Chapter 2

"Kyle,"

He turned to the source of the voice,

"Did you get the payment from the Edmonds?"

"Yes sir, I did, it's in the folder on your desk." He replied to his boss, Jacob Sheppard, who waddled back to his office.

His boss wasn't a pretty sight, extremely obese, bald, and sweaty despite the cool temperature in the building. Nevertheless, Kyle liked the guy because of Jacob's strong sense of loyalty to his employees.

Jacob came back with the said folder in his hand, along with another new folder. He looked through the folder and found the check. He nodded and handed Kyle the other folder,

"A new client just called, a Bill Knight, he wants somebody to come over and check up on his new house. I know that your lunch break's coming up, so I set the appointment for one thirty, which should give you plenty of time to eat and drive over afterward."

"Thanks," Kyle looked over the paperwork, "just out of curiosity, why are you giving this one more time than usual, I mean, you set my appointment, you took the information, and you even printed out the mapquest directions." Kyle held up the paper with the directions on it, and Jacob hesitated before answering,

"Let just say that this client and I had some history, and I'd rather avoid it getting in the way."

"Alright, I'll take care of it."

"Thank you," sighed Jacob, "You're the best inspector this business ever had, and that's why I'm putting you up for a raise."

"Thanks, but there's no need, I just happen to enjoy the job."

"Nonsense, you deserve it."

"Well, thanks anyway." Jacob turned and went back to his office, while Kyle headed toward the elevator that ran through the center of the building. The Home Security Co. was located on the 22^nd and 23^rd floor of the Crispin building.

Kyle rode the elevator down to the garage under the building where he parked, and got in his black 1964 Mustang. Three years ago, while he was inspecting one of his client's houses, he saw the Mustang rusting away in the client's barn. And after inquiring with the client, he discovered that it was the client's father who had bought it and planned to restore it, but he died before he could even start. After a long negotiation, he managed to buy the car for five thousand, and spent the next three years restoring it. He had only just finished three months ago.

He pulled out of the garage and drove toward his favorite diner, RoadKill Café, it was just a small diner, but it was extremely popular with the locals due to its humorous menu. On its menu, it lists its entrees and cuisines as if they were made from road kills. The owner had stumbled across the original café in Seligman, Arizona, and had to beg the owner of the café for permission to open another RoadKill café here.

Kyle was a regular here, and just as he walked in, one of the waitresses came over and greeted him.

"Hey, Kyle, how are you doing today?"

"Pretty good, Megan, I'm doing pretty well."

"Excellent," she escorted him to a booth, "so will it be the usual?"

"Yes, please."

"All right, Center line bovine burger and a cup of Barq's root beer coming right up."

She wrote the order down as she recited, it and went into the back. Kyle opened the Bill Knight folder and looked it over. It was a typical case, where he would advise the customer on the security needs that his house might have. He was studying the route to the house when Megan brought his order.

Thirty minutes later, he sat back and watched as Megan cleared the table and took Kyle's debit card. While waiting for her to bring back his card, Kyle went over the directions, and realized that he could cut off at least fifteen minutes off the trip, by using the back streets and alleys that he learned during his childhood on the street. Megan returned with the card, and he thanked her then left and got in his car. He drove off, and soon he was out of town and entering a thick forest area. The driveway was barely noticeable, and Kyle drove by it twice before he found it.

Making a mental note to tell the customer to clear the driveway, Kyle followed the long dirt driveway and came to a clearing where the house was located. Once he entered the clearing, his eye immediately latched onto what could only be called a mansion. His burglarize mind went to work dissecting the rapidly closing house for any weakness. As he parked the car, a man who Kyle assumed was the owner, came out and Kyle went to greet him,

"Bill Knight?"

"Yes, sir, that's me and you'll be Kyle Harmon,"

"Yes, sir," Kyle held his hand out, "Kyle Harmon from Home Security Corporation."

"I know, Jacob told me you were coming. Though you arrived pretty early, I was told to expect you at one thirty."

"Mapquest and I differ on occasion about the length of time it takes to drive to a location."

Bill chuckled, "Jacob told me that you will want to a walkthrough of both the outside and the inside of the house?"

"Yes, that's right, and if it's all right with you, I would like for you to accompany me so I will be able to ask you some questions if need, and also to point out any changes or weakness the house may have."

"I've no problem with that, so, which do you want to do first? The outside or the inside?"

"I'll like to do the outside first."

"Ok, let's go." They began with the front of the house, then worked their way around, and in the process, Kyle found out that Jacob had inherited the house from his great uncle who had died recently. It turned out that even though the uncle was wealthy; he was a recluse, and didn't really care about the security of his house.

