Old Dishes And Oak Cabinets

"Yeah okay."

She watched his car creep forward and then said, "Okay stop there and get out but stay on the phone."

"Damn it Angela I have to get back to town."

"You weren't the one that was shot at or chased across town so you'll have to do this my way." He got out of his car and looked for her as she said, "Now open all four doors and the trunk."

"I've had enough of your theatrics now just get in the car so we can leave."

"Tony I'm not telling you again. I don't know if somebody is hiding in your car with a gun pointed at you so do as I say because nobody will find me in this hell hole unless I want them to." He gave in and opened the doors and the trunk and just stood there and said, "Okay now are you happy?"

Angie had done a good job of positioning Tony and his car no more than thirty feet from him. Gil had a good view of the unfolding events and had his pistol in his hand and pointed at Tony but he still didn't like it. He was close enough to Tony, but he wanted to close the distance between them if he could.

When he saw Angie stand up and Tony's head turn to face her he moved forward to a closer position. Angie slowly approached Tony as her head swiveled left to right looking for any surprises, but what she couldn't see was the pistol in Tony's hand hidden just behind his back.

As she neared him Gil saw his hand move raising the pistol toward Angie just as Gil pulled the trigger. His hand gun kicked

back slightly as the cracking sound echoed across the quarry and back in a rapid staccato of diminishing sounds and then went silent.

Tony fell but not before he pulled is trigger in a wild and uncontrolled shot that missed Angie by a few feet. She raced to the nearest rock and tried to hide behind it and Gil ran over to Tony and made sure he couldn't reach his gun. With his weapon pointed down at him Gil watched as Tony moved and then looked up at him. "Help me I'm bleeding."

As Angie carefully approached, Gil said, "Yeah I know."

"Damn it call an ambulance."

"I'll do that but not until you tell us what this is all about."

"I'm not telling you anything."

"Then bleed to death I don't really care. No information means no help Tony."

"Please," Angie pleaded as she looked at Gil. He just put his arm around her waist and looked at Tony.

"Angie we have to know what's going on or this will just keep going until one or both of us are dead." Then looking back at Tony he said, "Talk to us Tony because there's quite a pool of blood now. Why were you going to kill your fiancée?"

"I didn't want to damn it. I told her both of you needed to give up on that damn map, but you wouldn't listen to me."

"Then why were you so willing to let her be at my house and even go searching in that field?"

"I needed to know what you were up to and if you found anything."

"So you were using her."

"Yes, now get the damn ambulance."

"Not yet. Why did you try to kill Angie before?"

"I didn't."

"Then you sent somebody to do it so tell us because you're running out of time."

"Yeah okay I sent somebody but they were supposed to just shoot into her apartment."

"Well they did do that and as you know she almost died that night. Now what was that crap about chasing us?"

"It's like I said, it was all to scare you off but you were too stupid to do that one simple thing. All you had to do was give up on that damn map. That's all just get rid of that fucking map."

"Okay here's the last question Tony. Answer it and we'll call the ambulance." Angie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her own fiancée, the man that she had thought she was in love with was responsible for every bad thing that had happened in her life for the last several weeks.

"Okay Tony, what's in that field that you don't want us to find?"

He hesitated and then said, "A body."

"Don't stop there Tony."

"Joe was a business partner with me and Peter Borlund."

And you killed him why?"

"I didn't kill him, my partner did, but I helped him bury the body."

"How long ago?"

"Almost a year ago. We learned that Joe was going to report us for some things we had done to get the city to buy that chunk of land."

Gil motioned for Angie to call for an ambulance and quit questioning him.

Chapter Thirteen

It was close to a hundred degrees down in that pit and as the police questioned them and Tony was hauled off in the ambulance, Gil was getting soaked with sweat. A couple of detectives finally arrived and after a few questions detective Conover said, "You don't seem all that upset about any of this."

"I'm not. Let me remind you that Angie had her apartment shot up and both of us have been followed and chanced It had to stop."

"But you didn't consider calling the police why?"

"And tell them what? We were chased by bad guys? How lame would that sound? We don't...or rather didn't know who they were. We don't or didn't know why we were being chased and we didn't even know anything else beyond they used a mid sized dark colored car. How much effort would you put into a report like that? Where would you start looking? Stake out our houses? For how long? Sorry Detective, but that seemed like an exercise in futility to us."

