Short Fuse
© 1992/2016 by K Pelle
Chapter 26
When Dick and I reached the top of the hill we found that everyone was annoyed and everyone wanted to talk at once. It took a few minutes, but Dick and I soon got to hear the truth of the situation from Jaro, Arlene and Michelle, who had all been on the phone almost constantly since I had left them.
Jaro told us that the kid's name really was Simpson, and his first name Sandford. It turned out that the real Beaufort Mellens was recovering from a minor heart attack and his last name was spelled M-E-L-L-E-N-S. So the punk we had met was actually his eighteen year old stepson. It seems the kid had been intercepting the manager's phone calls made to his home and was trying to run a scam on both me and the insurance company. Just how that would work was something I didn't understand, but I didn't really care all that much, since it actually involved the insurance company, their manager and the kid, not me.
What I was interested in knowing was if my house was actually going to be decently restored and how long it was going to take. Michelle and Jaro both assured me that it would be taken care of and that it would be done inside of two weeks. Michelle even offered to put one of her crews on the job if necessary, but Jaro felt that because she was my sister, the insurance company might kick up a fuss and that could delay the repairs to the house. Then Jaro assured me that the insurance company would be paying the full cost of the repairs, but that they'd also be paying a penalty for the aggravation the kid had caused and a second penalty for the damage Bekins crew had done.
Of course by that time Dick was looking at his watch and frowning, and I saw that Arlene and the girls were already in the car, so I just held up my hands toward Michele and Jaro to get them to stop talking.
"Look, Dick, Arlene and I have somewhere to go and something to do, but we can't be late, so we have to leave now. Dick is going to call in some more cops to handle mess and you two can explain to them what happened, okay?" Since both of them nodded, I carried on talking. "Jaro, as far as the house is concerned, all I want you to do is to straighten out this mess with the insurance company and get someone decent on the job, but make sure Bekins is not involved. Oh yeah, please find out what Bekins and his bunch did with all of our belongings when they took them out of the house and arrange to have them cleaned and deodorized, then moved to a secure storage facility. Michelle, it's up to Jaro and the insurance company who does the work on the house. All I care about is that it gets restored to as good condition as it was in before the fire. As it is, I'm leaving it with you two for now, because we have to go. I'll talk to both of you later this afternoon or else tonight."
Then I scooted to my car and we took off. We were only about three blocks away from the house when we met the first cop car and about four blocks away when we met the first TV van.
"Boy, you timed that close, Dad," Shannon giggled from the back seat.
"He cheated, he'd made arrangements with Dick as they drove up the hill. Didn't you hear Dick tell me that?" Arlene asked.
"No, I didn't. I guess I was listening to Uncle Santos, Aunty Mike and Dad too closely."
"I still don't know exactly what happened, because we were inside when we heard all the ruckus on the street. So by the time we got out to the street, Dave was running down the hill, Michelle was over at the old lady's house and both Jaro and you were talking on the phone. Then there were people coming out of the houses all over the place and all of them were asking what all the noise was about." Cindy sounded disgusted. "We missed all the excitement, except for the one guy and the woman who were screaming about their cars being damaged."
"It was just a crooked kid who couldn't drive very well and he was trying to get away, and he did, at least for now, I guess. The police know who he is and where he lives though, so I'll bet they catch him quite quickly," Arlene answered, but was shaking her head. "In a way I suppose Michelle and I scared him into running, but that's because he was trying to cheat Dave and the insurance company over the restoration of the house."
"Well, I still don't understand, if it was about fixing the house, why was Aunty Mike talking about fruit when she was talking to Detective Fairchild then. I know she mentioned lemons and muskmelons?" Shannon actually sounded puzzled.
"The kid's name was Mellens, and Michelle was being a smart aleck" I snorted. "You know her, she loves to rile people and this time her comments went far enough that the kid actually thought she was going to have Arlene arrest him, so he tried to get away in a hurry. Only I don't think he knew how to drive or else there was something wrong with the car, because he sure had a lot of trouble keeping it on the road."
