www.pentrace.com - The Site for Fountain Pens that Write
 
Home
search:   
Articles in Full
 
Home Page
wow
Go to Message Board
Join the SnailMail Group
Reader's Corner
Submit an article for publication
Bureau of Weights and Measures
Reference Section
The PenMarket Message Board

about the Pentrace site
Biographies of Pentrace Contributers
Links to other resources
Contact details for Pentrace.com
Previous articles and older stuff
Message Board Archive

 

A Dog's Life III
The welcome return of Anita Carswell
from the fountain pen of Myra Love
previous chapter Chapter Index Next Chapter

 

A Dog's Life

by Myra Love

 

       Chapter III 

 

It was around noon when I left Clausen and Willard. I was hungry. I could have stopped somewhere for lunch or even gone home and scrounged something from the refrigerator, but when I looked at my watch, I remembered that Lisa had a class at noon and wouldn’t be at my place. The apartment has started to feel lonely when she’s not there. I got into my cruiser and headed across town to Fleming Electrical. I knew that Anne always cooked Marcus and Joe something warm for lunch. And I was likely to get invited if I showed up.

“Are you hungry, Andy?” Anne greeted me as I walked through the door. “We’re closing for lunch in five minutes.”

“I came by to talk with Marcus,” I said, “but I’d be delighted to join you for lunch.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “You’re not a very good liar, young man. We knew you’d be by so I made a little extra.”

I was doubly curious. “How come you knew I’d be by?” I asked. “And a little extra of what?”

She laughed. When Annie laughed you wanted to laugh with her. Her shiny white teeth glow against her cocoa-colored skin, but not as brightly as her warm brown eyes. “Our other lunch guest told us. She is finally going to get the wiring in her attic brought up to code. Marcus told her she should be ashamed of herself, her almost an officer of the court, and that illegal wiring in her house. Not to mention that it’s a fire hazard.”

“Fire hazard, my foot,” I heard a familiar hoarse voice say cheerfully and looked up to see the sharp features of Anita Carswell attempting not to break into a grin. “Hello, Andy. The wiring in that attic has held up for forty years.”

“That’s at least twenty years too long,” I heard another familiar voice respond, as Marcus stepped into the room. He nodded at me and said, “Good afternoon, Andy. You here about that dog? There’s fish chowder and fresh-baked corn muffins for lunch. Joe will be a little late, but he said to start without him.”

“Hi, Anita, Marcus.” I followed them as they followed Annie into the kitchen. “Can I help set the table or something?” I asked.

“Table’s set,” Annie replied. “Do you want to talk or eat?”

“Eat first, I guess, if food is ready.”

“Sit down at the table then!”

About fifteen minutes into lunch, Joe came home. He was grumpy. “Mr. Heller said he didn’t really want to have his fuse box replaced with circuit breakers,” he grumbled at his father. “So I found some old fuses at the bottom of the parts box and replaced the ones that blew. Of course, they’re going to blow again soon. I told him, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Don’t talk about work now, Joe,” Annie scolded her son fondly. “Wash your hands and come eat.”

When Joe reappeared, he’d lost his grouchiness and was genuinely glad to see both Anita and me. We made small talk while his mother warmed up his soup. Afterwards, he stayed in the kitchen to help Annie wash up. Anita, Marcus, and I sat in the living room.

I grinned at Anita. “How did you find out about Mattie’s dog? And what made you think I’d come talk with Marcus?”

Anita smirked. “I ran into the chief an hour ago. Or rather, he ran into me, deliberately, I think. He seemed perplexed by the dognapping.” She laughed. “That’s the term he used for it. He seemed sure that Jim knows something but isn’t saying.”

Marcus grunted. “Stands to reason that you folks,” he nodded his head at me to indicate the police, “would want to question all of Jim’s creditors. Technically I am one of those, though I think my situation is slightly different than that of the others.”

I leaned back. “How so?”

Anita answered. “Jim didn’t lose money to Marcus, he borrowed money from Marcus.”

I wished she wouldn’t interrupt and almost told her I was carrying out an official investigation and she was interfering. But that was stupid. She was Anita and probably already knew more about what was going on than I’d find out in a week of Sundays.

My annoyance must have shown on my face because Anita put up her hands. “Don’t arrest me, Officer. I shall sit back and let you interrogate Marcus.”

“I’m not interrogating him,” I grumbled at her. “He’s talking to me.”

