When the receptionist led me into the conference room, I found my friend Jennifer at the head of the table. On one side sat Marty dressed in a suit. I couldn’t remember ever seeing a picture of him in a suit, let alone seeing him in person dressed that way. Beside him sat a younger man in a golf type shirt and a young woman in a sweater. Jen of course was dressed in her power suit. I was by far the worst dressed one in the room in my jeans and old sweater.
“Hello everyone,” I said as I walked to the vacant side of the long table and seated myself.
“Hello Maxine,” Jennifer said quietly.
“Yes Hello Maxine,” Marty added. The other two just nodded. Marty tried to go on, “Max, let me just say…” At that point I raised my hand.
“Marty, I really don’t want to hear it. I just came to get the money. I wouldn’t believe anything you said anyway.”
“Give her the check Jennifer. Maybe after she sees this is no trick, she will listen.”
Jennifer handed me a check for $75,000. “Nice,” was all I said as I put the check in my purse. I even signed the receipt that was attached to the check without comment.
“Now will you listen to me?” Marty asked.
“I will listen, but it isn’t likely I will be interested in what you have to say.”
“Just keep an open mind, ” Marty said. I nodded.
“You know I got involved with the Internet to setup my bike business.” I nodded again. You also know I used your images to help promote the franchise.” Before I could comment, he added, “Without your permission.” I nodded again.
“I have lately been using reprints of local articles along with your images for the same purpose. In fact you have quite a following on the net.”
“I didn’t ask for it, ” I replied.
“I know, but it is there all the same. After a while I noticed how cheap it was to publish stuff on the Internet. Then I found out how profitable it could be. Much more profitable than the bike business.”
“How nice for you, but what has this got to do with me?”
“I want to set up an Internet TV type station. Some of those cable stations run really low budget shows. I think I can do the same thing and make a ton of money.”
“Like I said before, what has this got to do with me?”
“I want to do a fifteen minute reality show about you every day.”
“So that’s what this is really about. You agreed to the settlement, so you could pitch this nonsense to me. I am not one bit interested in making you even more money.”
“But are you interested in making money yourself. I promise I will pay you well.”
“I just don’t need the money. At least not for a while,” I said pointedly touching my purse.
“Why not at least talk to your people and see how they feel about it.”
“What people?” I asked.
“Why we would have to pay the people who did an appearance on the show. Your young assistant, Ed Martin, Detective Blevins, anyone else with whom you interact. It’s a chance to put some money in the economy around here.”
“Marty you and I both know this isn’t a big humanitarian gesture. You are all about making money. You are even more about making the profits as large as possible.”
“Max you are ten times more interesting than that stupid guy with the long hair who picks up bail jumpers.”
“That is a very small part of the business. Mostly I do nothing interesting at all. And when I do, I sure as hell don’t want it on the Internet. So thanks Marty, but no thanks.”
“Okay but think about it. In the meantime would you let these two follow you around for a few days? I promise no cameras hidden or otherwise.”
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“For a thousand dollars, ” Marty said.
“I just told you I don’t need your money that much.”
“Okay how about a thousand to your preacher friend’s mission. I’m sure he could use it.”
“That’s pretty low even for you.”
“I know, but I learned from the best, you.”
“Two days, and the Reverend Archer never knows where the money comes from.” I demanded.
“Done,” Marty agreed.
“How did you know about Archer anyway?”
“I have my ways, you should know that.”
“Oh I remember ; your money can buy almost anything and anyone. My guess is one of my people got duped by one of your people.”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised, if that weren’t the case.”
“Okay for a grand to the mission, your people can follow behind me and do whatever they want but they cannot bug me period.”
“Fair enough, ” the young man replied.
“At the end of day two Jennifer better come up with a check. Your producers can not follow me home ever.”
“Yes, we know you don’t allow anyone to know where you live. We can respect that,” the young woman agreed. “But if you go out after work, we expect to be notified.”
“Fair enough.”
“Also there are some things they cannot be a party to. You know how that is Marty.”
“Yes, just tell them to stay in the car and they will, but Max I expect you to act in good faith.”
“I always do what I promise, you should know that.”
“Then will you give me your word that you will cooperate as much as possible?”
“You have it, ” I replied.
“Good, I am going to have to ask you to let the two of them ride with you. They don’t have a car.”
“Rent one Marty, or loan them one of yours.”
“Just let them ride around with you. You have room in the van.”
“Not really, but we can give it a try.”
“Lucas do me a favor, call around and find the Reverend,” I said that into the cell phone after we were in the van.
“I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” Luke said.
“While we are waiting how about we chat?” the woman asked.
“I don’t chat. If you have something you wish to know, just ask,” I suggested.
“Marty said you were direct,” the man said.
“I seriously doubt that is how he put it,” I replied.
The woman smiled then asked, “So you were born here?”
“Of course, why else would anyone come to this hole?”
“Good point, there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on.”
“There isn’t, ” I admitted. “I’m going to swing by the office; I just got an idea for something you can do.”
I kept it until we got to the office. There was something I wanted to do with the twins, Mopsy and Flopsy, tagging along. The young dude being Mopsy and the chick being Flopsy. In her case it was a good name. She was overweight and they did flop around.
“I was just about to call you,” Luke said. “I tracked the Reverend down to an old service station. Even though you didn’t ask, I checked and found out who owns the building. It’s owned by an old guy who lives out in that area. He fixed cars and sold gas there for years. The EPA shut him down because his tanks leaked. The Feds did a super fund cleanup, but left him broke and with no way to replace the tanks. So the holes got filled in, just like this place. His old station just wasn’t five blocks from the country jail, so it had no rent value.”
“So what is the Rev doing out there?” My heart sank, I was afraid it was something illegal to do with his church as a cover.
