One Tough Love

by Zanne Sweeney

  “If I open it Wes it better be to an apology.”

  “Just open the door Jo.”

  Jo opened the door and Wes stood there looking at her with a pained expression on his face. She motioned for him to come in and he did. Wes sat on the couch she could tell he’d had a couple drinks so she got him a glass of ice water, which he drank down after thanking her. The atmosphere was awkward. Jo did not want to fight with Wes, but if he couldn’t accept what she did for a living, what she loved to do, then she worried for them as a couple.

  “Jo we have to talk about this.”

  “You don’t want to talk about it Wes, you want to stop me.”

  “I’ll admit that. I can’t handle you putting yourself in danger.”

  “You know what I do for a living. How did you think I got information? You’re being unreasonable.”

  “I’m not. You are not thinking clearly. There are other ways to get information Jo.”

  “Yeah, and they all involve going through you!”

  “Would that be so bad?” He said wearily.

  “Wes it’s just not how I do things. “ Jo wasn’t going to give in to him.

  “Jo please look at it from my perspective.”

  Jo was starting to get riled up again. “What is your perspective Wes? What makes you think you have a say in what I do? What kind of work I do or even where I work? ”

  Jo knew that was a pretty snarky comment but she was drawing the proverbial line in the sand and he needed to know she was serious. Wes was totally out of sorts. He was a skilled negotiator, yet he couldn’t get Jo to empathize, even a little, as to how he was feeling. He hadn’t slept at all last night and it drove him nuts when she wouldn’t answer his texts or pick up his calls. He started to think maybe he had deeper feelings for her than she did for him.

  Jo’s phone rang and when she looked at the screen she saw it was Auggie calling and she knew she had to answer it. She had left him a message earlier and she knew he was worried.

  “Wes I have to take this.” She told him and she left him in her living room while she went into her bedroom shutting the door. Wes was floored that she’d left to take a call. She’d never done that before. Jo’s laptop that lay open on her coffee table in front of him pinged with a message that appeared on the main screen.

  Jo congrats on your new job in Chicago. Mom and I are very proud of you. Let us know how we can help. Xoxo

  Wes read it again not believing what he was reading. Jo was leaving? WTF. He had been a fool to think that she cared for him. She hadn’t even told him she’d applied in Chicago. Wes stood up and let himself out the door. He was done.

  When Jo came back out from her phone call she was feeling better. Auggie had told her to go easy on Wes. So when Jo returned to find him gone she was taken back. She called him but it went to voice mail. She then tried to text him.

  Where did you go?

  He never responded.

  Jo sat down on her couch perplexed and that’s when she saw the message from her parents in the pop up banner on her computer. Her stomach clenched realizing that Wes had seen the message. He thought she had taken a job in Chicago. She knew she needed to explain everything to him, even if that meant explaining why she hadn’t accepted the job.

  Chapter 27

  Wes

  Wes was reeling from Jo’s betrayal. He shut his phone off and instructed his doorman to tell anyone that asked to see him that he was out of town. He used Sunday to catch up on chores and he came to a major decision. There was no way he could stay in town, knowing Jo was nearby, even if it wasn’t for much longer, and maintain distance from her. He was hurt that she’d taken the job in Chicago without even discussing it with him. So Sunday night Wes called the client that had asked for him to accompany his family to Europe. Wes explained that his schedule had cleared and he would be the one going with them. The client was delighted.

  On Monday morning Jace and Andy knew immediately something was wrong. When Wes called a meeting they were floored when he told them he was leaving for Europe in the morning.

  “Is Jo okay with you going?” Andy asked hesitantly.

  “Jo and I are through.”

  “What?” Jace couldn’t believe it.

  “She took a job in Chicago.”

  Andy and Jace looked at each other and before they could say anything else Wes spoke again.

  “I can’t stay here right now and I don’t want to talk about it either.”