"I think I know why he was having trouble, because I think the car might have had hand controls like Santos' van has. If the guy wasn't used to driving the car with those kind of controls, I think that could be a problem for anyone. I know it had a handicapped sticker on the windshield and the guy was sitting real low, because we saw that when the car first drove by us as we were walking down the street," Cindy said quietly.
"I really don't know, but your right, that might be one explanation of why he was having trouble controlling the car," I agreed, then I frowned. "Now, does anyone know where we can find the Vic West Community Center, because that's where we're supposed to be meeting Dick and the local police?"
"Well, here he comes now, right behind us, so why don't you pull over and let him pass?" Arlene said, after turning and glancing out the back window.
Dick must have recognised my car as well, because he blipped his siren, so I pulled over and let him pass, then dropped in behind to follow him.
Actually it wasn't long after that when Shannon spoke up again, "There's the place Dad, just on the right at the corner. The herb store is at the back of the building, under the restaurant."
"Doesn't look like a very fancy place to eat, does it?" Arlene commented. "Sort of a hole in the wall joint actually! I imagine they probably make more money from filling takeout orders than they do on regular customers."
"Perhaps, but I don't think they would get all that many takeout customers from the people who live nearby either. It's in a rather out of the way area, so I'm surprised that they can make a living here at all," I frowned slightly. "Other than the little store next door, this is a residential area and not exactly an upscale neighbourhood at that, and there isn't a lot of parking for any customers either."
"Perhaps that's why they have an herbalist in the basement, because that might provide them with some rent and give them some extra income, wouldn't it?" Arlene suggested. "Oops, Dick is turning off and I see there are at least two marked cars and police van in the parking lot already. I think that other car is actually a plain clothes car too."
"Yeah, but Dick wants to talk to us and get our statements about that mess at the house before we go do this other thing."
"Just you, I gave him my statement already, while you were talking to Jaro and Michelle."
"And like I told you, Shannon and I never saw a darn thing. All we could tell him was that we heard a lot of noise," Cindy sounded disgusted.
The next few minutes were pretty straight forward, once more I sat down with Dick and told him what I saw, what I heard and what I did and he made a few notes. Then he took me over to one of groups of cops and introduced me to Lieutenant Fraser of the Victoria Police Department.
After the Lieutenant talked to me for a few minutes to have some idea of where I worked and why I was involved, he handed me a wallet and had me count the bills in it. There were seven $100.00 bills, four $50.00 bills, four $20.00 bills and two $10.00 bills for a total of $1000.00. Then he explained that the bills were all marked and that I'd be responsible for returning either that money or the drugs and other material I was meant to purchase with the cash. He even had me sign a note to that effect.
After that we joined the other five police officers from Victoria and the two from Esquimalt to go over what we planned and hoped was about to happen. The two plain clothes officers left the parking lot first, but it was only a few minutes before we got a radio message that they were in position and could see the door to the herbalist's store. That's when Shannon, Arlene and I got back into my car and drove over to store, then parked on the side street beside it. So as Shannon, Arlene and I approached the door to the herbalists store both of the plainclothes officers were watching us. When I opened the door for Shannon and Arlene, I could hear a small bell jingle and saw a guy who didn't look anything like I expected standing behind the glass fronted counter. Shannon had said Mr Leung was very old, but this guy was quite young and for some reason I thought he looked rather dangerous.
Not only was the shop keeper different than I thought he would, but the place didn't really look or smell anything like I was expecting either. There were a few shelves with various items displayed on the them, mostly in glass jars, but there were far more signs and posters on the walls, even advertisements and most of those were in Chinese. The place did smell rather exotic though, as if someone had been burning incense in the room, sort of a spicy tang, with a touch of tobacco smoke mixed into the odour. The only decorations in the place that I could recognise was a small Buddha sitting on the counter and a large dragon painted on one wall.
