The Uninvited (15 page)

Chapter
26

Two weeks after burial

Rosa had been collecting boxes for a week from the grocery store. Chuck was going through his shop, grabbing a toolbox to take with them to disassemble bed frames and anything else that they might want to take apart to make it easier to get things ready for when Goodwill showed up. Rosa came out to the shop. “Chuck, are you ready to go? I don't think we can put this off any longer.”

Chuck was moving a screwdriver back and forth in front of him at the workbench. He had the thousand yard stare that she hadn’t seen since he had come back from Vietnam when she was barely of drinking age. She remembered the night terrors, not being able to sleep, being tense and cranky. Rosa said, “You know this doesn’t have to be like when you came back, honey.”

Chuck, who’d been snapping for a week, said, “I swear, woman if you bring up going to a fucking shrink-”

Rosa slammed the garage door and marched to her husband, putting her hands on his shoulders. He was still looking at the screwdriver. Rosa took it, put it in the toolbox, and closed it. She lifted his chin. “You aren’t going to go back down that road. You and your mind aren’t old enough to come back from it. You need to let it out. You need to mourn, to cry, to let your heart break, honey.”

“Has crying yourself to sleep made you feel any better? Is your mourning process going easier because of it?”

“Yes. Do I still miss her each and every day? Of course I do, Chuck, but that pain hurts a little bit less. Not a lot, but a little, and moving forward is what we have to do. She wouldn’t want you to be killing yourself every day over it. It isn’t your fault. She was probably living the best day of her life from the size of that beautiful engagement ring.”

Chuck closed the toolbox whispering, “She probably thought she had….that she had….had her entire life in front of her.”

Chuck had met his breaking point. Rosa pulled him in, letting his head rest on her chest, and brushed his hair as the tears began to fall down his face. His shoulders shook and she whispered, “It’s going to get better, baby. I swear it.”

Chuck gripped her hard, crying so he could barely be understood. “It just hurts so much? She was so young, Rosa.”

“I know she was. You are taking the first step in a long process. Come one, let's go over there and get the place cleaned up. It’ll do us some good to do something besides sitting here and looking at each other. The landlord is only going to be patient for so long.”

Chuck pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping at his face and nose. “That son of a bitch won’t say anything as long as he keeps getting the checks. I already sent him a extra check for her rent to give us all the time that we needed. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go in there or not. If you want to figure out their dishes and box those up, I’m going to go through all the paperwork and get their bills in order. I’m just going to pay for everything. I’m not sending all those bloodsuckers their death certificates. We pay it, we are done.”

Rosa patted his back. “You know they will write that stuff off if someone passes away, especially like this. There is usually a no questions asked policy. I read through the information we received at the funeral home on how to help deal with loss.”

“Let me grab the truck keys and we can get going. Do you have all the boxes that you think we’ll need?”

Rosa said, “We will probably need more, but that is just a matter of time. We can only fit so much in there before we need to take it all back downstairs.”

“The Goodwill people will bring some, you just fill it up and they will take it. I doubt it will take that long to go through paperwork, then I’ll start taking down the beds and lamps so it’ll be easier for them to get it out the door. I just want everything taken care of and handled. The more things we put past them the easier I think things will be.”

Rosa kissed his forehead and said, “Honey, are you telling me that, or are you telling yourself that?”

Chuck gave her a long hug. “Mostly myself. I think you are handling this the way that people should. I’m handling it like-”

“There is no perfect way to handle these things, Chuck. You are an old stubborn ex-marine. I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”

They made their way into the apartment, already having a spare key. Rosa and Chuck made a few trips up and down to the truck getting all of the boxes that she had been stashing over the last week. Chuck went to their file folders and tossed them on the coffee table, separating Isaac’s from Traci’s. He went through her’s finding nothing but a few small bills from a few nothing companies she had credit cards for and then started looking through Isaac’s finances. He was shaking his head trying to figure out how the boy had made a living. “Jesus Christ, I can’t believe our daughter was going to marry someone who was this disorganized. It looks like he spent most of his money every month on that damn wedding ring.”

“Well, him wanting to give our daughter the best isn’t necessarily a bad thing is it, Chuck?”

“No, but being able to eat is more important than a ring.”

“Not to a young woman that has been waiting for years to get an invitation to get married. She had subtly hinted more than once to me that she was more than ready to settle down. She loved that boy Chuck, more than she had ever loved anyone else. She was the best thing that ever happened to that boy after him losing his own parents. I don’t think he ever thought that he would have someone love him again.”

“Well, he lucked out getting our Traci. I’ll stop talking bad about him. Sorry honey, I ought to know better.”

“You don’t want bad karma, honey. If you need any help going through all that paperwork you let me know and I’ll be happy to take a break. I think I’m going to have to call Tricia up after all, there’s so many cups I think I could wrap them up for hours.”

“Nick said that she’d be happy to help. They are feeling as horrible as we are. Especially Nick.”