  Jace and Andy didn’t argue with him. Jace was really angry at Jo and he felt bad for Wes, he was hurting. Andy felt sorry for his friend also, but he thought there might be something more to the story. It didn’t sound like Jo. Andy knew she may not have expressed her feelings to Wes yet, but he knew she was in love with him. He couldn’t believe that she would leave him.

  Wes left that afternoon for Europe. He swapped out his phone for one from the business ones that would work overseas and one that didn’t have Jo’s number on it and one she didn’t have the number for. Wes wanted to give his job his undivided attention and hopefully the distance would help him heal.

  Jo tried to call Wes that evening and once again was bounced to voicemail. She even went to his condo on Sunday, but the doorman told her he was out of town. It was becoming crystal clear that Wes couldn’t handle her lifestyle and had washed his hands of her. Jo spent the rest of Sunday getting ready for her night at Cardboard Corner.

  When evening set in Jo parked a few blocks away from the homeless corner and took out her oversized bag that contained items a homeless person might carry. She had two blue tarps that she had knocked holes into with a rock to make it appear worn and she had some wooden clothes pins, old twine, a ratty blanket and some other odds and ends.

  She packed a few extra items as well like; a bag of diapers for Annie, and some dog biscuits for Charlie, one of the older occupant's dog. Jo walked into camp around 8:00pm and Trip helped her rig up her tarp against the fence. Jo snuck the diapers into their small shelter, and when Annie saw them she knew it was Jo who had put them there, but she remained quiet. Annie had good people sense for a seventeen year old and she had a feeling Jo wasn’t what she was claiming to be, but Jo was nice and Annie liked talking to her. Jo never tried to get personal information from her and she loved holding little Trip, which gave Annie a break.

  That night undetected by her plastic tarp Jo watched and took pictures with her iPhone, of a truck pulling into the construction yard. The head supervisor came out from the trailer and signed for the shipment of lumber. A small crew of men unloaded the wood and then she watched them leave. The supervisor recorded the shipment and then he left. The only person left at the site was a night watchman.

  Jo fell asleep wrapped in her thin wool blanket and awoke to another truck pulling into the yard. She looked at her iPhone noting that it was 2:00am. Jo watched as the night watchman unlocked the main gate motioning the new truck in. She took pictures again, but she knew it was too dark and they wouldn't be clear.

  Four men stepped out of the truck and Jo watched as they unloaded wood from the truck and then loaded up the wood that had been delivered earlier.

  Holy Smokes Jo thought this was it. This was the evidence she’d been waiting for. Her head whirled with all the new information she had just gathered and what to do next. When the truck was getting ready to leave she heard the one man tell the watchman they’d be back on Thursday night.

  Jo knew she had some serious investigating to do before Thursday night. She could break this wide open if she played her cards right.

  Jo stayed on at Cardboard Corner continuing her charade. Some of the occupants started to accept her and although many of them really were down on their luck persons she did find there were a few of them that were unbalanced. During the day Jo would leave the corner, but she always returned at night. She had to keep up the pretense because her new objective, for Thursday night, required her to be at Cardboard Corner and record what she hoped would be another material swi
tch out on Thursday night.

  During the weekdays Jo focused on gathering more evidence, but she was becoming increasingly depressed when thought about how badly she had misjudged Wes. She couldn’t believe he was so callous to just walk away from her. Her heart ached from missing him, but she refused to call or text him anymore. He had walked away from her. Jo wished she could tell him everything she had discovered. He would be crazed that she was spending her nights in Cardboard Corner, but she also thought he might be just the tiniest bit proud of her too.

  Jo had taken a few minutes to call Auggie and although she didn’t tell him about her and Wes being broken up, she did tell him that she thought the investigation she was working on was going to be over soon. He was excited for her. He was the one person that she had confided in about lying to her parents about the job in Chicago because she hadn't wanted to leave Wes. Auggie understood why she had told her parents the lie, he knew them and they would have insisted that she go on the interview, but he did tell her she should have told Wes.

