I’m really tired of this job. I can find something else. Hopefully with equal or better pay and benefits.
I think it is. I don’t think Miranda would want me to be so miserable. But now is not the time. It hasn’t even been a year yet.
I have to.
That I don’t know. Certainly not in bars, church seems a bust although Mom used to tell me when I was young I could always find a nice girl in church. I’ll figure that out along the way I guess.
So the next thing I did was bring up my laptop and start searching for jobs. I looked for government jobs until almost dawn. I finally found something that seemed to fit. I filled out the application online, shut down the computer and took a shower.
I dressed for work and pulled the Tahoe out of the garage. I felt better than I had in weeks. I finally had somewhat of a plan. I thought about how to put an end to the Garvey problem as I inched along in traffic. Hopefully soon this crap would only be a memory.
Unbelievably I saw Garvey crossing West Little Creek and walk into the Walgreen’s. I couldn’t get to him because I was on the other side of the street, the light turned green and I had to turn left.
I made that U-turn again and called Danny. “Danny, I’m on Granby Street and I’m having trouble with my truck. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
He told me to take my time as I pulled into the Walgreen’s parking lot. I shut the truck off, jumped out and headed for the store. I didn’t even think to lock the Tahoe. I slowly walked around the store looking for Garvey. I didn’t see him anywhere. I even checked the bathroom but still didn’t find him.
Dammit!
I walked back to the truck, pissed off and mystified how he could have just disappeared. Of course it had taken me a while to make that U-turn and get back. That was twice that had happened!
That night instead of driving around I decided to just park and watch. I ate Chinese take-out in my truck. The next night I had Mexican. I didn’t see Garvey so on the third night I just went home. I was less stressed and a whole lot less tired.
Chapter 5
I’m just going back and forth on this. I’m thinking of Miranda and what she’d want me to do and I’m thinking of Garvey and how much I want him dead. I can’t come to a decision and it’s driving me crazy!
I wish Miranda was here to help me with this! Oh wait, if she was here I wouldn’t be in this mess. How stupid am I? I shook my head and sunk into my chair. There’s nothing on. What a waste of money paying for cable.
I cut it off and sat there with my head in my hands and thought of Miranda. I thought of all the plans we had made for the future. We were going to have kids. We’d already picked out names; Don, Jr. for the boy and Rebecca Marie for the girl. We’d called her Becca. She’d have her mother’s thick brown hair with a slight curl to it. Her eyes would be green like Miranda’s.
It was funny. I had thought of her often over the years but never much about the boy. I just assumed he’d be like me and we’d grow up to be best friends. We’d do everything together.
Both of them would go to good colleges and do something meaningful in life unlike me. Miranda had been a teacher and had done wonderful things with her students. Many of them had gone on to do great things in high school, college and I’m sure in life. But she didn’t live long enough to see it.
Me? I had dropped out of college and become a security guard. Yes, I eventually moved up to an investigator position but all in all I was still just a “rent-a-cop” albeit with a government contractor. I wasn’t proud of myself at all. Truth be told I felt like a failure in life. I had nothing to show for all my years on this earth. Both my mom and dad had done phenomenal things with their lives.
But then I looked at my sister and she’d done absolutely nothing with her life. She never followed through on anything. She’d gone to four years of college and refused to take the final class that would have awarded her a Bachelor’s Degree to become a social worker, something she had dreamed of being for years. I remember when she was in high school her saying one night at the dinner table, “I just want to help people.” She’d had three apprenticeships in varying fields and walked away from all of them. Hell, she’d been homeless at one point. She drank, smoked and did drugs, all of the things our parents had tried to keep us away from.
But this wasn’t about anyone else. It was about me. What exactly did I want to do with my life? Would it be possible to make something of my life or had I lost all hope when I killed Resnick?
Was I going to be excluded from Heaven because of it? Would I never see Miranda again? I wish I had the answers. If I knew I wouldn’t be with her I’d go ahead and go after Garvey. It wouldn’t matter then. If I was destined to go to Hell then I could go in a blaze of glory!
I’d pray about it but I knew I wouldn’t get an answer. It wasn’t that I didn’t think God was listening. No, I think I had decided that is was simply a matter of the way God did things. Evidently His rules and ours were different. We were created in His image and He wanted us to be free from sin. But He gave us free will and that was where, I think, the problems came in. If He’d just made it easier to be free from sin then…
What was I talking about? I didn’t know anything about God and the hereafter. I’m just going to do what I think is right for me. If it doesn’t align with some grand scheme of a higher power then that’d just be too bad. Right now I didn’t care. I had crossed that line with Resnick and now it was too late to turn back. I hoped I’d spend eternity with Miranda but it will be what it will be.
I went to bed with a clearer head than I had had in a long time. I slept soundly and woke up refreshed and ready to start a new day. All the way to work I prayed to God and asked Him to help me and to let me get back to Miranda.
Crazy, huh?
I didn’t see Garvey anymore. I had stopped searching for him. I just figured if it was meant to be we’d cross paths one day. I was ready for him.
