by Liza Brown
“Mother of God, Mae! You’re supposed to be getting shit done around here and I find you making out with him!” I looked around Elsu to see Max stomping up to us.
“Who else would you have me making out with?” I asked.
“Don’t start with me, Mae. Get shit done!”
“Since when did you turn into my mom-dad?” I asked. “We were just taking a few seconds alone before heading in there.” I pointed at the door to the classic garage.
“Have you seen the warehouse? I think that’s a little more important than an empty garage.”
“I’ll have you know it’s not empty! Steve has a Nova in there. I was going to check out the damage to the car that doesn’t belong to us!”
“Fine!” He slammed through the door as if he owned the place. I looked at Elsu who looked none-too-happy with my brother.
We walked behind him and found Steve on a ladder putting plastic over the windows. “You need help?” asked Elsu as he pulled a second ladder to the wall.
“You’re going to allow the star player to climb a ladder in your shop?” asked Max.
“No, Max. I was just about to tell him to stand still and not move. I can’t stop him. It’s called helping, unlike some people in this room.”
“Me? Do I look like I’m dressed to work in this place today, Mae?”
I noted his suit and tie and had to agree. “Whatever, Max. Why are you here, anyway?”
“I don’t have anything for a few hours, so I’m killing time.”
“Well, if you don’t do something productive soon, I’m going to tell the cops outside you’re loitering!” I walked to the car that Steve hadn’t even started on yet and I noticed shards of glass across the top of it.
I went to remove one of the bigger pieces and Max gasped. “Don’t touch it! Wait for your insurance guy to see it first.”
“That’s why I left it,” said Steve as he held some plastic for Elsu to tape.
“Everyone knows what to do but stupid old Mae!” I said. “I’m going to the warehouse.”
I left the three men behind and made my way to find Joe and Bill. Before I could, I ran into Millard and April who were looking at one of the shelving units. “Hey,” I said as I approached them.
“Miss Mae,” said Millard with a look of almost sadness in his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I screwed up big time!”
“How do you figure?” I asked as I looked at the shelf I was nearest.
“On some of these shelves where we left the gaps on the corners, the shelves above them are bent and they’re not safe. See?” he pointed to where one of his gaps were and I saw the shelves above it were all bent.
“Oh, Ok. Let’s just bend them back,” I asked.
“They’re not just bent, they’re leaning now, Mae. I think they’re going to have to be replaced.”
“All of them?” I asked in horror.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. The explosion caused a mini earthquake in here. This isn’t the worst of it, come here.” I followed him and April down a few rows and found myself smack dab in the middle of the biggest mess I’d ever seen in the shop. “This one already gave way.”
Three and four shelves worth of neat, tidy, labeled, perfectly-placed parts laid sprawled across the cement floor. “Oh my God!” I said as I stepped up to the closest pieces. I shook my head and attempted to take in the scene as I tried to figure out what to do next.
“I am so sorry, Miss Mae. This is all my fault. Apparently without the bins where the gaps I made were, they just slumped. Some worse than others.”
“So the ones without gaps? They’re fine?” I asked.
“It appears so, but I wouldn’t hedge any bets on it. I’d get an engineer in here or someone to give you a professional opinion.”
I nodded as I ran my hand across one of the metal beams. “These shelves are supposed to be good for tons and tons of weight. They shouldn’t have done this!” I said.
“I will pay you back for this, Mae. I am so sorry.”
“No, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know.” Just then, my phone rang and it was Detective Graven. “Hello?” I asked.
“Miss Mae, I just wanted to get in touch with you about what’s going on here.”
“Ok,” I said as I turned to face the wall, leaning my forehead on the cold surface.
“We’ve gotten the GPS location for one of them.”
“OK, which one?”
“The sixty-three one.”
“Ok,” I said.
“Ma’am, when did all this start?”
“Last week, why?”
“Ma’am.” There was an uncomfortably long pause.
“What? Tell me.”
“Ma’am, they were able to pinpoint the actual phone number for this phone. This phone number has been in touch with you for several months now.”
“What?”
“Have you received phone calls that you didn’t know who they were from? Perhaps calls you didn’t answer?”
“All the time. Doesn’t everyone? If I don’t recognize the number, I rarely answer it. Isn’t that normal?”
“Well…yes. To an extent. But how many would you say you’ve gotten?”
“I don’t know. If they become persistent I block them from even ringing. But I used to get calls all the time not long after I put Bart in jail. I answered some of them and they were people calling to pick on me for going through with the whole trial, or people would say nasty things. But if numbers repeated I’d block them.”
“These calls would have started more recently than that. Perhaps about a year ago? Did anything happen around a year or so ago that may have triggered someone to start calling you?”
“A year ago?” I looked at my calendar on my phone, went back one year ago, and chills ran down my spine. “One year ago last Friday was my grandfather’s funeral.” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized the anniversary of my grandfather’s death had come and gone unnoticed. “How did I miss that?”
“Ma’am, do you recall any phone calls then?”
