Monday Girl's Revenge

by David A. Thyfault

  Delores pinched her lips together.

  “I know it’s difficult, but the next time you meet a man you like, try to remind yourself that Tio doesn’t get to control you anymore. Tell yourself that you’re not going to run away and you’re not going to manipulate others. Excuse yourself if you have to. Go to the restroom and get in touch with your IMT like we practiced. Ask yourself if you really want to get to know this guy or not. And then kindly act on that information.”

  “I see what you mean. It’s so obvious.”

  “Not always. If it were, I’d be out of work. The bottom line is it’s usually best to neither force nor avoid your relationships. Just do what’s natural—unless, of course, you become interested in a married man, in which case run like the wind right back here. That can be the worst situation of all.”

  Delores grinned. “I’ve got enough troubles without going there.”

  “Good.” Jeanine glanced at the clock on her desk. “We still have a little time. Would you like a couple other pointers before you leave or have you had enough of my nagging for one day?”

  “Please.”

  “For starters, I’m pleased with the outcome of your last two trips to the bar compared to the previous times when you actually had sex with strangers.”

  Delores lifted her head high. “Are you sure, because I felt like I’d failed again—this time for not following through?”

  “But who had control? You or Tio? In a sense, you were finally acting differently than him and that’s a good sign. Next, I suggest you look for some new hobby that you can use to soothe your anxieties. Something external.”

  “External?”

  “As opposed to reading or cooking or driving where you’re alone with your thoughts. You already do those things. To balance things out, consider reaching out to others. Volunteer to work at a seniors’ facility or in a maternity ward or a soup kitchen. Anything where you’re a helper and a leader. As you hand out support and wisdom you’ll gain confidence and feel good about yourself.”

  “That sounds good. I like children. There are a few grade schools in my community.”

  “That’s the idea. Any school would love to have a law enforcement officer come around and talk with their young girls.”

  Delores smiled. “Okay. I should be able to find something fun to do.”

  “Good. Now, let’s discuss your mother’s IMT for a moment. What if down deep, she truly knows you and Simone were correct all along? What if she really does know that Tio did all those awful things to her girls? What if she was so afraid of how she’d raise her girls in his absence that she couldn’t bring herself to face what was happening?”

  “I’ve thought about that.”

  “It’s a form of deviant behavior. That is, she deviated from what most people would do in that situation. It doesn’t mean she didn’t believe you. It means she was scared more than you could ever imagine.”

  “She must have been secretly happy to see us leave, for our own sake.”

  “That’s certainly a possibility. I think she loves you more than you realize. I think she says certain things to encourage you to stay where you’re safer. What if a woman who loves you that much knew you had been doing risky things with strange men? What would be her IMT?”

  Delores nodded. Jeanine understood her better than anybody else. “She’d be extremely worried about me.”

  “Doesn’t a person like that deserve kindness more than being corrected?”

  PING!

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Like a jet plane with a flat tire, Delores was on the verge of an incredible journey, but couldn’t get off the ground. All she needed to gather the necessary evidence she needed was a measly seven hundred bucks. Basically out of options, she’d checked public records to find out who owned the Cal-Vista apartments. His name was Rodger Kraft.

  When she found out the man hung out at the complex she placed a two-birds-with-one-stone type of call. Her first objective was to find out just how much Kraft knew about Dixon’s antics and/or if the man was in on any of it; the second issue had to do with seven hundred dollars.

  Expecting Rodger Kraft any minute, Delores was always aware of her youthful appearance. She dressed professionally and attached her badge to her belt. The visitor arrived and shook her hand. She recognized him as an elderly white guy she’d seen around the property. “I haven’t been in many police buildings,” he said.

  She pointed to a chair and sat across from him, then flicked on a small recorder. “Thanks for coming in, Mr. Kraft. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No thanks. I just finished some water.” He tilted his head. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

  “We’ve never met,” she said decisively.

  “You still haven’t told me why I’m here.”

  “I need to ask you a few questions. We know you own the Cal-Vista apartments. Do you own any other buildings?”

  “One property is enough for me. Why do you ask?”

  “I’ll get to that, but I need a little background first. How would you rate Mr. Browne as a manager?”

  “Dixon? Outstanding, especially back when the economy was better.”

  “Oh? How did that affect you?”

  “The rising interest rates caused financially challenged people to lose their homes. With tens of thousands of extra homes on the market, prices dropped and builders had to shut down. Many of our tenants, and others like them, relied on those construction jobs and couldn’t pay their rent.”

  “I see. What do you do when that happens?”

  “It can get pretty ugly, especially if they have children. I don’t want to evict them, but we can’t let them stay for free either. We collect as much as we can, but we usually let them stay a couple extra weeks for free before evicting them.”

  “That’s not how I hear it. My sources tell me that Mr. Browne makes those people pay him about half the going rate, under the table, for those so-called free weeks. I’m wondering if you’re pocketing some of that money too, maybe to avoid the IRS?”

