Pulling the Trooth

by Robert P. Wills

  She banged on the door again then heard Maxine yell her name, then ‘We’ll get you out, just stay put!’

  Summer banged on the door again. “Stay put? For how long?” She looked at the intersection again as she hit the door. “Open up, someone’s coming!” She hit the door with both hands, dropping her digital recorder. She put her ear to the door.

  She heard Stephan yell ‘Run, Summer, just run and make all left hand turns so we can follow you’. She looked left- toward the intersection. It was so bright whoever it was had to be almost there. “Oh man.” She turned and sprinted farther down the hallway, almost hitting a door where the corridor turned right after only a dozen yards. “Oh man!” She said again as she wheeled around to look the way she had come.

  The light in the intersection came on.

  Summer turned and sprinted down the hallway. After a mere fifteen paces, she came to a dead end. “Trapped.” She spun around. “Okay. Okay.” She took several deep breaths as she tried to calm her nerves. “Deliberate strikes, weapon first.” She said as she thought back to her years of fight training. “Overwhelming force.” She hopped as she took several jabs. “Head and neck strikes.” She took several deep breaths to put more oxygen in her bloodstream to better prepare for any grappling with her attacker. “Okay, okay.” She lowered her hands, hoping to look defenseless to whoever was approaching to gain an element of surprise.

  The light at the corner came on.

  “Okay, okay.” Summer shifted to put her dominant side toward her attacker. “Here we go.” She shook her hands but kept them at her sides.

  Earl stepped around the corner. His hand was behind his back. “Oh, hello, Summer. Summer Schauers, the reporter.”

  Summer focused on the man’s hidden hand, preparing for his inevitable charge. “That’s me. You’re Earl, right?”

  “I’m Earl.”

  “Hello again, Earl.” Summer said.

  “What are you doing in here? This is private back here.” He shook his head. “It’s private.”

  “I got lost.” Summer said. He still had not moved his hand from behind his back. “I’m trying to find the way out.”

  Earl took a step toward her. “I can help you with that.”

  “Earl.” Summer said sternly. “I want you to listen to me, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “If you get any closer to me, I’m going to hurt you. I mean, really really hurt you.” Summer raised her hands into a fighting stance. “But I don’t want to, so you need to stop walking towards me.”

  “Why are you going to do that?” Earl said. He took another step toward her.

  “Because I am trapped in this hallway and I’m scared, and you are blocking the way out.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  The pair looked at each other for a long moment.

  Then the lights in the hallway went out.

  TWELVE

  Stephan looked left and right- the hallway was dark in both directions.

  Maxine sidled up to him. “Which way do you want to go?”

  “I told her to go left, to go left every time and we would follow her.” Stephan pointed left. “Let’s go.”

  “Right behind you, Mister Rains.” Maxine bumped him with her shoulder.

  “Do we need to get you another broom?” Stephan said as he started down the hallway. “Hey, can I call you Witchy Poo?”

  “You. May. Not.” Maxine said flatly. Secretly, she was elated that Stephan had come up with a pet name for her. She just wasn’t sure of his choice.

  Stephan laughed. “Okay, I won’t.”

  “Good.”

  “Until I confirm it with Summer.”

  “So Miss Schauers and Mister Rains get to decide my nickname?”

  Stephan laughed again. “Sounds about right to me.”

  The pair did not notice the light going on behind them.

  “As long as I get to tell her why before you get to say anything,” Stephan said. He pointed at the floor. “You’d think they would have gotten the knife by now.”

  “Yeah.” Maxine said. She walked to the left. “Left again. That’s going to take us back to the bathroom, right?”

  “And that means Summer ran straight into the police officers.” He put his arm around Maxine. “And she’s safe and sound.”

  Maxine let out a long sigh. “I thought a dentist convention would be boring.” She held her camera out and took a selfie with Stephan. “This thing is going to give me grey hair.”

  “How about hashtag grannyhair?” Stephan said.

  “And the subject changes now.” Maxine said as they continued toward the bathroom.