“That whole time was crazy. I knew he was going, so his death wasn’t a huge surprise. But I was the executor of his estate.”
“You? What about your dad or an aunt or uncle?”
“Grandpa put everything in my name as soon as he realized he was slipping. We were extremely close. When he died I had to deal with the attorneys and the insurance and the nursing home and all of his belongings.”
“Do you have any relatives that could have been disgruntled that you got that responsibility and not them?”
“No. He was very detailed about who got what. He gifted most of his money to his great grandchildren so that it wouldn’t be swept up in his care costs. No one ever seemed angry.”
“You said you got a GPS location for the calls?”
“Well, we got where the most recent were sent from. We are heading to that location now.”
“Where is that?”
“We will tell you after we figure out what we’re looking for.”
“So I can’t know who or what you’re looking for?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Ma’am, your showroom just exploded with no known reason. You’re kind of a suspect.”
“What?”
“This kind of thing happens often. Until we know who we’re looking for, we can’t reveal anything.”
I hung up on the man in complete disbelief. “They put me on the suspects list.”
“What?” asked April.
“Apparently, blowing up your own property is common?”
April and Millard looked at each other and then nodded. “Yeah, it kind of is.”
“I can’t believe this!” I turned around to face the wall again and aimed my head at the brick but a hand stopped me from causing any trauma.
“You aren’t slamming your head into the wall on my watch, Mae,” said Elsu.
“Maybe
I can knock all of this out of my memory!” I said as I pointed him toward the mess on the floor.
“Wow!” he said.
“Guess who’s a suspect!” I yelled at Elsu.
“You?”
“What? How did you know?”
“Because you own the place. I know you didn’t do it. But yeah, you’d be a prime suspect.”
“Sir,” Millard interrupted as he pointed to the floor. “This is all my fault, I’ve already told Miss Mae I will repay her,” begged Millard.
“Millard, the word is insurance. Let’s wait and see what the guy has to say. He’s here, by the way,” Elsu said to me. “Bonnie wanted me to tell you.”
I returned to my office to find Reginald Brown waiting for me. He had been my insurance agent since day one. I paid his company a lot of money. I was about to find out if it was money well spent.
“Mae, how are you?” he asked with an outstretched hand but stopped mid-shake when he saw Elsu behind me. “Elsu Benjamin?” he asked.
“How are you?” Elsu shook Reginald’s hand. “I’m her muscle.”
I snorted out a laugh and sat down. Max pulled a fourth chair in and made room for himself. Elsu pulled his chair over to my side of the desk.
“Muscle?” asked Reginald nervously. “I promise you Mae, I am going to do my darnedest to get you everything you deserve! You’ve been an outstanding customer, always paid on time, fully insured. I don’t see a problem.”
“That’s good,” said Max before I could speak. “Now, do you need a list of all the damages? How does this work?”
Elsu put a hand on my knee. He could sense my mounting frustration with Max.
Reginald turned to me to answer his questions. “Yes, we’ll need a list of all damages. Inside and out along with a list of all items lost in the accident.”
“This was not an accident,” I said. “It was deliberate.”
“Oh.” Reginald sat back and looked at me. “Do we have evidence of this?”
“Not yet, but the cops are working on it,” I said.
“Ok, that may change things a little, but nothing for you to worry about. Can you show me around?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. We all stood up and I took him on a tour of the interior of the building, pointing out the broken windows, the two cars that would be scrapped because of glass, and the damage to the Nova. Reginald took pictures as we went. Finally we came to the warehouse.
“Yikes,” he said as he looked at the mess. “Mae, if I were you, I wouldn’t even allow anyone back in this area until we had someone who knew what they were looking for look at it. This could be a serious liability. You’d hate for one of these to fall on someone.”
“So, are these shelves covered? I’ll probably have to replace nearly all of them.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get it all taken care of, Mae. We just need valuations. If you have receipts, that would be extremely helpful.” He took some more pictures.
“These went in about seven years ago. I think I have receipts though.”
“If not, that’s ok, but receipts make my job a whole lot easier.”
“Do you even keep your receipts, Mae?” asked Max as if I was incapable of doing anything right.
“Receipts, big brother? What are those?” I walked away before I said anything else.
We ran into April, Millard, Bill, and Joe as we were exiting the warehouse. “Guys, you need to come out of the warehouse for now. Reginald doesn’t think it’s safe.”
They nodded and followed us to the customer service area. “This area seemed to be fine,” I said as I indicated to where Bonnie stood making more phone calls. “This is technically a separate building from the warehouse and garages. It’s just connected by a doorway.” Candice was nowhere to be found. Bonnie nodded agreeably and we stepped out into the chilly November air. Winter was finally starting to show its hand for the season and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
We walked over to the footprint of the showroom and Reginald stepped forward taking pictures as he went. The two police officers stepped forward but didn’t stop any of us. “I don’t know what to say,” he said as he looked around. “Mae, this is awful!”
“You’re telling me,” said Max.
“What is your name?” I asked Max, I had finally had it.
“What?” asked Max.
