37

by David Achord

  “How do you usually answer?”

  “We offer different membership packages. The silver membership is the cheapest but I never use words like that.”

  “Let me guess, after you assess someone’s income, you tell them the silver is the most economical,” I said.

  She gave a flirtatious laugh. “Yes, I do, and it is. It runs four hundred a month with a ten thousand initiation fee. That includes all of the amenities, but you must spend a minimum amount every month in either the restaurant or bar.”

  “Does that include unlimited rounds of golf?” I asked.

  Her grin faltered slightly.

  “A silver member’s package includes one free round a week. If you want to play more, we have what is called the sports package, which includes sixteen rounds of golf a month and two guests a month, for a slightly higher monthly fee and also a minimum spending requirement in the restaurant or bar. That’s the package I was going to try to sell you. You also get unlimited use of the pool and tennis courts. Unless there is a special event, of course. It’s pretty standard among most country clubs. What do you think so far?”

  “Well, I don’t play tennis but having access to a pool is appealing. Is it always full of kids?”

  She snickered. “At times it can be a little crowded, but remember, whenever there are kids, there are also moms. Some are divorced, some are married but looking, if you know what I mean.”

  I ignored the innuendo and asked a few questions about club rules, how many members they had, things like that, if only to keep her interested in me. The truth be told, I was not an overly social person, so I sincerely doubted I’d spend much time here. If I joined at all, it would only be for the golf. And perhaps the bar.

  Looking around, I saw there were only a dozen people mingling around. I’d never been a fan of big crowds, but this seemed a little slim for a party. Debbie noticed.

  “We’re a little early; most of the crowd won’t start trickling in for another hour.”

  “What other types of events do you guys have?” I asked.

  Her face brightened. “We have all kinds. There are golf tournaments of course, special events, holiday parties, and even theme parties.”

  I peered closer to see if she was bullshitting me. “Theme parties?”

  Debbie laughed. “Yes, theme parties. Last October we had a Halloween costume party.”

  “What did you dress up as?” I asked.

  “Raven,” she said, and then saw my questioning expression. “The comic book heroine.”

  “Ah, did you win the best costume award?” I asked.

  “You bet your ass I did,” she said, grinning at the memory. “That was one wild night. We try to have several theme parties every year. What do you like to do for excitement?” Her grin morphed into a hint of a mischievous sexual undertone. I was about to disappoint her.

  “That’s easy. I go home, fix a glass of Scotch, get comfortable in my easy chair, and read a good book.”

  She laughed again. “Oh, you definitely need to join then. It’ll get you out of your rut.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “I’m in a rut?”

  She laughed and on impulse, or maybe it was planned, she reached up and caressed my cheek. I won’t say it bothered me. In fact, it felt kind of nice, but it also made me slightly uncomfortable. I think Debbie sensed it and pulled her hand away. She gazed at me a moment longer and then switched gears.

  “Do you see that older man over there?” she asked with a slight head nod.

  I looked over and saw a middle-aged man doing his best impression of a wallflower.

  “Yeah, he looks decidedly uncomfortable,” I said. “And lonely.”

  “He was referred by a member. So, I hope you don’t get jealous, but I need to go over there and flirt and get him to mingle. Would that be alright?”

  “Of course,” I said. “I believe I am in the perfect spot to hang out, right here by the bar.”

  She gave me that radiant smile of hers again. “You’re the greatest. Give me thirty minutes, and then we’ll do some dancing.”

  “Hang on now, I don’t dance.”

  “Not even slow dancing?” she asked.

  I cocked my head. “Oh, yeah, I can slow dance.”

  She smiled again, reached up, pulled me down by the neck and gave me another kiss, on the lips this time, before walking over to the man. I watched his face light up when she approached. I couldn’t help but smile, but the old man caused me to think about myself. I hoped I’d never be as lonely as he obviously was, but it was looking that way more and more. When it came to relationships, I seemed to be jinxed somehow. Debbie was being friendly, flirtatious even, but I knew she was only looking for that signing commission. She was the kind of woman who would flirt with a man even if she had no romantic interest. Sighing, I ordered another beer.