"Hello," Shannon said, her face showing a slight frown. "I'm surprised to see someone else here, I was expecting to see Mr Leung sitting on his stool behind the counter."
"I his son, Sam. Lee Hong Leung not heah no moah. He die Fliday night, maybe Satuday mownin' sometime. I find him heah, in chaiuh, think he asreep, so go to shake, but he dead, even coahd an stiff. Doctah say him oud man an he hauht give up. You know Leung fwom come heah befowah?"
"Yep, many times, but I usually come with my mom. She couldn't make it today though, so my Dad and one of our friends came with me. Mom usually buys a package of "Sunshine Wake Up" tea and another package called "Good Dreams" tea, along with some pills, but I don't know the names of the pills."
"I see if on customah rist, maybe it say what you mom buy, What name pwease?"
"Claire Gamble, but she might have used the name Claire Leech," I told him.
"Ahha, C. Gambah, yes. I see name heah on rist, she auways get two kinds medsin an two kinds tea, you got money?"
"Yeah, I have some money, how much?" I asked.
"Cost go up, so moah money now. One hundud dollah now foah two kinds tea and six hundud dollah foah two bottah medsin, okay?"
"Well, it's more than I expected, but I'll be in trouble if she runs out, so I guess I can pay that much. She sure isn't gonna be happy about it though."
"I know, evahbody compwain, but I no can do nuthin bout cost. You wait heah, I go get."
With that he went to a plain door in the back of the room and closed it behind him. I even heard a lock click, but it wasn't long before I heard a rattle and he came back with two gaudy packets that I recognised and two vials of pills that I couldn't recall having seen before.
"Heah is oahdinahy oahdah foah C. Gambah, okay? That be seven hundud dollah, pwease." he said as he dropped everything into a paper bag and held it in his hand.
So I dug out the wallet I'd been given and pulled out six $100s, one $50, two $20s and a $10, then as I handed him the cash, he handed me the bag. As soon as I had that bag in my possession I said thanks, lifted a hand to wave goodbye and followed Arlene and Shannon out the door. I gave a quick wave of my hand and an okay sign to the two plainclothes cops as we climbed into the car, then drove away.
"Did anybody else find that guy to be creepy?" Shannon asked. "I don't understand how a guy could be so calm and so . . . I don't know, so interested in making money so soon after his dad died."
"Well, he might have family and friends that support him the same way you do? After all, your mom died just as recently," Arlene suggested, then suddenly looked at me. "Wait a minute, do you think the deaths might be related?"
"I don't know, but we can pass it on to Dick and the others when we give them back that bag full of crap and the rest of the marked money," I shrugged. "It's not that I don't care, but instead it's a matter of not having the background information to even make a guess. Anyway, here we are and I think other than reporting what we saw and heard, our part in this business is done for now."
"You're right, because if they do decided to raid that place they won't want us underfoot, so I'll bet there's a portable drug testing kit in that police van. We'll soon find out though." Arlene said as she waved a thumbs up to Dick and Lieutenant Fraser while I was parking.
As a result both Dick and Lieutenant Fraser were approaching me when I got out of the car. So I held the bag of goodies and the wallet Fraser had given me in one hand, with the sheet he'd given me in the other.
"Here you go, Lieutenant Fraser, if you sign the paper to say I've returned the rest of the money and the purchase to you, I'll give you the bag of drugs and the wallet," I grinned.
"Smart ass," Dick muttered, but winked.
"No problems then?" Lieutenant Fraser asked as he quickly signed the paper and took charge of the other items.
"No, everything went smoothly, but there may be a complication. The old man that Shannon said Claire dealt with is no longer running the place, instead we made a purchase from his son. It seems the old man died on either Friday night or early Saturday morning, so we were wondering if that might be related to Claire and her mother's deaths in some way," I shrugged.
"Oh shit, don't tell me there might be even more complications to this case," Dick shook his head. "This is just simply nuts!"
