“I’ll start saving again,” Theo said. “The money is just sitting there in the bank, doing nothing. Might as well put it to good use. Some of the other guys are doing the same thing.”
“And how much is Daisy contributing?” his mother asked.
“She doesn’t have any money, Mom. We’ve had this conversation. She says she has only three hundred dollars in the bank. Mind if I check something?”
He asked this as he pulled out his cell phone, which was against the family rules at dinner. His parents thought it was really bad manners to stare at a cell phone during a meal. “We’re up to seventy-five dollars,” Theo said, and then explained the scheme behind MobMoney. His parents had never heard of crowdfunding.
Mrs. Boone and Mr. Boone exchanged the kind of adult look that kids are not supposed to understand. She said, “I suppose our law firm could help out a little. Don’t you think so, Woods?”
“Well, sure. How much are you thinking?”
“How about two-fifty, Theo?”
“That’s great,” he said, but it wasn’t great at all. If he, an unemployed thirteen-year-old, could pledge four hundred, then why couldn’t his parents, both busy and successful lawyers, donate a lot more than two-fifty?
“So what’s the total now?” his mother asked.
Theo mentally added the numbers and said, “Over seventeen hundred. We’re getting close.”
Theo checked the website before he fell asleep just after eleven. Money was trickling in from around the country, and it was adding up. Almost three hundred had been pledged to Free Woody!
Seven hours later, Theo was wide awake and staring at the screen of his laptop. MobMoney was over five hundred dollars, more than enough to spring Woody and Tony. He ran downstairs and informed his mother, and he insisted he be allowed to skip school to arrange the bail. She agreed to write a note permitting him to arrive two hours late.
Theo called Daisy with the news, and they worked out a plan to collect all the money that had been promised. He called Mr. Mount at home and said he would be late for school, but planned to show up with Woody. He texted his friends and ordered them to round up all the cash they could find. Chase shut down the MobMoney account and was collecting the money, which would take a few hours. At nine a.m. sharp he walked into the lobby of the bank on Main Street and politely asked a teller to empty his savings account. His father had assured him it was a simple transaction, but it took half an hour anyway. He left the bank with a cashier’s check for $402, all of his savings, but he didn’t care. He was only thirteen. He was somewhat proud of the fact that he could use his money to help a friend, plus he could start saving all over again. And what good was a savings account for a kid like him? He was an only child whose parents would one day happily pay for his college and anything else he needed. Besides, there was always the chance that Woody would pay him back.
He went to Boone & Boone and enlisted the help of Elsa. With his check and the ones from Ike and his parents, the total was $852. Daisy arrived with $500 in cash. She had managed to borrow some from friends. At school, Mr. Mount had $400—his pledge plus another $200 from Aaron and Joey. He and Chase were attempting to collect from the MobMoney site.
“What’s a wire transfer?” Theo asked Elsa.
“It’s a way of moving money quickly. Banks do it all the time. One bank simply wires money to another, electronically, and they skip the hassle of mailing checks.”
“So how long will it take to get the MobMoney?”
“Not sure, but it shouldn’t take long. A few hours.”
“Where do they send the money?” Daisy asked.
They were sitting in the large conference room on the first floor, just down the hall from Mrs. Boone’s office. It was Theo’s favorite room, with a long wide table and thick leather chairs all around. The walls were covered with old, heavy law books that were seldom used. Daisy sipped coffee and looked as though she hadn’t slept in a week.
Elsa said, “Well, I suppose we could use our trust account, Boone & Boone.”
“What’s a trust account?” Theo asked.
“Every law firm has a bank account that’s used to hold money that belongs to clients. It’s called a trust account. The money does not belong to the lawyers but they hold it in trust for their clients. Pretty routine stuff. I’ll check with Mrs. Boone.”
Theo said, “I guess we should call their lawyer to make sure he knows what’s going on.”
Daisy said, “I called him an hour ago but he’s in court. I left a message but he never calls back.”
“Not sure about that guy,” Theo said.
“He’s always talking about how busy he is.”
“Don’t all lawyers do that?” Elsa said, then quickly changed the subject with, “What about the bail bondsman? Have you talked to him?”
“No, I haven’t,” Daisy said.
“I’ll go see him,” Theo said.
“You need to go to school, young man,” Elsa said.
“I’m too busy for school.”
Elsa peered over her reading glasses and gave him a look he had seen many times. “Shall I have a chat with Mrs. Boone?”
Theo stood slowly and headed for the door. “Don’t do that. I’ll stop by and see the guy on my way.”
“Thanks again, Theo,” Daisy said.
“They’re not out yet,” he said as he left.
Sparky was not to be found at AAA Bail Bonds. Theo spoke to a secretary, who asked why he wasn’t in school, and asked her to get Sparky to call him. She said sure but seemed preoccupied with other matters.
Reluctantly, he biked, as slowly as possible, across town to Strattenburg Middle School, knowing that the next few hours would be a waste of time. The clock was ticking and he worried that if Woody and Tony were not released on that Friday afternoon, things might get complicated over the weekend.
The wire transfer from MobMoney did not arrive until four p.m. Friday afternoon. Theo was sitting in the conference room, waiting. He had deposited all the cash and checks, a total of $1752, into the Boone & Boone trust account, with his mother’s approval, and when the wire landed there was a total of $2320. They would worry about the excess funds later.
Since Mrs. Boone would write the checks from the firm’s trust account, she agreed to call AAA Bail Bonds and get the details. She was informed that Sparky was out of town and there was no one else available to write the bond. She called Rodney Wall’s office to request his assistance, but was informed that he had left for the day. His cell phone went straight to voice mail. She called another bail bond company, Action Bonds, and was encouraged when a Mr. Bob Hawley agreed to see her. She and Theo left immediately and drove to Action’s office, also near the courthouse. Daisy was at work at the salon and could not get off.
Action did business from a grungy little room just down the street from AAA. Bob Hawley inspired all the confidence of a man who sold used cars, but at least he was pleasant and seemed eager to help. He pulled out some forms, took a few notes, and called the jail.
His smile vanished and he frowned as he listened. When he rang off he said, “Sorry, but there’s some bad news. Seems as though the boys can’t get out right now.”
“And why not?” Mrs. Boone demanded.
“They put a hold on them. There was a fight or some kind of trouble at the jail, so now they’re locked down in solitary confinement.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Theo blurted. “Another dude jumped them. It wasn’t their fault.”
Hawley shrugged as if he heard this all the time. “Can’t help it, son. You’ll have to talk to the judge.”
Mrs. Boone glanced at her watch and said, “It’s four thirty on Friday afternoon. I’m sure the judge has already left.”
Another shrug.
Theo whipped out his cell phone and speed-dialed Judge Frank Pendergrast’s office. Voice mail, closed for the weekend, call back Monday.
They thanked Mr. Hawley, left, and walked two blocks to the jail where Theo le
d his mother straight to the desk of Captain Rick Pruitt, her former client. Pruitt was certainly not expecting to see Mrs. Boone at the jail but was clearly impressed by her presence. She explained their predicament and Pruitt immediately grabbed a file to review the matter.
He led them to a reception area and they waited as he flipped through the pages, his frown getting heavier with each paragraph. Finally, he said, “Yep, looks like there was a disturbance of some sort in the jail and the Lambert boys are in a bit of hot water, not to mention that armed robbery. The jail reported to Youth Court and Judge Pendergrast put a hold on their release pending further orders.”