by Donald Wells
29
Three days passed and no word from Tori.
I was beginning to think I might be spending my life alone.
For some reason, Bobby Owens showed up at six a.m. on Tuesday morning and I told him it was too damn early to work and took him to the diner for breakfast.
“Hey John, that fix-it shop, what kind of stuff do you fix?”
I shrugged. “Anything,”
“You do it all yourself, even the computers?”
“I know my way around a motherboard, but I got a high school kid that comes in three afternoons a week, who’s a wiz, he fixes most of the electronic stuff. The shop really isn’t too busy these days, but I like it. People should have a place to go when something breaks, you know?”
“Yeah, and hey man, thanks again for the job.”
“You do good work Bobby. I’d like to send you to school, you know, nights, so you can get certified, cars are getting more complicated.”
“You’d pay for my school?”
“I won’t be at the garage much longer. I got something in the works that’s going to be taking up most of my time soon. If you’re willing, eventually I’d like you to run the place.”
“Damn, that’d be great, then Wanda and I could get married.”
“No promises.” I said. “We’ll take it a step at a time.”
While we ate, I looked through the paper. In the business section, there was an article about a revolutionary development in automotive design that would soon be revealed, and that was rumored to have been developed by a “Boy Genius.”
The leaks were starting. Billions of dollars were about to change hands and with that much money moving about, it would be hard to keep things secret.
Boy Genius?
I was nearly twenty-six and hadn’t felt like a boy in a long time, but I guess if you were under thirty, you were a boy in some circles.
My life was about to change in ways I couldn’t even guess. I would soon be the C.E.O. and owner of an innovative company with a personal net worth of a billion dollars. That was part of the deal Tori put together.
When the ink dried on the contracts, one point one billion was mine.
I would eventually also have controlling ownership of Faron Engines stock.
Universal Motors, on the other hand, got to keep a full fifty percent of the profits for the first twenty years, and agreed to fund all research and development for Faron Engines. This they would do with the agreement that any offshoots, such as adapting the engine for marine use, aviation, diesel application, and any other such branches grown on the newly formed tree called Faron Engines, would also bear them fruit.
I was days away from becoming a household name and wondered if I would hear from Felicia when it happened.
Probably not, she had made her choice and knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t take her back, that the money wouldn’t matter to me, that the fact that she chose Thorne over me once again had ended us.
I rose from the table. “Take your time Bobby. I’ll meet you at the garage.”
Bobby nodded agreement with a mouthful of bagel and I paid the bill and headed back home.
I walked up the stairs and let myself into the apartment to find I had a visitor, three actually, David Thorne and two goons, each of which looked like a handful. I left the door wide open as I walked inside.
Thorne sat at my kitchen table. I had not seen the man in years and although he was as handsome as ever, there were signs of fraying around the edges. His hair wasn’t combed as precise as I remembered he always kept it, also, his clothes looked a bit rumpled and there was a shadow on his chin.
I tossed the paper on the table beside the flowers and sat across from him.
“To what do I owe this nightmare?”
He flung a set of photos onto the table. They were pictures of Felicia and I kissing, while I said goodbye to her at the car.
“You fucked my wife Faron; that’s going to cost you.”
I glanced at the two goons. One of them was standing directly behind me, while the other one leaned back lazily against the sink behind Thorne. “Let me guess, a beating?”
“No, they’re here for my protection; the last time I was here it was you who struck me.”
“Felicia and I didn’t sleep together. These are just photos of a goodbye kiss between two old friends.”
“Bullshit!” He said, fairly spitting the word at me, he then pointed to a picture of Tori and I stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet; it was taken in Cancún, Mexico. “She’s an exceptional specimen, maybe I’ll take her from you.”
“What? You’re threatening to steal Tori away too? I’m not sure she’d find you as fascinating as Felicia did, I don’t think Felicia even finds you fascinating anymore.”
Thorne continued to stare at Tori’s photo. “Yes, I think I’ll take her.”
“Hey Thorne, get the hell out of here before I throw you and your pets out the window.”
He tore his eyes away from Tori’s picture and smiled at me.
“I’ve changed my mind. Robert, Cory, beat this man within an inch of his life.”
The goon behind me grabbed my collar and I reached down with both hands and picked up the chair I was sitting in, moving it back so that a leg came down on top of his right instep, with my full weight still in the chair. The man howled in anguish, as he tried to pick both the chair and me off of his foot.
I rose quickly and kicked him hard in the chest, he staggered and tumbled backwards toward the stairwell and down he went, end over end. The second man was almost on me when I swiveled around and caught him on the chin. He kept coming as if I hadn’t hit him at all. I then grabbed his shirtfront and began spinning us around; when I released him, it was to toss him against the stove.
The hard metal rim of the stovetop slammed him in the spine and he bent forward in agony, that’s when I landed a right uppercut that straightened him up and banged his head hard against the stove’s range hood, bending its metal surface. The man slumped to the floor and didn’t move, unconscious.
