The Case

by Lee Cunningham

  As they dressed and walked to the poolroom, Shane turned his dad’s words over and over in his mind. He finally had to stop thinking about them, and return to the here and now. The past held immense sorrow for him. He needed to focus now on Kate, Pete, Walter, Heath, and this assignment, and get up to speed on his own destiny. He needed to be there for his family, extended family, and friends, exactly as his dad had directed. He knew it was imperative for him to make good decisions, as his dad had advised.

  As Shane and Kate walked toward the pool, he watched her walk ahead of him, descending the stairs. He tried to focus on Kate, and take his mind off his dad’s letter and post script. But he kept feeling there was more to his dad’s final words than a reminder about scheduled maintenance on the old car. His mind kept drifting back to the car, and his dad, as he tried to remember.

  Kate moved like a dancer, her tight muscular body bouncing in all the right places. But as mesmerizing as the view of Kate was to him, Shane’s mind struggled to be free of his dad’s caution. He fought to focus on the incredible sight before him, and reminded himself of his anticipation he had felt just to see her at the café each morning. He knew he could never take the gift he had been given, this wonderful new love, for granted. Still…his dad’s words returned time and time again.

  As they arrived at the ground floor, Shane again stared at Kate’s long and shapely legs. He feasted his eyes on her dream butt, a small, tight and muscular masterpiece, perfectly curved, and now framed in a hot red bikini that matched Kate’s lips, toenails and long fingernails.

  Michelangelo couldn’t have created a waist as perfect as Kate’s, or the magnificent breasts and shoulders of a diva that led to her inviting neck. And then there was Kate’s beautiful face and long, flowing dark brown hair, with red highlights that shimmered in the sunlight. Even though Shane was behind her, he could still picture and taste her full red sweet lips, and drink in the deep pools of her eyes, as if she were facing him.

  Shane suddenly realized he was having a hard time keeping his eyes off Kate, and her bikini. He quickly glanced around the area to make sure no one else was watching, embarrassed by his now growing lust. He also realized that, once again, he was hard as a rock, and he immediately slowed down as Kate moved into the viewing room. Shane stopped on one side of the overstuffed chairs and sat down, embarrassed to continue on in his current condition. He thought to himself, “I should have just focused on dad’s message...there is a clue there!” He smiled to himself.

  Kate was a few feet ahead before she realized that Shane wasn’t behind her. She looked back, saw him sitting in the chair, and made her way back to him. “Shane, we don’t have to do this now, if you don’t want to. We can go back to the room and just take some time.”

  Shane blushed, his manhood throbbing like he was still in high school and had spent the night slow-dancing with his girlfriend. “It’s not that, honey…I just can’t stop appreciating your beauty. You have this unusual effect on me, something I’ve never felt before. I can’t control it. At the most inappropriate times, the sight of your body just takes over my body, and seduces my thoughts.”

  Shane smiled sheepishly, as he glanced up at Kate standing over him. Kate sat next to him and looked down, smiling, as she understood his dilemma. Imitating the old movie star, Mae West, she said with a smile, “Don’t ever stop that, if you know what’s good for you, big boy.” They both laughed as Kate put her arm around Shane.

  Once it was safe for him to walk, they strolled to the pool, side by side, talking about inconsequential things, taking no chances with stray amorous thoughts. They spent an hour swimming in the indoor pool and chatting, before they left to change for dinner. Kate marveled at Shane’s well-defined, muscular body. He was obviously in great shape, but his proportions were perfect in her mind.

  She wondered where his “flaw” was hidden, as she believed everyone had some flaw, some part of their body they secretly wished could be better. Like the conformation of the horses she loved to ride, Kate found room for improvement in everyone’s physique, including her own. She thought her own breasts were too large, a full double-D size, and wished them a cup size smaller. But try as she might, she could not find the flaw in Shane.

