Chapter 18

Week 10 - Tuesday

I went to Mike's office as soon as we got in this morning, and told him about the phone call and about someone vandalizing my car.

"Do you think it might have been that Arab who is suing us?" Mike asked.

"I'd almost bet on it. I couldn't tell anything about his voice on the phone, except that it was a man. I think the word 'infidel' is a pretty good indicator, though."

"You're probably right, but still ... You couldn't tell if the voice on the phone had an accent or not?"

"No, and Abdul really doesn't have that much of an accent anyway. Were you thinking of someone else?"

"Several people actually. You have made a few enemies since you've been here. First off is that purchasing guy. Then there is Jim Shear. The guy you fired out in Phoenix can't like you very much. I'm not saying it's any of these people, but it is possible."

"The person would have had to have known about the troubles with Abdul since he used the Infidel word."

"Not necessarily. Ever since 9/11 there has been a lot of distrust toward anything Arabic. This might just be someone taking advantage of that."

Mike didn't convince me, but he did get me to thinking. Unfortunately that left me feeling a little depressed. I certainly didn't feel like talking about fiber optics, so I put Marty off until next week.

I had a chance to talk with Larry Steinhelm that afternoon. I didn't really know Larry, but I had seen him around. He looked like he had aged ten years.

"You wouldn't have believed the amount of blood," he said. "It covered everything. It was like the worst slasher movie you ever saw. It's something that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

"I take it that it was the blood that got to Bart?" I asked.

"Yeah, it almost did me in, too."

"You still have the camera, with the pictures on it?"

Steinhelm handed me a CD, and said, "Yes. I copied the pictures off, but they are still in the camera, too."

"Good, if you can leave them on there until after our attorney says it is okay to remove them, it would be appreciated."

"Actually, the camera belongs to the company. I haven't turned it back in yet. Would you like for me to leave it in your custody?"

I know I had to have a big smile when I said, "That would be great, Larry. I think I'll probably leave them with Mike Severt. He can put the camera in the safe."

"I talked with Bart today. He's going to come into work tomorrow. This was really hard on him."

"Bart's just a young guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but young or old, no one should have to see what we saw at Consolidated."

Missy was especially loving that evening. She insisted on cooking dinner, and then practically fed it to me. After we had eaten, and were snuggled up on the sofa in the living room, I asked her what was going on.

"I guess I'm just a little shook up over the phone threat, and of what was done to your car. Everyone keeps telling me that nothing else is going to happen, but I can't seem to make myself believe that. I love you with all my heart, and I don't want to lose you."

I hugged her tightly to me, and kissed her gently. "I know what you mean, honey. It's a little scary to me, too. All we can really do is be as careful as possible until we find out who's behind this."

"I don't think there's any doubt that it's Abdul," Missy said with passion. "I think we should just hunt him down, and cut his balls off."

I had to laugh at that one.

Week 10 - Wednesday

I hadn't been in my office but a few minutes, when Patty Aldridge came in. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked.

"Certainly, let's go down and get a cup of coffee while we talk. I'm a bear until I've had my first two or three cups."

Patty giggled. "Jason is the same way. I always get up first and have a pot of coffee ready before I wake him up."

When we got down to the cafeteria, and were seated at my favorite table, I asked her what she would like to talk about.

"A lawyer representing Tipton Foods came by the hospital yesterday. He said that Tipton was ready to offer a settlement. He offered us $10,000."

"I hope you didn't take it," I said.

"No. It was tempting, but Jason and I had been talking about it. I don't know what our hospital bills has amounted to so far, but they have to be a lot more than $10,000."

"You are absolutely right. I'm going to have our company attorney come by and talk to you and Jason. Mike Severt was telling me that our attorney thinks our company should be acting jointly with you and your attorney. If either the company or you guys act unilaterally, it could adversely affect the other party."

"We really don't have an attorney as yet. Do you really think we need one?"

"Most definitely. Don't worry about the attorney's fees. Any settlement he negotiates will include his fees being paid on top of what you get. The fees will not be taken out of your settlement. Would you like for our company attorney to recommend someone?"

"Yes. That would be nice. Jason and I have never used an attorney. We wouldn't have any idea of who to see."

