The Minnesota Candidate (25 page)

“We looked and there ain’t anything that will
work,” said Steve.

“See for yourself,” said Lumpy, whacking the
shuttlecock high into the air.

“Good one,” said Steve.

Marie walked over to where Steve stood and she
jerked away his racquet. She then swatted him in the face with it,
as if he were a fly. He yelped and ran away. Marie then turned to
face Lumpy. “Get over here,” she growled.

“I don’t see what you have to get so mad about,”
he said, we didn’t put that chain on the door. Maybe Shari will let
us in if we ask real nice?”

Marie dropped the racquet and held out her hand.
“Just give me a couple cigarettes.”

Lumpy nodded and reached into his shirt pocket.
He shook out two menthols and he handed them over. Marie snarled at
the menthols, but she took them without hesitation. She then
offered one to Doris, who did exactly the same thing. They lit
their cigarettes and smoked them in the cool morning air. Steve and
Lumpy resumed their game, but far away from the women. “I think we
should just put the keys back in that shoe,” said Doris. “There
isn’t going to be another code book and I don’t feel like going on
another wild goose chase. I’m getting a headache.”

Marie took a long puff on her cigarette. “You
and your headaches,” she said, exhaling smoke as she talked. “I
wish you could feel the pain I go through, that would sure teach
you something about pain.”

“You don’t have any pain. You’re just an old
pain in the ass.”

“I do have pain. I have a bad back and bad knees
and elbows. I also have a bad hip and a toothache. Don’t talk to me
about pain.”

“Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Why do you always have to one-up me? If I hurt,
you always hurt worse. If I’m mad, you always get madder. If I talk
loud, you scream. Why do you do that?”

Marie seemed to consider this. “I don’t do
that,” she said.

“Yes, you do.”

“Well, I don’t mean to do it. I’m sorry about
your headache, okay? Do you want an Oxycontin or two? That’ll kick
it in the ass. I have a new bottle in my purse.”

Doris nodded her head and smiled. “Thank you,”
she said, “that would be nice.”

Marie dropped her cigarette and she mashed it
under her shoe. “Come on, I’ll make us both a nice cup of coffee
and maybe even a little breakfast.”

“Wait a minute,” said Doris, suspiciously. “Why
are you being nice to me?”

Marie laughed at that. “Do you know how much
work it is to stay mad all the time? Don’t you ever get tired of
it?”

Doris nodded her head. “I know what you mean and
I do get tired of it. I think it just gets to be a habit.”

They began walking up to the patio door, just as
the badminton game reached the lakeshore. Lumpy whacked the
shuttlecock high into the air and Steve charged after it, going up
to his knees into the lake. Both men laughed as if this was the
funniest thing that had ever happened. “Those two are nuts,”
grunted Marie.

“My Tommy would never do that,” said Doris. “I
hope Shari finds him.”

“I’m sure Tommy is fine. Don’t go worrying about
him.”

They stepped in through the patio door to a
ringing telephone. Marie walked over to it and checked the number
on the caller ID. “Do you know anyone named Kindersley?” she
asked.

“Alice Kindersley is my neighbor.”

“That’s the one. Do you want me to answer
it?”

“No, I don’t have anything to say to her. Once
she gets going, she’ll talk your ear off.”

“I know the type,” said Marie, taking her purse
off the back of the dining room chair. She set it on the table and
began to rummage through it.

Doris turned and gazed down to the lake. “Oh
my,” she said, “the boys are out swimming in their clothes. I
didn’t think the water seemed that warm.”

“It’s not warm at all. I stuck my feet in it
last night and damn near froze my tootsies off. I’m telling ya,
Doris, those two are just bonkers.”

“Still, it does look like fun. Do you remember
going swimming and how much fun we used to have?”

Marie found her prescription bottle and she held
it up to her nose. She frowned. “That’s funny, I just got this
bottle.”

“What’s so funny about it?”

Marie twisted open the cap and dumped the pills
out onto the table. She then began to count. “Son of a bitch,” she
grumbled. “There are only twenty pills.”

“That’s more than enough. Can I have two?”

Marie flung two of the pills across the table.
“There is supposed to be thirty in here. Don’t you see where I’m
going with this?”

