by Arthur Day
Buckmaster pointed to his badge. “You’re not in any trouble sir. I just need to ask you a few questions. We can talk out here or inside. Your choice.”
The man opened the door and came out onto the porch. He was of medium height, maybe five feet ten inches and built like a fire hydrant with broad shoulders and legs slightly bowed as if he had been riding a horse all his life. He wore a faded red-checked shirt and blue jeans that were in obvious need of a wash. He stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets.
“What’s your name?”
“Billy Black.”
“You own this house?”
“Yep.”
“Does the name John Rossman mean anything to you?”
“Sure.” Billy seemed to relax slightly. “We do business sometimes. He makes intricate wooden carvings. I stop by once a month, take what he has, and sell them to owners of tourist shops in the cities and tourist spots. They’re nice carvings and I get a good price for them. In return, I bring John whatever he needs that he can’t supply on his own. That’s something he much prefers to do. He’s kinda reclusive.” Billy said in what was the understatement of the year and then he smiled grimly. “Not like me. Of course, in the winter it’s tough to grow vegetables. He puts some up in Mason jars but there is still stuff he needs. It’s a good arrangement.”
Buckmaster nodded. “Sounds that way. Do you get a lot of ATV’s in this area?”
“Nope. The ground around here’s pretty broken up. I see a few go past every now and then. About a mile down the road the land flattens out a little and there are trails they use. When there’s a bunch of them you can hear them from here.”
“Mind if we look around a little? A woman got murdered a few days ago. We think the murderer might have ridden up the stream bed in an ATV but he had to have got to the stream somewhere and may have left some sign.”
“Sure. Look around all you want. I didn’t hear or see anyone on one of those things.”
For the first time, Billy seemed uneasy. He looked around as if to see if anyone else was nearby. “You ‘bout finished?” he asked. He stepped back and started to shut the door.
“For now,” Buckmaster told him. “I’ll be back if anything else comes up.” He walked carefully down the crumbling wooden steps and over to where the cruiser sat waiting. Black was far more educated and complicated than he pretended to be. How many back woods people would use the word “intricate”? He had learned much and was convinced that Billy Black was lying through his teeth.
McCAAL
I had made a large amount of money and Pam and I had led a very comfortable and somewhat sheltered life of apartment dwellers in Manhattan. I had made enough to retire from the constant pressure and stress of the financial world to my cabin in the woods south of Mays Corners after Pam and I split up. I considered myself both smart and lucky to have been successful and gotten out of the rat race before I was too old and used up to enjoy the life for which I had worked so hard but, as I approached the gatehouse set behind wrought iron gates between massive brick pillars that the houses behind the gate and the people who lived in them and paid taxes on them were in an entirely different league. There’s a saying that it takes money to make money; that you have to prime the pump and then work the handle like mad to get water. The houses behind the gate showed the result of having water to begin with.
I tooted my horn and, after a moment, the gate slowly swung inwards and a woman in a light blue uniform appeared at the window of the gatehouse. “McCaal for Andrew Worth,” I told her. She disappeared and came back a moment later with a badge that I was to hang on my rearview mirror.
“Don’t take this off or lose it while you’re here,” she informed me with a smile. I wondered exactly what would happen if I just drove in and did not stop. I was sure the smile would disappear in an instant to be replaced by a small army of private security people and a call to the Rockmarsh police. I drove slowly past a large turnaround where people not authorized or not wanted would be parking before turning back to leave. I had no doubt that there were plenty of motion and light sensors tied to high definition cameras around the perimeter and more cameras at the huge houses that I drove slowly past. These people had plenty of money and every intention of keeping it.
Number Eighty Applewood Drive seemed a little smaller than its neighbors but in every other respect it did not disappoint. A large house with three stories and a white stucco exterior it had a central part and two wings coming out at an angle to the center. A semi-circular drive led around to the front door on one side and a huge bed of flowers and shrubs on the other, very beautiful but excellent cover for any bad guy I thought as I came to a stop. I went up to the front door painted Mandarin Red and was about to search for a doorbell when the door opened, and a statuesque black woman stood beaming at me. “Good morning Mr. McCaal. We are so glad that you are here. I hope that you had a good trip and that all is well in Mays Corners. What beautiful country it is over there.” She was almost gushing, and I was taken aback. I looked up into the eye of the ever-present camera and smiled.
“It’s a beautiful area but I’m glad I was expected. It makes life much easier,” I assured her.
“We have looked forward to your arrival. My name is Tanisha Wells and I am in charge of the house. I guess if this were a restaurant I would be the Maître D.” She laughed, a deep throated gurgle that spoke of total security of place and person. “Please come in and follow me.”
