The Glowing

Chapter 6

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton balls. I made myself take a good long shower, and I found myself scrubbing my skin more vigorously than normal. I turned on some music while I air-dried, ‘Beethoven for Breakfast’, and meditated, trying to clear my mind and focus. I had to call the hospital to check up on Mike; I also remembered he had a son that lived in southern California who may need to be notified if the police hadn’t already done so. I should also send some flowers to Joey’s wife, but that would need to wait until Monday at least. And then I needed to make a run to the store to pick up something to make for dinner tonight – whatever else had happened I wanted to see Morgan again, and cooking would be cathartic for me. Meanwhile, I decided to shut everything out for a while, and just lay and listen to the music.

Growing up my mom had taken me to several different churches of various denominations, and I had always felt that Sunday was different from the other days of the week, but it had been years since I had attended services anywhere. My mom eventually stopped going as regularly, she said she felt out of place being a single mother who hadn’t remarried. But I often found my thoughts turning to the spiritual on Sundays; today was no different. With Mike in the hospital and Joey dead, I couldn’t help but think of why something like this would happen. Was Joey at peace somewhere, or was he still here in some ghostly form, bound to the place his life had been so violently taken from him? Maybe it was my church attending past (however sporadic it may have been), but I had never questioned the possibility of an afterlife, only the form it would take. I believed in a heaven, of sorts, where the dead could pass to, I just had no idea what it may be like. But most of all I believed that things happened for a reason, even if the reason wasn’t obvious to me at the time. Some things in my past I was still waiting to find the reason for, but I was sure there was one. I wondered what the reason for this tragedy could possibly be. I decided, like I usually do, that I wouldn’t find the reason right now, so I got up and started getting ready for the day.

As Beethoven’s 9th symphony blasted away, I put my hair in rollers and set to cleaning the house. I was far from being a neat freak, in fact I had several articles of clothing scattered around my room right now, and my bathroom trash was in desperate need of emptying; but I had no intention of having Morgan over to a messy house. Plus, cleaning was another cathartic activity for me; I got to work my body while my mind was free to either roam or be firmly in the present as I scrubbed, dusted, and vacuumed. I started on the clothes, folding them and placing them in their respective drawers. I then went throughout the house wiping down almost every surface, mopping the kitchen, and vacuuming the front room. After almost two hours of dedicating cleaning, the house smelled lemony fresh and looked as spotless as I had ever seen it. My mood reflected this, and I felt much lighter and less weighted down with the events of the previous day.

I decided it was a good time to call the Hospital, so I lugged out the phone book and after being transferred a couple times spoke with someone in the ICU. Apparently, Mike was scheduled for surgery Monday morning as long as they could keep his heart rate under control. The Nurse couldn’t give me any more information, but said he wasn’t conscious, so it didn’t make much sense for me to make the trip down there. I did find out that Mike’s son had been notified and would be at the hospital Monday for the surgery.

I elected to bypass doing my hair and make-up till later, but I took my hair out of the rollers, sprayed the curls, and loosened them up. I threw on a bright pink running suit and went to pick up some groceries. My mom used to make a seven-cheese lasagna, and I thought that should at least make a good impression on Morgan’s stomach. It would be expensive considering it was only for two people, but I was operating off Morgan’s advice that good food was worth the expense. I would need Cheddar, Jack, Parmesan, Ricotta, Mozzarella, Cream and Cottage cheese, nutmeg, along with noodles and sauce. I also decided on a spinach salad with my mom’s homemade dressing. That would mean balsamic vinegar and lemon, along with the spinach, and bacon would be on the list too. I took my time in the store, making difficult decisions between pricy brands I had never glanced twice at in the past. Once my cart was full of what I had come for, I began to make my way to the front of the store. On a whim I picked up a bottle of sparkling water with a name I couldn’t pronounce and headed for the registers. I saw a register with one other person in line and headed in that direction. The woman in front of me was tall with long black hair cascading down her back. She turned as I approached, and I smiled in surprise; it was Jodi.

“Ivy, hi, what are you doing here?” She smiled in return.

“I’m just picking up some groceries for dinner tonight.” I indicated the contents of my cart, and her eyes widened as she took in the vast quantities of dairy product.

“Wow, cooking for yourself, or having company?”

