Chapter 27

Saturday, January 22nd, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Before we left the room I switched from John to Brad again. I pulled out the papers John had written about his son’s life while Sam was dealing with something work related for a couple minutes. One of the first things on his list was the apartment’s address and the vehicles he owned. John drove, and nearly died in, a 2020 Toyota Tacoma. He also owned a 2020 Honda VFR800F motorcycle.

I laid out the sheets of paper on one of those narrow tables that roll and are for patients to use while in bed, there were three sheets in total. Carl confirmed he had them memorized before I was through with reading the first page. Overall it seemed to cover where he went to school, names for relatives, a few old friends and acquaintances. I noted that his mother died in childbirth as he was born, and that she was notably younger than John Senior. I skimmed over the other two pages and tucked them back in the manilla envelope, and put the envelope in my bag.

Sam soon rejoined me and we headed outside. I considered vehicles as we were leaving the building. I was using Brad’s truck, and Sam obviously had her own ride, plus there was the possibility of dealing with John’s truck too. I had no idea of its status, so I asked Sam to hold up for a minute and called John.

“Hey John, It’s Brad again.”

“Hi Brad, what can I do for you?”

I said, “Where is John’s truck now? I’m currently borrowing the real Brad’s truck and I’m thinking of returning it. Do you see any issues with my using the Toyota in the interim? I expect to leave it at John’s place when I come into the hospital Monday night.”

John said, “No I don’t see any issue. It’s currently still in my garage. I’m sure I put my address on the sheets I gave you. Come on by. The code for the garage is 1973 then hit enter. John’s truck has a remote in it though, so you wont need that very often.”

I thanked him and ended the call. Sam said she would just follow me. She was parked in a reserved parking area for doctors, but she pointed out where she would be coming out and I met her there easily. She followed me to Brad’s place and I gestured for her to wait as I stepped inside to tell Brad what was up.

I found him and Rhonda fucking out by the pool on one of the lounge chairs. She was riding on top and giving a lovely show. I saw them from the kitchen and decided to let them keep their expected privacy. I just put the keys back on the hook Brad had got them from earlier.

I left via the garage and working on a hunch I hit the enter key on the keypad outside it and the garage door started closing. I got into Sam’s very nice car, a Jaguar XJS, and told her I was all set. She asked for the address of John Senior’s house and plugged it into her navigation system. We made our way there in about 10 minutes.

Sam parked in front of the garage and I punched in the code. It was a deep garage, you probably could have fit 4 cars in it if it wasn’t for the workshop that took up the far half of it. John’s truck was sitting next to a new looking Lincoln Towncar. Sam and I were just walking in when John Senior joined us in the garage.

“That’s an impressive shop, John.”

“I like to keep my hand in. I’ve spent a lot of time there in the last week or so. Working with my hands helps me think. I haven’t done enough of it over the years. Too busy being a big businessman. Maybe I need to change that as we move forward from here.”

As we walked through the shop I said, “I never asked, what do you do John?”

Sam and he both chuckled and he said, “You haven’t heard of Walker Furniture? I’m hurt Brad, deeply hurt. My advertising people will be hearing from me Monday morning.”

I said, “Wow, yes I’ve heard of your business. I’ve seen the ads many times. Heck, I’ve sat in a number of your famous chairs. You put out a very nice product.”

He replied, “We like to think so. My grandfather started the business in his garage, and eventually opened a warehouse and storefront that did quite well. My dad grew it from one storefront into 3 store/warehouse locations and 100 employees in Colorado. I grew it from those 3 to 33 locations in 25 states, with 1,200 or so employees. My dream was to be in every state in my lifetime. It doesn’t seem so important anymore.”

I said, “I may not be able to continue your work, but I think I’ll find a way to make my own mark. I don’t know what it will be, but I believe there will be a legacy beyond all of your stores John. I will also be carrying John’s DNA, so therefore some of yours as well. I don’t have plans for kids right now, but you never know what will happen. Don’t feel like all is lost.”

He said, “You know, I hadn’t considered that. Thank you, that means a lot to me.”

I replied, “Don’t worry about it. Oh, and I had a thought. Get in touch with that short term nurse and go ahead and hire her. Explain the specifics about the plan to her and enlist her help in looking over everything and getting it ready for her to begin. She may catch things others have missed, plus she will be able to review her living situation as well. You did plan a room for one or more of them to stay in sometimes right?”

He said, “Shit, I pictured them commuting, but you are right, 24/7 coverage needs to be planned for. I have the rooms so it won’t be a big issue, but I should have seen that coming. I’ll get her input on everything as you suggested right away.”

He turned to go and we said goodbye. I got in the truck and it started right up. Sam followed me over to John’s place and I found the spot in the parking garage for John’s apartment number empty as expected. There was a second space next to it with the motorcycle on it. Sam found a guest parking spot to use and we made our way inside. The door key opened a secured door into the elevator lobby and we took an elevator up to the 5th floor where my apartment was.

It ended up being an end unit and when I let myself in I was suitably impressed. It was a beautiful place. Lots of light, with very tall ceilings. A good-sized kitchen that was open to a large living space. An outdoor balcony big enough for a small table and 4 chairs around it plus enough room to move around all that without playing musical chairs. A master bedroom suite and a second bedroom configured as an office.

