by Ed Nelson
I cleaned up and joined the family for breakfast. We had a small scene when Mary was informed that she would clean the stable off of her before coming to the table. Mary stamped her foot and said, “Oh drat!” Nobody laughed until after Mrs. Hernandez escorted her to her room to change and clean up.
Dad asked if anyone had some Blackjack gum, he was out. Since he had quit smoking he seemed to always have a stick in his mouth. How he stood that much licorice I don’t know.
Denny had one of the blue and white packages and gave Dad a stick. This gave me a chance to share an odd fact I had picked up when doing my extra end of chapter researches.
“Did you know that Black Jack gum was first made by an inventor named Thomas Adams using chiclet that he bought from General Santa Anna of Alamo fame? Santa Anna was in exile at the time on Staten Island which is now part of New York City? That is where Chiclets came from.”
Nobody knew this, nor did they care.
Dad excused himself to go to the rest home. He was almost out the door and stopped to ask me if I wanted to go along. Since I had nothing better to do I said sure.
We went in one of my T-Birds. I think Dad invited me so I would have to drive.
We found the rest home with no problems. When we asked for Mrs. Carpenter we were given a room number. The nurse at the front desk told us, “I think she is having one of her good days.”
We went to the room and there was an old lady in the true sense of the words, old and a lady. She was dressed for the day sitting in a wheel chair. Dad introduced us. She didn’t ask why we were there instead said.
“I thought this day would come. You are here about Jason Talmadge aren’t you?
“Yes we are,” replied Dad.
“Well I think I’m the last one left so it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Dad asked gently, “What happened that night.”
“We were a wild bunch and Jason the wildest of all. We loved our sex games in that basement. He loved being almost choked to death while having sex. It went too far that night and he strangled before anyone realized what was going on.”
“That’s what we thought from the body.”
“Oh you found him. I never did feel right about saying he fell overboard. We panicked and thought we would be charged with murder. Arley talked us into burying him in the basement. There was a hole in the floor that something was going to be buried in, and cement ready to use, so we used it. We took Jason’s yacht out the next day and told everyone he fell overboard.”
“The police asked a lot of questions but one of the studios got involved and the story was accepted.”
“So you have no idea of the purpose of the original hole in the basement?”
“No one did, I remember Jason being asked and he said no one would believe him if he told them. I thought it might be of great value so I had talked my grandson Ben into trying to get in through the secret entrance.”
He didn’t want to go there, but I talked him into it. He is having trouble raising money to continue Veterinarian school. He went the one time, but didn’t get in and refused to go back. I’ve spent all my money here and can’t help him.”
“I would like to talk to Ben, how can I get a hold of him?
She gave us a phone number. Dad called it and had a short conversation. Ben didn’t live that far away so was coming over. We talked with the lady for a while, but as she tired her mind began to wander. I was freaked out when she started calling me Jason.
When Ben arrived we introduced ourselves and adjourned to an outside sitting area. Mrs. Carpenter was in her own world and wouldn’t miss us.
Before he got to the point Dad asked Ben about his veterinarian schooling. It turned out Ben was currently in school and had two years to go for his studies in large animals.
Dad looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Ben, do you like horses?”
“Sure that is the main reason I am taking my courses. I think they are wonderful animals.”
“We just opened a stable with ten horses and a pony at Jackson House. We need someone to care for them. I will offer room and board, a small stipend and pickup all your schooling costs.”
I have never seen anyone gasp like a fish before. I thought it was just an expression.
“Sure I would love to; it seems too good to be true.”
“Well there is one catch, we will have a contract and part of it is to agree to never mention that sub-basement to anyone.”
“That’s it?”
That’s how we got someone onsite to care for the horses and committed to keeping the secret of Jackson House. On the way home Dad and I speculated on what the purpose of the original hole might have been. We also had a body to dispose of.
Our biggest fear was that there might be another body buried under Jason. We did come up with a plan to get rid of ‘our’ body, that of Jason Talmadge. Since the corpse was not much more than a skeleton we could fit it into a box considerably smaller than a coffin.
The box would be heavily weighted on the bottom and have holes to let water in at the sides and top. We would drop it into the water off of Santa Catalina. It seemed fitting that Talmadge ended up where everyone expected him to be.
Dad and I grabbed a burger at In and Out. I loved the burgers, the fries were okay.
When we got home I decided to spend the afternoon riding. When I went out to the stable Mary was on her pony. She actually seemed to have things under control. Or more likely Misty had things under control.
George was ready to go out. He was fresh rather than frisky. That made me think about the fact we had more horses than riders. How would we keep them exercised and used to be ridden? I guess that would be Ben’s problem in the near future.
Mary asked if she could ride out in the park with me. Not what I wanted, but she is my little sister. I told Bob that we were going out for a while. He just nodded. It wasn’t my place to tell him he was headed back to his ranch soon. I had no idea if that would be good news or not for him. He never communicated!
