Chapter 1

Joe Smith never wanted to take a job dealing with the elderly. He even remembered thinking that they all just needed to be put in a home once they reached sixty. The idea of caring for them was the most foreign thing to him. Changing diapers and sponge baths could have been a nightmare, if he really thought about it. There was not enough money in the world that would make him give an old person a sponge bath.

Looking back, Joe realized that his high school self was not much of anything. His grades were decent and the only way into college was a loan, and the idea of being straddled with a lifelong loan burden was not something he wanted. With his mother living far away, and a father that passed away years ago, the options for something else seemed dim. The only thing he could focus on was paying the few bills he had, and keeping his girlfriend.

Laura was not high maintenance, but she did want a nice place and nice clothes like any girl would want. Joe was all about giving her what she wanted and what he could afford. She went into sales right after school; she quickly made more money than he did. Joe knew he quickly fell into the role of being the substandard boyfriend who lived off his girlfriend. She made three times the amount of money he did, and working for an auto parts place as a deliveryman was not that glamorous.

Joe knew things were getting rocky when she kept bringing up how he needed to get a better job, and that she wanted to move to a bigger place. He never brought up marriage, but also knew she was thinking about it. The idea of marrying Laura was something he wanted down the road, but as ‘down the road’ was coming closer, it seemed like a bad idea. He felt that he was doing it to keep her, and not because he overly loved her.

With her constant nagging and pestering about getting a new job weighing on the relationship; and he knew it was only time before she left him. He loved her, but not in a way that made him go crazy. To him, it was a comfortable love and not something he could live without. But, he also knew it was slipping away, as she wanted things that he just could not afford or attain, at his present position in life.

Delivering auto parts was an easy task, and the money was just enough to help pay the bills and nothing more. He drove his Honda to drop off parts to repair shops and felt like the pizza delivery guy that dropped off car parts instead of pizzas. The wear and tear on his car was showing and he dreaded repairing it, as it would cost money he didn’t have. No longer was it an old, reliable Honda; it became the old-beat-up Honda that sputtered and blew blue smoke. He knew he needed a new car, felt like life was in a rut, and he was only twenty-three.

Joe never thought about an employment agency, because he already had a job. To him, it was a place desperate people go to look for a job. It started with a flyer on his windshield, and then another flyer in the mailbox. Then the phone calls and messages, and followed, finally, by a man knocking on the door. He felt the anger towards Laura, knowing that she put this man up to it, and that she was the reason for all of the flyers and phone calls about getting another job through this agency. It was a weird conversation when someone comes to your door trying to get you to take a job, but Joe finally gave in and listened. He figured a stern, “No, and leave me alone,” after his pitch would end it, right there and then.

The man who was in his mid-forties had a convincing pitch, though. “How much money do you want to make?” Joe quickly thought about it being a scam. It had to be a scam, as no company would just offer money. Joe listened and then finally said he wanted twenty dollars more than his already twelve dollars an hour wage. Thinking no way any company would pay thirty two dollars an hour to a person with no qualifications, and if they did; it had to be a scam or dealing drugs.

Joe looked with a smile, knowing he knew that the offer was a scam. He was not inclined to break the law, so whatever job it was, it was not going to happen. When the man replied with his hand out to make a deal, Joe finally broke down and asked about the job. And listening to a job taking care of an old man came to light. It still sounded weird and too good to be true, but the man just pulled out an envelope, and handed it to him. “Cash the check and you will know the job is real.”

When the check cleared, Joe took off the next day to go to the man’s office and find out about the fine details about this job. It was also Friday and he figured he would listen to the scam job, but still had hopes that it might be real, since the check did clear. It was still a great waste of a day as he could then go home and play video games and not have to worry about his girlfriend complaining, since he had the excuse he went for another job interview.

The office was a law firm and not an elderly care facility. He now wondered if Laura was even behind this. The man was actually a lawyer looking for someone to care for one of his clients. That was all he had to do, was to drive him around and make sure he did not get into trouble. Between the firm being a real law firm and the pay, Joe finally thought it was a real offer. It was not like he had to change diapers or give sponge baths for the old man; just to drive him around, and make sure he did not fall and break his hip.

Joe asked why they chose him a few times, and Mr. Simms, the lawyer, said that they needed a driver who knew the area and someone that could keep up with him. That a younger man, and not a woman, was needed, and he was the only young driver that did not have a record. And that the client selected him from the pictures Mr. Simms had provided.

Joe signed the document and filled out the paperwork on the spot, and even did blood work to check his medical information. At thirty-two dollars an hour, Joe knew it was a life changer and submitting to a blood and hair test was worth it. He still felt that he was being set up by Laura, and when she denied doing it, he figured she did not want a fight and was lying about it.

He decided to celebrate with Laura, and knew she would finally stop complaining and the fights would end, too. He had money to get her things, and money to replace the broken things in his life. It was still an hourly job, and he even started to wonder if there was overtime involved.

With the address to his client’s house, he knew he was going to take care of a Mr. John Preston. He had no idea who he was, but he lived a county over and in the ultra-wealthy part of the county. Joe passed mansion after mansion, looking like the oddball in the town with his beat-up, blue Honda that blew enough smoke it looked like a moving firestorm.

Knocking on the door, he was greeted not by a butler, but by an elderly woman. She looked about seventy and had a small, petite body. She had grey hair, but was well kept and looked like she would have been quite beautiful back in the day. With her big smile and almost genuinely nice attitude, she showed him inside.

Joe was taken aback by the sheer size of the house, and was blown away at the decor of the indie. Outside, it looked like the largest mansion in the area, and on the inside it looked like a museum with display pieces everywhere. Everything about the house gave off the impression of old money. He thought this was a man who was born into money and probably gained more during his life.