“Oh, no I am having someone over. I would never run to the store to get all of this for myself,” I added laughing.

“Well, it looks like it’s going to be amazing! What are you making?”

“A seven-cheese lasagna with spinach salad and homemade dressing.”

“That sounds heavenly; I’m so hungry right now. I got caught up in the studio and realized I hadn’t gone shopping all week, so here I am, grabbing enough groceries to last a few days at least.”

I noticed her basket was overflowing with fruits and vegetables and was strangely void of anything having an actual caloric content. She followed my gaze and looked at me with a rather sheepish expression, “I know this looks bad, but I promise I eat really unhealthy most of the time.”

It was so unexpected I burst into laughter, with Jodi grinning impishly.

“Actually,” she said, “I do try to eat healthy; I just usually fail. I’m a sucker for fried foods. That’s why I’m only getting good stuff right now; I figure if I don’t have it, I can’t eat it.”

“You don’t go out to eat then?”

“Oh, no, I eat out all the time. But this makes me feel like I’m trying.”

We laughed again, and the cashier began to ring Jodi up. We were making small talk as the cashier tallied up her total. Jodi paid in cash, and then started for the door. I began to put my items up on the scanner when Jodi turned around and asked if I was still coming in tomorrow morning. I said I was, and she turned to leave again. Just as she approached the door she was joined by a tall man with hair that was nearly identical to Jodi’s in both color and length. She gave him a small squeeze, then turned back and waved. I waved in return, and rang up my groceries, smiling.

I was in high spirits as I left the store, groceries in tow. I wheeled my cart over to my car and unloaded my three bags into the backseat and returned my cart. One of my pet peeves is people who leave random grocery carts all over the parking lot; it motivated me to be a better person, at least when it came to returning my cart. I was just about to get into my car when a loud voice boomed across the lot.

“Miss Sparks!”

I turned, and to my utter astonishment saw Detective Greenway bounding his way over to me. He was wearing his brown suit jacket but had traded the matching pants in for a well broken in pair of Levi’s instead. I noticed he was also wearing green snake hide cowboy boots. His mustache remained unchanged, unfortunately.

“Miss Sparks, I’m glad I caught you.” He looked rather pleased at the fact, and I must admit I’m sure my face showed just the opposite.

“Were you following me?” I asked.

“No, just happy coincidence. I swung by your place earlier, but you were out, so I thought I’d just head into town and mosey about.”

I didn’t believe him for one second, and I stared at him blank faced, waiting for him to continue.

“There were a few things I still wanted to go over with you about yesterday, if you don’t mind.”

“Well, actually Detective Greenway, I’m a little preoccupied right now. I’m having company over later, and I need to go home and get ready and start cooking.”

“Please, call me Jason, and this will only take a couple minutes.”

I nodded and folded my arms across my chest. Although the sun was out again, the temperature hadn’t risen much from the previous day, and I felt uncomfortable standing in the store parking lot discussing any part of yesterday’s events with Detective Jason Greenway.

“Alright Jason, I’ve got a couple minutes I guess.”

“Right,” he pulled out his miniature notepad and seemed to peruse the contents before looking back up at me. “Now I wanted to just clarify some things. First, you stated that you and Mr. Eastman had only met the day of the incident, that you had no prior relationship. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So, you had no plans to meet him that day, and he had no plans to be at the Garage?

“Well, I have no idea what his original plan was, but we certainly had no prior plans together.”

“So, if you had only just met him, why did you agree to leave with him, and invite him back into the shop?”

I felt myself frowning as I answered, “because I had just fallen flat on my face in the parking lot, and I was bleeding. Morgan saw it happen and he offered to take me to lunch. He may have just gone on his way had I not been so scared.”

“And you were scared because you thought you saw someone across the street, is that correct?”

“Yes, I saw someone waiting in the shadows.”

“Why do you think they were waiting? Couldn’t it have been someone just hanging around outside?”

I realized I hadn’t mentioned the fact that I had seen this figure before to Detective Greenway, and I was made more uncomfortable knowing this would probably look suspicious. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this person before,” I admitted.

He looked surprised for a moment, then covered it by writing in his notebook. “Where had you seen this person before?”

“Well, once was right there at the shop, the second time was across town at a coffee shop, earlier the same day Mike and Joey were attacked.”

