Short Fuse
© 1992/2016 by K Pelle
Chapter 25
I don't know why, but I felt somewhat relieved after making that phone call to Dick Fairchild and telling him about Claire's evening habits, perhaps it was just getting the subject off my mind. At any rate I heaved a sigh of relief, got to my feet and headed toward the door of the cabin, but I was barely on the way across the floor when I heard the cat meow, so I glanced over at her. She was looking up at me and I don't know why, but I decided to see why she might be making a noise, so I slowly approached her. When I got close, the reason for her meow was instantly obvious, she was having kittens. I imagine the birth of each kitten was painful, so the sound she'd made probably wasn't a call for me at all. Now I'll be honest, I had no idea of what I could do to help her, or if she even needed my help. After all, I'd never been around anything or anyone at the time of birth, so I really didn't now what to do. Instead of disturbing the cat, I decided to call in help and went to the door to call Arlene.
"Psst," I said quietly as soon as I saw her and Noreen. "The cat is having kittens. Is there anything we need to do?"
That got their attention and they were soon crowding past me as I held the door open for them, but instead of joining them, I went out and found a seat on the front step. After all, I knew that there wasn't anything I could do to help. I hadn't even been in the room when Shannon had been born, instead I had been pacing around the waiting room, anxious for any news that the hospital staff might pass on.
I suppose it was natural for my mind to go back to that incident and to recall that the day of Shannon's birth had not been a pleasant morning, because of several factors. To start with, Claire had gone into labour at two in the morning and the weather had been rotten. It was pouring rain, a cold rain that was threatening to turn into snow, but then it was early February, usually the coldest month of the year on Vancouver Island. It was a Monday morning too, and I been up late the night before, finishing a midterm paper that was due to be turned in to my professor that morning. I had scarcely gotten to sleep when Claire starting feeling labour pains, so I'd been grouchy as a bear when she woke me, but then as a prospective father I'd been somewhat worried as well. Then the ambulance seemed to take hours to get to the house, probably because of the weather. In fact while they were on the way, I'd had lots of time to call all those who were concerned, but everyone had been slow to answer my calls, probably since it was the middle of the night.
Once the ambulance did get there, I discovered that I wasn't allowed to ride along, so I had to follow in my car and they lost me in traffic. In fact I was slowed by an accident on the way as well. I wasn't involved, but I did have to detour around the mess, so that took up even more time. Then when I did get to the hospital I had to try to find long term parking, then slog through pouring rain for a block, and sign Claire in before finding out any news at all. Of course there wasn't any news yet, so I was sent to the waiting room, but at least I had the sense to grab a cup of coffee from the hospital's cafeteria. Unfortunately the coffee was stale and so bitter that I only drank a little of it before tossing the rest out in disgust.
Then to top it off, both my mother and Claire's mother were soon sitting in the waiting room with me, but that was no consolation. Right about then, the two of them were not on speaking terms with each other because of the feud over the ownership of the house. In fact the only point the two of them agreed on that morning was that they both felt Claire and I should never have married in the first place. Other than that, they seemed to take turns sniping at each other by making snide comments to me, which got old pretty damn quickly, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Thankfully Michelle showed up by about five in the morning and that brought some relief. Since she was in her third trimester with her first child, she didn't have a lot of patience with either Mom or Mrs. Leech, so the sniping stopped in a hurry.
Actually Michelle decided after only a few minutes that she wanted a cup of tea, and to everyone else's surprise, Mrs. Leech hopped to her feet and said that would be a great idea. I think that was meant to annoy my mother, but it actually backfired on both Mrs Leech and Michelle. They had only been gone for a few minutes when a nurse popped into the waiting room and said I had a daughter, so Mom and I were the first visitors to see Claire and Shannon. That didn't please either Claire or her mother, but their annoyance didn't bother either mom or me very much.
I don't know where my thoughts would have rambled off to after that, but just then Arlene came back outside and I could see she was upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Mittens had five kittens, but two of them were born dead and the third only took a breath or two, then just gave up," she said tearfully.
"Well how are Mittens and the other two kittens?"
"Oh, they seem to be fine. In fact the kittens are already nursing and Mittens has expelled the afterbirth. She just nosed the dead kittens off to one side and seems to be ignoring them. What do you think we should do with them?"
"Well, we were planning to take Mittens in to see the vet in the morning and I suppose we should take the kittens along. Now I doubt if the vet will want to do an autopsy on the dead kittens, but we don't want the girls to see them either, so I guess I could bury them in one of the flower beds. Is there shovel somewhere around the place?"
"Yeah, there should be a digging shovel in the shed out back. Just a second and I'll get you a flashlight."
