The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,51
repeated. “Where have I heard that before?”
David and I laughed at this. Walter’s time in stir had had a “rehabilitative” effect on him; it convinced him he’d be a better man with his skills. As a result of prison, he’d also become much better at learning how not to be caught.
“David, you haven’t done anything wrong,” I said. “You were invited into their home to paint a bedroom, and you did a good and honest job, only in disguise.”
Walter and David looked at each other.
“Then you took some pictures of the family portraits and photographs, for which you charged nothing.”
Walter and David laughed a bit at this, then David replied, “And I drove Walter to the party also!”
“Well, yes,” I agreed. “He couldn’t drive and put on clown make-up at the same time!”
We all shared in a laugh. It was late, and we were tired and felt a bit silly. We felt as though a weight had been lifted off our shoulders.
“Maybe we did do something good after all,” said David. “Maybe we did save a family.”
Walter piped up, “If we’ve done nothing else in our lives, this ought to count for something. Those kids need their daddy….the bum.”
“And Helen needs her security,” said David. He looked at me and said, “How would you feel if they wound up getting divorced anyway, because of his antics?”
“If this works, I don’t think Helen needs to know about his infidelity,” I said. “I won’t tell on Franklin, because hopefully he’ll be a good daddy and husband now. You two need to keep this under your hats, also.”
Walter took a drink, and said, “You’re doing too much for her, Randall, after how she screwed you over in college.”
“We’ve been over all that,” I replied. “Why mess up her life, or her kids’ lives?”
This seemed to placate Walter and David, and we remained quiet for a moment, thinking on this. This was going to have to be a lifetime secret.
Wanting to break the heavy silence, I tried looking at this from another angle. “You’ve seen Susan Lovely, Walter. Do you think you could resist her charms if she were to throw them in your direction?”
“Ha! Sure I could!” said Walter. “There’s not an underwear/bikini millionaire model on the planet I couldn’t resist!”
This made David laugh out loud; I grinned at this.
“And do you really think she’d waste her charms on me?” asked Walter. “I’m no doctor. I’m not a millionaire, nor a male model.”
“I heard that,” I said. “No such luck here either. But if, and that’s a big ‘if,’ she happened to like either you or me, just by some sheer infinitesimal chance, do you think you’d be able to turn down something like that?”
Walter took another drink, then plunked his mug on the table. “Probably not.”
“Yes. Probably not. Me too,” I said.
David sat there with a momentary silence out of respect to us. He was the only married one, the only married man. He’d found happiness in romance and matrimony, and we were glad for him.
I looked at David, then at Walter. I nodded towards David, and we focused in on him. “Well, David, we’ve corrupted you. You’re one of us, now. One of the trio. A vigilante, an underground man of righteousness, a judge. An honorable man.”
“Oh, sure, I’m sure I’m all of those things,” chuckled David. “I’m more of a coward than you two; I have more to lose. I don't know how you talked me into this.”
“David,” I said, “we needed your insight and judgment. Walter is all know-how, and I’m mostly a bundle of nerves. We needed a healthy balance between the two. You’ve given us that. The three of us together managed to hammer out a plan that seems to have worked. Let’s stop this wondering and drink to the happy marriage.”
We all raised our glasses, and finished up for the night. Kim was glad; it was getting late for her, too. She probably thought it was time for those foolish three men to go home; it was probably past their bedtimes. We left her a big tip as an apology.
After getting home, I e-mailed Helen and Mindy with a message saying I had done some research, and according to my findings, Dr. Burke was innocent of any suspicions. He was merely a friend to the Lovely family, and had probably used poor judgment while comforting Miss Lovely after her grandfather died, but poor judgment didn’t make him unloyal. Case closed. Marriage saved.