Gerry: Seven

My apologies for a few missed weeks posting. This genre of writing is harder than I thought. I feel if I am taking the time to write in this genre I should do a good job. And I am by no means saying I am!! To make all the ends meet can be tricky, but I have enjoyed the writing challenge.

Chuck Woodard had been Sheriff for ten years when his drunk teenaged son ran through a stop sign at sixty-five miles an hour five years ago. It happened on a road over run with corn fields that reached towards the sky and blocked necessary views. A loan intersection on a forgotten, seldom ever used rural road, became the scene of an active investigation after the crash.

The sheriff’s kid virtually walked away from the scene. It did not take long to figure out he was almost twice the legal limit. If someone were to light a match, dragon flames of fire would escape his mouth. The twenty-five-year-old mother of two coming home from her janitorial shift at the local high school didn’t make it. Even with her seatbelt on and airbags deployed it wasn’t enough protection from being t-boned by a two-ton pickup.

He was the school jock looking at a college career in wrestling. His grades were mediocre but his winning smile and grotesque arrogance just oozed future big fish in a small pond. The Kid learned to do things shady by watching his dad. Like his father, he believed in life there were God given opportunities for the right kind of people. The Kid deemed himself the right kind of people. He told the first responder at the crash scene he never saw her because her lights were not turned on. He left out the part that he had turned them off when he went over to check her car.

The young mother was doing everything in her power to make her ends meet and raise her two small children. Both baby daddies were long gone and that was a good thing because they were bad men. She had a scholarship to the local tech school but had to turn it down because she still needed an income to support her family. She couldn’t do both. She could and did provide for her two kids. She was an active member at Saint Thomas Aquinas and her kids were given a scholarship to the parochial school run by the church.

Originally, The Man refused The Sheriff’s request for his services.

“Your son’s behavior killed an innocent mother of two; you need a good lawyer.”

The Man had morals and values, but he knew The Sheriff could be of use and as much as it pained him, he took the case. While he could not bring her back, he would make sure her children were taken care of. This was how The Man dealt with the unfairness in the world, by trying to do right for those who were wronged. The Man had drugs planted in the young mother’s car to make it look like she had been high on drugs. He found “witnesses” who testified they smoked weed with her in the past and they had all gotten high that night right after her shift. He had her body cremated before an autopsy could be performed. Somehow the paperwork got jumbled and the elderly man who died of natural causes received an autopsy. A lawsuit came shortly after, but The Judge said he could handle that.

On top of the usual favor, The Man decided The Sheriff was required to contribute to college funds for the children until they turned twenty-one. The Kid was required to work part time as a janitor at the plastic factory through the next five years using all his earned income to donate to a charitable children’s cause.

“But he leaves for college in six months.” The Sheriff pointed out.

“Well, at least he knows where he’ll be working over his breaks then, won’t he?”

“I’m not working as some fucking clean-up guy at a plastics factory.” The Kid yelled.

The Man had The Kid by his throat in an instant and he pushed him back against his chair. The Kid’s head tipped awkward at a sharp angle. “Listen here you fucking punk,” spit came from The Man’s mouth, “you killed a mother of two small children. If I tell you to scrub the toilets at the factory with your tooth brush, you’re going to do it; do I make myself clear?”

 The Kid’s paycheck went entirely to pay for back-to-school supplies for families who struggled to make ends meet. He never missed a day of work. Even when he was sick, he still showed up.

The Sheriff had dealings with every type of Thug out there in that rural county; he knew this guy was different and not to fuck with him.

*****

Level-Two was tasked with the clean-up of evidence. This level was a very elite group of clients, clients who had inside knowledge of crime scenes. In other words, the men and women who worked for law enforcement only to become fallen angels. Their required favor would someday be a useful tool; every now and again things got messy.

The Man knew The Judge had the means to counsel on how to clean up a crime scene. This was gold in The Man’s line of work. The Sheriff would be on the hook for many favors. He was one of a select few who were required to provide unlimited favors at no cost.

Five years later, another favor from the Sheriff came in handy for the mess in Janis’s foyer. They were equipped with the same equipment any investigation team would have had. They sprayed luminol and when they found the blood splatters, they cleaned until not a speck of blue glowed. They had special vacuums and in a grid formation they swept every inch on the first and second floors of the house. They even checked for and removed the scant piece of Gerry’s skull and hair strands found imbedded on the bookcase where his head collided on impact. Since Janis and Gerry both lived in the house, fingerprints were not an issue, nor Linda’s and Nancy’s.

