The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  Distraught, Elliott looked and shut the lab door. “Johnny, this is so important. But even more important than what I have to tell you, is the fact it needs to remain a secret.”

  “Sure. Why?”

  “It has to do with family. Your family and I hope you don’t get mad at me.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Well . . . I was at your Uncle Hal’s home the other night, my first night after treatments. While staying there, I found something. It frightened me.” Reaching into his back pocket, Elliott pulled out a red bandana. “Only we officers use this color.”

  “Uncle Hal’s?”

  “I believe.” Elliott said, “But look.”

  Johnny lifted up the bandana. Brownish spots splattered across it and then a smear. “It looks like blood.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Elliott exhaled. “It was thrown away. I saw the red and thought perhaps the Captain tossed it away by accident but when I saw the blood . . . I worried.”

  “Why would he throw away a bandana with blood?”

  “That’s why I’m here. I’m hoping you can tell me.” Elliott softened his voice. “I need to know if that’s whose blood I think it is before I do anything about it.”

  Seriousness swept across Johnny’s eyes. “Bev’s?”

  Elliott swallowed. “I don’t want to turn it in and look the fool, plus chance losing the Captain’s friendship over it. But, for the sake of justice, should that be Bev’s blood, I must turn it in.”

  “I understand. So you want me to test it first before you do something about it or stop worrying?”

  “Is there any chance of that?” Elliott asked. “I will understand if you prefer just to turn it over to . . .”

  “No.” Johnny stopped him. “No. It’s . . . It’s Uncle Hal. Let’s get the worry out of our minds before we decide what to do.”

  “Good. Good,” Elliott said with relief. “Could you let me know what you find as soon as possible?”

  “I can let you know this evening.”

  “Then I’ll check back before I leave.” Elliott nodded. “Thanks again.”

  “No problem.” Johnny clenched the bandana in his hand then shifted his eyes to it.

  After a serious and down glance at Johnny, Elliott turned and walked from the lab. He pulled the door closed behind him. In the hall, he stopped and looked into the lab window. Johnny was still staring at the bandana. With his mood changed, and facial expression switched to a snide one, Elliott left the clinic.

  ^^^^

  The first plate slammed as it was set on the table. Henry carried himself as angry as he carried the dishes. “Do you know how I felt?” he snapped at Hector.

  Hector lit his cigarette.

  “Going in there. Telling Joe this. Telling Joe that. I looked like a fool, Hector, a fool.” Henry set another plate down. “I can’t believe you would do something so stupid without even letting me know. If you had one idea . . .”

  “Henry.” Hector stood up. “Look, I will tell you this one time. I’m not your bitch. Don’t talk down to me, because I’ll knock you on your ass.” His hand pointed. “Why are you getting mad at me, when you’re the one that was busted lying?”

  “Because you could have told me.”

  “I did,” Hector said strongly. “I told you I was putting that in my statement. You didn’t listen. Why not tell him we hung out? We hang out every other night.”

  “But a lot happened that night with Bev.”

  “Yeah, well, what better reason to tell Joe we were together/” Hector calmed down. “Now why are you this upset? You said Joe understood.”

  “Yeah, he did.” Henry tossed out his hand. “It’s just that . . . don’t get upset, but I worry about what you could tell Joe.”

  “And you don’t think I worry. I’m sticking to that story, Henry. It won’t change, for both our sakes.”

  Henry looked up. “Both our sakes?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Hector nodded. “We both had reason to kill Bev and despite what my little statement said, you and I both know, we were nowhere near each other when she was killed.”

  ^^^^

  Joe’s rear was starting to hurt from all the sitting he had done during the long day of questioning, but the day of first round interrogations was coming to an end, and it was finishing up with Hal.

  “Sorry,” Frank apologized as he walked into the office. “I wanted to tell Josh I wouldn’t be long. You’re not gonna take long are you, Hal?”

  “I hope not, Frank,” Hal answered.

  “We appreciate this, Hal,” Joe said. “At least we know we’re done with round one.”

