When he'd taken the weird remote and the USB hook-up over to his friend's place, Jack had agreed with Damon it was likely a set-up which allowed for someone to watch television on their computer. Asking, "Was there a disk with it?" Damon explained there had been, at which point Jack told him he couldn't push the product unless the drivers were with it, to which Damon said he'd bring it over next time.
From there, the conversation turned to other matters. Most of it in regards to stuff snatched off porches, Jack passed off to his friend a fat wad of money, most of it being fifties or hundreds, and after a few more minutes of idle banter, Damon commented, "I'm going bounce. Catch ya' later," to which Jack reminded him not to forget the disk, then said he'd do a bit more research on the remote and USB so they'd have an idea of what Damon could get for it.
Back at the apartment he shared with his aunt, mom, and cousin, Damon was frustrated to find the table had been cleaned. Finding his aunt cooking dinner, he asked, "Do you know what happened to the stuff I left on the table."
The woman, who was well aware of the twenty-five-year -old's side hustle, didn't approve, but was willing to overlook it at the moment so long as it helped pay some of the bills, restrained herself from giving her nephew a disdainful look as she shook her head and explained, "There wasn't anything on the table when I or you mother got home. Maybe Tanya knows."
He didn't want to deal with his brat of a cousin. But, if she'd been messing around with his stuff, Damon figured it might give him a reason to make her squeal. Nodding as Aunt June told to go ask Tanya, "And try not to give her a hard time in the process," the woman added, Damon went to look for his cousin. Vaguely recalling he'd seen her heading downstairs as he'd come upstairs from Jack's place, he left the apartment and started back down.
Thoughts on where she might have gone, Damon didn't know if she knew anyone in the building. Her social life, so far as he cared, wasn't his business. Thinking there was a lot about her he didn't care to know about, he left the stairwell, check the other one, and not seeing his cousin, headed outside for a quick look. Not finding her anywhere outside, Damon went back inside, and after checking both stairwells again, headed back upstairs. Letting himself in, he was about to go check her room when his mom stopped him and started in on whether or not he had the money for rent, which he did. Paying her a little over a quarter of what Jack had given him from his last snatch-and-grab, he still didn't get a chance to go look for his cousin as his mother started in on something else, mainly his lack of a consistent job.
How long he had to stand and listen to her, Damon wasn't sure. What he was sure of was the smug look on Tanya's face when she turned up moments before Aunt June announced dinner was ready before telling her daughter, "Go wash up."
After dinner, Damon cornered Tanya and demanded to know if she had done anything with the stuff he left on the table. In her usual snide way, the ten-year-old girl told him, "I should have left it there instead of cleaning it. Mum would have chewed you out for leaving a mess on her table," and feeling like he wasn't getting anywhere, Damon cut her off with, "The disk that was in the box. Did you throw that out as well?"
"Hardly," Tanya bit back. "I didn't know what it was, so I took it over to a friend's place. Her brother knows computers and junk, so he has it."
"What was his name?" Damon demanded.
Tanya gave him a searching look before inquiring, "Why? What's so important about some disk?" to which Damon wave her off with, "Never yous mind. Just either tell me who has it, or go get it."
"Becky's brother Terrence has it," his cousin spat before telling him if he wanted it so bad, he could go get it himself, Becky's address, then spun about and stalked off in the direction of her room, leaving Damon trying to work out how best to corner Terrence and get the disk back from him.
---
It took him almost three days before he could locate Terrence. When he did, it was to find out the boy didn't even have the disk any longer. Instead, Terrence told him, "I gave to my friend Chad to see if he could figure out what it was for."
Frustrated by this, Damon demanded to know how he could get ahold of Chad. Not exactly forthcoming, Terrence didn't know why this guy, who claimed to be Tanya's cousin, wanted the disk so bad, so he hemmed and hawed until Damon threatened to lay him out flat unless he got the disk back, took him to where Chad lived, or told him where Chad lived. Faced with these three choices, Terrence thought it might be best just to tell Damon where his friend lived, but changed his mind and decided to take him there. Shaking his head, the boy commented, "I ain’t telling you shit," and when Damon raised a fist in a threatening manner, Terrence hastily added, "But I'll take you to him."
When he learned Chad no longer had the disk, Damon felt his anger start to boil over. Struggling to keep it in check, he demanded to know where the boy had taken it, to which he was more willing to give up the information than Terrence had. Learning Chad had taken it to a computer placed run by a guy named Vang, Damon stormed off after he'd gotten the address. Not going to Vang's right away, he allowed his anger to cool, and two days later, he entered the computer repair place.