After the outside inspection was done, Bill escorted Kyle inside and he continued the inspection. As he was inspecting the window in the Master bedroom, he spotted a framed picture on a dresser of Bill and Jacob in a lovers embrace. Bill saw Kyle's eye glance over the picture and spoke, "Yeah, Jacob and I were lovers, you didn't know he was gay?"

Kyle shook his head, "No, no, I knew he was gay, in fact, when he was promoted and took control of the company, he had all the employees gathered and straight out informed them that he was gay, and if anybody had a problem working for a homosexual, they can leave now without any trouble."

Bill's eyebrow raised in surprised, "That's pretty gutsy of him, did any of the employee left?"

"Yeah, three of them, in fact, one of them had the guts to come to him afterwards and ask for recommendation."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I was surprised, too, but he just said sure and wrote him one. The employee did apologize, and said that he just didn't feel comfortable working for a homosexual. Jacob just shrugged and wished him good luck."

Bill's eyes glazed over with a thoughtful look, and he muttered "I guess he had changed."

Not sure if he was meant to hear that, Kyle asked, "Pardon me, what was that?"

"Oh," he waved his hand, "it's nothing, and so, are you done with the inspection?"

"Almost, there's a room down the hall that I've not inspected yet." At the mention of the uninspected room, Bill shifted uncomfortably, and awkwardly said, "That's um, a personal room that's part of my particular lifestyle, and um, is it possible to maybe skip that part of the inspection?"

"Well, that depends on two things, one, is there a window in there, and two, is it soundproof?"

"No, there's no window, but it is soundproof."

"Ok," Kyle sighed, "I can skip the inspection because there's no window, but because the room's soundproof, the security team will have to install an alarm inside the room. Since you're uncomfortable with people coming into that particular room, if you agree with my recommendation on security, the security team will come and install the security system. I will call you beforehand, and you can clear away whatever is in that room and the team can install the alarm. That reminds me, do you have a telephone inside there?"

"Yes."

"Excellent, then all the team gotta do is to install the alarm and they're done with that room. Is that ok with you?"

"Yes that's perfect."

"All right, let's go downstairs and I'll write out the paperwork for you."

They went downstairs, and Kyle finished the paperwork and discussed it with Bill,

"Ok, the top page lists all the weaknesses that I've found, and I've already pointed most of them out. The last page's my recommendation on the type of security needed; the costs for the security are included so you can make your decision. Its normal procedure for our company to give our clients seven business days to decide whether to accept the recommendation or not. If you accept, our company will send out a team of security system specialist who will install the security system and at the completion of the installation, you will be given a bill directly from the head of the team. If not, you will receive a bill in the mail for the visit and the inspection."

Bill nodded, "Ok."

"Will there be anything else?" Bill shook his head, "Ok, here's my business card, you can call me once you've made a decision."

"Ok, thank you very much."

"You're welcome, and have a nice day." Kyle shook Bill's hand and walked back to his car.

"Oh by the way," Kyle called out, just before entering his car, "You should clear away the driveway, I had a hard time finding it."

"I will thanks."

Twenty five minutes later, he pulled into the parking garage under the Crispin building and took the elevator back to his floor. There he went to his desk and worked on some more paperwork. Time passed, and before Kyle know it, Jacob stopped by,

"Hey, I'm closing up."

"It's six already?"

"Yeah."

"All right, I'm almost done, do you mind if I close up instead?"

"Sure," Jacob tossed the keys over to Kyle, "Do you remember the code?"

"Yep."

"Ok, see you tomorrow." Jacob left, and Kyle went back to work, fifteen minutes later, the shop was closed, and Kyle was riding the elevator back down to the garage. Another ten minutes and he was pulling into a small warehouse, where he had converted the ground floor into a garage/mechanic area, and the second floor into a loft.

A man was sitting in the La-z-boy chair waiting for Kyle when he came upstairs, and before the man could say anything, Kyle already had his .45 colt out and pointing at him.

"What the fuck are you doing in my loft!?"
The stranger merely raised his hands above his head, and said, "I seem to remember a boy, a few days after we met, telling me that he would never touch a gun ever again, especially not after he had shot his father and two men."

Kyle's eye bugled out and he stammered, "Paoli, is that you?"

"In the flesh," Kyle exhaled forcefully, and tossed his colt onto the couch beside the la-z-boy chair and Paoli jumped and yelled, "Christ!! Didn't you learn any of gun safety when you bought that gun!?"

"Oh, don't worry, the gun's a fake. I bought it off an auction a few months after I started my job."

Paoli sighed and rubbed his chest, "Maybe surprising you weren't a very good idea."

Chuckling, Kyle pulled Paoli into an embrace "That's for a damn sure. Christ, it's good to see you again." He pulled back and looked at him "What the hell happened to your face?"