“I’m going to call her once in a while, but I have no feelings toward her.I don’t remember her at all from when I was a child.And she did drop me off at my grannie’s home without telling me why.Grannie didn’t say either, but someone should have told me.I just thought that they didn’t want me anymore.”
“I want you.I love you.”She smiled at him, and he felt better than he had all morning.“You’re very sneaky on how you got me out of my bad mood.Thank you for that.I didn’t know how I was going to see patients with this anger built up.”
“There was no reason for you to be angry in the first place.He’s in jail and will be there for a while.Also, did you know that he’s threatened the police taking care of him?He’s making a list of people that piss him off so that he can have them taken care of when he has all the money.Do you think he has any idea how much money there is?”Kendrick said he doubted that the amount means all that much to him; he just wants it because he doesn’t have it.“True.I can see that.He’s like a bully who wants all the toys on the play lot and gets pissy when he can’t have them all.Yeah, I can see that being the way he thinks.”
“Do you want to know how much money we have?”She shook her head and smiled at him.“Why not?I mean, there is a great deal of it to be had.I’ve done very well for myself—for us, I mean.”
“I’m happy that I have a roof over my head and food in my belly.That I can go to the store and get what I want when I want it, so long as I don’t go nuts.”He told her she’d have to go really nuts to spend it all.“I won’t do that.But you tell me that we’re all right, and I believe you.Putting a number on it will just make me crazy, so that I have something else to worry about.Is it enough that I don’t have to worry about it?”
“There’s more than enough for you to not ever have to worry about it.I promise.”She nodded and told him she was headed home.“Did you only come here to get me out of my mood?If so, I can’t thank you enough.”
“I came to chase you around the office, but I figured that wouldn’t work out when I got here.You’re really busy.”He said that it was Monday.“I’ll have to remember that from now on.I can’t have any fun with you here at work on Mondays.”
He was laughing when she left him there with a kiss to his chin.He was glad that she’d been able to get him out of his mood.It might well have hurt someone’s feelings when they had to talk to him like he was.He was just stepping into the first patient’s room when it occurred to him what she’d said.She wanted to chase him around the office.Did that mean…?
For the rest of the day, he was busy enough that he didn’t get to think about what she meant.But when he did, he was thrilled that she’d come in and talked to him about it.Being chased around his office wouldn’t work out all that well on any day of the week, as he’d taken the door off his office when he first started seeing people.He wanted there to never be a closed door when someone wanted to talk to him.Now he was beginning to regret that move.
By the time he was ready for a break, it was lunchtime.It was his turn to stay at the offices, just in case someone came in early to their after lunchtime appointment, but he didn’t mind.He’d had his lunch brought to him in the form of a large salad with chicken on it and was content to sit in his office and eat it.When the others came back, he went to the bathroom and washed up before he was ready to begin his day again.Kendrick did love his job and was glad that he was enjoying it enough that he wasn’t bored with it.
By three o’clock, he was ready to call it a day, but he still had about three hours to go.He’d gotten to tell one of his patients that they were going to have a baby and had been high on their happiness for the rest of the day.When his last patient came into the office, he was caught up enough that he didn’t have to hurry through.He loved ending on a good note like that and was happy that he’d had such a productive day, too.
Driving home, he was happy to remember that the movers were going to be moving the few things that they decided to take from the house with them.The floors in the new house looked better than he thought they would, and he was glad that they’d had their bedroom have hardwood floors as well.He loved the golden sheen that was there when the sun hit it just right and thought that if the floor got cold, they’d just pull out some slippers.Yes, he was happy with the changes they’d made in the kitchen as well.
The cabinets and the walls had been painted a dark blue.It was so dark in the room that it was difficult to feel comfortable in it.Once the walls had been painted a bright while and the flooring a light color, he was happy to say that he thought it was perfect.With the countertops being white with blue swirls through it, he thought they had the most perfect kitchen ever built.He couldn’t wait to have a couple of meals cooked in the thing.
He’d had staff at their first home and was glad that they all decided to come with them to the new one.He would have hired all new staff if not for Sharon loving them, and now he didn’t have to have someone come out and train them.Things were going just as planned, and he couldn’t wait until they were staying full-time at the new home.
The beds had been put together and made up just yesterday.All the rooms had been cleaned, and the carpets that were in the few rooms that they were in were vacuumed and ready to be used.All they needed to do was move in with their clothing, and things would be done.He’d never had such an easy move before.He thought maybe Sharon had been right and this was going to be their foreverhome.He loved the sound of that, too.
Forever meant something so much more than it had before Sharon had come into his life.He was thinking in terms of being together forever, like the fact that she was going to be by his side forever made him feel like life was worth living for him.As soon as he got to the new house, he was going to put down roots—like trees and plants that would be there for them forever, too.Kendrick was excited about everything going on today, all of a sudden, and was happy that Sharon was home when he got there.Picking her up and swinging her around, he kissed her on the mouth before setting her back down on the floor.
