Act of Deception by Bishop John

Author:Bishop, John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mantid Press
Published: 2020-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

“What do you think happened?” Mary Louise asked me on the way back to Houston.

We took both of our cars, figuring we wouldn’t make it back to the beach. We were talking on our car phones, a frivolous habit we had. I must admit that we had some of our best conversations on the phone, especially when we came back from a road trip in separate cars.

“Who knows, M. L. I’ve joked about that for years. When things get really bad, buy a new sports car and drive it off the freeway in the middle of the night, to make sure you don’t hurt anyone but yourself.”

“You’ve never thought about that, have you?”

“Not really. I’ve just joked about it.”

“Good. Know where they live?”

“Sort of. Follow me when we get to town. It’s off Memorial Drive, remember?”

“Maybe. I’ll be behind you.”

The Whitman’s home was in a wooded section of the Memorial Villages, off Voss Road. We parked, respectively, on the street, since the circular drive was full. The street seemed full as well, but I wasn’t sure if it was from visitors at the Whitman home or from the Labor Day holiday neighbors’ opportunity to be with friends and family.

The house was bedlam with kids running everywhere, and friends, and possibly relatives whom I’d never met, paying their respects. I really wasn’t able to face Gwen at that point, so Mary Louise sought her out. I meandered to the gathering at the bar, a safe haven in the storm. Greg Mayfield was there and, at a little after noon, snockered.

“Thanks for coming so quickly, Jim Bob. Sorry to disturb your weekend.”

“No problem. J. J. and his girlfriend were staying with us at the beach house. I gave them instructions on how to close up the house, although I don’t think they paid much attention. I would swear to you that I heard the stereo crank up a few decibels when we left. I bet they were running through the house naked by the time we were back on Seawall Boulevard.”

“Kids will be kids, even in their—how old is J. J. now?”

“Old enough. Twenty-two.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine without you.” He paused. “What do you think about all this?”

“Hard to say, Greg. Ben was pretty . . . stressed out? Is that a good description of him at the office meeting last week?”

“More like dazed, I think. Those two lawsuits had him in a severe depression. Think he did himself in?”

“Who knows? Wouldn’t be surprised,” I said to Greg as I constructed myself a Bloody Mary. He was having one, and it looked tasty. “We all handle bad situations differently. Hard to believe he’s gone. Even harder to believe he did himself in, with five kids. And one on the way?”

“Yep. She’s due in December, or maybe January. Just too fuckin’ sad, Brady. Too fuckin’ sad.”

Greg and I sipped our drinks, meandered outside, and shared a smoke.

“If he died because of those two lawsuits, then I’m going to be pissed, real pissed. We have to fight back.

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