  On Thursday night Jo left her townhouse hoping she could wrap up her stint at cardboard corner that night. She had downloaded the pictures from Sunday night onto her computer and her iPhone, and as she had thought, the pictures of the switch out couldn’t really be seen because it was too dark and she had been too far away. For tonight’s delivery Jo had rented a night vision video/camera that had internet capabilities. She programmed the high tech camera to send what she recorded and any pictures she took to her home computer and to her iPhone.

  Jo’s plan was to sneak into the site behind the second truck, video the switch, and sneak back out. The reason she needed to get inside the site was because she needed to take a picture of the original invoice from the first delivery. Jo had noticed that after the supervisor had signed the invoice, he then placed it on a clipboard, and he then hung the clipboard right inside the trailer door.

  Jo decided when the second truck was being unloaded she would slip over to the trailer and take a picture of the invoice, while the guard and men were busy. She’d then remain hidden and video as much as she could. Her only worry was sneaking back off of the site. Jo decided if worse came to worse she’d scale the fence in the back when the guard took his normal nap in the trailer around 4:00 am.

  Jo videoed the first shipment being delivered around 8:00 pm that evening. This time the delivery was steel beams that had to be off loaded with a small crane. Like before, a few men under the direction of the supervisor unloaded the materials. The supervisor signed the invoice, handed it back to the driver, and then placed his copy on the clipboard placing it right inside the trailer door. Jo figured there must be a hook for the clipboard because the supervisor never even had to go inside the trailer to hang the board, he simply reached in and when his hand reappeared it was empty.

  When the truck left Jo reviewed her footage pleased with what she’d captured. She pressed the button that relayed the pictures to her computer and iPhone. She then lay back down on her blanket, ate a granola bar and went over what she’d be doing next. She realized it would be risky. If Wes had been on board with everything she could have confided in him and then she would have felt safer that someone else knew where she was and what she was attempting. He could have even been her back up.

  Thinking about Wes brought tears to her eyes and she gulped back the sobs that were caught in her throat. Jo saw movement by her tarp and sat up.

  “Jo?” It was Annie. “Jo are you all right?” Annie knelt down peering under Jo’s little tarp, she had her baby resting against her chest.

  “Can I come in?” Annie said.

  Jo smiled at Annie’s manners. Here a tarp was considered a home and you had to be invited in.

  “Sure.” Jo said wiping a tear from her cheek.

  Annie sat down and handed Jo her baby. Jo cuddled the little boy giving him sweet little kisses while talking quietly to him. Just holding the little guy gave Jo a sense of rightness and young Annie had probably known it would.

  “Want to talk about it?” Annie asked.

  Jo shook her head. “No, but thank you.”

  “Is it a man?” Annie persisted.

  Tears slipped down Jo’s face as she nodded yes. “But it’s over.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Did you love him?”

  Jo paused. “So damn much.” She whispered.

  “You’ll heal Jo, give it time.”

  “How can someone so young be so wise?” Jo asked Annie gently.

  Annie smiled back at her then took little Trip back carefully, since Jo had rocked him to sleep.

  “You’re sweet Jo. I like you.” She said and then she went back to her little shelter.

  Jo waited up for the next truck and at around 2:00 am she heard it rumbling up the vacant street. Jo pushed her hair up into a black cap, smeared her face with the wet dirt she’d prepared, put on a black long sleeve tee shirt, grabbed her camera and stealthily made her way to the construction gate.

  She knew from before that the night watchman let the truck in and then didn’t re-lock it since he would just be unlocking it again. Jo hid behind a car parked on the street and as soon as the truck started to move through the gate Jo followed closely behind it.

