Richard Reese and his assistant, Miss Biggs, met with Ox, Mandy and me before the show started to finalize our plan.
It really wasn’t much of a plan. Our hypothesis was that one of the entrants had gotten the information about the TV gig from someone on the Kennel Club staff. We were hoping that the perp would approach me as the TV rep, and try to influence me in some way. If no one did, we were back to square one.
Reese had given us a list of Kennel Club members that knew about the TV show, but there was nothing that singled any one of them out as the source of the leak.
We were on the way to our seats when a big Labrador Retriever ambled up and licked me on the hand. When I stopped to pat him on the head, he looked up at me with soft brown eyes that would melt even the coldest heart. He looked just like Old Yeller from that 1957 movie classic.
“That’s Jimbo,” Reese said. “He belongs to Billy, one of our members that has been helping us put on this show for years. Jimbo is kind of our unofficial mascot. He has the run of the place.”
I knelt down and rubbed the big dog’s ears. He had the kind of face that screamed, “Take me home!”
I wavered momentarily, but then I took another look at his size and figured that it would take at least a quart sandwich bag to accommodate one of his little gifts.
I gave him a final pat and as I walked away, I felt a gentle nudge on my behind.
“I think he likes you,” Reese observed.
This rear-ender was a new experience for me. In my previous encounters with big dogs, they had invariably gone straight for Mr. Winkie and the boys.
As we walked through the back halls of the arena, there were dogs and owners of every description.
Somewhere out there was an owner that would stoop to dirty tricks to secure the coveted TV spot.
But which one?
Henry Martin sat in the car outside his in-laws home for a long time.
This was his first visit since Marsha and Billy had moved in with her parents and he wasn’t sure how he would be received.
Jim and Ellen Bennett had always been friendly and supportive, but Marsha was their baby girl and nothing was too good for her.
Jim was a hard-nosed old cuss that took the role of alpha-male and family provider seriously. He had been in the military and served two terms in Vietnam.
Realizing that he couldn’t avoid the inevitable, Henry climbed out of the car and knocked on the door.
When Marsha opened the door, Billy threw his arms around him.
“I missed you, Dad.”
“I missed you too, Son.”
Marsha pried the boy away and gave Henry a kiss and a hug.
“Come on in, sweetie. Mom has dinner ready.”
Ellen set a heaping plate of fried chicken on the table and gave Henry a peck on the cheek. “Hope you’re hungry. I made all your favorites.”
“Thanks, Mom. You didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”
“Nonsense! Jim has been bugging me for fried chicken for a week.”
Jim Bennett grabbed Henry’s arm and shook his hand. “Have a seat, son, and tell us what’s going on.”
Jim was never one to mince words.
“Plenty of time for that later,” Ellen said. “Let’s eat.”
Henry tried his best to eat enthusiastically for Ellen’s benefit, but the knot in his stomach made it nearly impossible.
After Billy helped his grandmother clear the table, Jim said, “Billy, why don’t you go play your video game so that we grownups can have a talk?”
“But Grandpa,” he protested, “I want to hear what’s going on too.”
“Not this time. You run along now.”
After Billy had stalked off, Jim turned to his son-in-law. “So what’s happening, Henry? Any luck finding a job?”
Henry hung his head. “Nothing yet. The companies aren’t hiring for the jobs I’m qualified for and I can’t even get hired to flip burgers. They say I’m overqualified with my MBA. They don’t want to hire and train someone that they know will be moving on sooner or later.”
Jim shook his head disgustedly. “It’s not your fault, son. You couldn’t help it when they shipped your job off to Mexico. It’s those damned politicians!
“There’s just no middle class anymore. At one end, you’ve got the fat cats --- the rich getting richer, and at the other end, you’ve got the people living on the public dole. Guys like us; we just don’t stand a chance. They make it impossible for the small businessman to survive, so they move somewhere else, and now the president wants to legalize eleven million more foreigners to take our jobs. It just isn’t right!”
“I appreciate you saying that, Jim, and you have no idea how much I appreciate you letting Marsha and Billy stay here until we can get back on our feet.”
“Glad to help. That’s what families do. I wish we could help more. The three of you are welcome here as long as need be, but, well, there’s just not much we can do for you financially. Ellen and I are on a fixed income now. Got a whopping twenty-dollar a month increase in Social Security this year. Paid into that damn thing for forty years and we barely have enough to get by on.”
“I know, Jim. We wouldn’t think about asking you for money. Something will turn up. I know it will.”
“I have faith in you. You’re a hard worker --- always done what had to be done to take care of your family. I know you will again.”
Henry could think of only one thing that could pull his family out of the hole they were in. He wondered what Jim Bennett would think about that.
After a dessert of apple cobbler, he rose from the table.
“I’d better get back. Those things aren’t going to pack themselves.”
“Awww, Dad! Do you have to leave so soon?” Billy wailed.
“Don’t want to, but I have to. You be good and take care of you mother for me. Can I count on you?”
“Sure!”
“That’s my boy.”
At the front door, Marsha pulled Henry close.
“You know that I’m with you and I’ll always love you.”
