The Burning Question Part III
By
Min and Johnny were driving back to the cabin, both of them were silent, what they had uncovered was huge and it all made perfect sense now.
“Johnny are we in trouble?”
“I’m not sure yet Min but we might be.”
“How high do you think this goes?”
“Pretty high, it would have to.” Johnny sighed and wiped his face.
“Do you think he found out the same way we did?”
“I’m not sure, he probably found out in a much more casual way.” Something suddenly clicked in his head and he pulled the Wrangler over.
“What’s wrong? Why did you pull over?”
“Do you remember the name of the construction company that was listed on those prints?”
“The ones we have or the ones that the city has.”
“Either.”
Min thought about it for a moment. “I think it said Jacobson Construction.” She knew that name, but from where? “Wait a second, your mom mentioned that name.”
“She did, from what?”
“Remember I told you she mentioned Ben and Marty?”
Johnny nodded. “Yeah but you said she casually mentioned them.”
Min sighed. “That wasn’t exactly true Johnny, I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because while you were upstairs unpacking we were making sandwiches and she asked me to tell her the real reason we were here besides a visit. She knew that something else was up so I told her the truth.”
“How did she take it?”
“She said she knew that one day you would want to know, so I asked her about that day and she told me that Howard Jacobson came to see her and not only offered to pay for the funeral but gave her a huge insurance settlement for Evan’s death. All she had to do was stop asking questions about what happened to him.”
Johnny closed his eyes. “So that’s why she didn’t have to go get a job after Dad died.”
Min nodded. “Don’t be angry with her Johnny, she didn’t want to do it but she had your well being to think about too, without that money you both would have ended up homeless.”
He opened his eyes and turned to look at his wife. “I’m not mad at her Min, I just wish she would have told me.”
“She probably thought it would be best that you didn’t know.”
Johnny sighed, he was thinking about something. “So Jacobson Construction is not only who my dad worked for but they built that facility too.”
“Right, Texcorp, the biggest manufacturer..” Something occurred to Min and she closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh God, that’s what this is all about.”
Her husband turned to look at her. “What?”
“Money, Texcorp must be worth millions, can you imagine what a small town like Hollister would do to get a company that valuable to build a plant?”
Johnny thought about it and his head nodded slowly. “They would kill for it.”
“And they did, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
He turned the wheel and got the Wrangler back on the road, all sorts of things were running through his mind, he was scared and angry at the same time. He thought about his meeting in the old construction site and what his anonymous friend had told him, that information had killed his father, what was going happen to him and his wife now that they knew?
The answer came out of a side road and pulled up behind the couple, it was a huge black stretch limousine. Johnny caught a glimpse of it in his rear view mirror and it started to flash its lights.
“That’s strange.”
He broke the silence and Min turned to look at him. “What is?”
“There’s a limo behind us and it keeps flashing its lights.”
Min turned around and looked at the big black car, there was no one else around, the road was totally deserted except for them. “Well if he’s in such a big hurry then let him go by.”
Johnny pulled the Wrangler over and the limousine went zipping by. “You’re welcome Speedy.”
The road started to slant upwards, they were climbing up a big hill, they reached the top and as they started down it they saw the limousine was there waiting for them, it was across both lanes and there was a man standing there in front of it. Johnny gasped, the height of the hill had sped up the Wrangler and he hit the brakes, trying to stop it before they collided with the limo. The couple was thrown forward, Johnny’s chest hit the steering wheel a little but his seatbelt prevented his weight from crushing him against it. Min felt the seatbelt cut into her neck and she put her arms out to stop herself from slamming against the dashboard. The Wrangler finally stopped a few feet away from the limousine, the rear end of it went up a bit and the whole vehicle shook. The couple looked up slowly, they were both out of breath and shaking from the sudden rush of adrenaline that was pumping through their hearts. Johnny looked up at the man standing there and the first thing he wanted to do was pound him one, he took off his seat belt and got out.
