Chapter 2

The plan was to make Thia think that I was spending a lot of time on her Middle Eastern Chick, or the MEchick as I thought of her, at the time. I didn’t actually think of expending any real time, or energy on the investigation. At least not until I knew for sure what the cops had in mind. For that I probably needed to talk to my son in law Ray. I knew the New Old chief of the largest merged town wouldn’t give me shit, so Ray seemed the best bet, but not my only possible source of information.

Assistant Chief Mike Elliot was a friend of sorts from the old days. He might be willing to talk to me. It seemed like I was owed a favor or two at out last count. That of course was before we both took a kick in the ass from the new city council and mayor.

The fancier retirement villages had parks, or at least meditation gardens. The Haven had a tiny activity room used for meditation, as well as yoga and other classes. When I passed it on my way outside to get better cell reception on that Sunday morning, they were setting up for church services. There was nothing wrong with the reception in my place. The problem was the place was claustrophobic. I needed room to walk while I thought. There was one small fountain in the parking lot, with a few square yards of grass around it. Some of the residents used it as a place to smoke their cigars. I planned to used it that morning as a place to call Mike Elliot.

I found Mike’s number on my phone which had survived the fire only because it was in my pocket. At the time of the fire I was attending a group for newly widowed or divorced older citizens of out county. The group was forced on me by, you guessed it, Thia. It wasn’t a hookup spot, it was a pity party. Anyway it was at that time some clown with a grudge chose to rub five gallons of gasoline and a Bic lighter together. Fortunately for the investigator the state police got a call from a nurse in the Emergency Room. Not Cynthia, but her counter part on a different shift. She remembered the patient who had been badly burned on his hands and arms, he also reeked of gasoline, case closed.

Anyway, I called Mike at home on that Sunday morning. “Hey Mike what the hell are you doing?” I asked.

“Eddie, I’m doing what you should be doing. I looking for my fucking golf ball. How the fuck is retirement?” he asked.

“Better than being dead,” I replied, then added. “My daughter, the ER nurse, caught the ME chick on Friday. You know the one?”

“Yeah, it came over my desk. What is your interest. Have you gone all PI on me?” He asked.

“Not a chance,” I promised. “My daughter just has me making sure someone is going to look into it. I have a feeling you guys have it on the back burner. If so, she is going to insist I poke around. You know we can’t say no to our kids. I really don’t want to step on your toes though.

“You won’t be. The DA said not to waste our budget on it. If you do poke around, you will be going old school. The new chief doesn’t want us to waste lab resources on her. That is not for publication,” he said realizing he just stepped on his dick.

“Not a word,” I promised. “Do you know who is on it?” I asked.

“No, but I’ll have your SIL assigned to it,” he said with a laugh.

“That would assure you that I wouldn’t touch it with a pole,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah I know, these fucking college kids,” he said with a laugh.

“Yes, but we need to talk,” I said. “You can help me I think. I believe we both want the same things.”

“Oh what is that?” he asked. “Justice and to stick up the mayor’s ass.” I said.

“It will mean working with your SIL,” Mike said.

“Well, if you put him on it I will have to work with him. Cynthia will have my ass, if I that girl’s killer gets off, just so I can beat her husband in a game of whose is bigger. You aren’t that cruel are you?” I asked.

“You bet I am, besides it you do pull it off, the mayor will have crappy days for at least a month,” Mike suggested. “You know when he tells us, it will be the college boys who solves it, if it gets solved.”

“I guess we will see than,” I suggested.

“Keep me in the loop, but do it on the down low,” Mike demanded.

“Tell me have you passed it off to ICE or anyone from state?” I asked.

“Hell no, they don’t want it. Their plan is to wait till CNBC and CNN drop the story, then deport the whole damn family,” Mike explained.

“Well, I’ll let you know if I get a break in the case,” I promised then rang off. Just as I closed the phone a stray dog ran up raised his leg and pissed on the fountain. I laughed to beat hell, but I was probably the only one who would find any humor in it.

I went back inside and found people milling about the pop up church’s entrance, aka the door to the activity room. There were several men about ten to twenty years older than me, but at least twenty women ranging from five to thirty five years older.

I nodded in greeting to everyone who caught my eye. There were several women who still took care of themselves, but more than a few who just had let themselves go. I could understand both schools of thought. If I’m sliding toward a hole, I’m going to be comfortable. That was one school of thought I wished I could subscribe to. Problem was that I was hard wired to do the right thing, even when no one was looking. That being the case I planned to continue walking every morning.

I also ate reasonably well, because nothing I ate at home make me want to pig out. The things I ate out were the usual southern comfort food. Even so I tried to go easy on certain foods high in calories and carbs.

I can’t say that any of the church ladies made me lust for them. I decided to go see a kid named as the boyfriend of my victim. His name was Joey Middleton. The cops, even if they tried, would have to walk a tight line since he was a minor. I didn’t have my hands tied like that. Yes it was a little more than I had to do at the moment to satisfy Thia, but I was curious by that time.

Tracking Joey down took just a couple of telephone calls. The kid was a pretty good kid. The Juvenile officer for the merged city was one of my former officers. He hadn’t been at it long enough to know the locals, but he called his partner who had worked in the older larger city for years.

Yes I was taking advantage of the merge. It was nice to be on top of the merge wheel, rather than being run over by it again. My officer had his partner, a woman named Mica, call me later in the afternoon. When she called, she had located Joey Middleton. Mica met me half a block from the small park where the kids were riding skateboards. She pointed out the young man to me.

“Mica, I really do appreciate your help. Believe me, no one will ever know about this from me. I do think, you should probably go home now.” I suggested.