So it was after eleven at night when I started digging hole in the rose garden beside the cabin, then Arlene brought out a paper bag containing the three dead kittens and we buried them. Actually both of the women were there, but right then they were quite disgusted with Mittens because she had just eaten the afterbirth. Arlene had been out talking to me, but at the same time, Noreen had gone to the bathroom, so by the time they both returned, Mittens was cleaning up the last of the mess.
I had a hard time hiding a smile at their dismay, but I did manage. I even succeeded in keeping a straight face as I explained that many animals would do that, because the placenta was high in nutrients. Actually I knew that licking the newborns clean and eating the placenta helped the animal recover from the stresses of pregnancy and the trauma of giving birth.
"Gross!" Noreen stated emphatically.
"It's natural," I shrugged, "and nature isn't sympathetic about our personal feelings or our outraged sensibilities. Sometimes nature is crude and primitive, while at other times it's just plain brutal."
"Yeah, but Mittens is a pet. She's tame, not a wild animal."
"Mittens is a cat, and cats aren't really tame. They're independent animals who accept the fact that living around humans is advantageous, but basically cats are still hunters, who can exist in the wild almost as easily as in a human's home. As an example of that, Arlene told me that Mittens was left here to keep out the mice when no one is around, so although she's a house cat, she can survive independently. That means she still retains all the basic instincts of a hunter and cleaning up the placenta is a basic instinct of almost all wild animals, especially the predators."
"Why would predators do that more than other animals?" Arlene asked.
"Because they know instinctively that the smell of blood draws other predators. That's why Mittens would have licked her kittens clean as well and if we hadn't disposed of the dead kittens, she would have carried them away from the area."
"I don't care if it's natural or not, I still find it gross!" Noreen snapped, then turned away. "I'm going to go to bed, but before I drop off I'll have to try to get that image out of my head, or else I'll probably have nightmares."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I was just trying to explain why Mittens acted the way she did," I sighed. "I suppose I should have kept quiet, but for some reason I thought you wanted to know the truth of the situation. Now all I can do is to say Goodnight and hope you have a good sleep."
"Yeah, Goodnight," Noreen muttered, then stomped off and went inside.
"So now we've seen the University Professor in action, haven't we?" Arlene said as she reached out and touched my arm.
"Yeah, once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess," I said as I finished filling in the hole I'd dug, then stomped the soil down level with the rest of the rose garden.
"Well, for what it's worth, I wasn't offended, but I found it surprising that you knew so much about something like that."
"Just passing on various things that my parents taught me. They were both raised on farms and kept animals, so they taught both Michelle and me a lot about nature. Besides that I've picked up a lot of general knowledge over the years and it seems natural to pass it on."
"Well, Professor Gamble, I think it's time for us to go to bed as well. It's been a long eventful day and I think we've earned a good rest."
So we put away the shovel, spent a few moments watching Mittens and her two kittens, then locked up and went off to bed. Neither Arlene nor I was as energetic in our actions that evening, but even then our lovemaking was extremely satisfying. I was just dozing off after that when I heard the old clock on the mantle strike one.
We didn't get to sleep in the next morning though. First off Shannon and Cindy awakened us by knocking on the door and announcing that Mittens had two kittens. Then we had hardly gotten dressed and put the coffee on to perk when Noreen awoke and realised that she had no way to get to her job, but then she hadn't planned on staying the night. I called Jaro at that point to ask if he was heading back to Bayview that morning. Unfortunately he was going to be tied up at the hospital in Duncan, because his young friend was still in danger, so Arlene lent her car to Noreen and she rushed off to her job.
Noreen had already left and I had just poured myself a cup of coffee when I recalled that Dick Fairchild had asked me to find out if Shannon knew where Claire had been buying her tea.
"Oh yes, I do know where she was getting her special tea and other stuff. It was from a little store in either Vic West or Esquimalt. There's a Chinese restaurant on the corner of a main street, and the little store is on a side street, but I don't remember the street names. It shouldn't be that hard to find though, because the entrance to the store is off the side street, in the basement, but at the back of the main building." Shannon frowned slightly. "I do remember that Mom bought two kinds of tea there, one was called 'Sunshine Wake Up' and the other was called 'Good Dreams.' Do you think that would help the detective find the place?"
"I think so, because your directions are better than mine. I thought the store was in Chinatown. I'll call him and you can talk to him, okay?"
"Sure," she nodded.
So I grabbed my cellphone, called Dick and handed the phone to Shannon, then went to get a second cup of coffee. Coffee cup in hand, I wandered over to look past Arlene and Cindy who were both fussing with Mittens and her two kittens, but I'd hardly gotten there before Shannon called me and said Dick wanted to talk to me again.
