by Bill Bernico
Matt shook his head. “Very seldom. Dad retired a few weeks ago and he’s enjoying his free time. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go in and tell Mom that I can’t stick around and wait for her.” Matt walked into the dental office and returned a minute later to find the man still waiting for him.
“I don’t believe I got your name,” Matt said upon returning to the man on the sidewalk.
“Mickey Jones,” the man said, extending his hand.
Matt shook it and then leaned back for another look at the man in front of him. “Mickey Jones,” Matt said. “Seems I remember an actor by that name. Let me see, where did I see him?” He snapped his fingers. “He was the mechanic who took Chevy Chase for a bundle in car repairs out in the desert in National Lampoon’s Vacation. And there was a drummer by that same name who worked with Kenny Rogers in his early band days.”
“Same guy,” Jones said.
“You’re that same guy?” Matt said.
“No,” Jones explained. “I meant that the actor and the drummer were both the same guy. He’s no relation to me.”
“Oh, too bad,” Matt said, looking around him. He turned back to Jones. “Is there someplace we can talk?”
Jones gestured with his chin to a coffee shop across the street from the dental office. “How about over there? This won’t take long.” He and Matt walked to the corner and then crossed to the other side of the street.
Once inside, Matt gestured toward a booth in the back. “How’s that one?”
The two of them slid into the booth, facing each other. A few seconds later a waitress came by with two glasses of water and her order pad. “Coffee?” she said.
“I’ll have a cup,” Jones said.
“Make mine chocolate milk,” Matt said. Like his father, Elliott, Matt never could acquire a taste for coffee and opted, instead, for the same drink Elliott preferred.
The waitress returned a minute later with their drinks and their bill. Jones pulled the bill toward him. “I got this.”
“So, Mr. Jones, what was it you needed me to do for you?”
“Won’t Gloria be joining you?” Jones asked.
“Not right now. She’ll be tied up for the next couple of hours at the dentist. She broke a tooth and has to be fitted for a bridge. Is this something I can handle on my own?”
Jones thought for a moment and then nodded. “I guess so. It just might take you a little longer, is all.”
“So, tell me what you want me to do for you, Mr. Jones.”
Mickey Jones pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Matt. Matt quickly read it. Mickey Jones, Claims Adjuster, it said, along with a phone number and the name of a well-known insurance company in Los Angeles.
Matt tried to hand the card back but Jones held up one hand. “Keep it.” He sipped from his coffee cup, set it back down and began his explanation. “Mr. Cooper, my company underwrites the employee policies at Kirkwood Industries here in town. It seems one of their employees claims to have hurt herself on the job and has sued Kirkwood Industries for a hundred fifty thousand dollars, and won a judgment in that amount. We have it on good authority that this woman is not only faking the extent of her injuries, but that she created the situation that caused said injuries.”
“And you want to hire me to prove otherwise,” Matt said, taking a drink from his chocolate milk.
Jones nodded. “Precisely. And time is of the essence in this matter. You see, our deadline is this Friday.”
“Deadline?”
“This Friday is the last day my company has to comply with the court order to pay her the award,” Jones explained. “I need you to get the proof we need to not only keep us from having to pay the award, but to send her to jail as well. That only gives you three days to accomplish this task. You can see now why I thought it would be better if both you and Gloria handled it together.”
“Okay, Mr. Jones,” Matt began. “In the first place, what makes you think this woman is faking her injuries?”
“Because I saw her doing hard work after the trial,” Jones explained. “Unfortunately I didn’t have a video camera with me at the time or we wouldn’t be having this meeting. Apparently she had no idea I was coming out to see her. When I pulled up in the driveway, I saw her pushing a wheelbarrow full of bricks across her property. When she looked up and saw me, she dropped the handles and immediately fell to the ground, putting on some sort of act for my benefit. I told her I was on to her and left again. A short time later it got back to me that she was pulling up stakes and leaving the state.”
“I don’t suppose your word about what you saw would be enough to convict her,” Matt said.
