“Like everything else in this country, their time zone is screwy. It’s eight and a half hours ahead of the Eastern time zone.”
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a half time zone.”
“Trust me, there’re a lot of odd things over here.”
We chatted for a few minutes and I finally asked him how he liked his job.
DP said, “Mitchum, I swear to God, I fell in it. This is the best gig I could’ve ever imagined. You really need to come work with me. Non-Metric Solutions, purely American.”
“What sort of stuff would I be doing?”
“We’re only contracted for patrol and security. No detention. Other companies handle that kind of stuff. I can take you on anytime you want.
“There’s a little bit of training, some medical screening, but that’s about it.”
I nodded as I listened. “I’m seriously considering it.”
“I could use a guy like you.”
The whole conversation kept me from sleeping very well. But it was nice to know I had a fallback if I needed it.
CHAPTER 5
THE NEXT DAY, I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to visit my mom until after nine o’clock. I made my usual stop at the only place I’d eaten besides my house for most of my adult life. A diner named Tina’s Plentiful. Tina had been in school with me and now ran the place that virtually everyone in town stopped at several times a month. It was also my unofficial private investigator’s office.
I usually took the booth in the back and no one minded if I talked to clients over breakfast.
My cousin, Terry Mitchum, worked in the kitchen. He’d lived in the city for a couple of years but decided he was more of a small-town guy. Like me. That was the only thing we had in common.
The real reason I was here this morning had nothing to do with my office or my dorky cousin. The real reason flashed me a beautiful smile as she bumped backward out of the swinging kitchen doors, holding two plates of pancakes and eggs. Alicia Sosa was as graceful as a ballerina. If that ballerina was carrying food to hungry customers. Her brown hair tied in a ponytail made her look younger than twenty-seven.
Once she delivered the food, she came by my booth. She did a quick glance around the restaurant then leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She said, “The other night was fun. We should do it again soon.”
A grin spread over my face. I said, “I agree. One of the best nights I’ve had in a while.”
“We did a lot that night, but there’s a whole lot more to go.”
I said, “How many more seasons of Game of Thrones are there?”
“It took us four days to binge the first season. There’s like seven more to go. At least.”
I didn’t have to order. I liked when Alicia surprised me with breakfast. She was more health conscious than me and shied away from pancakes and waffles.
I said, “Do you have class today?”
“Nope. I went by and said hello to your mom after class yesterday. Considering what happened, she looks pretty good.”
I thanked her and watched as she put in an order for an egg-white omelet and whole-wheat toast. That would not have been my first choice. Or my second. But I’d eat them and probably feel better for it later on.
Alicia was an impressive woman. She moved back to Marlboro to help care for her father, who has been recovering from a stroke. She also continued her nursing education by enrolling in Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh. She already had her BS in biology from SUNY Binghamton. Alicia had said she looked up to the most famous Binghamton grad: Tony Kornheiser from ESPN. I knew him from my mom’s obsession with New York sports.
I didn’t know how she put in the early hours here at the diner and went to school or studied the rest of the day.
Before my food arrived, I was surprised by an unusual visitor. I didn’t notice when the front door opened. A moment later, the shadow fell across the table forcing me into a friendly mindset. When I looked up and realized it was my brother I realized I didn’t have to be friendly at all.
I said, “I never see you in here. I never see you this early in the morning.”
He slid into the booth across from me. “I used to sleep late every morning. Now I usually have to be at class early. Except Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
A minute later, Alicia was back and seemed happy to see my brother. She even grabbed an extra cup of coffee and sat down with us while things were a little slow.
I’ll admit I felt a twinge of jealousy when she slipped into the booth next to Natty and not me. I knew it was innocent and probably just an easier way for her to keep an eye on the two customers sitting at a nearby table, but it still stung a little. I’m also a little envious that my brother is lean, whereas I’m considered anything but lean.
It didn’t matter that I worked out and stayed in shape, my brother looks that way naturally. And now that he had stopped smoking and started working out, he looked even better. That sucked.
I even noticed Alicia checking out his newest tattoo on his left bicep. A little devil in a paramedic’s uniform.
Natty charmed her with tales of becoming a paramedic.
I couldn’t resist saying, “Certainly better than your last job.”
Alicia knew what he used to do; I just wanted to remind them both.
I said to Alicia, “What time do you get off today?”
“About eleven. If Larry shows up on time. Then I’m just going to crash and study for a while.”
“Why don’t you let me buy you lunch at the Bristol Pub? It opens at eleven and it’s always pretty busy.”
The smile on her face gave me a warm feeling. That is, until she turned to my brother and said, “What about it, Natty, want to join us at the Bristol Pub?”
The day was not starting out like I wanted.
CHAPTER 6
AFTER BREAKFAST, NATTY and I raced down to see my mom at the hospital. We only got a couple of minutes with her before they took her for a battery of tests. She still looked good, although now some of the bruises on her face and arm were turning a sickly blue and yellow.
