For The Least Of These (17 page)

Adam continued to hold on to me as we walked. He stopped by the rental car and told Alicia to come inside with us. Then we proceeded to the lobby of the Richland. Adam sat me down on one of their plush couches. Alicia sat down beside me.

“I’m sorry about Sam,” she said, “and I really hate to ask you this now, but how are we supposed to get home?”

Adam spoke up. “I’ll take you home. Don’t worry about that. But you might want to see about taking tomorrow off from work. None of us are going to get much rest tonight.”

“Thanks, Adam,” I said, “…for everything. You’ve been so nice to us. I don’t know how I’ll ever pay you back for this.”

“I don’t expect you to pay me back. I just want to help you. After everything that’s happened, I think we are friends now, right?”

I desperately wanted to say that we were more than friends in my eyes, but instead I said, “Yes.”

“So, friends help each other.”

“You can’t imagine how glad I am that we met you. Not many people would help us like this. You are really special.”

Adam was clearly embarrassed by my praise, so he changed the subject. “Look, I’m going to see about getting us a room for tonight. Will you be okay for a few minutes?”

I nodded and Adam walked off in the direction of the front desk. I looked over at Alicia. She was somber, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of Sam or because of Rick. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I’m worried about you,” she said. I actually believed her. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine. It was a terrible shock, but I have to own up to the fact that Sam is just a car. I loved that car, but it was just a thing. At least we weren’t here when it happened. Someone might have done the same thing to one of us.”

“Are you absolutely sure that you are Brandy? Maybe I’ve stumbled into a remake of the Body Snatchers or something.” Alicia was totally serious.

“I’m Brandy. It’s just that I’ve really been thinking about all this Jesus stuff. I’m not sure what it all means to me yet, but I feel different about things when I think about Him.”

“Wow, Brandy. That doesn’t sound like you at all. Are you sure it’s Jesus and not Adam that’s causing you to act this way?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. And right now, I’m too tired to think about it.”

Alicia stopped talking, and I felt myself dozing off. Then I heard Adam say, “I got us a suite for the night. We’ll go up once we talk to the police. Here they come now.”

There were two officers approaching us. Both of the officers were dressed in uniforms. The taller of the officers was a black woman with a short afro and large brown eyes. When she spoke, I noticed her perfect, pearly white teeth. “Miss Moretti, I’m Officer Wedge, and this is my partner, Officer Biggs. Do you know anyone that would want to do this to your car?” she asked in a concerned voice. Officer Biggs, a slight built white man who appeared to be about twenty-five years old, hung back and observed the conversation.

“I really can’t think of anyone. I’m not from Biloxi, so I don’t know anyone here.”

Alicia spoke up, “What about that jerk from the motel?”

Adam and both officers said in unison, “What motel?”

I didn’t have a choice
– I would have to tell them about Fisher. “Friday night – or actually early Saturday morning – Alicia and I checked into the Rest Inn over on Pembroke. It was a sleazy place, but this hotel had told Alicia that they didn’t have any rooms. Anyway, after I checked in, we were accosted by this cretin who was staying in the room next to ours. He was trying to get us to have sex with him. It scared us enough that we left the motel when he wasn’t watching us. We came back here and I was able to get us a room here.”

“So how would this guy know where to find you?” This was Biggs. He tried to look important as he slicked his hand through his light brown hair. “You’re not proposing that he followed you here? And I still don’t see what his motive would be.”

“Did you call the police and tell them about him?” Adam asked.

“Please,” Wedge said, “Let me ask the questions. Miss Moretti is a victim, and I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“We didn’t call the police,” I said. “We didn’t know if he was actually dangerous. But we did see him again. On Saturday night, we went to a party given by Skylar Sims at the Isle of Capri Casino. This same man was a guest there. He didn’t recognize me from the motel. He approached me and introduced himself as Fisher. I think his last name was Perry or something like that. At first, I didn’t let on that I knew who he was, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. So finally I told him that I’d seen him the night before. He wasn’t too happy, but I still don’t think he was mad enough to want to mess up my car.”