Jones shook his head. “But if I had solid video, we’d be off the hook.”
“What’s this woman’s name and where does she live?”
“Her name is Carlson, Lucy Carlson and she lives on a small farm on the edge of town.”
“A farm,” Matt said. “I didn’t think there were any more farms left in this area.”
“Well, it’s not a working farm,” Jones explained. “More like a hobby farm or ranch. She doesn’t have any livestock that I could see, but she does have three dogs. All three of them kept me from getting out of my car when I was there. And she has a long driveway, as well. She can see you coming from three blocks away, so you won’t have the element of surprise, either.”
“That could present a problem,” Matt said. “An interesting problem, but a problem nonetheless. I’ll need special equipment and that will cost you extra.”
“Whatever it takes, Mr. Cooper. Even if you have to spend a couple hundred extra for whatever you need. It could mean a savings to us of a hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
“I’ll take the job,” Matt said. “You’ll need to follow me back to my office and fill out our standard contract. Chances are I won’t be able to get started for a couple of hours anyway. Maybe by then Mom will be free to join me on this case, if that’s acceptable to you.”
“Whatever it takes, Mr. Cooper,” Jones said with a bit of relief. “We’re counting on you to get us the goods before Friday.”
“If it can be done, we’ll do it,” Matt said confidently.
The two men concluded there business in Matt’s office a few minutes later and Matt walked Mickey Jones to the door. “I’ll be in touch, Mr. Jones.”
Matt checked his watch and decided that he still had time to make it back to the dentist’s office before Gloria finished with her appointment. He sat in the waiting room for an additional fifteen minutes before Gloria pushed the door open and walked back out again. She smiled when she saw Matt. Matt noticed that the missing tooth had been replaced and smiled back at her.
“Looks good,” Matt said.
“It’s just a temporary,” Gloria explained. “I won’t get the real bridge for another few weeks. At least I don’t have to go around looking like some Hillbilly all that while.” She looked up at the wall clock and then back at her son. “Have you been waiting here this whole time?”
“Come on, Mom,” Matt said, walking her out of the building. “I’ll explain in the car.”
By the time Matt got back to his mother’s house, Gloria had heard the whole story about Mickey Jones and his insurance company’s dilemma. “And you say this guy knew me?” Gloria said.
“You and Dad both,” Matt explained. “Speaking of which, when’s Dad supposed to get back?”
“Sometime Saturday morning,” Gloria said. “He’s off with Eric Anderson again. I tell you, since the two of them retired, they’ve been like a couple of kids with their fishing, camping and whatnot. I sure hope they get it out of their systems and settle back down again.”
“Speaking of retired, did you hear who they picked to replace Lieutenant Anderson?”
“Last I heard,” Gloria said, “it was between two sergeants; Baldwin or Cole.”
“They went with Cole,” Matt explained. “Sergeant Kevin Cole is now Lieutenant Cole. He’s got Eric’s old office.
Gees, that whole place is changing, too.”
“Too?”
“You have to admit, Mom. Cooper and Son is back to just plain ol’ Cooper Investigations. Nothing stays the same.”
“Did you expect your father, or Eric for that matter, to go on doing their same jobs forever?”
“I guess not,” Matt agreed. “I guess I’m just not a big fan of change.”
“Then you’re really not going to like this,” Gloria said.
“What?”
“They’re going to be hiring a new county medical examiner in the next few weeks,” Gloria explained. “Andy’s just about finished and he’ll be retiring soon, too.” Andy was Andy Reynolds, the present medical examiner who’d held that same position since before Matt was born.
“Oh great,” Matt said. “That’s one more index card I’ll have to change. I don’t suppose you know who his replacement will be.”
“No clue,” Gloria said. “I just heard it’s going to be someone named Jerry from out of the area.”
“Listen,” Matt said. “Are you about ready? We have to get going.”
