by T. S. Hill
“As my partner responded, Miss Wilson? Is it?”, I jumped back in. “We hail from Tuscaloosa. Then after pausing a moment, I added in my best southern drawl, “Alabama.”
“I believe that’s the only Tuscaloosa that exists in the United States, Mr. Hill. And, I’m well aware of within which state it’s located.”
“Well, I am truly amazed, and stand in awe of your geographic knowledge, of my humble state of origin, Miss Wilson!”, I replied, tongue in cheek, to Francine, all the while smiling at her.
“It most certainly doesn’t rise to the importance of the state of Texas. Never the less,” Francine continued with her haughty lecture, “I do pride myself with my concern for, and knowledge of, our lessor, and poorer states. Mississippi, and Louisiana are two other perfect examples, of how poverty has robbed their populace of culture and refinery.”
“Do tell!”, Lori stated with utter disdain. I knew right then, exactly where this discourse was headed, and it wasn’t slated to end well. Not for Francine Wilson any way.
“So, Miss Wilson, are you a Texas native?”, I asked, of course already knowing the answer.
“Why should that be of any concern to you, or your staff, sir?”, she replied haughtily.
“It’s not mam. I was just trying to make polite conversation.”, I pointed out. Please forgive me if I’ve been too forward in asking.” She ignored my comment and went back at Al again.
“Albert, I’m really in no mood for this cowboy fare. Surely your cook has something else in the kitchen more suitable for my disposition.
“Perhaps, Tony has a huge tray of deviled eggs handy!”, Al blurted, his face turning red, and his fists clenching. “Francine why are you being such a total bitch, to my staff and guests? If you treat them so poorly, what must you think of me?”
“Albert, I’ve made it clear to you in the past, that you have areas that you needed to improve and polish, but you continue to resist, and cling to your mannerisms of western lore. Texas isn’t the wild west anymore.”, She stated.
“Well, if Texas has become so fabulously civil, Francine, how did you manage to get left so badly behind?”, Al retorted, standing up and throwing the napkin from his lap into his plate.
“Perhaps, I should leave!”, the Williams woman shot back to Al. “I’d rather not air our differences in front of your servants, and near do well business acquaintances.”
“Perhaps you should, Francine! Before my good humor gets stretched to a breaking point!” Al shot back.
Lori quickly rose from her chair, smiled sweetly, and spoke to Francine Williams in a quiet, and controlled voice. “I’m sorry the discourse hasn’t gone well this evening Miss Williams. I’ll see you to the door.”
“I’ll walk with you.”, Sasha said, also rising with a faint smile on her face. Now I was really worried as to what might happen next. When Francine Williams had stood along with Al, Tony and I had both come to our feet also, I suppose, as a knee jerk response from childhood manners training.
“I can show myself out!”, the Williams woman barked, but Lori fell in behind her, with Sasha following, and they all moved swiftly through the door into the living room/parlor. As soon as the door swung shut, we all heard Lori going off on Francine.
“Bitch! If I weren’t a lady, I’d would’ve drug your fucking, sorry excuse for an ass across that table, and hand fed you that fucking entire tray of steaks! Then, stomped the ever fucking, living shit out of your arrogant, piss mouthed face. By then, I had pushed my way through the swinging door, and Saw Sasha tap Francine Williams on her shoulder. The Williams woman whirled her head around at Sasha. What? She screamed.
“And, I would have fucking helped her.”, Sasha calmly retorted. Next Francine Williams went through the front doorway, without saying another word, and slammed it shut, with what must have been all of her might, because the crystal chandelier, on the parlor ceiling, swayed and tinkled. When I returned to the dining room, with the two red heads in tow, Rosita was calmly eating steak and green beans. Tony was frozen in his chair, eyes wide, with his jaw a bit slack. Mrs. Baker, like Rosita, didn’t appear flustered in the least, and was helping herself to a serving of stuffed summer squash. Annette Devoe seemed calm enough, but was only picking at her food, and pushing it around on her plate with her fork, rather than eating. Al was sitting in his chair chuckling, with a smile on his face, but rose mannerly, when Lori and Sasha came back through the door. Lori walked directly to Al.
