“You’re a regular James Bond,” Sherry said.
“I know you think I’ve lost my marbles,” Aaron said. “Believe me, I’ve thought the same thing plenty of times while I was standing out in the woods. And I was going to stop doing it, I swear I was. But then I saw him kissing her.”
“Kissing her?” Sherry said. She sat up a little straighter and looked excited. Her face said “tell me more!”
“Yeah,” he said. “Out by his truck when he was leaving. His hands were all over her. It drove me crazy.”
“I guess so,” Sherry said. She got up and brought two more beers from the fridge.
“That’s when I decided that I need to get more proactive about the investigation into all of this.”
“Investigation?”
“I hired a detective the firm used sometimes to check out potential clients. He’s been working on it, but he’s not getting anywhere. He has managed to track down everyone I’ve dated in the past decade.”
“That must’ve been a long list,” Sherry said laughing.
“Longer than I would’ve liked,” Aaron said. “Anyway, they all seem to have moved on with their lives. There’s no reason to think any of them had it in for me.”
“So what’s your plan?” Sherry asked. She had always been very pragmatic and straight to the point.
“I’m going to meet with the investigator tomorrow and go over every detail of everything. I don’t know what else to do.”
“And what if you find out who did this to you? Do you think Cathy will take you back? Sounds like she’s gotten involved with someone else. Her high school boyfriend, for shit’s sake! How are you going to pull her out of that?”
“Thanks for your confidence, Sissy,” Aaron said, irritated at his big sister.
“I’m just saying that I know what a pull an old boyfriend can be. Look at me. I got back with James after college, and that was quite an aphrodisiac, to get back with my old lover. The good ole days and all that. Reminiscing and everything. Like going back home or something.”
Aaron didn’t say anything right away. He knew that what Sherry was saying was the truth. Cathy was back where she grew up, involved with her old flame. The odds weren’t in his favor.
“I know,” he said finally.
“Just keeping it real, Bubba,” she said.
“Thanks for always keeping it real, Sissy,” he said morosely.
“But I also know how much you love Cathy and how much she loves you,” Sherry said in a softer voice. “I can’t believe that a love like that could be gone, even if a high school boyfriend did show up. Her love for you was so obvious. It was real.”
“And that’s what keeps me going,” Aaron said.
“I’m behind you,” Sherry said.
They sat together for a while longer, talking about their parents and the farm they had grown up on. Ragan and Jimmy woke up after an hour or so and started calling for Sherry.
“Here we go,” Sherry said throwing her beer bottle in the trash under the sink.
“Hey, don’t forget Unca Ron Ron’s here,” Sherry shouted into the den as she went in. She looked back and gave Aaron a snarky smile.
*************************
Aaron took the kids outside and swung them on the swing set for a while, giving Sherry a chance to get supper going. When the sun went down, he sat on the grass with them and looked up at the night sky. He pointed out the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. That was about all he knew of the constellations and found himself wishing he knew more. If he ever had kids, he would learn a lot more about it. He hoped he had those kids with Cathy.
Sherry called them all in to supper. James had come home and Aaron shook his hand.
“Thanks for giving us a few minutes,” James said. “That’s rare around this crazy house.”
Sherry brought a bubbling dish of lasagna to the table.
“How’d you manage to make that?” Aaron asked.
“I didn’t,” Sherry said. “Mom made it. She cooks every Saturday and brings me casseroles and stuff. I love her for it.”
“Me too,” James said dishing up a piece of lasagna. Melted cheese strung all the way from the dish to his plate. He broke the connection with his fork.
“Okay, Mr. Piggy,” Sherry said. “Let’s get some food on our children’s plates first.”
Sherry dished out two pieces of lasagna and put it on the kids’ plates. “Be careful!” she said sternly to the children. “It’s too hot. Let it cool down.”
Sherry passed the salad and James and Aaron filled their bowls. Aaron put some in the kids’ bowls and squirted ranch dressing on top. Ragan and Jimmy ate the salad while their lasagna cooled. Sherry handed them each a piece of garlic bread and they chewed it hungrily.
“They love Grandma’s lasagna, don’t you kids?” Sherry said smiling at her children.
“Yuh huh,” Ragan said around a mouthful of bread.
After supper, Sherry bathed both children and put their pajamas on. Afterward, they ran into the den where James and Aaron were enjoying scotch on the rocks.
“We’re having pie for dessert,” Ragan said climbing into Aaron’s lap.
“Apple pie,” Jimmy said. He started swirling around and around in a circle, repeating the words “apple pie” over and over. He finally stopped, dizzy, and plopped onto the carpeted floor. When he stopped being dizzy, he got up and climbed up on the couch beside Aaron.
Sherry brought in a big tray with plates of apple pie with ice cream on top. She spread a large towel on the floor in front of the TV.
“Come over here,” she said to the kids. “You can watch some TV while you eat your dessert.”
Ragan and Jimmy unglued themselves from Aaron and sat on the towel. Ragan began to eat her pie with her fork, putting each piece precisely into her mouth. Jimmy tried to eat with a fork, but gave up and picked the pie up with his hands. The ice cream dropped off the piece of pie and onto his plate.