"Hello Dick, what would you like?" I asked after Shannon and I switched places.
"Is Shannon still close enough that she can hear me?"
"Well, she's across the room, but just a second, I'll step out on the front porch," I frowned, wondering what bad news he had for me now, as I walked across the floor and closed the door behind me. "Okay, I'm alone."
"I got the news from autopsy and while the stomach contents indicate that your wife died of an overdose of sleeping pills, her blood work tells a different and far more sinister story. Somehow she was on a potent mix of pills, both uppers and downers, which must have made her life a real roller coaster. I suspect that those two teas that Shannon told us she was taking were loaded with dope and from the way you describe her personality, I'd say she's been taking them for years.
"Now, I'd like to arrest the bastard that was selling them to her, but to do that I have to prove he was selling the drugs and I doubt if I can get a search warrant without positive proof. Shannon said she has gone there with her mother, which means the shopkeeper knows her, so I was wondering if you and Shannon could go make a buy from him. If you're willing, you could take Arlene along and she could act as a witness to the sale, then we can test the purchase and if the results are positive, we can bust the son of a bitch."
"Well if the hell I've gone through in the last few years was caused by his drugs, I'm certainly willing to help, but I'll have to ask both Shannon and Arlene if they want to be involved."
"I can understand that," he sounded as if he was grinning. "Have a talk to them and call me back would you, please? Oh by the way, the evidence team is done with your house and we're going to give the insurance agent a call to let his cleanup crew back in there today."
"Oh, could you hold off on giving him clearance for an hour or so? While I was in the house yesterday, I noticed some very shoddy work and I want to tell him I won't accept that, but I'd prefer to tell him that before you tell him he can turn that crew of idiots loose again. I don't know where he got that crew, but they sure aren't professionals. Besides that, the person doing the inspection of the work they have already done must be blind as a bat."
"So are you an expert on restorations?"
"Yeah, I guess I am. Have you ever heard of 'Dun-Rite Construction?' That used to be my family's business and now it's owned by my sister, but my father started the firm and I used to work for him. I was one of the people who spent months repairing and rebuilding our house about twenty years ago, so I know how it should be done. It was only after we were almost done rebuilding the place that we found out it was listed on some sort of a historical homes list though, but we all got a pat on the back for the restoration work we did."
"Well why didn't you insist on your sister getting the job?"
"Because she's up to her armpits in work and the insurance company lied to me, telling me they could get top quality people to do the job quicker. Only I don't let people lie to me like that more than once and if they try it, they learn to regret their stupidity. I think you know by now that I have a damn good lawyer and I'm quite willing to keep him busy teaching people the error of their ways."
"Yeah, I've heard of your lawyer and I think the news people could probably testify to the fact that you don't like to be screwed around," he chuckled. "Look, call me after you've talked to your insurance adjuster, as well as to Shannon and Arlene, then maybe we can do some further planning about that Chinese drug dealer, okay?"
"Can do. I'll talk to you in a while," I said, then headed back inside to find the insurance company's phone number which was in the notes on my laptop.
Actually Arlene and both girls were waiting for me when I stepped inside and all of them were curious about why I'd stepped outside to talk to Dick.
"I don't know why, but he asked me to step away, so I did." I shrugged. "What he wanted to tell me was that Claire was taking a sedative in the evening to get to sleep, then countering that with a stimulant in the morning to get through her day. I've read about what that sort of thing can do to people, only didn't realize Claire was self medicating, but then she may have been doing it even before I met her. Using counteracting drugs like that can cause all sorts of problems and could go a long way toward explaining her mood swings and her bouts of depression."
"So it was the tea that was doing it, was it?" Shannon asked.
"Well, he didn't say that for sure, but he wants you and me and Arlene to go to the store and buy some more of it, so he can get a search warrant for the place. I told him I'd have to ask you two before I could say yes or no."
"Sure, Dad. I've been there before, so I know the old guy who runs the place and he knows me too. I just remembered his name too. It's Mr. Leung. So I could introduce you, then we could say that Mom couldn't be there, but she needed more tea, couldn't we?"
"I'm in," Arlene added. "I can act as an impartial witness if it goes to court."
"Okay, I'll call him back about that, but first I have to call the insurance people, because I'm not happy with the work they're doing at the house. They're cutting corners and doing sloppy work, and I won't accept that sort of crap."
"Why are you in a rush to call them about that?" Arlene frowned. "Isn't the crime scene unit still there?"
