GG01 - Sudden Anger (7 page)

"We've found a box of shells in his office, but no gun. Did he usually keep it there?" He moved further into the kitchen so he didn't have to yell.

Jennifer knew very well that Charles had kept a gun in the drawer, but didn't want to appear to know too much about his desk. "I don't really know, I guess so. I mean, if you found bullets there he must've kept the gun there too."

"Do you know what kind of gun it was?" he asked.

"A little one, I think. It had one of those round things on it, that's all I remember. I really don't, you know, know anything about guns. They scare me."

"A revolver, then," the policeman confirmed. "The shells are for a .38. Did he have a license for it?"

"I guess," Jennifer shrugged.

"We'll check on that," he said. "Well, we're done now. If we have any more questions I'll give you a call. Oh, and please have your husband check to see if there's anything else missing. You can start cleaning up now, we've got all we need." He looked at the two women huddled 'round the little breakfast table and smiled in a kindly way. "And Mrs. Greene, I'm
really
sorry this happened. Be sure to set the alarm after we've left. Goodbye, now."

"Goodbye, Officer. Thank you," Jennifer said. She walked him to the front door and saw the forensic team packing their van. She stood there waving to them as they drove off, a rather forlorn figure. When she could no longer see their cars she shut the door and very deliberately punched the 'on' button on the security key-pad.

Jennifer walked back to the kitchen to see Cindy pouring two glasses of wine.

"Here Sweetie," Cindy said. "You look like you need it."

Jennifer took the glass from Cindy and took a big sip. Her hand shook as she held the glass. "Thanks, Love. I need
something
! And that jerk ripped off all the Xanax too, so this will have to do."

Cindy said, "Well, I guess we should get started cleaning up. You want to do the bedroom first?" Cindy was the practical one.

Jennifer sighed and said, "Definitely. You go get the laundry basket, the creep went through my underwear drawer. Yuck! I'll go get started." She grabbed the wine bottle and walked out calling over her shoulder, "Meet you up there."

* * * *

"Liar! You did
not
," Zack growled. "You're just jealous 'cause of Carrie."

"Did
so
!" Justin shot back. "Ask her yourself, she'll tell you."

"So, did you get any?" was Zack's next question. "If you did, you better go to the free clinic! Heh, heh."

"Nah, Man, we just went to lunch." Justin tried to sound casual as he added, "But who knows what might happen later…"

They were in Zack's car on the way to Justin's house. Zack was over his earlier arrogance, and eager to get the dope deal made so he could get high. Justin seemed more interested in telling how he'd run into Tina and gone to lunch with her.
"He must be desperate,"
Zack thought,
"to go out with that skank."

"Would you forget about nookie for one minute, Dude?" Zack said a bit irritably. We gotta get to your place so you can get the money, we don't wanna be late for this deal. This guy gets nervous if he thinks you're not coming through."

"Well, maybe we shouldn't do it then," Justin said a little hesitantly. "I know some other guys, we'll go see one of them tomorrow."

"
Tomorrow?
" Zack asked in a panic.

"Yeah, Man. It's not like I'm out or anything, there's a few joints left," Zack replied. "I'm hungry, let's stop for some ice cream or something first."

"Dude, we can go get ice cream
after
we smoke. I wanna get this taken care of. Thought you did, too."

"Oh
now
you're in a hurry!" Justin said sharply. "If we'd done this at lunch like you
said
we would we'd be on our way to score right now. It's not my fault. And who's getting the money, anyway?" He was glaring at Zack.

"OK, OK," Zack said in an attempt to calm Justin down. "So I'm driving and you're paying. It works."

Zack whizzed around the bend in the street, pulled up to the curb in front of Justin's house and shut the engine off. "Looks like you've got company," he said.

Justin stopped glaring at Zack and whipped his head around in surprise to look at the house. It seemed to take him a moment to recognize the cars in the driveway. "Um, hey, it's just the step-bitch's Merc, and the old Chevy belongs to that mouse that's always hanging around with her," he said with some relief. "You scared me for a sec, Dude. Thought my old man was here.
That
would've made it tough to get the money."

As they got out of the car Zack looked across its roof and taunted, "You don't have the balls to steal it when he's there."

"Do too," Justin retorted.

"Do not," Zack said, and shoved Justin.

"Cut it out!" Justin yelled.

"Whassa matter, you a sissy? Want me to push you again?" Zack threatened. "You act like you don't wanna do this."

"Just leave me alone, Man," Justin said sullenly. "Let's get this done and get outta here." Justin unlocked the door and they stepped inside.

Jennifer ran halfway down the stairs and screeched, "Turn off the alarm!"

The boys started at her sudden appearance and furious demand. Justin backpedaled and stared at the keypad in confusion.

Jennifer moved down a few more steps and yelled again. "Turn it
off
, you little brat. Don't just stand there!"