“I’m in,” Gloria said, “but I don’t think we’d better stay together. It’s hard enough for one of us to stay under cover, but two of us together could blow the whole stakeout. No, I think we’d better split up and cover different areas.”
“Where will you be?” Matt said.
“I figured I could tail her when she leaves the ranch,” Gloria explained. “You could try to position yourself outside the perimeter of her property and see if you can spot her from there. You go ahead and get yourself into position. I’ll be waiting down the road from her driveway.”
“Well, then you’d better get moving,” Matt said. “Because I have a few things I need to buy yet.”
“Like what?”
“Like camouflage clothes, camouflage binoculars, a K-bar knife, a bottle of deer scent, a…”
“Whoa, back up there a little. What was that last thing?”
“A K-bar knife.”
“No, after that.”
“A bottle of deer scent.”
“That’s the one,” Gloria said. “What on earth is deer scent?”
Matt had to smile. “Actually, it’s called scent blocker. It’s used to mask any human smells so as not to scare the deer away.”
“And why do you care if you scare deer away?”
“Actually, I’m trying to mask my human smell from Lucy Carlson’s dogs,” Matt explained. “And I’ll need to get some special camouflage clothes that lock in my scent. Carlson has three Rottweilers that would just as soon turn me into a doggy chew toy and I’d just as soon they didn’t.”
Gloria breathed easier now and walked Matt to the door, locking up behind her. “If I need to get a hold of you, I can call your cell.”
Matt shook his head. “It won’t be on,” he said. “I’ll have to lay low and quiet and I can’t have a phone giving away my position. If I get a chance, I can call you. See you later.”
“Don’t forget your video camera,” Gloria said before she drove away. Matt got into his own car and headed directly for the sporting goods store. He emerged twenty-five minutes later with everything he needed to go unnoticed in the woods. Matt drove to the edge of town and parked half a mile from the Carlson ranch. He changed into his camouflage outfit, strapped the K-bar knife to his leg and sprayed generous amounts of scent blocker all over his outfit. His .38 stayed where it was, in the holster under his arm. It took him another twenty minutes to make it to the edge of the wooded area that bordered the Carlson ranch. There he found a fallen tree and positioned himself horizontally behind it, occasionally looking over the top of the log toward the house.
Matt didn’t see Lucy Carlson for the rest of that afternoon. He knew that people like this did their chores early in the morning, just as the sun came up. He knew he’d be in for one uncomfortable night on the ground. Matt watched as long as he could but fell asleep a few hours after midnight. When he awoke, the sun was just peeking over the horizon and a ray of light fell across his face. He also heard some rustling sounds.
Matt peeked over the top of the log and saw one of the large, muscular Rottweilers sniffing the ground and coming right toward him. Matt ducked down again and held his breath. Now he’d see firsthand if the scent blocker worked as promised. He grabbed the handle of his knife and lay perfectly still. The dog walked right up to the log, stepped up onto it, looking into the woods. It sniffed the log for a while and then stepped down onto Matt’s chest and then down to ground level.
The dog walked another twenty feet or so, sniffing the ground and then for no reason Matt could see, the dog suddenly turned and ran back toward the house. Matt remained perfectly still for a few more minutes before he worked up the courage to lift his head and peer over the log again. The dog had joined the other two dogs just outside the house.
Matt watched as all three dogs jumped up and down excitedly when the front door opened and Lucy Carlson stepped out into the yard. She had something in her hand and gave one to each of the dogs before continuing on her way toward the barn. Matt pulled his video camera out of his pocket and aimed it at the barn, ready for anything. Nothing happened for a few minutes and then Lucy emerged from the barn, pulling a large wagon loaded with two by fours and other lumber.
Lucy stopped when she got to the house and carefully, methodically unloaded the entire pile of lumber onto her porch before returning to the barn for a second load. Matt got all this on his video camera and kept watching for another hour and a half before he had what he needed and slipped the video camera back into his pocket. He got to his hands and knees and carefully, silently crawled away from the fallen log and away from the edge of the clearing. A hundred yards further, Matt got to his feet and hurried back to his car.