“Whatcha gonna do?” Sherry said looking at Aaron and laughing. “That’s why the towel’s there.”
After James corralled the kids to take them to bed, Aaron got up from the couch. He was beginning to nod off. “I’m going to bed, too,” he said. “It’s been a long day.”
“I’m right behind you, Bro,” Sherry said. “What time is your appointment tomorrow?”
“Ten. I’ll be able to visit with the kids for a little while before I have to leave. I’m going to see Mom and Dad after the meeting.”
Sherry hugged him and said good night.
Aaron settled into the bed in the spare room and checked his messages on his phone. Dammit, he had forgotten to write Marsha’s reference letter and she was asking him about it again. He wrote her that he was sorry and would come by the office the next day to dictate it, if she could type it up. She wrote back within a minute saying that would be fine.
His mother had sent an email saying she looked forward to seeing him and she was making his favorite. Aaron searched his mind for what that might be. His mother made so many favorites. He guessed he’d just have to be surprised.
The rest of his messages were news alerts, stock alerts, and spam. He had given up long ago on hoping to see a message from Cathy.
The following morning, Aaron woke up early and took a shower in the bathroom that was part of his bedroom suite. The rich aroma of coffee led him into the kitchen where Sherry was putting bowls of cereal on the table for the kids.
“Good morning,” he said with a cheeriness he didn’t really feel. But he needed to put on a good face for the children.
“Sit by me,” Ragan said pleadingly as Aaron came to the table.
“No, me,” Jimmy said forcefully.
“I’ll sit between you,” Aaron said diplomatically.
Sherry brought him a cup of coffee and went back to the stove. “I’ll have some breakfast for you in a minute,” she said.
While he waited, Jimmy gave him pieces of milk-soaked Lucky Charms. He slid the slimy colore
d marshmallows in his mouth. It had been his favorite cereal as a child, something he found hard to believe now as he swallowed the gooey pieces.
“Ummm,” he said to Jimmy.
Sherry put down a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him.
“Eat up, Bro. You look like you need it.”
She handed Ragan and Jimmy a piece of bacon each and they snatched it out of her hand.
“Are you living with us now, Unca Ron Ron?” Ragan asked with a mouthful of bacon.
“I wish I could, Ragdoll,” he said. “Then I could keep my eye on you all the time.” He reached his hands out to both kids’ stomachs and goosed them at the same time. They howled with laughter.
“Where’s that nice lady?” Ragan asked after she stopped giggling.
Aaron and Sherry looked at each other.
“Do you mean Cathy?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah. Cathy. She was nice.”
“She’s living in Florida now,” Aaron said, hoping to end the line of conversation.
No such luck.
“What’s she doing in Florida?” Ragan asked staring at Aaron now.
“She’s living there next to the water,” he said.
“I want to live next to the water,” she said.
“Me too!” Jimmy said. “Water, water, water. I love water.”
Both kids started giggling and that was the end of it.
Sherry settled them in front of the TV for some morning shows. “We’re going outside after lunch,” she called to them as she returned to the kitchen.
“What’s your plan for that house down there?” Sherry asked plopping back down into her chair.
“Right now, it’s an investment. I’m going to get it fixed up, and if I don’t get Cathy back, I’m probably going to sell it to the highest bidder.”
“Do you mean that if you do get Cathy back, you’re going to stay there?” Sherry asked in surprise.
“I might,” he said. “I don’t think we could go back to the Buckhead house. Besides, it’s on the market.”
Sherry asked him a few more questions and he answered her as honestly as he could. No sense in trying to hide anything from his sister. She knew him too well.
“Right now, my goal is to find out who set me up. I’ll see what happens after that.”
After breakfast, Aaron packed his bag and headed to the den.
“Kids, I’ve got to go now,” he said to the backs of their heads. The TV was the only light in the room.
They both jumped up from the floor and ran to give him a hug. He stooped down to embrace them, feeling their hot breath on his neck. He kissed the top of their heads and stood to give Sherry a hug.
“Good luck, Bubba,” she said as he walked to his car. “Keep me informed.”
Aaron’s thoughts were all over the place as he drove into the city. But mostly, they were about Cathy. The last time he’d seen her and she was puffy-eyed from crying. His shock when he had returned home to an empty house. The day he proposed to her and the look on her face when he gave her the sapphire ring.
He forced himself to concentrate as he approached Atlanta. He wouldn’t have far to go; Randy’s office was on the outskirts in a questionable area of town. He found a parking space a block over and hurried to Randy’s storefront. Frazer PI was painted across the front window in old-fashioned block letters. He opened the door. Randy swiveled around in his chair and smiled at him. The office was one large room with boxes and stacks of paper on the floor and a large table on the right. Aaron didn’t see anyone else.
Randy stood and shook Aaron’s hand. He motioned for him to sit in a leather chair beside his desk that looked like it had been through a war.
Aaron looked beyond the clutter to Randy’s computer system. It was top notch, with one large screen and another smaller screen.