  I leaned against the bar and enjoyed my beer. The crowd had grown to almost thirty people now, about twenty men and a dozen women, including Debbie. Poor odds for a single man desiring companionship. The music cranked up and soon a few couples went out to the dance floor. I casually spoke to a few men as they came up and ordered drinks, but mostly I was left alone, which was fine.

  I amused myself by people watching. There were a few who had dates and were genuinely having a good time. There were a couple of men who were already drunk and acting like they were still in college and making fools of themselves. During all of this, I somehow picked up a bar buddy. He had walked up, ordered a drink, and leaned up against the bar no more than a foot from me.

  “What a bunch of pretentious assholes,” he said loud enough so I could hear him over the music.

  I gave a noncommittal shrug. I was pretty sure I knew his type; he was one of those people who was always in a foul mood about something. He was looking for a brother in arms to share in his disgust, but I wasn’t interested. I spotted Debbie in the crowd and watched her as she introduced Gloomy Gus to a buxom woman close to his age. She looked over, saw me watching, and gave a wink.

  “Well, you certainly look a lot better since the last time I saw you.”

  I turned to see a gorgeous blonde standing to my right. Even in the dim light, I could see her pale blue eyes and I recognized her immediately.

  “I remember you,” I said.

  She was the paramedic. The first time I met her, I had found a man who had been brutally beaten and left to die on some railroad tracks. Our second encounter happened when the psychopath, Officer Ben Smith, attacked me and nearly beat me to death.

  “Do you remember my name?” she asked.

  I thought hard but drew a blank and offered an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

  “Allison, but everyone calls me Al,” she said and then smiled. I’m certain she’d never smiled during either of our previous encounters.

  I stuck out my hand. “I’m pleased to finally meet you, Al. I’ve never thanked you for treating me.”

  Instead of a formal handshake, she took my hand in both of hers and held it gently. “How have you been?”

  I gave a shrug and a pleasant smile. “It was a hard road back the first month, but I’m doing great these days. How about you?”

  She glanced down and her smile vanished when she saw my scraped knuckles. “Still getting into fights, I see.”

  I pulled my hand back. “Oh, no. I was working on one of my cars today and the wrench slipped.”

  “Right,” she drawled. She clearly did not believe me, but it didn’t matter. She changed the subject. “You said cars, as in plural.”

  “Yeah, I have a couple of old cars. They require work from time to time.”

  The man who had been leaning against the bar was listening to us. “Is that your old Cadillac in the parking lot?”

  “The black one, yes.”

  “That is a beautiful car. My grandfather had one just like it,” he said.

  “Yeah, I think she’s my favorite.” I refocused on Al. “Are you a member here?”

 
“No, he is,” she said, pointing to the man still perched against the bar. He was a good enough looking guy, longer hair than I thought was necessary for a man, about the same age as Al, which I guessed to be late thirties. He was wearing an off-white button-down shirt which was untucked, khaki slacks, and Berkley penny loafers. Something told me if I were to look, he wouldn’t be wearing socks. When you belonged to a country club, you never wore socks with leather shoes unless you were over seventy.

  “Are you a member?” Al asked.

  “No, my date is the membership recruiter. She’s trying to get me to join.”

  “Ah, you mean Debbie,” the man said.

  “Yes, Debbie,” I replied.

  He smirked, erected himself off of the bar and stuck his hand out. “I’m Eddie Barker.”

  “Thomas Ironcutter,” I replied, shaking his hand. I couldn’t say why, but I instantly disliked him. His smarmy personality was off-putting.

  “So, you’re thinking of joining?” he asked.

  “Yeah, thinking about it. I’ll be honest though, I’m not sure it’s a good fit for me. You know, pretentious assholes and all that.”

