Chapter 14

Lucy, Ruth and Paris left in the Rio early Saturday morning. The rear seat was filled with presents and Paris’s car seat. The trunk was filled with emergency supplies and their backpacks. Paris even had a designated backpack filled with pampers. The first thing I did after I kissed them goodbye was to walk into the small green house. Once inside I moved the center table from the greenhouse, I moved it into the chicken house/barn through the rear door, Then I chose two shovels to begin the resurrection of Jarrett.

Since his hadn’t been a traditional burial, I had a difficult job, but it wasn’t all that hard. I took off the top inch of compacted gravel first, then digging of the next eighteen inches was easily done. When I got to the blanket with Jarrett’s remains inside, it was stiff from the decomposition, and the dried fluids from the quick lime reacting with his soft tissue. I wore a mask, since I didn’t want to breath any of that shit into my lungs.

I dug the blanket and Jarrett’s body out of the ground, then loaded it onto my metal trailer. I used my chainsaw to cut down a couple of saplings. Then I used them to disguise the blanket while I moved it. Since there was still a pile of fill dirt outside the newest greenhouse, I used it to level the floor of the older greenhouse. Then I replaced the gravel and dirt over the hole.

Yes Lucy might notice it, but she wasn’t going to know what I did with the body. That was the purpose of the morning’s work. I drove onto an old county highway bridge over the New River. It was over a place with a fast moving current. Which meant Jarrett was likely to wind up in several different places. I got back home and hosed down the trailer to remove any old blood or fluids. I even washed it down with a bleach solution.

Then I removed my thrift store work clothes, and thew them into the fifty gallon metal burn barrel. I ran naked back into the barn. It took me several minutes to stop shivering. I didn’t know how much of it was from the cold, and how much was from the gruesome job that I had just finished. Re-disposing of Jarrett’s remains was not a pleasant task, I assure you. As far as I was concerned there was no longer any solid evidence against me. Also enough time had passed to make Jarrett disappearance a cold case, if there had ever been a case. I doubted that Jarrett was ever reported missing.

I was shivering with cold, so I took a hot shower using the water from our newly installed hot water heater. That came about because Lucy decided to use some of her dirty money to pay our plumber to install it. He first had to run a water line from the new county water supply. That line ran along the shoulder of the county road. It was a large job to get every thing Lucy wanted done. The plumber ran a one man show, so he was glad to get the large cash infusion.

I was pretty sure that he thought we were making liquor in the chicken house/barn, until he saw the setup. At that point he changed his mind to god only knew what. He went on to make the improvements to our bathroom. No matter what he thought, he installed the two electric hot water heaters then took the money and ran.

Since I had a plow blade on my tractor I ran it along my dirt drive to cut down the layer of top soil. I needed to rent the small bobcat excavator to dig down below the freeze line. The rent on the bobcat included the neighbor’s time. He operated it while digging the trench. I filled it in with the push blade on my Cubby. My closing the trench was done the day after the plumber finished.

It wasn’t my first hot water shower, but it was one of the first dozen. We had done the job because Lucy wanted Ruth and Paris to stay. She arranged that even Harold’s shack had a hot water shower and a flush toilet. The baby’s pampers went into the compost pile, which was Ruth’s job to maintain anyway.

That was all going through my head as I used the hot shower. I had to admit it was a pleasure to take a hot shower, and wash my hair at least three times a week in the winter. I looked forward to the daily showers in the summer.

I noticed that my belt, made from a bungee cord, was getting a little tighter. The two women living together were responsible for that. They took turns cooking breakfast in the morning, and dinner at night.

I also noted that as I gained weight, Ruth lost weight. When she dressed for her homecoming. it looked as though her clothes hung on her. Paris had grown of course. Lucy kept her in clothes. I didn’t object since neither of us spend money on new clothes often.

When I dressed for the rest of the day, I felt lighter than I had in months. Not my newly fat ass body, but in my mind. Jarrett had weighed heavily on me. Since it was likely to be chilly, I put on a new pair of cargo pants, and a new plaid wool shirt.

I sat down to check my email and found a note from Lucy among the spam. It told me that she had arrived at her mom’s, and that everyone was happy to see Ruth, Paris, and her. I sent her back an email, which she probably wouldn’t get for a couple of days. Unlike her email, mine didn’t go into detail about my workday on the day they left.

At 4PM I called Trina at her 2nd chance store. “Hey girl, would you like to go to dinner?” I asked.

“No, but can you get away tonight?” she asked.

“I’m a bachelor for the next week. So I guess I’ll be eating out a lot,” I explained.

“Well, I have plans for tonight, but I can make a few calls. Let me see what I can arrange,” she said with a wicked twinkle in her voice. “Maybe it’s time for that party we talked about earlier.”

“Okay, I’ll bring some party favors,” I suggested.