  THIRTEEN

  Summer crouched down, now planning on grappling with Earl instead of dealing with a frontal attack. As she squatted, the lights came back on.

  Earl had not moved. “Did you fall down?”

  “What’s behind your back, Earl?” Summer asked, deciding on a straightforward approach.

  Earl brought his notebook into view. “Do you want to see your sketch? I finished it. If you don’t like it, please don’t hit me.” He looked worried.

  Summer self-consciously stood. “I’m not going to hit you, Earl. I’m sorry. I was just scared. You scared me is all.”

  “I’m sorry.” Earl said. He held up his notebook. “Do you want to see your sketch? I finished it, you know.”

  “I heard that, yeah.” The last thing Summer wanted to do was look at what was potentially a nude sketch of herself drawn by the strange man. Even so, she nodded. “Sure, Earl. I’d be glad to look at the sketch.”

  Earl smiled wide and leafed through the notebook as he approached. When he got to her, he turned two more pages then smiled again. “Here you are.” He shifted to her side so they could both look at it together. Even so, he did not get so close that they actually touched.

  Summer looked at the sketch. “Wow.” She said. It was an almost-photo perfect pencil sketch of her face, and shoulders. “Oh.” She said when she noticed the sketch continued down to include her breasts to just the very top of her nipples. “Oh.” She said again. “You don’t... show these to people, do you?”

  “These are private.” Earl said. He smiled. “Do you want me to do a drawing of you? I charge twenty dollars for a drawing. It’s a very fair price, twenty dollars.”

  “It sure is.” Summer said. She read what Earl had written about her. “So I’m a reporter for the Tucson Herald Opinion and I’m pushy and smart. And I’m a good friend.”

  “That’s what you are.” Earl said. “When I learn more, I’ll write it in.” He brought the notebook back in front of himself and pulled a sharpened pencil out of the spine. “You are tough.” He said as he wrote. “You are afraid of the dark.” He looked at her. “That’s okay; I don’t like the dark either.”

  “Thanks.” Summer cringed, not wanting to ask the question even though she had to. “Why don’t I have clothes on, Earl?”

  “Because you change your clothes. If I drew the clothes you are wearing today, they would be wrong later on.” He brought the notebook back around so they could both see it. “See? Now it’s always right.” He smiled. “See?”

  Summer exhaled slowly. She was preparing herself to ask why the tops of her nipples were required in the sketch, and then changed her mind. “So do you have a sketch of Doctor Stephanie Dixon?”

  “Oh sure. I have sketches of all the doctors. Doctor Dixon even bought a portrait from me. It was twenty dollars. Twenty dollars is a very fair price.”

  “It is.” Summer agreed.

  “It’s private.” Earl said.

  “Well, we are friends, Stephanie and I,” Summer lied. “So I think it will be okay for me to see it.”

  “If you’re friends.” Earl flipped four pages deeper into the notebook. A strikingly accurate sketch of Stephanie was centered on the page. The tops of her breasts were also visible. Nipples seemed to be required in his sketches.

  “Oh, poor Stephanie.”

  “What is
wrong with Doctor Dixon?” Earl asked. “Does she feel ill?”

  “No,” Summer smiled. “It’s nothing.” She looked at Earl. “So Doctor Dixon and Doctor Larson...”

  Earl flipped to the next page where his sketch was. “Doctor Brian Larson.” He shook his head as he tut-tutted. “He and Doctor Dixon would meet each other a lot.”

  “They would meet?” She fought to contain her smile- his sketch also went to his nipples. “At least you’re consistent.”

  “What?”

  “They would meet?” Summer repeated, deciding to keep the conversation away from body parts.

  “Yes.” Earl said. “They would meet in his room. Or they would meet in her room.” He looked at Summer. “A lot.”

  “But, now they don’t?”

  Earl shook his head. “Not yesterday and not today. At the last conference, they met all the time. Not this time.”

  “Do you know why?”

  Earl leaned in close. “Maybe they remembered they were married to different people!” He whispered.