She led me through a small entryway and then took a sharp left down a hallway and into a large room that had obviously been converted to a sitting room for an invalid. The room was warm, almost hot for the time of year. It had a ceiling that must have been ten feet high. Along two walls were bookshelves filled with books some of which looked quite old. A dark wood ladder on a slide rail gave access to the top shelves. It was a unique room in many respects and not one that could be easily duplicated today. On the floor was a beige and blue older Tabriz Persian rug in a teardrop design that practically gleamed from the constant cleaning and vacuuming.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Andrew Worth sat in his wheelchair behind a massive Georgian desk that was bare except for a manila folder placed exactly in its center. He was in his seventies but looked older hunched down in his chair. He had a long face now pale and hollowed out from illness but his eyes were very blue and filled with intelligence. “It’s at least one hundred years old but looks like it just came off the ship from the Middle East. My great grandfather bought it a few years before he died because he thought his wife would have liked it.”
“He must have loved her very much,” I replied as I realized that I was standing on a carpet easily worth one hundred thousand dollars.
“Mmmm. I suppose,” Worth responded. “He had a black mistress in New York and he left his wife alone to take care of the house and kids most of the time. I think he was more in love with her memory than he was with her. I think he married her because her father was rich, and he and my ancestor were in business together. Our family history is full of people who were not saints. Ephraim, my ancestor, had a son by his mistress. Titus Pease, or Fairchild as he called himself, later met Susan Pease. She had married one of Ephraim’s sons who died on San Juan Hill and started this line on the family tree. Titus swept her off her feet and took her for every cent she had. He left her and my mother, Catherine, in poverty”
I saw no need to reply to that but remained standing. The expression on Worth’s face was one of violent hatred. He was obviously not a man who would either forget or forgive. Worth maneuvered his chair away from the desk and came to the right side of it. “Please forgive me, Mr. McCaal. I am an old man who does not get many visitors and so I have a tendency to run off at the mouth and forget my manners. Please. Let’s settle in a more comfortable place. Taneesha will provide tea or coffee or whatever suits your fancy.” He turned away from the desk and wheeled himself through a door on
one side of the room and into a huge living room with a massive fireplace and several groupings of chairs and couches and what looked like a Steinway grand piano. Worth stopped by a butler’s table already set with a tea service and a dish of cakes and petit fours. He beckoned to a comfortable looking leather chair. “Please,” he said.
I sat down and a young man also in a blue uniform appeared. “If you would like anything that is not on the table just let Dennis know.”
‘Jack Daniels on the rocks,” I told him. Dennis disappeared.
“Good. I like a man who knows the purpose of four o’clock. Unfortunately, I cannot follow suit if I care to live a little longer, but I do enjoy talking with someone who does.”
Dennis came back with a double rocks glass that looked like heavy lead crystal, probably Waterford I thought. I took a sip and nodded my appreciation. “Single Barrel,” I said.
Worth nodded. “You know your sour mash.” He leaned forward slightly as if to emphasize that the time for social pleasantries was past. “When Taneesha gave me your message, I must admit I was a little bit puzzled. I knew that my cousin had married but I did not remember the name of her husband. It took a little digging to make the connection. I see now that she married a big hunk of man.”
I didn’t think that the term big hunk fit me, but I kept my mouth shut and sipped on my drink. “Pam worked for you for a while,” I started, “or at least for one of your companies.”
Worth’s expression did not change. “That’s right. I knew her as a little girl up in the family compound at Lake Compton. We were on friendly terms even though we were a generation apart. Even then she knew what she wanted to do when she grew up and, unlike most of us myself included, she never changed. She was always good with words. She read voraciously. She was lousy in math and had to be tutored every summer just to get by so her choice of profession worked out just fine.”
Worth seemed to tire. His hands were trembling, and his head fell so that he looked as if he had fallen asleep. “We could continue this another time if it would be better for you,” I suggested.
His head came up. “Nonsense. In my state there is no advantage and a big risk to putting things off.” His hands still trembled, and his face was pasty and sweaty. “We kept in touch over the years and saw each other at Compton until I got too sick to travel. She said that she was doing just fine and had met someone she really liked, and I said that was wonderful, but she never mentioned your name but said she would look me up when she was up in Rockmarsh. Worth stopped again wheezing softly. He must have pressed something because an older man dressed in white came into the room and handed Worth a small paper cup of what looked to be medicine that Worth drank quickly and made a face. “Never grow old McCaal and if you do pray that you keep your health and die in your sleep. I guess everyone wishes for that, but the fates decided otherwise in my case.” He looked at the man in white. “This is Lowell, my aide.”
Lowell looked at me. “Not too long please.”
I nodded. “So, she came for a visit and you hired her?”
The old man smiled. “Not quite as simple as that. “I suppose I’m pretty cranky most of the time. It’s hard to be cheerful and optimistic when you’re dying. Anyway, I would have someone like Lowell and then they would piss me off and I would fire them. It was a hard time. Pam stopped by to visit and I could see that she was upset at the sight of me. We chatted briefly about her move to Rockmarsh and that she was having a problem finding a job up here that she liked. I encouraged her to keep trying. I was sorry when she left. I don’t get many visitors. My son occasionally but that’s about it and he comes, and then leaves as quickly as possible. I think he’s on a death watch though he would deny that I’m sure.” Worth lapsed into silence.
Lowell nodded at me. I finished my drink and started to get to my feet.
