Orientation (Book one in the Thelma Berns: My Internship in Hell series)

Thursday Night

Gillian looked up the address to Jerry's Plumbing and we buzzed over that way, circling the block several times to get an idea of what was going on. It was a low brick building with a single door in the front. Lush pots of flowers flanked the door, giving it a homey feel. The sidewalk coming out the door was right up against the street, with no room for even a small devil strip. The parking lot was on the side and there were three white vans with Jerry's Plumbing written on the side parked there. There was a building across the street for rent with a parking lot that had visibility to the front door and the side parking lot, so after three turns around the block I pulled into that lot and parked.

"This looks like a regular old plumbing business," Kirk said.

"I imagine that's how they want it to look," I said. "If it looked special that would attract unwanted attention, right?"

He nodded.

It was six thirty and the absence of any other cars in their parking lot made me think that maybe they'd all gone home. We watched for maybe twenty minutes. Kirk started to get restless. He wiggled around in the backseat, swaying the car. Gillian extracted a pair of binoculars from her bag.

"Here," she said, handing them over the seat to him. "See what you can see."

That bought another ten minutes or so of him sitting still.

"You know what? I'm gonna go take a look," he said. "See if there's a security guard around."

He swung out of the car before either of us could protest. He walked over to the building of the lot we were in and peered in the windows as if he were considering renting. He stood back from it and studied it, then crossed the street and looked at it from a few angles over there. Then he went over and tried the door of Jerry's. The door swung open.

"Uh boy," Gillian said. We both sunk down in our seats, though I kept my head up just high enough to see over the dash.

A few minutes went by. Then Kirk and Jerry came out and stood on the sidewalk talking. Kirk pointed at the building for rent, and Jerry nodded before giving a long response.

Wow. Kirk was a sneaky guy.

After a few minutes of discussion, Jerry withdrew a card from his wallet and gave it to Kirk. Kirk shook his hand and waved, then came back across the street. He pretended to study the rental building for a few more minutes, waiting for Jerry to go back inside. He strolled over to the car, calm as can be. Then he opened the back door on Gillian's side – besides the driver door it was now the only other exterior door handle still working – and he slid in the back seat.

"You are crazy," Gillian said. We both turned around to look into the backseat. Kirk was grinning so wide his ears had to hurt. "Crazy like a fox."

"What'd you find out?" I asked.

"The building's been empty for about six months. It used to be an electrician's place, someone Jerry liked working with. But the guy retired. Before that it was a dog grooming parlor."

"That's not what I meant," I said. "What did you find out about Jerry?"

"Oh. He's working late on the books because his wife left him. She used to do the books I guess."

Gillian and I slid a look at each other. If the wife was gone, nothing was stopping Jerry from paying Horace. At least, if the excuse about his wife was legitimate.

Kirk's attention was drawn to something outside the car.

"I'm glad I didn't let you ladies come out here alone," he said. "Looks like there's homeless people around here."