“I have no idea, but he doesn’t seem to be hiding it. The chick who answered the phone, gave it up right away. Here is the address,” he said handing me a bit of paper.
“It’s out in the same area as the church. Cherry Lane is a block or so from the church.” I said that more to myself than to Luke.
“Luke do you have a paper that you can serve?”
“Yeah, I got one for that flower show out at the new Cross Roads Shopping Center between here and Tryon.”
“While I’m gone, take Mopsy and Flopsy over there and go serve it. Let them figure out how they can observe you serving the paper without actually being involved. You are their kind of guy, not me. Be sure they do not get involved, not even by watching outside the van. There is no way they can fit into the delivery scam. We are not going redneck, just so they have some cute TV shot.”
“I got you boss, but you tell them. I’m too close to their age for them to listen to me.”
“Actually you are younger, but you are also right. I’ll explain it to them in words even they can understand.”
I walked across the room to the guest area where they were seated on the old sofa staring at their big ass phones. “Okay you two here is what is going to happen, I am going to send you off with my partner Lucas. He is our tech guy, so you can all figure out how to observe his service without being seen or heard. Note that the operative word was observe. If you get involved in anyway, the deal is off. If you fuck this up, I will get a restraining order to keep you a thousand feet away from us. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Ma’am, I thought you would be easier to work with.” Flopsy said.
“You thought wrong. Your presence would just wind the mooch up, and we don’t work that way. You want confrontation for you drams, but we want calm for our work. That’s why we are going to be boring as hell on a day to day basis.”
Luke was standing beside me, so I turned to him and said. “For today wear the Jumper radio, let them monitor you from the van. They can hear everything and with a little imagination they can fill in the blanks. If they want to figure out a hidden camera, you can help them work out a plan if possible. Luke, remember your job is not to help these yahoos, it’s to serve that paper.”
I turned to leave. “By the way,” I said over my shoulder. “I’m taking your car, give me the key. You three take the van; it already has the monitoring equipment installed.”
“Right, ” Luke said. “By the way I’ll leave your new gate control over the sun visor. Red button is for the alarm, do it first. Green is to open the gate. They are not marked. Close the gate with the same button and to reset the alarm, push the red button again.”
“Okay, I’ll work it out.”
“It’s designed to look like a car alarm thing, you can put it on your key chain even,”
“Enough about the stupid alarm, I need to be somewhere, and you need to serve the paper, so that Mopsy and Flopsy can see how boring this job is.”
I left the office parking lot in his five year old Korean bottom of the line car. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t a clunker, but rather a pretty nice little car. The drive to the shop took only a few minutes. As I said before, the town was small enough so that if it took more than fifteen minutes to get there. You were somewhere else, when you got there.
When I arrived at the old service station, I was amazed to see a long row of bicycles out front. Not the kind Marty made, his were all chrome and shiny paint. The bikes outside the Rev’s shop were dull and pitted but there were plenty of them.
“Now I know your scam, you are stealing junk bikes?” I said when I entered the shop. Reverend Archer was in the showroom with a younger man working on a bicycle.
“Yes, you found me out. They said you were sharp and I should stay away from you, if I had anything to hide.”
“Now you know that’s not why they told you to stay away from me. They are afraid that with my loose morals I will lead you astray.”
“Actually you are correct. Ever your own friends say that.”
“If they didn’t tell the truth, they wouldn’t be my friends.” I replied with a smile.
“Ah, but are you fun? That is the real question,” he asked.
“I have been told that I’m fun, but they also say I’m dangerous.” I laughed as I said it. “So what’s with the bikes?” I needed to change the subject. It was too soon to be flirting with a preacher.
“The gentleman in the office, allows us to use his shop to repair bicycles. Edward is the real mechanic. I stop by when I can to help out.”
“So what do you charge for those out front?”
“We charge nothing at all. If the customer can make a donation, we accept it, if not, a smile and a promise to go to church on Sunday is payment enough.”
“Why bicycles?”
“Haven’t you noticed the price of gasoline. It is expensive and it is volatile, the people in my congregation cannot afford cars, but they still need to get to the store or to work. These are not the answer for everyone but for some they are the answer.”
“So where do they come from?” I asked.
“There are several people in my congregation who pick up salvage. If they find a bike they bring it to me. I insist that they allow me to pay them the scrap value of the bike. Usually a dollar since it is just for the metal.”
“What about Edward, how does he survive?” Yes I was skeptical.
“Edward once had a drug issue, these days he is clean. At the moment he wants no more than a bed and to eat twice a day. That isn’t much to ask, so God provides it for him. In exchange he works in the bike shop.”
“It all sounds too good to be true. How does your ministry support itself. I am sure the mission’s collection can’t pay for it.”
“Actually this week it could, ” he said with a knowing smile.
“Then last week, how did you pay for your ministry?”
“You truly are a skeptic. That’s okay one should look beyond the painted face of the beautiful woman. Come back tomorrow morning and we will take a short tour.”
“I have a couple of people tagging along behind me for a couple of days. It’s embarrassing but would you mind if I brought them along?”
“Not at all, maybe they will get involved, as I hope you will.”
“I would say that the odds of them wanting to be involved are greater than me. I’m not the charitable type.”
“Oh but Maxine, I think you are. Regardless, meet me here tomorrow at 9AM and you can get a tour of my empire. It will probably take much less than an hour.”
“Fair enough, but there is one thing you should know before I take the tour. You might not want to do it after you find out. I know about your past.”
“The important thing is not that you know, but that you know it is the past.” He said that with a knowing smile. He was smart enough to know that, if it truly bothered me, I wouldn’t be standing there at all.
Maxine's new life 