“What are you planning to do?” she asked.

“I just plan to talk to him without his parents being present. I’m not going to manhandle him, no matter what the provocation,” I explained. “I know that it would put you in the jackpot, if I did anything like that.”

“I’ll stay out of the way, but I think you owe me a cup of coffee, and an off the record briefing,” she replied. I just nodded.

I followed her to the park and allowed her to point toward the red headed kid with freckles all over his face. Joey was only an average skateboarder. Of course even so, if he took off I would just have to wave at him as he went by me.

I went back to where Mica stood and explained, “Listen I appreciate your pointing him out to me. I decided the time isn’t right to talk to him. Would you hear, if the murder squad interviews him?”

“Not necessarily, but I can keep my ears open. If you take me to dinner tonight, I’ll give you a call,” she promised.

“You know I’m at least twenty years older than you?” I asked.

“Fifteen maybe, but not twenty. So what about it?” she asked.

“Mica, my wife died last year and I haven’t been out with anyone since,” I explained.

“That’s what I expected. My partner told me all about you. Now let me tell you, I’m married with two teenagers. I am not looking for any complications. Some times Eddie, dinner is just dinner,” she said with a giant smile.

“Okay, we can grab an early dinner,” I agreed. “Truth is I don’t know shit about this part of town.”

“Let’s go back to your old town,” she suggested,

“Fair enough, but just to be safe, we should go back to the third old town. Kind of meet on neutral territory,” I suggested.

“You know I have heard nice things about the restaurant in the Travel Inn Motel’s parking lot,” she said. She saw me smile then added, “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Right, dinner is just dinner,” At that point she returned my smile.

So the two of us ate dinner at the same restaurant, at same table, and at the same time, but it wasn’t a date. I did end up giving her my phone number. I didn’t ask how many phones she had, because I didn’t want her number. I wasn’t ready for that kind of involvement.

I knew for sure, that I would have been calling her every time I got bored. I mean hell, we both spoke cop, so it would be easy for any relationship to get way the hell out of hand. Two bored and lonely people falling into deep shit happened all the time.

What I really wanted to do was ask Ray if he had spoken to Joey. I knew how I would have felt if someone asked me that when I was working a case. So I didn’t. I knew that even though we all were glossing over the case, someone should surely interview the friends and family of our victim. Sunday evening was indeed a bore, so after streaming a couple of TV shows from the week before, I went to bed early.

Monday began with my three mile urban hike in one of on one of my preplanned routes. It ran through the middle class neighborhood surrounding The Haven. I really didn’t want to just walk, but I also didn’t feel that I was up to running or jogging. At the very least I didn’t figure I would stay with running or jogging for the long haul. The odds were much better that I would find something to occupy my mind while I walked the neighborhood.

I had been the other direction the day before, that hike had taken me into the outskirts of the business district of the larger of the towns involved in the merge. It was all a fairly new area to me. It also had the most interesting downtown of either of the cities. It was the place where a major brewing company chose to settle. Around it several service type stores had taken over the building of other failed businesses. A convenience store, a Karate Dojo, and a pawn shop shared the same building for instance. It was just the way small town business evolved. Thank god there were no cutesy coffee shops along my route. I stopped in the convenience store for some pretty rank coffee, that first time I walked the route. Since then I had learned to carry a small thermos in my pocket.

The weather at 6:30AM was chilly when I began. The zip up sweat shirt came off after the first mile or so.

When I arrived back at The Haven, I was exhausted and soaked with sweat. I had to take a shower and wash my thinning hair before I prepared my breakfast. I examined my very short hair. I had no idea what the buzz cut was called, but it was easy to maintain, which was all I cared about. I had become a convenience junkie.

I placed a towel over the pedestal sink before I ran the electric clippers over my head and face. Once I had covered all the spots on my head, I emptied the towel into the small waste basket lined with a Walmart bag. Finally I dressed in the same pair of jeans as before, but I did wear fresh underwear, and a freshly laundered sweatshirt. It was a sweat shirt from the thrift store. The logo on the front was for a restaurant five hundred miles away, at least.

After breakfast I went to the fountain in front of The Haven to drink coffee and try to plan my day. I really wanted to interview Joey Middleton. I had no authority to drag his ass out of school, so I might have to work with Ray after all. I could try to steer him in what I though was the right direction, but he wouldn’t agree I was sure. Working with Ray was pretty much out of the question.

I went back to my notes to find someone who I could reach during the day. The homicide victim had a name as long as my shoe. I had no chance of pronouncing it, let alone remembering it. So I just thought of her as Eve.

Eve’s sister had told me that Eve went to the after school program in the city’s community center. There she had use of a computer, and she also enjoyed the companionship of other kids her own age. It seemed like a good place to start, so I drove to the center.

The director of the center was an older heavy set woman name Naomi. After the introductions I asked, “Did you know the victim of the homicide.” I butchered her name even while reading it.

“Yes, she was a very sweet young woman. She was also very smart,” she stated.

“Did she have problems with anyone?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘problems’,” Naomi asked.

“You know someone bullying her, or more than one maybe,” I asked.

“No, she was loved by everyone,” she said.

“Not everyone. Do you think I could come by after school and talk to the kids she hung out with?” I asked.

“I don’t see why not,” she asked. “Who are you with?”

I pulled out a business card. I had them printed online after my forced retirement. It was really a way to give my phone number to people I met. I was not licensed, nor did I want to be. The card read simply:

Mr. Rogers.

Confidential Inquiries.

my cell phone number & My email address

Like I said, the card didn’t say anything, it just gave my phone number and Email.

“Come back around four and I’ll introduce you to the kids,” Naomi suggested.