by David Archer
“Not a problem,” Forney said. “Let me set something up for tomorrow morning, okay? I’ll bring a few with me when we get with Ralphie.” He opened the door of the car and started to step out.
“That’ll work,” Noah said. “And, hey, Forney? Thanks, man.”
Forney gave him a thumbs-up sign and closed the door, then walked back to his own car. He started it and drove away, turning around and heading back the way they had come. Noah started the Charger, but then this phone rang suddenly. He pulled it out and saw that the call was coming from Bob Henson.
“Hello,” he said.
“Rex? Bob Henson. I’m calling to tell you that all the paperwork is done, and the house is ready to be yours. Incidentally, I took the liberty of having all of the utilities turned on in your name. I hope that’s all right?”
“Hey, that sounds great, Bob,” Noah said. “Listen, I’ve been talking to some people around town, and I keep hearing this story about that house. Do you know what really happened? Did the old man commit suicide in the kitchen out there?”
Henson sighed. “No, he didn’t,” Henson said. “Believe it or not, I had forgotten all about this issue. Here’s what happened: Lonnie Howerton had emphysema, real bad. Everybody knew it was only a matter of time. Poor old guy couldn’t even leave his house, because he had that big oxygen tank he had to carry around. Well, then I guess he got pneumonia or something, and he started coughing up blood. From what I understand, it was so bad he was spraying blood everywhere every time he coughed. He dialed 911, but the operator couldn’t understand him because he was coughing so much, so she just sent the paramedics out. They found him in the kitchen floor, and they said it looked like somebody had been hacked to death, because of all the blood. They took him to the hospital, and it actually looked like he might pull through, but then I guess the pneumonia got worse and he died pretty suddenly. The story about him killing himself came from rumors about the people who went out to clean up the blood.”
Noah chuckled. “Okay, so the house isn’t haunted?”
Bob laughed. “Well, I’ve never spent a night out there to find out, but I can say I’ve never seen or heard or felt anything strange when I’ve been there. I’ve probably been there more than anybody else since Lonnie died.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Noah said. “How soon can we get this done? I’ve gotten a job and I’m going to be pretty busy, so I need to get settled in as quickly as I can. I miss my wife, but she can’t come until I get moved in.”
“Rex, I’ve got it all ready right here on my desk. You can stop in whenever you like and we’ll get this done. Oh, and by the way, I’ve solved that problem about payment. I just transferred money from my personal account to my escrow account. When you give me the cash, I’ll issue the check from the escrow account to the sellers, and then I can deposit the cash over time. Save us all a bunch of headaches with the banks, right?”
“It’ll save you one,” Noah said. “I don’t trust banks. I’ll be there in about thirty minutes, Bob.”
Noah started the car and headed out, then punched the icon on his phone that would dial Sarah’s number. She answered even before he heard the ringing on his end.
“Hey, baby,” she said. “How’s it going down there? Do you miss me?”
“I do miss you,” Noah said, carefully leaving any feigned emotion out of it. He wanted Sarah to hear the words from Noah, not from Rex.
She was silent for just a couple of seconds, then said, “I miss you so much. Everything okay?”
“Everything is great,” Noah said, now slipping into the Rex personality. “I’ve got a great job as a bodyguard to the son of a big rich guy, and I’m on the way to close the deal on our house right now. Sure will be glad when you get here.”
“Well, I’ve got some good news on that score,” Sarah said. “I finished my classes a couple days early, and Professor Gary went ahead and gave me my certificate. You say the word and I can pack my clothes and help Neil pack up all his junk, and we can be on the way.”
Reading between the lines, Noah knew that she was telling him she had absorbed all of the information about Angie Madison that Gary Mitchell had wanted her to learn. That meant, Noah was sure, that he had managed to use hypnosis on her despite her objections. He didn’t ask about Neil, because she wouldn’t have suggested coming unless Neil was also ready to go.