  “Well, I had to come anyhow . . .” Hal stated. “I had to pick up. . .” He motioned his head to her. “Grace. And I wanted to return Ellen before she went into withdrawal over being unable to purchase anything in town.”

  “Yes, we know Ellen,” Joe commented. “I remember how she was before.”

  “The shops aren’t helping her, Dad,” Hal complained. “Really, she spent forty-two Danny Dollars on candles.”

  From her seat, Grace whispered her thoughts, not thinking she was heard. “I love that shop.”

  Rolling his eyes slightly, Joe looked at Hal. “Shopping is something for the women, and some of the men, to do. They may not need the items, or really want them, but it doesn’t hurt. It gives everyone incentive. Though I was against the Danny Dollar thing at first, I see his point now. I mean, people work hard and now they’re able to see the fruits of their labor with something else besides, medical, shelter, clothing and food.”

  “I understand that point.” Hal responded. “The movies, restaurants, saloon, bowling alley, even the coffee house. But specialty shops? Dad, Ben and Todd opened a shop that sells accessories.”

  “Oh,” Grace spoke up. “Were you there? Did you see if they still have the peach handbag?”

  Joe held out his hand. “There you have it. People are looking forward to things now. It’s good for moral. Now, let’s get to this questioning.” Joe saw Grace lift her hand. “Yes, Grace.”

  “The Captain didn’t answer me,” Grace said. “Did you see the peach bag?”

  Hal’s whole body shuddered. He was in a forced control when he answered. “I don’t know,” he spoke with some irritation. “Ask Elle. She was in there making a scene because Todd wouldn’t issue her credit.” He looked up at Frank’s laugh. “You would think that was funny.”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded. “El was always the charge queen.”

  “That’s a title to be proud of,” Hal said sarcastically.

  “Can we start?” Joe asked. “O.K.” He pulled Hal’s statement before him. “We’ll get to your statement in a second. I want to ask you about Bev.”

  “What do you want to know?” Hal asked. “I really wasn’t personally familiar with her, but I didn’t like what I did see.”

  “All right. Honest.” Joe wrote down. “So you would say you had no motive for killing her.”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that,” replied Hal. “I had plenty of motive.”

  Joe looked up. “You’re telling us you had motive?”

  “Family honor,” Hal stated. “I hated what she did to this family. I despised what she did to Ellen and what she put her through. She was a Hadley living in Beginnings as a spy. That in itself, in my opinion, is a reason for her to immediately be executed.”

  “Why . . . why are you saying all this?” Joe asked.

  “Because it’s the way I feel. Why lie?”

  “True.” Joe lifted a pencil. “Why lie/ Lying gets you nothing but trouble whether you ask for it or not, correct?”

  “Correct,” Hal answered.

  “You wouldn’t lie to me?” Joe asked.

  “I’ve nothing to hide.” Hal raised his hands.

  Joe tapped his pencil a few times, looked at Frank then back to Hal. “You know, you would have been dismissed immediately from the suspect list without hesitation. I mean, the Tracking guard said he remembered
you returning by one or two, no later than two. Bev died around three. Even though I know how loyal your men are, I was ready to accept that guard’s word until . . .” Joe grabbed the statement. “This.”

  “What about it?” Hal questioned. “I would think that too should remove me.”

  Sounding agreeable, Joe nodded. “Oh, sure. Let’s read it. You went to the meeting for me . . . wait. Why was that? Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “No one told me what it was about. You weren’t feeling well. Why wake you? I lead my own community so surely I can fill in for you in crisis.”

  Joe shifted his eyes to Frank who fluttered his lips. “Frank. Thank you, Ha. That’s thoughtful.”

  “That’s me.” Hal lifted his shoulder.

  “God,” Frank groaned.

  “Frank.” Joe picked up the statement again. “All right. You went to the meeting then you walked to the Hall with Robbie. At the hall you had a drink, talked to your brother, talked to Mark then hung out a little.”

  “That’s it,” Hal said.

  “No arguments that night? No disagreements witnessed?” Joe questioned.

  “No.” Hal shook his head.

  “How about Robbie? Did he fight with anyone at the Hall. Argue?”