“What’s the big idea? We almost hit you!”
The man was dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform, complete with hat and gloves. “I have been instructed to bring you and the young lady back with me.”
Johnny swallowed hard. “Back where?”
The limo doors opened and out stepped three very large men, all dressed in black suits and ties. “It would be best if you were to accompany us.”
One of the large men walked over to the Wrangler and opened the passenger door, he stuck his hand out. “Will you come with me Miss?”
Johnny looked back and saw the terrified look on his wife’s face, he realized this situation could easily go from bad to worse if they didn’t cooperate. “It’s all right Min, these gentlemen want us to go with them.”
Min reached down between her feet, her purse was there and she opened it and took something out of it. She slipped into the left pocket of her sundress, she hoped that the man didn’t see what she had done as she placed her hand in the outstretched one. The large man helped her out of the Wrangler, he escorted her to the limo and opened the door, she stepped inside and the large man turned his attention to Johnny.
“Would you step into the limousine? Don’t worry about your vehicle, one of my associates will see to it.”
Johnny closed the driver’s side door and got into the limousine.
Min watched as the men all got back into the limo, she swallowed hard. “Johnny.”
“I know.” He reached down between them and picked up her hand. “We’re going to be just fine.”
He wasn’t sure if he was saying it for her benefit or for his.
Min was holding Johnny’s hand, she wasn’t sure where they were going, the limo’s windows were tinted very dark and it was hard to tell but she thought she saw a building pass by. The limousine slowed down and they heard the sound of a metal door sliding open. Min leaned closer to the window and watched as the limo went into something that looked like a warehouse. She turned and wanted to talk to her husband but they weren’t exactly alone and the three gorillas were staring at them. She sat back in her seat and squeezed her husband’s hand, she was getting very scared but she tried not to let it show.
The limousine came to a stop and the three stooges got out, leaving Min and Johnny alone for a moment. They took this opportunity and hugged each other.
“Whatever happens I love you.” Johnny said as he hugged his wife hard.
“I love you too.” She returned his embrace and kissed him.
The door on Min’s side was still open and a meaty hand suddenly appeared, the couple let go of each other and Min took the hand that was offered, she was helped out and Johnny followed. They were in a warehouse, it was totally empty except for a pair of chairs. The chauffeur was standing in front of the chairs and he motioned to them.
“Would you both kindly take a seat, someone will be with you in a moment.”
The couple sat down and the chauffeur turned around and walked over to a door, he knocked on it and stepped back. The door opened and a young woman that looked to be in her late 20s came out. She was dressed in a dark grey suit and pants, her hair was dark and tied up neatly in a bun. She was wearing expensive jewelry and her face was made up, she spotted Min and Johnny and smiled widely.
“Well done Mr. Darby.”
“Thank you Ma’am.”
“Where is their vehicle?”
“It should be here at any moment.”
“Very good.”
The click clack of her high heels echoed through the empty warehouse as she walked over to Min and Johnny, she stopped a few feet from them. “Good Afternoon.” She looked at Johnny and smiled widely. “Johnny Gage, at last we meet, you certainly have caused quite a bit of trouble, my friend Mr. Roberts was absolutely beside himself after you visited him.”
Johnny looked at the young woman. “Who are you?”
“Oh! I’m completely forgetting my manners, my name is Catherine Stewart, CEO of Texcorp Industries.” She turned and looked at the young woman sitting beside Johnny. “Am I correct to assume that this is Mrs. Gage?”
Min nodded her head. “Your assumption is correct.”
“Oh good.” Catherine snapped her fingers and Darby took a silver cigarette case out of his pocket and opened it, he took out a cigarette and handed it to her. She put it between her lips and Darby took out a lighter and lit it. She exhaled the smoke and sighed as she did so, she wanted to sit down but there was no place for her, she thought briefly about sitting on Johnny’s lap but she was quite sure Min would strongly disapprove.
