by Morrel, Amy
Greg returned home to find Margaret waiting up for him. They went to bed together and Margaret had a chance to properly share her excitement with him.
* * *
Chapter 14 – Arson and the Kid's Place
The days passed uneventfully for a week, aside from the normal 'emergencies' experienced with growing, active children. As the children all grew more comfortable in the house, they also grew more rambunctious. Finally Margaret brought the matter up with Greg one day.
“Greg, I'm sure you've noticed but the kids are all over the place, all the time. I know the basement is unfinished and kind of dank but is there a way we can fit it out for the kids to keep them out of everything else? I love them dearly but enough is enough.”
“Yes, there is. I can finish it myself and a good cleaning and a dehumidifier would take care of the dankness. My dad used it to store a whole bunch of stuff and after I went through his piles down there I never gave it another thought. I probably should have. We're getting into what will be my slow time of year for work so I can work on it on the days my regular job is postponed due to inclement weather.”
“Thank you, it will be major relief to not have children running around the kitchen when I've got things cooking on the stove top. I keep worrying that they'll knock something over and burn themselves.”
“I'll call my boss and ask him if I can use the company contractor discount for my supplies right now and if he says yes then I'll get the first of the materials for it this weekend. Probably two by fours for a framework against the walls and paneling over it. I'll fill in the gaps in the frame with insulation to keep it warmer down there. I'll need to extend the electrical outlets and switches out to the paneling, I don't know if there's spare wiring in the outlets in place there now to do that or not...” Greg's voice trailed off as he began planning the job.
Margaret smiled, she enjoyed watching Greg work the planning phase of a job. He got an intent, focused look on his face that was unique to that situation. It occurred to her that she'd be able to see the other part of his job now also, the hands-on portion. He intrigued her to no end and she was interested in everything he did. She was deeply in love with him and wanted to know how a man turned out the way he had instead of the way the men she had previous experience with had turned out. She wanted to know desperately, so she could try to guide Jack to be more like Greg than Freddy.
Greg walked out to the living room and got the cell phone from his coat. He also surreptitiously patted the inside pocket making sure the case was still there. It was and he still hadn't been able to work up the courage to ask. He quickly dialed his boss' phone number to avoid thinking about the ring.
“Hey boss, it's me Greg.”
“What's up Greg?”
“Hey, I got a project I'm starting at home, you mind if I use the contractor card for the materials discount for it?”
“Nah, go ahead. What do you have planned? Do you need any help?”
“Margaret asked if I could finish out the basement to make a room for the kids. Keep them from running all over the house. I was kicking myself for not thinking of it on my own. I can take care of it myself, I just thought it'd be nice to save a few hundred bucks on materials.”
“Sounds like that woman has a good head on her shoulders. You ask her yet?”
“No, I haven't. I'm such a coward.”
“No you're not Greg. I imagine that you just haven't thought the time was right yet.”
“I keep thinking it might be the right time then chickening out when I think about asking.”
“Don't worry about it. You'll get to it eventually. If you don't then maybe it wasn't the right decision after all. Go ahead and use the discount. I've got to go, the game is coming back on.”
“Thanks boss.”
“Don't mention it, I mean literally don't. I don't want the rest of the crew thinking they can use it for their own projects.”
Greg set down the phone after breaking the connection. He chased Ellen off the computer and started to make some rough plans for the basement. He spent the rest of the evening making lists and drawings but before he went to bed he had a materials list and rough plans for the project.
When Greg arrived home the next day it was obvious to him that Margaret had been crying.
“What's wrong? Are the kids okay?”
“The kids are fine. I just got a call from the police. They determined that my house fire was arson. Who would try to kill me and Jack?”
“I can think of one person that might try to kill you, but not Jack.” Greg said, recalling Ben's warning.
“Who?” she asked.
“Who would benefit from you being gone? Who would get custody of Jack and no longer have to be sending you a check every month?”
“No, even Freddy wouldn't do something like that, he wouldn't want to kill Jack.”
“Who's saying he intended to kill Jack? Wasn't that a school day, and in the middle of the day?”
“Yes, it was...” Margaret's voice trailed off as she considered the possibility.
“Jack had a doctor's appointment that morning so I kept him home from school. I wondered when Freddy was ready to drop everything and come pick up Jack, normally it takes him an hour or two to get ready to do anything. If he were ready ahead of time, though, because he was expecting something...”
“One of the FBI agents warned me that he had a bad feeling about Freddy and that we should watch our backs. I'm thinking that it was better advice than he had thought.” replied Greg.
“I won't believe it without more proof. I don't think that even Freddy is stupid enough to pull something like that. But, the reason I was crying wasn't any of that. I was crying because I was happy. You were right! It wasn't my fault, I didn't put my son in danger. It was somebody else.”