“She told me he isn’t doing so well. We weren’t the only house he had to stop at that night. He had union reps who had said that they would go and break the news but turned them all down. Nick said he took them in there, got them killed, and that he was going to finish by letting them all know what had happened.”

Chuck nodded, rubbing his hands through his hair as he looked around the apartment filled with memories, pictures, and reminders above all. He pushed up off the couch, grabbing a micro craft beer from the fridge. He laughed at it as he was walking past saying, “The least they could do was have a light beer in the fridge for dear old dad.”

“We can stop and buy you a six pack on the way home, Chuck.”

“I have beer at home, dear, that doesn’t do me any good here though. I guess that I’m going to have to try and force myself to drink-”

He stopped talking, looking down at more papers sitting on the table. He picked one up that stuck out to him, showing past due, end of service termination ninety days past due. When he pulled it up he started reading it. Rosa asked, “What is it, hon?”

“Nothing, I just…..I don’t know.”

“Well, get it done so you can help me out here.”

“Yeah I will, quick as I can.”

Chuck took back the papers with him staring at the past due notices and trying to think why he cared. He kept staring at the one for the truck until it finally hit home. He took Rosa’s cell phone and headed outside out of earshot. He dialed Nick from memory and after a few rings got an answer.

“Good morning to you, my beautiful Rosa. How are you doing?”

“Quit hitting on my wife you old shit. You probably can’t even get it up anymore.”

Nick laughed. “Oh great it’s you. Good morning to you sweetheart. What can I do for you?”

“I just had a question for you, I’m over cleaning stuff up at Traci and Isaac’s house.”

“Sure, I’m still working on some reports but if you give me like a half hour I will swing by and we can do everything you need help with. I know how it is with you old guys trying to lift things.”

“You’re just a riot. I had a question from what you had told me when you were leaving to head to the state park.”

“Look Chuck...brother, you need to try not to think about that. It isn’t going to do any good for you.”

“No, but it’s really bugging me. Didn’t you say that the detective, what’s his name?”

“Detective Hardin is his name. Why, what is it?”

“Didn’t you say that he had some buddies with the LoJack Company?”

“Yeah, he’s always able to get answers quicker than anyone when we need information on it. I'm pretty sure he sends some amber colored liquor to a guy in customer service there on a regular basis. Why? What is it, Chuck?”

“I'm looking at Isaac’s bills trying to make sense of both of their debts and there is a bill from Kia here saying that he hasn’t made payment on the service in the last four months. It says that as of March it was turned off...the LoJack that is. How the hell did he find them so quick if it wasn’t working?”

Nick sat forward thinking about this and knowing that sometimes just because they said that they would turn the stuff off didn’t mean that it had happened. “I’ll make a few calls and see what’s up. He left pretty shortly after everything had ended. He said that his wife was ready for him to be done with the badge and to start doing private work. She wanted him out before it was too late to get his head fixed and put this past him. This was his second-”

Nick trailed off, thinking about that, seeing some things that didn’t make sense. “Chuck, you finish up what you are doing. I’ll get back to you later, okay?”

“Are you going to get back to me, Nick?”

“Look, I said that I would. You keep doing your job, and you let me do mine, okay? I need some time. This stuff isn’t too quick and it might take me a while.”

“Seems funny that he just left right after getting done with this case, doesn’t it, Nick?”

“You take care of your daughter's affairs and let me take care of this. I won’t let you down. I’ll make some calls until I get what I need to know.”

Chapter
27

Lambert set the phone down in the cradle slowly, sitting back in his leather chair and thinking. He knew the shit storm from this would make headlines across the country. He didn’t need Chuck to try and spell it out for him, he wasn’t stupid. He hit his speakerphone. “Hey, Sara, do you think that I could bug you for a favor?”

“You can ask anything you want sugar, but whether or not I agree to do it is on a completely different story. What’cha need?”

“I want to see phone records for Hardin, am I able to do that?”

“Sure, but it isn’t going to do any good if you caught him using the company line for anything but work related purposes. Besides he’s gone and has already forgotten about this place. You’re just wasting your time and breathe making the call.”

“Well, I’ve heard more than once that I am full of hot air and let me worry about if I’m wasting the taxpayer’s time and money.”

“Do you need something to eat, Chief?”

“No, not that I know of. Why?”

“Well, you sound just a little grumpy. Do you need a Snickers? I love those commercials.”

“Sara, just get me the damn files. This is pretty important to me.”

“I’ll order us some sandwiches, you want roast beef or chicken?”

“Damn it, I want the files!”

“You are gonna get them Chief Lambert, but you are going to get lunch too. You don’t need to be all grumpy with me. I’m not afraid to call Tricia and tell her how you are treating people in your office.”

Lambert did his best to control his anger, treating the receiver as if it was her neck and trying to choke it out. He said with clenched teeth, “I’ll take chicken with a dill pickle and barbeque chips thank you very much, Sara.”

“What flavor pie you want?”

“Cherry, please. Chocolate if that is gone.”

“Now see, doesn’t it feel good to be nice, Chief?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful Sara, and thank you for helping me with my grumpy ways. You are just short of an angel.”

