Five Of Us

Chapter 7

                                                                           Chapter 7
                                                                     Just Another Day

September 9, 2012
The Block
Williamsford Street
11:30 AM

The next morning, Richard wanted to start his investigation on his mother's whereabouts. There was a name he checked out first after the homecoming game: Clara Kaufman. She was an accountant in the firm. Richard called her to ask some questions, and she agreed to meet him because his mother and Clara were friends on the job. Richard asked Will to come with him. Clara lived on the other side of town, only five train stops away from the Martin Apartment Complex. They were only a few blocks from her house when they discussed their plan.
"Okay, Will, this is what we’re going to do. You gonna be me. I'm gonna be your friend who just happened to tag along. This lady never seen me before, so you ask her all the questions. I'm gonna ask to use the bathroom so I can read her mind, okay?"
"Yeah, but what do I call you?”
“Just call me Arnold."
"Arnold? Okay, that's what you want to be called."
They reached Clara’s doorstep, and Will pushed the doorbell.
"Just a minute," Clara called out as she came to the door.
Clara Kaufman opened the door with a huge smile on her face. She had a petite, slender body. She must have been working out because she had on track sneakers and a sweat suit.
"Hi, how may I help you?"
Will took the lead. "Hi, I'm Richard. We spoke on the phone, and this is Arnold, one of my friends from school. We have a research project to work on later on, so he tagged along."
"Hello. Nice to finally meet you."
She let them in. She had a cozy house, very neat; you could tell she didn't have any kids, or if she did, they didn’t live with her.
"So you’re Joyce's son. Wow. Well, do you guys want anything to drink?"
"What do you have?" Will asked.
"I have iced tea, grape soda, and water."
"I’ll take a grape soda," Will said.
"I’ll have an iced tea, thank you," Richard said.
"Got it. So you wanted to know some information about Joyce? Well, I don't have a lot to say; she kept mostly to herself. Only time we talked was at lunch," she said while handing them their drinks.
"Thank you. I just wanted to know if you knew what ‘project nurse’ was about," Will said while handing her the file.
"Oh, my,” she said before taking a seat on her couch. “This is that project they wanted to do to make the nurses’ uniforms lighter, with better pockets," she said hesitantly.
Richard quickly drank his iced tea in four gulps.
Will started to talk. "Um, what did my mom actually do there?"
"Well, like me, she took the accounts from projects like these—mostly expenses—and cleared them or reviewed them with upper management," Clara said. She looked really nervous.
Richard spoke up. "Excuse me, where's your bathroom?"
"Oh, it’s the first door to your left," Clara said while she looked down at the report. She seemed very focused on its contents.
Richard put his cup on the table and went to the bathroom, closed the door, and put his ring on. The walls weren't thick; they were made of wood with a foam layer, so Clara's mind was easy for him to lock on to.

Where did he get this file from? I thought I shredded every piece of evidence. Mr. Baxter would kill me if he knew this existed.

Richard left her mind and moved into Will’s. Will heard Richard’s voice as if they were still sitting next to each other.

Will, ask her about Mr. Baxter.

"Who's Mr. Baxter?"
"What? Did I say something?"
"Um, no, he sent my mom a letter to my house. I just remember that name."
"I'm…oh, he's the head of the accounting department, but he doesn’t work there anymore. He was fired for negligence. I think he moved back to wherever he was from," she said in a rush.
Richard moved into her mind again.

Mr. Baxter got killed like a pig. They sent his tongue to Mr. Warner's office; it was so gross when Grace showed me that box.

Richard stopped for a second and remembered seeing a person named Grace highlighted on the report.