“Let’s go over where we are,” Randy said, his elbows on his desk and his hands in a steeple. “I’ve found every single old girlfriend on your list. I know where the tie came from—thanks to my diligent girlfriend. Don’t worry, no charge for her time.”
“I’m not worried,” Aaron said. “I just want answers.”
“I know you do,” Randy said. “And I don’t want to waste your money on wild goose chases. And that’s what the old girlfriends are. Wild goose chases, unless you tell me that you’ve seen one of them while you were wearing the tie.”
“I haven’t seen any of them in years,” Aaron said.
“So you said,” Randy said with a sigh. “So we’ve got to concentrate on the things we know and try to tie them together.”
“Okay,” Aaron said. He was beginning to feel fidgety.
“One, it’s someone who knows about your Johnson. Is it fair to say that all of your old girlfriends know about that?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Aaron said.
“Hey, no judgment here,” Randy said holding out his arms.
“It wasn’t a topic of discussion,” Aaron said. “Except maybe with Cathy. She joked about it. We joked about it.”
“I get it,” Randy said. “So, number two. It’s somebody who knows about your little sister. What exactly happened there, if you can talk about it.”
Aaron had spent more than two decades trying not to think about Allison and what happened to her. But every now and then, he did think about it and sometimes talked about it.
“She dropped her doll down a well we had on the farm,” he said as stoically as he could. “She leaned too far over the well and fell in. She was found the next day, at the bottom with her doll. No foul play was suspected.”
“That’s really sad,” Randy said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks,” Aaron said. He wanted to get off of the subject.
“So, number two. Who knew about Allison?”
“I definitely told Cathy,” Aaron said, remembering the day he had talked about it. Cathy had cried and held him as he tried not to cry.
“Who else?” Randy said.
“I might have mentioned it to some of those women I dated, but I don’t have a memory of doing that.”
“What about your friends or coworkers?” Randy asked.
“I guess Bob Thacker is my closest friend. I may have told him.”
“What does Bob do?” Randy asked.
“He works at the firm I just left,” Aaron said. “He was there when I started ten years ago. We play racquetball—or used to—and Cathy and I have been out with him and his wife a few times.”
“Does Bob have any reason to have it in for you? Like maybe you got better bonuses or did better than him in your firm? Something like that?”
“Bob did at least as well as I did,” Aaron said. “As far as I knew. He’s got two kids and lives in Buckhead in a very nice house.”
“Would Bob have any way to know about your Johnson?” Randy asked.
Aaron hated how Randy referred to his privates as his Johnson, but what else would he have preferred him to call it? He would have preferred that it weren’t the topic of conversation! It was humiliating.
“Absolutely not,” Aaron said with confidence.
“Okay, on to number three,” Randy said. “The strawberry shaped birthmark on your ass. Who knows about that?”
“Well, Cathy, of course. And the old girlfriends. I can’t remember who I might have mentioned it to, in a joke.”
“While sittin’ in a bar chewing the fat maybe?” Randy said.
“Yeah, like that. Or maybe someone noticed it in the locker room at the gym I belong to.”
“Like who?”
“Just people in there. You know how it is.”
“I’m assuming Bob was one of those people?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, on to number four. The tie, the thing that ties it all together, if you’ll excuse the pun. Who knew about that tie? Bob?”
“Bob must’ve seen the tie,” Aaron said. “I kind of boasted about it, showed it off.”
“So everybody in your office k
new about the tie,” Randy said.
“I’d say so,” Aaron said.
“Did you ever take the tie off while you were in the office?”
“I’m sure I must have. If I had to work late in the office, I would usually take my tie off and hang it on the coat rack.”
“Did you ever leave it there accidentally?” Randy asked.
“It’s possible. I know I had done that before with other ties, so it’s possible.”
“Who had access to your office?”
“I didn’t lock my office door when I left for the day. Marsha sat outside in a front office and she locked up or I locked her door when I left if I stayed late.”
“Who’s Marsha?”
“My secretary,” Aaron said.
“Last name?”
“Gardner.”
“How long did she work for you?”
“The last five years or so,” Aaron said thinking back to the lackluster secretaries he had had before Marsha arrived. Four of them, to be exact. And then Marsha came in and took charge like she’d been there forever.
“Where was she before that?” Randy asked.
“I don’t remember,” Aaron said. “I might be able to dig up her resume. I don’t know.”
Randy stood up. “I need a cup of coffee. You?”
Aaron nodded. Randy went over to a tiny kitchen area in the right-hand corner of the office and poured two cups into bland-looking brown mugs. He handed a cup to Aaron. It was the strongest coffee he’d ever had, and that included the espresso on his trip to Italy a few years ago.
Randy settled himself back in his chair and turned to his computer. The screen lit up when he touched the mouse.
“I’m going to check some databases I’ve got access to,” he said.
Aaron looked around the dusty office as Randy worked on his computer.
“Bob’s name Robert?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Aaron said. He was starting to think about Bob and his friendship with him. Bob had been the one to welcome Aaron when he first started working at the firm, still a little green behind the ears. Aaron’s mind kept moving through a trail of memories with Bob. And then he sat up with a jolt.
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