Page 119 of Maddy's Justice

“They have your photo, too,” Maddy said.

“She’s right,” Sean agreed.

“I can come up with a disguise for him,” Helen said. “But you, sweetheart. I don’t think I can do much for you.”

“Perfect is perfect,” Carvelli said in his smartass way.

Maddy curled the fingers off of her right hand and gave Carvelli a quick shot to his chest with them.

“Ow! Damn, that hurt,” Carvelli yelped rubbing his chest.

“It’s supposed to hurt. Besides, I pulled my punch,” Maddy said. “Let that be a lesson to you, smartass.”

“If I did that to you, I’d go to jail,” Carvelli whined.

“After you got out of the hospital,” Maddy quietly muttered.

“What I meant was, she’s a little too tall. I could even put weight on her with padding, but her height is difficult to disguise,” Helen said. “And too much hair.”

“We could cut the hair,” Carvelli said then quickly added, “Don’t hit me again.”

At exactly 11:00 that evening, Conrad, Carvelli and Sean’s tiny burglar friend Ava, entered the office where Conrad had his equipment. Thanks to Helen’s years with the FBI, Conrad and Carvelli looked like two different people. Ava had disguised herself. While Conrad worked on his equipment, Ava and Carvelli went next door to pull the wiring leading up to Roger Labelle’s office. In less than twenty minutes, they were out.

The next morning, the helicopter returning James Labelle and his assistant/bodyguard Alan Dale, landed softly at Chicago Vertiport. The two men disembarked with Alan carrying the bags. The counter supervisor was waiting for them at the door leading into the building.

“Excuse me, sir, Mr. Labelle. Could I have a word with you, please?”

“Sure,” Labelle affably replied.

The three of them moved away from the door and the crowd at the counter.

“Sir, um, I don’t mean to be nosy and feel free to tell me this is none of my business.”

“Okay,” Labelle smiled and said.

“The other day, shortly after you took off on your trip, a woman came in asking about your destination,” he began as he removed a photo from his inside pocket.

“A very attractive woman who claimed she was your girlfriend,” he continued handing Maddy’s photo to Labelle while talking to Alan Dale.

Labelle showed the photo to Alan then asked, “What did she want?”

“She wanted your destination. She said he was her boyfriend and she suspected you of cheating on her.”

Immediately catching on, Alan said, “Yeah, that’s her. Crazy, chick. She can’t let go. I even had to get a restraining order against her.”

“What did you tell her?” Labelle asked.

“I didn’t talk to her. One of our guys at the counter did. You want to ask him?”

“Yes, please. She’s um, a little emotionally disturbed. We need to be careful about her,” Labelle said.

“Tell Mr. Labelle what you and this woman talked about,” he told the counterman while showing him Maddy’s photo.

“She, ah, wanted to know your destination. Said you were her boyfriend,” he continued looking at Alan, “and she suspected you of cheating on her.”

“What did you tell her about our destination?” Labelle politely asked.

“I said I didn’t know. That you aren’t required to file a flight plan so I could only guess. I, ah, said you were maybe going to Northern Michigan or maybe even the UP,” the now concerned young man said referring to the Upper Peninsula.

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