Alicia added, “You forgot the part about his truck. That might make him mad enough.”

“What about his truck?” Wedge asked.

I proceeded to tell her about the incident with the truck and the paint can. I finished by adding, “But Fisher wasn’t there, so how would he know about it? We removed all of the paint. Unless, of course, Skylar told him about it.”

“We’ll probably need to follow up with Skylar Sims. Do you know if he’s left town yet?”

Adam jumped in. “He may still be at the Coliseum. He and his brother will be riding the bus to the next show, and they have to wait on the rest of the crew. Sometimes it takes them awhile to finish up.”

“Then I guess we’d better get over there. Here’s my card, Miss Moretti. If you think of anything else, please call me.” Wedge also made sure she had Adam’s cell phone number in case they needed to contact us again.

After they walked away, Adam said we should get to our room.

“I’m really sorry you had to pay for a room for Alicia and me,” I told him, “but I do appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it; they didn’t charge me for the room. I think they are worried about a lawsuit concerning your car. After all, they gave you permission to leave it here.”

“I wouldn’t sue them! But it is nice that they gave us a room.”

Once we were in the suite, I used Adam’s cell phone to call my boss. I left him a message that I wouldn’t be in on Monday, but I didn’t give him any details. Then I realized just how tired I was. Alicia and I shared one of the bedrooms and Adam took the other one. I went straight to bed and slept the whole night through, waking on my own at about nine the next morning.

Alicia was already up and dressed. Adam came out of his bedroom wearing jeans and a Justin Hayward T-shirt. I rushed into the bathroom and took a quick shower. I had fresh new clothes to put on, and it was wonderful. When we had gathered all of our belongings, we checked out of the Richland and headed for Adam’s car.

“I called the police station while you were in the shower,” Adam told me. “We need to stop by there and get a copy of the incident report. You might need it for your insurance or to show at work.”

“That’s a good idea. My boss might not understand about this whole thing. As for insurance, I don’t have any that will cover this mess.”

Alicia piped up, “My boss told me to take as long as I needed.”

“That’s because your boss is your dad,” I replied sarcastically. “Adam, could I borrow your phone and check in with my boss?”

Adam handed me the phone. I called Mr. Carlson’s number and he answered on the first ring. When he realized who was calling, he said anxiously, “Brandy, is everything alright? You never miss work, and your message was vague. What’s going on?”

I was surprised that Mr. Carlson was so upset; he rarely took up any time with me at the office. “I’m okay, sir,” I said into the phone. “There was an accident with my car, and I was stranded in Mississippi for the night. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“An accident? Were you injured?”

“No, sir. It was vandalism. I wasn’t near the car when it happened. My car was totally trashed…”

“How are you getting home?”

“A friend is driving me.”

“Look, why don’t you take a few days off? You’ll need to find another car. I can take care of things here.”

I was really touched by his offer. “Thanks, Mr. Carlson. I might take you up on that. It has been a trying weekend.”

We hung up after I agreed to take the whole week off. I didn’t really think I needed that long, but he insisted. And he assured me that I would get paid for it. I began thinking that maybe I had misjudged Mr. Carlson.

I handed Adam his phone just as we pulled up in front of the police station. The building was gray and looked similar to other police stations I had seen in other towns. Inside, there was a short hallway that led to the main desk. An older female officer was fielding questions from several people. As we waited our turn, I noticed that the officer’s name was Blake. Her gray hair was in a twist, and her deep entrenched wrinkles were not hidden by make-up. When we reached the desk, Adam asked the woman if Officer Wedge was available. Officer Blake made a quick phone call, and after a short interval, Wedge and Biggs came walking up from behind the desk to where Adam and I were waiting.