"Well, Dick, all we can do is follow the trail of evidence, so let's get this rubbish tested and find out if we need to call in more troops in order to make a bust," Fraser headed for the van, so Dick and I followed. "By the way, Dave, thanks for what you did and unless you want to stick around to see what results we get on a field test, you're clear to leave at any time."
"Actually if you don't mind, I'd like to hear just what the hell my wife was taking and what she was involved with, so I'd like to find out the results of your tests, if that's okay?"
"Well, I don't know about what drugs might be in the teas and a field test on those might not tell us much, but the pills are easily recognisable. I'd be willing to wager that the pure white ones are amphetamines and the greenish white ones are phenobarbital. We've run into a few gangs that flog them, but Saanich and Oak Bay get more of those up near the university and the college, which is usually where drugs show up first."
"I'm aware of that, since I work at U-Vic and I coach both football and rugby, so I know a bit about the misuse of amphetamines and other crap of that sort," I sighed heavily. "Now, since I'm learning that my former wife was involved in the same damn drug crap, I'm starting to realise just how badly dysfunctional our relationship really was. I'll be honest, it makes me feel a little better knowing that I might be helping you guys to slap some of the drug dealers upside the head."
"Well, unfortunately as soon as we know for sure and call for more support, the news crews will be underfoot again and we all know how you feel about the paparazzi," Dick chuckled.
"Yeah, the minute you reach for the radio to call in reinforcements, I'm out of here," I nodded. "By the way, I owe you all a thanks for the support in the last while."
"Hey man, you got handed the shitty end of the stick and you've been helping us a helluva lot, so I'd say we are pretty damn near even all around. I fact I think we're going to come out ahead of the game, so in my books, we still owe you," another cop piped up as he took the bag from Fraser and glanced inside. "Huh, hardly worth testing these. I'd say we just found one of the suppliers that we've been looking for, which adds another favour or two to what we owe you, Mr. Gamble."
He took a pill out of one phial and crushed it, then added a clear liquid. The whole mixture turned bright purple. "Yep, amphetamines."
"Okay, I'm out of here!" I snorted, then headed back toward the car where Arlene and both girls were waiting.
"Well, was it drugs?" Arlene asked.
"Yeah, let's get out of here," I slipped into the driver's seat and started the car as the others climbed in.
"Well, just so you know, the police in Bayview caught that idiot that rampaged down your road earlier and Jaro wants you to call him. The insurance company wants to settle with you and he said he's going to try to get them to settle for a settlement of a hundred thousand dollars in cash, then you can hire whoever you want to fix your house," Arlene was grinning. "I think he said they'd be paying for the wrecked cars and the damage to your neighbour's house too."
"Should we tell him about Granny Gamble," Shannon giggled.
"Huh, what did Mum do?" I asked as I drove toward downtown Victoria.
"Well you know how she likes to go to auctions, so this morning she was down at the place that holds auctions every Thursday and she saw some of our furniture was going on sale tonight, so she called the cops. For some reason she had a photo album with her that has pictures of all the furniture, taken when it was still in our house, so she made a complaint against the auction company and all the men on Bekins crew. Sam Bekins was caught at the ferry terminal with a load of furniture in a van too, so he was arrested. Aunty Mike is almost giddy, she's happy that he got caught at something that might put him in jail."
"So the dirty, rotten bugger was actually selling our furniture?"
"Well, I guess some of that old stuff is worth a bunch of money," Shannon giggled. "It's funny, because to me it was just old junk furniture, but now Granny is going around all the antique dealers and used furniture stores with a pair of cops and raising the dickens all over town. She's found several pieces in other places too."
"The part I find funny was what happened when a photographer from one of the papers started to take a picture of your mother going into one of the shops in downtown Victoria. One of the cops who was with her walked up to the guy and told him her name, so guy lowered the camera, turned around and left," Arlene chuckled. "It seems the name Gamble is poison to the photographers and other paparazzi in the whole area, not just Bay View."