  “Nope.”

  “Would you consider yourself a perceptive man?”

  “Absolutely,” Hal said assuredly.

  “Then how in Christ’s name did you miss Robbie’s fight with Bev in the Social Hall?”

  “Shit,” Hal whispered.

  “Ha!” Frank taunted

  “Frank,” Joe warned. “Hal? How did you miss it? Did you . . . miss it?”

  “Dad.” Hal chuckled. “Where are you getting this information? Obviously someone is mistaken. Robbie didn’t fight with Bev.”

  “Then why would Robbie say that? And why would Robbie fail to mention you were at the Hall all night.”

  “Damn it.”

  “Ha.”

  “Frank.” Joe shifted his eyes. “Hal, I’m waiting. You were at the Hall?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you there when Robbie left?” Joe asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Robbie said he fought with Bev. He said it was pretty heated. Did you lie on the statement?”

  “No.” Hal shook his head.

  “You didn’t lie?” Joe questioned. “Hal.” He nearly snapped his name. “Robbie said he fought with Bev. You said he did not. A heated fight with a woman that ends up dead not long after is pretty incriminating. Are you protecting your brother?” When those words were spoken Joe quickly looked at Frank. Frank just stared. “Hal?”

  “Absolutely not,” Hal replied.

  “Then why did Robbie say that?”

  “Because . . . . because . . . . Someone did fight with Bev. Robbie . . . he’s protecting me. I told him not to do that. I guess . . . I guess he’s watching out for me. We’re brother. We should do that. I fought with Bev. Write that down.”

  “You?” Joe had some disbelief. “You fought with Bev? I suppose Robbie was the one who broke it up.”

  “Yes, thank God.” Hal’s head dropped. “I’m sorry I lied.”

  “Right.” Joe leaned back. “Knock it off.”

  “What?” Hal acted clueless.

  “You didn’t fight with Bev. I would think Mark would have told me that.”

  “O.K., O.K., I didn’t fight with Bev.”

  “Then Robbie did?” Joe questioned.

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “Hal.” Joe barked. “Robbie admitted it. Why would he do that?”

  “I haven’t a clue,” Hal said calmly. “He was drinking.”

  “Why are you doing this? Just tell me the truth.”

  “With all due respect, Dad,” Hal spoke softly. “Statements are given and questions answered, but isn’t it your place to find out who is telling the truth?”

  Joe’s mouth closed in his anger and it took all he had not to blast out. However, his words were still hard as he pointed a fatherly finger at Hal. “You obstinate, arrogant, son of a bitch.”

  Frank let out an excited whispering, ‘yes!’

  After quick look at Frank, Joe returned to Hal. “You just pissed me off, Hal. I expected better from you.”

  “I’m sorry I let you down, but I have to do what I have to do. I didn’t see my little brother get into a fight with Bev. Perhaps they had words, perhaps they did not but I will firmly stand by my statement.”

  Loyalty. That was the word that came to Joe’s mind. Joe knew Hal was lying in some sort of big brother protection of Robbie. It never mattered how much his boys fought growing up, their loyalty and protection of one another was unshakable. Hal’s insistence that nothing happened that night, Robbie’s statement Hal wasn’t there, combined with Frank’s persistence that he didn’t see the shooter, only left Joe to wonder in fright. Was the brotherly allegiance of their youth being instinctively rekindled again in the unspoken protection of one of them?

  ^^^^

  Robbie, Dean, and Ellen were kicked back, seated around one of the tables in the dining area of Containment. There were coffee cups on the table and chips and such to munch on. They just were hanging out. Dean and Ellen were there to help Robbie’s night shift move a little faster.

  Dean shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the card he held in his hand. “Unbelievable.”

  “Dean,” Robbie laughed his name. “Enough.”

  “I’m just shocked. I finally get my Danny Dollars. I expect to get a stack of bills with Danny’s face on it and instead, I get a credit card.”

  “No,” Ellen corrected. “Well, yeah, I guess it is, sort of. It’s like the gift certificate cards in the old world. Danny wanted to do bills, then he figured out, in order to pay people, he’d actually have to start a Danny Mint, so he went into the old computer systems in New Bowman and launched it back up.”