“No matter what?” he asked, thinking about the mysterious man’s proposition.
“No matter what!”
CHAPTER 8
The first hour just seemed like an hour, but the second hour seemed like two hours and the third hour seemed like a whole day. Wait! That’s a line from the Steve Martin movie, The Jerk, but that’s exactly how I felt after watching dozens of dogs cavorting around the arena, most ignoring their master’s coaching.
When the lunch break finally rolled around, I headed to the nearest concession stand.
Ox was in line just ahead of me.
“What’s up, partner?” he asked.
“I’m gonna get a dog,” I replied.
“Whoa! Really? I thought you were opposed to dogs in your apartment.”
“A HOT DOG! But you knew that. I’m starving. How was your morning?”
“You wouldn’t believe how many piles of poop I’ve cleaned up and how many times I’ve heard, ‘Oh, my goodness! FiFi has never done that before.’”
“Are you taking names? Maybe you can go take a dump in their front yard to get even.”
“Very funny!”
At that moment I felt a cold nose rub against my hand. It was Jimbo.
“I think you’ve found a friend,” Ox observed.
I reached down to pet him and got a handful of drool for my trouble.
“Great! Now I’ll have to go wash up from one dog before I can tackle the dog I’ve been waiting for all morning.”
Just then, the intercom blared, “George Wilson. Clean up behind Section 27.”
Ox heaved a sigh, “That’s me. Doody calls!”
Ox headed off with his pooper-scooper and I headed to the washroom with Jimbo dutifully tagging along behind.
I had finished washing up and had stopped by the water fountain before returning to the concession stand.
I felt something soft and warm sn
uggling up to my backside and wondered what Jimbo was up to now.
When I turned, it wasn’t Jimbo, but a gorgeous brunette that had invaded my personal space.
“Oh, sorry!” I said, trying to back away, but there was nowhere to go.
“Don’t be sorry,” she purred, pressing even closer. “My name is Michelle. How was your morning?”
“Uhhhh, just fine,” I stammered. “Were you wanting to use the fountain?”
I tried slipping to the side, but she blocked me with a curvaceous leg and pressed even closer.
“Not really,” she replied, as she nuzzled my chest with her ample bosom. “I’ve been watching you all morning and I thought maybe we could take a little break together.”
After my initial shock had worn off, it dawned on me that it probably wasn’t my animal magnetism that had drawn this vixen to me, but the fact that I was from the TV production company. This gal was undoubtedly part of the shaving crew. I knew I had to play along.
“What exactly did you have in mind?” I asked in my huskiest voice.
“I know a little room that’s very private. It has no windows and it locks. We could get to know one another better.”
“Lead on,” I said, taking her hand.
She led me to a room that was exactly as she had described. After locking the door, she pointed to a comfy couch. “Let’s get down to business.”
She smiled and gave me a wink as she started unbuttoning her blouse.
As the buttons popped open, I figured it was time to switch gears before things got out of hand. I had always shared my undercover adventures with Maggie. Up to this time, she had been very supportive, even when I ended up shot or beaten, but I didn’t think what was about to happen would go over very well.
“Look,” I said, “I --- uhhh --- appreciate your --- uhhh --- enthusiasm, but let’s get real. A gal like you just doesn’t get all hot and bothered by an old fart like me. What’s really going on here?”
“Besides,” I said, pointing to my wedding ring, “I’m happily married. So what gives?”
I saw the disgusted look on her face as she quickly re-buttoned her blouse.
“Okay, so you’re too old to be interested in the temptations of the flesh ---.”
“Hold on a minute,” I protested, “I didn’t say that I couldn’t. I said that I wouldn’t. There’s a big difference.”
“Whatever,” she replied, waving her hand. “Let’s cut to the chase. We both know that you’re with the TV production company checking out the dogs for the Maurice, The Wonder Dog Show. We want that spot. What’s it going to take? Money? I can give you five thousand right now!”
I figured that it was time to go for the confession.
“I’ll bet that you want that spot so bad, you’d even shave a few competitor’s dogs to get it.”
That caught her by surprise. For a brief moment, she was speechless, and then I saw the light bulb go off in her eyes.
“You’re a cop, aren’t you? A damned cop!”
I pulled my badge from my pocket. “Got me!”
“Well I have a little surprise for you,” she said, heisting up her skirt.
Strapped to her thigh was a holster holding a snub-nosed .38.
I couldn’t help but wonder how she would have explained that if our aborted tryst had progressed any farther.
“Sorry, old timer, but now that we know where we both stand, I can’t let you waltz out of here and blow this whole thing for us.”
“A .38 makes a pretty loud pop,” I said. “That’s going to be pretty hard to explain to all of the folks roaming the hall just outside the door.”
“You’re right, of course, but I have a better idea. Go where I tell you and no one else will get hurt. If you screw this up, a whole lot more people will wind up with a bullet.”
For the second time in an hour, I told the gorgeous brunette to lead on.
“Head down the hall and take the first right turn --- and no tricks!”
The first right turn led us into a small banquet room that was unoccupied during the dog show.