Doris caught the pills before they scattered to
the floor. She then began walking into the kitchen. “If you’re
suggesting that I took them,” she said, “you’re way out of
line.”

Savagely, Marie shook her head. She pointed out
the patio door to the lake. “Not you, stupid, I’m talking about
them. They must have taken five of my pills, apiece!”

“Oh my,” exclaimed Doris, as she continued
walking to the kitchen. She wanted to take the painkillers before
Marie changed her mind. She walked quickly to the refrigerator and
she dug out a bottle of water. She swallowed down the pills and
washed them down with a satisfying drink. She then returned to the
living room. She found Marie slumped in a chair. “I’ve never taken
Oxycontin before. Are they strong?”

Marie looked up at her and she began to laugh.
“Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Have you ever heard the term hillbilly
heroin?”

“Oh dear, yes, I have heard the term. I just
didn’t know what it meant.”

“You’ll know exactly what it means in a little
while. Wait until I get my hands on those two clowns. I’m going to
ring their necks. Give me some of that water.”

Doris handed Marie her bottle of water and
watched as she took three of the pills from the tabletop. “I guess
when you’re in Rome, you do what the Romans do,” she said, tossing
back the pills and washing them down.

The telephone rang again and Doris walked over
to it. “Alice Kindersley,” she grumbled. “I wonder what she
wants?”

“Why don’t you answer it and find out?”

Doris stared at the telephone and shook her
head.

Chapter 19

Shari was on the verge of a nervous breakdown,
she could feel it. She reached speeds of over 100 MPH on her way
back home; until she passed a cop and she slowed down and set the
cruise control. Thankfully, the cop either didn’t have his radar on
or he didn’t care. Shari turned on the news, but could only take so
much of it. All of it seemed bad. She shut off her radio and drove
with her window down. The chill of the morning air felt good on her
hot skin.

After their Phoenix had risen, it had quickly
returned to the ashes. Shari had cried angry tears at the sight of
it. At first, she thought that Tom must have died in the fire, but
then she looked for the Mercedes and found that it was gone. Where
had he gone? Shari didn’t know if he was in the hospital or if he
was staying with one of his relatives. Her only thought was to
drive home and wait for him.

There was little traffic, but Shari was happy to
see that most of it was truck traffic. That meant the supply chain
was up and running. She even spotted some open stores on her route
back home. She decided to make a quick stop at her local market.
She peeled into the lot and slammed on her brakes. Shari grabbed
her purse and walked inside. There were only a couple other patrons
in the store and Shari forced herself to smile at them. The shelves
seemed to be reasonably well stocked, which surprised her. She
walked back to the meat section and chose four packages of New York
strip steaks. She walked up to the checkout and handed her a credit
card. Shari was sure the young female clerk would shake her head,
but she took Shari’s card and swiped it.

And the register spit out a receipt. The clerk
handed it to Shari to sign.

This made her feel much better. She took her
sack of meat over to the ATM, but she found that it was out of
order. Shari sighed; at least her plastic was working again. She
walked back out to her car and she headed home. When she pulled up
to the gate, Shari found out that the power had returned. She was
happy for that.

Shari parked in the garage and shut off the
ignition. She put her keys into her purse and she grabbed both it
and the grocery bag and she climbed out of the car. Down at the
lake, she saw Steve and Lumpy had decided to take a morning swim.
She thought that was odd, but she knew that both of them were in
bad need of a bath. They waved at her and she did her best to wave
back. She walked inside through the patio door. Doris and Marie
were seated on the floor in front of the television, watching
Saturday morning cartoons. Shari stood there and watched the women
watching the television. They hadn’t noticed her walk inside, they
were too busy laughing.

Confused, Shari walked into the kitchen and put
the steaks into the refrigerator. From out in the living room came
the sound of uproarious laughter. On the counter sat an open bottle
of wine. Angrily, Shari picked it up. She knew it was just after
seven in the morning and who drank at that hour? She stared at the
bottle and then she raised it to her lips.
Why not?

