A Lifetime of Vengeance

by Pete PJ Grondin

  William Harvard Grimes was never satisfied working for a living. For a while, he was able to get by on his good looks. He was a strong, handsome young man with blondish-red hair and light brown eyes. He walked with a swagger that exuded confidence. He always wanted to have more than the next guy. He wasn't smart enough to make things happen, though. The smartest thing about him was his middle name, which he used to brag about. He'd say to his friends in a half-joking tone, "I'm really a genius. That's why my folks named me Harvard. They figured that I'd be going there someday." Bill finished high school only because his girlfriend, Karen Ann Farrar, did most of his homework for him. If she didn’t do it, it didn't get done. So Bill got by with marginal grades and got his diploma. Then he went from one dead end job to another working for minimum wage. He rarely lasted more than six months at one company. He was a dreamer without a means to carry out those dreams. He always bragged about the things he was going to do when he got rich.

  That's what hooked Karen, the high school cheerleading squad captain and homecoming queen. She looked like a model, tall and thin with shoulder length blond hair. She was infatuated with Bill. She figured that anyone with such a clear vision of the future must have a good head on his shoulders. He was always talking about traveling to far-away places and seeing things that country girls from rural Central Florida had no chance to see. She’d never been out of the state and she had very little prospect of ever doing so. Her imagination was stimulated by Bill’s talk of trips to exotic places. So Bill was her chance to actually see the world. He was her ticket out of the rural country existence she lived day to day.

  It wasn't that Karen's parents were poor. In fact, they were fairly well off. Her father worked for a major manufacturer in Orlando as a shift foreman. Her mother was satisfied just staying home raising Karen and her brother and sister. Karen's parents had substantial savings, a well managed investment portfolio, and a retirement plan at the plant. They had saved for the kid’s college educations and lived quite comfortably. They were satisfied with a modest house and didn’t mind driving the same cars for almost ten years. But Karen wanted more. She was impressed by luxury; expensive cars, clothing, jewelry, and exclusive neighborhoods. These were the things that Karen wanted. She couldn't see living the extremely conservative life of her parents. She thought Bill was the answer to her prayers.

  Over the years, living with Bill, she'd come to realize that Bill was all talk. All her efforts to change him were failing and she knew that their five-year-long marriage was all but over. She couldn't change Bill; she couldn't make him smarter; couldn't get him to follow through on his plans. Even as crazy as they were, illegal and dangerous, Karen wished that Bill would do them just so he would follow through on something. But in the end, it was all talk. It pained Karen to realize that she would be leaving her husband soon. It pained her and scared her because she'd never been with any other man but Bill. It was a frightening thought to her to meet, much less date, another man.

  But right now, she was not thinking about anyone else but Bill. She was enraged. She'd gone to the trouble to fix this meal to try to set the evening on the right course and it had just followed the rest of the dismal day. Karen was not a woman to be calmed now. She had a chip on her shoulder as large as a ten story building, and it was about to fall on Bill.

  "Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting all night for you to call or come home! Dinner's been done for almost three hours and now it's ruined! Why didn't you leave a note or call or something?"

  Bill could see that he was in a no-win situation. Karen was red in the face she was so angry. He knew that when she was like this, there was little reason to say anything. But he was going to try anyway.

  "Baby, I've been working on a deal. I've got the details worked out, and I can finish it up by this Saturday. We'll be making some real cash and some real stash on this one, I promise you." Bill started to move towards Karen to embrace her and try to settle her down. Years ago, it would have worked, but these days there was no smooth-talking his way out of tough arguments like this one. Karen was beyond being consoled; she'd been through it too many times before.

  "Bill, just drop the 'big deal' line," she hollered, almost hurting her throat. "Forget it! There is no 'big deal!' Even if there was, at this point, I don't want any part of it. If you can't even get home in time for dinner, I don't care about any 'deals.' Do you understand? I don't care. I'm fed up with your big dreams! You never follow through on anything! You and your friends sit around and get drunk and stoned and never accomplish a thing! I'm sick of it! If you don't get your shit together, I’m leaving and I'm not coming back."

