Janis wasn’t the only one to have a visitor that night. The two-story brick house had cameras hidden everywhere on the property. Getting into the house without setting off any alarms would be a challenge but not impossible. Once inside, The Man crept around. He knew to find the master bedroom on the main floor off from the kitchen.
Three years ago, accommodations were made for Susan Keller after her terminal cancer diagnosis. Moving the master bedroom to the first floor made it easier on everyone including the people from Hospice. There were those who prayed every day for Susan at Holy Mother’s Catholic Church. Three of the parishioners lit a special candle on their pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France in her name. No one will ever know if it was science or all the prayers but whatever it was, Susan Keller miraculously survived her terminal diagnosis. As soon as she was strong enough, she hired a good divorce lawyer. While it cost her quite a bit of money, the freedom from an abusive husband was a small price to pay. She started to believe the rumors about her ex’s first wife. Had it really been a tragic car accident? Before the ink was even dry, Susan packed up her half of the house and moved out of state. Her ex-husband scared her and she was convinced her stepson, Gerry, was not much better.
The Judge stood well over six feet tall and weighed almost three hundred pounds. His face was bloated perpetually like his legs. The gout had been flaring up and his blood pressure was through the roof. He had spent an entire life time in excess. Women, drugs, booze, strip clubs, and the finer things like the biggest house in a premier neighborhood called Breezy Estates. It was a small neighborhood with three loops, Evergreen Lane, Cedar Drive, and Hemlock Trail. Every grande estate snuggled between tall pine trees. On windy days the trees cackled as their smaller branches scraped against each other. Most of the yards were covered in burnt-orange pine needles with contrasting dark brown pinecones. It always smelled like the great outdoors there.
There were those who grumbled about The Judge at every election. The most popular grumbles were about his outside affairs, and how he seemed to live higher than his means. He had a merciless reputation for his treatment towards women, especially the ones who were smart. Brenda Hinz ended up in his court over a custody battle with her soon-to-be ex-husband. She was a family lawyer with her own practice who wouldn’t cater to the Judge. He tried to convince her to, rethink your case, numerous times when she was in his courtroom because he owed someone a favor. She never rethought anything he asked and it drove him red. He took the side of her husband and granted him full custody of their three children plus he ordered her to pay a substantial support payment for the children and her husband. He nearly broke her, and not just financially. A colleague from another practice represented her on an appeal and the arraignment went to a fifty-fifty split and no support for anyone. A different judge presided that hearing.
Those who ran against The Judge had mysterious mishaps during and after the elections. Bob Jenks ran against him back in 2011. That was the same year Bob’s garage caught on fire; the cause was never determined. The Judge’s line of work gave him direct access to those who made a life out of crime. This concerned those who worked closely with him. There were rumors that The Judge was known to hang around some of the same people he sent to jail, yet his people elected him time after time. He took full advantage of his privilege.
His nightly routine had been the same for the last eighteen months since his first heart attack. He made it very clear to his team of doctors he would not be able to lose the weight they had encouraged him to take off. He wasn’t going to eat a special diet full of nuts and berries or veggies soaked in olive oil. Nor had he been interested in some type of workout program at the gym. Instead, he had a strict regimen of pills which he ate faithfully twice a day.
After he brushed his teeth, he opened the medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror. He grabbed two prescription bottles and tapped out one pill from each. He tossed the pills into his mouth and chugged water from a glass on the vanity. When he closed the mirror, he saw The Man staring back at him.
“Jesus fucking Christ. Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?” He spun around. “What the hell are you doing here?”
*****
“Mrs. Keller, may I come in?”
“Yes, of course, Officer, Grant, was it?” Janis motioned him through. “Is there anything wrong?” The Man told her the police would be showing up within the next few days. Even with advanced notice, she wasn’t prepared when they showed up Monday morning.
Janis never liked lying. Her body heated up and her mouth went dry and stiff. Her armpits went damp, and her agitated stomach had made her off balance. Her knees felt like they might buckle. Even though she said nothing her guilt oozed all over her. Janis could feel it’s weight pressed against her back and shoulders.
“We can sit in here.” The Man told Janis to have them sit in the living room when they showed up. “Can I get you anything?”
He also told her, “to be polite, but not overly polite. It will make you look nervous which law enforcement chalks up to being guilty. Do not give out any more information than what is asked. Less is more. You know nothing.” Which was true. Other than her knowledge of Gerry’s death, she knew absolutely nothing. The Man said the less she knew the better.
“The details are my responsibility.” The Man told Janis.
“But I am the one responsible for all of this, not you.”
“We are all responsible for this.”
*****
“Mrs. Keller, when was the last time you saw your husband?”
“The last time I saw my husband?” She worried the tremble in her voice gave her away. She inhaled then exhaled slowly, “I saw him last Wednesday morning. Why officer? Is there a problem?”
The officer pulled out a small notebook.
“He’s up north on a fishing trip.” Janis worried she was saying too much.
“Mrs. Keller, have you spoken to him while he has been fishing?”
“No, there’s no cell service where he is at.” The Man had rehearsed this conversation with her and the accuracy of it made her heart skip. “Is there something wrong with my husband?” The Man told her to make sure to ask about her husband. Guilty people don’t ask questions or seem concerned because they already know the person is dead tossed into some ditch on a forgotten county road.
“Mrs. Keller, we have reason to believe he is missing and may have drowned on the lake he was fishing at.”
Janis slumped in her chair and this was for real, not a fake slump. There it was, the other death of Gerry. She held genuine anguish because The Man had not told her how this would unfold. He wanted her reaction to be as authentic as possible. He told Janis they would be watching her and taking note of her reaction. Anyone can stage a drowning. The office told her there had been a report of a drifting boat with no passengers in the middle of the lake. The DNR went out and found it empty with a life vest floating nearby. A fishing pole and net were also found floating. The boat was registered in Gerry’s name.
“We think he may have fallen overboard while fishing.”
“Oh no,” Janis half whispered, half whimpered. “Gerry doesn’t swim very well.” She actually felt the warm tears start to stream down her cold cheek.
“I’m sorry to have to report this to you, Mrs. Keller.” The officer shifted, “It seems alcohol may have been involved. Was your husband a drinker? There was evidence on the boat.”
“He drank some, but yes, he drank probably a bit more when he fished. That was why I stopped going with him.” That was a lie. The Man told her to say that if asked.
The officer spent another two hours asking her questions. He gave her his card and told her he would be in touch with her by the end of the day with an update or sooner if they should happen to find Gerry. Janis had known they would not find the body because the man had told her that as well.
Janis let out a real good cry as soon as she shut the front door after the officer had left. It wasn’t for Gerry. She cried because she couldn’t believe her world had shifted from fear of an abusive husband to the fear she would not get away with this. She cried because she felt a small bit of hope that she just might get away with it. She cried because it was the first time since Gerry fell to his death that she could legitimately expose her pent-up emotions. The Man may have told her how to handle the investigation into Gerry’s death, but he gave her no advice on handling her emotions.
There was now an official cause of Gerry’s disappearance and only four people knew the truth. The Man needed to clean up few loose ends.
Chris Writes 