The Homecoming of Keith Boyd
Chapter 9: Mr Serpico

Copyright© 2017 by MysteryWriter

Kieth Boyd-
Fred Boyd his brother.
Alice Boyd his sister in law.
Nephew John 15
Niece Gabby 13
Jo Anne Wall old girl friend
Windy Wall her ex husband.
Lewis and Ellie Keith’s in laws.
Sarah Marsh retro hippie
General Briggs rd
Doris owner of the consignment shop.
Jo Anne Joyner Wall Keiths first girlfriend. Three girls 16 13 10

oldest daughter ginger
Mr Jessup buyer of Keith’s scooter.
Rebecca Avondale deacon and keith’s client.
Marsha stylist to Rebecca
Gulfcrest hotel/casino
Elanor, Mark and Simon family being stalked
Sylvia Amos sheriff’s detective.
Willow goth chick. Computer nerd
Abdi arab family victim of arson.
Ginger Moss Willow’s mother
Mr Serpico client in motel.


“Okay lady, finish your coffee and get out of my sight,” I said.

“Why, what did I do?” she asked.

“You are bat shit crazy. I don’t want anything to do with you,” I said.

“How about Willow?” she asked.

“I sure as hell am not screwing her, but she can still do work for me. I don’t judge other people’s life style, in your case I made an exception. As long as she adheres to our agreement, she can continue to work for me now and then. As for you, get the fuck away from me now.” I said.

Ginger muttered as she walked to her car. She was accompanied on her short walk by the growling Hondo. I watched her drive away. I knew what my next job would be. I needed some sort of gate over the farm road’s entrance to the Gatehouse turn off.

Before I a sat down at the computer, I toasted some frozen bread for a sandwich. I left the computer booting up while I composed a sandwich with pimento cheese and Dorito corn chips. I made it large enough to break off a corner for Hondo. I approved of his growling message to Ginger Moss.

I removed my fake leg, then checked my email. I had another message from the older man from Jackson. He asked about a community campground. Of course there was none. So I wrote to tell him about the closest one I knew off. It was a large campground in Vicksburg. Since I knew nothing about it, I couldn’t give him any other information.

I expected him to drive a pickup and stay in a motel, so I gave him some motel information. The information was a repeat of information from the net or people at my failed relations meetings.

I proceeded to look up things on the Internet. They weren’t necessarily about scooters. Most of it was totally unrelated to anything at all. Just random stuff that interested me.

When I got sleepy, I fell into bed. Honda slept in his dog house even though it was colder outside than inside. Of course he slept in his fur coat, so he was probably just as comfortable. Again I was up two or three times, but that was normal. The last time was to increase the heater setting so that I wouldn’t have to wake up in a cold house. Of course cold was a relative concept. Thirty seven degrees overnight in Mississippi was certainly better than the zero in South Dakota, but it was still cold.

While I dressed in my cold weather clothes, I put water on to boil for the morning coffee. I cooked cheese and eggs and made toast while I drank my first cup of coffee. While the eggs cooked I boiled water for the two cups to go into Big Bubba thermos. I carried it all onto the deck to sit in the sunshine with Hondo.

He ate his egg and kibble covered in protein powder. He was good about not being a picky eater. He did show that he enjoyed my food more than kibble. That was okay because I enjoyed an egg sandwich better than cereal myself.

As I sat on my cold plastic chair in the sunshine I remembered a thought I had the night before. I wanted to build a three or four space camp ground. It would have a cement pad for each home, and an electrical hook up. I would also have a dump station to empty waste. Since I expected it to be years before it had enough customers to pay for itself, I needed some help.

I figured I had an acre of land between me and the county road. I could clear enough of it for the three camping spaces since I didn’t want a large area to maintain. We could tell people that it was primitive, except for the optional electrical service.

By noon I had moved from the idea stage, to the research phase. I was checking the amount of space required to handle three recreational vehicles or camping trailers. It seemed that I had only half the space needed. I couldn’t just acquire another acre from Fred since the space had to be all together and the farm road would divide it. I would need two acres all together. It was to provide the green buffer required by county zoning between his farm and the trailer spaces. He couldn’t even wave it.

I got an email alert at that point. I was right in the middle of my research, but I stopped to read it.

Mr. Boyd,

I would like to come down this Saturday January 15th to test one of your scooters. I should be at your place around noon. I might have to call, if I get lost. So keep your phone on Saturday for me please.

Ed.

I sent him an okay, message by return email.

I would lose a few minutes from the research, if I stopped right away. Instead I continued with my research. It was twenty minutes before I went to the circus tent to hook four battery packs up to the charger.

I was building all my scooters with a heavy duty thirty six volt-eight hundred amp motor, but I used a forty eight volt battery with them. In Mississippi it was more than enough power. I could do a maximum speed of thirty miles per hour. The average speed I recommended was under twenty miles per hour. At thirty the bike was very, very unstable. The sales contract included that information, and a liability waiver written by the Deacon’s daughter, Marcy the lawyer.

I decided to let the recreational vehicle park cook for a while. I would pull it out of the recesses of my mind and work on it now and then. I might come up with something else in the meantime, or it might end up just another half backed idea.

I still had the convenience store owner’s kids, the sheriff’s deputy with PMS, the former hippie nympho, the Biloxi motel manager, Max the wife beater. and my brother’s wife’s questions to worry about, but probably not in the order. Thinking about that made me laugh at the recreational vehicle spaces idea.

“Fred, whatever you are doing to make Alice think there is another woman stop it. Don’t try to change her mind, just do what you have to do,” I said. “Also I’ll give till 9PM to work on your bullshit story. Call me so I know what to tell her your excuse is.”

