Chapter 34

 

 

At a quarter to six I’m knocking on Janet’s door and when it opens I’m staring at a tall stunning looking woman with thick wavy gray hair down to her shoulders. “Chet Dawson?”

 

“That’s what it says on my birth certificate and you must be Mrs. Vanderhill.”

 

“That’s not what it says on my birth certificate, but I answer to it and also to Gloria if you wish.” Smiling, she steps back away from the doorway and says, “Please come in. Janet will be with us shortly.”

 

I hand her the wine I brought and say, “One’s a malbec and one’s a chardonnay. The chardonnay is still cool, but it would be best if you put it in the fridge to keep it chilled.”

 

I follow her down a short hallway into the living room where she motions to a wet bar and says, “Although I’m an experienced sipper, I’m a lousy bartender. Help yourself if you’re in the mood. Janet has a nice variety of goodies, so I’m sure you’ll find something to your liking. There’s beer and mixers in the fridge below the wet bar. I’ll have a vodka gimlet if you’d be so kind.”

 

She heads for the kitchen with the wine, leaving me to rack my brain over how to make a vodka gimlet. I’m a Newcastle beer or a Bushmills on the rocks kind of drinker, so when it comes to mixed drinks I’m an ignoramus. Fortunately, a vodka gimlet is the only mixed drink I’ve had some experience with because an aunt of mine used to drink them and she taught me how to mix them and I luckily remember the recipe.

 

I find the Grey Goose vodka, the Rose's Lime Juice Cordial and an appropriate cocktail glass and after filling the glass almost to the top with ice cubes I pour two shot of vodka and one shot of the mixer into the glass and gently stir the concoction.

 

I opt for a double Jameson’s on the rocks and sit down in one of the easy chairs to wait for Janet and Gloria to join me. Gloria returns first and sips her drink. “Ah! That’s good. You’re my kind of bartender.”

 

“I’m glad you like it and I’m glad you asked for it and not something else because it’s the only mixed drink I know how to make. I’m one of those uneducated deprived drinkers. If I can’t pour it directly from a bottle, I’m lost.”

 

“How refreshing, pun intended. Self-effacing humor in a man is hard to find these days. You must be something special for my daughter to invite you to dinner at her home. This is a first as far as I know.”

 

“MOTHER!!! A somewhat flustered Janet has just joined us.

 

“Oh Janet, don’t get your dander up. It’s a God given right for mothers to be nosy where their kids are concerned. I’m just trying to get to know your dinner date better.”

 

“It’s not a date. If it were, you wouldn’t be here.”

 

With a raise of her eye brows and a smile Gloria says nothing which has a greater impact than if she had.

 

With a cautioning tone in her voice Janet says, “Knock it off, Mom. Chet and I want to watch the news at six o’clock. It’s has to do with something he and I are working on.”

 

To change the subject I ask her if she wants something to drink from the wet bar and she declines saying, “I don’t want to mix the medicine I’m taking with alcohol. There might be serious side effects.”

 

“That’s a shame. I brought some nice malbec and chardonnay. The guy at the liquor store said it would delightfully intoxicate our pallets. That sounded like an interesting experience and I wanted to share it with you.”

 

Laughing she said, “Well, maybe a few sips wouldn’t hurt me.”

 

Looking at her watch she says, “It’s five after six. I’ll turn the TV on so we can watch Don cast his line for the barracuda we’re trying to land.”

 

Looking at her daughter kind of strangely and then glancing at me Gloria says, “You’ve picked up some odd ways of expressing yourself lately. Where’s that coming from?”

 

“Shush, we want to listen to the news.” Glancing over at me she smiles and then focuses in on the TV screen. I’m having trouble focusing on anything but Janet. She’s not dressed in her going to work garb this evening, but in an off the shoulder burgundy cocktail dress which ideally accents her dark wavy auburn hair that’s caressing her shoulders and the matching burgundy heels make those long legs of hers look even more impressive. On a scale of one to ten she’s at least a twenty.

 

The interview doesn’t commence until midway into the broadcast and after the anchor does the lead-in Don comes on camera and he looks professional, relaxed and ready to go. It was prearranged with the news director for Don to read a prepared statement, Janet’s script, before the questioning begins and he does so accompanied by a surprisingly believable flourish of histrionics that has me wondering where he found the time to practice those moves. When Don finishes reading his statement, the anchor weighs in with a series of loaded questions designed, I believe, to rattle and/or anger Don, but Don fields them easily with a few barbs of his own thrown in for good measure to let the anchor know, I’m sure, that he won’t just sit there and let her use him as a verbal punching bag.

 

The anchor has clearly done her homework and has prepared and structured her questions with the hope of catching Don off guard and getting him to say something that he would probably regret later, but her tactic didn’t work and, to me, when the interview was over she looked like the one who was rattled and angry.