Justin punched in the code and turned to glare at her. "What's
your
problem? Why's the alarm on anyway if you're home?"

Zack walked to the bottom of the staircase; he could see Jennifer's face looked drawn and she was wringing her hands. "Are you OK, Mrs. Greene?" he asked.

Jennifer descended to stand with the boys. "I'm sorry Justin," she said, and sounded like she actually meant it. "It's just that - I mean, we've been
robbed
!"

Justin stared at her. "Robbed?" he repeated without inflection.

"The house was, like, broken into," she sobbed. "It was terrible! I came home and there was stuff thrown everywhere. He took all my jewelry! The place is a mess, Cindy's here to help me clean it up."

"Oh my God," Zack replied. "Did you call the cops?"

"Your jewelry's all you can ever think about," Justin said sarcastically. "What
else
did he take?"

"Some stuff out of your dad's office. It's so hard to tell right now. I mean, it's a mess, the den's trashed - and he went through
your
room, too." Jennifer's eyes suddenly took on a mean look. "You'd better go see if you're missing anything
important
. The cops looked in there, too."

Justin and Zack looked at each other, obviously somewhat nervous.

Justin said, "Wow! Let's go check it out, Man." He turned on his heel and headed for the office. "Dad's gonna be
pissed,
" he said worriedly.

The three of them inspected the damage in the office, and then the den. They went upstairs and the boys peeked into the master bedroom, but it was pretty much back in order. Cindy paused in the middle of making the bed to wave to them, and Jennifer shooed the boys off to Justin's room with a snotty remark about what the cops might have found in there.

Justin shut the door and sank down on his bed. He surveyed his room and said, "What a mess! Wouldn't surprise
me
if the bitch came in here and tore it up herself, and blamed it on the thief."

Zack had walked straight to the back wall and stood looking at the return vent grille at the bottom of the wall. Both boys could clearly see through the louvers; there was a baggie containing two joints. "Do you think she knows?" Zack asked as he moved the cover aside and pulled the baggie out. "Or is she just guessing?"

"Who cares?" Justin said disdainfully. "The cops didn't find it, that's all that matters."

"Maybe it's like her and her
girlfriend
," Zack said thoughtfully. "We know, but we don't
know
, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, well, it's a Mexican standoff. She won't rat on
me
because I'll just tell Dad her dirty little secret. Personally I think it serves Dad right that she's cheating on him so I'm not about to clue him in."

"Yeah," Zack agreed. "But Dude, what about the
money
? You saw your dad's office. No matter what the guy was after he would've taken the money too. We are
so
screwed!"

Justin thought for a minute and then grinned. "No we aren't! Dad's got a secret hidey-hole he thinks I don't know about," he said. "You go talk to the
girls
, keep 'em busy. I'll slip down to the office and get the cash. Then we're outta here."

The plan worked like a charm. Zack was still chatting with Jennifer and Cindy when Justin yelled up from the bottom of the stairs that he was ready to go. Everyone was glad they'd left.

Gracie parked her bike in the rack on campus and locked it down. She often visited Bill at the lab on Tuesdays, they could talk without being interrupted by his students. They chatted about environmental issues while he conducted his experiments. He was always so afraid someone would steal his work, but she didn't know enough about what he was doing to be a threat, and besides, she was his friend. She'd just been there last week, but wanted to ask him about that conversation she'd overheard at the party.

She walked to a side door in the chemistry building, she knew a shortcut to the lab. When she got there she pounded on the door and yelled, "Bill! It's me, Gracie!"

She got no response, so she knocked again. "Bill? Are you in there? Yell if you're busy, I can wait."

She heard nothing. She tried the door but, as expected, it was locked. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time - not quite 4:00 PM.

"He's supposed to be there," she said aloud to herself. "Maybe he knocked off early today. Might's well go on home."

Gracie took the long way out, intending to ask Rita if she knew where Bill was. But as she approached the information counter she saw Rita was busy talking to a student and decided not to interrupt.

"I'm Jesse Conover," the young man was saying as Gracie walked by. "I saw him last week and told him I'd come back."

"I'm sorry sir, but the professor is unavailable at the moment," Rita said smoothly. "You'll have to come back tomorrow." She was very good at her job.

Gracie turned her head towards them on hearing the name, odd to hear it when she'd been looking for Bill. The guy glanced over his shoulder at the passing students as he seemed to wonder what to do next. He was medium height and a little thick; with a plain face and sandy brown hair. He reminded Gracie of someone, but she couldn't think who. Maybe she'd seen him around the building before; she didn't pay much attention to the guys, none of them would be interested in a high school girl. She walked on out and biked home.

Gracie checked the answering machine when she got home. Shawna had told her she might be able to take her to the car lot this evening, and she was excited about it. There was indeed a message - but not from Shawna.