“Darby, can you bring me a chair please?”
“Of course.”
The chauffeur disappeared and reappeared with a rolling chair, he set it down in front of the couple and the young woman sat down and crossed her legs. “There, that is much better, now where were we? Ah yes, I told you that I own Texcorp Industries.”
“Is that where we are?”
Catherine looked at Johnny and her eyebrows went up. “Why yes that it is, this is the storage facility for my plant, but as you can see we have nothing stored at the moment. You are very smart Johnny, just like your father was, and just like Evan too smart for your own good.”
“Is that why you brought us here?”
She blew out her smoke and nodded her head. “You’re here to tell me exactly how much you know about this place.”
“Do you want to know everything or just the fact you stole it from the Shoshones?”
Catherine looked stunned and she started to clap her hands. “My goodness you are very clever! I am impressed!” She took another drag on her cigarette and the smoke came out of her mouth as she spoke. “I suppose I do owe you the whole story, after all you did come all the way from LA and you have been digging hard to find it. There is just so much I hardly know where to start.”
“The beginning would be nice.” Johnny turned and looked at his wife and he tried very hard not to laugh, Catherine narrowed her eyes at the young woman.
“Thanks so much for the tip. I’ll start off with a little information about Texcorp, we’ve been in business for over 30 years, my father started this company and when he died it was passed on to me. He was still CEO 15 years ago when he came up with this brilliant idea to build a plant in every state. Things were going along pretty good until he came to Wyoming, he tried to get a major city to let him build a plant, Cheyenne, Laramie, Jackson Hole, they all turned him down. They told him that a big plant like that would interfere with their precious tourist dollars, it would make the landscape less appealing. Anyways, it was by pure dumb luck he ended up coming to Hollister, this little one horse town was not too close to a major city and too small to have to rely on tourist dollars, it was perfect. He started talks with the city to build here, but there was a problem, none of the city’s land holdings were good enough, they were either too small, no access to a main road, too much terrain, you name it. Finally, an associate of my father’s dug up an old deed to a large chunk of land that was just the right size and everything, there was just one little hitch, it didn’t belong to the city, it belonged to the Shoshone tribe.” Catherine dropped her cigarette and stepped on it. “It was only a temporary set back, since we had the deed and they didn’t, it seemed that this little piece of land had been totally forgotten about, so with a little creative document making, that land became the property of the city. The mayor, the city council, they all knew who this land really belonged to but they didn’t care, they were seeing all those dollar signs and they welcomed them with open arms. Doug Roberts was foreman of the project and the city gave him every permit under the sun, but to make it all look legit we gave a file to the county courthouse and put in a fake set of blueprints just in case anyone got curious, but no one did. The land had just barely started to be cleared when we got another fly in the ointment, Evan Gage. We had drawn up a set of blueprints for the plant and Doug Roberts, being not too bright at times, left them in plain sight, Evan went into his office to get his paycheck and saw them lying there on his desk. He knew exactly where that plant was going to be and on whose land and when Roberts came back into his trailer, he started raising all kinds of holy hell! How that was wrong and that we had stolen the land and on and on! Roberts finally told him to shut up and to mind his own business and to get to work. Evan left his office and that’s when my father got the phone call, Roberts told him how Evan had seen the plans and that he could possibly ruin everything. That’s when my father came up with an idea of how to keep him quiet.”
Evan was still fuming over his fight with Roberts, it wasn’t right, that land belonged to the Shoshones and they were going to be cheated out of millions of dollars. He sighed as he got his safety belt out of his truck and strapped it around his waist, he saw his friend Marty putting water in her thermos.
“Hey Evan, did you get your paycheck?”
