Edward's Dilemma, page 14
Soon enough, however, he realized that his paranoia was completely unnecessary. In response to the squeak, Megan did nothing more than let out a little sighing noise. Ben watched her for a few seconds, smiled, and then grabbed the computer mouse. A few clicks later he had acquired Jason’s physical address, and a few minutes after that he had the directions to his house. Surprisingly, Ben discovered that Jason’s house wasn’t very far from the Serenity Lane apartments.
He looked at the clock, and noted that the time as 12:35 Am.
The wheels in Ben’s brain began to turn – and then, before he had fully thought through his plan, he decided to drive out to Jason’s place that very night and get a feel for where the slimeball was living. Foolishly, he decided to let Megan sleep; he didn’t want her worrying about him while he was gone, and he didn’t want to worry about her. A note will suffice, he thought, and if I’m lucky I’ll be back home and in bed before she even knows I’m gone. He grabbed his jacket and binoculars, placed them in a knapsack, and headed out the door.
Stuart County
27 September, 1:22 AM
AFTER LEAVING the Serenity Lane apartments, Ben drove south for five or six miles before making a right turn onto SR55. Through the windshield of his truck he observed the moon shining brightly, casting eerie shadows beneath the trees and illuminating everything in a silvery glow. On the right side of the road, not too far away, a river flowed by in all of its sparkling glory. Ben turned off the car radio, which he had turned on minutes earlier, and drove along in silence. He was mesmerized by the beautiful, idyllic scene sprawled out before him, and was loath to disturb the peace.
For forty minutes or so, he drove further and further into the countryside. Here and there he passed through forests of fir trees and aspens, and an occasional meadow. Several times he slowed down to avoid hitting rabbits that were crossing the road, and once he even spotted a nervous deer standing in a clump of nearby bushes. Mostly, the country through which he traveled was uninhabited by humans, but every once in a while he passed a sparsely populated area comprised of single family residences, or farm houses with barns and orchards. Ben loved this journey into the countryside, and he vowed that he’d make it again. “Next time, though, I’ll bring Megan along,” he said to himself.
Ben’s mind wandered as he drove along. Mostly, he thought about Josh and his current predicament, and the good times they’d had when they were growing up together. For several minutes, Ben reflected on the hunting trips they had gone on with their father, while both he and his brother were still in high school. He had cherished those times, not only for the camaraderie, but also because he enjoyed “connecting” with nature. Perhaps, he thought, this is why I’m so happy to be driving through this beautiful countryside right here, right now. I don’t think I could ever...
The car crested a hill, and a blinking red light suddenly interrupted Ben’s thoughts. With a stomp of his foot, he hurriedly applied brakes and brought the truck to a screeching stop. Ben looked around momentarily. He was almost ashamed of himself for creating such a disturbance, and he was also a little concerned; the turn-off to Jason’s mobile home was only a short distance away, and the home itself was only six or seven hundred feet up a gravel road. The last thing Ben wanted was for Jason, or any of his buddies, to wake up on account of the sound of squealing tires.
Ben stayed where he was for a few minutes, before proceeding any further. Slowly he transferred his foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal, and applied gas. He had thought about driving up the gravel road a ways, but he was worried that the sound of the tires on the gravel road would alert Jason to his presence. With this in mind, Ben selected a somewhat secluded spot along the road which intersected SR55 – there at the blinking light – and parked in the bushes. After he had turned off the lights and the ignition, and put the vehicle into park, he reached over and retrieved his knapsack off the seat beside him. He was a little scared, but mostly confident as he headed off in the direction of the gravel road. A few minutes later, the sound of gravel crunching under his feet could be heard as he slowly walked up the road.
As he neared within sight of the home, Ben paused to analyze which avenue of approach would be safest. He didn’t think it would be wise to go any further along the gravel road, so he climbed over a split-rail fence and advanced through the woods. As best as he could, he tried to remain in the shadows, out of the moonlight. He also took pains to avoid stepping on any dry sticks which might snap under his foot.
Slowly, stealthily, Ben crept closer and closer to the house. At one point, he did in fact step on a stick, but fortunately it only created a minor cracking noise. Still, he was briefly frightened, and his heart leaped within him. When he’d settled down, and he was confident no one had heard the noise, he set off again in the direction of the house. The closer he got to the house, the more of a hunter he became.
When he was within a few hundred feet of the house, on an overlooking knoll, Ben decided to settle-in behind a bush and simply observe his surroundings. He withdrew his binoculars from the knapsack, removed the caps from the lenses, and proceeded to scan the terrain ahead of him. He noticed that there were several outbuildings located fairly close to the house. One of these appeared to be a garage, of some sort, surrounded by dilapidated cars. Not too far away, on the opposite side of the house, there was another structure – which Ben surmised was a horse shed since it lacked walls, and was built very simply. There was also a garden-type shed about 10 feet away from the house.
Ben watched and listened. Eventually, he pressed a button on his watch and observed that it was 2:13 AM. It’s gett’n pretty late, he thought. A few more minutes, and I’m outa here – no use stick’n around here if there isn’t anything to see. He was beginning to get a little cold, so he carefully withdrew the jacket from the knapsack, and put it on. A few minutes later, he decided to return home. But just as he stood up to leave, he noticed two cars rapidly approaching along the gravel road. Behind them, in the moonlight, dust billowed into the air like columns of white smoke.
