“You were so right, Jeanine,” Delores said. “Nothing has ever lifted my spirits like that party.”
“Extravaganza!” Carlton said teasingly. “It was an extravaganza.”
“Tell me about your case,” Dr. Moreno said. “That must have been very gratifying.”
“It sure was. Once we found somebody who was willing to talk, it all fell into place, just like I expected. I even got the DA to charge Dixon with serial rape by deception. He said that Dixon’s crimes prior to the new law wouldn’t count but we could still use the witnesses to show a pattern. Overall, it isn’t as powerful as the murder charge but it makes a darn good statement to the other cops. But that’s not all. I tried that IMT thing you taught me and decided to leave Mama and Tio alone as long as Mama is happy.”
“That sounds like kindness over being correct to me.”
“Yeah. I guess it does. You were right about that too.”
“I’m happy for you.”
Delores grinned. “You know that other thing we talked about? It worked itself out, too.” She kissed Carlton’s cheek. “Thanks to my very own cupcake man.”
Chapter Eighty-Six
“That’s the one I was looking for,” Stump said to James as they flopped a mattress on top of Maria’s mama’s bed. “The last piece.”
“Good. I’m beat. Now you can take me back to my car.”
They locked up and went outside where James pointed toward the bike rack. “Hey, Dude, check it out.”
Stumped turned to see two boys about age ten, messing around with the bike tires. Suddenly Stump heard fizzing. “Those little bastards must be the ones who let the air out of my tires.“ He ran toward the boys. “Hey you guys—”
The youngsters looked at Stump and ran away.
All Stump could do was shake his head and turn back to James. “I didn’t recognize them. Did you?”
“Nope, but they must be from the neighborhood, somewhere.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they found my old phone too,” Stump said as they climbed into his truck and he inserted his key. “Did I tell you that Detective Sanchez said I should become a detective?”
“You just listen to her ’cause she makes your pecker pucker.”
“It’s not that, Dude. In fact, she’s not the first person to tell me that. I never took it serious before, but I kinda like investigating and figuring things out.”
“I think you watch too much TV.”
“I’m serious about this. It’s exciting to ask questions and sneak into places and learn things other people don’t know. If I hadn’t got my hands on Dixon’s notebook or ended up in the maintenance room with Maria, I wouldn’t have been able to solve the case.”
“I bet the cops would have figured it out sooner or later.”
“Probably, but that just proves that I think like they do. Furthermore, I wouldn’t have been able to help those other people improve their homes if I didn’t figure out how to get Mr. Barella on my side. I even liked going door-to-door.”
“It was my idea to ditch school and to trick BigBunz. That was pretty rad.”
“No shit. Did you see her smile at the end, when we needed her? Maybe we both have a knack.” Stump pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex and parked near Myles’s SUV. “I owe you a favor, Dude,” Stump said.
“That’s another thing you’re good at,” James said. “Getting people to do favors for you.”
Stump wasn’t sure if that was a good quality or not, but he was glad to have such a good friend.
“Hello, people,” Stump said to Myles and Grandma Pauline when he and James entered the apartment. “We’re worn out.”
Myles muted the TV and rose. “Just the gentlemen I wanted to see.” He pointed to the kitchen table. “You got some mail. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad?”
“Huh? I like good news.”
“I like good news too,” Grandma Pauline said.
Myles handed Stump an envelope. “Looks like it’s from Irv Wedlock at the TV station.”
“Really?” Stump ripped it open and read out loud. “Neal, Congratulations on your recent successes. I always knew you had the type of mettle that makes for great leaders. If you’re interested, I might be able to get you a nomination to one of the military academies. Otherwise, I expect to see you in law enforcement someday. Either way, I hope you’ll stay in touch. Your friend, Irv Wedlock.”
Stump curled his bottom lip and grinned. “Wow! This is rad.” He looked at Myles. “I’ve heard of military academies. What do they do?”
Myles took the envelope. “There’s West Point, and the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. They give you a great college education for free and make you into an officer.”
“It’d be pretty cool to fly those big jets, Dude,” James said.
“Sure would.” Stump turned to Myles. “You think that’s possible?”
Myles shook his head. “I doubt it. A guy has to belong to clubs, do things for his community and—”
“I got the City Council to—”
“As I was about to say before you interrupted,” Myles continued, “you won’t get in those places without good grades, which brings us to the next piece of mail.” Myles picked up a different envelope and slid out the letter inside. “It was addressed to me. It’s from your school. Shows you’ve had a serious attendance problem that I knew nothing about.”
Stump shuffled his feet. “Oh, that.”
“I called the school to find out why they never said anything to me about all the absents. As near as I can tell, you two cooked up some scheme to cover for each other.”
“Uh-oh,” James said. “I gotta go.”
Myles nodded and James disappeared faster than one of his infamous farts in the wind.
“I guess you thought you were smart,” Myles said. “You assumed you could cut corners but it turns out you’re not quite as brilliant as you thought you were.” He picked up another envelope. “Your report card was addressed to me too. You got an F in Literature, another in Biology. Damn near flunked Spanish too. You know what this means. It’s summer school for you.”
“How about Trig and History?” Stump asked, fishing for something good to offset the bad.
“Not much better.” Myles handed the paper to Stump. “Everything else was I’s and D’s. Any worse and they would have held you back.”
Stump lowered his head. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t have much choice.”
“I know how hard you’ve worked, so if grades were your only problem, I might be inclined to cut you a little slack, but there’s something else here. Even worse,” he said while handing Stump a larger brown envelope. “This one was also addressed to me. Go ahead, open it.”