Marcus nodded. “Women can be presumptuous, can’t they, Andy? Annie always knows what I’m going to say before I say it and can say it better. But I thought that was because we were married. Seems Anita here can do that and she and I have never even kissed.”

Anita acknowledged his remark with a half smile. “I think I’ll go help Annie and Joe.” She stood up.

“Please don’t go!” I said in what I hoped was a contrite tone. “You probably have a better handle on what’s happening than I do, and I’d appreciate your help.”

She sat back down and Marcus grinned at her. “Anita isn’t quite correct. I didn’t exactly lend Jim fifteen hundred dollars. I did fifteen hundred dollars of electrical work for him, knowing he didn’t have the money to pay me. Technically, he owes it to me, but I don’t expect to see the money. I considered what I did an act of charity. All his kitchen appliances were in pretty bad shape.”

I must have looked perplexed because Marcus continued. “At his hunting cabin, not at the house. Mattie pays for all the electrical work at the house.”

I had forgotten about Jim’s hunting cabin, maybe because I’d never been invited out there. Mattie had never been there either. I don’t think she minded since she wasn’t a hunting enthusiast. When she first came to me to lament Jim’s debts, I suggested that he sell the cabin, but she refused to broach the subject with him. “It’d break his heart, Andy. Why, his father left him that cabin. A man has to have someplace to go where he can feel like a real man instead of a wage slave.” I’d rolled my eyes at that but let it go. She was quoting Jim, I knew, and there was no point arguing with her.

“So you worked on Jim’s cabin for free? I didn’t know you and he were such close friends.”

“They’re not,” Annie piped up, having come in without my noticing. Joe wasn’t with her. “Marcus doesn’t like Jim Keeley, but he is fond of Mattie. She asked him to do the work for her husband, and he didn’t want to refuse her.”

“That woman has a hard row to hoe,” Marcus said sadly. “I’m glad to do what I can to help her. Being married to a gambler is no fun. Why my cousin Edna down in Louisiana was married to a gambler, a man named Frederick, after Frederick Douglas, the great abolitionist…”

I settled back in my chair and let Marcus’ story roll over me. I’d heard it before, but he was such a good storyteller that I didn’t mind the repetition. He loved to talk about the bad old days, before his father came here and started the business that Marcus inherited from him. I looked around the room and saw Joe poke his head in and then retreat when he saw Marcus in storytelling mode. Although Joe admired his father’s ability to spin a yarn, he’d started to avoid hearing them. His father’s stories nearly always ended with a paean of praise to the family business, as if the whole point was to persuade him to take over Fleming Electrical when his father retired. But Joe had no interest in doing electrical work for the rest of his life. He’d graduated from the state university and wanted to go on to graduate school in science. However, since none of his older siblings had wanted to run the company either, Marcus had determined that his youngest son should inherit it. Though there wasn’t really bad blood between Marcus and Joe, they had agreed to disagree about Joe’s future. Annie was on Joe’s side, and Joe had even enlisted Anita Carswell in his effort to persuade his father to support him in his decision to study microbiology and entomology. But Marcus remained unmoved. “I won’t stop you since you have that fellowship waiting for you, but I think you’re making the wrong choice,” was all that Marcus grudgingly conceded whenever Joe broached the subject.

“…And the last anyone heard of Frederick was when he sent a postcard from Las Vegas asking his sisters to send him money,” Marcus concluded his tale. Since Joe had not stayed to listen, Marcus had not brought the story around to the benefit of having the family business to fall back on, for which I was grateful. He’d never directly asked me to take his side in their disagreement because he was too much of a gentleman for that, but I knew he wished I would.

Instead, I put him on the spot. “You know,” I began, “I appreciate your wanting to help Mattie, but no matter how I look at it, it seems that all you accomplished was enabling Jim’s irresponsibility.” I rarely criticized Marcus, and he didn’t look pleased.

“Enabling? Andy, that’s psychobabble as far as I’m concerned. Next you’re going to start talking about codependency and all that nonsense.”

I shook my head. “How does Mattie benefit from a bunch of free electrical work in Jim’s cabin?”

He emitted a short, bitter laugh. “He won’t be hounding her to pay for it, that’s how. Young man, I don’t think you know what that woman puts up with in the way of nagging and pressure and general meanness from her husband. And you should know, seeing as how she is your own flesh and blood.”

I looked over at Anita, who’d sat silently through Marcus’ story and our conversation. She smiled at me, but didn’t intervene. I took a deep breath, knowing that if I wanted her input I’d have to ask for it. “What do you think, Anita?” I finally prompted her.