Days went slowly by. I went to work and I ate a lot of crappy dinners from the frozen section of the grocery store. My mom had quit cooking. The Alzheimer’s was progressing rapidly. Faster than the doctor thought it should be. Dad said they kept switching meds but so far nothing had made a significant difference
I’d go see them and I could see my dad was worn out. This was getting to be too much for him.
One night I said, “Dad, I think it’s time for you to put her somewhere where she can get the help she needs. I know you want to care for her but it’s just really obvious that you’re overwhelmed.”
“Get out of my house!” He yelled. “I don’t need your shit! I can do this.”
Wow. I walked out the door floored. I had never heard my dad curse. If there was an award for the world’s best Christian he certainly would be in the running. Now I was positive he needed to get her out of there.
When I got home I called my sister. Something I hated to do. We talked about what was going on. She said she talked to Dad every day and knew how hard it was for him. Without me knowing she had been cooking for them and putting things in the freezer so all he had to do was put them in the microwave and heat them up.
My impression of her changed some that night. I was impressed that she’d stepped up and had been helping out. I just hoped she wouldn’t stop doing that all of a sudden like she had done with so many things before.
One night my dad called in tears, “You’re right. I can’t do this anymore by myself.”
I told him I’d be right over so we could talk. When I got there an ambulance was in the driveway and they were loading my mom into the back. I was shocked. I walked in the door and found an EMT working on my dad. His cheek was purple and there was a cut that was bleeding pretty bad.
He refused to go to the hospital with the EMT. I said I’d take him. He demanded to know where they were going to take my mother and said he wanted to go to the same ER. I assured him that’s where we’d go.
He began crying on the way. “I tried, Don, I really did but she’s
getting worse. I can’t believe how much she’s changed! I was trying to get her to change her clothes and get ready for bed. She hit me, Don, she hit me!”
“I know, Dad, I know.”
We drove in silence except for an occasional sob from him.
We spent the night in the ER. I called Danny at sunup and told him what was going on. He told me to handle what I needed to and he’d see me tomorrow.
They patched up Dad and then we sat in the waiting room waiting on word about what they were going to do with Mom. About eight o’clock the doctor came out and said they were going to admit her to the mental ward.
Dad exploded! “She doesn’t need to be in there! She’s not crazy! I’ll take her home before I let you do that!”
Both the doctor and I tried to calm him down. He eventually did and we went into a room to talk about “the plan” as he called it.
“Sir, I know she doesn’t belong in a mental facility but that’s the best place for her now. She can be watched closer than if we put her in a regular bed. She won’t be in the general population with the “other people” (He actually made quotation marks with his fingers!), she’ll be in a separate area with people like herself. We’re getting more and more patients like her and we have to get her stabilized before we can do anything with her. It’s on the same floor as the mental ward but it’s separate, quiet and more organized.”
I blew up this time, “Why the hell didn’t you say that before instead of telling us she’d be put in the mental ward?”
He thought for a moment then said, “You know, you’re right. I could have phrased that differently. I apologize.”
I took Dad home and on the way we stopped and got some breakfast. He didn’t eat after he ordered, just sipped on his coffee.
When we got back to the house I got him inside and told him to go to bed and get some rest. He agreed and walked down the hall.
“Lock up when you leave,” he said as he closed his bedroom door.
I was exhausted but not sleepy so I went out to the garage, pulled the Tahoe back out onto the driveway and washed and waxed it. Both were long overdue.
I slept well that night and on the way to work I called my dad. He sounded better and more refreshed than he had in a long time. He told me he was looking for a good place for Mom. Something that was “worthy of her” and close by so he could visit often.
Three days later he called and told me he had found a place and they’d move her towards the end of the week. I told him to call me if he needed anything. He said he would but I knew that was a lie. My dad was too proud to ask for help.
My days were filled with work and my nights trying to help Dad. He kept telling me he was fine and he’d call me if he needed me.
He called two days later and told me when and where they were moving Mom. I asked if he needed me to take time off work and go with him but he refused my offer. He said he didn’t want anyone to see her until she got settled in. He didn’t want her getting upset. I knew that was BS, he was ashamed about what was going on.
Chapter Six
I could relax a little with Mom and Dad settled into their new lives. Dad finally let me visit her. She had good days and bad days. Every once in a while she’d know me but most of the time she didn’t. Dad claimed that she always knew who he was. Not surprising since they had been married over sixty years.
Believe it or not I had pretty much forgotten about the house in Ghent I had up for sale. Now that I thought about it I was pretty pissed that I hadn’t heard from the realtor. I called her when I got to work but didn’t get an answer. I tried several times during the morning but it just rang.
I called the main business number and when I asked for her I was told that she had left the company a little over two weeks ago. What the hell!?! I asked who was handling my house and the receptionist said she’d have to look it up and call me back. I gave her my cellphone number and she said she’d get back to me within the hour.