  Summer tried not to smile. “Yes, that is probably it.” She gestured at the sketch of Brian. It was once again, an exact likeness. “You are a very talented artist, Earl.”

  Earl smiled. “Do you want a portrait? A portrait is twenty dollars...”

  “Twenty dollars is a very fair price,” Summer finished for him. She laughed. “Yes, please Earl; I would love a portrait.” She decided that with his obvious social issues, he supported himself by selling sketches. And they were, after all, excellent. “I will send it to my mother for Christmas.” She leaned over and nudged him with her shoulder. “So with clothes, please.”

  Earl stepped back quickly away from her touch. “No, no, no.” He moved to where the hallway turned. “No, don’t do that.”

  “I’m sorry, Earl. I was just...” Summer frowned. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise you, Earl.” She smiled. “I won’t ever do that again. Okay?”

  “Okay.” He didn’t move back to her. “Okay.”

  She put her hands in her pockets- something her Sensei would have scolded her for, but she felt that Earl was as far from a threat as possible. “Hey, what do you think of Doctor Scott Anderson?”

  “Doctor Anderson is mean.” Earl said.

  “Huh.” Summer noticed he didn’t refer to the dead dentist in the past tense. “Why do you say that?” She pointed. “Say, can we walk out as we talk?”

  “Sure, Miss Summer Schauers....”

  “Just Summer is fine.” She started for the corner.

  “Summer.” Earl repeated. He waited until she was beside him, then he started down the hallway.

  “How is he mean?”

  “He yells at the other dentists. He pushes me. He grabbed Doctor Dixon this morning. Grabbed her.” He looked at Summer. “He grabbed her at nine twenty five AM. She told him ‘no’. That’s what you are supposed to say.”

  “I see. Yes, that’s exactly what you are supposed to say. So he pushes you?”

  Earl nodded. “I tell him ‘no’. A lot. But he still does it. Then he laughs.”

  “That is mean.” Summer said. “What a jerk.”

  She reached into her back pocket for her digital recorder and realized it wasn’t there. “Oh, crud.” She frowned. “So Brian and Stephanie would meet until this conference.” A thought occurred to her. “Earl, how long have they been meeting?”

  “Oh, I don’t know that.”

  “How long have you known they have been meeting?”

  “Four years, four months, two weeks, one day,” Earl said without missing a beat. “I went to drop off a portrait at the hotel room of Doctor Joe Sorenson and I saw him go into her room. It was Saturday. Eight thirty PM.”

  “Wow.” Summer did a double take at the man. “That’s amazing.”

  Earl didn’t know what she was talking about so he just continued to walk.

  Summer missed not having her recorder to gather her thoughts and just decided to say them out loud to help remember them. “But not now. So there’s friction there.” She looked at Earl. “Who else is Doctor Anderson mean to?”

  “Oh, he yells at the people he works on. He yells at the people other dentists bring. He yells at everyone, I think.”

  “Even Bill Volker?”

  Earl opened the notebook and flipped to a sketch of Bill. “Bill Volker,” he said.

  “Yes, that’s him. How long as he been yelling at him? I mean, how long have you known he has yelled at him?”

  “Only since the convention in Seattle.” Earl said. “Six months one week and three days ago. He yelled at him after putting in a filling. It was a gold filling. Definitely gold.”

  “He didn’t yell at him before that?” The pair walked past the intersection. There was a police officer putting tape up around the knife. “Hello, officer,” Summer said with a smile. “Any trouble?”

  “No ma’am,” the police officer lied. “Nothing to see here.”

  “We’ll just move along then,” Summer said. “Let’s go Earl.” She pointed down the hallway as she picked up her pace. “He didn’t yell at him before that?”

  Earl caught up with her quickly. “Before that there was another man he yelled at. Derek Gilson.”

  Summer waited for him to flip to another page in his notebook, but he didn’t. “You don’t have a sketch of Derek?”

  “Not in this book. Each conference has its own book.”

