by Alexie Aaron
Roland swirled the ice in his glass before speaking. His green eyes held Calvin’s a moment before he spoke. “There was an explosion…”
“A state police car, not properly maintained,” Calvin stated. “You should look into increasing the budget so their vehicles are safe.”
“And the attack on those guards… What kind of element are you bringing into our community?” Roland asked.
“I’m bringing in culture.”
“We have a library and theater,” Dodd said.
Calvin looked at him with amusement. “Culture, as in the arts. Active, thriving artists creating their work just outside the Stepner city limits. As soon as the art world gets this information, you’ll have quality people from all over the globe visiting your small town. Your restaurants will be packed, and you’ll have B&Bs popping up in your stately old homes. Stepner won’t just be a summer spot, but a place worth visiting year-round. Think of the money this is going to bring in. You can build an adequate community center and educate your young with music and theatre. The increase in taxes for the community will help to maintain the streets and bridges, and to build a decent marina.”
“Hey, there is nothing wrong with my marina,” Dodd snapped.
“But a public marina, one that the community can use,” Calvin said. “Senator Wilson, surely you can see how this will benefit your constituents?”
Roland tried not to let the disdain he had for Stepner’s population show with his practiced neutral expression. He was pushing his mid-seventies, but he was still bright enough to know when he was being baited. “Yes, I see the advantage of a little competition. Hank, you’ll have to bring your prices down.”
“This vision of yours, can it be realized?” Mark asked. “I mean, what if something happens to you. We’re of an age that illness or an accident can strike us at any time.”
Calvin bit back the question of whether or not he was subtly being threatened by the mayor of Stepner and said instead, “Gentlemen, I’ve thought about this long and hard. This is why my estate is directed to continue this project if something should happen to me. My lawyers are a tenacious group. There won’t be but a few days of mourning before the reconstruction of High Court will continue - after a thorough federal investigation of course.”
“Why have you chosen Stepner for your artist colony?” Roland asked, still managing to maintain a calm exterior.
“I was driving through and felt a pull. I won’t pretend to being psychic, but I swear I heard this place calling to me. I started with the gallery, which has already paid for itself, and then the eyesore across the street beckoned me. I swear, I heard the words, ‘Help me, will no one help me?’ I decided that I would be of help. After all, I’m a gentleman.”
A knock preceded Barry walking in. “Sir, I’m here to remind you of your appointment.”
“Thank you, Barry. Gentlemen, if there is anything further, please make an appointment with Barry. He keeps my calendar. Good evening,” Calvin said and walked out.
“Gentlemen, please take the time to finish your drinks. I’ll keep the gallery open for you,” Barry said and walked out the door with his back rod-straight.
“Why that little upstart! His folks clean fish for Bruiser’s fishing-tour boats,” Dodd spat.
“Hank, I really must insist you curb your tongue,” Roland said. “Mark just may have to take it out of your mouth.”
Mark smiled.
“That old wreck? Give me a fucking break,” Dodd said, gulped down the expensive bourbon, and slammed the glass down hard on the end table before he got up and walked out of the lounge.
“Dodd’s trouble,” Mark said. “Something ought to be done about him.”
“Please, haven’t we paid enough? I’m sure he’s got his daddy’s file. Why else would I have put up with him this long? Let’s see what our asset says is going on at the motel.”
“Why the hell did he blow up that cop car?” Mark asked.
“He didn’t. I think it’s just as Franks said, a faulty vehicle.”
“Get real, Roland, you know why we never went back there as well as I do.”
“Luminosa Bautista is dead, as is her little snooping pup Miguel. Nothing can be pinned on us. If the investigation is resumed, we’ll throw Hank on the fire - after he’s killed of course. His father covered up the investigation after his son went crying to him. Who’s to say that Hank didn’t kill everyone while he was high on drugs, and his daddy covered it up for him.”
“I see you’ve thought about this.”
“I’ve had fifty-two years to think about this. You can’t tell me you haven’t?”