  “Now it just adds your earnings,” Robbie added. “If you worked forty hours, you have forty Danny dollars. If you don’t spend it all, it keeps adding. A swipe of the card will automatically deduct the spent amount from your balance.”

  “O.K.,” Dean said inquisitively. “So the systems have to be networked together, right? How?”

  “Um, Dean? Computers,” Robbie answered. “He’s using the old registers and he reprogrammed them.”

  “Yes, but they have to be done on some sort of communication line. Isn’t that dangerous with the communications being shut off?”

  Ellen rolled her eyes. “They’re only linked to one main terminal in New Bowman. That’s why Danny Dollars aren’t any good in Beginnings.”

  “Question.” Dean held up his card and ignored their moans. “If it’s linked to the one main terminal in New Bowman, how does that computer in New Bowman get our earning information from here.”

  “Data entry,” Ellen stated.

  “That’s a lot of people how . . .”

  “Dean,” Ellen shut him up. “I’m not going to answer these stupid questions. God. Only you would care about this.”

  “El, no one informed me about this,” Dean said.

  “But everyone knew,” Ellen came back.

  Robbie snickered. “Dean, it’s simple. Every division leader has a payroll type program. They log in hours into the program by Wednesday. They give the disk to Danny. Danny takes them to New Bowman. He gives the men there bonus Danny dollars to download them into the main system and . . .”

  “Wait,” Ellen stopped Robbie. “Danny gives bonus dollars for that? Wow. I have to talk to him.”

  “So, let me get this right,” Dean said.

  Robbie and Ellen groaned.

  “Shh. Shut up.” Dean waved them off. “Division leaders? Frank does payroll?” He watched them nod. “He can’t add.” He snickered. “So Andrea was responsible for issuing me money, right?”

  “No,” Ellen responded. “Andrea handled Jason, Johnny, and the Clinic workers.”

  “So we weren’t lumped in with the Clini
c?” Dean asked. “Is that why I didn’t get paid? I got lost?”

  “Sure.” Ellen shrugged.

  “What about you. What did you fall under?” Dean asked.

  “I fell under the new division of labs.” Ellen nodded.

  “Wouldn’t I?”

  “Sure.”

  “Who’s in charge of payroll there?” Dean saw Ellen smile. “You? Then why didn’t I ever get paid?”

  “Dean,” Ellen said. “You were with Bev or at least I thought you were. I didn’t want her having any money.”

  Robbie grinned as he munched on a chip. “And here you’ve been blaming it on Danny. That’s funny. But you got go it all back, right?”

  “Yep.” Dean looked at the card again. “Retro-pay courtesy of Joe.”

  “Say, Dean,” Ellen sounded sneaky. “Just how much retro pay do you have built up on that Danny Dollar card?”

  “Two hundred and seventy-nine Danny Dollars.”

  Ellen smiled. “Dean?” She softened her voice. “Can I have it?”

  Dean looked as if her words almost truly pleased him. His mouth parted and he smiled. “Years. Years I have been waiting to do an old world real husband thing . . . and now I can.” He extended the card.

  “Good. I want to get that purse.” The card was snatched from her grip. “Hey!”

  “A purse?” Dean asked. He swiped away her reach for the card. “El, why do you need a purse?”

  “To carry things.”

  “What things?”

  “Things.” Ellen reached for the card again. “Come on, Dean. Let me go shopping.”

  “No. You’ll end up buying a box full of candles again.”

  “You never get me anything,” Ellen griped.

  “I got you the best house in Beginnings”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t pay. You’re cheap. I knew you’d be like that.” She turned and smiled at Robbie. “Robbie? How much do you have on your Danny Card?”

  “Something like ninety dollars,” Robbie answered.

  “Can I have it?”

  “Absolutely.” Robbie reached into his back pocket and handed her the card. “Just leave me enough on there for the rest of the week. Ten should work. If not, I’ll steal Frank’s, He has a ton. He put in like eighty hours alone last week.”