  Kraft wrinkled his brow. “I don’t mean to be rude, Detective, but there are plenty of legitimate tax deductions without doing things like that.” His eyes were steady, his hands and facial expressions at ease.

  “Okay. That may be true for you, but what about Mr. Browne? I hear he cuts side deals with your tenants. Doesn’t it bother you when he gets money that should go to you?”

  “I know he charges tenants ten bucks here or there for doing them favors, but I don’t make a big deal out of it because the economy has been difficult for him too.”

  Delores’s eyes narrowed. “Ten bucks? I’ve heard it’s more like thousands.”

  “Dixon wouldn’t do that. We go back a lot of years. He knows I’m sick and how badly the building is doing.”

  “Weren’t you suspicious when he got that nice new car?”

  “Why should I be? His family sold a vacation house up by Lake Tahoe and he used his share to buy the vehicle. So what?”

  “Did you check it out?”

  “Check what out? There’s no reason to distrust him.”

  “Did you know that his real name used to be Dominik Braun?”

  “Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?”

  “I’m sure, alright. I’m also sure that we’re talking about some very serious crimes, such as rape.”

  “Rape? No way. He doesn’t have to rape anybody.”

  “Didn’t you find it odd that he had so many women living with him?”

  “Not really. He’s a bachelor and a lot of nice-looking eligible woman come around a property like Cal-Vista. A fellow in that situation doesn’t need to rape anybody.”

  “Did you know he married quite a few of these same women?”

  “He used the term married from time to time, but the women came and went so often I thought it was just his way of saying he was sleeping with them.”

  “Oh, it’s much more than that. He charges them a lot
of money to live with him, and to be his wife. Any idea why he’d do that?”

  Rodger Kraft stared at her as if he’d suddenly realized there might be something to her allegations. “I didn’t know he was charging them anything. I probably should have gotten that money. Just how many marriages are we talking about?”

  Delores hesitated. Rodger Kraft’s manner and compassion were not the signs of a guilty man. He wasn’t smug or avoiding eye contact. It was time to level with him. “At least five,” she said. “Maybe as many as twelve.”

  “Twelve marriages?” Kraft frowned. “Quite honestly, I doubt that. Where’d you get your information, anyway?”

  “A couple months ago, I went undercover and rented one of your apartments.” She tugged on her blouse. “I dress differently when I’m there.”

  “Oh. I thought you looked familiar.”

  “The truth is, Mr. Kraft, Dixon Browne has been taking advantage of you. I’m afraid your old buddy is going away for a long time. It would look a lot better for you if you were on our side.”

  Kraft lowered his head, sat silent for a few seconds. Then, “I’d say this is hard to believe, but now that I think of it, Dixon has been causing trouble lately. He even threw paint all over the parking lot just to blame it on somebody else. He’s never done anything irrational like that before. I guess I should have paid better attention, but I was too distracted by my own problems. Cancer does that to a guy, you know?”

  “I’m sure it does and I’m sorry about that, but now we’ve got us a mutual problem and I need you to put together a list of all the women with whom Dixon might have had intimate relations. I need names and contact information.”

  Kraft blew out a deep breath. “I’ll do whatever I can, but I looked upon a few of them as long-term house guests so I never made them fill out any paperwork.”

  “Alright, get me what you have and let me know if you think of anything else that might help to track these ladies down.”

  “Certainly.”

  Delores made a note, then raised her head. “Just a couple more things before I let you go. I need you to keep this meeting to yourself until we make our move. We don’t want him to get spooked.”

  “Sure. When is that?”

  “We don’t know yet, but not long.”

  “No problem. This is a bit of a shock, but I guess he deserves whatever he gets.”

  “I’m glad you think like that, because I have another favor to ask of you. As you know the rent is due.”

  “What of it?”

  “I’m expecting him to come see me very soon and I don’t want him groping me as he’s done before. It would make things a lot easier on me if you’d advance me the rent money. Naturally, we’ll note the serial numbers and I’ll give you a receipt.”

  “Of course, Detective. Whatever I can do to help.”

  “Good. Thanks. I’ll give the money to Dixon and hopefully he’ll give it back to you.”

  Kraft stared aimlessly at the floor. “Those poor women.”

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  It had been two weeks since Stump wracked up his knee and was essentially forced to give up on his desire to help people make their homes safer. After that he missed so much school there was a genuine chance he wouldn’t pass the tenth grade. He tried to knuckle down, but he still had other, bigger problems distracting him.

  After school, he pedaled Ol’ Ug’ to Cal-Vista and found the big boss at the office. “Hello, Mr. Kraft,” he said as he filled in his time card. “What do you have for me today?”

  Mr. Kraft spoke of the meter room, down the hall. “Each of the seven buildings has a similar room and none have been painted since the building was new. The first thing you need to do is straighten up the room and then paint it. After you’re done, move on to the next building and do the same thing. By the time you finish the last one, you should be ready to paint the trim on the outside of the buildings.”