"Okay we're going to the station and go through all of this step by step. This damn heat out here will kill us if we don't."

"What about my cycle."

"Okay ride it but say with us."

"And Angie?"

"She'll ride with us in the car."

Once at the station Gil and Angie were led to different rooms and were questioned for the next hour. The detectives were walked through everything that happened starting with Gil and Angie meeting at the yard sale and on through Tony's confession.

Near the end the detective said, "I'm bothered by the fact that you spent a night in a motel room with Tony's fiancée and now he's in the hospital with a life threatening gun shot wound."

"Yeah it looks bad, but nothing happened in that motel room other than us getting our first good night's sleep in quite awhile."

"But nothing happened."

Gil smiled and said, "Detective you've seen Angie. Let's say you spent the night with her and then told your wife nothing happened. Would you expect her to simply take your word for it and not be suspicious at the very least?" The detective just smiled and let the question drop.

"Okay Gil, what are your feelings for her?"

"Let me see if I can really screw things up for myself. I love her. She doesn't know that and I'd rather she didn't know but that's the truth."

"Why don't you want her to know that?"

"Because her life is already so screwed up and tough to deal with. The last thing I want to do is complicate her life even more. I knew she was engaged at the beginning so I never had any intention or expectation that anything would happen, but it did. So now I have to deal with it and leave her alone so she can put her life back together."

"Okay I'll be right back." It was close to ten minutes later when the detective came back and said, "You're free to go and Miss Phillips is waiting for you. We'll talk to the D.A. but I doubt there will be any charges filed against either of you. By the way, did you mean to shoot him in the belly?"

"No damn it, I was aiming for his arm or shoulder but he was moving so fast. Bottom line, I didn't shoot worth a damn."

"You risked getting shot by aiming for his arm?"

"I was behind about a five ton rock so I was safe enough and I had nine more rounds in the clip. I knew my shot would at the very least draw his attention away from Angie so I'd have time for a second if I needed it."

"Well it's not how we're taught but it worked for you."

He found Angie and they held each other and he noticed her eyes were red and puffy. He kissed her cheek and asked her, "How are you holding up?"

"I'll be okay."

"You up to one more ride on my cycle?"

"Yes."

It took them over twenty minutes to get to her house and she invited him in. "Angie is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, I just want to hide and cry for awhile. Gil it's going to take me awhile to sort things out, but I promise I'll call you."

"I understand, but I'll worry about you until I hear from you."

"I still like knowing that you worry about me."

"I do and I will until I can talk to you and know that you're doing okay." She walked him to the door and kissed his cheek and he headed home. He didn't even remember the ride, but when he reached his driveway there was a car sitting there and Renee was just getting into it as he pulled up next to her.

"There you are Dad, where have you been?"

He walked over to her and they shared a hug and he told her, "Honey you won't believe me when I tell you."

"You didn't respond to my e-mails and didn't return my calls so I got worried and came over."

"Got time for something cold and a long story?"

"I have three hours or so."

As they walked to the door he asked, "Who's car?"

"Mom's but she doesn't know I have it."

"Oh boy you're living dangerously."

"I know, but I had to check on you. Does this story involve this Angie that you told me about in that e-mail?"

"Yes and in a big way in fact." He grabbed himself a beer and her a Coke and they dropped on to the couch next to each other and kicked their feet up on the coffee table. He took a long taste of his beer and started his story at the beginning. She forgot about her Coke and watched him intently as he once again told his tale. The part about finding the map intrigued her and she looked over at the cabinet as he continued laying it all out for her step by step. She interrupted him and said, "So both of you thought that you were being pursued because of that map then."

"Yes we were pretty sure of it in fact." When he got to the part about Angie's house being shot at she gasped and stared at him in disbelief. He moved on to him being followed and then on to them on the motorcycle as he described how they split lanes, faced oncoming traffic and all of the weaving and tricks he could come up with as they blazed their way through and out of Columbus. "My God Dad you were her hero."

"Thank you but that's overselling it. Had I not gotten her involved in that damn map in the first place none of that would have happened."

"And you two wouldn't have been together and you couldn't have saved her that day." He smiled and kissed her cheek and then went back to his story. When he came to the motel part of the story she stopped him and said, "Dad I'm almost eighteen, you can be honest with me. Trust me I've heard a lot of stories."

He smiled and said, "I'm sure you have honey, but I'm telling the truth."

