Chapter 34

Tuesday morning found me carefully leaving my cabin in the woods after a quick shower.‭ ‬Yes I had time for coffee, ‭ ‬a cup at the tool bench and a cup in big ole plastic delta coffee cup.‭ ‬You know the delta cup is shaped like a Mercury space capsule.‭ ‬It's the only kind of cup I can walk across the room with.‭ ‬Well the only kind I can walk with while expecting to have all the coffee remain in the cup.‭ ‬It is also the kind of cup, ‭ ‬which allows me to drive, ‭ ‬drink, ‭ ‬and still arrive without coffee stains.

All that to say I left really early in the morning on Tuesday.‭ ‬I had to take my trash to the county dumpster on the way to work.‭ ‬I found that some critter had gone through it again.‭ ‬Whatever it was had to be pretty hungry, ‭ ‬since I seldom threw away anything but empty boxes.‭ ‬I had to spend time cleaning the yard when I really wanted to get to work.

I wanted to do some research on the Reverend, ‭ ‬since I finally knew his real name.‭ ‬I wanted to get that done before Lucas or Ed arrived.‭ ‬I made my deposit at the county dumpster site, ‭ ‬then a pickup at Hardee's drive thru before I got to the office.‭ ‬I didn't have as much time as I expected, ‭ ‬but I did manage to pull up the old, ‭ ‬old newspaper articles.‭ ‬Some of the old articles made it into the digital files of the Tryon paper and some didn't.‭ ‬There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it.

It was pretty much as Anya had said.‭ ‬At eighteen the young Jacob came from a single parent home.‭ ‬He and his mother lived in the one housing project in Aster.‭ ‬The Rollers were a middle class gang with its roots in skateboards and weed.‭ ‬The Dog Soldiers‭' ‬roots were in poverty.

Like Anya said, ‭ ‬Jacob had a‭ ‬ .22‭ ‬pistol.‭ ‬When the Roller kid hassled him for being in the park, ‭ ‬they had heated words.‭ ‬The pistol in Jacob's pocket gave him false courage.‭ ‬As the saying goes, ‭ ‬the Roller pulled a knife in the middle of a gun fight and died for it.‭ ‬Jacob was young and stupid so he went to prison.‭ ‬Whether he found God or just a Jim Baker type scam, ‭ ‬remained to be seen.

I finished my coffee, ‭ ‬my biscuit, ‭ ‬and my research before Ed arrived.‭ "‬Mornin‭' ‬Miss Maxine, ‭ ‬where is Luke‭?" ‬he asked.‭ ‬I wondered how long it would take for Lucas to become Luke.‭ ‬It had taken a while for sure, ‭ ‬but at least half the time we thought of him as Luke.

‎"‏I have no idea‭; ‬he is probably out pricing gates.‭ ‬It's too early to be out buying cameras, ‭" ‬I had to laugh as I spoke.‭ ‬Ed and I had no idea what was needed to make a video surveillance system.‭ ‬It was all duck quacks to me, ‭ ‬when Lucas tried to explain it.‭ ‬He always made the futile attempt to make us understand what he was doing.

‎"‏You going to let him in on where you live‭?" ‬Ed asked.

‎"‏Hell, ‭ ‬I'm going to let him live there too.‭" ‬I said grinning.‭ "‬Or at least pretend to live there while the men install his toys.‭"

"That's a good plan, ‎ ‏I hate when you make me go out there.‭ ‬The kid can do it from now on.‭"

"That was what I thought.‎ ‏If I get lucky, ‭ ‬I want have to screw him for the help either.‭"

"You mean, ‎ ‏I could have gotten laid if I had gone about it right‭?"

"Hell, ‎ ‏Ed that would be like screwing my dad.‭ ‬You still might get laid.‭" ‬I said with a laugh.

Sure enough, ‭ ‬when Lucas came in at‭ ‬10AM, ‭ ‬he was filled with the description of the gate to be installed at the end of my drive.‭ ‬As I said earlier it was all duck quacking to me.‭ ‬I did get it that I had a two button garage door opener.‭ ‬One button disabled the horn, ‭ ‬which blew if the gate was opened without the opener, ‭ ‬and the other started the motor that pulled the gate from the driveway.‭ ‬If I needed for some reason to open the gate without the opener, ‭ ‬there was a crank that would go under my car seat.‭ ‬It was likely to get crowded in the van, ‭ ‬since first thing Monday morning‭; ‬I had moved my vest from the secure store room to the van.‭ ‬Once I figured out how to hide it, ‭ ‬I planned to move one of the shotguns to the van as well.‭ ‬I knew that I was a little paranoid, ‭ ‬but I had been taught for years that the Russians could not be trusted.‭ ‬Lately I had heard how vicious the Russian Mob could be.‭ ‬Even though I didn't think the visitors at Marge's were Mobsters, ‭ ‬they were still likely to be fringe players.

‎"‏So when does the castle gate go up‭?" ‬I asked.

‎"‏They can get started on it Wednesday morning, ‭ ‬if I give them the go ahead and a deposit.‭"

"You didn't tell them who it is for did you‎?"

"Of course not, ‎ ‏I know you are trying to stay off the radar.‭"

"Good, ‎ ‏I want you to go to my place and be there when they install the gate.‭ ‬As far as they are to know, ‭ ‬you are the resident.‭ ‬If they check the tax records, ‭ ‬Ed's client will come up.‭ ‬I don't want my name mentioned at all.‭"

"I understood that from the start Boss.‎" ‏Luke said seriously.

‎"‏Good, ‭ ‬this is going to mean that now and then you will have to go out and let people into the place.‭ ‬Are you up for that‭?"

"Sure we can work things out, ‎"

"The convict and I share a dislike of strangers.‎ ‏He had it set so very few things required an outsider to enter the compound.‭ ‬I have even less exposure.‭ ‬All the utilities are in his mother's name.‭ ‬When she gets a bill, ‭ ‬she calls to tell me.‭ ‬I just go by the utility office and pay it in cash.‭ ‬The fuel oil supplier goes into the compound once before the coldest weather and once in January.‭ ‬The cabin is small and reasonably draft free, ‭ ‬so I use about three hundred gallons of fuel a year.‭ ‬Roughly one hundred and fifty gallons each time the man shows up.‭ ‬I dumped around five hundred dollar each time.‭"

"I figure if I get the truck out before the gate goes in, ‎ ‏it will save Luke having to out there one time at least.‭" ‬I said that just before I made the call.

The delivery company's receptionist assured me that her driver would make the delivery that same afternoon.‭ ‬As usual he would leave the bill in the door.‭ ‬The bill would have the owner's name on it.‭ ‬It was his account‭; ‬I was just keeping his credit good for him.‭ ‬I explained about the locked gate.‭ ‬I gave her the cell phone registered in the company name as a contact after the gate went in.

My appointment with Jen was already set.‭ ‬She knew I could work it into my schedule so they just set it and informed me of the time.‭ ‬Wednesday at‭ ‬3PM.‭ ‬I made a note after speaking with the cute receptionist, ‭ ‬but knew that I would probably lose the note.‭ ‬I still used a ball point pen and paper to make notes to myself.‭ ‬My cell phone had a memo pad but I never used it.‭ ‬I didn't even want to know how.