Displaying more tact than what he'd shown with the two younger boys, he explained the situation as he'd had a computer disk he was working with, his cousin had accidentally grabbed it up with a bunch of other stuff, and it had ended up in the hands of a friend of hers, Chad. From her friend, who'd always displayed an innate curiosity and sense about computers, Damon had learned the disk had been brought to Vang's place. "Which is why I’m here. I would like the disk back so I can finish working with it," he finished in a slick voice which would make even the most reluctant person willing to listen and, if need be, purchase something they didn't need.
Vang, at first, didn't believe a word the punk before him was saying. But, as the young man finished, the shop owner decided he might have been wrong to judge him so. Giving a simple nod, Vang explained, "I wish I could help you, but I have misplaced the disk somewhere. It could be somewhere in back, or it might have accidentally gotten sent with a customer."
"May I help look in back for it?" Damon inquired, and when the man responded in the negative, he tried asking for information on which customer it might have gotten sent with, to which Vang explained, "Even if I had that information, I cannot give that out."
Still being tactful, Damon thanked him, told him, "If you get it back, please hold onto it for me," and getting a dismissive nod, Damon left the store, but didn't go too far. Stopping some ways away, he gazed back at the store, and his mind already going to work, he examined the front, took the long way around to study the back, peered at the sides, looked up at the second story, and getting as much information as he could see about how the building was laid out, how closer the buildings next to it where, whether there were any security devices like alarms and cameras, he strolled back the way he'd come, checked the time, and waited.
Luck for once with him in his search to retrieve the disk, though he didn't want to dwell on it too much, in case it let out, Damon watched as Vang exited the shop sometime after twelve. Figuring the man was going for lunch, Damon watched as he watched to a car parked some ways from the store, got in, and drove off. Waiting a bit, Damon eventually re-approached the store and peeked in through the large window. Seeing the usual store front, now dark, he also didn't see any cameras. Stepping back away from the shop, he casually walked away, checking as he did for anything he might have missed. Having never done what he was about to do, he wanted to make it as clean as he could. Walking around to the back of the store, he stopped at the backdoor and after a quick look about, started to work as carefully at the door as he could until he was able to spring the lock and let himself in.
Unsure how long he had, the first thing he did was to check inside for anything which might be an alarm or camera. Finding neither, but still on edge, he inched across the backroom until he reached an office. Letting himself in, he set to work as quick as he allowed himself to going through records. As he did this, he mentally calculated when Chad might have brought the disk to Vang, when the owner might have lost it to a customer, as this seemed the most likely outcome to Damon, who could see, with how neat the back area was, there was no way the man simply misplaced it, and almost exclaimed out loud when he found a note attached to sales receipt about contacting someone named Owen about a possible wrong product sent with the man after he'd collected a laptop around four days ago. Copying down Owen's address, Damon also took down a couple other addresses of people who'd picked up computers, laptops, surfaces, and MacBooks in the last five days.
Content he had the answer he needed, Damon put everything back the way he found it, made sure nothing was out of place, took one final look about for cameras and alarms, was sure the place had none, and after checking to be sure there was no sign he’d forced him way in through the back door, which was already pretty beat up, the twenty five year old let himself out. Spending the next two days scouting out each person's address, he decided to start with Owen, who he discovered was a college student. Again, making sure the guy wasn't home, and after checking for anything which might indicate Damon had been lurking about the University owned apartment complex, Damon let himself into the building, made his way up the three flights of stairs, and smiled when he discovered Owen had gone out, but had left the door to the apartment unlocked.
"This is too easy," Damon thought to himself as he glanced up and down the hall, and almost getting cold feet, he hurried into the apartment before he could change his mind.
Not sure, again, how much time he'd have, he closed the door quietly and looked about the simple apartment. Listening also to it, he took in how the living area, kitchen and dining area where all one room, and the three doors, two of which were closed. Tiptoeing across the room, he tried the first door he came to, but found it was a rather deep closet. Opening the next one, he stopped and almost fled when he saw a bedroom, and the bed was occupied by a woman. Shutting the door as quietly as he could, no longer sure he had the time to do what he needed, Damon figured to check the last room before he booked it. Peeking in, not sure what he'd find, he saw it was supposed to be another bedroom, but the two used it as a sort of office. Spotting the laptop, he started toward it, sure they probably had downloaded the disk's contents onto it, and about to grab it, Damon stopped when he saw a CD tower.
With a quick look back the way he'd come, and not hearing anything, he deliberated for a moment before he grabbed up the laptop. Figuring if nothing else Jack could set it back to factory default and sell it, he glanced at the jewel cases, almost missed that amongst them was the one he was searching for, and once more feeling incredibly lucky, grabbed it and hurried out of the apartment with both it and the laptop, unaware of how he was screwing over Aimee and Owen from regaining their former lives.