Crime fiction.
Case files. Real estate fraud. Trouble keeps finding Cal. He lives at the intersection of fact & fiction.
Charlie Had a Dinosaur Table of Contents
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapter 3 , 4 and 5
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Chapter 3
“That sounds scary. Why didn’t you call the cops?” Shawna demanded, more than asked.
Shawna hadn’t been happy with me delivering pizzas, four nights a week since I started. But we really had no choice. Since moving to Suburban Maryland for the excitement and culture all we had really done is scramble, like any young couple who were twenty-one and twenty when they got married. DC was certainly more expensive than Lawrence, Kansas.
“Not much I could tell them. I didn’t have much of a description. Besides, I’m not sure that guy will want to try again, based on what I saw.” I didn’t really know if that would be true.
“Look. It’s over,” I continued. “What I learned is to be more aware.”
A hug. A kiss. I was ready to move on.
“I wonder what he did after knowing the kid was in the house?” Shawna asked out loud before turning off the bedroom light.
The next morning there was another day of service advising at the Ford dealership. Oil changes were scheduled. I successfully earned a few spiffs by up selling the promoted service of the day: wiper blades. And, of course, an argument or two on how long a seven-year-old car should go without any care or mechanical failure.
The usual.
I was eager to get out the door at 6:00 sharp when we closed so that I could deliver more pizzas. Tips were always good on a Thursday night. However, men and women eager to pick up their cars after missing them for the day would trail in, some showing up at 6:02 and acting like they didn’t know we closed at 6:00.
By 6:10, I was out the door. After pulling my key from the door of my Escort, I reached for the handle and was about to get in when I heard Tommy’s voice from behind me.
“More deliveries tonight, Calvin?” Tommy asked.
How is it I never see this guy until he wants me to, I thought.
Tommy was relaxing, leaning on the hood of his gold Volvo 760. These cars were like flies in Montgomery County. They signaled, “I have some money and don’t want to be caught in an American car.”
“What can I do for you?” is what I asked. What I thought was something else.
“You were a star last night, Kid. I even told my boss.” With that he stood straight and leaned in. “You like working here? You like delivering pizzas while Shawna sits at home? You’ve only been married about six months.”
Then he smiled a friendly smile.
We had not discussed any of this: not where I work during the day, not my name, not my marriage.
And who are you calling my wife by her name? I yelled, loudly, in my head.
“Relax, kid.” Tommy let a beat or two go by as I sized him up. I assumed the gun was still in the small of his back. He had a way of making me guess and feel secure at the same time. Whoever he was, he was good.
He also showed himself to be a master of parking lots.
Tommy took three steps towards me and held out a card he pulled from his right pants pocket.
Rockland & Associates. Private Investigators. Tommy Larsen.
I glanced up, “I guess that explains why you always appear suddenly.”
Tommy laughed. “Not intentional. I need you to come and have a drink with me. Place called The Underground, right down off Cherry. I have an offer for you.”
“I’m working. More people ordering pizza tonight. But you probably already know that.” That is what I said. Again, what I thought was something else.
“When we get to the bar, you can call them and tell them you’re not coming,” he said as he handed me a quarter. Then he turned back to his car and opened the door.
After pausing he said, “Unless you love it here, love working fifteen hour days, missing your new bride and …” he paused again, looked back at the entrance to the dealership, “love coming to the same place day after day.”
This guy is good, damn good. I continued staring at him.
“I hope I’ll see you there.” He got in his car and drove off to the north, towards Cherry Street.
Chapter 4
When I opened the door to The Underground I immediately felt at home. One step in gave me the entire layout, even though I had never been to the place. Like Louise’s back in Lawrence. I had spent too much time there. It may be the reason I don’t have a college degree.
Or maybe it was my own unwillingness to sit in a class day after day, listening to professors talk theory. As much as I tried, it just wasn’t for me.
Booths on the left. A long bar on the right. Pool table in back with more booths. That’s where I found Tommy facing the front door.
Two beers were sitting on the table. One was already a couple ounces down.
The bar had an older crowd and a Vietnam P.O.W.s flag hanging above the bar. When I was walking to the back I could hear “Fall on Me” by R.E.M. pouring from the speakers.
“You made the right choice,” Tommy said as he nodded me to sit.
I sat down and took a sip of my beer as Tommy waited.
“You didn’t hesitate last night. Not when that kid tried to rob you. Not when I asked you to go into an apartment and verify the presence of a three-year-old. With very little instruction you walked right up the stairs and got it done. Cool as Kojak. That’s not common.” Tommy leaned back and waited for my reply.
I sat quietly, looking him straight in the eye.