  Bill just listened. She'd said all this before. She was just mad. He'd screwed up, and he probably deserved to be tongue-lashed. But this deal was important to him. He'd show her. He'd follow through on this one.

  "Listen to me, baby. I'm real serious about this one. I just got done talking to Jamie Watkins and he said . . ."

  That sent Karen through the roof. She was already steamed, but to think that Bill was talking to Jamie Watkins really topped things off.

  "You what? You're dealing with that low life piece-of-shit? How could you even think about doing that? Don't you have any conscience? That guy screwed your best friend! He raped and killed his sister-in-law. He ripped him off for thousands of dollars, or don't you remember?"

  Karen's words were hitting a nerve in Bill. He did remember, all too well. But that was years ago and they hadn't heard from their once close friend, Pat McKinney, since then. Besides, Jamie dealt the best stuff in town and Bill could get the stuff up front, no cash. He wouldn't have to put out a nickel of his own cash to get thousands of dollars worth of pot and cocaine to sell. It would put him in with the big time dealers. He wasn't sure how Jamie could afford to do it, but he was glad to have a chance to prove to Karen that he really could make it in the big time. He'd buy her whatever she wanted. Right now all he wanted was for her to believe in him. Bill knew that Karen was losing faith in him and he wanted to prove to her that he could succeed. She’s got her shit together but I’m gonna show her I can do it, too.

  The sound of dishes being literally thrown into the sink woke him up out of his momentary trance. Karen was clearing the table and launching the dishes in the general direction of the sink and counter. Broken glass, food, drinks, silverware, pots and pans all the remnants of what could have been a romantic dinner, or at least a civil one, were scattered across the kitchen. Karen was acting crazy now. What was left on the dining room table was scooped up inside the table cloth which Karen was using like a hobo's sack. She picked up the four corners of the cloth cover, brought them together in one motion, and tightened the contents into a ball. What was now a little sack of napkins, some food scraps, spilled gravy, a trivet, and other dinner ware odds-and-ends, was pitched in the direction of the waste basket. Without looking at Bill, she walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Bill tried to follow, but when he got to the door, it was locked. It wasn't a real big trick to trip the lock of one of the cheap apartment doors, but Bill figured he'd better leave Karen alone until she cooled off. He'd had enough experiences with these fights to know when enough was enough. He heard the shower in the master bedroom come on and so Bill thought that the soothing water of the shower would cool her off. She's not thinking straight now. Later, she'll calm down and understand.

  Bill went to the spare bedroom where his gun cabinet stood. He opened the cabinet and took out his Colt AN1911 45 caliber pistol. He’d bought it from Karen's brother Steve. Steve had been in the Navy and had access to the weapons locker on base where he was stationed. He’d managed to steal one of the standard Navy hand guns and sold it to Bill for drug money. Bill paid a mere $50.00 for the classic piece. He knew he'd never be able to sell it to an honest gun collector but he had no intention of ever selling this gun anyway.

  Bill field stripped the gun and cleaned it, making sure all the parts were immaculate. He reassembled the parts and ran the
piece through a few dry runs, cocking, firing then re-cocking the slide. Satisfied with his job, smiling to himself, he loaded a full clip into the chamber, made sure the safety was on, and stuck the colt in his pants at the small of his back. He'd seen this on Magnum, P.I. and he'd found that this actually was the most comfortable way to carry it without a holster. Just then he heard the door to the master bedroom open. He expected Karen to call to him and talk things out. Then he heard her footsteps heading for the front door. Without a word, Karen Grimes was out the door and heading down the stairs of the second-floor apartment. Bill had the urge to chase after her, but he thought better of it. He now realized that she was as mad as he'd ever seen her. It might be a few days before things were back to normal. He'd just have to ride it out.

  He heard the screech of tires outside the apartment window, then a horn blast. He looked out just in time to see Karen pull away, and the truck that had apparently gotten in her way, pulled into the parking spot next to the one Karen had vacated. It was Jamie Watkins.