"No, Dick said they had collected all the evidence they could find and had released the site. So I asked him to hold off on telling the insurance company that they could go back until I could make a complaint about what work has been done. I think the men who are working there are unskilled and trying to rip me off by doing a cheap job, but from what I've seen of how the insurance company has handled the whole deal, that's par for the course."
"You should probably have Uncle Santos do that, shouldn't you?" Shannon asked.
"Probably, but he's tied up with his young friend right now, besides I want to tear another strip of that insurance company over the way we've been treated. They seem to be cutting corners everywhere and I won't stand for that, so I'd be quite willing to take them to court over the whole mess."
Just then my phone rang and I rolled my eyes, and asked "Now what?" but I picked it up and snapped, "Hello, Dave here."
"Hello Dave, it's Santos. I'm heading back to Bayview, because my little buddy didn't make it. That means there's not much more I can do here, but I was wondering, did Noreen get a ride back to town?"
"Yeah, she took Arlene's car so she could get to work on time," I explained. "Now on another front, the cops are done with investigating that break-in at our house, so they're going to turn it back over to the restoration crew. Only I want that bunch of slovenly shirkers that are doing the cleanup and restoration out of there. They're doing a rotten, slipshod job and I simply won't accept that sort of work on our house."
"Oh, what's wrong with their workmanship?"
"Well to start with, they haven't washed down the residue of smoke on the walls or woodwork before they started to paint them, and the aromatics from the fire are still there. That means not only will we be stuck with the smell of smoke in the near future, but the paint won't bond properly. On top of that, they're trying to do repairs and paint things at the same time, so they're getting dust imbeded in the fresh paint. As well, they're trying to slap a quick coat of latex paint over alkyd and enamel paints, so inside of six months or a year, all the paint will begin to peal off. The whole setup is just one screw up after another and I simply won't accept crap of that sort."
"Hmm, how would you like me to handle that, because I can hear that you've reached the limit of your patience? Besides, I'm in the mood to chew on someone's ass this morning and it sounds to me like that insurance company needs a good swift kick in a place that will hurt. Since I'm not in the office though, do you have their number at hand?"
"Yeah, I've got that on my laptop, and I was just about to look it up when you phoned. I was going to call them and threaten another lawsuit."
"It's probably better if I do that. You see I'm thinking that if they'd try to do that sort of crap with you, there are probably many others in the province that are just as dissatisfied with their restorations. So I was going to hint that they might just be looking at a class action suit that could cost the company millions of dollars. That would likely catch their attention."
"Yeah, that might well be a more powerful argument than mine," I snorted as I flipped open my laptop. "The number of their office is 250-555-2121 and the extension for the local manager is number 07. That's the guy I talked to when I called to complain about what their agent was doing."
"Okay, I'll get back to you, but I'm going to suggest that you and I meet him at your house, so he can see exactly what you're talking about. So how soon can you be in the city?"
"Probably not until this afternoon, but tomorrow might be better."
"Okay, I'll work with that and I'll call you back with a definite time, if I can arrange one."
"All right, talk to you then."
"Yep, I'll get on it and I'll catch ya later," then he was gone.
I'd just set my phone down when Arlene asked "Now that you're off the phone, do you want some breakfast?"
"Yeah, I guess I should eat something, but I was wondering about the cat though. Do you still think we need to take her to the vet?"
"Actually she looks fine this morning, so I think she was in labour when you found her, and take it from me, that can be extremely painful. Instead of putting her through more trauma right now, let's wait a day or two to see how things go," she said with a smile. "I want to call Uncle Charlie about her anyway, so we'll see what he says."
"Okay, I'll let you make that decision. Now, since Jaro wants to deal with the insurance company, I was thinking that I should call Dick and let him know that you and Shannon are willing to help out with that Chinese herbalist."
"Why not let him wait until you've had your breakfast? I've already got your eggs cooking and if you call him now they'll either be overcooked, or else they'll sit and get cold, because he's liable to keep you on the phone too long."
"Okay, I'll be a good," I grinned and sat at the table, then winked at Cindy and Shannon who were already eating their breakfast.
"That's a good boy, Daddy," Shannon grinned. "Now I've got a question, how come kittens are born with their eyes closed?"
"Well, that's because of the way they develop. You see the gestation period is much shorter for cats than for many other animals, so the kitten's eyes aren't fully developed when they are born. A human baby takes about nine months to develop in the womb, so a baby is relatively cognisant when first born, but even then it takes some time for a newborn to be able to see well. Meanwhile a kitten is born in only couple of months, so their senses aren't as well developed as those of a human baby. It all has to do with the development of various senses and abilities, because some of those take much longer to develop than others. As an example of that, a horse has a gestation period of a full year, but a colt can see, hear, stand and even walk within moments of its birth.