  After swimming they returned to their room. Shane was more pensive than Kate had ever seen him. They changed for dinner in silence. Once downstairs, they ate quietly with the team in the workroom, while Pete, Walter and Spencer ate in the dining room and discussed the acquisition of a shopping center in Orange County, California.

  Shane didn’t want to think about anything other than this assignment, solving the death of his parents and Kate’s father, and his future with Kate. He was getting comfortable with the team, and especially liked Lee, Jim, and Jesse. He felt he had to get to know everybody very well, and as soon as possible.

  As wonderful as everything had become, Shane knew something was seriously wrong between Heath and Pete. He knew he also had to find out what it was, and quickly. A big piece was missing from the stories he had been told by both Heath and Pete. Shane decided he didn’t want any unresolved distractions. He was going to take his dad’s advice and not be too demanding, but he needed to push Pete now for an answer. He also knew this was one subject about which he could not trust himself to be objective, and he knew what he needed to do to evaluate Pete’s response.

  After dinner, Shane picked up his cell phone and called Pete. He put a finger to his lips and Kate remained quiet. Shane was on the hunt for the truth. “Pete, can you meet me in the sitting room in half an hour. We have to talk.” Pete agreed, although somewhat reluctantly.

  When Shane ended the call, he turned to Kate, “Pete and I have some unfinished business you need to hear. I need you to know this, without Pete knowing you are listening, so he won’t hold back. I may be too emotionally involved to be objective or understanding, and I need your read on the conversation. For better or for worse, right?” Kate nodded her understanding and agreement, although she hated that what she felt could be viewed as deceptive.

  The meeting had been arranged for privacy in the sitting room. Kate left before the meeting to go to the women’s shower room, where she knew that a vent in a connecting storage room would allow her to hear the conversation in the sitting room above, without being obvious. Still she felt she was not being honest with Pete. Worse, she felt like a spy. But she wanted to support Shane at a time he seemed to need her opinion.

  Pete walked into the room to find Shane waiting, standing next to the loveseat. Pete studied Shane, and said, “I recognize that look on you, Shane. You always wear your feelings on your shirt sleeve when it comes to family.”

  Pete’s remark brought no response from Shane, as he tried to control his emotions. Pete said, “What can I tell you, other than what has already been discussed? You are obviously upset at me for something. Knowing you, you would have wanted me to tell you what was going on during every step of the way through your life. I’m sorry. I thought there were too many things you didn’t need to know. I was following your parents’ specific instructions.”

  Shane tried unsuccessfully to recall all his dad’s advice, when dealing with Pete. But his emotions had overcome him. “And when was I going to be ready, old enough, or wise enough for you to share the details of the death of my parents, Pete?” Shane challenged.

  Shane’s fair complexion reddened, as blood rushed to his skin, pushed by adrenaline, released by anger. “We had no secrets, you and I, Pete. It was just us after your own wife, Claire, passed away. Maybe even before then, we went over the death of my parents a hundred times, and all I ever got was lies…lies, or I don’t knows, from you!? You and Heath were all I had left. I needed the truth!”

  Pete sat in the loveseat, relaxed his body into the depths of the cushions, and let loose a deep sigh. “I can’t pretend I always knew what was right, or did what was right when I did know it. I didn’t really know anything for sure about their murders for more than a year after the accident. I ha
d suspicions it was a murder. But not until Walter and I got together to compare notes, and he shared information the PI firm had uncovered, did the details begin to take some form and start to make sense. And that didn’t come right away. Everything took so much time, and time just began to slip away.”

  Pete continued. “Over time, Walter and I became very close. He took a keen interest in assuring your safety, and I got to know and love Kate as a father would love a daughter. Walter had the idea and the resources to offer you and Heath protection. You were in college and I had my hands full with Heath. And still, the meaty facts in the cases came out slowly over the years.”