On our way back to Marlboro, I said to my brother, “You don’t have to hang out with us at the pub. You have the whole day free.”
“I’m looking forward to a beer and a burger. Besides, Alicia clearly wanted me to come or she wouldn’t have asked me.”
“Unless she was being polite.”
“Or she thinks you’re a clueless putz.”
I would’ve kicked him out of the car except he was driving his rented Chevy Impala. It was a big step down from the sports cars he went through as a drug dealer. But it was a big step up from my ancient, decrepit station wagon that I used to deliver newspapers.
Alicia had changed into jeans and a throwback Phil Simms Giants jersey. When she saw us, she smiled and said, “I decided I needed to dress properly for the sports bar.”
It was a pleasant conversation over pretty good food. Natty made some comment about how important it is to work for the community.
He looked at Alicia and said, “That’s why I’m in paramedic school. That’s why you’re in nursing school. That’s why Mitchum …” He didn’t even have the decency to smile like it was a joke. “I guess that’s why Mitchum delivers newspapers. Or whatever he can deliver now one or two days a week.”
I said, “I remember when you first got community spirit. Wasn’t it ordered by a judge? I bet with all the court-ordered time you’ve done on the side of the road, you’ve picked up a record amount of garbage.” It was childish, but satisfying.
Natty wasn’t done, either. “I’m selling you short, Mitchum. You did your time in the Navy. Even if you didn’t make it into the SEALs like you wanted. What ended that dream? Oh yeah, you weren’t a good enough swimmer. Pretty much the one thing every SEAL is known for, you didn’t practice.”
I didn’t come back with anything. One reason was it was accurate. That was exactly why I washed out of SEAL training in the final week. The other reason w
as that it was clear Alicia wasn’t enjoying this exchange. She was too nice to appreciate typical burns that brothers laid on each other. Especially brothers trying to impress the same pretty girl.
She said, “I probably need to get home to study.”
She only lived a couple of blocks away from the pub. I offered to walk her home, claiming that it was an easy walk to my car at the diner after that.
Natty didn’t push it and said his good-byes inside the pub. As Alicia and I strolled down the quiet streets of Marlboro, I turned to her and said, “I’m sorry for my childish behavior in there. Natty and I tend to be competitive. It really is harmless. We get along better now than we have in years.”
“Why’s that?”
“He appreciates what I do as a private investigator and I appreciate that he gave up drug dealing. I just hope he stays the course.”
Alicia laughed and said, “At least he changed course, even if it only proves temporary. But I have a good feeling about your brother. I think he’ll make it.”
We stopped on the street in front of her cute apartment building. The two-story brick building had been around since I was a kid. Now it was divided into apartments. Two big ones downstairs and four smaller ones upstairs.
She turned to me and said, “Thanks for a lovely time. I could’ve wasted it watching TV.”
“What about catching an episode of Game of Thrones? After that, you can study till your eyes fall out.”
She smiled. “That’s a lovely image.”
Just then, the world seemed to turn upside down. For a split second, between the noise and the concussion, I thought it was an earthquake. As I stared almost directly at the window to Alicia’s apartment, a roar of an explosion and a flash of flame shattered the glass. The concussion made me take a step back just in time to catch Alicia as she lost her balance.
Glass and debris made a clanking sound on the front walkway of the apartment complex. Smoke poured from Alicia’s window.
The front door to the building burst open and a couple of people rushed outside screaming and crying.
I had to make sure there was no one else inside.
CHAPTER 7
I RACED TO the front door of the building. Just as I stepped inside, a woman handed me a child. A screaming little girl about two years old. The woman was coughing violently in the haze of smoke billowing down the stairway. I led her out the front door, and Alicia met us halfway down the walkway. I handed her the little girl and turned back to the building.
There wasn’t a roaring fire, but the smoke was blinding and made it difficult to breathe. I pulled my shirt over my mouth and ducked low as I scrambled up the stairs. An older woman I knew from the diner stumbled out of her apartment at the end of the hallway.
“Mrs. Siddiqui, are you okay?”
She coughed and looked at me. She said in a remarkably normal voice, “Mitchum, how is your mother doing after the accident?” Good manners become part of someone’s being, even in a crisis.
I heard someone moan down the hallway. I told Mrs. Siddiqui to wait right there. The smoke poured out of Alicia’s apartment. The door had been twisted off the hinges and lay in the hallway. That’s where the moaning was coming from.
I flipped the door off the man on the ground. It was the super of the building. He was a tall man with dark hair, graying at the temples. I’d seen him around over the years. I thought his name was Mike.
He looked up, but his eyes didn’t focus well. I didn’t have time to worry about spinal injuries. I had no idea what had exploded and if something else was going to blow up.
I shouted, “Mike, we’re on the clock. I gotta get you out of here right now. I’m going to lift you up. Do you understand?”
He nodded weakly.
I started to pull him upright and realized he was much heavier and sturdier than I expected. I draped him over my shoulder like a long piece of limp lasagna. Now I had him in a classic fireman’s carry.