"Now part of that development has to do with the diet of the various animals I've mentioned. A cat is a meat-eating predator, so they have to develop quickly in order to allow the mother cat to continue hunting for food as long as possible. Meanwhile a horse is a vegetarian, whose only real defence is it's ability to flee from predators, so a colt is able to run away from an attack very soon after being born."
"Well, what about humans then?" Cindy frowned.
"Humans are omnivores, who can eat either vegetables or meats, and because we have a much larger brain than that of the animals, we can defend ourselves from predators. Because of that our females can be protected and our progeny can develop longer while remaining in the safety of their mother's wombs. That allows an infant's brain to develop more than that of most animals. Then as well as that a human baby can develop more strength and ability for years after birth, because it's still being protected by its parents."
"You sure know a lot of stuff about a lot of things," Cindy said quite quietly.
"That's what education is for and it's why you and Shannon are in school," I winked at her.
"Nicely put, Professor. Now have some brain food," Arlene winked as she set a plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of me.
"Thanks," I winked back. "Now, since you're a cop, maybe you can explain just why Dick wants us to make that buy from that Chinese herbalist?"
"Well, he would need to establish 'probable cause' to get a search warrant and even though Shannon could be considered a credible witness, she's a minor," Arlene said as she scooped up another plate of bacon and eggs, then seated herself at the other end of the table. "Then too, he needs to establish a 'chain of evidence' to have any hopes of conviction, so any purchase would probably need to be made using marked bills. Besides that he would be wise to have more than one witness to the transaction, which is where I would come in. After all, an off duty cop would be regarded as a credible witness to any events he or she happened to see taking place."
"What about me, Mom?" Cindy asked.
"I think this is one case where it might be better for you to stay clear," Arlene frowned. "Actually I'd say the same thing for Shannon, except for the fact that she provides a means of introduction to the shop keeper, so she pretty well has to be there."
"Yeah, and it should be either around noon, or after school hours too," Shannon added. "Those are the only times that I've been there with Mom."
"Ah, but that would be Claire's schedule, not mine," I winked at her. "It would just be a minor detail that the herbalist would probably ignore, but you might want to mention it to Dick, if you feel it's important."
I had polished off my breakfast quickly, and that was probably a good thing, because just as I swallowed the last bit of toast and had a final sip of coffee, my cellphone rang again.
"Hello. Dave here,"
"Hi Dave, it's Santos. Can you be in town and at your house just after noon? Dick Fairchild is going to meet us at the house, so will both the local manager of the insurance company and the contractor who is in charge of the restoration. I have a little surprise for them though, since I took the time to talk to Michelle about what was being done to the house and she virtually demanded to be there as well. If the workmanship is as bad as you say it is, she's likely to explode and I may need you to be there in order to prevent murder and mayhem."
"Oh my, that will be interesting! Okay. I'll be there with bells on. I doubt if she'll get physical, but she's going to rip both the contractor and the insurance agent a new bunghole, or at least give them a helluva tongue lashing," I had to laugh. "I don't think I want Arlene and the girls along though, because her language may well become a little bit coarse."
"May become a little bit coarse? You're kidding me right? You should have heard what she said on the phone when I passed on what you'd told me. I think my phone was singed," he was as close to giggling as I'd ever heard him. "I have some other things that need to be done as well though, so I'll meet you there around noon."
Then before I could say anything else, he had hung up on me
"Well, that was short and sweet," Arlene frowned slightly. "Who was it and who were you talking about?"
"Oh, that was Jaro and he was talking about Michelle, well her, the insurance guy, the contractor of the job at our house and Dick Fairchild. They're all meeting me at the house around noon."
Just then the damn phone rang again, so I had to answer that.
"Hello, Dave here."
"Hi Dave, its Dick. Did Jarosynski get hold of you yet?"
"Un huh, why?"
"Well, that thing at your house won't be much more than an hour will it, because if we can be done before two, we'd like you to make that buy from the Chinese drug dealer today."
"Oh, I doubt if it'll take anywhere near that long."
"Good, because I've managed to set up that drug bust with both the Victoria and Esquimalt Police departments. We'll provide you with a bundle of marked cash and we'll have you carry a wire, but we'll have a couple of plainclothes officers standing by within a few yards, just in case there's any problem."
"So are you worried about problems?"
"No, the guy wouldn't want to call attention to himself, but he might give you the bums rush, we don't know. If he does that, he may get a little riled, so they'll be nearby if you do need any help, after all we're sending you in there unarmed."