“No, not really,” Mark smiled. “Come on, I’ll buy you a decent drink. Who's Franks kidding with this bourbon? It’s hardly fit to clean his artists’ paintbrushes.”
Calvin noticed the sheriff’s car parked in front of the construction office. Cid and the other two contractors were supervising the removal of the exterior of the east wall of the old motel’s office and laundry while Sheriff Grady talked with Calvin’s forensic expert.
“How are they able to do this?” he asked himself. “They must have made an accord with Luminosa.” Now was the time to come clean and tell them why he was really here. He strode over to the sheriff with an extended hand. “Sheriff, I think it’s time we had a heart-to-heart.”
Grady took Calvin’s hand and nodded in agreement. “Cid, could you come over here a moment?”
Cid did so and was happy to hear that Calvin Franks was going to tell them the real reason why the High Court renovation was so important. “If possible, would you mind if I invited my team to this confession?” Cid asked. “I hate for them to get things secondhand.”
“Sure, let’s use the construction office,” Grady suggested.
“I’ve asked for Kiki Pickles to join us,” Calvin said. “Her sister is going to drop her off.”
The sound of a car taking the steep drive drew the attention of the men.
“Your harem awaits,” Mimi said. “Now aren’t you glad I made you take off that stained sweatshirt?”
“It’s not stained, just old and comfy,” Kiki defended.
“Grape jelly on gray…”
“It was white.”
“Oh God, that was not white anymore. I’m going to burn it when I get home.”
“You do that, and I’ll nail you into the bathroom.”
“You would, wouldn’t you?”
“With pleasure. Now smile, here come the guys,” Kiki said.
Mimi got out of the car and reached in the back for Kiki’s crutches. She shouldn’t have bothered. Wayne scooped up Kiki in his arms.
“I’m seeing double,” Calvin said.
“I’m sorry. Calvin Franks, this is my twin sister Mimi Pickles. Mimi, you already met Sheriff Grady, I believe.”
“Yes, we met at the hospital,” Grady said.
Calvin reached over and shook Mimi’s hand gently. Mimi picked up such a sensual vibe that it almost knocked her off her feet. “Nnn… nice to meet you.”
Kiki was uncomfortably aware of Mimi’s immediate attraction to Calvin. There were some things identical twins could not hide from each other. “Mimi is an excellent third-grade teacher. She’s preparing a paper on how to improve the educational system,” Kiki informed them, in order to paint a scholarly picture over her sex-kitten sister’s portrait.
“Your students must be enchanted,” Calvin said.
“Here’s her crutches. Really, Wayne, she can walk on them,” Mimi said.
“We’ve got some uneven ground, and since I’m the head of safety, I’ll decide whether I’m going to have Kiki risking her other leg, thank you.”
Grady and Calvin picked up on the contractor’s dislike for the twin.
Cid cleared his voice. “We were just going into the office for a meeting. Mimi, if you want to wait, my trailer’s open, and I have cookies on the table by the television.”
“No. Thanks for the offer, but I’m headed into town
to do some shopping. Just call or drop her off when she gets tired. Nice to meet you, Calvin,” Mimi repeated and got back into the car.
Wayne started for the office, followed by the other two contractors.
Grady lagged behind with Calvin and asked him, “Did you get the feeling of relief when Mimi declined Cid’s offer?”
“Oh yes. I’m beginning to see that the packaging doesn’t adequately represent the product. These men do not like Kiki’s sister. I wonder why?”
“Take care in exploring that mystery,” Grady said. “Remember, you’re Kiki’s boss. Your allegiance is to her.”
“You’re a man of honor, Sheriff. Thank you for reminding me of mine.” Calvin’s phone rang. “Excuse me,” he said, putting the phone to his ear. “Yes, send it. Thank you, Barry, you can close up now.”
Calvin accessed his mail and smiled. “I have something you may want to look at after I’ve explained myself to the group.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Grady said.