“Why?”
“Why what?” I replied.
“Why did you do it?” Tommy asked with a smile.
“$50.”
“No. $50 got your attention. You didn’t know me. You didn’t know what I was doing there. You looked at a complete stranger and took on a mission that was not your business. Why?”
I continued to sit in silence. This time, Tommy was waiting me out as I considered my answer. “I knew what you were doing. I’ve seen The Rockford Files,” I responded with an unhidden trace of irony in my voice.
Tommy laughed out loud. Loud enough that the couple shooting pool looked over. Then he drew a sip from his beer.
I followed suit. Then I stood up, walked over to the pay phone and dropped the quarter in.
When I returned, I sat down, took a drink of my beer and waited.
“I want to offer you a job. But I suspect you’ve figured that out.” Tommy again leaned in that way I had now seen twice before. “You have a gift. But I don’t think you know it.”
“What’s the offer?” is all I said.
“Before we go further, you need to know this isn’t The Rockford Files. That kid you saw last night. He was taken by an ex-boyfriend. Cops weren’t doing anything about it up in Cumberland. You confirming he was there gave the local cops all the reason they needed to knock on the door this morning and get him back to his mother.”
He stopped again and waited. I didn’t say anything, but inside I knew the story fit based on what I saw.
Tommy continued, “There’s also a dark side. You will see people at their worst. You’ll encounter people under a great deal of stress. That can make them unpredictable. You will have a lot of learning to do. This business isn’t a game. And it is certainly not entertainment.”
I considered before responding. “Is it worth it? Do you make a difference?”
“Sometimes. But not often. Often times, we document infidelity or fraud. It’s a win-lose game. I let the lawyers and judges sort things out. I observe and report.”
“Is it dangerous?” I said.
“Apparently, no more so than delivering pizzas.” I could see Tommy was proud of his response.
As we finished our beers, he gave me a further run-down of what would be expected of me. Mostly he talked about what I’d have to learn and that tomorrow I was to show up at the office on the card he had given me and ask for Christine. She would do the employment paperwork and get the licensing process started. Then she would assign me a few subpoenas and summonses to serve to get me started while we waited on the State of Maryland for the formal private investigator’s license.
“I’ve never served a subpoena before. What’s the training?” I asked.
Tommy reached into his jacket’s left breast pocket, and pulled out folded papers, about three, stapled in the top left corner. He laid them on the table for me to pick up.
Subpoena was written right up at the top. The plaintiff was listed as was the defendant. So was the person being required to show up at the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (6th Judicial Circuit) in ten days. The subject and the defendant were the same. First glance told me it was a divorce case.
When I looked back at Tommy, I noticed there was another $50 bill on the table. “Go ahead and pick it up. When you do, it’s an employment contract.” Tommy finished his beer and nodded at the front bar. “The bartender is David Miller.” Tommy slid to his right, stood up and said, “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow. 9:30 sharp.”
“I go by Cal, by the way,” I pointed out.
“I know. That was Christine calling about the 1973 Pinto.”
Then I turned to watch him walk out the front door.
I looked back at the subpoena. The subject to be served was David Miller.
Chapter 5
“You’re home early,” Shawna said as she met me as the door closed. I loved when she did that. She threw her arms around my neck, gave me a first year-of-marriage kiss and asked, “What’s up?”
We sat on the couch discussing some of the details I had not revealed earlier about the previous night, and this evening’s conversations with Tommy.
“You quit your delivery job? Just like that?” Shawna asked. Her voice had an edge to it. “I mean, I’m happy to see you tonight. But…”
I interrupted, “I made almost as much in that five minutes as I would have made working the three hours.” That was my response. Factual. “I’ll also be at the Rockland office at 9:30 tomorrow morning. I’ll go into Ford at 6:00 like always, wait till the rush is over, and hand everything over to Mike.”
Shawna sat quietly for a moment. I could see her body tense. “Cal.” Then silence.
I waited.
“I can’t tell you what to do. But I can tell you this should be discussed with me before you make a decision, not after.” The earlier romance of the kiss had now been set aside. “We are a couple. We make these decisions as a couple.”
Shame wasn’t what I was feeling. I’m not even sure what is was. I did know I had let her down. “I’m sorry.”
I stood and walked across our tiny basement level apartment to the kitchenette, opened the fridge and brought back two Budweiser beers. Maybe the King could help.
I pleaded my case again. “Tommy said I have a gift. I’m intrigued. More than that, I’m excited. So, I made a decision.”
Shawna looked me dead in the eye and said, “You still should have talked with me first.” With that, she stood up and walked to the bedroom.
I stayed on the couch.
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