  * * *

  Karen was still fuming when she pulled her Chevy Camero into the drive at her parent’s house. She turned off the engine and sat thinking about Bill's various schemes. He was always scheming. He never seemed to have a thought about honest work. His old friend, Pat McKinney had noticed it early in their friendship. She remembered Pat say, “Karen, there may come a time when you'll have to go it alone. Bill is just too far out there to settle down to an honest living. He just doesn’t want to grow up.” She remembered that Pat had said that just before he left Orlando. She remembered smiling at Patrick and saying, ‘Sure, you can say that. You've already made your mark. When did you ever make an honest living?’ She remembered Pat's reply, “I'm starting right now.” She couldn't believe it when she'd heard that Pat had joined the Navy. She knew he had made some major cash over the years and thought that he had it stashed somewhere. It didn't make sense that he would join the military. She figured that maybe he'd lost it all gambling or something like that. But that wasn’t Pat. He was pretty frugal when it came to spending his money. He never drove an expensive car, never flashed money around and never talked business in a public place. No, Pat hadn’t lost his fortune. He was just hiding it somewhere.

  She wondered where Pat was now and wished he were here with her. He knew how to talk to Bill and bring him down to earth when he was on one of his dream schemes. Pat was also a big dreamer, with one very big difference from Bill. He seemed to know when a dream was just that; a dream. He also knew when a dream was within reach.

  This wasn't the first time she'd wondered why she ever married Bill, especially in recent months. They seemed to be drifting farther and farther apart. He would scheme and work his minimum wage jobs. She would work steadily along at TRW, moving up the management ladder with each passing year. Her coworkers would often ask how she managed to stay with Bill. They tried to tell her that he was a loser and would never amount to anything no matter how hard she tried to change him. Some of her co-workers, she knew, spoke from experience. They'd been through painful, bitter divorces and violent, domestic disputes. But Karen thought she could avoid all this. She was now coming to realize that her marriage to Bill was falling apart. She was at the point where she didn't care. She almost wished it were already over.

  Her mother's voice startled her. "Are you coming in or are you going to sleep in the car?"

  Karen opened the car door and gave her mom her best fake smile. "I'm coming, mom. I was just thinking."

  "You and Bill had another fight. I can tell. Do you want to talk about it?"

  "I'm leaving him." The words came out with surprising ease. She hadn't planned to even tell her mother about the fight until she had some time to think things through, but now her thoughts flowed smoothly and Karen Grimes was certain that the events of this evening were the last straw. Karen went inside with her mom, and for the next four hours, through tears of pain and, at times, relief, she told her mom everything that she’d been through in her five-year marriage with Bill Grimes. Her mother listened intently, though she'd heard most of it before. The marriage, she knew, had been unraveling almost from the start.

  * * *

  Jamie Watkins bounded up the stairs and walked right into Karen and Bill's apartment without knocking. Bill was somewhat surprised to see him display so much brass, but he knew he shouldn't be. He'd seen Jamie be obnoxious and rude many times before. He also knew that Jamie would do whatever he wanted to do, no matter who was trying to stop him. When someone said something about Texas, Bill thought of Jamie. If everything was big in Texas, Bill thought, Jamie's mouth and ego were all Texan.

  Jamie without any greeting asked, "Are you ready ta do this?"

  Bill was suddenly chilled to the bone. He wanted to make this deal to prove to Karen that he was serious, but he was scared. Here, standing in front of him was his opportunity to actually do something for a change. He was hedging a little, and Jamie could tell.

  "Come on man, snap out of it. Are ya in or not? I got people chompin' at the bit to take up this deal. I won't do it for everybody. Are ya in or are ya too chicken?"

  That last line pushed Bill over the edge. He wasn't going to let Jamie Watkins make him out to be a chicken. He knew that if he backed out now, Jamie would blab it all over town. He'd be the laughing stock of central Florida. Jamie would make sure of it.

  "Let's do it." Bill surprised even himself. He was committed now. He'd verbally agreed to make the deal.