“Yeah, I got it, I’ll see you later.” He walked over to the elevator and got in, Marty waved at him and he waved back as the elevator took him up to the 6th floor. He walked out of it to the middle of the beam, it was windy at that height and the wind was playing with his long hair. He craned his neck and looked down, it was a most unpleasant drop, straight down to the ground. He turned away and crouched down, he took the hook off of his belt and clipped it around one of the holes in the beam and took out his measuring tape.
Roberts was watching from the window in his trailer, he looked around and didn’t see anyone, he came out of his trailer wearing his safety belt. He had taken off the normal strap and had attached a rope to the hook, he put on his hard hat and climbed into the side elevator and went up. The elevator stopped on the 6th floor and he stepped out onto the beam. He took the hook off of his belt and attached it to the frame of the elevator, the rope would give him a good twenty feet of mobility and freedom. He snuck up behind the unsuspecting man quietly and took out his utility knife.
Evan was measuring a new spot to put a beam vertically when he felt an arm go around his neck, he dropped his tape measure and grabbed at the arm that was cutting off his air, it was pressing into his windpipe and he couldn’t make a sound.
“You think you are so smart, you should have left well enough alone and now it’s going to cost you everything!” Evan recognized the voice instantly, he tried with all his might to break free but his crouching position versus Roberts’ bent over one, gave the foreman the advantage.
“Say goodbye Evan.”
Evan was attached to the beam by the steel hook and thick yellow strap, Roberts showed him the utility knife before he brought it down to the strap and started to slice through it. The blade was sharp and in a matter of seconds it was severed, Roberts stood up and took the struggling man with him, he took his arm away from Evan’s neck and shoved him. The foreman watched with delight as Evan fell, he heard the unmistakable thud of a body hitting the ground, reminded him of a bag of falling concrete. The strap and hook were still attached to the beam, he crouched down and unhooked them and put them into his pocket as he walked back to the elevator.
Catherine had another cigarette and she shook her head. “It would have been perfect except for Marty Mathews, she was still down there, she was there when Evan landed and she saw that he was wearing his safety belt, I guess she really was upset because she didn’t seem to notice that the hook was missing. Roberts covered him up and when Ben Pearson finally got Marty into his trailer he took off Evan’s belt and hid it, after all Marty was distraught, who would believe her? Evan Gage died because he wasn’t wearing his safety belt, it was that simple.”
Johnny turned his head away from the horrible woman and closed his eyes, he pictured everything she had said in his head and it was even uglier than what Marty had told him. He swallowed hard before he turned back. “But it wasn’t that simple, someone else besides Marty saw what Roberts did.”
Catherine shook her head. “No one saw, everyone else was higher up.” Something else occurred to her and she creased her brow in thought. “Hold on a moment, exactly how is it that you were able to find all of this out? I mean about the land.”
The sliding metal door opened and in drove the Wrangler, it was parked next to the limo and one of the big burly guys came out of the driver’s side door, he had the rolled up blueprints in his big hand. He walked over to Catherine and handed them to her.
“Thank you Wellins, perfect timing.”
She stuck the cigarette in her mouth and unrolled them. “Well I’ll be damned! I thought Roberts burned these when the construction was over.” She moved them aside and looked at Johnny. “And where exactly did you get these from?”
Johnny shrugged his shoulders. “A friend.” He couldn’t help but grin. “I told you that someone else saw Roberts that day.”
Catherine rolled up the plans and dropped them on the ground. “It doesn’t matter, if it really was someone that was important they would have just as much to lose as we would so they would have no choice but to keep quiet.”
Johnny’s smile was gone, she was right. “So whose idea was it to pay for the funeral and give my mom money?”
She rolled her eyes in disgust and shook her head. “Jacobson…he felt so incredibly guilty about one of his workers dying, it was pathetic, and at the same time he was scared to death that your mother was going to cause problems.” She started laughing. “He thought that for sure that he was going to get the blame, he didn’t even have a clue as to what really happened, or what we were up to.”
Johnny shook his head, he could not believe this woman. “So what happens now?”