Right before quitting time, about four hours later, she called me. She told me they had no record of me signing a contract with the company. I couldn’t believe it! I demanded to speak to the owner but was told she was out of the office for the next two weeks. I asked for whoever was in charge but she told me that everyone had left for the day.
I said, “Just forget it. I’ll find someone else to sell my house and I’ll contact my lawyer about this crap. I thought y’all were supposed to be a professional company but it sure doesn’t seem that way. Goodbye!”
I missed those days when I was a kid and we had the plastic phones where you could slam the receiver down. That would have been a perfect time to do it.
Well, that explained why I hadn’t heard from anyone. I decided to drive by the house on the way home. I took I-64 and then got off on I-264 and then off at West Brambleton Avenue. I passed the Scope Arena and made my way to my street.
Holy crap! Grass was waist high in the yard! There were several notices stuck to the front door too. I parked in the driveway and looked at them first. Surprise! A notice from the City of Norfolk informing me I was in violation because the grass was so high. So I guess I’d either have to hire someone to cut it or I’d have to do it myself.
I remembered that I had left my lawnmower in the garage since I wouldn’t need it at the condo. I unlocked the door to the garage and sure enough it was still there. The gas can was empty so I grabbed it and drove up to the 7-11 to get a gallon.
When I got back to the house I pulled the big door up and open on the garage. It was then that I noticed the window on the back wall was broken. Glass was spread all over the floor and under the workbench I saw a square shape covered by an old blanket. I pulled it off and there were square shapes covered with plastic and duct tape. I cut one open and some powder spilled out.
Powder? I smelled it. It had a really potent chemical smell, almost like gasoline, diesel, or some other solvent. I wonder what it was? I didn’t leave it there that’s for sure. So who did? And just what was… wait, could this be cocaine? Somebody was using my garage for a cocaine storage place?
Damn.
I should call the police. Or should I? I mean I don’t want the police suspect to me. I didn’t need that hassle. I sighed and decided to think about it while I cut the grass. That had always been my alone time, a time to think.
I decided to walk the yard first to make sure I didn’t run over anything. I found the realtor’s sign lying flat in the yard with muddy footprints on it. That probably somewhat explained why I hadn’t had any hits on the house.
I didn’t find anything else so I started cutting the grass. Of course my nosey next door neighbor came out to talk. She wanted to know where I had been. I told her I had moved to the Peninsula. She wanted to know why and asked how Miranda was doing.
“Miranda’s dead, Mrs. Banks “
“Dead? Oh dear, what happened? Was she in an accident?”
“No, Mrs. Banks, don’t you remember? She was murdered earlier this year.”
“Murdered? Oh, my! I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t know? She had been to Miranda’s funeral and brought a cake over afterwards. Just old age I guess. Or Alzheimer’s like Mom.
She went back into her house and I continued to cut the grass. When I did the backyard I noticed a window back there was broken too. I guess no one noticed anything because we had the privacy fence. Miranda wanted it so she could lay out during the summer and we could have friends over for cookouts.
When I was done with the yard I put the lawnmower away. When I tried to unlock the back door I found out it was already unlocked. I went out to the Tahoe and got my service pistol and slowly went inside. It was eerie and quiet. I expected a musty smell but it really wasn’t too bad.
I slowly walked from room to room. Memories came flooding back as I passed through each but I was too much on alert to let them bother me. When I got to the master bedroom I found a surprise, a bedroll and some clothes on the floor. I kicked them around an
d on the bottom of the pile found a surprise, the shirt Garvey had been wearing the first time I saw him on Ward’s Corner!
I tried to bunch it up the way I thought it looked like when I walked in.
Are you kidding me? Garvey was staying here? Un-fricking-believable!
I bet those packages in the garage was cocaine! I went back out there as I brought up Google on my phone. I looked up several things on my phone about cocaine. I stuck my finger into it and put a bit of it on the tip of my tongue like I had seen the cops do on TV. According to Google it should make my tongue numb. And it did!
Hot damn, I’ve got this son of a bitch!
But how? I couldn’t just sit there in the house and wait for him to come back. I didn’t even know when he’d be back. I put the open package on the bottom of the pile and covered it with the blanket. I pulled the back door closed, got into my truck and left.
On the way home I stopped and got a bottle of Gatorade and a couple of hot dogs from the 7-11.
The tunnel was pretty much cleared up by the time I got there so the trip home was quicker than usual. When I got home I took a long, hot shower while I thought about the things I had just discovered. What was I going to do?
This would need finesse. I knew I couldn’t get his body out of the house without getting caught so it’d have to stay there. But I also needed to sell the place and I couldn’t do that with him living there, those broken windows or leaving his dead body. Or could I?
I could call a realty company after I killed him and… No, I’d be the first suspect.
I got out of the shower and dressed. I was tired so I crawled into bed. I fell right asleep before I could think about it anymore.
When I woke up the next morning it was Saturday. I cleaned up the house some and went to see my mom and dad. I assumed he was at the nursing facility and I was right. We talked until after Mom had lunch (Dad had to feed her now.) and took a nap.
Turnabout Is Fair Play Page 5