"Oh, not only that, but when the photographers were checking out the accident on your street they wouldn't take any pictures up at your end of the street. Michelle said they took pictures of the house with the car and camper trailer smashed into the carport at the end of your street, but none of the damaged cars or lawns up near your house." Cindy snickered. "I wonder what they'll do with those pictures if they find that your insurance company was involved in that too?"
"Oh, I imagine they'll try to find a way to get back at me or somebody in my family in some way. So take this as a warning, if they manage to catch one of us doing something stupid, they'll make a big deal out of it," I frowned slightly. "Now are we heading right back up island, or did you three want to do something more while we're in town?"
"Well, Noreen gets off work in a short time, and I'd like to straighten out our cars, but as well as that I think you should go talk to Jaro in person and I think he's in his office right now. What do you think , girls?"
"I'd like to go back to the cabin and see how Mittens and her kittens are doing," Cindy said immediately.
"Just don't handle the kittens too much while they're so young, give them a few days to open their eyes and let them bond with their mother, okay?" I commented. "When I was young, we had some neighbours whose cat had kittens and they fussed with the kittens quite a lot. The mother cat decided it was too much, so one night she moved all the kittens and hid them from everyone. After that no one saw the kittens for weeks and when they did find them, they were quite wild, almost feral. Kittens do need to be around people to some extent to prevent that, but not too much, especially not when they're very young."
"Excuse me, Dave, but what does the word 'feral' mean?"" she asked almost instantly.
"A feral animal is one that is born of tame parents, but grows up to be wild. Actually cats are about the most common animals to go feral in this area. Down in the southern U.S. they have a problem in some areas with feral hogs and out in Alberta there are ranchers who claim they have problems with feral horses. You can have feral dogs or feral goats in other places as well."
"One of these days I'm going to come up with a question that will stump you, or at least make you think for a minute," she teased.
"Oh, that's easy to do," I laughed. "Just ask me a question about something I don't know anything about. For instance, don't ask me anything about computers, because I know very little about electronic gadgets. I regard computers as tools when they are working and instruments of torture when they eat my work and refuse to let me find it again."
"Sometimes Daddy forgets to save before shutting the computer down after he finishes working on something," Shannon giggled. "Then I usually learn a few more words that aren't polite to use in mixed company."
"Thankfully I now use a writing program that has an 'auto-save' function now, so all I usually lose is the last five minutes of my work," I chuckled ruefully, because that was a fault I still had to cure. "The problem is that can be a paragraph or two, since I type about eighty words a minute."
"Yeah and when you hear the computer keys going 'ticka ticka ticka ticka ticka ticka' so fast his fingers almost become a blur, I've learned not to disturb him. That's because he's writing as fast as he thinks of the right words, or else he's suddenly thought of something important and he wants to get it all written down before he forgets part of it," Shannon sighed then. "If Mom was in a pissy mood, she'd wait until he was writing like that, then she'd start to holler at him, and I'm sure it was just to start an argument."
"That's just plain mean," Arlene commented.
"Yep, that's what Mom was like at times though."
"Yes, and I learned to ignore her until I had come to a place where I could pause, then I'd look up and say something like 'Did you bellow?'" I chuckled. "She'd get so mad she'd usually stomp off and leave me alone, sometimes for a whole day or two. So the discord in our house wasn't all one sided, but I'll admit, it was usually Claire who initiated the conflict."
"Oh come on, Dad! How many times did you ever do something just to annoy her? You never did, at least not to my knowledge. You could ask her a civil question, like 'What's for supper?' or 'How was your day?' and she'd blow sky high, then go on a rampage for hours. I put up with it too, so I know exactly what she was like at times, and it was getting worse too."
"Well, let's leave that alone for now, please. I'm wondering just where I'm supposed to be going other than back toward Bayview. In other words, where does Noreen work?"
"Oh, she works at 'Milady Boutique' just two doors down from the corner of Fifth and Elm."
"And which direction from the corner? In other words is the store on Fifth or on Elm? Then which side of the street is it on? What I'd really like to know is the street address, because that gives me all the information at once."
"Oh, it's 504 Elm street."