“Well, aren’t you in a great mood.So much better than when you left.”He said it was because of her.“Thank you for that.I needed a pick-me-up today.”
“What’s wrong?”She told him how she’d spoken to her mother today about her father, and she said that he should be in jail forever.“I agree, but without more information, that’s not going to happen.”
“He has no income, and he lives in a nice apartment that he pays for in cash every month.That’s all she’s told me about, but I agree with her.How is he supposed to be paying for this place without any income?He doesn’t even get Social Security.He was denied that when he went to jail the first time for stealing checks and cashing them.It seems to me that he’s back up to his old tricks.”
“While I agree with you in that it sounds fishy, no one is going to put him in jail just because he’s paying his rent on time.I’ll have Cass look into it—” She said that she’d already spoken to her.“Good.One more thing I don’t have to do.But if he is dealing underhandedly, then they’re going to have to catch him in the act rather than just saying that he’s up to something.Understand?”
“I do.I don’t like it, but I understand.”She pouted her lower lip, and he kissed it.“That was nice.Now all I have to do is figure out what he’s doing so that I can catch him at it, so that he goes to prison for the rest of his life.That sounds easy, don’t you think?”
“Not at all.”She growled at him, and he had to laugh.It was such a wimpy growl that he couldn’t help but think of her as a small puppy trying to do it.Not wanting to upset her more, he didn’t mention it.“But you can bet that if there’s something out there, Cass will find it.She’s good at getting to the dirt on things.”
For the rest of the evening, they talked about what he could be doing to get money all the time.They thought about everything from cashing checks again to running drugs, high-end things that would get him serving a lot of prison time.Since neither of them was a lawyer, they couldn’t get past the few things that they’d seen on television, and that didn’t give them much to go on.They’d just have to wait on Cass to see what she was able to unearth for them.
Chapter 7
Yanick hated working.He loved what he did; however, he didn’t care for the people that he worked for, the staff that worked under him, nor the drive all the way to Columbus every evening that he had to go.Sitting in his car outside the restaurant, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the seat.He still had twenty-five minutes before he had to be inside, and he wasn’t going to rush getting in there under threat of death.It was too much for him.
“I have a question for you.”He smiled when Cass reached out for him.“It’s not a big deal that you might not know it, but you’re the first person I thought of, and that’s why I’m bugging you.Are you at work yet?I don’t want to disturb you while you’re carving up veggies or something.”
“I’m sitting in my car trying to convince myself to go inside to work.I don’t actually carve up the veggies.I have people who do that for me.Should they do it wrong, then I get to be the bad guy and tell them to redo them.It’s the highlight of my day to be the mean boss.”She asked him if he really was a mean boss.“No.And that’s the reason that I dislike my job so much.Everyone thinks I’m a pushover, and I have no control over what happens in my own kitchen.What is it that I can do for you, my dear sister?”
“What do you know about prostitution?”He wasn’t sure how to answer that, so he didn’t.Which seemed to be fine with her as she clarified what she meant by asking him.“I believe that Dick’s girlfriend is running a prostitution ring out of his apartment.While none of the work goes on in the place, there is a lot of activity going on in and out of there.Women mostly with a couple of men.I think what happens is that they show up, get their assignments for the evening, and leave.The reason that I think that is because the neighbors complain about the amount ofcarsgoing in and out of their end of the complex.Nothing is going on inside the place other than the phone calls and the people going in and out.I think they might be turning over their cash too when that happens, but again, I can’t be sure.”
“And why would you think that I’d have any idea what was going on with something like this?I’m flattered, don’t get me wrong.I never would have thought of doing something like this in my wildest dreams, but tell me how you got to that conclusion.”She told him.“So you think that all single men know how this works?I think you’re giving us a great deal more credit than we can ever hope to know.I, for one, never used a prostitute.And I doubt very much that anyone I know has either, including my brothers.But I love the way your mind works.Sure, I can see that happening.But unless you pointed it out to me, I would never have gone there.My mind isn’t on where my sex comes from so much as I—never mind.I don’t pay for sex.”
“I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this one.I don’t even know how I came to that.But it makes sense.Like when he has money, he has a great deal of it.I know this from talking to some of the people that he owes money to.And there are a lot of them.But when he’s broke, he never seems to be worried about where his next buck will come from.He pays his rent in cash along with his other utilities.I can’t find a credit card in either of their names.He doesn’t drive, but she does, but she doesn’t own a car.I think she uses services to get around.Him too, but I don’t know who he uses.She’s right out front with her money.Wears designer clothing, expensive shoes, and makeup.She also gets deliveries about three times a day.”He asked her how she came to the conclusion of prostitution.“I don’t know that either.It just popped into my head, and I couldn’t get rid of it.I’m thinking of calling the police department and telling them what I’ve found out.However, if they think I’m nuts, then there will be that that I have to contend with.”
