The Manipulation Project by Steve Gladis

Author:Steve Gladis [Gladis, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Missionday, LLC
Published: 2022-03-31T22:09:45+00:00

Chapter 30: August 9—David

When David arrived at work that morning, Leo was already working on a car, and Marty was in his usual spot at the front counter by the register.

“Hey, Marty,” David said, not expecting any verbal response.

Marty looked up and raised an eyebrow—his version of “great to see you.” David smiled to himself and headed for the bays where Leo was listening to Garth Brooks and draining the oil from a black Ford Mustang convertible GT. “Hey, Leo.”

Leo turned around and, with a wrench in his hand, answered, “Hey, how you doing, kid? You get things straight yesterday?”

“Yeah. Tougher to do than I thought. Did a lot of thinking.”

“Suspect so. Tough losin’ your mother. Nice lady.”

David didn’t completely agree on the nice-lady part but nodded in deference like the grieving son. “I need to talk to you about some stuff I found out. I don’t want to do it right now but would like to talk tonight after work.”

“Sure, we’ll knock off about six.”

“Great. I better get going. Looks like we’ve got a full house today.”

* * *

That night, David got home a few minutes before Leo, grabbed a Coke from the refrigerator and was sitting in the living room with ESPN on when Leo got home. Leo put his bag on the floor next to his recliner in the living room, pulled out a beer from the fridge and opened a bag of pretzels. Without saying a word, he offered the bag to David, who stuffed his hand in and pulled out five of the thick sour-dough pretzels that Leo had taught him to appreciate.

“Okay, kid. So, let’s talk,” Leo said as he turned the volume down with the remote.

David wanted to be careful as he chose his words. He decided to look like he was grieving as his excuse to go slow. “I went to my house yesterday to clean things out and opened my mother’s secret box—the one she kept in her bedroom and guarded like a hawk. Once when I was a kid, she beat the hell out of me when I tried to sneak a peek into it.” Then he described his trip to the bank with the safety deposit box, but carefully omitted the bank book, the money and the information about the two Rehoboth boys. As David ran out of information, he finally said, “And now I know that she talked to you about it.”

Leo had stopped eating and was listening intently to David. He put down the amber beer bottle on the floor next to him and stared at David for what felt like minutes. Leo didn’t look angry, more like he was calculating the cost of admission. Then he said, “That’s right.” He paused for a moment more and then said, “But she swore me to secrecy, so I said nothing. Hey, kid, I gave her my word.”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Your mother was in a lot of pain at the end. She was afraid of losing her senses before getting things straight, so she called me to your house one night and told me how you came about.

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