Mary and I rode on the back paths for almost an hour. At one point she spotted some pretty flowers. I don’t know what they are called. The flowers were in the shape of a yellow star, like a star fish, between the flower petals, but slightly below it was a green star. The plant had a red berry which looked like a strawberry. It must have been too late in their season as the berries were tasteless. Yeah, I tried them and they didn’t make me sick.
Mary loved the way they look. She dismounted Misty. She picked some for a bouquet. I dismounted, tied the horses to a limb. I had learned my lesson on a movie set when I forgot to tie my reins. I didn’t have to personally chase the horse down, but it held the scene up for half an hour and the director was not happy. Out here it would take longer than half an hour.
Anyway I picked some flowers and wove them into a wreath for Princess Mary. She loved the thought and wanted to go directly home to have a picture taken. I gave her a boost back onto Misty and she took off, well Misty ambled away.
By the time I was back on George, Mary and Misty were around a bend in the trail and out of sight. I wasn’t concerned, but I should have been.
Within a few minutes I heard.
“Get her, that pony is worth some money.”
That got my attention. I flipped his reins, leaned forward and lightly kicked George in the side. He can take a hint. We took off. Now I had ridden fast in the movies, but it was always in wide open areas for good camera shots. This was on a six foot wide trail in the woods. I thought I was going to lose my head a couple of times with low limbs.
While it seemed like a wild ride, I doubt it was the length of a football field till Mary and Misty came into sight. I had pictured Mary being dragged from her pony. Instead there were two guys, who I will call thugs chasing Misty. Misty was no longer ambling. I was impressed with her speed. She was leaving those guys in her dust.
They didn’t slow George down at all. He ran between them, knocking both down. Now Misty w
as moving and so was George. The difference was George was bigger and had longer legs. We very shortly caught up. I expected to see a distraught Mary. What I got was a Mary with a big grin on her face.
When I came beside her, she reined Misty in slowly.
“Rick, are you going to get a gun and shoot them?”
“No, but we are going home and call the Sheriff.”
“I bet you could beat them up.”
“Sure short stuff, but with my luck they would already have a gun.”
“Oh yeah, we had better get out of here.”
We headed home; I kept an eye on our back trail, but wasn’t too concerned. George had really sent them ass over teakettle.
I told Bob about what happened. I asked him to take care of the horses as we headed to the house. He nodded while retrieving a Winchester lever action rifle from the stable. He jacked a shell in the chamber and told me.
“Reckon I’ll keep an eye out for those varmints.”
That was the most I ever heard from him at one time.
Dad wasn’t home, but Mum was. We found her in the library with Denny and Eddie doing school work. When I relayed what happened she stood and told Denny to get his camera.
She left the room and came back. I don’t know what she left for but her purse gave a slight metallic clunk when she set it down. She told me to call the Sheriff’s office and report what was going on. Then to see that Mary was all right, Mary who was standing right there looked fine to me. If anything she seemed happy with all the excitement. I nodded. Which in Bob meant, “Thanks Mum.”
I wasn’t going to argue with Mum at a time like this. I wonder if that was a gun in her purse. I realized that I didn’t care if it was, those guys tried to harm Mary. Notice I wasn’t concerned about Mum being hurt. If there was any hurting to be done, she would be the one doing it.
I made the call, while Mrs. Hernandez took Mary to her room to change out of her riding outfit and clean up. All the time Mary was chattering away how Misty had saved her. I also notified security what was going on and that a Deputy should be along shortly. Escort them around to the stable.
I went back to the stable to help Bob with the horses. I had some nervous energy to work off. Silent Bob as I thought of him had the horse’s saddles off and was starting to give Misty a rub down. I started on George. It didn’t seem very long before a Deputy who I hadn’t met showed up.
You could tell he didn’t support Mr. Burrell for Sheriff just by the tone of his questions. I told him what happened.
He stated. “So you saw two guys on the trail as your sister’s horse bolted and rode them down?”
I repeated what I heard them yell.
“So you say.”
About that time Mum pulled around to the garage. She had taken one of my T-Birds so it was easy to see she had passengers. She had two guys in their late twenties or early thirties in the backseat.
She got out with a pistol in her hand. It was the thirty-eight bankers special she normally carried. At gun point she brought them over to us.
The Deputy sternly asked, “Why are you holding those two citizens at gunpoint?”
“These two citizens are thieves and threatened my daughter’s safety.”
“So you say.” I think his 45’s were skipping a groove.
Lowering her pistol she opened her purse. “Here are their handguns; I had them drop them into the purse so they only have their prints on them. Their car with stolen items is back at entrance number three to the park.”
“How do you know they have stolen items?”
“The people in the parking lot looking for their stuff told me. They saw me apprehend them and watched while I searched their car.
“You searched their car without permission?”
At this point Mum got very quiet looking. She just realized the officer wasn’t her friend.
“No, I asked if I could and they said yes.”
The Deputy turned to the guys, “Is this true?”
“Yes, she was going to shoot our…. Well you know she threatened us.”
“Ma’am I’m going to have to place you under arrest for threatening these citizens.”
The one person who was absent in this exchange came out of the house.
Denny shouted, “You are right Mum, according to Deputy Burrill these guys are wanted for armed robbery.”