Ben was mortified that he might be seen; and though he was far away from the road and behind a bush, he immediately threw himself back down on the ground. For a good five seconds or more he made himself one with the earth, and remained completely motionless. After a while, however, he carefully looked up from behind the bush and watched as the cars came to a halt in front of the house. A dog could be heard barking wildly, and a light came on inside the mobile home.
With his binoculars, Ben watched as the drama unfolded before him. After parking, two men got out of the lead vehicle and approached the door of the mobile home. One of them was short and wore a baseball cap, and the other guy was about a foot taller. They hadn’t been on the porch very long, when a man opened the door to the house. He was carrying a weapon. The three of them greeted each other, talked for a minute on the porch, and could be heard occasionally laughing. Then the porch-light came on, illuminating the porch and much of the parking area, and the three men walked over to the second car. Another man, who had remained behind the wheel in the second car, got out when the men approached. When he opened the door, a faint sound of rap music could be heard emanating from the car’s interior.
All four men slowly, casually, walked around the second vehicle. One of the guys – the tall one – ran his hand along the roof, as if he were caressing the car, while another looked at the rims on the tires. The two others – the one with the baseball cap, and the one who had come out of the house – sat down in the front seat, and appeared to be looking at the interior. By now Ben was beginning to wonder why four guys would be looking at a car at 2:30 in the morning, in the middle of nowhere. Clearly there was something going on that wasn’t on the up and up. “Criminals,” Ben quietly said to himself.
After giving the car the once-over, the newly labeled criminals went up onto the porch, and there sat down on four wooden chairs. The porch light went out, and Ben could see that they had begun smoking; the orange glow from their cigarettes was clearly visible, and every so often, one or the other of the glows would briefly intensify and then become faint. After a few minutes, one of the men got up from his seat, went inside the house, and turned on the kitchen light. When he returned to the porch, he carried bottles in both hands. For the next forty-five minutes or so, Ben watched as the criminals remained on the porch talking, drinking, and laughing.
By now, Ben was getting a little worried that he wouldn’t make it home before Megan awoke from her slumber. He thought about trying to sneak out from behind the bush, and make his way to the truck, but decided it was too risky; the moon was still very bright, and his silhouette would be clearly visible, even to a bunch of drunks on a porch.
With increasing anxiety, Ben waited, and waited...and waited. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, one of the criminals left the porch and climbed into the driver’s seat of the second vehicle, while another went over to the garage and opened the two large doors. The car started-up, and when the doors had opened enough for a vehicle to pass through between them, the first guy carefully drove into the garage and parked. Twenty seconds later he emerged on foot, and the other guy closed the doors behind him.
Ben continued to watch as all four men came together again near the porch. After some brief “goodbyes” and backslaps, three of them got into the first vehicle and drove away as quickly as they had arrived. Meanwhile, the owner of the house went back into the house, and shortly thereafter turned off the lights. Ben muttered, “It’s about time!” and breathed a big sigh of relief. With stiff joints and sore muscles, he stood up from behind the bush and slowly retraced his steps back to the truck.
WHEN BEN arrived back at the Serenity apartments, Megan was wide awake. She greeted him with a big hug, misty eyes, and a series of questions. She then related to him how, upon waking, she had initially thought he had gone out to get the paper or buy some milk; but when he hadn’t come back after about twenty minutes, she had become increasingly worried and scared. She had then turned on the TV, as a distraction mostly, but she had been unable to concentrate. Just when she had finally arrived at the point where she was going to call the police, Ben had casually walked through the door. All during this time, she’d never even seen the note Ben had left for her.
At first Megan was relieved, but then she became angry at Ben. They talked and talked, and when they had finally made-up, Ben promised to never again leave unannounced. He also promised to take her with him the next time he went on a stake-out.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jason’s Property, Stuart Co.
28 September, 10:18 AM
THE GRAVEL crunched under the tires of the car as Robert Matson and Fred pulled into the driveway of Jason’s mobile home. In the parking area there was an old car with a broken side-view mirror; and though it desperately needed a paint job, it appeared as if it was still capable of moving. Here and there and everywhere, scattered about on the ground, were bits and pieces of cars less fortunate. A little bicycle lay on the ground a few feet to the side of the old car, off in the grass. Robert was cautious as he parked; the last thing he needed was a flat tire.
When the vehicle came to a stop, and before getting out, both Robert and Fred adjusted their radio settings and checked their weapons. Though they both carried the same radios, their weapons were radically different. Whereas Robert was old school and carried a .38 Special revolver, Fred preferred the Glock-17 semi-automatic pistol with a fifteen round magazine. With one already in the chamber, making a total of sixteen, Fred figured he could unload a lot of firepower downrange before Robert even reached for his first speed-loader.
