Page 7 of Believe in Me
Ripping the Band-aid off, Mike said in a rush, “Denise wasn’t at the ceremony when I got back. Looks like she left while I was gone, took just about everything, cleaned out the bank account, and I don’t know where she is.” Mike’s words were met with complete silence from the other end. “Spook?”
“Give me a minute. I’m trying not to lose my shit,” Spook said before Mike could hear him counting to himself. “I might have my shit under control now. Let me get this straight, none of us came up to welcome you home because Denise was going to be there. You show up for the wedding — sans fiancée — don’t say a fucking word. PCS by yourself and haven’t told any of us what the bitch did for months?” Spook’s voice got louder and louder as he spoke. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Oh Mike knew he was in for it holding out for so long, but he didn’t think it was going to be this bad. “Umm, maybe?”
“So this is a joke?” Spook growled. “What part is maybe?”
“I might have not said anythi—”
“Might not! I fucking know you didn’t because if you had, one if not all of us would have been on your doorstep. And I can fucking guarantee that both Mooney and I would be trying to control our wives from searching down the bitch and kicking her ass. Now, would you like to explain in more than three sentences what the fuck happened?”
“Not really.” Mike stopped pacing and walked into his kitchen. Might as well make some food as he got his first ass-chewing of the night. There was no way that he wasn’t getting another call tonight. He should make a bet with himself as to who was going to be on the other end.
“Not really. Okay, listen—” The sound of a radio squawking interrupted Spook. “Shit. There at the two-minute warning. We are so not done with this conversation. If you think— fuck. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Spook ended the call before Mike could say anymore.
“Well, that went well…not,” Mike mumbled as he pulled out some chicken from the fridge. He glanced at his phone, noting the time.Let’s see how long before another of the heptad’s tones was playing.
Chapter 5
Trish had been a little worried about teaching six-year-olds how to properly jitterbug but her energy on that had been wasted. She’d thought “oh swing” but in reality it was jitterbugs fromThe Wizard of Oz. Similar but far enough apart. Since she didn’t know Shelby’s teacher it had been a toss-up. Guess the theme for the recital was going over the rainbow. She’d agreed to go in and meet with the owner of the studio and get a feel for what they’d been planning.
She was in her car outside the building, trying to get the courage to open the door. Sitting in her car, staring at buildings, was a habit that she needed to break. It wasn’t doing her any good. Her meeting with Stephanie was in ten minutes so she was a bit early. Listening to the music again would be a good use of her time so she popped in her earbuds. Just as she was picturing what the girls could do, her phone rang.
Trish looked at her phone and seeing it was Joe’s mom, she clicked the button on her left ear to deny the call. Instead of putting it to voicemail, the call connected. Shit.
“Hello? Trish? Are you there?” Violet Peterson’s voice echoed in her ear.
“Hi Mo—Violet, how are you?” Trish stumbled over calling her mom with Joe gone. It didn’t feel right for some reason.
Violet sighed. “Can’t you call me Mom?”
“Uhh, I’ll try. It’s just— I really can’t explain it. How are you? I don’t have long. Have an appointment in a few minutes.” Okay, maybe she was a bit rude. This wasn’t the time for Violet to want to have a long drawn out remember Joe conversation. She was dealing with enough memories at the moment.
“Saw one of Joe’s classmates this morning at the grocery and he asked why Joe wasn’t in the family plot on the farm and I thought that—”
Trish cut her off. “No. I know where you’re going with this and at no point in time will I consent to moving Joe’s body out of Arlington. We had this discussion and I’ve made Joe’s and my positions on this clear. He wanted to be at Arlington and that is where he’ll stay. I’ve got to go now. Goodbye.” She ended the call, not waiting for Violet’s response, knowing that it wouldn’t be anything that Trish wanted to hear.
“Lord help me. Yes, she lost her son but damn it. He was my husband and I’m not putting up with that crap. Maybe next time I’ll sic Diane or Beatle or Jess on her. Yeah, that would work out great.”
Trish reached into the back seat and grabbed her dance bag. Time to get this meeting started.
§ § §
“Mullvaney, my office?” Top called into the lab.
Well, that can’t be good. Mike grabbed his notebook and left the lab calling out behind him, “Preston, you check over the data as they complete the check on the JP-8 from Lackland.”
Stopping at the door to Flowers’ office, Mike did a quick visual check of his uniform and nodded. No spilled coffee, no pen marks. “What can I do for you, First Sergeant?” Looking to change the tone of this meeting to positive.
“Come in and have a seat.” Flowers motioned to the chair opposite his desk and sat back.Okay, doesn’t seem like he’s pissed. “Just back from battalion. The sergeant major and colonel are happy with how you handled the challenges that you faced, walking into your position.”
Mike sat there waiting for the shoe to drop. Compliments like that didn’t come without consequences. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so it sounded like they were assigning him additional duties.Wonderful. He wasn’t sure that his relationship with the first sergeant was stable enough to interject sarcasm, so Mike fell back on silence. Eventually Top would tell him what was going on.
“No comment?” Top asked.Guess silence wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
Mike put his notebook on his thigh and pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket. Obviously preparing to take notes. “What’s the additional duty? When does it start? Am I cleaning up another issue?” Why beat around the bush at this point?
Top sat there for a beat before laughing at Mike. Okay, what the hell? He didn’t think he’d said anything funny. It took Top a few minutes to stop laughing but when he did, his words surprised Mike.