"Okay, that means since I'm coming from this direction, it will be on the right side of the street and on the far side of the intersection. Isn't that a lot simpler?" I grinned and glanced sideways to look at her and saw her heave a sigh, but at least she wasn't frowning.
"I guess you're right, but I just look for the signs."
"So how big is the sign for a boutique?" I grinned, assuming it was small.
"Oh, it's a big sign, painted right on the front window."
"In other words you can only read it as you drive past, right?"
"I guess so," she laughed. "Quit being so damned logical. Typical man!"
By that point both girls were giggling, so Shannon was out of her slightly grumpy mood.
"Uh, Mom, last time I looked, he is a man, but I definitely wouldn't call him typical, he's more the logical and intellectual sort." Cindy managed to say before breaking into giggles again.
"Okay, we're almost there, so you can all decided who is going where, okay? I'm going to go see Jaro and find out what's going on there, then I'm planning to head back to the cabin," I said quietly. "What do the rest of you want to do?"
"Well, I want my car back, and although I don't need it at the cabin, it does give us some advantages. So girls, you have some choices to make, are you both going with me, or with Dave, or are you splitting up?" Arlene asked.
"Who's liable to be back at the cabin soonest?" Cindy asked.
"Probably me," Arlene said quickly and I nodded, because I expected to be a while talking to Jaro.
"Okay, then I'd like to go with you, Mom," Cindy said firmly.
"Well, if it's okay, I'd like to go with Dad, is that okay? I mean, am I going to be a nuisance for you when you're with Jaro, Dad?" Shannon sounded a bit tentative.
"Nope, it really might be a good idea if you're with me, because we might be discussing things that concern you to some extent. Besides that we haven't had a chance to be alone with each other for a while, and I miss that," I glanced up in the rear view mirror and winked when I saw her smile.
"Well here's the intersection and I can see a parking spot right in front of the boutique, so why don't we all pop in to see Noreen for a minute?" Arlene suggested.
"What do you think, Shannon?" I asked. "I don't mind spending a few minutes, if you want to go in and look around a little."
"Umm, no I don't think I want to do that right now, I sorta want to talk to Dad about something, so I'll pass. Please tell Noreen 'Hi' for me though, okay?"
So I parked for a few minutes while Arlene and Cindy got out of the car and Shannon moved to the front seat, then we drove off. After a few seconds I glanced over at Shannon and saw that she was frowning, so I asked, "What's on your mind, Punkin?"
"Oh, I got to thinking and I'm a bit worried. Do you think Mom was dealing drugs?"
"Oh no, I doubt that. I think she just happened to find her way to an importer and was buying direct. That's the sort of thing she'd do. You know how she scrimped and saved on everything all the time, so I can see her digging around and finding a way to save money on her habits as well."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed heavily. "Everything is just so complicated right now that I'm feeling a bit lost."
"Well, if you want to know the truth, so am I," I chuckled ruefully. "Our whole world has been turned up side down, then shaken and rattled around, so I'm sure glad we have some good friends on our side."
"Yeah, I guess we are lucky that way. I really like Arlene and Cindy."
"Ditto, but Dick has turned out to be a pretty good friend too and besides that we can always depend on Michelle and Jaro to help out."
"Well, don't count out Granny," Shannon added, with a giggle. "She's out there finding all the furniture that the crooked contractor stole from our house."
"Yeah, but I think she's doing that because of the family history of those old pieces of furniture. I don't think they're all that valuable, not historically anyway," I commented as I slowed to turn into the parking lot at Jaro's office. "Wow, Jaro must be busy today, look at all the cars, oh and Michelle's work truck too. I wonder what's going on?"
"Well, Granny's car is here too. That's good, I haven't seen her in a while."
"Well, let's go see what's going on," I heaved another sigh. "I'll bet part of the reason Michelle is here is to see if she can twist someone's arm to let her crew do the work at our house."
"Actually I'd like that idea a lot, because you'd know it was done the way you want it done."