"That's good. I wouldn't be involved in this otherwise."
"Oh, okay, I'll talk to you after we've been to your house, okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"We'll see you in a while then."
"Yep, I'll be there," I managed to say, just before he hung up, so I shut off the phone and tossed it onto the couch.
"And who was that?" Arlene asked.
"Dick," I snorted.
"Okay, what's up?"
"He wants to go from the meeting at our house directly to Vic West to do that buy at the herbalist's place."
"So Cindy will be along?"
"Not as far as I know, but I think he's going to be hanging back, so maybe Cindy would like to babysit him for us and keep him out of trouble?" I grinned and winked at Arlene, but with my head turned so Cindy couldn't see the wink.
"Yeah, I'll bet she could keep him out of our hair," Arlene winked back. "What do you think Cindy? You'd still be close by and you'd be doing us a favour. Of course you'd probably be surrounded by cops, and he'd be trying to talk you into sitting in a patrol car to stay out of the way, but I'm sure you could stick to him like glue, couldn't you?"
"Well, it's not as good as coming along, but it's better than being stuck at Granny's or something like that. Besides, I could pretend that you were really tough about me being obedient and hang onto him like a leech. That might be sorta fun, if I played it right."
"That's the idea, but don't interfere if anything important happens, okay?" Arlene looked at her quite sternly. "I wouldn't want Dick to be able to complain too loudly and I certainly don't want you to get into any trouble."
"Oh, Mom, you take all the fun out of it," Cindy tried to look like she was pouting, but then broke into a giggle.
"Whelp!" Arlene snapped, then wrapped Cindy in a hug.
"All of which reminds me, Miss Muffet, your job will be to introduce me to the old guy, then if possible I'll try to make the buy, okay?" I looked right at Shannon. "But if trouble does start, I want you to hit the door and run to safety. Arlene and I can take care of ourselves."
"Yeah, I guess I wouldn't be much good in a fight, would I? That's one time when it'd be better if I went for help, so I will, even if I don't like the idea of running away."
"Honey, if your dad gets into a physical scuffle, I'll be right behind you," Arlene snorted. "I'm not a retired football player and I'd just get in his way, so if you so have to run you'd better make it darn fast, because I'll be right on your heels."
"Won't you be carrying a service pistol?" Cindy asked.
"Nope, not on a covert operation like this. None of us will be armed, but I'll bet there will be armed backup only a few steps away."
"There will be, according to Dick," I nodded. "By the way, Shannon, do you know how much money it cost Claire and was she only buying those two kinds of tea or did she buy anything else?"
"Oh, mostly it was just the tea and that wasn't much, only forty or fifty bucks, but sometimes she bought pills too and those were a lot more money, at least three or four hundred dollars."
"Ouch, I'd better let Dick know about that."
"Let me call him on my phone," Arlene snapped. "You need to go get cleaned up and shaved. If you brought a sports coat with you, that's what you should wear, because you'll need to look relatively well off."
"My sports coats and suits still reek of smoke and need to go to the cleaners, but I can still dress relatively well. I'll wear one of my good shirts and a decent pair of jeans, then I'll look like a college prof. Only I'm not going to wear decent clothes when we're looking at the house, because I'll just come out smelling of smoke," I frowned, then rubbed my chin. "You're right though, I do need to shave and a hot shower would be nice too."
"Well, thankfully the girls showered before waking us, but don't use all the hot water, I still need to clean up and get ready."
"Yes dear!" I stuck out my tongue and then had to duck, because she threw a dishcloth at me.
So while I showered and shaved, Arlene called Dick to explain about the money. Then she made up a few sandwiches to take along with us, because we probably wouldn't have time to eat lunch otherwise.
Although I thought we had left in lots of time, we still had to rush to get to the house in Bayview by noon, but the only person who had beaten us there was Dick Fairchild. Unfortunately Dick got a call while we were waiting and handed Arlene the key to the house, then he took off. Arlene wouldn't say anything about where he was going either, other than that it was police business. Meanwhile Shannon had taken Cindy to meet one of the neighbours, but they told me where they were going and promised not to be gone long.
I was starting to get impatient when Jaro came driving up, followed my Michelle in her pickup truck from work. Then a moment later a big, black Cadillac appeared, but I could barely see the driver's head since he was so short that he was peering through the steering wheel. The clown who got out of that car was wearing a suit that probably cost a bundle, because it would have had to be specially made to fit someone his size. Not only that, but he did his best to swagger as he walked toward us. His problem was while his face looked about thirty, his body could have belonged to a kid. In other words he was skinny as a stick and well under five feet tall, so the effect of his attempt to swagger looked totally ridiculous. I glanced over at Jaro just as he rolled his eyes and I could hear Michelle try to mask a snort, but then none of us cared much for pretentious assholes, and this guy looked like he took first place in that category. In fact I suspect that he might have been a perfect example of 'TMS' - tiny man syndrome.