  He smiled at my remark. “What do you do for a living?” he asked. He didn’t ask it because he was genuinely curious about me; he was gauging how much money I made based on my job.

  “I’m a private investigator, and you?” I asked in feigned interest. In truth, I didn’t care what he did.

  He gave an exaggerated scoff with a corresponding facial expression. “Work is overrated,” he proclaimed.

  “So, you don’t work. It must be nice,” I replied. I suspected he was a trust fund baby but kept my opinion to myself. I glanced over at Al, who was staring with a knowing smile.

  “We’ve known each other since high school,” she said. “He’s a conceited pain in the ass sometimes, but otherwise he’s a decent guy.”

  Eddie held his arms out slightly, trying to appear self-deprecating. “What can I say. I am who I am. So, you and Debbie?”

  “We’re here together, yes. Is she an old girlfriend of yours or something?” I asked.

  Eddie smirked. “Or something.”

  “Have you two been dating long?” Al asked.

  I was quickly becoming tired of the interrogation. I looked over at Debbie, who was still being a social butterfly.

  “It’s our first date, although I’m not sure it’s exactly a date. Speaking of Debbie, I better rejoin her. It was nice seeing you again, Al.”

  I gave Al a pleasant smile, ignored Eddie, and walked over to Debbie. She smiled when she saw me approaching and patted the empty chair beside her. She introduced me to the couple she was talking to and the four of us engaged in pleasant conversation for the next hour.

  Eventually, I needed to hit the head. After washing up, I stood outside of the men’s restroom and texted Anna.

  How’s it going?

  She replied quickly.

  Great. Ronald has been showing Percy everything about his computers. He’s happy as hell that he has a new friend.

  I responded.

  That’s good.

  Anna texted back with one of those silly emoticons and then asked me how my date was going. I gave her the usual, “everything’s wonderful” spiel and told her I’d see her later. Putting my phone away, I looked up to see Al walking over.

  “I want to apologize for the twenty questions,” she said.

  I made light of it. “Yeah, what’s up with that?” I asked with a smile.

  “I wanted to know if you and that woman are dating.”

  I glanced at Debbie again. “It’s our first date, although I think I’d have to call it a friend date. She’s trying to recruit me to buy a membership.” I doubted there was anything else to it, but with a woman like Debbie, anything was possible.

  “Are you seeing anyone else?” she asked.

  “Not at the moment,” I said, wondering why I was getting asked so many questions.

  She smiled slightly. “Good.” She then stepped closer and stuck something into my pocket. “Give me a call sometime.” She finished it off by standing on her tiptoes and giving me a kiss on the cheek before walking away.

  I pushed the scrap of paper deeper into my pocket as I did what men are known for doing, staring at her backside as she walked off. It was a nice sight. She was wearing snug-fitting slacks and a chartreuse blouse, both of which accentuated her figure nicely. It was a nice, athletic figure with broad shoulders that tapered down to a trim waist. It led me to believe she worked out regularly.

  “Who was that?” Debbie asked when I sat back down.

  “Her name’s Al. She’s Eddie’s date,” I said.

  “Do you know her?”

  “Yeah, she’s a paramedic. I’ve bumped into her a couple of times,” I said.

  “Oh. I mean, you two seemed chummy.”

  I looked at her, wondering what she meant, but she dropped it and started talking about something else. I suppose I could have asked her what kind of history she had with Eddie, but I didn’t care and it was probably none of my business anyway.

  We stayed until almost midnight. I took her home, walked her to her door, and gave her a kiss goodnight. I don’t know if she was hinting for me to come in. She did not outright ask, and I did not invite myself in, and maybe it was nothing more than my ego making me believe she was into me but was being coy about it. We kissed once more before saying our goodbyes. I waited until I was down the road before pulling the scrap of paper out of my pocket. It was a phone number with a heart and smiley face drawn beside it.