“Thanks Keith, I’ll think of something. Things aren’t really all that good with Alice at the moment. I swear though there is no other woman. I’m just working all the time, so I don’t have to go home.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her that when she calls,” I said.

The next day the old man from Jackson showed up just before noon. He tried out a three wheeler with a lithium battery. Actually it was my trike he tried with a thirty amp hour battery. The old man came back with a huge grin on his face.

“Tell you what, set up the one I want to buy just like this and I’ll pay you thirteen hundred bucks,” he said.

“I just can’t do it,” I said. “Set up like mine, the price is fifteen hundred. I can’t go any lower. But I will throw in a headlight and tail light for night riding in the city.”

“Alright,” the old man said. He also gave me my money in cash. Unlike some businesses I loved cash. There was no way buyers remorse could end in a stopped payment of cash.

During the next two weeks a lot of my challenges got closed out. First of all Detective Amos found out that the convenience store was burned by one of his suppliers. Amos never opened up about why, but she did call to arrange a meeting. The meeting took place on a neutral site.

It took place in a city park across from the courthouse in Greenville. I arrived early for our before lunch meeting. I was sitting in the sunlight enjoying the day when she walked up.

“Good morning Mr Boyle,” she said.

“Hello, Amos, what brings you hear on this winters morning?” I asked.

“I came in hopes you would be reasonable about the lawsuit against the Sheriff’s department and the county,” she said.

“To be honest I don’t even know the terms of Marcy settlement proposal,” I said.

“She is asking for a million dollars, as well as a public apology including and admission that taking you to the convenience store was not just an error in judgment. That it was a violation of some vague constitution right,” she said.

“So what is your department willing to do,” I asked. “Before I go to Marcy on your behalf, I need to know what you will accept.”

“Well the million ain’t never gonna happen. Some kind of apology can be arranged but not a public apology,” she said. “Abdi is never going to meet with you. His two sons will never admit to violent intentions.”

“Then you are offering me nothing. You had me ride here in the fucking cold to listen to this shit,” I said calmly. “Even the details of this meeting were another slap in the face.”

That same evening Marcy called me to advise me the county had agreed to the public apology and a settlement of half a million. I told Mary about the meeting that was held that very morning. She went absolutely ballistic.

“They called me after that fake bullshit meeting. I’m gonna have her ass sanctioned and see what that breaks loose,” Marcy said and hung up.

A week later Amos was put on suspension, reassigned to patrol in a different part of the county. The deal went through at half a million and the public apology included the Sheriff himself telling the story and ending with the mention of a restraining order against every member of the Abdi family.

From the settlement I ended with roughly $175,000 after taxes. That, as far as I was concerned, put and end to my involvement with the local Sheriff’s department.

Shortly there after Max, Elanor’s husband, was picked up for grand theft auto. He had a lot more problems than me. I declared him no longer a threat.

“Willow, we need to come to an understanding. It’s been a while since your mother’s visit and I need some changes to the web site. We need to have an understanding though. We will do all the work through Email and over the phone. We will keep the face to face meeting to a bare minimum and always in public places.” I demanded.

“I want you to know Mr. Boyle, I knew nothing of mom’s plans. When she drinks, she gets wild ideas,” Willow said.

“Next time you will be getting her out of jail. There is a new no trespassing sign hanging on a new gate at the entrance to my driveway. You might want to warn her.” I figured that would take care of Ginger, Willow’s mother.

I hadn’t had any contact with the bastard of Biloxi in half a year, so I removed him from my threat assessment list. I had sold a pusher trailer designed as a tricycle motor. I had UPS deliver it, so that proved to be doable. I actually made a couple of hundred bucks on that one. Which was almost as much as I had made on the sale to the old man from Jackson. The pusher trailer was easier to make and a simple install for the purchaser.

I even made a video of the installation of the pusher trailer. I also offered to install the trailer free, if the purchaser brought his or her trike to me. The truth was the installation was paid for with the saving from not having to ship it to the buyer.

It had taken two more months but the month of April not only marked my first year at Gatehouse, but also it provided me with a clean slate. Even Fred and Alice seemed to be doing better. When my phone rang on April first, all things seemed right with the world.

“There is a cheap family owned motel five miles from your place. It’s owned by a Persian family. Will being held up there a couple of days be a problem for you?” the Deacon asked. “I need to get a local pharmaceutical executive out of town.”

“A drug dealer really?” I asked.

“No a legal drug operation executive. The Sheriff promised to keep him safe till he can testify in court, then help him disappear. There was an attack on the safe house last night. He called me. It seems word of our Biloxi operation is floating around those circles. So are you in or out.”

“I’m in, but I don’t like being known to the bad guys,” I said.

“It goes with the turf,” Deacon said. “I figure one of us inside and one outside. We can swap positions. The one outside stays awake, the one inside can rest.”

“Okay, but I’m still not sure I like who we are protecting,” I said.

“They can’t all be good looking singers,” he said. “Church ladies don’t usually need this service. If it makes you feel any better the drug company was legal.”

“This isn’t the business I wanted to be in when I retired,” I said.

“Bullshit you missed it,” he said. “Meet me at the Big Seven Motel outside Belzoni just as soon as you can. Like last time bring your own tools. I’m here with Serpico right now.”

I called Alice and told her to feed and water Hondo and I would make it worth her while when I got back.

“I might have one of the kids come with me to play with him. He seems to be socialized now, she said.

“You do have the code to the gate? I asked.”

“Of course,” she replied.

“Call me if there are any issues,” I said.

“I will how long are you going to be gone?” she asked.

“It might be as long as a couple of weeks. I promise I will get home just as soon as I can. And thanks I owe you big time,” I said.

 
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