Chapter 102: All the Good Ones Are Taken

EMT Eddie called a half hour later. He listened to the story, then said he needed to think about it some more. I was glad that he didn't waste my time. It was less than an hour later when the Cable guy called.

"I am supposed to install cable to one of your apartments, and the lady doesn't answer her phone," The cable guy explained.

"I know come on in. I'll get you started." I tripped the electric lock, but only after I checked him out with my on line camera. Since there was just one of him, I pushed the button.

When he made it to the long row of apartments I got my first really good look at him. He was somewhere over 20 and under 30. It was as close a guess as I could make for his age. The fact that looked pretty clean cut, and the .38 under my sweat shirt made me feel fairly comfortable to be around him.

"She is in apartment number four?' He asked.

"That's right, but you want to go around to the alley behind the building first. I will meet you back there and you can make the connection to her block there. Then you can come back around and check her reception. I have the pass key. You might want to call the office? I have two more new rentals ready. I'm sure that they have orders, or will be ordering cable soon."

"When they place their order, someone will come back. We don't install without an order in hand." he said.

"And I'm just trying to help," I said.

"If you just let me into her apartment that will be help enough," he said shortly.

"Okay, show me your Identification and then give me the phone number of your supervisor,. After that we can work something out maybe."

"I don't need this shit," he said and turned to leave.

"Before you go, I want to see that ID card," I said quietly. He turned angrily back to me to make some comment or maybe get physcial. Instead he found himself looking down the barrel of my ugly .38.

"What the fuck?" he said.

"I asked you very nicely to show me your ID and give me the phone number of your boss. You copped an attitude that concerns me a lot. This is a high security apartment building, you knew that when you buzzed my gate, now you are going to stand right there until a patrol car shows up." I punched 911 on my cell phone.

"I'm just a cable guy, you are crazy," he demanded tensing for fight or flight.

"All the more reason for you to shut the fuck up and wait. If you do anything foolish, you will not be the first person I have shot this year." While we waited, I rehashed it in my mind. I could not believe that things had gone south so quickly.

The officer who came was a female. First she took my pistol, then she forced the cable guy to do what I had asked earlier. Turns out the cable guy didn't have an ID, which is why he wanted to scramble away. The only thing out of sink was simply that he was working off the books. Not for the cable company but their installation sub contractor's company. There was a scam going on to divert funds under some kind of subcontractor fraud thing. It was not all that unusual a scam, and since the victim was the cable company not me, I didn't give a fuck.

The jerk should have just gone along, rather than get on his high horse with the middle aged bitch of an apartment manager. I was sure that is how the installation manager would describe me later.

"So now what?" I asked the patrolman.

"That's up to you," she said. "We can do a trespass thing, if you want to spend the time in court."

I looked at his face and was about to say. "Sure I got nothing better to do." Then he spoke to me again. "Ma'am, I'm sorry I acted like a jerk. I know I'm going to lose this job, but I can't spend time in court."

"Can you make a call to the cable company manager or president whatever it is?" I asked the cop.

"Count on it," she said. "Matter of fact watch." She made the call standing in my living room. She explained the situation to the owner of the local franchise who got me on the phone and apologized. He assured me that one of his people from the service department would be in immediately to do the installation.

"Then I'm going to leave this to you to clean up. But let me tell you something, I have been contacted by Direct TV to put a dish on the apartment for everyone to share. Don't give me a reason to go that way. I do not fuck around with people." I hung up the cop's phone as if it were my own.

"I'm sorry," I said handing it to her. "Where you finished?"

"I think you ended it better than I could have," she said smiling. After she cut the installer loose, she gave me my pistol back.

"Would you like some coffee?' I asked.

"Sure," she said. "You don't recognize me do you. I guess you wouldn't I have only met you once."

"I'm sorry I have old lady memory cells," I replied pouring her coffee. I didn't even ask if she wanted cream or sugar.

"I interviewed you at the hospital after you were stabbed in that parking lot thing." she reminded me.

"Ah okay, sorry all beautiful cops look alike to me," I said smiling.

"You were flirting with me even then," she said smiling. "I am married with two kids though."

"Do we have to invite them?" I asked with a smile.

"Yes," she laughed.

"All the good ones are married," I said.

She finished her coffee and left, so I was alone again when the real cable man came. He showed me his ID and called back to find the other orders. He also wired all the boxes, so that they could be turned on with a phone call.