“I was sure of it, you're a better mother than Emily by far. I'd say better than most others too but I haven't really seen any other mothers in action since I've been an adult.”
“How can I be so happy and so mad at the same time? I don't even know who to be mad at, so it's confusing.”
Greg's phone rang, interrupting their conversation.
“Greg?” asked a vaguely familiar voice.
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Ben. I wanted to let you know that my suspicions were correct. The police told me they notified Ms. Chisolm today so I was free to call. What they didn't tell her was that the only suspect they have is Freddy and that he has disappeared from his listed place of residence. His new wife was the only one there when they showed up to question him. She was very upset; he's been gone for several weeks from what she said, and she has no idea where. He didn't even tell her he was leaving.”
“Thank you Ben. But why did you call me to let me know?”
“Well, I think that he may be planning something involving you or Ms. Chisolm. The two of you were very cooperative with us before and we were hoping that you might give us a call if you see him. We've a warrant out for his arrest on some other charges now. They were developed from our earlier investigation. I thought that I should warn you and ask for your cooperation again if you were willing.”
“I'll let you know if I see him. Do you have a direct number I should call, or just go through the switchboard?”
“Just call the number I'm calling from right now. It should be saved in your recent calls log, you can toss it on a speed dial if you like. That will get you directly through to me. Agent White and I will respond as quickly as we can should we hear from you. Thank you.”
“Thank you for the information Ben.”
After Greg had hung up he turned to Margaret and explained what he had just been told. He also copied the phone number for Ben down and gave it to her with a request to put it in her own phone, just in case.
“So, it really was Freddy then?” Margaret asked.
“It looks that way. They don't have proof positive yet, but his disappearing shortly after the FBI went down with us to get
Jack back suggests that he's guilty of something he doesn't want them to catch him for.”
Margaret just shook her head and wandered off, obviously deep in thought. Greg went to find the children and ask them about their day. He was constantly surprised that of all three of the children, the one who seemed to enjoy talking to him about their day the most was Jack, who wasn't even his own child. Christine would talk to him about her day some also, but he had to pry answers out of Ellen with a crowbar.
Margaret seemed preoccupied throughout dinner and after the kids were settled in with a movie Greg asked her what was bothering her.
“The whole thing. What Freddy did and what they think he might have done. It means he hates me. Did he hate me before, or did I make him hate me by leaving him?”
“Margaret, he obviously had few positive feelings for you while you were married to him. You yourself said he treated you like a possession. Then, to his thinking, one of his possessions gets up and walks away, taking another of his possessions with it. Meaning you leaving and taking Jack. If that's how he viewed you then yes, he may well hate you. But did you cause it? No. If that's how he felt about the two of you then he was already pretty crazy. Did it push him the rest of the way over the edge? Possibly. Once again that isn't your fault though. You had to do what was best for you and Jack and as far as I'm concerned that's what you did.
I think it boils down to the fact that Freddy is seriously disturbed. It sounds like the church you were talking about and that the FBI are interested in pushed him even further out there. It isn't your fault at all. Some people are just wired wrong. I'm guessing that given the opportunity to get help Freddy would claim that there's nothing wrong with him that needs to be helped. You know him better than I do, would you say that's accurate?”
“Yes, that's accurate. If you suggested that he was wrong or needed help you'd better look out because he'd immediately boil over.”
“So, you've answered your own question I think. He may well hate you now, but you didn't cause it by leaving or by anything else. He caused it himself through his actions and then probably by brooding over things after you left him.”
“That does sound like him. I'll accept your answer and I'm going to stop thinking about this now since I find it incredibly disturbing.”
“Okay, let's change the subject then. I'm thinking about getting the kids their own television and DVD player for the basement. As a matter of fact, how about we all go out tonight and pick those two things up along with a dehumidifier. We'll start the dehumidifier running down there and do as much cleaning as we can. We'll get the kids to help clean by leaving the television and DVD player up here in their boxes, telling them we'll set those up as soon as the basement is fully cleaned. I can work around them for a lot of the things I need to do down there. For those I can't I'll just chase them out for a bit.”
“That sounds wonderful Greg.” Margaret gave a tired smile, “Let's do that right after dinner.”
Greg went online to track down the models he wanted to buy. He tried to allow the children some say in what electronics they got for the basement but, in the end, he needed to make the decision himself since the children just kept asking for the biggest one, regardless of its quality or price.
He chose one by quality, which he judged based on reviews on the site, and price. He made sure it was in stock at the local store and then went through the same procedure with a DVD player. His qualifications for that were no-frills and sturdy, realizing that the children would be the primary, if not sole, users. He printed out the sheets for both his choices to take with them to the store and then it was time for dinner.
After dinner they headed to Target and picked up his selections as well as a dehumidifier of a brand he trusted. They used them on the job frequently enough that he was familiar with those and hadn't had to research them. When the five of them got home, he told the children what he was going to do with the basement. He also told them that if they wanted it completed sooner they could help clean and that the electronics wouldn't be going down in the basement until it was all the way clean. He let them know that they could then start using the basement for their own area even while he was still working on it.