She half expected to find the women trying to
break in to her parent’s house. But as she drove by the big house,
one look up at the chain told her all she needed to know. “Thank
God for cartoons,” she muttered to herself. She took another swig
of the warm Pinot Grigio and she walked back into the dining room.
“Has anyone called?”

The heads of both women snapped backwards. They
turned to face Shari and they gave her a strange look, as if she
had walked into the wrong house. “Did what?” asked Doris.

“Did anyone call?”

“Did we call you what?” asked Marie. “We didn’t
call you anything.”

Doris shook her head. “No, we certainly
didn’t.”

Shari ignored them and walked over to the
telephone. She scrolled through the caller ID. “Who is Alice
Kindersley?”

“She’s my neighbor,” said Doris. “You don’t want
to talk to her. She’ll gnaw your ear off.”

Shari stared at the number. “Why was she calling
here? Did you give her my telephone number?”

“I don’t even know your phone number. Now, do
you mind? We’re trying to watch Scooby Doo.”

Shari left the women and she ran up the stairs.
She thought they were drunk, which would explain the two fools out
in the lake. She strode into her bedroom and she locked the door.
She sat down on the bed and picked up the telephone, redialing the
mysterious Alice Kindersley.

A moment later, Shari was charging out the patio
door. Doris and Marie were out there, digging in the ashtray. She
never said where she was going and they never asked. Shari hopped
into her car and quickly sped away.

Tom hung up the telephone and returned to the
table. He felt better now that he had talked to Shari. The
conversation had been brief and straight to the point. Tom was glad
for that. He didn’t want to lie to her, especially not in front of
Mrs. Kindersley.

“Would you like another cup of coffee,
Tommy?”

“No, thank you,” said Tom, placing the palm of
his hand over the top of his cup.

“It sure is a small world. Why, it seems to get
smaller each day, doesn’t it?”

Tom nodded his head and prepared himself for
another twenty minute story. If the traffic was light, Mrs.
Kindersley would only have enough time to tell two of them.

“Do you remember my younger sister, Norma?”

“Sure I do, she passed away about four years
ago. She was a scientist, wasn’t she?”

“You have a good memory. She was murdered five
years ago and Norma was a microbiologist.”

“I didn’t know she was murdered,” said Tom. “I’m
sorry to hear that.”

“Oh, officially she died of a massive stroke,
but I never believed that story for a second. Tommy, do you know
who Norma worked for?”

“I have no idea.”

“Are you sure about that? Look me in the eye and
tell me.”

Tom stiffened in his chair and stared Mrs.
Kindersley right in the eye. “I have absolutely no idea who your
sister worked for or what the heck you’re talking about.”

The old woman held his gaze for a long second,
and then she sipped her coffee and smiled. “And do you know what?”
she asked. “I believe you. Tell me something else. What do you know
about your new wife’s parents?”

“Well, they’re dead and they had a lot of money.
She doesn’t like to talk about them. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell
you their names.”

“Interesting… I suppose I should have expected
as much.”

“Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Oh yes, but I have to put everything into
context. I had to be sure that you weren’t one of them.”

Tom rolled his eyes and slumped back into his
chair. He felt bad for doing so, but he couldn’t help himself.

“Oh, please don’t get snotty with me, Tommy. Let
me explain a few things. Norma worked for Fred and Irene Munthon,
Shari’s parents. Fred made his money in semiconductors, while Irene
and Norma were both microbiologists. Do you see where I’m going
with this?”

“Yeah,” said Tom, “it really is a small
world.”

“Yes, it really is. But I have never been a big
believer in coincidence. I believe in karma and in second
opportunities to right wrongs. We don’t have a lot of time, so I
want you to hear me out. Karma is knocking on your door, Tommy. If
you’re going to save the world, you have to open that door.”

Tom picked up his coffee cup and walked over to
the old percolator. He had long suspected Mrs. Kindersley was
losing her grip on reality, but now he felt sure of it. He poured
himself a cup of coffee and returned to the table.

“I can see that I’m losing you,” said the old
woman. “Okay, enough beating around the bush. Do you know what an
RFID microchip is? They’re tiny chips that companies use to implant
in their products. They’re filled with information that is useful
to the people on the retail end. You have heard of them,
correct?”