by Kit DeCanti
Turning to the mess on the floor Kat began picking things up and sorting them into stacks to keep and throw away. Without realizing it, Kat had worked through her hording tendency and was preparing to move out. She had begun to ‘let go’.
The aroma of sautéing garlic drifted up from the kitchen and Kat called down to her mother, “How long ‘til dinner? I‘m famished!”
“Fifteen minutes,” was her mom’s happy response. Caroline was happy to hear the old ‘Kat’ again.
Kat and Angel were doing dishes when Kat’s cell phone rang. She looked at the number and said, “I have to take this, Angel, can you finish up?”
“Oh sure- like I’m gunna fall for that one!” Angel laughed. She, too, was happy to have her sister back.
Kat had stepped out the back door and after short professional pleasantries she made an appointment with Jack. She wanted to look him in the eye when she hired him to gather information at the retreat about the Lombardis.
The next day after work, Kat met Jack at the fast food place around the corner from her office. They had agreed that it would be a great informal public place to meet and she could sit where she could watch each driveway to see all who drove in, just incase they needed to be discreet. Besides, should someone see them talking it wouldn’t seem strange since people start up conversations at fast food restaurants all the time.
Jack was waiting for her when she walked in. She recognized him, but he had changed since she had seen him. He no longer looked like the paunchy little loser she always thought of him as. She could now see the potential that Ron had seen in him.
Jack was trim, well groomed and dressed and carried himself well. He had an air of self confidence and pride.
“He’s come along way,” Kat thought to herself. “His private detective business must be doing well, his ‘gum shoes’ are Prada.”
“Hi Jack,” Kat smiled. “I know you are busy, so I’ll get to the point. I need your services. I need some information on a couple whom I believe are staying at the Cobb Mountain Retreat… and perhaps the man’s elderly wife. I haven’t inquired of the doctor yet; however the receptionist Cindy was not forthcoming with any information at all. I understand you have a history with the retreat, can you help me?” Jack hesitated. Kat added, “I know your fees and I’m glad to pay them.” Jack was still silent, so Kat added, “I also have some other work for you that you may find more interesting.” She hadn’t expected this to be so difficult. She had assumed that he would jump at the job.
Jack finally spoke, “I need to tell you…. Kat, I guess you don’t know that Cindy is my cousin. She is my connection to the retreat. That doesn’t necessarily disqualify me from taking the job… ah… I have taken jobs in the past that involved the retreat, which required me to even gather information from Cindy. However it was an important case that I believed in, and she had much needed information… and I felt no moral conflict. I need to know that… well I need more information before I can commit.”
“Okay, when you say you need more information exactly what do you need to know? I mean, I really don’t want to lay out my case to you before you are on board.” Kat looked down at her hands, and then back up to Jack. She took a deep breath and said, “I have reason to believe I am in danger due to this case.”
“I see. Well, that shines an entire different light on the matter.” Jack leaned back and lifted his palms in the air, and said. “What do you want me to do?”
Kat wondered why Jack didn’t bring up Ron. She wondered if he spoke to Ron before he returned her call. She shrugged and decided that he probably did. It would make sense. And Ron must have informed him of their current status. She decided to clear the air on it. “I guess you heard that Ron and I broke up.” Suddenly Kat realized that this was the first time she uttered those words out loud. Jack nodded and Kat quickly changed the subject.
“Okay Jack, well this is the situation…” Kat started with the anonymous phone call at work and walked him through each of the encounters with Mr. Lombardi, mentioned his mistress and then listed the incidents that happened as the result of her investigating each of the former residences.
Not getting a response from Jack, and thinking he didn’t see the merits of the case, she added almost sarcastically, “Now I am aware that this could all be sized up to coincidences. Perhaps the Lombardis just like to move around a lot and are antisocial; and perhaps the phone caller was just a nosey neighbor or someone who was afraid they were getting cut out of the will; and maybe I wasn’t chased down the mountain into the ditch- but it was just someone in a real big hurry and I was in their way; and perhaps it was just a really bad driver who almost hit me in Lakeport and she just happened to be behind me on the drive down from Vista Montagna; and the people chasing me through Mare Vista might have thought I was a burglar; and as for the numbers I keep finding scrawled all over the place…”
“What?! Wait! You went to Mare Vista? Numbers? What numbers?! Where did you see these numbers?” Interrupted Jack, losing his cool.
Kat was startled and stared at Jack, suddenly wondering if he could be trusted. Jack leaned forward sensing what she was thinking. “Look Kat, I am licensed and honest. I can give you a long list of references stemming out of Sacramento. However there is a reference much closer to home that you can feel free to call.” Kat knew he was referring to Ron. And she wondered if the reference to Sacramento was Ron’s step dad.
Ron kept that relationship pretty private due to his job. He wanted to make his way in law enforcement without anyone influenced by his step father’s position as Chief Investigator for the State Attorney General’s office. As far as she knew, besides herself and her Uncle Lenny, no one in Lake County was privy to it. Seems that now Jack knew. The friendship between Jack and Ron must be closer than she had realized. “Kat, once I take a case, I am loyal to it- and to my client. You don’t have to worry about me turning on you. Even now, if you decide I'm not the man for the job, I‘ll walk away and keep my mouth shut… Your call.”