The woman stopped laughing and her face grew serious. “Well, that’s all up to you Johnny, I’ve told you everything that happened to your father, what you do with it is entirely up to you.”
Min and Johnny turned and looked at each other, was she serious?
“So we are perfectly free to just get up and walk out of here?”
Catherine nodded. “Yes, we aren’t holding you here against your will, are we boys?”
The group of large men all shook their heads. “No Ma’am, they can leave anytime they want to.”
The couple stood up slowly and walked over to the Wrangler, Johnny got into it and started it up. Min got into the passenger side and put on her seat belt.
“Come on Johnny, I think we should go while we can, before Catherine changes her mind.”
“I know.” He put the Wrangler in reverse, and started to back it up slowly, as soon as it got close to the door, it slid open slowly and he backed all the way out of the warehouse. He stepped on the brakes and put in drive, the door started to close again and the last thing Min and Johnny saw was Catherine smiling as the door slid shut.
“I can’t believe we got out of that unscathed, I thought we were done for!” Min leaned back against her chair and sighed.
“Yeah so did I, I thought I was going to see my dad a long time before I planned to.”
“Me, too.” Min reached over and gently touched her husband on the leg. “But you being there made me feel a lot better.”
Johnny reached down and picked up her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. “It made me feel better too.”
“Such a gentlemanly gesture, you’re very smooth Johnny Gage.”
“That’s me all right, smooth as glass.”
Min turned to look at him and he simply grinned at her, she shook her head at him and sighed, sometimes he was too much.
The little Jeep Wrangler sped down the road, they were pretty far away from Hollister and they wanted to get back home before dark, and they were pretty sure that Gloria was probably very worried. They had left the house at little before 9 that morning and had been gone ever since. It was now after 7 and the sun was beginning to set, the road was beginning to get rather hilly and that was a good sign that they were finally getting close to town.
“Boy this up and down business is like a roller coaster, if this keeps up I’m going to get seasick.”
Johnny chuckled, his wife always had a way with words. “It makes the trip more exciting.”
“Getting sick on the side of the road is hardly exciting.”
They started up another hill and reached the top of it easily. When they started down, gravity kicked in and Johnny thought it would be best if they slowed down before they came up on the next turn, he tapped the brake and got a very unpleasant surprise, the vehicle wasn’t slowing down.
He thought that maybe he was imagining things, he pressed down on the brake harder this time and the Wrangler still didn’t slow down. He instantly thought of Catherine, her goons must have done something to the brake line.
“Uhh…Min?”
“What is it Sweetie?”
“We aren’t slowing down.”
“So I noticed, hit the brake.”
“I did.”
Min turned and looked at him. “You did?” He nodded and she swallowed hard. “We can’t stop?”
“I don’t think so.” He tried again and again, his foot stomping the brake pedal all the way down to the floor and nothing was happening. He even tried the emergency brake without any luck. “We definitely got a problem.”
“I’ll say we do! How are we going to stop?”
Johnny began moving the wheel from side to side, hoping the back and forth whipping motion would help; he also went over onto the shoulder but there wasn’t enough landscape on it to help them any.
Min looked up ahead, she could see the road starting to turn sharply to the left.
“Johnny, there’s a big turn up ahead, if we don’t slow down this thing is going to roll!”
“I know! But it may be the only way to stop us!”
“Are you nuts? Have you ever been in a vehicle that rolled before? Well I have and its no picnic, I was lucky that I didn’t get myself killed!”
Johnny thought about it for a moment, an idea came to him suddenly. “We have to stop before we get to that turn, I think I know of a way.”
“Okay, how?”
“Put the gear shift into park.”
Min shook her head. “We can’t Johnny, we’re going to fast, we’ll wreck.”
“Maybe but this thing is going to roll anyways at least if we do it we might have a chance.”
Min looked at him she knew there was no other way. “All right.”