“Al, I apologize for sticking my nose in that. It really wasn’t any of my business.”, she said.
“My dear,”, Al replied, smiling, “no apology is necessary. You probably kept me from behaving in an ungentlemanly manner. So, thank you for seeing Francine out. And you too, Sasha.”, he added nodding to her. “Now, please, everyone sit back down, and lets enjoy this fine meal that Tony has prepared for us, and try to enjoy what’s left of the evening.” With that, we all sat back down, and the conversation, and evening, went forward with no evidence that Francine Williams had ever been there, except for the lone plate with nothing on it, but one, well done steak.
As everyone was finishing up with their meal and Tony was about to go back to the kitchen to bring in the dessert that he had prepared, I took the conversation back to business.
“Mrs. Baker, Toney, Annette. You would soon figure it out anyway, but we aren’t leaving tomorrow. We’ll be just getting started at what we’re here to do. I feel that each of you are trustworthy, but I must ask you to not reveal to anyone who isn’t at this table, at this moment, that we didn’t go back to Louisiana as was discussed earlier this evening.
“That especially applies to Francine!”, Al stated emphatically, and then added, “but, it also goes for anyone who isn’t sitting at this table right now. And, you’re correct Tagg, you can trust these three of my team. I can’t say much about anyone else in my employ, beyond these three, and Dave Markum, my pilot. But these three, and Dave, I know that I can trust just as much as I trust you.”
“You have no idea how much better that makes me feel Al.”, I replied.
“Don’t worry, Tagg.”, They’ve all had extensive background checks, except for Annette, and you know she’s a decorated veteran. And, you’ve known Mrs. Baker for how long? Nine, ten years?”
“Al, Mrs. Baker is family.”, I commented, smiling at her. “And Annette, I hope you can understand that our need for confidentiality, and trustworthiness is truly a matter of life and death, so we did look into your background.”, I said shifting my eyes to her. If she had a poker face, I must have been looking at it, because I read no response from her. “Only, we may not have the whole story on her, Al.”, I continued. “She’s not just decorated, but heavily decorated for combat.” Al shifted his gaze from me to Annette, who I was still studying for some clue of what she was thinking, or how she was reacting to all of this. Her eyes dropped into her lap, and she began speaking in a humble tone.
“I was a communications specialist, electronic warfare. The details of what I did in that unit, and especially, how I did it, are classified. My unit wasn’t intended to be in a direct combat zone, but through some intelligence snafu, or most likely, lack of intelligence,” she said with an obvious smirk flooding her face, “we came under a direct heavy attack, I grabbed a rifle just like everyone else in the unit, and just did my job as I was trained.” Her face once again went full poker, and as she looked up at Al, she continued. “They chose to give me medals for it, but I was just doing my job as trained. The whole thing seemed weird to me, to give someone medals just for doing what they’re supposed to do.”
“Annette, the words, honor, valor, bravery, and beyond the call of duty, carry real meanings to me, and probably everyone else in this room.”, Al said to her. “All I can say is thank you.” Annette dropped her eyes back to her lap, and her face flushed a bit.
A lull presented itself and Tony, took the opportunity to move things along by announcing, “I’ll bring in dessert.”, and heading straight into
the kitchen. Almost immediately, he spun back through the door carrying a huge loaded tray. “I hope that everyone likes pecan pie!”, he sang out as he headed back into the room. Tony made his way around the table, setting a dessert plate in front of each of us, and then returned to the kitchen to return the tray.
“This is my favorite southern food!”, Rosita exclaimed. Then she spoke to Tony as he returned to the room and his seat beside Annette. “What is this topping, Tony?”, she asked.
“Just a brandied whipped cream.”, Tony replied.
“It is delicioso!”, Rosita said, smacking her lips like a kiss. “You will share the recipe with me?”
“Certainly. Miss Almeyda!”, Tony answered her.
“Please, you will call me Rosita.”, She replied. “We fine cooks, must not be formal to each other.” I thought that Tony was blushing, but with his ruddy like complexion in the dim dining room light, it was hard to tell. The conversation lulled again, and it seemed like as good a time as any for me to continue discussing business.