"True, but it might mean I'd have to take time off work at the University, because she'd probably ask me to supervise the crew and taking any more time off might be hard to do."
"By the way, how come you aren't working right now?"
"Because I've taken two weeks bereavement leave. All I had to do was call in and they arranged for someone else to take my classes. Wait a minute, there are only four weeks of classes left this year and the last two weeks are strictly review, so a grad student could head those. I'll have to think about that and talk to my department head, but I might be able to take the rest of the semester off to straighten out my life and my home."
"Well if you want my opinion, you should do that. I know you're trying to be strong and everything, but a lot of things have happened to you that shouldn't have ever happened to anyone, so I'll bet your department head would be sympathetic."
"Well, let's find out if it's necessary first," I said as I opened the door and let her lead the way into Jaro's reception room.
"Well, there you are, Dave! Thank goodness! Why don't you answer that fancy new phone of yours? Dick Fairchild called us to say you'd left that business out in Vic West and Santos or I been trying to reach you every couple minutes since then," Peg Amabo finally paused for breath.
"Dad's phone never rang, not once, Ms. Peg," Shannon jumped in to defend me.
"You do know them things run on batteries don't you, Dave? I'll bet you let the battery run down, 'cause they don't ring if they ain't got no juice. Anyway, get your butt into Santos office. He's had a big wig from the insurance company sitting there for most of an hour waiting on you to come sign off on some deal he managed to swing."
"Okay, Peg," I grinned and winked, when she pointed at the door to Jaro's office. "Are you coming in with me Shannon?"
"Nah, you'll be talking about the house and all the troubles we've been having, so I'll stay here and read a magazine or talk to Ms. Peg."
When I went inside I discovered the Jaro's normally roomy office didn't seem so roomy right then. My mother and sister were sitting on one side of the room, Jaro was behind his desk and a guy dressed in a suit was sitting some distance from Mom and Michelle.
"Well, here's the prodigal son, I hear you've been out catching crooks," Mom got to her feet and held out her arms for a hug.
"Yeah, and I hear you've been doing the same thing, only getting more results in a lot more places," I laughed as I hugged her.
"Well, maybe a little bit, now why don't you sit down and hear the proposal we and this gentleman from your insurance company have come up with."
"Jaro, aren't you the boss in this office anymore?" I winked at him.
"Usually, unless the sherif and her deputy come riding in," he winked back, "but since you're here now, we'd like you to listen to what the group of us have come up with, okay?"
"Okay, fire away."
"Well to start with I should introduce you to our visitor from Vancouver. David Gamble, meet Stuart Wilson, the Manager of BC Operations for the Atlas General Insurance Company of Canada, who just happened to be in Victoria today."
So I and the guy in the fancy suit shook hands, but I was tempted to check to see that I still had all my fingers afterward. Right at the moment I didn't trust anyone who said they were involved with Atlas General Insurance.
"Mr. Wilson has been quite shocked by the facts of your situation and by the way your case has been handled. However he has been very cooperative in assuming responsibility for the situation you have had to face and between the four of us, we have managed to come up with an agreement that we would like you to consider."
"Okay, I'm willing to listen," I said as I pulled up a chair and sat next to Mom, then listened as Jaro consulted a sheet of paper he had on his desk.
"Alright I'll read off what we've come up with for now, and I'll try to keep the legalise to a minimum," Jaro winked at me.
"Firstly, although your deceased wife was assumed to be guilty of the attempted arson which damaged your home, she was neither a co-owner, nor a signatory of your insurance policy, so the Atlas General Insurance Company will accept full responsibility for the cost of repairs and restoration to the home.
"Secondly, since Atlas General Insurance was responsible for security of the home at the time, said company will accept full responsibility for the security lapse that led to the break in and resultant damage to the bedrooms, clothing and other belongings stored in the bedrooms of the home at 454 High View Close. As a result the company will also pay to have those items either repaired or replaced.