I rushed over and looked down the stairs to check on the other one, and found that he had crashed open the door at the bottom and was lying half in and half out of the vestibule. Bobby stuck his head in the doorway and I told him to call the police.
I looked over at Thorne and realized that he had never even budged. He just sat there glaring at me in fury.
“Stay away from my wife Faron.”
Thorne got up, brushed past me and walked down the stairs.
He stopped four steps from the bottom and stared down at his unconscious man, then, he turned and glared up at me.
“Next time I’ll bring four.”
After that, he continued down the stairs, stepped over his rent-a-thug, and drove away.
30
I was at the police station, sitting across from Bill in his glass-enclosed office.
Next to his coffee cup, the newspaper sat open to the article about my engine.
He looked over at me and sighed.
“David Thorne again, let me guess, this concerns Felicia, otherwise known as Mrs. Thorne.”
“Yes, she was at my apartment Saturday, and yes we had a long talk, but no, I didn’t sleep with her.”
“I take it that Thorne doesn’t believe that?”
“He threatened to steal Tori away from me.”
“Just like that, huh?”
“Haven’t you heard? He’s God’s gift to women, just ask him.”
“How are you and Tori doing? When she called and cancelled dinner I thought she sounded odd.”
“Our dinner? Hell I forgot all about that, if you had shown up Sunday you would have had to share a bologna sandwich with me.”
Bill suddenly looked ill.
“Don’t tell me she’s left you?”
“Thorne’s not the only one that accused me of sleeping with Felicia.”
“Damn it John. Don’t let that girl get away, she loves you.”
He grinned at me. “You’re a fucking mess when it comes to women.”
I grinned back. “All of us boy geniuses are.”
After returning from the police station, I found Bobby hard at work on a brake job.
“Sorry you had to work alone today.”
He waved it off. “Don’t worry about it, oh, and I fixed the door the best I could, but I think it needs a new frame.”
“Thanks,” I said, and then I spotted the limo parked near the corner. “I wonder who owns that?” Just as I asked the question, Sophie Thorne emerged from the limo.
“Oh, just what I needed.”
“What’s wrong John?”
“Nothing Bobby, just another uninvited guest,”
“You gonna throw that one down the stairs too?”
“Don’t give me any ideas.”
I met Sophie by the door and she offered me her hand.
“Hello John.”
“Let me save you some time Sophie. I didn’t sleep with your niece, so you can save your insults and get back in the limo. David was here earlier and caused enough trouble for one day.”
She seemed startled. “David was here? Did he threaten you?”
“The usual, said he was going to steal my girlfriend away.”
“John, please, can we talk inside?”
I led the way, while noticing that Bobby had done a good job of fixing the door. I entered the apartment to find that he had also uprighted the chairs, and did a fair job of banging out the ding in the stove’s vent hood. The kid was definitely working out.
Sophie sat in the same seat that David had occupied. I gave her a close look and realized that she hadn’t changed at all over the last five years. She was a beautiful woman, brown eyes, brown hair, probably early forties, with features suggestive of Felicia’s and a figure that a woman of any age would envy.
She smiled. “How have you been John?”
“What’s this about Sophie?”
“I don’t blame you if you don’t like me; I think I may have been too harsh on you years ago.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because Felicia has been miserable ever since you two broke up.”
“We didn’t break up. She sent me packing.”
“She still loves you, and although you say that nothing happened the other day, she’s been singing to herself since she got home from Janey’s wedding; she’s the happiest I’ve seen her in years.”
I sat back in my seat and stared at Sophie.
“It almost sounds like you’re trying to get us back together.”
“David… well, he’s not the man I thought he was. He treats her like property and barely spends an evening alone with her. All he seems to care about are those silly plays he finances and his friend Jerry. Felicia needs more than that. She deserves more than that.”
“You really do love her, don’t you?”
“Yes, and I want to see her happy.”
“I asked her to leave David and she said she wouldn’t… that she couldn’t.”
“She knows that if she came back to you, David would destroy you. He hates you John, because he knows Felicia still loves you.”
“How would he destroy me?”
Sophie threw her hands up in the air. “Any number of ways, why he could buy property nearby and open a garage that offered free repair work; it wouldn’t hurt him to lose money that way, but it would destroy your business in no time.”
I sent her a cynical look. “You’re saying that Felicia is staying with David in order to protect me?”
“I believe so. He has some sort of hold on her; I know she doesn’t love him.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then Felicia won’t have to be concerned about me anymore. I’m about to go way beyond David’s league, at least financially speaking.”
Sophie blinked several times. “How is that possible?”
“Keep an eye on the papers and you’ll see. I’m also about to get married myself soon, that is, if that young lady in the photo there says yes.” I pointed to Tori’s picture on the refrigerator and Sophie examined it.