  Chapter 9

  I went to Ronald’s house early the next morning. Percy had spent the night, which seemed uncharacteristic of him, but I didn’t say anything. In fact, I was glad he did. If those knuckleheads decided to come back, Percy would have made short work of them. He met me at the front door.

  “The man has no coffee and the only breakfast he has is Frosted Flakes,” he said.

  “Well, let’s wake them up and go eat somewhere,” I suggested.

  Percy shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”

  It took almost an hour to get the two of them going. During that time, Percy and I sat in the den, watching the morning news and talking.

  “Did you have any visitors while I was gone?” I asked.

  Percy shook his head. “I seriously doubt they’ll come back here. Besides, as far as they know, they’ve already gotten everything out of Ronald that they can. By the way, the kid found Candy-Man last night,” he said.

  “He did?” I asked.

  Percy nodded. “You’re right, he’s a whiz with those computers. He has some kind of software program he created that searches all of the popular social media sites. All he did was plug in the names and let the program do the work. Within a couple of minutes, we had some good data.”

  My eyes lit up. “Do tell.”

  Percy gave a small smile. “I won’t steal Ronald’s thunder. He’s excited to tell you all about it.” He then looked down the hallway and cleared his throat. “By the way, even though I spent the night, Anna and I did not do anything. I just want you to know that.”

  I nodded, but his statement gave me pause. Why would he say something like that? Did something really happen? Not sex, Percy would not lie to me, but did something else happen? Before I could ask anything, Ronald and Anna walked into the den.

  “How’re you doing, big guy?” I asked him.

  “Fine,” he said. “I’m hungry. Do you guys want some cereal?”

  The three of us exchanged glances. It took some work, but we coaxed him into going to a nearby Waffle House. All of us had a hearty breakfast, with the exception of Ronald, who insisted on white toast and a soda.

  The conversation was lighthearted and I heartily joined in, but the entire time I watched the interaction between Anna and Percy for any telltale clues. Was there a romantic connection? I thought I saw a little spark, perhaps a lingering smile from Anna when Percy said something witty, but hell it could’ve
been nothing more than my overactive imagination.

  “How was your date?” Anna asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Your date. You went on your date, right?” she pressed.

  “Oh, yeah. We had an enjoyable evening,” I said.

  “Enjoyable evening? That doesn’t sound exciting, Thomas. What did you two do?”

  I told them about the party and how Debbie was the hostess so we did not spend a great amount of time together. And, I started to tell them about Al slipping her number in my pocket, but I had no doubt I’d get some ribbing about it, so I kept that part to myself.

  “Are you two going to go out again?” Anna asked. She was giving me one of her smartass grins, but I was onto her game.

  “I’m not sure, but it’s possible. What about you? Any new love interest in your life?”

  She blew a tuft of hair out of her left eye and broke eye contact. “Nobody I know of,” she said. She quickly changed the subject. “Oh, Ronald has some good news for you. Tell him, Ronald.”

  He looked up from his toast. There were only a few people he would make eye contact with and I was one of them. “I found Candy-Man,” he said smugly.

  “Oh yeah? Tell me about it,” I encouraged.

  He broke eye contact and looked back down at the edges of his toast. “The address the cops had is years old. I’m pretty sure he lives in La Vergne. I’ve got it all at home on a file I created. I’ll email it to you. Can I have some more toast?”

  I got the waitress to fix another couple of pieces of toast with the edges cut off this time and a fresh refill of coke. Once we got back to Ronald’s house, he quickly disappeared into his basement.

  I gestured at the open basement door. “I’m going to spend some time with him. Why don’t you two get out of here.”

  “Are you sure?” Anna asked.

  “Certainly.” I lowered my voice. “I think he and I are overdue for a talk.”

  Anna hesitated. “Percy has already talked to him.”

  “No,” Percy said. “He looks up to Thomas as a father figure. What Thomas says to him will have far more meaning. We’ll get out of your hair.”