The men got out of the vehicle and briefly observed their surroundings. It was a nice morning, and it hadn’t yet gotten very hot. A slight breeze blew from the north, disturbing the leaves, and cooling the air; and with the breeze there came the scent of animal manure. Robert suspected its origin was a horse, because a short distance away there was a somewhat boney horse casually nibbling on dry pasture grass. Overhead, a solitary eagle soared in circles. For a good ten seconds or more, Robert watched as the bird maneuvered in the up-drafts, never once flapping its wings. Robert adjusted the glasses on his nose and had a thought: Wouldn’t it be nice to have the leisure of a horse, and the eyes of an eagle?
Before he could answer his own question, however, Robert was alerted by movement over near the house. It was the same old dog that had ignored them the last time they were there, and now he was making another appearance. This time, instead of simply napping on the porch and raising his eyebrows, he actually got up from the ground and greeted the men. He was curious; and, surprisingly, he didn’t even bark. Robert surmised it was because he’d seen them before, and was comfortable with them being there. In any event, he first approached Fred’s outstretched arm and nonchalantly sniffed his fingers. A few seconds later, when he was satisfied with what he had smelled, he wandered over to Robert and also sniffed his hand.
BY NOW, Jason had come to the door and was watching through the screen as his dog, Rocky, sniffed the hands of the strangers. For quite some time, he’d been thinking about getting a pit-bull, or some other fierce dog, but he was too attached to Rocky; he worried that Rocky wouldn’t get along with another dog, and he couldn’t bare the thought of getting rid of him. Jason truly loved his dog, and though he was unaware of it, he showed Rocky more compassion and loyalty than he did to his fellow human beings.
A minute or so earlier, before coming to the door, Jason had wisely decided to leave his own weapon in the living room. He had seen plenty of unmarked police vehicles, over the years, and he knew immediately that the car that had just pulled into his driveway was occupied by police detectives. “No use gett’n yourself shot, or thrown into jail” he had said to himself as he had tucked his weapon in between two cushions of his couch.
IT WASN’T long before both Robert and Fred noticed they were being watched. When they spotted Jason, Robert yelled out a greeting: “Hello there. You must be Jason. I’m Detective Robert Matson, and this is Detective Fred Sterling. Nice dog you got here.” The two men approached the base of the porch, and waited to see how Jason would respond.
Jason opened the screen door and walked out onto the porch. “Hi. What can I do for you, officers?” he said.
Both men noticed that Jason seemed a little nervous, and that he kept glancing back inside the house. As a precaution, Fred moved into a flanking position; just in case he needed to neutralize the threat. Like Robert, he also moved his right hand a smidgen closer to his holster. “We just wanted to talk with you a little more about the death of your friend, Joey Jones?” Robert replied. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
Jason didn’t immediately answer. He thought about inviting the men into the house, but then it suddenly occurred to him that the only place where they could sit was on the couch. A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as he contemplated what to do. “Uh, yeah, um, I guess I’ve got a few minutes. Have a seat – here on the porch, and I’ll go inside and grab a few beers. You guys do drink, don’t you?”
“Thanks Jason, but we’re ok. Actually, we don’t drink while we’re on duty,” Robert said as he ascended the stairs. He was followed a second or two later by Fred. When they reached the porch, Robert took a seat in one of four wooden chairs, but Fred continued to stand; off to the side and over by the railing.
“Alright then,” Jason responded. “Do you mind if I have a drink?” He looked at Robert since he was the one doing all the talking.
“No, we don’t mind at all. We’ll just make ourselves comfortable.”
Jason disappeared into the house, and Robert cast a wary glance in Fred’s direction. Upon making eye contact, Fred patted his weapon and gave a quick nod. A minute or so later, Jason returned with a bottle and took a seat in another of the wooden chairs. Robert then proceeded to explain the reason they were there: “As I was saying, Jason, we’ve been working on solving your friend’s murder. We have a few suspects already, and we’re just trying to tie-up a few of the loose ends. Are you ok with us asking you a few questions?”
Jason waved his hand, dismissively, before he replied. “Sure, go ahead. Ask away.”
“Ok, well, could you refresh our memories about what happened at Lucky’s on the night of the murder? I know you’ve already made a statement, but I’m still a little confused about a few things. For instance, did you go to the bar in Joey’s car, or did you drive there yourself?”
“I drove there myself,” Jason replied.
“Ok – alright. Is that the car you drove; the one over there?” Robert asked, as he pointed in the direction of the old car parked in the driveway.
Jason nodded his head up and down one time in the affirmative.
“Alright then, thanks for clearing that up. There is something else that’s been bothering me, though. Maybe, you could put my mind at ease. How come you left so quickly after the murder? You know that makes you look guilty as hell. So why’d you do it? Why were you in such a rush to leave?” Robert asked as he continued to probe.
Jason was a taken aback by the directness of the questions, and thought about terminating the interview. But eventually he responded. “Cuz I was running for my life, man! That McDonald kid stuck Joey, and I was afraid he and his friends was gonna stick me. If you’d a been there, man, you’d have done the same thing.”
“Yes, yes, I probably would have run,” Robert said sympathetically. He acted as if he understood how Jason felt, and then asked another more piercing question: “By the way, did you know that one of those guys was Edward Bryant?” There was a big pause, and Robert expectantly waited.