  More painting? Oh, well. About 40 minutes later, Stump was well into his work when he heard the building’s main door open. “Couldn’t keep your mouth shut, huh?” Dixon said. “The old man says you blamed the parking lot paint on me.”

  “I didn’t have to blame anybody. Mr. Kraft is smart enough to figure out you did it.”

  “Look here, rich boy. I can turn some powerful people against you. Trust me. You won’t like that.”

  “We already went over that. You got more to lose than I do so you ain’t gonna do nothing.” Stump stood toe to toe with Dixon and smiled. “You should have never made that notebook, but I guess you weren’t smart enough to keep track of your activities without it. That’s too bad for you.”

  The muscles in Dixon’s jaw tightened. His face reddened. “Trust me, you’re going to be sorry.” He spat at Stump’s feet and spun to walk away.

  “Good riddance.”

  Seconds later and alone Stump was pleased with himself for standing up to Dixon. He threw a rag on the spit puddle, kicked the rag to the side and went back to work. In the meantime he had to figure out what, if anything, he should say to Maria about Dixon being her biological father.

  Each time he imagined the dialogue he arrived at the same conclusion: There was no way she was going to believe him without proof and a few scribbles in a notebook wasn’t enough. Then Stump had an idea.

  He grabbed his cell. As usual, Google had the information he wanted. He rolled up the rag with Dixon’s spit in it and stuffed it in his back pocket.

  Later, when his shift ended, he met Maria at the picnic table near the pool. “There’s something I want to talk about,” he said. “It’s something important. In fact, it might be the biggest piece of news you’ll ever hear.”

  “Good news?”

  He hesitated. Then, “You always want me to be honest with you, right?”

  “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “It has to do with you and Dixon.”

  She scrunched her eyebrows. “I hate that guy.”

  “I know you do, but there’s something you need to know about him that might change your mind.”

  “Not even if he kissed a hundred babies.”

  “Okay, then, here it is.” Stump swallowed and shifted in his seat. “I found something in his notebook that has to do with you.”

  “Me? He never did anything bad to me.”

  “He never would. In fact it ties into why he gave you that bracelet with your birthstone in it.” Stump’s forehead felt hot. “I guess I might as well just come right out and say it. The truth is Dixon is your biological father. Your real dad.”

  “Ha ha. Nice try, but I ain’t falling for your little joke.”

  “It’s no joke. Honest. I confronted him and he admitted it. Trust me. It’s true.”

  She shook her head. “Impossible. I already told you about my papa.”

  “I know how we can prove it.”

  “I don’t need to prove nothing. I know the truth.”

  “Just hear me out. Would you, please?”

  She rolled her eyes and sighed. “This is ridiculous.”

  “I know it seems like that, but I did a Goggle search and found a home DNA test that’s designed just for things like this.”

  Maria folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not related to that man.”

  “We could prove it, one way or the other, within a week.” Stump tugged the rag out of his back pocket. “I’ve already got his DNA. Saliva. I just need you to give some too.”

  Her eyes bounced off the rag, then back at him. “Eeeew. That’s disgusting.”

  She was cute when she said things like that. “I’m not asking you to touch it. Just go along with me. I’ll take care of everything. A lab will analyze the results and we’ll know for sure.”

  “It’s a waste of time.”

  “But what if you’re wrong? You might change your mind about having Dixon arrested.”

  “I’ve already told you what I want.” Her voice grew louder. “How many more times do
I have to tell you?”

  What could Stump expect? “Before you make a final decision, there’s something else you should know.”

  She put her hands on her waist. “You never give up, do you?”

  Stump looked over his shoulder, then back. “Dixon’s been saving up money for you to go to college.”

  Maria turned her head. Looked deep into Stump’s eyes. “That’s not very funny.”

  “It’s no joke. I promise. It’s at Chase Bank. It was all in his notes. Pretty cool, huh?”

  She looked at the ground and then into his eyes. “How much is it?”

  “Over twenty thousand dollars. That’s enough for a small college if you live at home and pick up a grant or two.”

  “I have twenty thousand dollars?”

  “Either he’s your father and you have a lot of money or neither of those things is true. That’s why I have to get your DNA. I can get the kit here in a couple days. You just have to give a sample of your saliva.”

  “Spit? You want me to spit?”

  Stump grinned. “You just wipe the inside of your mouth with a swab, that’s all. It’s easy.”

  She hesitated and then sighed. “I still think this is stupid, but okay. You can order the kit.”

  “Great. There’s just one more thing. The kit is ninety-eight dollars. I don’t suppose you have any money to pay for it until my next payday?”

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Like most brides-to-be, Delores was excited about getting a marriage license, but she may have been the only woman who’d ever hoped the procedure would terminate her relationship with her fiancé. Dressed as Lorraine Martinez, Delores had just watched Dixon waddle up the courtyard toward her apartment. He wore a nice shirt and long pants for a change. “You ready?” he asked without dillydallying.

  “Where is this place?” she asked.

  “Registrar’s Office.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “But first I want a kiss from my bride.”