She shook her head. “I don’t have enough information to think anything yet. What I know is that Marcus did what he did to be kind, and he probably has a point about the quality of Mattie’s life, but she is living the life she chooses to live. She must be getting some sort of satisfaction from her situation.”

Marcus’ look of complacency turned into an expression of mild chagrin at that. “Oh, come on, Anita! Mattie takes her marriage vows seriously, that’s all. She may not like how Jim treats her, but she is loyal.”

Before Anita had a chance to reply, my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and the number was my own home phone number. That meant Lisa, so I answered the call.

“Your Aunt Mattie has been trying to get hold of you for a couple of hours, Andy. She called three times and sounded more upset each time,” Lisa said without greeting or preamble.

“Hello to you too, sweetheart,” I said. “Mattie has my cell phone number.”

“Had it. She said one of the dogs ate it.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“Just that you should call her immediately if not sooner.”

“Okay,” I said without enthusiasm. “Are you going to be there when I get back this evening?”

“Depends on when that is. I promised my mom that I’d help her bake for Dad’s birthday. You remember there’s a surprise party for him on Sunday, don’t you?”

“I do now. Listen Leess, I’m here with Anita at Fleming’s Electrical. Do you want to say hi to her or to Marcus, Annie, or Joe before I hang up?”

“Just say hi for me. I have to get back for a psych lab. Don’t forget to call Mattie. Bye.”

Lisa didn’t like to talk on the phone. When I thought about a phone conversation with Aunt Mattie, I decided I didn’t like to talk on the phone either, so I thanked Annie for the meal and told Marcus I’d talk to him again about Jim if I had to, but I hoped that we’d solve the mystery of the stolen dog soon, so I wouldn’t have to. He chuckled. “Oh, knowing you and the chief, it will be several weeks before you get everything sorted out. I’ll be here, running my shop as usual.”

After a brief good-bye to Joe, I turned to Anita. “Want to come along? I’m going to see Mattie.”

Anita laughed. “I don’t think she’d let me in her house. I am not one of the Keeleys’ favorite people, as you know.”

I shrugged. “No accounting for taste. Can I call you if I need an ear?”

“I need both my ears for my own use, but I’ll lend you some brain power, Andy.”

I felt my face flush as I walked out to my cruiser.

“We got a ransom note, Andy,” my aunt greeted me excitedly before I even got into her house. “That is, Jim got it, and it was an email message, not a letter. Whoever took Dr. Phil wants fifteen-hundred dollars for him.”

I stepped through the door and was mobbed by the dogs. “Let me see the email,” I said firmly, pushing my way through the excited pack.

“It’s on Jim’s computer,” she explained. “I don’t really know how to use it.”

“Jim can show me then,” I replied. “Is it upstairs?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s in the basement. It used to be upstairs, but then Jerry Springer chewed the cord, so Jim moved it down to his workshop. He has a padlock on the door, and none of dogs knows the combination.”

I wasn’t sure I’d heard right, but I knew better than to ask. “Is Jim down there now?”

She shook her head again. “He went out to have a walk and a cigar. I think the message upset him.”

“Is the door padlocked right now?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“Do you have the key?”

She shook her head. “Jim has it on his key chain. He doesn’t like to leave it lying around…” (I braced for the rest of the sentence since I knew what was coming.) …so the dogs won’t get it and open the door.”

I sighed. “How long will he be gone? I’m on duty and can’t stay here all afternoon waiting for Jim.”

“No need to get so grumpy, Andy,” she scolded. “Sit down and have a cup of tea. Jim will be here when he gets here.”

An hour and three cups of tea later Jim came through the door. “Howdy Andy. Mattie tell you about the email?”

I nodded. “I’d like to have a look at it.”

He shrugged. “Sure. Follow me.”

Jim’s office was a large room behind the laundry machines. He unlocked the door and ushered me in. “The computer is over here,” he said, leading me to an old wooden desk with a comfortable padded chair in front of it. “That’s my chair,” he said sharply as I sat down. “You can pull over one of those.” He pointed to a collection of old kitchen chairs around a battered table in the other corner of the room. I didn’t get up, so he sighed and pulled up one of the kitchen chairs for himself.

“Know anything about computers, Andy?” he asked as he leaned over me, booted up the machine, and got online.

“A bit,” I replied.

Jim smiled and opened his Yahoo mail folder. “Let’s see.” He scrolled down and found the message he was looking for. “There you are!”

