by Marie Marini
Or maybe I was just reading into things too much. Not everything was a case to crack. The girls seemed confident and happy anyway. I have a really bad habit of reading into things and seeing things that aren’t there. That was part of the reason why I was still single. I was determined not to do that with Kris. I would keep an open mind and keep my eyes open, but I wasn’t going to sabotage this relationship before it even got started.
When the girls were finally snoring and Mom gave in to the exhaustion and went to bed, Steph and I slipped out onto the patio with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. We left Doc and Dad to their debates. I groaned as I sat down. Steph smiled.
“I don’t know how you do it,” I told her. “The cooking, cleaning, working and raising those two monsters!”
“They adore you, you know.” She stretched her feet out into my lap for me to rub them. “I know you love your job, but I do worry about you little brother. You need a good woman and a couple of your own monsters to come home to.” “Besides, my monsters need cousins!” She sipped on her wine.
“Funny you should say that,” I said. Steph raised her eyebrows but said nothing. “No, nothing serious but I have met someone with potential to be kind of special.”
Steph pulled her feet from my lap and sat forward. “Tell me everything! Do not leave out any details, unless you’ve slept with her. I don’t need those details.” Steph laughed and her eyes lit up at the prospect of hearing all my news. Steph has this amazing ability to make everyone she speaks to feel as though they’re the most important person in the world and their news is the most fascinating thing she’s ever heard. It’s one of the things I love most about her. She’s everyone’s cheerleader. So I sat back with my wine and told her everything, well almost everything. I may have left out a few details of how we met.
I spent Thursday and Friday on the West Coast then drove home on Saturday morning to get ready for the big date night. The girls gave me good advice. Julianna told me not to wear shorts and Josephina told me to make sure I smell nice. Julianna jumped back in saying, “Yeah, wear deodorant girls like that!” So I decided on navy Chinos and a short sleeve Cuban style shirt. It was a dark red with a white design running vertically on both sides of the buttons. Red white and blue. So patriotic! As I stepped out the door I hoped I hadn’t overdone it with the cologne. I got there early and secured a table with an unobstructed view of the ocean. I sipped a beer while I waited, enjoying the breeze off the ocean and trying not to overthink things. Finally, the heat of summer was giving up, the humidity was dropping off and the breeze brought a cool waft of salt and seaweed. This is the time when South Florida explodes with tourists. This is the reason the locals suffer through the impenetrable heat of summer for these calm clear nights of winter when you can walk on the beach and not break a sweat. Kris was right on time. She was wearing a short black skirt and a hot pink halter top. The look was casual but not too casual, just right. The high wedge sandals gave her a good two inches and really made her legs look amazing. She got more than a couple of appreciative glances as she made her way in the front door where I met her and led her to the table.
She wore little makeup, just enough to make her eyes sizzle with that dimple when she smiled. She was hot. The halter top really showed her arms; she was toned and defined but not muscular. We both ordered fish dishes. I drank a couple of beers and discovered that she doesn’t drink, not even for Christmas. My mom would love her.
“Tell me about yourself, Kris. Did you always want to be a firefighter? How long have you been doing it?” I asked as I cut my Mahi-Mahi and scooped up some dirty rice and beans onto my fork with the fish.
“Oh, my Mom was a Fire Captain and since I was thirteen, I’ve wanted to be just like her.” She fiddled with a necklace as she talked, I couldn’t make out what it was until she finally let it go and leaned forward for a bite of her swordfish sandwich. A silver hummingbird.
“What about your Dad? What did he do?” I asked.
“Daddy died when I was young, remember the last funeral I went to before Darren’s?” Kris said quietly.
“I’m so sorry.” Before I could say anything else, Kris smiled.