  When the truck stopped, Jo who had been filming the entire time, ducked under the under carriage and remained behind a doubled back tire to stay hidden. She angled the camera outwards to capture the men as they prepared to off load their haul. When the men were on the other side of the truck Jo crept out from under the truck, ducking first behind a pile of wood, then behind a port-o-potty, which was near the fence, until she made it to the trailer.

  Quickly she opened the door to the trailer, found the clipboard and ran the camera over the top page capturing the printed invoice on screen. Jo quietly shut the door and headed back to the truck. She was stuck behind the port-o-potty filming the exchange, and she realized that she actually had a better angle from where she was so she remained there filming.

  When she was satisfied that she’d gotten enough footage, Jo used the file sharing app on the fancy camera’s menu to copy and send what she’d videoed. Jo put the little handheld night vision camera down at her side now trying to figure out the best way to get out of the construction site without being seen.

  The men had climbed back into the truck and the security guard was between her and the truck talking with one of the men in the cab. Before the truck started backing out, the dog, Charlie, that Jo had regularly been bringing treats to, spotted her hiding behind the green out house. The small mongrel began barking, hoping to get her attention, obviously thrilled that he might get another treat.

  Jo's heart lurched as she saw the truck slam to a stop as one of the men jumped out. She’d been spotted. Jo sprinted for the open gate and freedom, but the burly guard stepped in front of her and violently knocked her to the ground. The men from the truck jumped on top of her pinning her down against the dusty drive.

  “What have you got there?" The guard wheezed, snatching her camera from her hand.

  Jo kept her face hidden and tried to break free, but the man sitting on top of her leveled her with a fist to the face that had Jo seeing spots.

  Another man that had exited the truck snatched off her hat.

  “It’s a fucking girl!”

  The two men hauled her to her feet and under the direction of the guard quickly brought her inside the trailer.

  “What now?” One of them asked.

  “Tie her to that chair. I’m calling Marty.”

  Jo was trying to rummage her brain for who Marty was but she was coming up empty. Her face was throbbing and she could taste blood in her mouth. She tried to get free, but her hands were bound tightly and they had doubly secured her to the trailers bolted down table.

  “Marty says he’s on his way. You guys get out of here.”

  The two truckers left and the guard followed them out. Jo tried to pull her hands free, bu
t she only succeeded in rubbing them raw. She began to panic and she knew when Wes found out he’d have a big ‘I told you so’ moment. Thinking of Wes coupled, with her dire predicament brought tears to her eyes.

  Jo had no idea how much time had passed, but she was uncomfortable, had to pee and was seriously afraid for her life. The trailer's air conditioning wasn’t running and sweat dripped down her face and she knew her shirt was soaked. It was so stifling in the old trailer that it made it difficult to breathe.

  Jo heard a car pull up outside and then the guard walked back in. Jo knew there was someone else outside, but she couldn’t see who it was since they were standing to the side of the door. The guard put a gag around her mouth then placed a pillowcase over her head and tied it around her neck so she couldn’t pull it off. Jo started to fight, afraid she was going to suffocate, but the guard told her to stop moving or he’d tie the rope tighter. Jo discovered that she could breathe so she stopped struggling.

  She felt herself being untied from the chair and then she was walked towards the trailer door. She knew when she had reached the doorway when the cool night air washed over her. She couldn’t move her hands or speak, so she listened. She heard a man tell the guard to throw her in the back and Jo assumed that meant the back seat, but Jo was roughly shoved into a trunk of a car, and she heard the trunk slam shut above her. Jo knew she was in serious trouble now.

  The car took off and Jo rattled around the back. She had a splintering headache and her main concern became trying not to throw up. She was car sick from being tossed around and she thought the man might have hit her hard enough for her to have a concussion. She tried to feel for anything that might free her hands but the large trunk was empty.

  After what seemed liked hours Jo felt the car come to a stop. She heard two car doors open and then she heard two men talking. She then heard the trunk door being lifted and she was roughly hauled out. Her legs were shaky and she almost went down, but one of the men grabbed her keeping her upright.