 

She might be angry, but I think the network bosses are going to be ecstatic because they scooped everyone else with the ‘latest developments’ in the Crusader investigation. Don did an excellent job of selling our scheme to the viewers and we hope Aldrich was one of them.

 

Gloria, who has been watching the broadcast with us notes, “That FBI agent sure knows how to get his point across and his presentation of the information in that prepared statement was a heart stopper.”

 

Looking at Janet who was shaking her head I couldn’t help myself and did some bragging for her. “Your daughter wrote that statement. She’s more than a top notch journalist. She’s also a very talented writer and in my opinion could be a best-selling novelist if she chose to make a career change.”

 

“Oh, not you too! She started writing short stories, novelettes she use to call them, when she was in junior high and her English teachers encouraged her to pursue a writing career, but I managed to talk her out of it when she entered college and she decided to major in journalism.

 

“A good journalist can make a good living if he or she is in the right media market. Most novelists, no matter how good they are, never make much money.”

 

Giving me a cold stare Janet says, “Can we change the subject. It’s ancient history as far as I’m concerned and I’ve moved on to other things.”

 

Way to go Dawson. You certainly stirred up a can of worms with that big mouth of yours. She tried to warn you off, but you ignored her.

 

“What’s for dinner, Mother?” Looking at me she says, “She’s barred me from the kitchen because she wants to surprise me.” Looking back at her mother she says, “So surprise me, Mom. I need some cheering up after that short trip down memory lane. What epicurean adventure are you taking us on tonight?”

 

Oh boy. I think I’ve opened some old wounds. Why can’t I learn to keep my big mouth shut?

 

“To start off with we’re having Barbecued Shrimp with Ginger and Lime. It’s one of Wolfgang Puck's recipes. It’s usually served as an entrée, but I elected to use it as an appetizer. The main dish is Chicken Makhani which is also known as Indian Butter Chicken and will be served with basmati rice and naan bread. And for dessert we’re having peach cobbler. It’s on the sweet side, but I figure we can live on the wild side once in a while.”

 

Janet’s looking at her mother as though she’s tripping out on something and says, “Well, you’ve certainly managed to surprise me. I’ll be eating salads for the next week, but this sounds like it will be worth it.”

 

The food is a new experience for me and I’m enjoying every morsel of it. As the meal progresses, the tension between mom and daughter seems to dissolve and by dessert they're talking and laughing about all kinds of things that have happened in their family since they’ve last seen each other

 

Realizing that I’m being left out of their conversation Janet says, “I’m sorry we’re being so rude. We only get to see each other three or four time a year, so we have a lot catching up to do when it comes to what we’ve been doing and what’s been happening with my family and relatives. They’re an off the wall bunch that’s for sure and they do a lot of crazy and often hilarious things.”

 

“Hey, don’t give it a second thought. It’s been like being in a dinner theater for me and I’m enjoying the show.”

 

This got a laugh out of them and then Gloria asks, “How did you get into the private investigating business, Chet?”

 

“I kind of drifted into it. When I got out of the service I needed a job and a friend of mine got me one with his family’s law firm doing research and investigative work here in D. C. I worked for them for five years until his dad died and the firm was taken over by folks I didn’t particularly like so I decided to go out on my own. While I worked there I got my PI license and had saved a little money so I figured why not give it a shot.”

 

“Janet tells me you have become quite successful.”

 

“My company is growing, slowly but growing and I have a great staff which makes it a lot easier to deal with the growing pains.”

 

“How did you get involved with this Crusader character?”

 

“The FBI agent in charge of the case is an acquaintance of mine due to our paths crossing in other investigations. This led to us working in tandem on future cases and we like the arrangement so we’ve continued the relationship. When one of us needs some help digging up some info, we call the other first before exploring other avenues.”

 

“Why do you want to be in a line of work that is fraught with so much danger?”

 

“The Crusader is an unusual exception to the norm. In all the years I’ve been doing this I’ve had some punches and some other things thrown at me, but no one has ever tried to shoot me before. You come across a lot of people who like to mouth off, filled with bluster and ego, and you have to be prepared to face someone trying to pulls a gun on you, but except in rare instances these encounters turn out to be anticlimactic.”

 

I ask, “How about telling me something about you? What kind of a job do you have?”

 

“It’s rather dull compared to what you do. I own a marketing firm that focuses on making successful small businesses bigger and more profitable. My husband and I started the company soon after we were married and after he passed away five years ago instead of selling it and moving to Florida so I could relax and watch myself shrivel up into an old lady I kept it to stay at least mentally young and not go out of my mind with boredom. I tried to talk Janet into coming into the business with me, but she wrinkled her nose at it. She used to work for us in the summer months and during semester breaks while in college, but she never really liked dealing with the customers.”