The children were enthused about having the basement for their own use and even Ellen chipped in and helped with some cleaning over the next few days. Before the next weekend the basement was cleaned and ready for framing. Admittedly, Greg and Margaret had done most of the work, but the children had at least helped some.
Greg went out and got everything he needed for his project in a single run with his truck on Saturday morning. Except for the paneling, he had decided to let the kids come with him for that one and decide on the paneling for themselves, assuming they could agree on a single choice.
Greg spent the weekend on the project and had the framing done, some solid board style insulation installed, and the electrical outlets and light switches extended and mounted to the frame by the end of Sunday night. Greg set up the framing and electrical outlets near the television first so the kids could use it as soon as possible. Margaret had taken any opportunity she could to be down there with him as he worked. The children were using the new TV for their movies as well so everyone spent a good portion of the weekend in the basement.
Margaret had watched Greg as he worked, bringing him coffee now and then. She'd also helped by fetching items he might need that he didn't have within reach, at least when she knew what items he was talking about. She came to the conclusion that he was happiest when he knew what he was doing. She'd now seen it in his planning, in his work, and during sex. In all three of those things he was very self-confident and doing them made him happy. Ever since the trial she'd noticed that he'd been unsure of himself frequently and she had worried that it might be due to her somehow. He was very happy when she was assisting him while he worked though so she laid that worry to rest. She was pretty sure that if there was a problem, he'd tell her in due time. At least she truly hoped that he would.
Sunday night, when he was knocking off work on the basement for the weekend, Greg promised the children that he'd take care of any little things that needed doing during the evenings of the coming week. He'd finish the improvements with paneling the next weekend. The children wanted Greg to finish up the basement so it could be 'theirs'. Next Saturday he'd take them out to choose the paneling and then he'd get it installed over the weekend. The basement would be set for them then. They'd cleaned some old pieces of furniture that had been stored in the basement so there were a few chairs and a coffee table down there that they had set up around the television. That way they had something to sit in and a place to hold their snacks while they watched movies.
When Margaret and Greg went to bed Sunday night Greg was immensely relieved. Margaret was very enthusiastic about making love to him. Over the past week or so she had been alternately unenthusiastic or not interested at all. He had worried that he had done something to upset her or that she had been blaming herself for Freddy's apparent descent into madness. Whatever had been bothering her over the past week seemed to be better now though and after making love to her Greg fell into a sound sleep, sleeping better than he had for days.
* * *
Chapter 15 – Permanence
Greg's workweek started off normally. On Monday and Tuesday he and his crew were finishing up a job. On Wednesday, the job they had scheduled to start was canceled. They had been planning on repairing a roof from Wednesday through Friday but the weather forecast called for six to twelve inches of snow. This was not conducive weather for outdoor work and downright treacherous for working on a roof. So the job was rescheduled and Greg found himself at loose ends.
After spending a pleasant morning with Margaret he spent Wednesday afternoon taking care of all the little bits and pieces remaining in the basement so it would be ready for the paneling. She had to work Wednesday afternoon though so he was alone in the house after she left for work. He tried to kill time his normal way, with
an action movie, but found that it just didn't have the same appeal for him now that it had before. So he sat and thought for a while instead.
Greg was great at planning a project. He could think through what would need to be done and come up with a materials list and a rough schedule right through to completion. What he wasn't quite so good at was thinking about interacting with people. He always froze up at a certain point when he tried to think of things directly involving other people. He just couldn't find it in himself to think 'Joe Blow will probably do X if Y happens' since he didn't like to guess how people might react. His freezing point regarding asking Margaret to marry him came with her actually answering, whether it was a yes or a no. If he could think through that and make a guess as to what would happen if she said yes or if she said no then he might be able to get up the courage to actually ask her.
His thought processes plodded along slowly, trying to analyze everything and eventually over thinking it. He gave himself a headache trying to figure out what would occur. He asked himself what was the worst that could happen versus the best that could happen and came up with, respectively, no Margaret at all or Margaret as his wife. While he loved the idea of the latter possibility the idea of the first one left him cold and trembling. He tried to think of the pros and cons and tried to look at the situation from every angle. He just couldn't bring himself to commit to asking her due to the fear of her saying no and then leaving him just because he had asked.
He was still trying to work his way through the problem when Margaret got home from work.
“Hi Greg. I'll be happy when the children are home because the roads are lousy. There's probably four inches of snow out there already.”
“Is there? I hadn't looked outside. Welcome home, I'm glad you made it safely.” Greg walked over and gave her a kiss.
“You want to meet the bus with me? It's due in about five minutes but you'll want to bundle up some. It's chilly out there.”