Eddie: Grime Doesn’t Pay: The Brothers Grime, book 2

by Maxfield, Z. A.

  Work slowed down as people took a respite from heat, but since time was short, they all knew they’d have to get ready for a second wave later.

  Eddie carried another heavy box of books from under the slim, dappled shade of an orange tree to the patio tables where Reese was going through the process of elimination with Pam. True to her word, she’d figured out a way to break Reese’s hold on some of his books—by proving they were available online.

  Once they’d listened to Reese—really listened—his self-imposed role as guardian of the books became clear. He felt he had to keep every book to champion authors who had passed away and provide out-of-print editions to readers who wanted them. Pam only had to show him a title was available somewhere else, and he no longer felt such a profound responsibility for it.

  No one had been more surprised than Reese that he was able to let a small number of books go into the donation pile.

  After Ben promised to design an online store where Reese could offer the best of his inventory, he’d found a kind of quiet excitement in choosing which books to keep.

  According to Andrew, Reese was more excited about the future than he’d been in a long time.

  “Hey, Cha-Cha. New recruits.”

  Eddie followed the sound of Gabe’s voice. Jack and Ryan worked their way toward him, Jack negotiating his way past the piles of trash and books using his cane.

  When he was close enough, Eddie pulled him into a hug. “Howsit?”

  “Just great.” Jack thumped his back. “I heard you could use some bodies?”

  Eddie hugged Ryan too. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Anytime. What do you need?” Ryan returned his hug.

  “Come here and meet Andrew.” Eddie led them to the table where Andrew and Pam were working with Reese. “Everyone? I’d like you to meet my other partner, Jack Masterson, and his partner, Ryan Halloran. This is Andrew and his father, Reese.”

  Reese stopped peering at his laptop to wave hello.

  Jack and Ryan waved back at him.

  Andrew stepped out from behind his father and offered to shake both newcomers’ hands in turn. “Nice to meet you.”

  “It’s about time we finally met you,” said Jack. “Eddie’s been losing his shit over you all year.”

  “I have not,” Eddie argued.

  “He has,” said Ryan. “From what Jack tells me.”

  “It’s nice to know I had some effect on him.”

  “You had an effect all right,” Eddie muttered. “You drove me crazy.”

  “So what do you need us to do?” Jack glanced around. “Looks like you’re getting a lot done.”

  “The hauler is nearly full again.” Eddie motioned Gabe over. “The disposal center closes early today. If you could drive the truck over there, that would be really helpful.”

  “Hey,” Gabe greeted Jack and Ryan. “I see you made it out of bed.”

  “You should try it.” Jack shoved Gabe playfully. “Eddie wants me to drive garbage. Is everything loaded that needs to go?”

  “Andrew’s itching to get inside the house. We can start with the kitchen, since we’re taking a load of trash to the dump. I think the refrigerator is going to be a total loss, and if so, you’ll want to wrap that and take it too, since you’re going. I’ll ask Reese to come help me get a look at it. Based on its age, I doubt it will be worthwhile to try and salvage it. Andrew, can you see what your dad says?”

  “All right.” Andrew took off to talk to his father.

  “This is tough for him,” Eddie murmured after Andrew left. “So far it’s going okay, but it’s early yet. His dad is doing better than I expected though.”

  “The key is to go slow and follow the client’s lead.” Gabe gestured toward Pam. “The doc is amazing. I gave her all our contact information. I officially offered to work with her anytime. I think she likes us too.”

  “She listens.” Eddie pointed out how she and Reese bent their heads together. “She watches Reese so closely she senses right away when there’s something bothering him.”

  “I’ve never seen a situation like this before, except on television,” said Ryan.

  “On television they edit out all the really boring shit,” said Gabe. “It’s hard to show a cleanup like this in a single program hour. I once spent half a day watching a grown man argue with his mother over a case of oyster crackers.”

  “It’s the OCD,” said Ryan. “A person can quite literally feel like they’re going to die if they throw something out. They can’t help it.”