“Baby, that’s awesome,” Noah exclaimed. “Yeah, come on. I can’t wait to see you. Hell, I can’t even wait to see that nerdy brother of yours. Maybe the Ozarks will get him out of his room once in a while.”
“Ooooh,” Sarah squealed in delight. She turned away from the phone for a moment and called out to Neil. “Hey, Rex says he’s ready for us to come on down. Start packing your crap.” He heard an unintelligible response from Neil, and then she was back on the phone. “It’ll take us a few hours to get packed, so we’ll probably have to stop somewhere tonight. But that means we’ll see you sometime tomorrow, so that won’t be too bad.”
They talked for a few more minutes as Noah drove, but then he arrived at Henson Realty and Sarah wanted to get on the road as soon as they could. They said their goodbyes, and Noah put the phone back into his pocket as he got out of the car.
He opened the trunk and pulled out the rest of the money from the safe, then carried it inside. The weight of the pistol in its holster on his belt felt good, and it was the first thing Bob Henson noticed when Noah walked into the office.
“You got that to keep people from trying to steal your money, right?” Henson asked nervously.
“No, it’s actually for my new job,” Noah replied. “I got hired as chief bodyguard for Ralph Morgan.”
Bob’s eyes went wide. “The kid who got shot last night? How in the world did you end up with that job?”
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I saw the guy who tried to shoot him and jumped to stop it, but I was a split second too late. They’re saying I kept the shot from being fatal, though, so Jimmy Morgan offered me the job this morning and I took it.”
Bob was smiling broadly. “Rex, if you got in with Jimmy Morgan, you got it made. I’m not asking, but I bet your pay is probably pretty good?”
Noah put a grin on his face. “Let’s just say that, by the end of the year, I could afford another house like this. Maybe two of them, come to think of it.”
Bob grinned and nodded, and then they turned their attention to the business at hand. It took about twenty minutes to fill out all of the paperwork and sign it, and then Noah handed over $70,698, which included all of the fees required for transferring property in the state of Arkansas. Bob had already gotten the termite inspections and surveys done the day before, so in return for that much cash, he handed Noah a certified copy of the deed and a ring full of keys.
“I suspect they’ll be calling it the Madison Place before too long,” Bob said. “Believe me, it won’t be long before the whole town knows who you are and pays attention to what you’re doing. Between you and your sister, I suspect the name of Madison is going to make an impact on this town.”
Noah thanked him, picked up all the paperwork, and took it out to the car. He shoved it into the safe in the trunk for the moment, then got into the car and drove to Kate’s house. It was close to noon, so he wasn’t surprised to find her at home, awake and drinking coffee.
“So, what’s the latest?” Kate asked as he poured himself a cup.
“Well, I got the house—and why didn’t you tell me it was rumored to be haunted?”
“To tell the truth, it never occurred to me. I’d heard those rumors once or twice, but I guess I just put them out of my mind. I don’t believe in ghosts, do you?”
“If there were actually such things as ghosts,” Noah said, “I’m fairly certain I would have been visited by some of the ones I’ve created.”
Kate looked at him for a moment, then asked, “And how many have you created?”
“Truthfully? I don’t actually kn
ow, but it would be well over a hundred. I’m pretty sure at least one of them would’ve found me by now, so I don’t worry much about the afterlife. I stay busy enough with this one.”
Kate shuddered. “I don’t know how you live with it,” she said, “but I guess that’s what makes you the kind of specialist you are. Anyway, are you moving out today?”
“Yeah, I think I am. I told my wife about the house a little while ago, and she’s got all her classes finished up so she’s heading here this afternoon. I want to get myself settled into the house and start getting it ready for her.”
Kate sat there for a moment and looked down at her cup, then popped her eyes back up to Noah’s. “You want some help? You said the place was furnished, but you’re going to need a lot of things before you can actually live there. I mean, does it come with dishes, pots and pans, brooms and mops, and all that stuff?”