  “We eventually had a better understanding of why and how it happened…and even had some proof, that your parents, and Kate’s father and his assistant, had been murdered. But it never seemed the right time to tell you kids. Plus, I thought I had to wait for Heath to grow up and become a man. And that never happened. So I put it off. It became the easiest thing to do...always searching for more and more evidence, always waiting for a better ‘right’ time, and always trying to keep your lives normal.”

  Shane’s complexion turned a deeper red, as his neck veins bounced with the surging blood from his quickened heartbeat. “Speaking of Heath, where does he fit into all of this now? Is he protected, and what about his wife and kids?”

  Shane’s expression demanded an explanation that Pete clearly didn’t want to give. Shane continued his relentless stare until Pete knew there was no more waiting. He knew now was the time to come clean about Heath.

  Pete sank further down in the cushions, as if a beating had pummeled him into submission. He began slowly. “Heath was protected and guarded, just like you and Kate, until a year before he went to prison. There was nothing we could do for him then…really, even long before that…he would never listen to me! With Heath in prison, it was quickly determined there was no threat to Heath’s wife and kids. She moved on with her life and nearly lost contact with Heath.”

  “I placed the assets from your parents’ life insurance policies and the sale of their house in a trust, per your dad’s instructions. I split the assets of that trust as directed by your father. Spencer now also manages Heath’s investments, but Heath is not part of our LLCs, and he has not been included in the family’s financial plans for the future.”

  Pete struggled to speak. “He was a drug addict…is a drug addict. He’s seemingly doing great now, but he placed himself far from the family a long time ago. He and I had it out hundreds of times when he was using drugs. He stole from Claire and me, from you, and from anyone else he could steal from, to feed his habit. He and I said our goodbyes after he broke a thousand promises to Claire and me, and I had no more hope, respect, or compassion left for him.”

  Shane walked to the loveseat and sank into the deep cushions next to Pete. Years of training and practice enabled him to shrug off the adrenaline quickly, and regain control over his emotions, at least on the exterior. The blood drained from his face and the bulging arteries in his neck receded.

  Shane admitted in a clear, calm voice, “That explains a lot. Heath never would talk to me much about you after he got out of prison. He just said you could never forgive him.”

  Shane studied Pete’s eyes, searching for an explanation. “Forgive him for what, Pete? What did he do that was so unforgivable? We were family and we didn’t have anyone, but each other. Stolen things can be replaced.”

  Pete buried his hands in his face, fighting back the tears. After a moment he sat straight up, nearly rigid, as his body stiffened. Burning anger, once buried, again surfaced from a place deep within his soul, where it had been temporarily confined.

  Pete’s gaze returned to Shane. He angrily blurted out, “Heath stole from Claire. She caught him and forgave him…and she didn’t tell me. Not once, but over and over and over again. By the time I found out about the thefts, Heath had stolen most of the jewelry I had given Claire over our whole life together. He even stole her wedding rings. He pawned everything for drug money to feed his habit, and the habits of his low-life friends. When there was no more jewelry to steal, he stole her cancer and pain medications to sell on the black market...for months before her death.”

  Pete was sobbing in anger and frustration now, as he recalled all the pain as if it were yesterday. “My Claire was an angel, and she loved you boys, like you were her own sons. Heath betrayed the love of that sweet woman, and stole the medicine that could have saved her, or at least prolonged her life. She was afraid to tell the doctor or me until it was too late, and she was dying, fading quickly. She wanted to protect Heath, so she pushed on, in incredible pain that the drugs could have diminished.”

  “Heath took her last chance, and wasted it getting high with his buddies. He threw away our Claire’s life. And he didn’t have the right to do that, Shane. He didn’t have the right to kill my Claire.” With a face formed in anguish, Pete sobbed into his hands, as if his wife had just died. All the pain and agony returned in huge waves, as if stored up for years behind some dam, waiting for this one-time quick release. It gushed forth relentlessly.

  Shane couldn’t bear to go any further and inflict more pain on his beloved Uncle Pete. He felt ashamed he had been angry with a man who obviously had too much on his plate to be held accountable for any of his or Heath’s mistakes, or provide them with soothing explanations.