“No sad stuff. I’m sure your life is much more interesting than mine. You’re a detective after all. Tell me about that. What was the most interesting case you ever worked?” She quickly turned the conversation around, saving me from myself and an awkward moment. I paused to think about that, but then she talked with passion about nursing school and the medical side of her job. In Southeast Florida, there weren’t too many fires to fight but you have to hold both Firefighter and Paramedic licenses to get hired with Fire Rescue. She loved being in a fire and wearing her SCBA. We finished up dinner and I took care of the bill and asked her to take a walk with me.
We walked along A1A on the ocean side for a ways before kicking off our shoes and taking the sandy trail to the beach. The gentle surf was musical. We sat on wooden pallets that during the day are covered in padded cushions and rented by the hour. She seemed more relaxed away from the busy restaurant. As we listened to the waves gently stroke the sand, my thumb absently stroked her hand. I don’t know why I kept thinking how much my family would like her but I did. I kept trying to picture her among them, see if she would fit in. I knew she would. When I leaned in to kiss her, she kissed me back for a second then pulled away. She said she really liked me, but I would have to be patient with her. Take it really slow. She was raised Catholic and although she didn’t go to church anymore, she was an old-fashioned girl.
I liked that.
I went on a date with Jesus and within one dinner I had him eating out of my hand.
When I got there he was waiting just inside the open doorway of the restaurant. He looked pretty smart and dare I say it a little bit handsome but that fucking huge nose! I almost laughed out loud at that thought. He had already paid the waiter to hold a table with a good view to impress me. I thought he was middle-eastern, he told me his mother was Iranian and his father was Cuban Catholic. Well, at least he had the Catholic thing going for him. I got him talking about his family and suffered through the pictures of his nieces and his adoration of his sister. God, I hate hearing about other people’s boring perfect families. Don’t they understand people are just being polite? No one actually cares. Men just like to talk about themselves so if you play to their ego they’ll open up like a hooker’s legs on payday. After I talked a little about nursing school, it didn’t take long to get him talking about his work.
We actually did have some things in common. We talked at length about anatomy and physiology and touched on microbiology before I steered him to talk about forensics. I wish I could have had a notebook to take notes, it really was interesting, but I couldn’t look too interested. That would be weird. Slow and steady. I had to learn patience. I already knew how I was going to play it when he kissed me and it worked a treat. I could almost see the frustration in his face give way to satisfaction and pleasure. He would go slow. All I had to do was drag this ‘relationship’ out. Make out a little and, eventually, I might have to let him feel me up a bit. I could do this.
He could never know about the trailer. I could take him to the house in Pompano, but I hated being there so far from all my memories of Darren. Still, it was time to move on and Jesus was part of the plan. Jesus was my insurance policy.
I was ready to start looking into the auction vehicles and see what was out there. I had my dad and my brother’s social security numbers and had already decided to put the ambulance in Daddy’s name. I applied for a few credit cards in Sam’s name. If he was still alive his credit would be shit, but credit card companies give a minimum limit to anyone. All you need is an address and a social security number.As far as I knew, my dad was still buried in the backyard. The police thought he was there with Sam that day and presumed he and Sam ran off together and at the time I was in no fit state to tell them otherwise. By the
time I could have told them, I was too scared that they would blame me for his death. So I kept my mouth shut. I still have his driver’s license and have mastered his signature. It would be poetic to buy the ambulance in Dad’s name. I thought he would like that. He would have laughed and called me a ‘”batshit crazy little whore.” He didn’t mean it bad, it was just a joke. It was just what he called me sometimes when I made him laugh. No one would be looking for Dad all these years later and in another state. I felt good about my decision and set about looking for the right vehicle at the right price.