As the guy came up to me, he held out his hand. Only in order the shake my hand, yet still manage to look me in the eye, he had to crane his head back until it must have hurt his neck.
"Beaufort Melons, Manager of the Bayview Branch of Atlas General Insurance," the mini toff sqeaked through his nose.
"David Gamble, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Victoria," I said just as snottily as I gripped his hand tightly, but carefully, so I didn't break his delicate bones. "On my right side is Santos Jarosynski, Queen's Council, who is acting as my lawyer. Standing beside him is my sister, Michelle Gamble, Head of Operations and Principal Shareholder of Dun-Rite Construction. On my left is Arlene Banks, Special Duties Officer with the Bayview Police Department. Now, where is your contractor?"
"Oh, unfortunately he is a very busy man and couldn't make it on such short notice. . ." he started to say.
"Wait a moment, you assured me that he'd be here," Jaro snapped, interupting the little twit.
"Well, Mr. Bekins has more inportant things to do than to listen to persnickety details which amount to insignificant irregularities and . . ."
"Are you telling me that you actually hired Slimy Sam Bekins to work on my brother's house?" Michelle interrupted him with a bellow. "Didn't you have the sense to check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints before you grabbed the cheapest crook you could find to do the restoration work? Especially restoration work being done on a house that is listed in the Historical Homes Registry of BC. Where is your brain, Lemons, up your ass?"
"I don't have to take that sort of language from some fly by night contractor, I'll have your contractors license revoked for speaking to me in that manner," Melons threatened. "And for your information, my name is Melons."
"You must be a musk melon then because what you've done here sure stinks to high heaven," Michelle snapped back. "Actually you're an insult to all fruits, because even a musk melon would have known better than to hire a piece of shit like Bekins."
"Are you insulting me by calling me a fruit, you gigantic bitch? I'm going to sue you for every dollar you have."
"Oh, put a sock in it, you dithering fool. You're the person who is about to be sued. Besides that, since you're the person who hired the security agent who has admitted to instigating the break-in on this property, the police would probably like to speak to you as well. Isn't that right, Detective Banks?" Michelle said as she winked at Arlene.
"Absolutely, unfortunately I seem to have left my handcuffs in the patrol car and I'm not sure when my partner will return. So, what can we use to secure the suspect until . . ."
The suggestion that he might be arrested seemed to terrify the little twerp, who turned and scurried toward his car as fast as he could manage to move his short legs. Then although the situation was going to leave me with a helluva mess on my hands, I found myself laughing at the little twerp as he waddled off. His attempt to dash away looked so ridiculous that I wasn't surprised when the others joined me, only our laughter didn't last very long.
Melons might have had a big car, but he certainly didn't know how to drive it very well. In an attempt to speed away, he had to swing around the circle at the end of our cul-de-sac and in front of my house, but he was having trouble and lost control. The car bounced over the curb, across part of Mrs. McKenzie's lawn, then ricocheted off her Oldsmobile before crossing another section of lawn and finally hitting the other curb with a grinding shriek. Once he was back on the pavement, he must have floored the accelerator, because there was a screech of burning rubber and the car went into a fishtail. He didn't let up on the gas even though he didn't have the car under control, so the car slalomed from side to side for at least a hundred yards. Unfortunately he clipped two of the cars that were parked on the edge of the road while he wove back and forth across the street, still fighting to steer that huge ego-mobile. Then just when he seemed to have the car under control again, he came to the T-corner at the end of the block, but he didn't make the turn. In fact he didn't even slow down. Instead he seemed to accelerate as he raced across the street and down the Davis's driveway, then plowed into the camper trailer parked there, driving that back into their carport. The solid back wall of the carport finally put an end to his brief attempt at emulating a demo derby though, because the engine of the car died. We were still staring down the street in disbelief, then we saw him crawl out the window of the car, and race off as if he was being chased by demons.
Arlene already had her phone out and I think she called Dick. Meanwhile Jaro was on the phone almost as quickly, but he seemed to be calling the insurance agency. Neither Michelle nor I were waiting around though, we were sprinting down the street to see if anyone had been hurt, but Michelle paused at Mrs McKenzie's home to make sure she was all right. I glanced at the other damaged cars as I passed them, but since they'd only suffered minor damage, I didn't even slow down until I got to the Davis house. I was met at the front door by Mrs. Davis and she looked somewhat rattled.