After the house has been cleaned it’s time to stage the scene. Since Gerry was on a fishing trip, a fake search log relating to his trip needed to be hacked in to the family computer. The Sheriff actually arrested the Hack Guy himself. He had worked at the court house in the treasurer’s office. He had been hacking into various county accounts and stole quite a significant amount of money. The Man liked having Hack Guy on his rolodex. He was another one of the few who did more than one favor. Unlike the Sheriff, Hack Guy was paid for his services. Of course, The Sheriff didn’t know that.

*****

She hated her job at Jenson’s Lab. When she received her degree in mathematics she thought she would have an exciting career working with codes or encryption. Instead, she analyzed data. The only difference between her and someone working on the line at the plastics factory was the paycheck, and it wasn’t much of a difference in pay either. The plan had been to take funds from one of many Jenson’s accounts and place it into her fictitious bank account created with her deceased daughters name and social security number. She would move money over from a second account to hide the loss. In just minutes, she placed a significant amount of money into her account. After a week had gone by and no red flags at work, she did it again. She used different accounts the second and third times.

After six months she had enough money to disappear. A small apartment in Montenegro, near the Adriatic Sea was purchased with untraceable cash. She got a passport using her daughter’s name and the new haircut didn’t seem all that unusual since she had a wedding to attend. Unfortunately, people in accounting started asking questions earlier than she had anticipated. Accounting had sent out a memo to all team leaders informing there were discrepancies. She overheard two women from accounting talking about it in the women’s bathroom. The official audit had started and it wouldn’t take long to find out she had stolen almost half a million dollars. She held them off with false information just long enough to get her ducks in a row.

She had planned to discretely disappear right after the wedding. The idea had been to kiss everyone good-bye at the end of the evening. She would go home only to retrieve her suitcase and travel itinerary. Call Uber to take her to the airport and be on her flight before the realization of her absence. That plan changed when The Man showed up at her front door as her Uber driver. She was pushed back in the front door and taken directly to her bedroom. The Man came to collect his favor.

“Hello Nancy; remember me?”

Nancy remembered him but she didn’t let on. “Get out of my house before I call the police.”

“And tell them what? That you want to turn yourself in for embezzlement?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Have a seat, I’m going to tell you a little story.” He grabbed her by the arm and escorted her to her bed and forced her down. “I know a lot more about you than you think. But I bet you don’t know much about me.”

“Get out of my house. Janis will be back any minute.”

“I don’t think she will. She has no reason to stay here anymore.”

“What did you do to her?” Nancy tried to get up from the bed but The Man pushed her back down.

“There is something I think you should know about me since I know so much about you.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“As I was saying, I can tolerate a lot. We all make mistakes in life. It’s how we grow. What I can’t tolerate are those who lie, especially lies for self-promotion.”

“What is your point?”

“Ask yourself Nancy, am I a liar?” He walked around the bed and closed her blinds. The sunny disposition in the bedroom changed to something dark. “Have I ever told a lie just to get ahead, knowing I didn’t really deserve the promotion?”

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.”

“I remember everything, another tid-bit about me you should know. And I remember when you told me that your team leader offered you a promotion at work only if you slept with him. Sounding familiar?”

Nancy watched as The Man closed all the blinds in her room. It was at the second window she noticed the black leather gloves on his hands. They looked menacing. She tasted panic at the back of her throat. Her armpits stuck to her blouse, and her heart quickened then skipped every third beat. She had wanted to speak but her mouth had dried up.

“You lied to me. He never said those things to you, did he?”

It was true. It was Nancy who had wanted to have a relationship with Team Leader but he repeatedly turned her down and started flirting with the college intern working the front desk. Nancy was out for revenge all those years ago.

The Man came back around and shut the bedroom door. “In life a good person learns from their mistakes and grows from them. I think you need some growing up, Nancy.”

Nancy watched as The Man pulled out a small leather satchel from his jacket. He walked over to her dresser and placed it on top. He opened it and pulled out two small vials and two needles.

“What are you doing? What are those for?” The panic in Nancy’s words exuded as she jumped from the bed. She only had two steps in before The Man grabbed her and tossed her back on the bed with such force her lungs emptied with a loud gasp. She didn’t have time to move because he jumped on her and straddled her, pulled out a zip tie and in an instant her hands were bound. Before she could let out a scream, he had placed one hand over her lips and with the other pulled out a scarf and then stuffed it into her mouth.

“Now we can do this one of two ways, and I think you are smart enough to know the easy way might be the best option. I’m only going to give you one more chance Nancy; do you want to take it? Or are we going to do this the hard way?”

Nancy’s eyes bulged and she shook her head yes.

“Good, good, Nancy.”

The Man kept Nancy tied up and gagged as he filled one of the needles with the clear liquid from the vial. With the promise she would not feel a thing he tapped out a vein in her left arm while she struggled to get away. He pushed the needle in and within seconds she was out cold.