“Good morning, Miss Moretti, Mr. Considine.” Officer Wedge seemed to be in a good mood.

“Good morning,” I replied. I was somewhat surprised to see the officers since it was so early in the morning.

“You caught me at a good time,” she continued. “Biggs and I were just about to head home for some shut-eye. We interviewed Mr. Sims after we left the Richland. He was very helpful, although he didn’t really want to be. He unintentionally revealed that he had told Fisher Perry all about the incident with Mr. Perry’s truck. He also let it slip that Perry was quite angry with you, Miss Moretti. Biggs here persuaded Sims to tell us how to find Perry. As a matter of fact, he was still staying at the Rest Inn. After we questioned him, he admitted that he’d done the damage to your car. He’s got a record already, so he might actually do some jail time
– but probably not much. We had no evidence that he had any intent to hurt anyone. You could sue him for the damages, but he doesn’t seem to have a steady job. He seems to be a nasty character. It might be best to just cut your losses.”

I had to sign some paperwork, and then Wedge gave me a copy of the report. Adam and I thanked both officers for their diligence, and then we headed back to Adam’s car.

We found Alicia fidgeting in the backseat. I briefly filled her in on what had happened, but she didn’t seem particularly interested. She had been acting strange ever since she and Rick had parted the night before. Before I had too much time to consider what was going on with her, she said to no one in particular, “I’m hungry. I need some breakfast.”

Adam drove us to the nearest restaurant that served breakfast. It was called Mary’s Country Cooking, and according to their sign, they had the best biscuits in Biloxi. As soon as we got out of the car, I could smell bacon, and I was suddenly famished. I noticed Adam rubbing his stomach as he breathed in the wondrously greasy smell of fried bacon. Alicia didn’t take the time to sniff the air; she headed for the entrance.

Inside, Mary’s was bustling with business. Most of the booths and tables were filled with senior citizen types, many who were just drinking coffee and shooting the breeze with their companions. A sign near the entrance said, “Seat yourself”, so when Alicia spotted an empty booth, we sat down to wait on the server. I sat beside Adam, but only because Alicia wouldn’t move over for me to sit with her. I wasn’t unhappy with this arrangement, but I feared that Adam was.

A tall middle-aged waitress approached our table. She was
wearing a pink dress complemented by a white apron around her waist and a white handkerchief pinned to the upper left panel by a nametag that said, “Roz”. Roz’s hair was the same color as a twist of Twizzlers, and she had it piled up high on her head – adding about five inches to her already statuesque frame. Roz said good morning as she handed each of us a menu. She asked if we’d like coffee. We all turned her down in favor of other drinks. Alicia asked for Diet Coke while Adam and I both ordered sweet iced tea. As Roz headed off to get our drinks, we all glanced over the short and simple menu. The selections were sparse:

“One, two, or three eggs (cooked how you like ‘em) with a choice of bacon, country ham, or sausage
– served with grits and a biscuit.

“Bacon, country ham, or sausage biscuit
– add egg and cheese, if you like.

“Plain biscuit or Buttered biscuit.

“Sausage gravy and biscuit.

“Coffee, sweet iced tea, Coca-Cola products, and orange juice.”

The prices were extremely low with the most expensive item being the three egg meal at $3.29. Even with the limited choices, everything sounded yummy. If everything tasted as good as the smell in the air, it was going to be delicious.

Roz returned with our drinks. “Are y’all ready to order?” she asked in a sugary-coated southern accent. She looked over at Adam and said, “What’ll you have, Sweetie?”

Adam politely answered that he’d have three eggs scrambled with bacon. After making a quick notation on her pad, Roz directed her gaze at me, “What’ll it be?” She didn’t sound half as syrupy as she had with Adam. I ordered two eggs scrambled with bacon. Alicia didn’t even give Roz time to ask for her order. She blurted out that she wanted two eggs scrambled with cheese, she wanted cheese in her grits, and she would have bacon as her meat.