Noah shook his head and remembered to put a grin on his face. “No, I checked all the cupboards and cabinets and they were bare. You want to come out and see the place? Maybe we can hit Walmart and get some of the stuff it needs before Angie gets here.”
Kate’s eyes lit up. “Thought you’d never ask,” she said. “Trust me, the place is going to need a woman’s touch before your wife sees it.”
They got into Noah’s car, and he drove her out to his new house so she could start making a list of what it might need. He unlocked the outer front door that led onto the enclosed porch, then unlocked the main door that led inside. Kate followed him and was slightly overwhelmed by how nice the place really was.
She was even more amazed at all of the antique furnishings. “Rex, do you realize you got a small fortune sitting here? I know a little bit about antiques, and some of these are quite valuable. And just look at the condition—they look like they’re either brand-new or they’ve just been freshly redone. Are you going to hang on to them or put them up for sale?”
“I thought I’d let Angie decide on that,” Noah said. “That way, if we need to go buy new furniture, she can pick it out. Right now, I’m more concerned about getting the things we need so we can live here for a while. You know, the dishes, pots and pans, cleaning supplies. I think maybe we ought to buy new sheets for the beds, don’t you think?”
Kate agreed and started making a list. The bed in the master bedroom was a queen-sized bed, but the rest were simply full-size, or what were once called double beds. She noted the sizes and then checked the pillows. “Pillowcases, too,” she mumbled as she scribbled on her notepad.
Each of the bathrooms, both spotlessly clean, got several notes. Toilet tissue, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, and toothpaste… Noah admitted to himself privately that he would never have thought of putting such things in bathrooms that no one was using at the moment.
And then they entered the kitchen. Kate looked around for several minutes, then turned to Noah. “Rex, are you sure you got enough money? If you want decent stuff in here, I’m about to set you back several hundred dollars, and that’s not even counting some basic groceries and staples.”
“Have at it,” Noah said. “I’ve got a little extra stashed away.”
“It’s a good thing. There is absolutely nothing in here. I found one old pie pan, but it was so nasty you wouldn’t want to try to cook anything in it.” She started adding to her list, and Noah told her he’d be back. He walked out the back door and around the house to his car, then headed back toward town.
There was a farm supply store not far from where he turned onto Highway 221, with a nice convenience store built on to it. Noah went in and ordered two large coffees, dumped a lot of sugar into Kate’s cup, the way he’d seen her do back at her house, then grabbed a big box of the fried chicken they offered. It came with fried potato wedges, so it would be fairly easy to eat and clean up after.
He paid for it all and ended up introducing himself to the guy running the cash register, who seemed pretty excited to be meeting Kate Madison’s brother. Noah smiled and promised to have her stop by sometime, then managed to escape with his purchases.
Kate was still making notes when he got back, but she was delighted to declare herself finished when she saw the food and the coffee. They pulled out the old oak chairs and sat down at the table to eat.
“I found something for you while you were gone,” Kate said. She pointed to the counter, where a pair of garage door remotes were sitting. “I already tested them and they work. They were hidden in the back of the little cabinets over the refrigerator. I had to stand on a chair to look in there, but something told me I’d find a surprise.”
“Cool,” Noah said. “It’ll be nice to be able to put the Charger inside.”
“I’m amazed that this is so good,” Kate said, after biting into a piece of chicken. “I’ve seen the sign for their chicken a thousand times, but I never got up the nerve to stop and check it out. This isn’t bad at all.”
“Yeah, you ought to stop in there and get some now and then,” Noah said. “The kid who works there seems to think he’s your biggest fan. I told him I’d try to get you to stop by and give him an autograph.”
“Be glad to,” Kate said. “You always have to take care of your fans. The more they like you, the better your ratings, and the better your ratings, the better and longer your pay keeps coming. I like to get to know as many of them as I can.”
