Chapter 3

'Hillary I need a couple of hours off this morning," Roger said.

"Of course is everything alright?" she asked. It was obvious to Roger that over the course of the past month, she had developed a bond with Roger. A bond between the high school nerd, she had been a nerd without a doubt, and the kid nobody liked. They bonded from the necessity for human contact. They would have never been friends, if not for their mutual outsider status.

"My sister is going to be passing through town. It will be the first time I have seen her sober in a long time." Roger said.

"Oh where does she live?" Hillary asked.

"She and her husband live down in Capitol city. Last time I saw her it was about six months into the investigation, I was using and had pretty much given in to my emotions, but not in a good way," Roger said. "A lot of shit from our childhood came up in front of her husband."

"I see, so is she your older or younger sister?" Hillary asked.

"Older," Roger said. "She blamed herself for some of the constant arguments between us while I was using. It didn't help that I seriously threatened to kill her husband for shouting at her. I told him that I was a cop and could kill him and get away with it."

"I know he filed a complaint. It is in the box over there," Hillary said.

"How many complaints are in my file," Roger asked.

"Oh it was all expunged, but I'm a pack rat," She admitted.

"Anyway she is passing through with the kids, and I'm going to take them to lunch," Roger suggested.

"Why didn't you go into the witness protection program. I'm sure DOJ could make room for you." Hillary asked changing the subject.

"Nobody wants to bother with me. Everybody I got, was got good. Almost all of them flipped on everybody somebody else. Seems there is no honor among dopers. I always expected to come back to the job, but I'm rethinking that now." Roger admitted.

"Surely you knew better than to expect a brass band," she replied.

"I expected it to be rough at first, but it's been two months and it just goes on and on. I don't really mind, except that I haven't made any friends in the last two months, except you." He suddenly laughed, "I'm not even sure we are friends."

"I think we are, and if I had a daughter. To be honest I would discourage her from dating you." Hillary said.

"There is such a thing as too much honesty," Roger said.

"So are you taking her to lunch somewhere nice with all that drug money?" Hillary asked with a smile.

"I knew it Hilly, you have been dying to ask me, so go ahead," he demanded.

"You knew I would look into your finances. It's just what I do," she said.

"So ask," Roger said. "I have nothing to hide."

"I know where it comes from, I just don't know how much you have?" Hillary asked.

"Forty K a year from the PD. Another Fifty K gets deposited in my account by the DOJ. It comes from their drug asset recovery fund. It's like winning the lottery, they don't want me to take it all at once."

"Probably afraid you will go back into business for yourself," Hillary said.

"That is probably it. Anyway the reward program will pay out for the rest of my life. They wanted to be sure that I had the money to disappear, if it got too nasty," Roger admitted.

"The jackpot would temp you back, if you had that kind of money all at once. So how much is in the fund?" she asked.

"A lot is all I'm willing to say," Roger suggested.

"So why don't you buy a fancy sports car?" Hillary asked.

"The point of any vehicle is to take me from one place to another. It doesn't matter about the vehicle, the journey is the thing," he said.

"More of that Zen shit?" she asked sarcastically. Roger could never get used to her talking like that.

"My own version," Roger said.

"Since I'm admitting to snooping, what's up with that place where you live?" Hillary asked.

"When I came out of rehab, they told me to move. To get away from everyone I had known during my days using. I bought a house in the country where I could hide from my old self. Then realized I couldn't hide from my real enemy, because I carried him with me," Roger explained.

"Is there an end to this story," Hillary asked.

"Not a happy one, I'm afraid. I rented the three bedroom two bath house to some college professors, who had never heard of me. I moved into the storage building at the rear of the lot. I found that I don't need much space."

"So you have almost a hundred K a year income, and you live in a place no larger than my living room?" she asked.

"Well, when you say it like that," Roger said with a smile. "Part of my therapy was to avoid buying shit. In the end the shit just makes more shit. Things seemed to breed. You buy a new car, then you have to have a garage and so it goes.

"So is your sister's husband coming," Hillary asked returning to the original discussion.

"No they are living apart for the next year. The separation leading to the divorce. I'm sure I was part of the strain on her marriage. She had to be worried about me constantly. After all I was her junkie kid brother."

"You weren't a junkie," Hillary corrected him.

"Sure I was," Roger said.

Lunch with Margaret was a disaster. She kept mentioning things about his junkie past, then apologizing for it. No matter how many times he told her it was fine, she kept on and on. Thankfully the time came when she had to leave.

She pecked him on the cheek climbed up into the seat of the Honda SUV and rode off into the midday sun. Roger had been gone only an hour longer than his ordinary lunch hour. It hardly seemed worth writing down, but he filled out the comp time forms. One hour of his accumulated comp time was taken up by the less than satisfying lunch.

When Roger returned from lunch, Hillary informed him he had a call from the Sheriff's department. She had taken a number since he didn't have his cell phone.

"Yes deputy Sykes please," he sat listening to elevator music for five minutes.

"Mr Everhart sorry to keep you waiting. I don't suppose anyone was able to reach you," Sykes asked.

"Reach me about what?" Roger asked.

"There has been a fire. The volunteer fire department responded but the house you house was a total loss," Sykes. "The fire department said there were signs of arson. You know I got to ask where were you at 11am today.

"I was at work till about 11:30 then I rode my scooter to Marco's Mexican restaurant where I sat listening to may sister bitch for about two hours. I'm sure the staff will remember us. I answered your question, so tell me is the family who are living in the house alright?" Roger asked.

'They are devastated. They lost everything. They were just lucky no one was home. The state fire department arson investigators think it might have been a firebomb through the window," Sykes added. "Do you know anyone who would do that?"

"No idea. If there is anything else just call me," Roger said.

"Roger did someone burn your house?" Hillary asked. She had been eavesdropping of course.

"That seems to be the case. They aren't sure about much, but somebody might have tossed a bottle of gasoline through the window," Roger explained.'

"Do they have any suspects? Hillary asked.

"You are kidding right?" Roger asked with a laugh.

"I guess you are right. "There are far too many people with motives. Anyone threaten you lately?" she asked.

"Not lately," Roger said almost as if it never happened.

"So what are you going to do," Hillary asked.

"I wasn't invested in the house. It was just a thing. Nobody got hurt, so it's not worth worrying about." Roger said. He tried hard to believe what he was saying.