What the heck could be worse? Stump pulled out the contents. The heading said it was from the County Court. The words “speeding” and “traffic ticket” stuck out like dress clothes in a swimming pool. Twenty miles an hour over the posted speed limit. How could that be? He’d only been driving for a few days. Maybe it was another one of Myles’s pranks.
“Keep going,” Myles said. “Look what’s behind it.”
Stump flipped to the back page where there was a super-clear picture of him and Maria and her mama, from when Myles went out of town.
“You stole my truck,” Myles said, hands on hips. “Were you out of your ever-loving mind?”
“Well. It was an emergency. Maria’s mama had to go—”
“Bottom line is I didn’t say you could take the truck. And you know it.”
“This reminds me of when you got drunk in high school,” Grandma Pauline said, looking at Myles. “You sure got sick.”
Stump grinned. Sometimes Grandma Pauline was an unintended ally.
“Not now, Mom,” Myles said. “We’re talking about Stump, not me.” He turned back to Stump. “What other secrets are you holding from me?”
“Nothing else. I promise.”
“That’s what you
said yesterday and before that. You always say there won’t be any more problems, but the words are barely out of your mouth before something new happens.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
Myles shook his head. “Not good enough this time, Stump. You stole my truck and messed up big-time at school.” He tapped the first envelope. “Summer school begins next week. It says here you’re already enrolled.”
Summer school? “James said they have make-up classes online. I can just—”
“Oh, no, you don’t. That might be alright for somebody who went to class in the first place, but since you couldn’t be bothered to get your butt into the classroom, I think you should try it again so you don’t get the impression that you’re getting away with anything.”
“Good character is borne out of the pain of our mistakes,” Grandma Pauline added.
Stump smiled at her, then returned his attention to Myles and exhaled. “Alright. I guess that’s fair.”
“Good. And you have to get B’s. Nothing worse. That deals with school. Now, why don’t you tell me what should happen to a guy who sneaks around behind his parent’s back and steals cars and ditches school?”
Fair question. Stump pursed his lips, then pulled his truck keys out of his pocket and handed them over. “I don’t get to drive for a week.”
Myles shook his head. “Throw in your cell phone and make it two weeks.”
“Okay. It’s a deal,” Stump said, turning toward his room.
“Not so fast,” Myles said. “While we’re clearing the air, we still have this matter of your unpaid bills. When you took money that didn’t belong to you, you were doing the same type of thing that Dixon Browne did.”
“But I was going to pay it back.”
“That’s what everybody says, but sooner or later they get in over their heads and end up making matters worse. You’re going to get another job. I don’t care if you have to work for minimum wage. But you’re going to pay me back every damn dime before you get your keys back.”
“But that will take at least six weeks and we just said I could drive again in two weeks.”
“You still can if you pay me back. Otherwise, you’ll have plenty of time to think about what you did.”
“Alright. Alright. Mr. Connors has offered me a job. That way I can see Maria too.” He laid his head on Grandma Pauline’s shoulder, having no idea what her future would be like, but he’d already planned to be a big part of it. “I’ll use the rest of my time to get to know Grandma Pauline better,” he said. “She’s one of my best friends.”
In the meantime, if he could figure out a way to pay off Myles all at once he could be back behind the wheel in two weeks. He grinned mischievously. Good thing James had a savings account.
Other Award-Winning Books
By David A. Thyfault
(see below to get FREE eBooks for your devices or computer)
NON-FICTION
Instant Experience for Real Estate Agents
A fun and interesting non-textbook slant on the real estate profession. Features jokes, true stories and an explanation of why agents should be their own best clients.
Stop Flushing Your Money Down the Drain
Find out how and why the typical adult loses nearly a half-million dollars in buying power during his or her lifetime. Easy to read. Packed with good tips.
FICTION SERIES:
The Making of Detective Neal “Stump” Randolph
Episode One: Three Deadly Twins
A trio of twins causes deadly trouble on one side of town while 13-year-old Stump endures the tragic death of his beloved mother in a nearby neighborhood and ultimately discovers he has the knack for detective work.
Episode Two: Monday Girl’s Revenge
Unknowingly, both 16-year-old Stump and young Detective Delores Sanchez get drawn into the same unsavory world of a serial sexual predator at an apartment complex. By the time a body is discovered, Stump is well on his way to becoming an effective, self-taught investigator.
COMING UP
Episode Three: Grandma’s BFF Does Coke
While establishing a funky breakfast restaurant, Stump, now 19 and enrolled in a college of criminology, teams up with a mysterious truck driver to investigate a dementia patient’s claim regarding a lost family treasure. Gunshots and corpses prove the patient knew a lot more than originally thought.
About the Author
Like most Americans I liked my career of several decades but I have to admit that I didn’t always approach the mornings with wild enthusiasm.
But then, I retired and discovered something I never would have guessed: When the day is mine, I love to get up even earlier. Now I’m the guy who wakes up the rooster. I still work as much as I ever did, only I now work on things that bring me a different form of compensation. Like writing books.
Some have asked me where I get my ideas, but it’s no mystery. I had a storied youth with six sisters and a wild family. When I wasn’t engulfed in that world, I spent a fair amount of my time wandering the alleys and streets of our neighborhood. A fellow learns a lot from all of those people even before he arrives for his first day of school. If he has the ability to recall the characters and the activities in which they engaged, and blend that with a dash of make-believe, there’s a goldmine full of fodder from which to draw his inspiration.
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