"How is Jason doing?" I asked.

Patty was all smiles, and she said, "He's doing better every day. The doctor told us yesterday that he can probably go home in another week. The bad part is, the doctor said he probably can't go back to work for at least a month."

"Don't worry about that, Patty. We just want to see him get better. From what Mel tells me, Jason is one of his best engineers. He's anxious to have him back, but all of us want him to be perfectly healthy before he returns."

"Jason and I really want to thank you and Mel for all you have done for us. I don't know how we could've made it through if it hadn't been for the two of you. It makes us really appreciate Belding."

We talked for a few more minutes and then Patty said she needed to get to the hospital.

I had lunch with Missy and Brenda. I filled them in on what Patty had told me. Brenda said she wanted to talk to Patty, anyway, so she was going to try to reinforce what I had told her.

"I talked to Mom this morning," Missy told us. "She's already sent out the wedding invitations."

"Okay. I meant to talk with you about that," I said, trying to keep a straight face. "I was thinking that maybe we should wait another month or two."

Missy looked like I had thrown a bucket of cold water on her. "But..." she said.

I just looked at her. It took a minute, but she finally figured out I was teasing her.

Missy looked around at Brenda and asked, "Brenda, could I possibly stay over at your place tonight?"

"I think that's probably a good idea," Brenda agreed.

"Darn, and here I was thinking about going out for dinner and dancing tonight."

"Well, in that case," Missy grinned. "Maybe I should plan to stay at home tonight."

"Isn't it amazing how quickly it became home for us?" I asked. "I guess the old saying that 'home is where the heart is', is true."

"You're not going to let him off that easily, are you?" Brenda asked.

"Oh, he'll pay for it," Missy said. "It may take a few days, but he'll pay. Dinner and dancing are just too good to pass up."

Dinner and dancing were nice. We were both in the mood for seafood, so we ended up feasting on shrimp, scallops, and crab. We spent about two hours dancing, before we felt we needed to get home.

Our lovemaking was at least as nice as the rest of the evening.

Week 10 - Thursday

Brenda joined Missy and me for breakfast. Brenda is a lot of fun. She teased us about our date last night, until Missy was ready to strangle her. Finally, she got serious.

"So, how are the wedding plans coming?" Brenda asked.

"We have everything all set up," Missy said. "Mom has sent out the invitations. She has cleared the date with the church and with the minister. She has rented a hall for the reception, and has contacted a caterer. She also tells me she has reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn."

"I meant to talk to you about that," I said. "I intend to pay for the reception. I'm not sure how well fixed your mom and dad are right now, so I would rather take care of it."

"Mom and dad have already beaten you to it," Missy said. "Your mom and my mom have had their heads together on this from day one. I don't know what all they have planned, but I think we'd both be better off just staying out of their way."

I had a grin at that. I didn't know Alice that well, but I did know that mom could be a steamroller when she wanted to be. I figured the next two weeks were going to be interesting if nothing else.

Mel and Gene came into my office right after I got there. "So, what all did you find out, Gene?" I asked.

Gene shook his head as he sat down. "This has been an interesting experience," he told me. "If Consolidated wasn't so pathetic, they would be funny."

"Yeah, I talked to our contact in their maintenance department last night, and he says the same thing," Mel said. "He says everyone there is running around trying to find something to hide behind, or at least something to cover their butt with."

"So, what do we need to do?" I asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Gene informed me. "Our attorney is handling everything from our end. I think Consolidated is in for a lot of grief. It has come out that the 'unofficial' policy was that their employees were to pick as many cartons per hour as it was physically possible to pick. Again, unofficially, they were to take any shortcuts they need to take to get out the maximum number of cartons."

"Their head of maintenance actually modified the Pick Car for the guy who was killed," Mel said. "Consolidated has fired him, and rumor has it that the General Manager will be the next to go."

"It doesn't matter how many people they let go, our attorney says Consolidated is going to be paying, Big Time, for this," Gene said.

Tina had been at Belding for a week now, and had moved into Missy's old apartment five days ago. Tonight she came over to see us. Missy and I were tickled to death to see the kids.