He handed their wallets and driver’s licenses back to Mum.
The Deputy looked like he had swallowed a whole lemon.
“I better cuff these guys and get over to their vehicle and secure the crime scene.”
Butter wouldn’t have melted in Mum’s mouth as she told the Deputy, “Thank you for your help in our time of need.”
When George Burrill was elected Sheriff that guy had better look for another job. There was also another main reason he should look for another line of work.
Even I knew you do not try to arrest someone with an unknown person standing behind you with a Winchester rifle at point blank range. I gave a sharp nod to Silent Bob. This translates in Silent Bob to, “Thank you.”
He returned this with a slow deep nod which translates in Bob nods to, “Just doing my duty as any God fearing, All American man and patriot will do to protect the Wimen, Children, and those who can’t protect themselves against the nasty, dirty, lawless, abusive lowdown varmints, which can infest our great freedom loving nation.”
Lord, when Bob got going you couldn’t shut him up! I needed to change his name. Maybe Bob the Chatterbox.
Reporter Mary was all excited as she asked Denny for copies of his pictures. She couldn’t wait to write her story on the events were she was saved by Superpony Misty. She also planned to take everything to school (including Misty) for show and tell. I’m glad this was Mum’s problem.
Mum heard her out and spoke to her for a few minutes, when I saw Mary nodding I knew the problem was resolved, no Misty at school. Mum came over to me and explained instead of Misty going to show and tell, I would be, to corroborate Mary’s story. I was right, Mum would handle the problem.
I got Mary to agree to put it off until next week. She was okay with that because that would give her time to publish her story and get some excitement built up at school. Her words, not mine, Mary had been hanging with Susan Wallace for too long. It looked like with Mum’s and Susan’s help we were raising a future MI6 assassin who would be a publicity hound. What could go wrong with that?
After dinner Dad, Mum and I had a serious talk. How to dispose of the corpse was the question. We all agreed that dumping it in the ocean off of Santa Catalina was the most elegant way to handle it. The corpse would be where everyone thought it was. Dad had a rough box knocked together from two by fours. There was spacing between them to allow water to enter. The bottom was lined with lead plates to keep it down.
Dad planned to rent a boat to transport the box and just tip it over the side. Mum wondered if another craft would come into view at the wrong moment and see him dumping it into the ocean. I hesitated then suggested.
“I’ll fly over, circle the area high to ensure there is nothing that can see us then fly low to dump it. That way we would know nothing would be within our horizon.”
“What if someone saw you loading a passenger who knows you aren’t licensed yet?”
“I’ll leave from Ontario, land at a small airport with no control tower. We will do it early in the morning with no people about. If there are we will abort. Dad will get on board with the box; we fly out, scope the area, then drop the box. After that drop Dad off at the small airport, then I’ll proceed back to Ontario.”
“Sounds like a plan, let’s do it early tomorrow morning.”
Dad went out to the garage and collected the box he had brought home. We proceeded to place the bag with the corpse in it into the box. There was quite a bit of bending and twisting involved. From the snapping and grating noises coming from the bag I was glad that I couldn’t see what was happening.
Once the bag was in
side the box Dad slit the bag open and pulled the bag out from around the corpse. He didn’t want anything we had to be with the corpse. What a grim sight, it didn’t look like it had ever been a living human. It reminded me of a deer that had been dead along the road for several months. Not pleasant.
Dad decided to bury the bag in the gaping hole in the floor. That reminded us that we didn’t know why the hole had been dug in the first place. So we went deeper. About two more feet down we hit the top of a wooden box. It was actually a pretty nice wooden box with several inlays.
There was no lock, just a catch so it was easy to open. There on a built-in purple velvet support lay a simple clay cup. There was no way to know how old it was. It could be thousands of years old for all we knew. The only hint was a maker’s mark on the bottom with Hebrew inscription for YHWH, luckily for us our huge dictionary had the Hebraic runes translated, I would have to look it up someday and see if there were any records of the maker, though I had no idea of where to start.
We put the cup back into the box and then placed it in the large safe and promptly forgot all about it.
Chapter 40
The next morning after a restless night I performed my morning exercises. Running out past Bob he gave one of his nods which translated into, “Good morning Rick, it is a beautiful day, have a nice run.”
The guy just wouldn’t shut up.
Dad left for a small airport out in the valley that we figured would have no one about that early in the morning. I went to Ontario and flew to the airport. Glad I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet because there must have been fifty small aircraft there with people who had flown in for the Fly in Breakfast. I landed, Dad was waiting; we had breakfast; then went on our separate ways. Some days you couldn’t win. At home later Dad and I agreed we had to do it next week. He took the box back down to the sub-basement. At least I got three hours for my log book.
By the time I got home it was eleven o’clock so I did some schoolwork until lunch. I went flying for the afternoon. The evening was spent in school work.
I went to the beach in the morning to keep my tan current for the movie. It really was a deep tan. The afternoon was spent in the air, and I hit the books again in the evening. I didn’t stay up late as tomorrow would be a big day.