Kat took a sip of her iced tea, all the while not taking her eyes off Jack’s face. She knew she was really at a dead end this time. She needed help. She needed Jack. But could she trust him? She needed time to think.
“But, as Jack so pointedly made clear- I have already laid out my case.” Kat’s mind was racing, “He knows it all now… and some of it he seemed to have already known… Actually it seems like he already knew most of it… in fact the only thing that surprised him was the notes with numbers… and that I had gone to Mare Vista. How did he even know about that place?” She looked at Jack’s shoes again.
“Has he already been bought?” Kat wondered taking another look at his expensive cloths, “and if so by whom? Well there is the old adage keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
Kat closed her eyes. She felt like she had worked herself into a corner and the only way out was to fight. She asked herself, “Am I strong enough. Can I trust myself to stay on top of this situation? Can I make Jack think I am gullible and not on to him, and pull the information from him that he apparently already has, and is hiding from me. Am I up to this?” Earlier Kat had felt strong… invincible. Even sang her mom’s favorite old woman’s lib song as she drove to work that morning, but now with just a few words from Jack, her confidence in herself was shaken. She knew she had more to think about and digest- but there was not time now. Right now she had to make a decision. And the outcome of this case hinged on this decision. Kat frowned as she concluded to herself, “So bottom line- as it stands without someone inside at the retreat I am at a standstill. At least with Jack on my payroll I will have something. Perhaps not all the info that he has, but he will have to give me something, and there is the possibility that I can get more.” Kat’s jaw set and looked directly into Jack’s eyes and asked, “Do you have your contract with you?” having made the decision.
That evening after dinner Kat retreated to her room to pour over her old high school year books. Angel knocked on her
door lightly and entered with a worried look in her eyes, but upon seeing the yearbooks it was replaced with relief and a big smile. She had been afraid that Kat was depressed again.
Plopping down on the floor next to Kat Angel pointed at a picture and laughed “Whoa! Some hair!”
“Yeah, I guess at that age ya can’t possibly look to the future and know how ridiculous you may look,” Kat laughed back and pulled on a purple streak in Angel’s hair.
The sisters continued the banter and down stairs in the kitchen their mom grinned at the beautiful noise floating down the staircase, not minding at all that she was doing the dishes by herself. Her house was back to normal.
Sure Kat and Angel were having a good laugh and enjoying each other’s company; but little did either Angel or her mother know that Kat was also gently setting the stage to pick Angel’s brain about the where abouts of a certain Cecilia Rambroski.
Kat would need to be discreet so as not to raise Angel’s curiosity over her new interest in someone that she knew only casually from school. But more importantly, she would also have to be extremely gingerly and to use kid gloves as she approached this subject. Kat would never do anything to cause the reoccurrence of the depression that her kid sister suffered in her early teens.
Angel had never spoken much about her time in the retreat. But Kat knew that Angel occasionally returned to the retreat on Cobb for counseling. Perhaps she had come to know Cecilia and if so perhaps the conversation could be guided in such a way for Angel to reveal how Kat could bump into her.
Suddenly it occurred to Kat that perhaps Angel might even know Mrs. Lombardi!
Kat took a breath and turned the page to the “Rs”. She leaned back watching Angel’s expression and noted a change.
“She does recognize Cecilia Rambroski,” Kat noted silently, then out loud, “Wow! Cecilia, I haven’t seen her since graduation. I wonder what ever became of her.” Angel looked up sharply. Kat smiled but looked away not wanting to reveal her eagerness. She reached for her cup of tea and took a sip then added, “I think we had a couple classes together. She was very smart. She loved English Lit. I think she want to be a writer. …I wonder what she’s doing now.” Not getting a response she tried, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she had become a famous author. Of course authors use pen names sometimes so maybe we wouldn’t even know. She may have written a book about Lake County maybe we read it and didn’t even know it was her…” Kat was grasping at straws, not wanting to miss this one opportunity to get information about Cecilia. She realized too late that she should have thought this out more thoroughly.
“She’s not an author!” Angel blurted. “She’s a fast food manager… and why do you care anyway? Cecilia doesn‘t even live in Lake County anymore!”
Kat grabbed her sister’s hand, it was trembling. “Angel, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you. I had no idea you didn’t like her. I’ll just drop it.”
Angel calmed down and after a moment she said quietly, “It’s not that I don’t like her... I just don’t like to talk about people I knew from the…. from when I was in the retreat.”
Kat hugged her little sister and rocking her while patting her back said, “Then let’s not! We won’t mention her ever again!” and she meant it. She vowed never to try and get information about the retreat from her sister again. Never!
Kat rolled over on her stomach and turned the pages to the sports pages. “Look! Homecoming! Remember that game! What was the score? 16 to 0...? What a slaughter! That team never got over that! What a blow for their jocks!” This brought a grin back to her sister’s face.