  “I know. I feel for Reese,” said Jack. “Nobody ever imagines things will become this bad, and when it does, it’s hard to find a place to start.”

  “It’s not all trash,” Eddie pointed out. “If it were, it would be easy.”

  Gabe nodded. “Here he comes.”

  Andrew rejoined them. “Okay. My dad says he has no particular attachment to the kitchen, except the wall hangings, which are mostly pictures and stuff of my mother’s. We can get rid of anything recyclable, anything trash, and all the food without asking him. He says he hasn’t cooked in years.”

  “What about the fridge and the small appliances.”

  “I’ll make an executive decision about the fridge when we open it, but it’s like they always say in Star Wars,” said Andrew. “‘I have a bad feeling about this.’ There are bugs. I’m warning you right now. If you’re squeamish about roaches—”

  “I’ve got Tyvek suits in the van. And extra work boots,” Eddie offered. “I wouldn’t go in there without them.”

  “Are they good roach-crushing boots?” Ryan asked.

  “Yep.” Eddie shuddered. “If you can stand the noise.”

  “You know what?” said Jack. “I think I’ll leave the kitchen to you guys.”

  “You’re driving, so you can supervise the loading.”

  “I’m up for that. Less tripping. No roach guts on my nice, clean cane stopper.”

  “Thank you again,” said Andrew. “I really appreciate you being here.”

  Ryan smiled. “Happy to help. Especially when there’s no gore.”

  Andrew glanced up at him. “Can’t guarantee that, I’m afraid. Could be a body dump for all I know. I haven’t been in there in six years.”

  Andrew said that with such conviction Eddie couldn’t tell if he was kidding. “I doubt there’s anything we haven’t seen before.”

  Andrew shrugged. “No telling what the old man has in there.”

  A chunk of ice flew at them. “Who you calling an old man?”

  Eddie and Andrew gaped at Reese. He had a smile on his face. He looked almost happy. At the very least, his face didn’t seem as pale and drawn as it had been when they’d first arrived. Eddie felt Andrew’s fingers lace with his. He looked at their joined hands and felt happy too.

  Andrew mouthed, Thank you.

  Eddie gave Andrew’s hand a squeeze. But he had been honest about the zigzag nature of this kind of job. Sure, Reese was smiling now, but despite the fresh color in his cheeks he looked a little tired. Odds were his good mood would only last until he reached a serious setback or exhaustion set in. They’d only, by Eddie’s estimation, done about 8 percent of the job.

  How would Reese feel when days turned into weeks, and his choices grew harder?

  Eddie looked up and found Pam watching him. “Take your victories where you can, Eddie.”

  Eddie nodded. He for damn sure would do just that.

  Chapter 21

  Spacemen.

  Geared up like astronaut action figures, Andrew, Eddie, and Gabe walked toward the house as if they were filming a scene from the movie Apollo 13.

  They wore disposable Tyvek suits with hoods, respirators, goggles, and gloves. They had on tall rubber boots. Andrew felt ready to clean the Augean stables.

  He turned to Eddie, whose expression seemed a little grim. Since they carried shovels and plastic and duct tape and trash bags, it was a wonder the neighbors didn’t call the cops again.

 
; Eddie’s plan was to wrap and remove the refrigerator whole and take anything suspect out with it. Andrew thought his dad’s toaster was about thirty years old. So was the microwave, which still had analog dials. He doubted they worked anymore, or if they did, he doubted they’d be safe to use.

  Approaching the kitchen from the yard through a sliding door, they shoved aside garbage to clear a path to the refrigerator. Gabe and Eddie dealt with taping it closed and then wrapping it in heavy-duty plastic while Andrew, Ryan, Ben, and Joe removed garbage and more recyclables.

  Someone picked up a box, and the bottom gave way. A moldy mass fell out of old, damp cardboard—maybe bread or hot dog buns. Roaches overran the ruins of a box of cookies, boiling out to writhe beneath Andrew’s feet. Andrew hissed and jumped away. Skippy took Andrew’s place, patiently shoveling the contents of the cookie box and the moldy bread and all the roaches he could catch into garbage bags without comment.