 

Looking at Janet I ask, “You passed up thriving self-employment to work for Furious Ferdinand?”

 

“Too much glad handing and butt kissing to suit me.”

 

Sensing that this is another sensitive subject and figuring this would be a good time to keep my big mouth shut, I say nothing which is killing me because my natural inquisitiveness is banging on the door to be let out. After a few seconds of silence, Gloria glides over the awkward moment by steering the discussion in another direction.

 

“I have a client who owns a small winery in Napa Valley, California and she’s been hounding me to pay her a visit and go hot air ballooning with her. I’ve never been there and from what I’ve seen on TV and heard I understand it’s very beautiful there. I’m tempted to take her up on her offer, but I’m not too thrilled when I have to get on a plane to go somewhere and can’t imagine me garnering up the courage to climb into a hot air balloon even at gun point. If you were me, would either of you do it? Do you think it’s safe?”

 

Janet answers with, “I think it would be safer than being in car on our highways, but if anything were to go seriously wrong like the balloon rupturing while your thousands of feet in the air your chances of survival are probably zero. You’d fall like a rock. In a plane, especially a small one, if you have engine trouble you have some chance to survive by gliding down to a safe area to land. If it were me, I’d accept the invitation to visit and pass on the balloon ride. What would you do, Chet?”

 

“I’d keep my feet planted firmly on good old terra firma. The only hot air I’m willing to contend with is the kind that gushes out of some people’s mouths.”

 

Our dinner table repartee is interrupted by my cell sounding off. My caller ID tells me it’s an unknown caller. I look at my watch and see that it’s only a little after eight, give Janet a glance and a shrug and excuse myself and walk out into the hallway. “Dawson.”

 

“You ! @ # $ % ^ & *.”

 

I immediately recognize the voiced. “It’s so nice to hear from you again, Hank.”

 

“Don’t Hank me. We’re far from being friends, you # ^ + * !

 

“You’ve really got to work on your vocabulary, Hank. Reading ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ might help you improve your interpersonal skills. Whadda ya want?”

 

“It’s all your fault and that Vanderhill woman’s. The FBI is now accusing my wife of helping me exact my revenge on the human manure that’s responsible for my son’s death. She’s played no part in any of it. Those bastards are only going after her because they’ve had no luck going after me and they need a scapegoat to save face.”

 

“So why are you calling me?”

 

“You’re working with the FBI in their attempts to lock me up or kill me. You must have some influence with them and can convince them that they’re tactics aren’t going to work. She’s innocent in all of this. If she’s arrested, what I’ve done up to now will look like child’s play compared to the revenge I’ll exact from them. Mark my words. Child’s play!” Click.

 

When I return to the dinner table my face must have registered the seriousness of the call because Janet asks, “Not another one?” and Gloria disappears into the kitchen.

 

“Not yet, but the threat of a lot more is very real.”

 

I tell her why Aldrich called and what he said. “We now know that our ploy worked and he’s primed to take some kind of action. I better call Ericson and let him know the ball is now in play.”

 

As I’m ending my call to Don, Gloria rejoins us and asks if we would like an after dinner cognac. “It’s the perfect way to put the finishing touches on a,” glancing at her daughter with a mischievous smile and a wink she finishes her sentence with, “epicurean adventure.”

 

Smiling back Janet softly mumbles, “Okay, okay. I apologize for the flippancy.”

 

“I accept and wouldn’t want you any other way. It keeps me on my toes.”

 

They both smile at that and I realize what I witnessed tonight is a part of their relationship that they would never give up. They never have to guess where the other one stands on anything.

 

I pass on the brandy and then say, “Thank you for inviting me tonight, Janet. Gloria, I’ve never had a home cooked meal like the one you prepared for us tonight. It was delicious, an epicurean delight.” This got a laugh from both of them and provided an excellent opportunity for me to say good night.

 

“I'll leave you two to spend the rest of Gloria’s last evening talking about things you wouldn’t want an outsider hearing. You know, things like Uncle Jack’s gambling problem or Aunt Sally’s breast implants.”

 

Laughing Janet says, “How did you hear about them?”

 

Laughing back I say, “I’m a PI remember. I have sources everywhere.”

 

Gloria gives me a goodbye hug and heads for the wet bar to pour Janet and herself some brandy and Janet walks me to the door. “Thanks for coming, Chet. I think my mother approves of you which surprises the hell out of me because where I’m concerned she never approves of anyone.

 

“I like her too.”

 

Turning to open the door, I hear Gloria from the wet bar area say, “For crying out loud, forget I’m here and kiss her goodnight. I didn’t spend all that time in the kitchen for a hand shake.”

 

Laughing we kissed and it was no problem at all forgetting she was there. Janet whispered, “We’ve got to do this again sometime, but next time without the company.”

 

“Oh yeah.”