“Through that door,” she said, pushing me with the muzzle of the .38.
The door led into a fully stocked kitchen. At the far end was the door to a walk-in freezer.
“Open it!” she ordered.
I opened the door and a cloud of smoky haze billowed forth as the frigid air in the freezer mingled with the warm humid air in the kitchen.
She gave me a shove and I stumbled in. Before the door slammed shut behind me, I saw a side of beef hanging from a hook and boxes of frozen vegetables.
I heard her muffled voice through the door. “You should have taken me up on the sex. It would have been a lot more fun than this.”
I was beginning to think she was right. My frozen body was going to be harder to explain to Maggie than a roll in the hay with a gorgeous stranger. Well, maybe not.
It was pitch black and I could feel the icy cold sapping the strength from my body.
I had read about pilots that had been downed in icy seawater. The article said that a person could last for up to an hour in 40-degree water before hypothermia renders them unconscious.
I had never read how long a person could survive in a sub-zero freezer.
I was about to find out.
Ox had finally gotten his foot long hot dog with chili and cheese when Mandy approached him.
“Hi Ox. Have you seen Walt?
Ox looked at his watch. “Not for about a half hour. He was headed to the wash room, then he was going to come back here for a bite of lunch.”
Ox turned to the kid behind the counter. “Have you seen the old dude that I was talking to a half hour ago?”
“Nope, he never came back. Maybe he got a dog from another concession stand.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Ox said, never believing a word of it. “Let’s check out the men’s room. Maybe he got sick.”
Ox checked every stall, but there was no sign of his friend.
“It’s just not like him to disappear like this.”
At that moment, Jimbo appeared. He sat at Ox’s feet and whimpered.
“You again. If you hadn’t drooled on Walt’s hand, we probably wouldn’t be looking for him now.”
At first, Jimbo looked hurt, but then he got to his feet, grabbed Ox’s trouser leg in his big jaws and pulled.
“Get away from me, Mutt. I don’t have time to play now. My partner is missing.”
“I don’t think he’s playing,” Mandy said. “I know dogs and this one is trying to tell us something. What is it, Jimbo? Where’s Walt?”
The big dog ran a few feet and turned around expectantly.
“He wants us to follow him,” Mandy said.
“You can tell by that?”
“Trust me!”
Jimbo ran a few feet more. When he saw that he was being followed, he took off at a dead run.
“Hey, slow down!” Ox yelled. “I only have two legs. You have four.”
They followed Jimbo down the hall, through the banquet room and into the kitchen.
He squatted in front of the big freezer and pawed the door as if he was digging a hole.
“It’s locked!” Mandy cried.
Ox looked around the kitchen and spotted a huge meat cleaver.
“Stand back,” he ordered.
It took only two blows for the lock to spring open.
Ox threw open the door and his partner rolled out onto the floor curled up in a fetal position.
“Jesus, Walt! Are you okay?”
“What took you so long?” came the feeble reply.
“Had to finish my chili dog,” the big guy replied with relief.
“How --- how did you find me?”
Jimbo ambled up and gave Walt a big lick on the face leaving a stream of drool.
“Thank your furry friend here. If he hadn’t come along, you would be a sixty-nine-year-old popsicle.”
“You know what,” Mandy said. “I think we might have just
found Maurice, The Wonder Dog!”
CHAPTER 9
The silence was oppressive as Henry Martin opened the door into his dark, lonely house.
He could almost hear Billy’s voice as he would come running from his playroom. “Mom! Daddy’s home!” --- Almost.
He could almost smell the fragrant aroma of apple pie coming from the kitchen, baked by the loving hands of his wife. --- Almost.
Tonight there was nothing but emptiness.
The life and love had been sucked from his home by the terrible burden of debt and despair.
He switched on the floor lamp and sunk into the recliner where he had watched movies and sports on cable TV --- back in the happier days when they had cable. It had been turned off months ago.
Billy’s Tonka dump truck that he had carried from the playroom to be boxed up for a garage sale sat in the corner. Billy had spent hours in the sandbox in the backyard with that truck. There was plenty of room in the basement to keep this treasured toy, but no room at Jim and Ellen’s. The truck would have to go.
He remembered his father-in-law’s words earlier in the day. “I have faith in you. You’re a hard worker --- always done what had to be done to take care of your family. I know you will again.”
He knew the answer to his family’s dilemma all too well.
He wondered what Jim would think if he actually carried it out. Would he be proud that he had taken care of his family or ashamed that Henry was part of the family?
He remembered Marsha’s words as she held him close. “You know that I’m with you and I’ll always love you, no matter what.”
But would she still love him when she learned that he had taken the life of the highest elected official in the land?
He sat pondering those questions when the light flickered, then went out. KCP&L had made good on their promise to disconnect service if the bill was not paid.
He sat in the darkness for the longest time, feeling the temperature in the house drop ever so slowly.
Finally, with a resolve born of despair, he pulled the crumpled slip of paper from his pocket.
The only light in the cold dark room came from his cell phone as he dialed the number.
[Lady Justice 13] - Lady Justice and the Assassin Page 5