  Like he does it all the time.

  “Come here often?” asked Andrew.

  “This ain’t the worst I seen.” Skippy kicked at something that looked like it had once held potato salad, and scooped it up with his shovel. “But I like the crime scenes better. Gives me something to wonder about besides how fast these little bastards can get up my pants leg.”

  “I’m sorry about this.” Andrew felt compelled to apologize—for his father, for the house, for calling Skippy in on a nice Saturday afternoon to clean up crap.

  “Everybody’s got something, Professor. Kelly Ann says we got to do what we can to help people when we have the opportunity. She says to tell you, you need to keep your balance.”

  “Wait, she says what?”

  “Kelly Ann reads cards. She says you and Eddie make a good couple. She sees chemistry. She said you should focus on control with compassion.”

  “All right.” Right then Andrew’s world was so topsy-turvy he was willing to believe anything, willing to try anything that might help him get through the weekend. Tarot cards, Ouija boards. Thrown bones seemed likely in the miasma of his father’s kitchen. He wondered if they held a portent too. “I’ll do that.”

  “Cool.” Skippy’s smile was so contagious Andrew smiled back.

  There was a nest of spiders, and Andrew gladly ceded those to Skippy.

  There were ants too, moving over the remnants of microwaved meal trays and empty juice cartons. Privately Andrew feared the smallish brown pellets he saw lying all over the place meant his father had rats. He couldn’t even bring himself to ask Eddie, but with each item he picked up, every box and bag he shook out, Andrew believed his chances of picking up something with rats under or behind or inside it increased by just that much.

  The thought alone gave him the willies.

  Somehow, they managed to drag the wrapped refrigerator outside. They could barely get it down the narrow side yard and through the gate, but in the end, Jack was able to secure it in the truck. Andrew sagged with relief. He returned to the kitchen and saw their efforts to uncover the floor were paying off, tile by tile.

  Andrew had the task of triage. He routed things to the garbage, to the recycling center, or to Reese for further decision making. He was sorry to see the pile next to Reese growing into a mountain while the donation pile out front remained small. Pam had privately reassured him they were making progress, but it didn’t seem like it. Reese was still holding on to things as tight as he could.

  Andrew had to remind himself again: what they were accomplishing here wasn’t futile. By taking Reese’s things out of the house and by cleaning out the roaches and the filth underneath, maybe they were giving him a head start toward a safer, saner lifestyle. Even if he did keep all his collectible junk, the garbage would be gone.

  Maybe they could organize his things, somehow…

  Maybe they could help him sell them through the online store Ben had proposed. That would be optimal. Reese would be engaged by that. He’d have something to do with his time. Something he enjoyed doing, and an online community to do it with.

  It took three hours to get Reese’s kitchen and dining room cleared. Now that Andrew could see them, he remembered sitting down to pleasant breakfasts with his father before school all those years ago.

  He imagined sharing a meal with his dad there again sometime. The thought made him ache with longing.

  Something small and furry darted across the floor in front of him.

  “Fuck.” He leaped back, only to hear something go crack beneath his foot. He glanced down and saw he’d stepped on a pair of glasses. He picked them up and stared at them. “Shit.”

  “Something wrong?” Eddie asked.

  “It’s official. We have rats. And I just broke a pair of glasses.” Andrew’s heart thundered. “I don’t recognize them, but I need to tell my dad.”

  Eddie nodded. He opened the door, and the two of them stepped out together. Andrew approached Reese and waited to get his attention.

  Pam glanced up. “Something up?”

  Andrew took off his respirator so he could talk. “I broke these. I’m sorry.”

  Reese frowned and took them from him.

  “They were on the floor, and I didn’t see them. I accidentally stepped on them. I don’t know if they can be fixed.”

  Reese didn’t look up. Andrew felt the first faint fear he’d done something terribly wrong when Reese curled the fingers of both hands around the glasses. Andrew glanced toward Pam, who didn’t take her eyes off Reese.

  “Reese?” she asked. “Tell me about those glasses.”