“Al, I spent a good part of today, while the ladies were gone, assessing the volume, and nature, of the mass of raw, paper bound data that we have to process, so that we can do the cross matches that you and I discussed. And, while our team can handle it in house, we could get it all done a whole lot quicker, with another set of eyes and hands that can be trusted. Also, we have two laptops, but with extra help at data entry, we could use another PC, and really expedite this whole thing on a fast track.”
“That’s a tall order, given the extremely sensitive nature of this work Tagg, and with the trust qualification stacked on top. There’s only one person that I can spare on a part time basis who fits that. I don’t know how much I could spare her. Let me give it some thought. Annette, if I can work it out, do you mind working with Tagg and these ladies on a part time basis, just until we get this data thing cleared up?”
“I would be pleased and honored to sir.”, Annette said with her eyes doing that voluntary sparkle thing again.
“Tony would be just as qualified, but I can hardly spare him.”, Al went on. “First of all, we’d all starve. While Mrs. Baker is a great cook in her own right, my house would fall apart without her attention, and I might too!”, he said laughing. “Plus, you know, Tony keeps the cars running, all of my electronics, does all the shopping and errands, is quite the handyman with minor plumbing, electrical, and carpentry repairs, paints anything that needs it, and supervises any contractors that work here, except Mrs. Baker oversees the grounds keepers, and security guards when we use them, and the carpet cleaning company. I just can’t spare either of them Tagg. By the way, do you think that Mrs. Baker should put on a couple of around the clock guards, Tagg?”
“Given what we’re dealing with Al, maybe one on the front gate and one way out on the back perimeter, wouldn’t hurt. With the sensors that you have surrounding the house, I see no need to go beyond that. Rent-a-cops really aren’t much good for anything, except to show a presence, and call 911. But I suppose, like I said, given what we’re dealing with, it wouldn’t hurt to add that presence to your security.
“Mrs. Baker will you take care of that first thing tomorrow?”, Al, asked, nodding to Mrs. Baker. She nodded her head to Al. “Certainly.”, she said.
“Mrs. Baker, I’ll give you the name of a different company than what you’ve been using. I would feel certain that the company at the plant offices has been compromised, and I assume that’s who you’ve used in the past.
“Thank you, Tagg. Please get that to me tonight, so I can get on this first thing tomorrow.”, She requested.
“Well, it’s easy enough to remember.”, I told her. No need to write it down I guess. It’s called Top Drawer Security. You’ll find them listed in the phone directory under that name, or TD Security.”
“I’ll call them first thing tomorrow Tagg.”, she replied.
By now, everyone had finished dessert, and knowing what we still had to do before our work day ended, I figured that it was time to move on to our little clandestine night mission to Al’s office.
“Al,”, I began, as I rose from my chair, “It’s been a wonderful evening, and I’ve enjoyed this amazing meal and the fabulous company, but we have a very early day tomorrow, and really need some rest so that we’ll be ready for it. Can you let me know sometime tomorrow, whether or not, and if so, how much, Annette can help us with our data prep and entry?”
“Sure Tagg.”, Al responded, rising to his feet. “Let me walk you all out. Annette, could you wait around a few minutes with Tony and Mrs. Baker? I want to speak with you briefly before you go.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Longworth.”, she answered, and then continued, “It was nice to see you again Mr. Hill, and to meet you ladies. If Mr. Longworth can work it out, I look forward to working with you.” She smiled as us sweetly. After thankyous and goodnights were exchanged, the women and I made our way down the back hallway with AL and out the back entrance. Once outside Al at once got back onto business.
“Do you ladies feel up to putting on this charade tonight to get into my office and download the data base? I know that you’ve all had a long, trying day.”
“Thanks Al.”, Lori spoke up. “But how tired we are doesn’t count as much as the urgency of what we have to do. So, I’m speaking for us ladies. Yes. We’re ready to go.”
“Except for me!”, Sasha, spoke up. “I’ve got to change into something more comfortable to climb in and out of car trunks and where ever else I need to crawl tonight. Then, I’m ready.”