  "All right! You follow me to my place in Ocoee. Don't get lost either. I'll make sure I don't leave ya in the dust. Ya'll need a place to keep this stuff that even Karen can't find. Ya don't want anybody to get hold of it except you. Do ya have a place in mind?"

  Bill didn't have to think about this. He would be putting it in a storage area above the closet in the spare bedroom. He'd already checked it out and figured that it would be ideal for twenty-five pounds of marijuana and a pound of cocaine. "Don't worry about me, Jamie. I've got it all figured out. It'll be outta here before the end of the week."

  "All right partner, let's roll. We got work to do."

  Chapter 5

  Diane McKinney was hurrying around the house trying to get everything ready for her husband's arrival home. She had received her call a few minutes before from the wife's group ombudsman letting her know that the USS Alabama was to dock at 9:00 AM this morning. Even though she'd been expecting the ship to come in around this date, she was still bubbling with excitement. After all, it had been eighty-two straight days since she'd laid eyes on her husband. Eighty-two straight days since they'd spoken to each other; or touched . . .

  Diane broke out of her trance and realized that she'd been daydreaming about having sex with Patrick. She longed to feel him wrap his arms around her, to hold her, to stroke her hair, to be inside her. It has been a long time.

  Being a Navy submariner's wife was difficult. The long periods of separation were bad enough, but the submariner's wife had other burdens. All those tasks normally delegated to a husband, like cutting the grass, handling the finances, taking out the trash, fixing plumbing and electrical problems had to be handled. She had to be a self-starter, aggressive, self-assured and clever. Some wives couldn't handle the long separations. Some didn't have the self-confidence to do the additional tasks that a wife with an absentee husband needed. Others couldn't stand the loneliness that comes, night after night, not knowing where your husband was in the world. Still others simply got bored and turned to the local singles bars for excitement. Some turned into alcoholics. Others simply packed up their belongings and went home to their parent’s house and started over. Some wives were still teenagers and had never been away from home. Now they were in a strange city, with strange people, with tremendous responsibilities, and these young girls just didn't have the skills to handle it.

  Diane Hart McKinney was a little different than most. She was Pat’s height at 5’7”, and had beautiful light brown hair which hung around her shoulders. S
he usually kept her slightly wavy hair back in a pony tail. Her skin was light and smooth and her eyes were to the green side of gray. She was 110 pounds light with perky ‘C’ cup breasts. But her smile was her brightest feature; captivating and genuine. She'd been living away from home for several years when she’d met Patrick. They worked together in a department store for several months. Pat had always been attracted to her but never worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date. It was several years later, when Patrick came home on leave and called Diane for a date that sparks started to fly. They were both twenty-five years old when they went to see "On Golden Pond" for their first date. As they entered the theater, they looked around and noticed that everyone in the theater had gray hair. They were the youngest couple in the audience. It wasn't a bad movie, it just moved a little slow for a couple of twenty-five-year-olds.

  When Patrick dropped Diane off at her apartment, he nervously went to kiss her and missed her lips, kissing her on the chin. They were both like a couple of high school kids, on a first date, getting a first kiss. They both laughed. Patrick had said, "Let's try that again," and they did. Three months later, Patrick McKinney asked Diane Hart to marry him.

  Patrick explained the hardships of being a Navy wife to Diane. He knew the added responsibilities and long separations would be tough on her but he also knew she could handle it. She had the advantage of living on her own for a few years so she knew how to handle money, fix meals, juggle a hectic schedule, and be alone when you really would rather have company. Patrick knew that, if she got into a situation that she couldn't handle alone, she was smart enough to get help from the wives’ support group.

  So on February 11, 1990, they married. Diane Hart McKinney was thrust into the world of the U.S. Navy. Diane never really knew where her husband was when the USS Alabama was out to sea. She never knew how long he was going to be gone for sure and she could only guess when he would return. She only knew that the ship was coming home when she got that long awaited call from another member of the wives’ support group. Even then she remained skeptical until she saw the great ship coming up the Cumberland River.