I waddled down the hall and reached out with my left hand to guide Mrs. Siddiqui carefully down the stairway. Every time something popped or a new wave of smoke floated past us, I jumped. I expected something horrendous to happen.
At the landing, halfway between the first and second floors, Mrs. Siddiqui needed to stop for a moment. She was coughing and I gently pushed her toward the floor and out of the thickest smoke.
I said, “Can you make it? I can come right back for you.”
She waved me off. Then she stood up and started down the stairs, this time leading me.
By the time we reached the first floor, I could hear sirens in the distance. My eyes felt like someone had splashed Clorox in them. I could hear Alicia calling to me from the front door. She had someone’s dog by the collar and a wriggling black cat in her right arm.
We all came through the front door at about the same time. Coughing and sputtering. The cat squealed and jumped from Alicia’s arms. It scampered toward the edge of the yard.
The little dog yapped.
Mrs. Siddiqui stepped in the grass and hacked, trying to clear her airways. Alicia stepped over to help her.
I struggled down the walkway with the big super across my shoulder. He started to cough as well. That was a good sign. At least he was breathing.
I set him down gently on the swale in front of the apartment building. A small crowd started to gather.
I felt a little dizzy from the smoke and the exertion. I plopped down on the grass next to the super. When I looked up, Natty was running toward me.
“I could see the smoke as soon as I got to my car. Something told me you’d be involved.” He turned and checked the super. He spoke in a comforting tone, telling the man to relax and breathe.
Now the fire engines were arriving. Two paramedics raced to the fallen super.
The older of the two said, “Look, it’s Nat Mitchum from the academy.”
The other paramedics said, “Great job, Nat. Looks like you’re a real hero.”
I just lay on the grass next to them, hoping I didn’t vomit.
CHAPTER 8
IT TOOK A little convincing, but I finally agreed to sit in the back of a paramedic’s truck and breathe oxygen through a clear, plastic mask. Natty sat with me for a while but decided to look important by stepping up to one of the paramedics and suggesting he help in the search of the building. I was glad. I didn’t feel like talking to him anymore.
Alicia was obviously upset that her apartment had been utterly destroyed. Thank God she had no pets. Someone from the sheriff’s office ran her over to her father’s apartment so she could rest and break the news to him carefully.
My friend from the sheriff’s office, Timmy Jones, came walking from the building toward me. Timmy knew me well enough to know my first question.
He said, “The super is going to be okay. He really owes you one. I don’t even know how you carried him. The son of a gun must be six foot six.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?”
“The super had a complaint about someone smelling gas. He figured out it was coming from Alicia’s apartment, knocked on the door, and when he got no answer, he used his master key. It was just about then that the gas leak ignited and blew the shit out of anything near her stove. The door protected the super from the blast. And he was lucky a big moose like you happened to be the guy who found him and was able to carry him.”
I asked, “Did anybody see anything suspicious?”
“Buddy Wilson, from the gas company, said it was a nick in the pipe.”
My eyes popped open at that comment. I said a little more harshly than I meant to, “Butt-crack Buddy? What else is he going to say? What about the state police?”
“They’re busy with the shooting in Poughkeepsie. My boss told them to never mind.” Then Timmy looked at me. “Mitchum, it was just a freak accident. Let it go.”
“Or is that what someone wanted us to think?” I could tell by his sigh that not only did he not agree with a theory like that, he didn’t
want to discuss it.
“C’mon, Mitchum, don’t start with the crazy conspiracy theories.”
“I just think it’s a coincidence, a weird coincidence, that my mom is a victim of a hit-and-run and then my …” I thought about the term carefully. “Sort-of girlfriend is almost blown to bits. What are the odds of something like that?”
“That’s why it’s called a coincidence. Very high odds. But not impossible. In fact, given where we live and what you do for a living, I think it’s highly unlikely. Extraordinarily unlikely. Incredibly, unbelievably …”
I held up my hands in surrender. “I get it, I get it. It’s not likely.”
“In fact, it is unlikely. Don’t make me go through the whole story again.”
Timmy sat down at the back of the truck with me. We watched as the first responders made sure the building was secure.
I mumbled to myself, “Alicia’s got no place to stay.”
He said, “What’s wrong with your house?”
“I don’t want her to think I’m trying to take advantage of the situation.”
“I thought you said she’s your girlfriend.”
“I said, sort-of girlfriend. We’re not officially dating. Or exclusive.”
“Have you spent the night at her apartment?”
“Never. I’ve been there a couple of times in the last week just to watch Game of Thrones with her.”
He scratched his head and said, “Sounds like you and I have different definitions for girlfriends. I watch Game of Thrones with my dad. I’m not judging.” He gave me one of his sly smiles.
This was something I’d have to talk over with Alicia. After I thought about it a little while longer.
CHAPTER 9
I SPENT THE afternoon at the hospital with my mom. I didn’t tell her exactly what happened at Alicia’s apartment, just that she couldn’t stay there for a while.
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