"What happened?" she demanded. "Was it a bomb or something? The whole house shook and it was really loud."
"No, an idiot in a car took off from the top of the street, raced down the hill, then through the intersection and up your driveway, so he smashed right into your trailer. Was anyone in it?"
"No, we were just cleaning up the trailer to sell it, but where did it go? It was right there in the driveway just now. I was cleaning the counters and the cupboards, then I just came inside to have lunch."
"You're very lucky that you got hungry then. The little trailer and the car that hit it are both crammed into your carport, which doesn't look all that solid any more, so I wouldn't even go in there if I were you."
"Oh my goodness, do you think our house insurance will cover all that?"
"Well, I think you should call them, but I imagine the guy's car insurance should cover the repairs. After all, I saw it happen and although I was all the way up the hill, so I can be a witness if you need one. The driver of the car was definitely at fault. I never saw any brakelights, so he never even slowed down when he came to the T in the road."
"Excuse me, sir," a kid who'd come running over from next door interrupted. "Mrs. Davis, I was standing in front of our house and I saw what happened too. The guy wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Instead he was trying to reach out the window and adjust his mirror when he came to the cross street. He wasn't looking ahead at all, and I don't think he hit the brakes until he was plowing into your trailer. Then after the accident, he wriggled out through the window of the car and ran right past our house, so he must be in trouble of some sort."
"There, you go, Mabel, a second witness and a much better one, who was a lot closer," I nodded to Mabel Davis, finally recalling her first name. "Now I'm going to head back up the hill and check out all the other accidents that guy had as he roared down the hill."
"Thanks for checking on me, Dave. I imagine we'll be talking to you later," Mabel Davis smiled, then she turned to the kid.
I started to cross the street, heading back up the hill. Off in the distance I heard sirens, so I was walking well over to one side of the road and I hadn't gone far when Dick Fairchild pulled around the corner and stopped beside me.
"Want a ride, stranger?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure," I nodded, getting into the plain clothes cop car. "You missed all the excitement."
"Arlene called, so I heard something about that. What the hell happened anyway?"
"Beaufort Melons happened, but I have to start by saying that he lied to Jaro in the first place, claiming that both he and the guy doing the restoration work would be here to meet us. Only when he did show up, the contractor wasn't with him. That's when we found out that he'd hired Sam Bekins, who probably has more than a hundred complaints of incomplete or botched jobs registered with the Better Business Bureau. Melons didn't seem to like hearing that we knew all about Bekins and basically he acted like an ass, so my sister Michelle called him on it. They got to arguing and throwing around threats of lawsuits, then Michelle somehow suggested that Arlene should arrest the little fruitcake for being involved in the break-in, which is when he jumped into his car and tried to race off.
"The only thing is, he can't drive worth a damn, so all the way from the top of the hill to the house right across from the T corner back there, he played bumper cars and sideswiped three or four of them. He even smashed his car into a travel trailer that was parked in the driveway of the Davis house at the bottom end of the street and drove it right into the carport on the side of the house. Then since his car was wrecked, Melons ran off on foot."
"So he evaded arrest, hit several cars and a travel trailer, then left the scene of the accident?"
"Yep. I'd say that was a pretty good description of what happened," I snorted.
"So you say he used the name Melons, but can you describe the man?"
"Well, I don't know if he was just short and rather thin, but other than his face, he looked and acted like a fourteen-year-old kid. He just didn't ring true as the manager of a big company office, but I can't say why I feel that way."
"Hmm, come to think of it, his actions do sound rahter strange, especially for a businessman. Oh damn, you talking about a kid just reminded me of something else. You and I, along with Arlene and Shannon, have another appointment in about forty-five minutes, and it's halfway across town."
"Oh crap, in the heat of the moment, I'd completely forgotten about having to deal with that Chinese herbalist."
"Oh, it gets worse than that, you do realize that once I put in a call to the station for several additional officers at this location, the news boys will be showing up here don't you?"
"Oh, crap! How about I take off with Arlene and the girls, then meet you somewhere close to where we're headed in Vic West and you can take our statements there. Once we've taken off, you can call in more troops and turn this job over to them. I'm sure Jaro and Michelle will be willing to stick around and talk to anyone you want, because that little twit had both of them Pee'd off. I'll bet they'd like to see him caught and charged with dangerous driving, leaving the scene of an accident and anything else you can think of."
"Well, it's not by the book, but that idea does kill two birds with one stone," Dick chuckled. "Let's talk to everyone and see if it'll fly."