They chatted while they ate and then cleaned up the best they could. Noah used the bag he’d carried everything out of the store with as a trash bag and took it out the back to where four steel panels with holes in them had been set up as an incinerator. There was nothing inside it, but Noah tossed the bag in.
“That’ll be gone by the time you get around to looking at it again,” Kate said. “Raccoons, possums, even wild house cats—they all run loose around here. Something will climb in there and eat what they can, and drag the rest back to wherever they keep their nest.”
“Everything’s gotta eat,” Noah said. They climbed into the car, and he headed back into town toward Walmart.
Kate had been somewhat optimistic on her estimate of what Noah would spend. After two hours in Walmart, the grand total came to just over twelve hundred dollars. Noah simply pulled a wad of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and peeled them off as if it were no big deal.
Kate watched hungrily as he did so but said nothing until they were back in the car. Once he had driven away from Walmart and was on Industrial Park Road, she finally couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Are you just naturally rich?” she asked. “Or does your outfit give you an unlimited budget?”
“It depends on the mission,” Noah said. “For this one, it was decided that I should look like I came to town flush, but getting to the bottom of my cash stash. Buying the house definitely put a dent in my reserves, but I thought it was a logical move. If it took me some time to get in with the Morgan people, I could always work at the chicken plant. Owning the house means no rent or mortgage payments, so my cost of living would be lower.”
Kate shook her head. “I guess that makes sense. I have to live on my radio salary, and trust me, it ain’t much. I shouldn’t gripe, though, at least it keeps me out of the chicken plant. I worked a while there in deboning, and I’ve got so many scars on my hands it’s ridiculous.”
Noah looked over at her. “I can help, if you need a little extra cash. That would be in character, since I’m supposed to be your brother. Do you need a few hundred right now? I can spare it.”
Kate shook her head. “No, goodness, no,” she said. “For one thing, I don’t need my bosses wondering how I’m spending more money than I’m making, but I also don’t want to get dependent on you. I hate to be this blunt, but every other agent that has gone after the Morgans has ended up dead. If they figure out who you are, they’re going to be coming after me, too. Bear that in mind, okay? If you blow your cover, you’ve blown mine, as well.”
“Relax,” Noah said. “I don’t plan on blowing anything.”
They got bac
k to the house and carried everything inside. Kate set to work changing the bedding while Noah began opening boxes in the kitchen. It wasn’t difficult for him to figure out where to put the dishes, and the pots and pans went into some of the lower cabinets near the range. Brooms and dust mops and cleaning supplies went into the hall closet, along with the vacuum cleaner and hardwood floor system he had bought. He even managed to set up the coffee maker they had purchased by the time Kate got done in the bedrooms and bathrooms.
“You surprise me, little brother,” Kate said. “I wouldn’t have thought you could organize things so well.”
“It’s that thing we talked about that happened when I was a kid,” Noah said. “It left me with an extremely logical mind. I had a friend who actually used to call me Mr. Spock, because I had no emotions and thought everything through to its logical conclusion. Logic dictates that certain things need to be in certain places, so putting all this away wasn’t that big a deal.”
Kate nodded and smiled at him. “Rex,” she said, “it’s—it’s good to have you back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Noah’s phone chimed, and he glanced at it to see that it was a text message from Neil. He opened it up and read, “I need rest. Just keep looking at the new moon, and we’ll be there before you know it.”
The message meant that the mole had been in contact through the car forum’s email system, and it had been relayed into the game that Neil was playing as part of his cover. Neil and Noah had devised a simple code that would allow him to send Noah the phone number that always appeared in the messages. The first seven words of the message would start with a letter that corresponded with the correct number on a telephone dial pad. Noah’s mind read the message and instantly translated it to 467-555-2866.
“Kate, I’ve got to step outside and make a phone call,” he said. She only nodded, still checking the cabinets and drawers to make sure he had put everything in its proper place.