Cid waited, holding the door. “Gentlemen, it’s a bit snug in there, but I think we’ll all fit. I’ve asked the security personnel to provide someone at the door so we’ll not be interrupted.”
As if on cue, Marty Newsom walked over and nodded to Cid.
Cid heard Faye sigh. He motioned for her to join them before he shut the door.
“Forgive me for taking lead on this meeting,” Cid said to Kiki. “But there is a lot of information to go over, and I’ll try to keep us from dithering as much as possible.”
“But dithering is what I do best,” Jesse joked.
“Scrub, down boy,” Kiki said, her voice softer than normal.
“Okay,” Cid said. “First off, Calvin would like to address us.”
“Thank you.” Calvin walked to where all the group could see him before he spoke. “By now, the sheriff and possibly a few of you have questions regarding my involvement with Stepner, particularly High Court. Forgive me for starting at the beginning, but any good story has a beginning, a middle, and, hopefully, a happy ending. Here’s my story:”
“I met Pedro Bautista when I joined his unit in Vietnam. He took into account the scrawny frightened kid in front of him and decided to become my protector. I had just turned eighteen when the draft snapped me up. He saved my butt a number of times. Pedro taught me the art of being a warrior in a war we should not have been called into. He set me straight. ‘You’re here now, make the best of it,’ he told me, and together we made a formidable duo. As our friendship developed, he shared with me the letters and pictures that his family had sent. I began to care for Luminosa and the children as if they were my own family.
“Pedro had a letter on him that he wanted me to know about. He instructed me to send it to his family if he was killed in battle. Also, to tell them he would be waiting for them in the Elysian Fields. Pedro was killed in a battle where I, too, was wounded. By the time I got out of the triage unit, they had already shipped his body home. I wasn’t able to send the letter and prayed that the coroners had seen it and delivered it to his family. The war continued, and days turned into months, and months into years. By the time I was released from active duty, a few years had passed. I traveled to Stepner as soon as my feet touched the mainland, only to find Luminosa gone. After some inquiries, I found out that she and four of her children had been killed by an unknown assailant. I searched and found Silvia and Raúl in separate foster homes. It took a few years of getting myself stable before the courts allowed me to adopt Silvia and Raúl. The children were once more reunited, but they had lost so much, and it took years before they would accept me and my first wife as their protectors.
“Before you ask, they remember nothing about that horrible day, except Miguel telling them to hide. They thought it was a game until the shots started. They saw no one and can’t remember who used Cabin 4. I thought it best to let that horrible memory die so the children could move on to live a normal life with us in New York. Silvia manages one of my galleries there, and Raúl designs office spaces and has a wife and family of his own.”
“You did a wonderful thing,” Kiki said. “You saved the kids from the system.”
“But it wasn’t enough for me,” Calvin said, patting his chest. “I wanted justice for the dead. I hired an investigator who I believe was in contact with your father, Sheriff. Between the two of them, they had several lines of inquiry, but each ended in a dead end. You would think that would be enough for a normal person, but I’m not exactly built that way. I traveled once again to this place, stood on the ground where Luminosa fell, and I cried. I heard something in the adjoining woods, and a dog came bounding out of the brush. She licked the tears off my face. She was followed by her owner - a Jeff somebody, his name doesn’t matter. He asked me why I was there.
“I told him that I wasn’t really sure, but the place seemed to call to me. He pointed out that he knew the place had been put up for sale, but it had no takers. I could probably get it for a song. The old resturaunt across the street was on the market too. Evidently, it had failed because of the eyesore it was located across from. I felt I should explain why I was crying, but the man just held out his hand and helped me up. Jeff told me that he and his dog Sheba had often heard crying from the motel. He just assumed I was the ghost he had seen from time to time. I asked him about the crying, and he said he assumed it was the mother of the murdered family. That’s when he told me the tale of his cub reporter days at the Gazette. He, evidently, was the first reporter on the scene.”
