Looking For An Honest Man Chapters 9 & 10

THIS BOOK IS FREE TO READ ON THE KINDLE APP
IF YOU HAVE AMAZON PRIME.
Share with your friends.

Chapter 9

“Mother! What are you doing? The dinner is cold, and I find you out here on the balcony staring down at the traffic. Are you okay?”

Olivia thought that Samantha’s voice had a note of concern.

“I lost track of time,” she replied with a weak smile. “I guess I should go back inside and warm dinner.”

She brushed passed Samantha, but before she could enter the apartment, Samantha’s hand held her back.

“Not so fast, Apache. I think you have some explaining to do.”

Olivia gave Samantha a puzzled look.

“Explain what? I have to get dinner on.”

Samantha braced and held her mother at arms length.

“I heard on the radio coming over here that they found Vickie Taylor’s body.”

Olivia blinked and looked over Samantha’s shoulder.

“That’s nice, dear. I’m sure her parents are relieved.”

Olivia attempted to break away from Samantha’s tight hold, but it was useless.

“You had another vision, didn’t you? You were the one that called the hotline, am I right?”

Samantha’s eyes saw the truth.

“Yes, I had another…vision. I’d rather call them dreams. I called the hotline and told them where I thought they would find the body.”

Samantha pulled Olivia gently to a chair and pushed her down.

“I want to know everything,” Samantha said.

Olivia waved an arm toward the patio door.

“The dinner. It needs to be warmed.”

“Wally’s on it. Believe it or not, he’s very handy in the kitchen. Now, forget dinner and tell me what happened.”

Samantha pulled a chair up and positioned herself across from her mother. Cupping her mother’s hands in hers, she motioned for Olivia to tell her.

“After I left you this morning, I came home, and looked up all the news stories on Vickie Taylor. It sounds silly, but I took notes on my iPad. I don’t know what I was going to do with them. I guess it’s kind of a habit.”

“What about seeing where Vickie was buried?” Samantha asked, softly shaking her mother’s hands.

“Oh, I don’t know. I was on the balcony, and I saw this white flash. You know, I’ve talked about seeing a white flash when I do my self-hypnosis.”

“Where you standing up or sitting down,” Samantha asked.

“Oh, I was sitting down.”

“That’s a relief. Were you trying to hypnotize yourself at the time?”

“No, no. It just happened. The next thing I know, Vickie is showing me where someone had hidden her body.”

 “She took you to her grave?”

Olivia’s eyes focused on the patio door.

“No, not a grave. She took me to a place that I knew as a child and pointed down the hill. I saw someone rolling her body through the brush and then covering her body with leaves. I don’t remember walking; I was just there.” Olivia’s hand flew to her mouth. “How horrible for a parent to know something like that happened to your child. The husband must be frantic.”

Samantha pulled her hands away and leaned back in the chair.

“He is the prime suspect,” she said.

“He didn’t do it,” Olivia said.

Samantha chuckled.

“How do you know that, mother? Did you have another vision you didn’t tell me about?”

Olivia frowned and bowed her head.

“I don’t know. I didn’t have a vision. It’s just a feeling.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” Samantha said.

Olivia thought about the dream for a second. What was it that Vickie showed her that made her think it couldn’t be her husband?

“The person in my dream had to roll the body down the hill.”

“What difference does that make?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t know—but it does.”

Samantha stood up and pushed her chair back, making an annoying scraping sound.

“Visions and feelings. I’m not going to question you after what you did today, but I wouldn’t go around bragging about this to anyone.”

Olivia reached out and grabbed Samantha’s arms.

“Please, don’t tell anyone about this. Not even Wally.”

The stress on Olivia’s face surprised Samantha.

“I’ve already told Wally, but he won’t tell anyone. I won’t either.” Samantha pulled her mother to her feet and hugged her. “Let’s go eat. Wally made the salad and one of his homemade salad dressings.”

Walking into the kitchen, they found that Wally had the table set with the chicken breasts on a hot plate. Olivia loved Wally. Standing six feet four and weighing two hundred and eighty pounds, Wally didn’t have a hard time getting a college football scholarship. Will used to joke that when Wally stayed for dinner, it was like feeding two families. Back then, Wally didn’t have a beard and goatee and a baldhead. At thirty-four he was trying to decide whether to shave it or try hair transplants. Once they were seated, Wally's massive frame leaned over the table and delicately tossed the salad.

 “Looks good, Mrs. K,” he said not taking his eyes off of the salad.

“Thank you, Wally. It’s really not that hard to make,” Olivia said, unfolding her napkin and placing it in her lap.

“Sit down, Teddy Bear,” Samantha said, tugging on Wally’s arm.

Olivia arched her eyebrows and turned to Samantha.

“Teddy Bear?”

“Yeah, Wally is nothing but a big old teddy bear. I’ve called him that for years.”

“I’ve never heard you call him that,” Olivia said.

Samantha flashed Wally a smile.

“I guess not.”

 “It sounds so personal. You two aren’t…”

“No, Mother. Wally and I are just the best of friends.”

Wally picked up the Pyrex dish with the chicken breasts and passed it to Olivia.

“Here, you start the process, Mrs. K.”

“Thank you, Wally.”

They ate quietly for a few minutes until Samantha broke the silence.

“You know there is a reward for finding Vickie Taylor.”

“They said something about it when I called the hotline.”

Wally ate quietly and did not join in the conversation.

