The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,39

know they’re having financial difficulties. I also know that a P.I. can be expensive. Maybe she can’t take on any more debt without sinking their ship? Plus, she doesn’t want to break up the family.”

“That’s a plausible explanation,” reasoned Dave. “So she comes to you instead, the sucker who’d do anything for her. Here’s another possibility: She doesn’t want her rich friends on the west side to find out about this family scandal, and so she’s slumming to have this problem quietly fixed…. for free.”

“Why would she…?” I blurted out, not finishing the thought. I looked around at the people in the diner, and lowered my voice. “Why would she do this? Maybe she came to me because I could help her!”

David gave a sad look, and continued the train of thought. “Like a leopard, a user doesn’t change her spots.”

When this sank in, all I could say was “Oh,” but not as in “I understand,” but more like “That hurts.”

“Sorry to be the one who brought this up, Randall. You were rendered almost comatose years ago; I didn’t want you walking back into the same situation with your eyes closed and heart wide open.”

It still hurt. I took a drink on my soda-pop and gave the matter consideration, trying to be objective, trying to hold it at arm’s length, far from the heart.

“Thanks for pointing this out to me. This certainly sheds new light on the situation.”

David smiled, and drank his tea.

“However, I said I would help, and I will. I’ll be more ‘on-guard’ though.”

“Just trying to fill-in the gaps. Don’t want any college repeats.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” I replied. Then, switching the subject, I said, “Hey, newlywed, I know you’re always looking for part-time jobs to supplement the income. How are you with house-painting?”

“You’re talking physical labor here. But I guess I’m good with it. You know of a job?”

Special Assignment

We were at Estella’s, by now the favorite haunt, being waited upon by Kim, where Walter and I spoke more on what he learned concerning Franklin and Helen Ceraldi-Burke.

“They attend the First Baptist Church downtown,” said Walter, “although Frank is not what you’d call a pillar among the chosen ones. Helen is the one who drags the kids to church. I think it’s more of an appearances thing. That plus she wants to expose her kids to a musical culture.”

I felt a bit of sympathy here, since I also liked the music aspect of church, and while not a soloist, did love to accompany the choir and congregation in song.

“Do the kids go to Sunday school?” I asked.

“Yeah, Helen makes sure of that. She also goes, but Frank only attends occasionally.”

I sat thinking on this for a moment. Walter noticed my silence and said, “Looks as though the deacons, or elders, or whatever they’ve got are out.”

He was on the same wavelength. Sometimes a congregation is represented by the leadership, the deacons and elders, and if they got wind that a member was heading towards a wayward lifestyle, they became instrumental in reining in that little lost lamb. Deacons had been known to show up on the front door step of church members to do just that, but it looked like this wouldn’t work in Dr. Frank’s case. He’d probably just tell them to go back home and then laugh about it.

“How is Franklin’s relationships with his parents?” I asked. “Do they like Helen? Maybe they can have some sway over his decision-making processes.”

“Frank’s father passed away a few years ago, and his mother is living in an assisted living daycare facility,” said Walter. “She has Alzheimer’s, and the care costs money, but her husband left her in good financial shape. This also drains away any money that Frank hoped to inherit, though.”

“So there’s another authority figure in Franklin’s life that has passed from the scene.

“Yeah,” said Walter. “With his dad gone and his mom in a helpless state, he’s pretty much free to do what he wants.”

“And what he wants is another woman, perhaps,” I muttered. I was feeling a little jealous here; he already had one beautiful woman in his life, a girl he had taken from me, leaving me to deal with both loss and a feeling of betrayal. Now he wants to toss aside his wife as though she was yesterday’s newspaper. With this happening, and with the dissolution of his family, part of me felt that all my college suffering was for nothing.

I had forgotten something. Oh, yes. “Do you know how his