  Reese shook his head. Tears fell on the lenses.

  Eddie stepped up behind Andrew and put a hand on the small of his back, offering what comfort he could. All around them, it seemed as if the temperature dropped ten degrees. Gabe stopped what he was doing and stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching.

  “Reese?” Pam said again.

  “They were Colleen’s.” Reese bent his head to his hands as if someone had stabbed him. “They were my wife’s.”

  Andrew’s heart sank. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

  Reese shouted, “Sorry doesn’t cut it!”

  Andrew accepted that with a tight nod.

  “God…I can’t,” Reese sobbed. “I can’t do this.”

  “Dad—”

  “No.” Reese rose to his feet. “You don’t understand a damned thing. You never did. You brought all these people here, and now they’re pawing around all ham-handed like a bunch of gorillas. Throwing things away and breaking things.”

  “Dad, I’m sorry, but would you rather lose your house?”

  “You need to stop this.” Reese pointed at Pam. “Stop them. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t.”

  Pam got up from her chair to face him. “Reese, let’s talk about this. Let’s take this opportunity—”

  “No.” Reese pushed Andrew aside. Once inside the house, he shouted at everyone working there. “Get out of my fucking house!”

  Pam followed him. “Mr. Daley. There’s no need to shout.”

  Reese paid no attention to her. He glared at Ben and Joe. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but get out.”

  Ben and Joe filed out with Skippy following after them. He glanced back at Reese and then at Eddie, confused.

  No one looked at Andrew.

  Eddie called them over to a place in the side yard, and they put their heads together there, talking for a minute. It reminded Andrew of football game.

  Third down, ninety-seven yards to goal. The players gather in a tight huddle. The quarterback calls for a desperate play…

  Right. Ninety-seven yards to goal, idiots. Nothing good’s going to happen here.

  They nodded, broke formation, and headed toward the front yard, all except Eddie, who came over to talk to him.

  “I see you starting to panic,” Eddie told him. “Don’t.”

  “Why not?” Andrew spread his hands. “My dad just pretty much threw us out. We haven’t even gotten started yet, and he just—”


  “I tried to warn you. These things never go smoothly.” Eddie gave Andrew’s shoulder a squeeze. “This happens all the time. It’s a process. You go one step forward and then sometimes two, four, six back. This is hard for your dad, and we have to go at his pace. Pam will talk him down, and we’ll get going again.”

  Andrew nodded. “I wish I was as sure of that as you are.”

  “We will. In the meantime, we’re going to make our last runs with garbage and recyclables. Since there’s not a whole truckload of donations, Skippy’s filling the Grime truck. He’ll take those. They’re coming back after, but my guess is we’ll be knocking off for the day.”

  “Shit.”

  Eddie pulled Andrew into his arms. “We’re on track. There’s no need to panic yet. I promise you. I’ve done this before. This is a bump in the road, not a dead end.”

  “But it seems like the yard is just getting full again. After all the things we took away, we’re not a whole lot closer to getting this cleaned up.”

  “Let Pam do her job, all right?” Eddie rocked him from side to side, and for just a minute Andrew allowed himself to be comforted by the embrace.

  “All right.” Andrew pushed Eddie away. “Thank you. You’ve been amazing today.”

  Eddie shrugged and gave him a small grin. “I’m invested.”

  * * *

  Eddie listened to Pam’s soft, coaxing tone of voice. Reese wasn’t calming down. In fact, he was getting more agitated. It sounded like the end of work for the day. Maybe they were at a good stopping place. Tomorrow they could come back and clear the yard of the things Reese couldn’t let go of, and either fit them into the garage or, God forbid, back into the kitchen. With the yard clean, the immediate threat to Reese would be diminished.

  That’s not what Andrew had been hoping for, but nobody expected the cleanup to go smoothly. They could come back and work a little at a time when the opportunity presented itself. If Reese let them come, that is.

  Right then it looked doubtful.

  “If only I hadn’t shown my dad those goddamn glasses.” Andrew berated himself. “I should have known better. I didn’t realize they were my mother’s.”