Matt crawled into his car, locked the doors and pulled out his cell phone, dialing Gloria. When she answered, she sounded frantic.
“Matt,” she said, “why didn’t you call me? I waited all night and you didn’t call.”
“I couldn’t, Mom,” he said and then explained what had happened to him in the woods.
“Sounds like the deer scent paid for itself,” she said.
“Scent blocker,” Matt corrected her.
“Whatever. Just put it on your expense account and come on over here. I need to tell you how my day went yesterday.”
“You’ll have to give me an hour,” Matt said. “I need to go home and take a good, hot shower. You wouldn’t want me in your house they way I smell.”
“You’re probably right, Matt,” Gloria said. “I guess I’ll see you then.”
It took Matt an hour and a quarter to shower, shave, change clothes and make it to his mother’s house. Gloria was sitting at the kitchen table with her cup of coffee when Matt let himself in. “No, don’t get up,” Matt said as Gloria began to slide her chair away from the table. He sat next to her and dispensed with the small talk, getting right to the point. “When’s Dad supposed to be home?”
Gloria wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup. “Later today,” she said. “He called from the cabin and he and Eric packed the truck this morning and are heading back after breakfast. Would you like some coffee?”
Matt raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, that’s right,” Gloria said, “you don’t drink coffee. Sorry, I don’t have any chocolate milk.”
“That’s all right, Mom. Why don’t you just tell me about how your day went yesterday?”
“I sat there like a statue,” Gloria explained. “Your target drove right by me right after lunch and I didn’t see another sign of her the rest of the day. What a waste of time. There were so many other things I could have been doing, but I agreed to help you.”
“At least you can still submit your time sheet for this case,” Matt said. “You should be able to buy yourself something nice with your two hundred dollars.”
“I’d feel strange asking your client for two hundred dollars for doing nothing,
” Gloria said. “Maybe I should just forget it. You’ll still be getting your fee plus expenses. All it really cost me was three dollars worth of gas and two cups of coffee. I think I should just write it off.”
“Mom, how many times in the past haven’t any or all three of us sat on a stakeout with nothing to show for our efforts? It’s all part of the business. No, you’ve got to charge for your time. Wouldn’t want to set a precedent for future jobs.”
“You really think so, Matt?”
“Trust me, Mom, the client will never miss it. But if you let it slide, he’ll tell someone who’ll tell someone and before you know it, we’ll have clients asking for pro-rated refunds based on how much we actually did.”
Gloria spread her hands. “All right. Submit my time, too, but just put the money in your account, will you?” She raised one eyebrow and Matt conceded.
“Fine,” he said. “Look, I’ve got to get back to the office and call my client. I got some pretty good video of Lucy Carlson doing a lot of heavy lifting.”
“That’s great news, Matt, but didn’t you have until Friday to wrap this thing up?”
“Yeah.”
“So that’s the day after tomorrow. Why not wait until tomorrow to turn in your bill? That would give you plenty of time to arrange your evidence and go over your paperwork and…”
“And charge the client for an extra day, is that it? Aren’t you the same person who just felt silly about charging for the work you didn’t do?”
“Didn’t you learn anything from Elliott?” Gloria said. “That’s almost standard practice in the investigations business. You get finished too soon and the client will think you’ve overlooked something or that he’s paying too much.”
“Mom, if I agreed with you, then we’d both be wrong. How about if you just let me handle this?”
“You’re right, Matt,” Gloria agreed. “This is your business after all. Do whatever you feel is right.”
Matt left his mother’s kitchen and drove back to his office. He slid his desk drawer open and checked the balance in his checking account. If he submitted his bill to Mickey Jones the way he told Gloria he should, his balance would be enough to make expenses this month with nothing left over. And there were still eight days left in the month. He replaced the bank book and slid the drawer closed. He looked at his report for Mickey Jones and muttered to himself, “I guess this can wait until tomorrow.”