It was Christmas before I found it. The timing was perfect. Jesus would be with his family for the holiday, he politely invited me saying he didn’t want me to be alone and I equally politely declined saying I had plenty of studying to do and I would be working on Christmas day anyway. The truck I wanted was at an auction house in Jupiter, so I went to the auction and managed to get it for $25,000. I know it was a crazy amount of money but new the trucks go for $200,000 so it really was a good price. Plus, I could pay in cash. They had stripped it down mostly in the back but the rails for the stretcher to lock in were still there and the bench seats. The Lieutenant chair at the head of the stretcher was gone but the cabinets weren’t. I already had a notary in Sam’s name. Every now and then you need something notarized. I was going to do it in my own name until I realized you can do an online course and get your public notary license and stamp in Florida without anyone ever verifying you. So I decided to use Sam’s name. I took the tri-rail to Jupiter to pick up the truck and took an Uber from the train station. Of course, the Uber account was in my own name, but that couldn’t be helped. Just one little thing wouldn’t be a problem. There was a young woman at the auction lot who was in a hurry to leave. It was starting to rain and it was their last work day before Christmas. She barely glanced at the notarized letter before handing over the keys and the title for the vehicle. She hustled me out of there and locked up. It ran a little rough, but I could work on it myself out by the trailer in Bean town. I wasn’t in a hurry. I was still formulating my plan.
I didn’t want to use chloroform, too cliché and when you’re my size, it’s not easy to apply a rag to their nose and mouth without them seeing it coming. I had access to all kinds of drugs at both the hospital and Fire Rescue. I’d have to be careful about how much I took, but I was sure I could make it work. Just picking the right drug was going to be hard. I was thinking maybe I could use Rohypnol, the date rape drug that got all the press a few years back. I would have to get the drug in them and then convince them to come somewhere with me where no one would see them pass out and I could load them into an ambulance. So while everyone was roasting chestnuts and singing “Away in a Manger,” I was studying pharmacology and working on the ambulance engine behind the trailer. I still had to find a stretcher and I had no idea how or where to get one. Then I thought, ‘Unless I stole one.’ WHOA! That would take balls.
I sat down and methodically thought it through. A lot of stations leave the bay doors open and the trucks are right there unlocked. I would have to be really brazen. Park the ambulance right there and stroll in, open up a truck and take the stretcher out. Load it in my ambulance and drive away. There was a chance that the tones would go off and the crew would come out into the bay and catch me red-handed. They usually shut down the bay doors when it gets dark. During the day there are too many people coming and going, but dinner time might just work. I could practice how long it takes me walk across the bay floor, open the truck, unload the stretcher, push it to the old ambulance and reload get in the truck and drive away. I would time myself over and over again. This would be the biggest chance I had taken and if it went wrong the whole thing would come tumbling down. Dad and Sam’s names were all over this thing. I would go to jail.
But I needed that stretcher.
The Fire Chief puts out a statistical report every month. I could find out what station had the least number of calls and what time of day was the quietest. I thought if I did my homework, I might just be able to pull this off. I was putting a lot of work and money into this but the opportunity to study REAL anatomy was too tempting for me. I poured over three years of statistical reports, compiling Excel spreadsheets that I could pull data from. I created pie charts and graphs. I was meticulous in the detail. I decided it would be best to steal from my own department because they would never suspect one of their own. My fingerprints belonged on that equipment anyway. I could do this. I was smart enough. I just had to be brave enough.
The station I worked at was old and scheduled to be demolished and a new station built in around three years. The department had just started putting security cameras in the bay area of the stations. For years the only cameras were at the front door in case someone left a baby or something. That’s the only camera they had at that old station. At first, I thought I couldn’t do it on my own shift, then I realized that would be even better. My Captain was a dick; he’d be the one held responsible. I would love to see him swing in the breeze. I could take the day off or schedule an exchange. If anyone saw me in the bay, I could make up some excuse that I came to pick up equipment to train with or something. According to my data, the best time to do this would be a Saturday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. in June. Well hell, I wasn’t waiting until June. It would just have to be a Saturday in January and 6 p.m. sounds about right for dinner. It was unlikely they would look inside the Medic truck to see that the stretcher was missing until they get a call. Most of the trucks are dual cabs now, so on the way to the call no-one usually sits in back anymore. There was a chance they wouldn’t even realize they didn’t have a stretcher until they got to the call. Funny shit! Hopefully, some poor bastard wasn’t coding or stroking out. As long as the tones didn’t go off while I was unloading the stretcher this might just work.