“I know, thanks Chief. You check your email and I’ll have links for the cell phone and the office phone. You can follow them and find whatever it is you are looking for. I’ll tell Evans Diner to get a move on. Diane is a mover and a shaker, she’ll probably have her husband on the way here in a few minutes.”

“Well, that would just be splendid.” Nick hit the end button and started hitting the refresh key every few minutes on his email browser until a new message popped up from Sara that had the links he’d requested. He clicked on the cell phone, and then the house phone for the office. He was tilting his head back and forth trying to put everything together. He knew that the answers he needed were going to be sever and their end result would be extremely serious. He couldn’t just make any assumptions and looked up the Kia dealer in the next county over. He got the phone number directly from the owner for who they used for LoJack service and the one that would be on Isaac’s SUV.

Nick punched in the number, waiting and pushing through the options. When he finally got through to a customer service agent he said, “I need to speak to someone about a LoJack system please.”

The customer service representative said, “Can I please have your name?”

“Yes, the account would be under Isaac Hunter. I am calling on his behalf.”

“Are you a relative or a power of attorney, sir?”

“No ma’am, I’m a police chief in Missouri. I’m calling on a case and I was hoping that you would be able to give me some information that might help me to solve a case that is in question.”

“Sir, you would have to get verbal authorization from the owner of the account. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it is company policy.”

“Did you not hear me when I said that I am the chief of police?”

“I heard you just fine sir, but unfortunately if you can’t get me verbal authorization to signed information then I’m not able to answer anything for you.”

“Well, it would be just a little bit difficult to be able to get authorization for that, ma’am. Do you have a supervisor that I might be able to speak to please?”

“We have to determine that it truly is a supervisor matter, sir, before transferring.”

Nick kicked his drawer with the heel of his cowboy boot, crashing in the cheap plywood and feeling a bit better about it. “The reason that I am unable to get you this verbal authorization you need so bad is because the man is dead. He had a truck hood decapitate him. So for him to call you would truly be a damn miracle. Is that good enough for your dumbass to get me to a supervisor?”

“I don’t like your tone very much, sir.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate your fucking inability to be useful. The longer we talk, the more your existence on Earth is actually beginning to bug me. There were deaths, it was horrible, if you read the paper you’d probably already know where I am calling from.”

“Oh god, you aren’t calling from Missouri are you?”

“Yup, I sure as hell am.”

“Fuck me. I mean, please hold, I’ll transfer you to my manager, Mr. Fox.”

Lambert leaned forward in his chair, writing down the chain of people who he was talking to. When Fox came on he sounded like he had definitely been advised of who he was talking to.

“For lack of a better term sir, I’d like to say good afternoon to you. How many I assist you?”

“Well, it wouldn’t take too much work for you to be more helpful than that stupid shit that was on the phone with me first. I mean. Jesus good lord, were you scraping the bottom of the barrel on hiring day?”

“Unfortunately if you saw what they paid customer service reps here, sir, you probably would be a hell of a lot more impressed at the service that you got. For most people working here they’d have to improve to be referred to as stupid.”

“That doesn’t fill me with a lot of hope, sir. I’m trying to figure out a termination date of service on a customer of yours that I am confident missed enough bills that you shut off his service.”

“Sir, we give ample warnings before shutting-”

“I’m not calling to bitch about it. I simply need the date, it is a very important matter that I’m calling about. The quicker that you could do things the better. Like I told the other woman the man’s name that I am inquiring about is Isaac Hunter out of Missouri, if that helps narrow things down.”

Nick heard the tap tap tap of keys on the other end and just as he thought his patience was going to disappear for the rest of the day, he got a response back over the phone. Fox said, “No, primarily we give people 3 months. Now this man didn’t opt for any additional features which this is one of them. Since he neglected to get any his service has been gone since January 2000.”

“So even if another police officer would have called, say two weeks ago, there would be absolutely no way whatsoever that they would have received any information about a LoJack unit on that man’s vehicle?”

“No sir, you miss a bill they shut it off. You go past the warning date, which was months ago, and you are done. That LoJack unit is just a paperweight at this point.”

“I see. Okay, Mr. Fox I thank you very much. You have a good day.”

“Good luck with your investigation, Chief Lambert.”

“I...I will, thank you.” Nick set the phone back down in the cradle. He looked up to see Sara standing there watching him. “Is there something that I can do for you, Sara?”

“You can tell me what’s really wrong.”

Nick smiled uneasily and she could almost see his face turning green. He leaned over, grabbing his wastebasket and losing everything he had eaten that morning, which for once he was thankful that he had skipped the big breakfast option over coffee. He said, “You know I think that I’m going to go home. I am pretty sure that I have some sort of a bug. I think the last few weeks have really gotten to me.”

“Yes sir, that seems like quite a good idea. You go on home, there ain’t nothing that you need to worry about being done today, sir. Besides, you got that murdering son of a bitch off the streets at least you can sleep at night now, right?”

“Yeah, thank you Sara. I think I might be out tomorrow as well.”