“Anyway, I lost yet another aide and I wondered whether my cousin and I could help each other out. I had Taneesha call the number Pam had left and ask if she could come over to discuss business with me. I asked her if she would help me on a daily basis with medicines, getting around, and things of that nature”
“Not really in her line of work,” I remarked. “She must have been surprised.”
Worth laughed but it came out as more of a cackle. Lowell started to turn his chair towards the door to the library. “Goddammit, Lowell. Leave me the fuck alone,” Worth shouted.
“You need to get some rest, Andy.”
“I will stay here thank you and you address me as Mr. Worth.”
“Okay Andy,” but Lowell turned Worth’s chair back in my direction. Worth glared up at him. Dennis appeared.
“Mr. McCaal, would you like another drink? Dennis bring me one very small please.”
“Andy,” Lowell started.
“Shut up,” Worth snarled.
He drank his drink, probably less than half an ounce and two spots of red appeared in his cheeks. “Yes, she was surprised. I imagine she thought I had found a spot for her in one of the companies in Worth LLC. She had no experience taking care of someone, she told me, and, since I could afford it, I should get a pro. I replied that the duties did not require a rocket scientist,” he glared up a Lowell again, “and that I would be much happier with a family member.” He coughed, and his head dipped downwards again.
Lowell stared at me in silence. I took the hint and left after thanking Worth for his time and saying goodbye. I doubted that the old man even heard me.
I was startled when, two days later, I found a message on my phone from Taneesha asking me to visit Worth again. He was feeling stronger and he had enjoyed our conversation.
He did indeed look a little better as Taneesha led me into the library and then to the living room where Worth, dressed in a jaunty yellow and green silk shirt waited for me. “Thank you for coming Mr. McCaal. I wasn’t sure you would after our last meeting. I’m afraid you caught me on a bad day. I hope to do better now.”
The table beside my now familiar chair already had a Jack Daniels on it resting on a bamboo wooden coaster. I smiled and raised my glass in his direction. He nodded, his eyes sparkling and a smile tugging at his lips.
“What other answers do you seek,” he asked.
“You hired Pam but initially, at least, it must have been a hard period for both of you.”
Worth nodded but remained silent to the point where I thought he would say no more on the subject. “She was not used to dealing with chronic illness. Helping dress, getting me in and out of my chair, getting in and out of bed, getting me on and off the toilet and the shower. All of this was strange to her and she might have put an end to it right then and there, but she has grit. Your ex was a strong woman who was not about to quit swimming when she found herself in strange waters.”
Remembering our wedding night, I could understand what Worth was saying. Pam had undressed in the bathroom and come to bed in thick pajamas buttoned to her neck. Was that really necessary especially on that particular night? Yes, she replied and only after much snuggling and kissing had she decided to remove the bottoms. I don’t think the tops ever came off. Later, of course, she shed such inhibitions. I had the feeling that she had never been prim about sex, but she had felt that way on that particular night. Even so, Pam could be very prissy especially when it came to male nudity. I can imagine how she felt getting Worth on and off the toilet. If she had to do that she probably had to help him clean as well. “So, she stayed with you for a while?”
Worth nodded. “About a year.”
“What caused her to leave? Did you fire her?”
Worth chuckled a little sadly. “No of course not and I paid her what she had been making in New York, so money was not the issue.” Worth was starting to look tired again. Dennis came in with his medicine.
I decided that I needed to get what information I could from him before he became incapacitated altogether but Worth remaine
d silent as if he had said all he was going to say. “What was the issue if I may ask?”
He looked at me coldly but finally nodded. “You are family of sorts or were and I can see you still care about her. I had my son, Doug, who was never able to figure out what to do with himself and so he did nothing but live off of my wife and me and lately just off of me. Beth was worried we would die and he would blow whatever inheritance he got. She threatened him, cajoled, pleaded, disinherited and kicked him out of the house in an attempt to force him to do something constructive with his life. She didn’t care what he did as long as he did something. He merely shrugged and, once he had reached twenty-one, he started hanging out at the bars and ran with a crowd that was not interested in obeying laws. Once they showed up and ran through the house screaming, breaking stuff, stealing the liquor and terrorizing the staff. Beth was beside herself, and I told Doug if he ever did that again I would call the police and have him arrested for criminal trespass and assault. He must have seen something in my eyes because he kept his little band of morons away from this house.
He sighed. “Doug drifted off to the bars and a life of faux testosterone with drugs and liquor, whores and worse. He showed up one day demanding money and introduced us to a guy with him who looked half dead. Doug told us his name was Dirk and the two were lovers. I didn’t think Dirk was in any shape to fulfill that role, but I said nothing. I had a daughter we named Betsy but we called her Bitsy.” Worth’s whole body seemed to sag into his chair but suddenly his face turned into a mask of sheer hatred but she died young and I know why.”
His hands were trembling again. Worth saw that I had noticed and thrust them underneath the gray woolen blanket that covered his lap. His entire body seemed to shrink into the chair but his burned with whatever inner fire was still within him. “So. There you have it. When I die he will not suffer. He will inherit a fortune but that, I am sure, will not satisfy him. Doug will piss it away fairly quickly.”