  Already Shane realized he should have listened more clearly to his dad’s message. His father’s words flooded back to him now as his own anger faded, replaced by love and compassion. He placed a hand softly on Pete’s shoulder, and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Pete. I didn’t know any of this. I am so, so sorry. I loved Claire like my own mother. I just didn’t know. I am so sorry.”

  Pete stood up, and Shane moved in front of him and took Pete’s pained red face in his hands. He kissed Pete gently on his cheek. They hugged, and when Shane said, “I love you so much, Pete, and I have been so blessed to have you,” Pete cried even harder.

  The knowledge Shane had demanded now brought him more grief, as he finally understood why Claire lost her fight against cancer so quickly. He soon fell into sobbing, along with Pete. All he could say was, “I’m so sorry, so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  Once Pete and Shane regained some composure, they talked softly, reminiscing about Claire and how they had loved her, recalling special times together. Shane reassured Pete, and emphasized how much he appreciated all that he and Claire had done for him and his brother, Heath.

  Shane had really loved Claire, and couldn’t bear to think that one of his family had been used to the point of death. And, as much as he loved Heath, Shane knew that things were going to be different between them now. The whole family relationship was painfully clear to Shane. He hugged Pete one last time, long and hard, and again told him how much he loved him.

  Pete said his goodnight at last and left for his room, while Kate returned and rejoined Shane in the sitting room. They walked to their bedroom in silence. Once inside, Kate spoke softly. “Shane, you couldn’t have known. I never heard any of this either. I don’t know that Pete ever told anyone.”

  Shane looked defeated. “I don’t think even your grandfather could have fixed this. I know I can’t. And I don’t think I can cry anymore tonight, either. These two sessions today have taken it all out of me.”

  Shane and Kate undressed and lay in bed together without talking. They looked up through the skylight to the clear night heavens that bathed them in starlight, the beams somehow comforting their sorrows and caressing their spirits.

  As they held each other, Kate’s head on Shane’s chest and her hand on his shoulder, she asked, “Do you believe in God, Shane?”

  Shane smiled and kissed Kate’s sweet head, and said, “I do, more and more each day. Why do you ask?”

  “I do, too” Kate explained. “I want you to know that, since I was a little girl, I have always known that God is real, and that He is with us always. My dad used to say that the sad people wh
o have no hope blame God for everything bad in the world. But it’s not true…not His fault, you know. God wants the best for all of us, but He gives us free will to deal with life as it comes.”

  Kate looked up at Shane. “Some people choose to do bad things to each other and God can’t always intervene, or we would all be puppets and free will wouldn’t exist. I think our parents are with God. We need to live good lives and make them proud, and eventually, we can be sure to join them.”

  Shane’s heart softened at the revealed inner beauty shining from the women he cherished. He said, without thinking, as if it were somehow automatic, “I love you, Kate. I can’t begin to tell you what you mean to me. I’ve been looking for you and praying to God to find you all my life. I formed you in my thoughts, hopes and dreams, and then one day, there you were, even more beautiful and wonderful than I had imagined.”

  He kissed her softly, and said, “You are my living proof that God is real and is alive. He answered my prayers by placing you in my life. I don’t ever want to lose you, Kate. Besides, my parents have plans for us, remember? Dad said!”

  They both smiled and held each other tighter, filled with hope, each one finding tenderness and answers to desires and prayers in the other. They clung together as new lovers do, each holding on, not just to a person, but to all their hopes and dreams for the future.

  Kate fell asleep quickly. Shane’s mind raced through the day’s events. He listened to Kate’s breathing, felt the rise and fall of her chest on his, and softly stroked her head and hair.

  He had gone over and over his dad’s letter in his mind a dozen times, until he knew exactly what he had to do. Just before he drifted off to sleep, he again blessed Kate in the ancient way, and kissed her head tenderly, one last kiss for the night.