“I know you’re my ‘lawyer’ and my ‘brother’ but this…” I waved my hand over the mess, “this mess belongs to me.”
He raised his hands in defeat and took a step back, crunching something below his feet. He looked down and swore. “Stupid shoes. I’ve got glass in my sole.”
“Which one?” I asked as I turned back to Reginald.
“That was harsh, Mae.” I heard Max reply.
“Mae, I’m going to take a walk around the building and take some more pictures, I’ll meet you back here, is that ok?”
“Fine, help yourself. Do you want Max to come with you?”
He looked at me as if he knew I was trying to pawn my brother off on him but still shook his head no.
“Mae!” I turned to see my mom and Christopher rushing toward me. She grabbed me by the arms and gave me a hug. It was the first hug I could remember from her in years. Decades even. “I am so sorry, Mae!” She even tried to kiss me on my lips but I turned just in time to deflect it to my cheek.
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
“I heard and had to come check on you. I am your mother after all.”
“Ok,” I said as I stepped away from her and took a step toward Elsu.
“Elsu? How sweet of you to come and support Mae. She really is lucky to have you as a friend.” I wanted to ask her what kind of illegal substances she had ingested, but I kept my mouth shut.
Elsu accepted my mom’s hug suspiciously. “Ma’am, Mae and I are a bit more than friends.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet. She is a special girl, isn’t she? It’s very nice of you to be here for her.”
“Mom!” I said finally. “Elsu is my boyfriend!”
She looked at me, angry now. “Mae, you need to stop. This poor man doesn’t need you clinging on to him. He’s busy.”
“Ma’am, please, she is definitely not clinging to me. If anything, it’s the exact opposite. I am in love with your daughter.”
“Ohh mother of hell!” whined Christopher behind my mom. “You are not serious, are you?”
“You know she’s damaged goods, right?” asked my mom. Now that was the mom I knew and…loved.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the source of most of that damage, ma’am,” said Elsu.
“Excuse me?” she had probably never been spoken to that way. It made me smile.
I finally took a look at my mom and brother and realized they were both a little over-dressed for being at the scene of an explosion. “Why are you all dressed up?” I asked them.
“Mom said there would be cameras here and we needed to look nice, just in case,” said Christopher as he rolled his eyes at me as if what he had just said should make total sense to anyone who heard it.
“Speaking of which, Mae. Do you know where your sister is? I haven’t seen her all day.”
I finally had the opportunity to tattle on Candice but she had been helpful so I couldn’t. Before I could answer her and break the news of Candice’s employment, Candice appeared.
“Mom! What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was just telling your sister I was concerned for her. But Elsu here has insulted me. Where have you been, anyway?”
“Mom, I guess this is as good a time to tell you as any. I got a job working for Jonathan Brothers as his assistant. I started yesterday.”
“A job? For who?”
“I just told you. Jonathan Brothers, mom.”
“Brothers Stadium, Jonathan Brothers?”
“Yes mom.”
“The wealthiest man in the state?”
“Yes, mom.”
“Ms. Rogers?” Like magic, Jonathan ap
peared and offered his hand to my mom. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
Mom’s eyes glazed over at the site of the man in the expensive business suit and overcoat. “Jo…Jon…Jonathan Bro…Broth…Jonathan Brothers?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve swept up your daughter. I needed an assistant and her resumé was on file.”
“On file?” mom squealed at my sister. “You put your resumé in? When did you do this?”
“Mom, this is not the time.”
“Mae,” said Jonathan as he turned his attention to me. “Has Candice been of any help?”
“She has been a ton of help, thank you!” I said. I figured it would make mom even more furious if she knew Candice was being nice to me. So I went that route instead.
“Well, I could really use her back at the office, but since she’s your sister, I’d like her to stay and help you.” Apparently he didn’t know that this was probably not what Candice would have preferred to be doing, but I thought it was funny so I just smiled and shook his hand.
Elsu walked off with Jonathan and I couldn’t help but stare at his butt as he did. “Drool much, sis?” whined Christopher.
“Shut up!” The phrase came out of my mouth at the same time as Candice’s and I wanted to fall on the floor. “Why are you being so nice?” I asked her.
“Because, this was grandpa’s shop. I felt like I should do something to be helpful.”
“Oh!” I said. “So this has nothing to do with me?”
“Well, I guess I should help my sister.”
“Why are you brownnosing with Mae?” asked Christopher.
“I’m not brownnosing. I’m doing what’s right! Maybe you should do the same.”
“Candice,” said my mom as she stepped up to her most-favorite child. “If you’re going to be working for Mr. Brothers, you need to show him how much you appreciate him.” I watched my mom unbutton Candice’s blouse that I had buttoned up a little while ago.
“Mom!” said Candice as she swatted our mom away. “I am not trying to get in his pants. I’m his assistant.”
“But it can never hurt to try,” said my mom and I just had to laugh.
Elsu returned to my side and wrapped an arm around my waist.
My mom looked at Elsu again. “I suppose expecting an apology from you is out of the question.”
