Henry Wood Perception
Henry Wood: Perception
Brian D. Meeks 111 W. Kohl 515-402-0809 [email protected] (Most Used)
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Henry Wood: Perception
by Brian D. Meeks
This is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and story contained within, are created within the fertile imagination of the author. Any resemblance to persons, whether living or dead, or any events, are purely coincidental. Except for the cat, Buttons. The author had a cat very much like Buttons. Buttons was awesome, though his name was Harley.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording, chiseling in stone, or otherwise, without the written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. For information regarding permission contact the publisher.
Copyright© 2013 by Brian D. Meeks All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-9851046-4-1
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CHAPTER ONE
“Perception is our reality, viewed through the lens of what we believe. It has only a passing resemblance to the truth.”
Henry, looked over Francis Le Mange’s shoulder and said, “That’s how you want to start your novel?”
The sound of the typewriter ceased. “I put a lot of thought into the first line.”
Henry chuckled and said, “I have no idea what it means, but I'm sure it will make sense, once you write the rest of it.” He patted him on the shoulder.
“You think I can only write restaurant reviews? Non, I am, how do you say, an artist.” Whenever Francis got angry, his English skills plummeted and he would often revert to French. A full two minutes of ranting followed. Henry didn’t understand any of it.
“Oh, you know I’m just fooling around with ya. It’s a good start. I’m sure it’ll be a masterpiece. Consider me your first literary fan.”
Francis let out a roar. He knew Henry was just pushing his buttons because that’s what friends do. He started to type away and said, “Your photos are in the envelope. Don says you owe him…again. He wants you to set up a date with the girl who works for you. What is ze name? Celine? Ah oui, he would like a date with Celine.”
“Tell Don I'll put in a word. As for her working for me, I may sign the checks, but I'm not sure she understands who works for whom. I gotta go, get back to the office, before Celine promises another person I'll make everything okay.”
Francis was still working out of the Brooklyn Daily News, which he hated. His office had been destroyed when some gangsters torched Henry’s place, earlier in the year. Francis, the food and restaurant critic, for the Brooklyn Daily, had always preferred to maintain his own office in Manhattan. He reasoned that the best restaurants were on the island and he didn’t want to wait to get back to Brooklyn to write his reviews. Henry knew he just liked having his own space.
The photos, which were printed by Don, one of the photographers for the paper, were for a client.
Henry drove into the city, thinking about the case and the date. April 11, only two more days until the Brooklyn Dodgers would have their home opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Henry had four tickets. He always went to opening day, sometimes alone, other times with his old boss Mickey. This year he was taking Luna.
It had been less than a month since Henry had solved the case of Mickey’s killer. The funeral was attended by almost every cop in the city. Afterward, Henry found out that his old mentor had left everything to him in the will. Celine, Henry’s secretary/boss, had dove into the task of cleaning out Mickey's office. She was relentless and made him work much longer hours than he would have liked. Mickey’s old client files had all been moved over, some of his photos were now hanging on the office wall, and the rest were carefully boxed up and put into storage. In between all the moving of boxes and memories, Celine had also accepted a case. She assured the distraught woman that Henry would be glad to get to the bottom of things. If the client's husband was cheating, Henry would find out.
Gladys Pimpkin was certain her husband was having an affair. Six months before, he had started to come home late from work at the plant. He begun to drink more, too. Frank worked as a foreman at a plumbing fixtures manufacturing plant. He started out of high school and made his way up to supervisor, then foreman. When he got the promotion, he proposed to Gladys, his high school sweetheart. They had a small house, a ‘51 Chevy Coupe, and a small dog. Gladys, tried to have kids, but, several miscarriages later, they had given up hope of a family. Now she was certain he was going to leave her.
Henry's bank account was fatter than it had ever been, and he hadn’t even settled Mickey’s estate yet. When he mentioned this to Celine, with the hope that she might not worry as much about clients, she simply said, “The Henry Wood Detective Agency has two mouths to feed now….Chirp. Furthermore, if things continue to progress with your new sweetie, well, you need to plan for the future.” His attempted objection had, he was sure, inspired her to make him work late moving boxes. Henry couldn’t prove it, but he was certain she had taken a psychology class and had aced the test on negative reinforcement.
He thought about Celine and her iron-fisted management style while he spent six hours in his car watching the bar where Frank was drinking. Henry followed him every night for a week. Frank didn’t always go to the same bar, but he did always leave alone. The photos represented a week and nearly forty hours of surveillance.
Henry walked into the office and Celine was on the phone.
“Yes, sir, I'll tell him as soon as he comes in.”
Henry reached for the phone, since he was now "in," but she waved him off.
“Either tomorrow or the next day…got it. Yes, I'll explain that it’s urgent.” She hung up the phone.
“Good morning, Henry. How are you today?”
“I’m good, what was that about?”
“It can wait. Did you get the photos?”
Henry dropped them on the desk and hung up his hat. He went into his office and poured a cup of coffee.
“It looks like he always leaves alone,” she said with a pensive tone.
Celine’s mind was always working and she had been angling to help with the case. After several attempts at telling her "no", he wasn’t sure she fully understood the word.
“Yep, I think he’s clean. I’m going to go tell her today.”
“So what is he doing, drinking alone? There is more to this story than meets the lens.”
“Maybe, but Gladys hired us to find out if he had a doll on the side. He doesn’t, case closed.”
“I think we should give it one more night. I’ll get all pretty and try to cozy up to him at the bar.”
“You want to see if you can make him cheat on his wife? That hardly seems fair. The poor guy just wants to have a few drinks.”
“We owe it to the client.” She said and added, “Pleeeese.”
Henry knew he was outmatched.
CHAPTER TWO
Celine was out grabbing some sandwiches from the deli, so when Henry heard the door open, he didn’t look up.
The woman’s voice was slightly unsteady. “Excuse me, sir.”
Henry looked up and saw a 5’ 7” woman, wearing black funeral attire. He stood, and asked, “How may I help you?” He noticed she had been crying.