Chapter XXIX
illiam dropped his bike off at the front of the house, walked up and rang the doorbell. He was surprised the electricity was still on and the yard kept up. There was a fresh newspaper on the stoop leaning against the door. No one answered the door. He chanced a peek in, and there was a light burning on the little table between the chairs in which he and Sharon used to sit and read, watch TV or just talk.
An extreme aura of melancholy swept over him, and he nearly let the tears get away from him. He walked off the porch around to the back of the house. Here, everything was in order as it was the day he left. He wondered if the gardener had been paid, or, the utilities as well. He was about to reach for the spare key when a lady's voice said "how are you William."
He looked up at the door on the back porch and the next door neighbor, Kelly Jamison was standing there holding a mop. She had a white cleaning scarf on her head. It had been slung under her hair at the back, and up either side of her head and tied on top to keep her hair off her neck while she worked. "It's been a while. Is everything OK?" she finished.
"Yeah, I guess everything is about as good as could be expected. I see you've kept the place clean. Have you been paid?" William responded.
"Oh heavens yes!" she said. "Mr. Wardlow comes over about once a week and takes care of everything. He did hire a new gardener though. The other one got to messing up and doing a lousy job. Is that OK?"
"Sure, of course it is. Mind if I come in and refresh?" William asked.
"Why, heavens no! I sure don't mind. I was just finishing up, and I'll just get my things and be back day after tomorrow. Will you be here then?" she inquired.
"I'm not for certain, where I'll be or what I'll be doing," he answered. "Thanks for all your great help Kelly. How's Randal doing?"
"Well, I don't know that. If you remember, he left to go on a job about a week before you and Sharon left, and never returned. I did get a post card from him stating he'd found someone new and wouldn't be back. At least we don't have kids to worry about. The card was from Las Vegas," she finished casually.
Something stuck in Williams mind. "Wasn't he into electronics?" he asked?
"Why, yes, yes he was." She replied. "I'm pretty lonesome without him, and the only income I've had is what Mr. Wardlow pays me to keep this place up. Are you going to let me go?" she asked pensively.
"Why, heck no!" William replied. "Now she's got me saying 'why' with every sentence," he thought to himself. I'd like for you to continue as long as you want, OK?"
"Why heavens yes that's OK! I'm so sorry to hear about you and Sharon . . . " she said, then, paused, thought to herself a second or two, then said "Oh, I'm sorry, was I not supposed to know about that?"
"It's OK. I guess everybody knows. Do you know what kind of electronics Randal's specialty was?" William ventured.
"Why, yes, I sure do know. His specialty was aviation electronics, and he did a lot of tracking, set up tracking chips, and he also did remote explosives. I guess he found someone a lot prettier than me in Las Vegas. She must have written the post card for him, cause it sure wasn't his handwriting."
William began to think back when Randal and Kelly Bachman . . . (or Jamison . . . what was her name? He was confused as she'd introduced herself both ways), moved in. It wasn't until right after his trial which cleared him of everything. The old couple who had lived there for many years just decided one day to sell and move, and within a couple of days, they were gone and the Bachmans had moved right in.
Suddenly, Williams mind began to whir. Something was forming in the back of his mind, an answer to a question he should have asked when he was over in Las Vegas. But, come to think of it, if the person arrested that night for trying to crash his plane had given the correct address, then Len Mathers would have already put two and two together. It was something that would bear looking into.
William had come into the kitchen and had drawn a drink of water. He turned around just in time to see Kelly bend over and pick her scarf up off the floor. "Wow! Randal must have been crazy to leave a gorgeous thing like her!" he thought to himself. "What a rack of honkers!"
He turned away from the view, and walked into the garage. There, sat his pickup, the one he'd sold recently for funds with which to live. It looked like Lane Wardlow was keeping a very good lookout for him and his financial matters. He hit the garage door opener button, got into the pickup and started it up. On the floor was a fresh credit/debit card. He owed Lane a lot!
He backed the pickup out of the garage and shut it off. Kelly was gone by the time he got back into the house. He walked into the bedroom and laid out some clean clothes. He showered and shaved for the second time that day, and dressed in some clothes that were now quite big on him.
He looked outside as well as he could and went into the closet, pulled back the stack of shoes. He lifted off the carpet, pulled up the square trap door in the floor, reached underneath and pulled out a little shovel. He dug the dirt back, pulled up the fireproof box and opened it.
He removed the contents, and replaced everything as quickly as he could. He made it look as if the dirt had never been disturbed. Replacing the spade, the trap door, carpet and all the shoes, he stuffed the package into a little pouch, and put it down the front of his pants.
The door bell rang just as he locked the back door, and he looked around the corner to see Chief of Police, Walter Bension standing at the front door. He walked to the door, opened it and spoke.
"Hello William, I got a call that someone was here at the house, and I promised Lane I'd look in on it every once in a while. Figured I'd just better check it out," the man explained.
"Why thank you Chief. I was just leaving or I'd ask you in. I needed a shower and a shave. Anything else?" William walked out the door, locking it as he went. He'd retrieved a spare set of keys, and intended on giving the Chief as little opportunity as possible to detain him.
"No, I can't say as there is," Walter said, then. "Sure is good to see you Will."
"Yeah, likewise Chief. Well, gotta go!" Will said as he walked to his truck. He'd placed the bicycle in the garage, and watched the door close as he was backing out of the drive. Things were going round and round in his head.
William now knew he was being watched, and very carefully. There was no doubt that he'd been observed from the time he'd been back in the area. His time alone, or so he thought, was not alone at all.
Will was going to make sure those disks did not fall into the wrong hands. And, as far as he was concerned, the US federal government was the wrong hands. He wondered as to the extent of the entire company of people involved in the 'Ordeal,' to retrieve them, and decided to find out. He never ceased to be amazed as to what lengths the people who wanted this information would go to get it.
It didn't seem that life nor limb, nor sanctity of marriage mattered to any of them. And the root of it all, according to the Bible, was money. It was the root of all evil. Somewhere he'd read that and it stuck.
He was brought out of his day dream while sitting at a stoplight. Someone was honking at him. He looked up and saw the light was red, looked to the side and there was the most beautiful woman in the world sitting with his old buddy and his newest girlfriend. William didn't even see the woman he was with, just the woman who was with them. Sharon looked at him and smiled that wonderful, heart melting smile of hers and his knees went weak.
Another horn sounded and he looked up at the light. It was green, and the impatient person in the car behind was messing up his moment. What he would have given to sit there and gaze into her beautiful eyes and face another week or so . . . But, it was not to be. He pulled away from the light as Jeff did, and he couldn't bear to take his eyes off his bride.
Well, she wasn't his bride any longer. Jeff made a left turn into a hamburger joint, and Sharon gave her little wave and another big smile as he drove on straight down the street. She took his heart again . . . just like she did every time he ever seen her. He made a right turn then turned again to get back on the street. He drove back to Lane's office, and parked.
"Lane was not in at the moment, but, here's some mail left at your house. He would have given it to you earlier, but you left pretty quick," explained Sandy.
William thanked her, went to the truck, opened the large manila envelope, and read the note from Lane. He couldn't believe what he was reading. The relief he was wanting so bad was right at his fingertips. Now, how could he go about bringing himself to taking advantage of it?
For once, something in his life was about to go right for him.
© 2000 - 2025
