Page 3 of Evidence of Deceit

But that was long ago in a galaxy far, far away—another world. Not the world Joe lived in today.

Joe caughtthe usual grief about retreating to his Batcave. Mark had been to his house a few times, but Sam never had. He never entertained so there was no good reason why anyone should be in his house.

Mark walked him out.

“How about going to the range Wednesday night?” asked Joe. “I have to leave the next day for a job, and we haven’t been in a while.”

“Nah, can’t. My cousin is coming in, and I’m not sure what time she’ll be in.”

“Okay then. I’ll see you soon.”

Joe got into his truck, pumped up the air-conditioning and drove the half hour to his house. He didn’t get together often with Mark, preferring to spend his alone time … alone. But occasionally, it felt good to connect with friends. Watching Sam and Mark interact, he’d felt a stab of jealousy. They both had time-consuming jobs but were making their relationship work.

The trip home wasn’t long enough for him to contemplate deep relationship issues. Before he knew it, he was home. Home. Batcave, indeed.

He pulled into the gravel driveway that led to an oversize garage. Someday he would pave the drive, but for now, it worked for him. His house was a nondescript beige stucco ranch. A small ranch house by anyone’s standards, but it was his, paid for with cash. It would be his first and only house. The first house anyone in his family ever owned, not that anyone would ever know or care.

There were a couple of hibiscus trees out front but little landscaping anywhere else. With his job, he had no time to garden, plus no one could sneak up on him and hide in the bushes. Well, they wouldn’t get far anyhow. The house was wired for security. He was wired to kill.

“Mr. Joe. Mr. Joe.”

A small voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned and watched his neighbor’s six-year-old son race over and skid to a stop in front of him.

“Mikey. What’s up, dude?”

The little boy stretched his neck to look up at him, his eyes watering.

“My ball is…” He gulped and pointed toward the street.

“Your ball is what?” Joe glanced around Mikey’s yard and noticed two other small boys staring at him. One was holding a bat.

“We was playing baseball when Jeremy hit it real hard and it went down the drain.”

“Okaaay.”

Mikey looked at him like he was a dunce and pronounced, “We don’t have another ball.”

Right. Of course not. He’d lived next door to Mikey’s parents for two years and knew that with four little kids and a dad who worked two jobs, there wasn’t extra money for ballsor much of anything else. But there was a lot of love in that house, and that was free.

“Gotcha. Let’s go get that ball.”

Mikey gave a yip, and the other boys excitedly raced over, showing him the drain that it had fallen in.

Joe spotted the ball among the disintegrating leaves and garbage. He got down on his stomach and reached way down through God only knew what to retrieve it. He wiped the ball clean, handed it back to Mikey and was rewarded with another toothless grin.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou.”

The boys ran off to continue their game. Well, one good deed checked off. He wished they were all so easy and gratifying. When he was a kid, he never had a ball to retrieve or even someone to retrieve it. He was too busy protecting himself, not worrying about playing games.

Walking back to his house, Joe mentally went over what he needed to pack for his next job and how fortunate Mikey was to have a stable home and loving parents. Something he hadn’t experienced for most of his life. He shrugged. At this point in his life, he was content. Content, but alone.

But he owned his house free and clear. He could pay his bills, had a job he liked, enjoyed the people he worked with, and he could count on them having his back. It was enough for now. Wasn’t it?

He could get a woman for sex when he needed it—just the way he liked it. No attachments. No commitments. Besides, what woman could love a man whose parents hated him enough to abandon him? Who had grown up on the streets and had always been in trouble? No decent woman, that’s for sure.

He shook his head. No time for heavy thoughts or to think about relationships. He had a job to get ready for.

Chapter Three

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