"Thirdly, since Sandford Simpson represented himself to you as Beaufort Mellens, who is an Atlas General Insurance employee, and since he used knowledge which should have been confidential between you and Atlas General Insurance, the aforesaid company is effectively guilty by proxy. Therefore the Atlas General Insurance Company will accept responsibility for the actions of Sandford Simpson and his cohorts while in charge of the property and possessions of the Gamble family. That includes the cost of recovery, cleaning, repair and/or replacement of all items that were removed from the Gamble family home.
"Fourthly, the Atlas General Insurance Company will grant Dun-Rite Construction the contract to do the repair and restoration of all damage done to the home of David and Shannon Gamble at 454 High View Close. That restoration will be done to the satisfaction of the Gamble family, with the intent of restoring said home to the condition it was in as illustrated in the photos within the album owned by Mrs. Gladys Gamble of 1621 Valley View Terrace, Duncan, BC.
"And finally we have agreed that David and Shannon Gamble should each receive a one time payment of $20,000.00 for the stress and anguish caused by employees or representatives of the Atlas General Insurance Company. As well as that we feel that there should be a housing and food allowance of $500.00 per week for the two victims of this incident during the time they have been and will be displaced from their residence.
Jaro paused then and looked at me. "Well, what do you think, Dave?"
"Well, it sounds okay to me, but I think it might be a bit tough on Michelle," I turned and looked at her with a slight frown. "I thought you said your crews were too busy to do a job of this sort?"
"Well, I got to thinking about it and while my construction crews are busy, I can always make up a cleanup crew, and my plasterers and painters are always saying that they could handle more work. That means all I need to find are a couple of finish carpenters and a foreman to run the job. Hell, since it's your house, I might even be willing to get my hands dirty," she winked at me - on the side the insurance guy couldn't see. "I even know a guy who actually worked for Dad and who isn't doing all that much right now, but he hasn't worked construction in fifteen years or so. Still, he'd make an excellent foreman on a job like that and I'll bet I could hire him for a week or two without too much problem. I think extra work as a foreman on that job might be right up his alley."
"Well, if you think you can handle the job I'm not going to complain, but I do want to get back to living there as soon as possible, preferably inside of two weeks, three at the most."
"Actually I'd say two weeks would be lots of time," she smiled.
So in the long run Jaro had Peg run off a few copies of the agreement, then Stuart Wilson and I signed the document, with Jaro, Peg, Mom and Michelle as witnesses. Then Wilson left, but before he left, he handed me a cheque for $20,000, then told us he would be back in town in about two or three weeks to make sure everything went well.
After he was gone and while Mom and Michelle were in the reception room, talking to Shannon and Peg, I asked Jaro how he had managed to get so many concessions out of the guy.
"Oh, come on!" he grinned. "You had Atlas General Insurance over a barrel and all it would have taken was a bit of publicity about what had happened to hurt their bottom line quite badly. All it would have taken would have been one call to a newspaper and they would have lost a ton of customers."
"You seem to be forgetting that I'm not exactly happy with those vultures either," I snorted.
"Oh, come on, you've got those guys running as well. Let's face it, you're in the driver's seat right now and you should be back in your house inside of a couple of weeks," then he sighed softly. "Of course we still have to clear up the mess that Claire and her mother left behind."
"Yeah, those damn jewels and all that money," I sighed as well. "Hopefully between the bank and the cops, they can figure out what those two were up to."
"Yeah, we've still got the reading of the wills on Monday and all that involves, but we are making progress and I think the cops are too. Cheer up, Buddy, I think we're on the downhill slope now."
"I guess and I suppose it's time for me to get my family out of your hair so you can have your office back. Oh, and thanks for all you've been doing for us. I know you're going far beyond what you're being paid to do."
"That's what friends are for," he winked. "I'll talk to you later, that is if you charge up your phone and learn to answer the damn thing."
At that point I just rolled my eyes, waved a quick goodbye and headed for the door, but I did feel a lot better about the whole world right then, after all it seemed we were actually making progress.