The Aftermath

37

After driving by the rental car, to show Tom where it was, they agreed to meet in the lobby of the hotel at ten o'clock Friday morning. Tom shook Kemp's hand and thanked him before he got out of the Hummer and walked into the hotel.

Unlike Barona, the hotel wasn't attached to the casino. The casino was across the street, though Tom noticed that Sycuan had shuttles that would take patrons there if walking was a bother. The area looked like a small town, with shops and restaurants on the main street. It had the feel of a very small town attempting to become a very small Vegas.

Tom found his room, and went inside. The room was bright and even cheerful. The first thing he did was to find his 9mm in the over-night bag, load it, and set the weapon on the nightstand.

He was just about to step in the shower when a phone call came in. "Hello?" he said to the unfamiliar number.

"Mr. Blake?" Asked a man's voice.

"Speaking." Blake agreed.

"This is Norton Brown, your mother's attorney."

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"Your mother's body is going to be released to the cemetery tonight. We have scheduled the funeral for Sunday."

"That sounds fine. Anything else?" Tom asked.

"There is one small matter," Brown said hesitantly, "we need a dress, clothing to bury her in."

It never occurred to Tom that she would need a dress. Moms just came fully dressed, didn't they? He quirked a eyebrow at that thought, then dismissed it. "Doesn't the mortuary have anything suitable?"

"Is there no way your sister could pick one out from her clothes. I'm sure it would look much nicer on her." Brown suggested.

"My mother was murdered Mr. Brown, and there is a man out there who wants to murder the rest of my family. The more she moves around the more in danger they will be." Tom said with a blank voice.

"Oh, um, right." Brown stuttered. "I'm sure your mother would understand that Mr. Blake."

The hell she would, Tom thought, but saw no need to burden the lawyer with that information. "I can pay for a dress if your secretary wouldn't mind shopping for one in my mother's size."

Brown was quiet for a moment, then said, "I think that could be arranged. What would your budget be for the outfit?"

"Five hundred should be enough, don't you think?" Tom replied.

"That should be fine. I'll have Ms. Palmer take care of that."

"Good," Tom agreed, "anything else?"

"No. Everything else has been arranged." Brown told him. "I will wait for your sister to contact me for the reading of the will."

"Thank you for that." Tom said. "Have a good day." He finished and hung up the phone.

He took a long shower, letting the heat get deep into the muscles of his shoulders and neck. Afterward he dressed in a black polo shirt and a pair of gray slacks. He put on a light canvas jacket and his black dress shoes. Counting the money in his wallet he came up with 5k and change. He pealed off $3000.00 of this and put it in his travel bag, and then put the rest into his wallet.

Tom started his laptop, and then called Samantha to tell her the news.

"Sunday?" Samantha asked, "Are we going?"

Tom had been asking himself the same question since his phone call with Brown.

"I'm not sure it would be safe, but Kemp's men will be with us all that day, and we are leaving Monday. I think it would be alright, my only concern is that he might follow us back to Drew's house and learn about her. As it is, she is still using her married name, so it would take a real effort to find her place in Julian."

"I think Drew is definitely planning on going to the funeral." Samantha told him. "Is there a way to keep her safe after? You know, like you did with us using the airport or something?"

"I'll talk to Kemp in the morning about it," he promised her. "Honestly hun, I don't know. But I'll talk to Kemp."

"Alright." Samantha said.

"How is Angie holding up?" Tom asked.

"She's been fine. She has her laptop, and her cell phone. She's out riding the horse right now."

"Oh." Tom said a little disappointed, "Well have her call me if she wants."

"I'll tell her." Samantha said. "I love you."

"I love you too Samantha." Tom promised. "Talk to you soon. Tomorrow."

"Bye." She said and broke the connection.

Tom said, "Bye." To the dead line, and pressed the phone into his front pocket, turning his attention to his laptop.

There were a few emails from clients, who, despite what was going on, wanted to know where he was going, with the hint that they might follow him. This was warming news. Then he came down to the message from coronerkiller@yahoo.com.

Hello Tom,

You seemed overly concerned with being followed today. I don't need to follow you Tom if I know where you are going to be, and when. I'll be writing soon, tonight, with directions. A life will depend on your attention.

Tom re-read the message, and then called Kemp. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think we are going to have to make some tough decisions within the next twelve hours." Kemp told him.

Tom forwarded the message to Kemp's email address, while he said, "Could you find Drew if you knew I had a sister?"

Kemp was quiet for a moment, Tom could see the big man scratching his jaw like he always did when asked tough questions, or questions he didn't want to answer. "That would be tough Tom. First you would have to narrow the search down to a state. Check to see if she is even alive. But then trying to find out her married name? Given enough time, yes, I could do it, but we are talking months of skip tracing and record searching before you had a real name, and an address."

Tom nodded his head, "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't putting too much faith in Drew's house being safe."

"No, I think you are good there. If you want I could send a man up there now." Kemp offered.

"Yeah, lets do that. Can he be up there tonight?" Tom asked.

"No problem." Kemp promised. "I'll take care of it as soon as we are off the phone."

"Well, good-bye then, and thanks." Tom said and clicked of the connection.

After setting his phone to pick up his emails instead of his laptop, Tom put is wallet in his pocket and left the room for the casino. He was hungry, and wound up. He needed to unwind and eat.