I could definitely be comfortable here. I wonder what the rent was. Sam made several jealous comments and I chuckled at each one. I started on the desk and found envelopes for bills and a well-organized file drawer with monthly sections for previous months’ bills. Each bill was marked with ‘paid’, the date it was paid, and the check number he paid it with. John was a highly organized man. In fact, the place had a mildly OCD vibe to it. A friend of mine once told me that they had the name of that disorder all wrong. Obviously, it should be ‘CDO’ instead.

I moved to John’s closet and found a large selection of nice-looking clothes. Everything was color coordinated on the evenly spaced hangars. It was impressive, but also a little scary to me. I’ve never been a slob, but this was taking things a little too far in my opinion. It would work out fine though. I asked Sam to choose an outfit for me to try on, as I wanted to check the fit.

John was a little skinnier than my other body, but Carl and I just shifted a little bit more mass to his chest and arms at first to compensate, but it started to affect the lines of the jacket before we were happy so we shifted a bit more to the butt and calves instead. I’d get a second opinion from the girls later, I’m sure. Sam seemed to like it just fine.

Sunday, January 23rd, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Sam spent the night with me and we had to go out for both dinner and breakfast as there was nothing fresh left in the house. Several questionable things had to be trashed, and finding the trash chute took a bit of figuring out too. I’d never lived in a building like this before, so it would be an adjustment. Nothing I couldn’t handle though.

Shopping was not worth doing at this point, with the planned hospital visit on the horizon. I did make note that there was no receipt for the rent, so I needed to touch base with John senior about that. At the end of the month, he might need to look into it for his son in the hospital who was dealing with medical issues.

The walls of the apartment seemed well made, at least we didn’t hear any neighbors and nobody complained to us. I’m not sure if that is necessarily proof though. Maybe they just liked the way we sounded. I’d have to meet the neighbors at some point, but it would wait until John was back in residence.

Sam mentioned going back to the hospital to check on the bloodwork and to touch base on a few other things at work. She said she would see me Monday night. We had decided to go with a 9 pm transport of John to his dad’s house. I would have Carl recruit the paramedics doing the transport and everyone working the floor that night to cover the bases. A privately rented ambulance wouldn’t care about reporting the transport to anyone. There would be video footage that couldn’t be helped, but also nobody had any reason to be reviewing it.

From the hospital’s perspective, John would spend a quiet night, and sometime around noon, someone would notice his increased eye movement which would trigger another EEG scan where they would see the now miraculously normal brain activity. I planned to spend the night with Carl showing me streams of everything in reach when I wasn’t sleeping. Maybe we could get some interesting practice in.

I got together with the girls at Jan’s place and gave them an update. Meghan promised to move all of my stuff from her place to someplace appropriate at Jan’s house. With all of John’s clothes, I wouldn’t need any of them at his place. Keeping Max’s and Roman’s stuff here would be fine for now too.

Both girls expressed an interest in seeing John’s place. I told them I had another quick errand I wanted to run first and I would be back as soon as I could. They decided that they wanted to change clothes anyway so I had some time.

I ran over to the Hotel to see if Mary was working, but she wasn’t there. I called her from my cell phone.

“Mary? I’m not sure if you will recognize my voice, but we met the other day and I asked you to look into a few things for me. I need to see you about something that has come up. Can you meet me at the Denny’s by your hotel?”

She said, “Sure, I can be there in about 10 minutes. Will that be okay?”

I said, “Perfect. I’m in the parking lot in a dark gray Toyota Tacoma, please join me in the truck for a minute. We might move inside after a brief discussion, we’ll see how it goes. I didn’t think to discuss your homelife when we spoke last, is there someone at home we should discuss?”

She told me, “My husband Steven is here, and he’s looking at me oddly at the moment.”

I said, “Laugh and smile like I said something funny and tell him you’ll explain in a minute.”

She did and when she came back I said, “Invite me over and give me your address instead of coming here. When we get off the phone I want you to tell him I have a legitimate second job for you that will bring in a little extra money. Tell him you are interested in it and I’ll be able to explain it shortly.”

She agreed and gave me her address. We ended the call and I headed to her house. On the way I told Carl, [Be ready to jack him with the default friendly and helpful script as soon as he sees my face and we are close enough.]

I pulled up at her house and knocked on her door. A large black man answered. I held out my hand and said, “Brad McCormick. You must be Steven. It’s nice to meet you.”

He shook my hand and said, “Nice to meet you Brad, I’ve got to say I’m not sure what to make of this, but come in and tell us about it.”

He led me to the living room and offered me a comfortable looking chair to sit in. Mary was already seated in the room and looking at me oddly. I said, “Steven, I order you to trust me completely. You will believe anything I say to be the truth. Do you understand?”

He said “Yes.”

I said, “Steven, I have some very important work that Mary is going to do for me. I’m afraid it’s something that has to stay a secret, Mary won’t be able to talk about it or allow you to find out anything regarding it. You will be totally accepting of her need to keep it a secret from you. Anytime she tells you she has to work on a project, or that something in the house is related to a project you will respect her privacy and leave it alone. Do not try to find out anything about it. If you do find out something, you have to tell Mary so she can help deal with the situation. You will do your best to help her keep any secrets related to her projects. Do you understand?”