“Yeah! Sure knocked them down a notch. They thought they were gunna come up to this hick school and whip our…” Angel stopped mid sentence and Kat laughed as her little sister looked at the door. They both knew that even though certain words were common among most, their mother hated to hear girls talk rough. Kat slipped her arm around her sister who was also now lying on her stomach next to her and hugged her again. She pointed to a picture of herself in a cheerleader’s formation and laughed, “What a jockette!” then started cheering, “Rock ‘em sock ‘em pound ‘em in the ground!” Angel joined in with Kat and they were both laughing again.
“Who knew I’d become a mild mannered social worker fighting for the weaker ones of society.”
“Yeah- you’re a real social super hero!” Angel grinned.
“Well I don’t know about the ‘super’ part, but I humbly must admit I’ve saved a few elderly that had no one else on their side.” Kat said. Then without thinking she said “I’m working on a case now. I caught an anonymous phone call about a missing elderly woman. I saw her a couple times, but now the family has moved her and I’m having a hard time getting any leads to their where abouts. …You know I can‘t give any details, but I seem to have run into a dead end. A real brick wall.”
She looked at the worry on Angel’s sweet face and knew that if she were stronger she would jump at the opportunity to help the elderly Mrs. Lombardi. Kat gave her sister another quick hug and turned the page…
The next day as Kat was leaving for work, she overheard Angel talking on the phone asking the retreat if there was a group she could drop in on later, and Kat felt a stab of guilt. Not for anything would she ever want to be the cause of her sister going through what she had gone through before.
Mid morning Kat got a call from Jack who asked to meet up at the same fast food place again after work. Hoping he had something for her, Kat cancelled her first meeting with the group at Crossroads Inn Time B & B and Spa to meet him.
Jack was waiting for her when she walked into Foster’s. One look at his guarded expression and her hopes were dashed.
Kat sat their reading more from Jack’s expressions than from his words. He seemed to have been coached. Someone with a real command of ‘action’ and ‘emotion’ words helped him prepare this verbal report.
For the first time Kat took into consideration that Jack was closer to Dr. Fleming than he had let on during their first meeting.
As Kat listened to Jack’s words she studied his face intently. He talked a lot but gave her nothing. No useful information at all. But he did ask her some very carefully worded questions, about Mare Vista and the numbers. Kat was surer than ever that Jack knew something that he was hiding. She wasn’t sure whose payroll he was on besides hers, but she got the distinct feeling he was trying to get information from her for someone. But for whom? Kat couldn’t be sure, but considering the new additions to the retreat, Kat wondered if Dr. Fleming had been ‘bought’ as well.
One other thing bothered Kat. Jack had brought up Ron a couple times that seemed out of context. At one point, despite her resolve to remain neutral, Kat interjected, “I wish Ron well with his new… endeavor.” Hoping she was able to keep any resentment out of her tone, she was determined to set matters straight since Jack seemed to be still trying to rely on their mutual friend as a basis for trust. “Former friend.” Kat silently corrected herself, and went back to wondering who was paying Jack to try and get information from her.
On a hunch Kat decided to have a follow up meeting with the good Doctor Richard Fleming about her old client, Mr. Watson.
Not surprisingly Dr. Fleming made the appointment at his Kelseyville office for the next day. “He wants to keep me from the retreat,” she said to herself, as she wrote down the time in her day planner.
Kat pulled into Dr. Fleming’s Kelseyville parking lot confident that the meeting would go well; she had a perfectly viable reason for requesting the meeting concerning a client that had spent time in the retreat for depression. Kat remembered being impressed at how quickly he responded to the therapy in the clinic, but he still attended monthly group sessions. She had rehearsed in her mind several times the questions she would ask, freeing up her mind to pay close attention to the doctor’s reaction to several words and implications that she had peppered in her prepared interview. But Kat underestimated her opponent.
Dr. Fleming, it bec
ame apparent, had his own agenda.
“Ms. Amoretti, how nice to see you again.” His words were friendly enough, but his eyes were penetratingly disarming. “I understand I missed you at the retreat the other day. Now, which of your clients were you there to inquire about? I wasn’t aware that you had an active file on anyone other than Mr. Watson.” This totally knocked Kat off balance and her prepared questions and interview went by the way side. Suddenly defensive, she stammered to come up with an answer.
Well, no… I mean yes… I was following up on a client who has moved and left no forwarding address and since she had once spent time at the retreat, I was hoping to get a name of a relative or emergency contact.” By the end of her sentence Kat had regained her composure if not her self confidence.
“What is the name of this client?”
Now it was Kat’s turn to have penetrating eyes watching for a reaction, as she said, “Mrs. Marie Lombardi.” But she was disappointed and surprised with the doctor’s quick unemotional response.
“I understand that the county’s file on Mrs. Lombardi is closed. Now, what is it that you would like to know about Mr. Watson?” Dr. Fleming smiled a detached impersonal smile that left Kat knowing she had met her match.
She pulled out her file on Mr. Watson and read her questions straight from her form, skipping the phrases and words she had originally planned to use to see if the doctor was hiding any information. He clearly was and it was just as clear he was not going to reveal anything.
“Another dead end,” Kat grumbled as she drove back to the office.
The next morning Kat woke up with the vague memory of a bad dream. She knew she had woken up crying during the night, but she couldn’t remember anything else about it.