“You certainly do attract beautiful women John, she’s very lovely.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you love my niece?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Maybe not, but her happiness is. Marry this other girl if you want, but please, don’t cut Felicia out of your life. For some reason my niece is deeply in love with you. Perhaps, well, perhaps you and she could meet, discreetly of course, and continue your… friendship.”
“Sophie Thorne, I do believe you’re asking me to have an affair with your niece.”
Sophie began crying quiet tears.
“She just has so little happiness in her life. The only joy she seems to get is when she’s volunteering at the Children’s Hospital, and David’s taken that away from her for a month for being with you the other day. I saw the pictures John; I know you two kissed.”
I slapped a palm on the tabletop. “Damn it. Felicia is a grown woman, when she wants to leave him, she’ll leave him. As for me, I have to move on. I offered to take her back the other night and she threw it in my face. I’ve had enough!”
Sophie wiped at her tears while smiling at me.
“You’re so angry.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because that much anger could only come from love, you truly love my niece, don’t you?”
I stood up. “We’re going in circles; maybe it’s time you left.”
* * *
I walked her to the limo. The chauffer escorted her into the back, and then closed the door and returned to the driver’s seat.
Sophie lowered the window and handed me a card.
“That’s my cell phone number. Call me if you ever want to contact Felicia.”
I gave the card a doubtful look, but I stuck it in my pocket anyway.
“Goodbye John. Is there anything you’d like me to relay to Felicia for you?”
I thought about it for a moment.
“Yes, there is something I’d like you to tell her.”
“And what would that be?”
“Tell her that anything can be fixed.”
“Even the two of you?”
I said, “Goodbye Sophie,” and then turned and walked away.
31
By the end of work on Wednesday, I was missing Tori so badly that I thought I’d go insane.
She told me not to call, but I needed to hear her voice, even if it was only to hear her scold me for calling. After five rings, a man with a deep voice answered her cell phone and said, “Hello?”
I hung up immediately, feeling like a teenager who’d just caught his girlfriend cheating.
That didn’t have to be a date. It could have been the Super checking on a busted water pipe, or it could have been a male relative, or maybe it was a date, only it was someone there for Marta, Tori’s houseguest. Or, Tori was there in bed with some guy and he was banging her brains out.
I grabbed my cell phone again and began to hit redial, but it rang first. I looked at the caller I.D. and saw that it was Bill.
“Hi Bill, look I was just on my way out, can I call you back?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, why?”
“Look out the window; do you see a police car? One of my men, Doug Johnson, should be driving it.”
I walked into the bedroom and looked out the window.
Sure enough, Doug Johnson was leaning on his patrol car out at the curb.
“Doug’s here, but why? What’s going on?”
“I’m here in Philly, at Tori’s apartment, there’s been trouble, I, I don’t want to say anymore until you get here, but let Doug drive you.”
“Bill you’re scaring me. Is Tori all right? Bill? Damn it, say something.”
When he next spoke
, Bill’s voice was choking with emotion.
“There’s an unidentified body in her apartment… evidence showing that Tori might have been murdered. I’m so sorry boy, oh God I’m so sorry.”
I whispered into the phone. “Noooo, you’re wrong.”
“Go downstairs and get in the car, Doug will get you here as fast as possible.”
“No, no, wait, wait Tori had a houseguest, um… Marta, Marta is tall and blond, she and Tori even look a bit alike, it’s her, she’s dead, not Tori, Tori’s alive. Tori has to be alive.”
“John, we know about Marta, we think she may be the murderer.”
* * *
I’m sure Doug Johnson got me to Philly in record time, but the ride seemed forever. He ran the lights and siren all the way and when we pulled up in front of Tori’s apartment house, there were already news crews there.
Bill ushered me through the chaos of a homicide investigation and guided me into the basement, inside the building’s laundry room. The room was empty except for the two of us. Once alone, he took me into his arms and hugged me.
“I’m so sorry son.”
I wiped at my eyes. “Why would this Marta kill Tori?”
“We were hoping you might know. We have two eyewitnesses that swear they saw Marta leaving the apartment with bloody clothes.”
“Maybe they’re confused, maybe it was Tori they saw; maybe she managed to get away from an attacker.”
“One of the two witnesses used to be a co-worker of Tori’s at the law firm, she knows her well. She says the woman who ran out of the apartment definitely wasn’t Tori.”
“Can I see her? I could make an I.D., prove you’re wrong.”
He blanched. “You don’t… no, believe me, no not like this.”
“Jesus, what did Marta do?”
“It’s her face… I don’t want to say anymore.”
“Her face? Like that girl on County Road years ago?”
“Yes, that’s why I was called to the scene in the first place, they thought it was him. But this wasn’t PLATINUM. We have eyewitnesses that say it was a woman.”
I felt my stomach churn; I was about to throw up. I collapsed into one of the red plastic chairs that were scattered near the folding tables and fought to keep from vomiting.