“You need to check to see whether you get a reward, Mom.”

Olivia wiped her mouth with her napkin before answering.

“I couldn’t do that. I’d feel like…I don’t know what I’d feel like, but it sounds awful.”

Samantha placed both elbows on the table and leaned toward her mother.

“Dad left you with zilch. You have no real skills in the world, and you certainly don’t have the money to keep this place up. You have to be practical.”

Wally stabbed a large piece of chicken with his fork and brought it to his mouth. “She’s got a point, Mrs. K.” The fork disappeared in his mouth and his cheek puffed out as he began to chew.

Olivia’s eyes shifted from Wally to Samantha. She started to say something, but thought better of it and continued to eat her dinner. Samantha concentrated on the meal while Wally seemed to be entertained by something on the balcony. Olivia stopped and picked up her glass of wine. The reward would certainly tide her over while she got on her feet, she thought.

Chapter 10

“What do you think that your mother will do?” Wally asked, navigating around some orange barrels placed on Broadway that narrowed the road to one-lane each way.

Samantha had spent the past ten minutes silently staring out the passenger-side window. She stretched and turned to Wally.

“I really don’t know. All of this is so mind-boggling. First of all, I hope she takes the reward. Secondly, I hope she doesn’t tell anyone else about what has taken place. Mother isn’t ready for notoriety at the moment.”

“Who would she tell?”

“Gretchen. She and Gretchen have been friends forever. And if she thinks the dream makes for good drama she’ll dine out on the tale until the whole city knows it. Mom won’t have a moment’s peace.”

“I thought Gretchen found out about the dream this morning at breakfast,” Wally said.

“She did. I don’t think she really picked up on it. It was just foolish talk to her. Mother needs to keep quiet now so Gretchen will forget about it. Gretchen doesn’t know that mother called the TIPS Hotline.”

Wally stared straight ahead.

“Would that be so bad? Maybe it would help your mom get over the trauma.”

Samantha smirked.

“Why doesn’t she just call CBS news?”

“That bad?” he asked.

“Worse,” Samantha replied.

The Jeep Wrangler wound around Broadway and the downtown skyline came into view. Samantha tensed for a second because in another five minutes they’d be back on Delaware Street in the River Market area and Harold’s Top Hat Club.

“I’m going to get on the freeway,” Wally said.

“No problem.” As the Jeep roared down the ramp and onto the freeway, Samantha asked, “You mind being called Teddy Bear?”

Wally grunted and pulled over into the far left lane.

“You’ve called me a lot worse,” he said. “Although you lied to your mother. You’ve never called me that before.”

“I know. I guess I think of you as a big teddy bear when I get into trouble. Remember that time in high school at the Halloween hayride our junior year? I fought with my mother about wearing a coat and wore a light jean jacket instead. You opened your coat and held me tight. That’s the first time I thought of you as a big teddy bear.”

Wally shook his head.

“You’re a mess, Sam. You’re my best friend and a mess.”

She laughed and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

Wally pulled onto Delaware street and found a place to park about a block away. The restaurants had few customers on a Monday night, but come the weekend, they’d be packed. The flashing neon of a red top hat tilted to one side stood out at the end of the block. As they neared, a guy came outside to smoke a cigarette and the blaring music followed him until the door closed. It was apparent that the Top Hat didn’t have the problems of sparse crowds on Monday nights. Samantha’s watch said it was close to eight-thirty, and it was packed already.

Wally’s hand lightly pressed Samantha’s shoulder.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

“I think so,” she said, taking a deep breath.

Harold’s Top Hat held a completely different atmosphere at night. A sign on the door warned that this was a smoking establishment.  The stench of cigarette smoke hit Samantha the minute she entered. The neon beer signs appeared brighter, the music louder, and the low rumble of people talking reminded Wally of a freight train. He took Samantha’s arm, threaded it through his arm, and pushed toward the bar lined with people of all ages. Wally’s height gave him the advantage of being able to see over everyone’s head. He found the bartender next to the cash register.

“That’s Bill,” he shouted in Samantha’s ear.

“Do you think Johnny is with him?” she asked standing on tiptoe so she could reach his ear.

“Naw. He’s probably on the back deck. There is a small bar out there.”

“I know,” she said.

He tugged on her arm as he pushed his way through the throng of people bouncing up and down to the canned music. It was only eight-thirty, and some of the people were already on their way to getting plastered. A couple of guys winked at Samantha and remembering what happened the last time in Harold’s Top Hat, she clung even tighter to Wally’s arm. Wally made his way toward a hallway with a sign that pointing out the restrooms.

Entering the hallway, the pungent odor of smoke became overwhelming and Samantha thought she would gag. Samantha had risen to a high level of stupidity many times in her life, but smoking was not one of them. A couple of women stood in the narrow hallway outside the restroom with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Samantha pinched her nose as they passed, and the women looked at her as if she were weird. Wally swung open the door that led to the deck to find no relief from the acrid smoke. The deck had a tin roof and windows that swung up and were attached to the rafters. The smoke rose straight up, clinging to the ceiling.

 “God, they need a fan in here!” she exclaimed.

“They have one ceiling fan, but it doesn’t do much good,” Wally said, pointing up at a small aluminum fan with three blades painted white.

“That fan is so small it wouldn’t blow out a match!”

Wally threw an arm around her shoulder and marched her to the bar.

“There’s Johnny,” he said.