The road started to turn and Johnny felt the wheels start to lose their grip on the road, he threw the gearshift into park. The force of suddenly stopping made the back end to come up fast, it caused the Wrangler to go nose first into the ground and then go flat back down again. Min and Johnny were wearing their seatbelts but the force caused them both to be thrown violently forward. Johnny got crushed up against the steering wheel, it felt as though it was going right through his chest. He was thrown back against the seat when gravity put the little vehicle back on all four tires, and he started to cough, his chest was burning. Min’s seatbelt hesitated a little before it locked up and her forehead hit the dashboard hard enough to knock her out. Johnny was finally able to breath and he looked over at his wife, he was that her forehead was bleeding and she was unconscious. He took off his seatbelt and moved closer to her, he reached up and turned on the overhead light, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood away from the cut, he could see a large lump forming from the dashboard. He pressed down on the cut and she opened her eyes.
“Are we dead?”
“No, how do you feel?”
“My head hurts but other than that I’m okay, what about you?”
“My chest hurts, I got made into a paramedic and steering wheel sandwich.”
Min reached up and touched the handkerchief. “Am I bleeding?”
“A little, it’s just a small cut, but you are going to have a nice lump.”
“Terrific, that’s all I need.”
Johnny took the handkerchief off of her head and looked at it. “Its fine, it’s not bleeding anymore.” He looked out through the windshield and saw steam coming out of the hood. “I wish I could say the same for our car.”
Min took off her seatbelt and turned the rearview mirror towards her, she saw the cut and the big knot on her head that was turning purple. “Well at least we stopped.”
Johnny got out and walked around to the front, it was crunched in and he put his hands on his hips and sighed. “It could have been worse, we could be the ones all mangled.”
“Yeah and I bet I know who we can send the repair bill to.” She put the mirror back the way it was and opened the door, she joined her husband in front of the Wrangler. “If I ever see her again I’m going to sock her right in her nose.”
Johnny laughed and put his arm around his wife. “She sure is going to be disappointed when we turn up alive.”
“So now what do we do?”
“Well, I think that we are close to town, it should be just over that hill, we have to find a phone and call my mom and the police.”
“And then I think we should make a few more calls.”
Johnny looked at her. “To whom?”
Min smiled widely. “Oh let’s see, there’s the newspapers and the TV stations…”
He sighed. “I don’t know if we can Min, we have no proof, it’s our word against the CEO of a multi-million dollars company, who’s going to believe us?”
Min shook her head. “That’s not entirely true, we have proof.” She reached into her left dress pocket and took out a small tape recorder. “See?”
Johnny’s mouth hung upon and his jaw hit the ground. “Where did you get that?”
“I brought it with us, I figured that it might come in handy.”
He took it from her and looked at it, he hit the rewind button and let it go for a moment or two and hit the play button, he heard Catherine spilling her guts and he turned it off and laughed. “How did you manage to turn this thing on without being seen?”
Min shrugged her shoulders. “It was easy, she was too busy giving you the eye to notice what I was doing.”
“Min, I could kiss you!”
“Well what’s stopping you?”
Johnny laughed and put his arms around her and kissed her warmly. “Thank you, now the truth will finally come out and everything will be made right, it won’t bring my dad back but at least the people that killed him will be punished.
Min smiled at him. “It was nothing, I couldn’t let them get away with murder twice.”
Johnny sighed and looked up at the setting sun. “Shall we take a walk?”
Min took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
He took her hand in his and the couple started walking towards town.
A bundle of red roses was gently laid at the base of Evan’s grave.
“How ya doing Ev?”
An older man with salt and pepper hair was standing over the tombstone, he had his hands crossed in front of him.
“That boy of yours really came through; I knew those blueprints would do it.” He crouched down and looked at the badge that Johnny had left there. “You were a good man Evan and so is your son, you should be proud.” He stood up and a small smile came to his lips. “Well, I better go, I’ll see you around.”
Howard Jacobson turned around and walked away.