I got my old ambulance working relatively smooth and bought some magnetic decals for the side of it. I could change them out periodically. I had a landscape company, a plumbing company, and a painting company. Amazing that you can buy all this stuff online. You can create your own design and decal and not have to show proof of an existing business or anything. I painted all the back cab windows white so no one could see in. I had picked my day, Saturday, January 23rd. I had an exchange set up. Rodriguez was working for me, I would work for him on Christmas Day. I would have loved to stick around and see his face when the stretcher was discovered missing.
I was so nervous my hands were shaking on the wheel as I drove to the station. I had loaded and unloaded this exact stretcher from this exact truck and timed the whole operation over 60 times. I could complete the entire process in under 4 minutes. The one big thing that made me nervous was that I had to leave the engine running and if the guys in the station heard it, I didn’t have an explanation for the truck. My heart was racing as I pulled into place. My hands were sweating on the wheel, my heart beating in my throat. I took a deep breath and stepped out, then ran to the Medic truck and opened the back doors. I started unloading the stretcher when I realized God Damned Rodriguez had left the trauma bag and the lifepac on the stretcher! That wouldn’t work. I had to climb into the truck and move the equipment off the stretcher first. My heart was pounding so loud in my head that I might not even hear them come into the bay. I was taking too long! I got the stretcher unloaded and I didn’t wait around. I ran to the waiting truck and loaded the stretcher. It didn’t lock in properly and would be moving around the cab but I couldn’t waste any more time. It had already been five and a half minutes. As I drove off, I realized I left the medic truck door open. SHIT! It was all going wrong. I drove two blocks and parked the ‘painting’ truck in the parking lot of the Baptist Church. I ran back to the station. I could hear the guys laughing in the kitchen. It was starting to get dark, so they would be coming out any minute to close the bay doors. I closed the ambulance door as quietly as I could. Just then I heard the door to the bay open. I ducked behind the big oxygen tanks we keep in the bay. Rodrigu
ez! He barely looked around, he just hit the garage door button on the wall and walked back into the station. I didn’t have to do any James Bonds move under the bay door, I could let myself out the side door without anyone seeing me. Back in the truck I secured the stretcher and headed home. I was SOOO buzzed! I did it! I was officially in business! I couldn’t wait to see the fallout at work. Just thinking about Rodriguez’s face made me smile.
Christmas day was at my parents’ house. It was understood that I would buy a house and take over Christmas day hosting from my parents soon. Everyone reminded me every year as the girls got older and the condo got more cramped. We always did Christmas Eve at Uncle Fernando and Aunt Iris’s house. My cousin Javier was in charge of roasting the pig in the caja china. Uncle Fernando and Aunt Iris celebrated their Cuban heritage but Noche Buena was the only Cuban holiday my dad would celebrate. When Uncle Fernando retired, he bought five acres out west of Miami. The house had four bedrooms, but Aunt Iris would set up the barn for the kids to bunk in with sleeping bags. They loved sharing the space with the goats and horses.
It was just after two when I arrived at my parents in Fort Lauderdale. Steph, Pete, and the kids were there and everyone was ready to go. We all piled in the seven seater minivan and headed out, tortured by the smell of all the pastries mom had made the whole ride there. Fernando and Iris had four kids and a few grandkids. When all was counted for, there were 15, plus the seven of us. As soon as we arrived the girls ran for the barn and their cousins. I grabbed a beer from the cooler beside the caja china and joined my cousins before I could get dragged into the all-too-familiar debates that Dad and Fernando got into every year. Steph and Mom would be in the kitchen with Iris, drinking wine and talking about the men. Javier had recently invested in a Palomino horse and so the conversation revolved around that. It was light and easy and if tradition had anything to do with it all would go well until after dark.