“Well, I’m going to need a couple of belts of scotch, so I can relax and pretend like I’m half snockered.”, Al said, then added. There’ll be chilled champagne in the limo for you ladies.”
“I could use a bottle just for myself, about now.” Lori commented. “Cowboy, you filled us in on Francine, but you didn’t warn us! Arggg! That bitch! Sorry Al!”, she squeaked, putting her hands over her mouth.
“Nothing to be sorry about my dear.”, Al spoke back to her. “If anyone owes anyone an apology, it’s me, and or Francine.”
“That woman is a mongrel bitch! I am sorry, Senor Al, but your woman is a sorry excuse for a ella paro!”, Rosita blurted out.
“What’s an ella paro?”, Sasha asked.
“A she dog.”, Lori answered, “so I guess, a bitch!”
“Girls!”, I snapped at them.
“Tagg,”, Al spoke up immediately, “I assumed from what you said before Francine arrived, and after you left, that you found something in her background check to give you concern.”
“And, you assumed correctly to the tenth power, Al.”, I replied to him. “I didn’t want to give you the info before dinner, because I figured that it would upset you so that you probably wouldn’t be able to hide it, and that might compromise, and complicate everything.”
“I figured.”, Al said. “Just because other people don’t read you, doesn’t mean that after knowing you for ten years, that I can’t. So, can I also assume from reading you, and what you said at dinner, that your check on Annette came out clear?”
“Clean as a whistle Al.”
“Good. I just wanted to be sure that we’re on the same page before giving the go ahead for her to work with you and the girls. Do you think that she’ll work out okay to work with your team?”
“What do you women think of Annette?”, I asked looking back at the group. There was head nodding and shoulder shrugging.
“She should be fine.”, Lori spoke up.
“Sure.”, Sasha said.
“Si. She seems okay.”, Rosita added.
“Fine then Al.”, I said giving him a nod.
“Okay, that’s done then. I’ll have her here bright and early tomorrow. You guys come over for breakfast whenever you get up. I’ll have her around here, busy getting my stuff in order, then you all can get started. I’m thinking of putting her in one of the guest rooms upstairs if she’ll do that, so that she can be here to help you all out every day, without being s
een coming and going from the gate every day. I plan on telling Francine that I fired Annette. She wasn’t near as ornery until I hired her. I assume Tagg, unfortunately, that you may want me to keep Francine around for a while longer as your investigation proceeds?”
I looked Al in the eyes. “Okay, and yes, to everything that you just said, Al. Now, here’s your report on Francine.”, I said reaching into my inside coat pocket. Do me a favor and don’t read it until after you go back inside. You’re going to hit something after you read it, and I don’t want to be around, and become an unintended target of your outrage.”
“That bad, eh?”, Al said taking the fold of papers from my hand.”
“Yeah, that bad, Al.”, I answered.
“You all get ready for our little trip, with whatever gear you need”, Al directed. “I’ll say goodnight to Annette, and then Tony will have to change into his chauffeur’s uniform. So, I guess we’ll pick you up at the guest house in say, forty-five minutes? Will that work?”
“Sounds good, Al.”, I replied.
“Oh, and Tagg, I’ve got a new laptop in my study that you can use. Tony has been after me to let him transfer my data from the old one to it, but I hate changing computers, and upgrading the operating systems. It’s just aggravating as hell. My data stays backed up anyway. So, you’ll give me a good excuse to keep using my old trusty laptop. I’ll tell Tony to get the new one to you.”
Al walked back into the house, and I turned to address the women. “So, Sash, you ready to crawl into that limo trunk with me?”
“I’d crawl anywhere with you Babe, and you know it!”, she replied.
“You and I dress as dark as possible.”, I instructed her. “I don’t know what we’ll be running into. I don’t want any trouble, but who knows. So, strap on your nine. I also don’t know what we’ll be crawling over, under, or through, so, try not to wear anything too loose that can get tangled. Wear shoes that you can run in. I have no idea if I have anything appropriate to wear myself.”
Lori spoke up, “You have a black, jogging/exercise suit thing, that I bought you back in Crockett when we went shopping for rancher clothes.”