“Did he tell you anything that the paper didn’t publish?” Grady asked.
“Only about the pissing match between your father and Inspector Dodd. He and Maury Eggleston were flabbergasted that the case was dropped so quickly or, as Jeff put it, conveniently. He alluded to some kids of bigwigs possibly being involved, but the paper never could prove anything. ‘In those days,’ he said. ‘You had to have proof to publish.’ I thanked him for the information, and the two comrades continued on their walk. That’s when I started to form my plan. I would open a gallery out here and use the excuse of building an artists’ retreat to give me reason to purchase the motel too. I was going to strip the place down to the ground if it would yield any more evidence. But there was a problem…”
“Luminosa,” Kiki filled in. “When did she start her reign of terror?”
“She started the moment the first stake was put in the ground by a surveyor. Scared the team off. I kept hiring, and she kept up her vigil. I knew I had to put her to rest or my plans were going to go nowhere. That’s about the time I ran into the owner of Hidden Meadow. I was invited there to recommend a few investments for him to hang on his walls. That’s when he took me over to the singing well…”
Grady was lost at this point but decided to keep quiet. He didn’t want to disrupt Calvin’s flow. He would ask his questions later.
“He told me about the interesting time your team had during the renovation and recommended you highly, Kiki. I had your group investigated, and when I found out you had previously hired Cid from PEEPs, I knew you were a good fit.”
“That’s why you insisted on the special trim on the studios,” Kiki realized. “That’s Cid’s specialty. Calvin, you played me like a violin.”
“I would have said banjo, but the imagery is the same.”
“Why insist on the confidentiality contract?” Cid asked.
“Because workers gossip. I feared that if the guilty parties got wind of what I was doing, they would act before I had solid evidence. Turns out, Sheriff William Grady’s hunch was right.”
“Which hunch?” Grady asked.
“About Dodd protecting his son and his druggy friends. They just came to see me. I have a video of our meeting and their conversations before and after. My first floor lounge we usually use for video conferences. I filmed them the moment they sat down. Barry just sent me a copy of the meeting.”
“Can’t use it in court,” Grady said.
“I know, but it s
tops us from wasting our time on the other investigations. Here, Cid, do your magic and put it on the others’ phones.”
Cid walked over and picked up Kiki’s phone and looked into the camera. “Jake?”
“On it,” the cartoon Martian voice responded. “In five… four… three… two… and…”
Each person’s phone had the video running. When it finished, there was a brief moment of silence before everyone started speaking at once.
“Please, one at a time,” Cid instructed. “Kiki, you first.”
“Thanks. I should explain Jake’s vigilance. He’s a computer guy, I’ve asked to have my back.”
“How did he get into my phone?” Calvin asked.
“I called you from my phone; this was Jake’s way into your phone. Sorry, Calvin, Jake marches to his own drummer.”
“No problem, we’ll talk about this later.”
“No, now. Calvin, I’ve been suspicious about you for some time. I thought maybe you were using us to destroy any evidence you may have left behind,” Kiki admitted.
Calvin placed his hands on his chest and said, “Me? You thought I killed Luminosa?”
“No, we thought you could have been the money behind the drug operation, initially,” Cid said, rescuing Kiki. “You’re rich and…”
“You were following the money,” he finished.
“Yes, but Jake followed another money trail and found out that two individuals had recently sent like amounts to an offshore account that most likely belongs to a cleaner, a hitman or woman,” Grady said.
“So, you’re in on this too. There go my confidentiality agreements.”
“Don’t blame this crew. I can be dogged when it comes to investigating,” Grady said.
“And you were hoping that there would be leaks anyway,” Cid accused Calvin.
“You’re a smart man, Cid Garrett,” Calvin complimented.
“Well, your ruse worked,” Grady said, tapping his phone. “I’m worried about their next move.”
“Can’t you just arrest the three for murder?” Jesse asked. “We have the bullet casings.”