The message was short and to the point, demanding fifteen hundred dollars and threatening harm to the dog unless payment was made. There were no instructions as to how payment was to be tendered, just the words, “I’LL BE IN TOUCH. DON’T FORGET I’M WATCHING YOU!” The message was unsigned, but it had been sent from a hotmail account with the user name “Dognapper.”

“Interesting,” I murmured. “The perpetrator knows your email address.”

Jim chuckled. “Oh, anyone can find my email address. You just have to google me. If you knew anything about computers, Andy, you’d know that.”

“There’s a computer tech with the state police,” I replied in my most official voice. “Shut this down and pack it up. I’ll take it to him tomorrow and we’ll see what he can come up with.”

“What?” Jim looked as outraged as he sounded. “You can’t just take my computer.”

“It’s evidence,” I said. “The state police technician may be able to tell us where the ransom note originated.”

Jim shook his head violently. “Sorry Andy, but I need this for my work. You can’t take it.”

I reached out and shut the computer down. Then I walked over to the wall where it was plugged into a surge protector. ‘Evidence,” I repeated the word and pulled the plug.

Jim jumped to his feet. “You can’t just take it. You need a search warrant!”

I wound the cord. “Do you have a box for it? If not I’ll just carry it out to the cruiser as is.”

“YOU ARE STEALING MY COMPUTER!” Jim yelled. “YOU NEED A DAMNED SEARCH WARRANT!”

“You’ve been watching too much TV, Jim. I just need to give you a receipt. And I’ll do that right now.”

“Damn it, Andy! Don’t be that way. At least let me download my work stuff onto a CD so I don’t lose money while your techie is fooling around with my machine.”

I should have known better, I guess, but I’m not an expert on computers. “Okay, go ahead,” I agreed. “But make it quick. I need to get back to my investigation.”

“It’s a lot of data, Andy, and it’ll take a while. Why don’t you go up and have a cup of tea with Mattie? Or better yet, go back to work and come back for the computer this evening.” He took the cord from my hand and plugged the machine back into the surge protector.

“I’ve had plenty of tea,” I said, “too much in fact. I’ll just sit here and wait for your data to download.”

“Suit yourself,” he replied sullenly, started up again and put a CD into the drive.

An hour later, the process was still going on. I glared at Jim, and he smiled back triumphantly. “Told you it was a lot of stuff.”

“I thought these machines were fast. Are you copying everything on your hard drive to the CD?”

He just laughed. “I do a lot of my work at home. Easier to concentrate and I can get stuff done any hour of the day or night.”

I grunted and looked at my watch. “I better phone the station and let the chief know what I’m doing.”

Jim nodded. “You do that, Andy. If you need privacy, you can step right out the way we came in.”

I had the feeling he wanted to get rid of me, so I stayed right where I was and called in. The chief was interested in the ransom note and told me to bring the computer by the station before heading to the state police barracks with it. “Donald knows a bit about that stuff,” he said. “We’ll have him take a look at it first.”

When I got off the phone, Jim said the computer was ready to go. He was much more cooperative than he had been and went to find boxes to transport it. Before he closed it down, he went back into his email folder and showed me the message again, just, he claimed, so I’d be able to find it again. He even opened it and closed it, almost as if he wanted to show me it was still there. He shook hands with me when I left.

“I’ll get this back to you as soon as I can,” I told him.

He smiled when he said good-bye.

It was five-fifteen by the time I got the computer back to the station. The chief had already gone home, but Donald was waiting for me. “Chief will be back at six,” he said. “He said it was okay to go ahead and look at the computer without him.”

“You sure?” I asked, knowing that the chief liked to be in on every aspect of every investigation.

“Yeah, he’s not exactly computer savvy. I’ll have to explain everything to him afterwards anyway, so we might as well take a look now.”

We set up the computer and got into Jim’s email account without any trouble. He’d told me that he wouldn’t sign out so I didn’t need his password. I scrolled down to where the Hotmail message was supposed to be, but it was missing.

“Dagnabbit!” I grumbled, using the chief’s favorite euphemism without realizing it. I continued scrolling through Jim’s inbox, but the message was gone.

 

 


 

previous chapter Chapter Index Next Chapter

© 2015 Myra Love - All Rights Reserved

Comment on this article...

 

 

www.pentrace.com

 
[ Home | Message Board | SnailMail Group | Reader's Corner | Submit Article | BoWaM | About | Biographies | Contact | Older Stuff ]
 
Copyright © 2000-2001 pentrace.com, All Rights Reserved