial Services, Jersey City, 8.45am

Lieutenant O'Kelly interrupts a hastily convened Board meeting in the staff canteen as the boardroom was still in use by the Police and the FBI "he calls out Mr and Mrs Sternwood and Rosamund". He marches at pace to the boardroom. They pass meeting rooms which were now Police interview rooms with members of staff. On the large boardroom table are four photos on large A4 sheets. "Please take a look at these people and confirm to me who the are if you know them". "Oh my!" quivers Mrs Sternwood as she begins to cry, her husband consoles. Rosamund stares in disbelief "that is Gretchen and her husband Richie. That's her brother Henry and our cousin Florence, but, but, but!" she stops momentarily "No, no, not Florence, too, I can't believe, she would, No!".

O'Kelly offers a box of tissues to her mother "they were saying at the Bowers Motel, these two (pointing at Henry and Florence), stayed too with them, they left together. Any details you have on Henry's and Florence's addresses, workplaces anything would save us a lot of time.

Thursday May 30th Lake Mohawk, Sparta, New Jersey, 8.45am
Prudence could only manage a few mouthfuls of coffee, three bites of a pancake and one bite of the banana. Her mind raced with ways of how she can turn Florence to helping her, however her thought train restricted by a nights poor sleep and constant pain from the hard chair. She hears footsteps outside the door, this time multiple, her stomach churns. The door is opened Henry walks in first he laughs at the sight of her "You look like a big fat red tomato in that suit". Gretchen of course joins in "One big fat beefy tomato, which I will slice into pieces if she doesn't do as we say!".

The words gave her goosebumps, she knew Gretchen would do it no problem, if anyone was going to kill her, it would be her, she didn't want to give Gretchen the satisfaction of that, she had to come up with a plan "My mother always says you could have been like Rosamund and I but you were just too lazy!"

"Lazy!!" roars Gretchen, steam rising from her face "Your the one that weighs a ton!".

Prudence extends out her hands "I work fourteen hours a day, I extended my parents business, I completed two Masters, yes I need to exercises more but I am hardly the definition of laziness, that would be YOU!"

Richie grabs Gretchen's arm before she can strike her "Don't Gretchen, we can't do the video if she has a red face, don't listen to her"

"Yes, don't listen to the truth Gretchen, you never have, my parents and I tried to give you a job but you threw it back at us, after all it appears you were the spoilt brat and not me!!".

Gretchen makes a dive for her "I'm going to finish you, you fat bitch" Richie and Henry hold her back and begin to carry her out of the room "I'll offer you half a million in fuck off money, you let me go now and I never hear or see you again, any of you!".

"Let me at her, let me at her, fat fucking bitch, I want all your money!". They all leave and close the door. Outside commotion as Henry and Richie try to calm Gretchen down.

Prudence shook, she doesn't know why she done that, should she have said nothing, no doubt Gretchen will comeback later and take her revenge.

The four of them return downstairs and soon there is silence again.

Ten minutes later she hears footsteps again, the door unlocks and the four re-enter. Gretchen is the last one and stands behind the others. Prudence trembles at the fury written all over her face. Richie points at Prudence "We're going to do the video now, you keep your fat mouth shuts and keep to the script!".

Prudence points towards Gretchen "There will be no video unless I get guarantees that she is not going to beat me after this or at any stage, she could seriously hurt me and that will hurt you too".

"Nobody is going to hurt you Prudence, any hurt caused to you was simply your own doing!" states Richie He turns to Florence, "where should we video". She points to a blank wall by the doorway "Just here I think!".


Thursday May 30th 9am Ralphs Convenience Store Palmer Township, New Jersey

John waited by the payphone outside the store, he was told the FBI were watching him closely, they miked him up and bugged the phone. He was instructed to keep talking for as long as possible. At a few seconds after nine it rang, he let it ring twice and picked up

"Hello" he says nervously

"Eleven, they will be disappointed but better than nothing, that's one thousand one hundred for you"

"what about you!" asks John trying to extend the conversation, hoping his nerves aren't coming through

"Don't worry, I will take my cut, this is what I want you to do, listen carefully?"

"I'm listening" replies John, his hand trembling as he holds the phone

The phone goes silent for a few seconds "Outside Landing township, is a cafe called the great lake cafe, just at the edge of Lake Hopatcong. Beside it are some tethered row boats. I want you to firstly remove another eleven hundred dollars from the cash total for me, that leaves eight thousand eight hundred. At midnight tonight be at the cafe carpark, a guy on a motorcycle will drive in on a motorcycle, give him the money. Once finished take my share and you will see tethered at the end a small blue row boat called 'freedom', hidden at the back is a small canister. I want you to place my share in it and put it back where it was. Have you got that!".

"Thats late and far and I thought I was meeting you!"

The line goes silent again momentarily "It's safer for you for it to be late and I never agreed to collect anything from you in person, don't let me down John, don't have me drag you back into the world of crime". The line goes dead.


Thursday May 30th Lake Mohawk, Sparta, New Jersey, 9.15am
Richie's burned cell phone pings indicating he has an SMS. He opens it up "Go to the public payphones at the entry to the Sparta campsite for 10am".

Henry is finishing uploading the video to the laptop "That's Dicey Dave, he's calling at 10 to a Payphone at the Sparta Campsite. I'll stop off at the hotel and send the video from their wifi again".

A few moments later he drives the Charger out and parks at the hotel pretending to take a phone call while he hacks into their wifi and sends the most recent video. He then drives out and parks up by the phone booths outside the campsite. At exactly ten am, the phone rings and picks up. "Hello".

"Eleven hundred for the SUV". "Ha" squeals Richie baffled "that was too little, I was expecting at least seven more, did your contact not bargain?"

"No" replies the voice and there is a moment silence "He was never going to do that, minus my cut and his cut thats eight thousand eight hundred for you!"

Richie shakes his head in annoyance, checking his surroundings that no one else is around "that is robbery, but what can I do"

"Exactly, now listen to me, two things firstly tonight Outside Landing township, is a cafe called the great lake cafe, just at the edge of Lake Hopatcong. My contact will be waiting to give you the money, don't be late and don't be rude to him over the price. Take the money and go, got that?"

Richie sighs "yes, yes, yes, what's the other?"

"Keep the phone on I gave you, the pilot will be in touch, he wants to fly on Sunday?"

Richie gasps "Sunday!!, we paid him to be flexible, fucking hell, we haven't received the cash yet, we can't go until we get the cash for eh well you know".

The line goes silent again momentarily "Well hurry up and get the cash, pilot wants to fly, he's got another attractive offer".

Richie lets off another F-bomb "We never agreed a date with him, he's breaking his agreement!".

There is a laugh down the line "There is no negotiating with these people, get the mone, we will chat tomorrow, have a timescale". The line goes dead.