“And you think this person was following you?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s why I was running to my car. I realized I was alone at the shop, and I didn’t know why someone would be following me, but I was pretty sure that’s what was happening.”

“And you said that was around ten thirty, right?”

I nodded and looked longingly back towards my car. I wondered how much longer this would take, I really needed to go home and start prepping things, not to mention that I wanted to look great when Morgan came tonight. And then there was the fact that Detective Greenway really had a knack for making me uncomfortable.

“Yes, I would say it was about ten thirty.”

Jason Greenway looked up at me and tapped his pen on his notepad, as if thinking about what to say before he continued. “We have the time of death back for Joey Jacobs. It looks like he had been dead for well over an hour by ten thirty. Whoever did this to him and Mike probably put the ‘out to lunch’ sign up to cover the attack. We were also able to determine that nothing was missing from the shop or garage, and both men still had their wallets on them, so burglary is not the motive. Can you think of any reason at all that someone would want to do this to either or both of these men?”

“Absolutely not; there’s nothing about this that makes sense to me. Mike is one of the best guys there is, and Joey was a good guy and a hard worker. I can’t say I know Mike or Joey well outside of work, but I can’t imagine either of them having enemies capable of doing this.”

“Well, we have to consider the fact that if what you tell me is correct, and someone was following you, Mike and Joey may have been two guys that were there at the wrong time. They may have even been meant as a message for you. Can you tell me how Mr. Eastman seemed to react to seeing the bodies?”

Uh, okay, this was crossing the line back into uncomfortable territory. I wasn’t sure why Greenway kept pushing the Morgan card, but it was really starting to grate on my nerves.

“Look, I said I could give you a few minutes, and I’ve given you more than that. I really have to get home, I have plans and things to do.” I jangled my car keys to emphasize my point. Jason Greenway was not the most perceptive man, especially for a detective.

“I just have a few more questions I need answered. I would think you would want to be as cooperative as possible considering this is your boss and co-worker we’re talking about, and it was you who discovered the bodies.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I stopped jangling my keys, and stiffened as the implication of what he was saying seeped in.

“Well, I’m sure you had nothing to do with all of this, at least directly, but we must cover all possible bases. That includes whoever initially discovered the scene of the crime.” He was squinting his eyes as he took in my reaction.

I suppose he was right; he was after all only doing his job. I wanted the culprit found out and caught. It nauseated me just knowing that someone had snuck into the shop and attacked two people I knew and had worked with almost every day since I had been here. Maybe the person who did this was lying in wait for them; maybe Mike and Joey weren’t even the original targets. If circumstances had been different, wouldn’t it have been me lying in pools of my own blood? But then, maybe Detective Jason Greenway was trying to push my buttons to gauge my reaction. Maybe I was overreacting to Greenway’s questioning, it wasn’t that bad. For instance, I could be infinitely more uncomfortable if I was being questioned in my skivvies, or maybe if I had to walk barefoot across some tacks.

“You’re darn right I had nothing to do with any of this,” I was shaking, and to my shame, on the verge of tears. “Just weeks ago, I lost my father to cancer, and Mike was the only one here I really knew. He was there for me the entire time. The only person who spent more time in the hospital with my dad than him was me. And even though he wanted me to stay at the shop, he’s the one who gave me the idea of where to look for another job. Now I want you to find whoever did this, and I want to be as cooperative as possible; but you can just stop right there if you’re going to try to say I could ever have had anything to do with what happened to Mike and Joey.” Detective Greenway seemed rather indifferent to my little speech, smoothing the sides of his moustache before pushing on.

“Mmhmm, and how would you say Mr. Eastman reacted to the crime scene?”

“I would say a lot better than I did, considering he didn’t even know Mike and Joey. He’s the one who called the police. He stayed and waited with me the entire time, even long after he was good to go. He made sure I was going to be okay.” I jangled my keys again, this time making sure the correct key was ready to go and stepped towards my car. “I hope that answers your questions. If you really want to know more about Morgan Eastman, you’re going to have to ask him yourself. I just don’t know any more.” And, turning my back on Detective Greenway, I opened my car and sidled into the driver’s seat, slamming to door behind me. But not before I heard him say, “Oh, don’t worry, I surely will.”