  “That makes sense. So he yells at Bill.” She frowned again because she had dropped her recorder at some point. “Remember to talk to Bill Volker.”

  “I don’t want to talk to Bill Volker,” Earl said. “He doesn’t want a sketch. I already asked.”

  “No, not you; I was making a mental note. I’ve dropped my recorder somewhere in here.”

  “I have not seen it.” Earl gestured at a door. “So someone has picked it up.”

  “That’s our exit?”

  Earl nodded. “That door opens to the main lobby by the escalators. I don’t like the escalators so I take the stairs. But that’s where this door opens.”

  “I understand completely.” Summer said. When they got to the door, Summer moved to the side. “And you have a key for this door?”

  Earl nodded. He flipped to near the front of his notebook to a sketch of Quincy. “Mister Klugman said I could use his key to go into the hallways because the convention gets crowded.” He held up a finger. “But I’m supposed to make sure every door I use is locked behind me and I’m not supposed to loan the key to anyone. Ever.”

  “He lets you use the hallways to avoid the crowds?”

  “People bump into me; I don’t like that.”

  “That is very nice of Mister Klugman.” Summer said as Earl opened the door. “What do you do for him in payment?” Summer thought of nefarious things Quincy could have asked for.

  “I gave him a sketch of his wife and him together. Last time it was one of his two children together.”

  “For free?”

  “He lets me use the key so that I don’t get bumped in to. The time before that was a sketch of his Harley Davidson Softail.” Earl stepped out into the foyer, Summer right behind. “That is a very fair price to not get bumped.”

  Summer stepped in front of the man. “That is a really fair price, Earl.” Summer started to reach out to shake his hand then just waved instead. “I’m going to go find my friend, Maxine, Earl.”

  Earl opened his notebook and flipped through it quickly. He held it up to show the sketch of Maxine. “I don’t know Maxine’s last name. What is her last name? She is very nice and smart.” True enough- he had written Maxine and ‘very nice’ and ‘smart’ below her sketch.

  “Her last name is Bryant. She is a photographer for the paper.”

  “B-R-Y-A-N-T?” Earl spelled.

  “Yes. You are a good speller, Earl.”

  Earl took his pencil from his notebook and wrote Maxine’s last name.
Then without another word, turned and walked toward the stairs.

  “Huh. Guy draws your nipples and you don’t even get a good bye.” She turned and looked towards the men’s room. There were two security guards standing a bit off from the entrance, keeping people from standing and watching too long. Several police officers were also there. Maxine and Stephan were standing with their backs toward her. “Ahh, here we go.” She started to jog in their direction.

  FOURTEEN

  Summer jostled between Maxine and Stephan. “What’d I miss?” She said as she put her arms over their shoulders, making them both jump.

  “Summer!” Maxine turned and hugged her friend. “We had no idea where you got off to.”

  Stephan took a step back. “We were both worried.”

  “Aww.” Summer picked Maxine up. “Look at that.” She put her friend down. “The worried couple.”

  Stephan cleared his throat. “So... who was chasing you in the hallway?”

  “Excuse me,” one of the police officers said.

  “Yes?” Summer answered.

  “Are you a witness?”

  “No.” Summer lied. “You see... what happened was...”

  “Then kindly go have your reunion someplace else.” The office interrupted. “This is an open investigation.”

  “Yes, Officer,” Stephan said. He took Maxine and Summer’s hands and led them away.

  Summer looked down. “You’re just going to pull me around?”

  “He does that,” Maxine said.

  When they got to the escalators, he stopped and let go of their hands. “Who was chasing you?”

  “We were so worried.”

  Summer put her hands on her hips. “Relax you two. It was all a misunderstanding, really. It was only Earl.”

  Stephan chuckled. “Did you see his sketch of you?”

  “We are not going to discuss Earl’s sketches of myself or Maxine.”

  “Wait; he sketched me too?” Maxine crossed her arms. “Like he did Doctor Anderson?”

  Stephan laughed again. “Ooh, I need to find Earl.”