The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,44

Ling. He located a paint job for me so we can have a little extra income. He may go overboard every now and then but basically he tries to do the right thing.”

“What overboard?”

“Randall … has a way of locking onto a problem, and not letting go of it until it’s fixed. That’s probably why he’s a good engineer; he stays with a design or problem until he finds a way to fix it. That’s why his employers like him so much. He has designed most of the underground water-drain systems in Lovely, and is known by most civil engineers in east Texas.”

Mae Ling looked unconvinced. “Old flame not drain.”

Decision

The jukebox blared at Estella’s, Kim brought us a round of drinks, and we were comfortable in a now-familiar setting. The biker crowd was over at the bar near the television, older gentlemen with lots of leather and bandanas and flags who showed each other the latest in technology, e-readers, i-phones, who compared and contrasted the latest models to the most available ones. They were fun to watch; there were bikers and there were cowboys; there were blacks, Latinos, and white men gathered, but nobody seemed to mind if others were a different sort; they had all grown up; there was a lot of laughter. Walter knew most of them, and they knew him as well. He walked among them as though he were a biker himself.

Walter began his report by saying, “I found the boyfriend of Mindy Burke, the fellow who supplied her with the photograph. His name is Myles Quine, a college student who is stuck in this area while she goes off to the high-dollar school during the fall and spring. I think they intend to marry, as soon as he can land a good job. Man, she’ll have to adjust to a new kind of lifestyle after what she’s been brought up with! I wonder if her old man even knows she’s dating a blue-collar security guard?”

He held up a copy of the same 8” X 10” black and white that Helen shared with me weeks ago.

“Helen showed me that,” I said. “It’s pretty good evidence that something was going on between Franklin and Miss Lovely.”

“Yes,” said Walter, “but did you know Franklin Burke has been Cornelius Lovely’s personal on-call physician for years? This photograph was taken just hours after Old Man Lovely died. The whole family and personal staff had gathered at the hospital, and were all there with the Old Man, along with Dr. Burke. He’s been a family friend as well.”

I thought for a moment. “You’re saying there’s the possibility that this kiss--not on the lips but on the cheek--is an emotional kiss of comfort to a family member, and not a romantic involvement kiss?”

“It may be that way, boss. Mind if I call you boss? Heh-heh! Since you’re paying me, I figure you deserve that.”

I was still thinking on this, looking at the photo. Was it possible that we had all been wrong about Franklin Burke, that we all suspected him of an affair because of this one photograph, by a machine that was situated to capture him in the parking lot? Was it possible that Helen and Mindy had gone through all this emotional turmoil for nothing? But somehow Mindy didn’t seem to think that her father was innocent. I wondered if she had seen the whole parking lot video.

“Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the girl being kissed is be-a-u-tiful bikini model, heh-heh!” chuckled Walter, who was laughing in his drink. It seemed that he also believed Franklin Burke to be guilty.

“What if we’ve been wrong here, Walter?” I asked. “Or to clarify, if Helen, Mindy, and I have been wrong? What if Franklin Burke really is innocent? We’ve done all this research to hang an innocent man.”

“I’m not so sure he’s innocent,” offered Walter. “Look at his past record. We both knew him in college. He was a college hotshot back then, a pretty boy; all the girls loved him and wanted to be around him. Remember how they lit up whenever he walked into a room? Rich, popular, frat boy, live wire, never worked while in college, but being a pre-med type, he should have been deep into his books, anyhow. How pretty boy became a doctor is beyond me. Anyway, when he arrived at college, he made a beeline straight for your girl, the cutest girl on campus. Now check him out years later. I have my doubts