"You two really didn't do the dance?"

"We really didn't. We kissed a few times and it was torture for me, but we behaved. You have to remember that she was engaged."

"Yeah so, but you weren't."

"I know but it would have been so wrong and you know that. Besides it was more her strength that saved us than mine." She took his beer from him and drank the last of it as he stared at her as she smiled and put the bottle down.

Getting up she said, "That was totally warm, let me get you a fresh one."

When she sat back down again he said, "I suppose you smoke too."

"Oh yuck, no of course not and I only have a beer once in awhile."

"Good because you're under age."

"No kidding, now quit stalling and tell me more."

"You're just looking for some juicy sexy part."

"I am not. Were both of you naked at least?"

"Renee, what a question."

"Well? Here you were with this beautiful woman in the motel and all and you're crazy about her and she must really think a lot of you. You have to get undressed so..."

"First, how do you know I'm crazy about her?"

"You must be kidding. I can see it and besides don't you remember telling me you are?"

"Okay I am. In fact I'm so in love with her I can't see straight." Renee wiped a tear from his cheek and kissed him before putting her arms around him. "Sorry honey."

"Don't be. I think that's awesome and so sweet."

"It might be under normal circumstances."

"So you were naked in the motel room but you didn't make love."

"Damn you're persistent. No we weren't naked. Sh was in a nightie that she bought at Wal Mart and I was in my briefs."

"How very sexy."

"Okay enough about that." She grabbed his beer and took another long pull on it and handed it back and smiled innocently. "You go home with beer on your breath and you'll not see the light of day for a month."

"So okay but tell me the rest of the story before I have to go."

He looked at her and said, "You haven't been over here in almost two months and right when I need you the most here you are."

"I'm a woman and I have intuition."

"You indeed are a woman." He went on with his story and when she reached for his beer again he pulled it away and smiled as he continued. When he came to the part where he shot Tony her eyes went wide and she held her breath. Dad you didn't."

"Honey I had no choice."

"Are you in trouble now?"

"No I don't think so because it was self defense."

"God this is so sad. You're in love with her but you're here. She's wearing his ring and she's alone and he's in the hospital recovering from you shooting him. That sound like a soap opera. So what happens now?"

"I'm the one that created this mess so it's up to me to get over it somehow. Jim and Sandra tried to warn me that this day would come and it has, so now it's up to me to man up and face it somehow."

"But she must love you at least a little bit."

"Why?"

"Well you saved her, not once but twice. You two have spent hours and hours together and talking and sharing. You've shared a motel room and kissed and I don't know what all. She wouldn't go along with all of that if she didn't really care for you."

"That's a long way from loving me though Renee." Look at it from her point of view. She loved Tony or she wouldn't have accepted his ring. Now she finds out he was part of a murder and that he was using her to get at me and if that wasn't enough he tried to kill her. How can she just turn off her love for him and come running to me? That just isn't realistic. It's going to take her time to sort it all out and I may or may not have any part in her future at some point down the road." He put his beer down on the table and said, "Now enough of this because I want to tell you how great it is to see you again."

"Yeah I'm sorry I'm not coming over more."

"I know you're busy. I'd come see you but...well you know."

"Yeah I know and I don't blame you."

"How are you and your mother getting along?"

"We pretty much operate on a truce arrangement. Our latest go round was about what classes I'd take for my freshman year of college."

"What did you decide?"

"That's it exactly, I'll decide, not her. Besides a lot of my classes are required anyway. It was just the idea that she was trying to dictate and control my future." Then before he could react she grabbed his beer and jumped up and took another good taste of it before handing it back to him. "Mom has reminded me dozens of times that you're not my real father, but I always thought of you that way and always will. You've been the only real father figure I've ever had and that says it all."

"Well if I was a good father I'd give you a whippin' for drinking beer."

"You can't whip me."

"Now never challenge a hero remember that."

"Well I better get home and face the music."

"What will you tell your mother?"

"What else but the truth. I went to the library to look up colleges."

"I won't tell on you if you'll promise to come back one of these days soon."

"I promise. By the way, what is Angie's last name?"

"Phillips why?"

"Just curious. The woman stole my dad's heart and I don't even know what she looks like so I should at least know what her name is. Bye Dad."

"Bye honey, be careful going home."

Chapter Fourteen

The next couple of weeks were pretty rough for Gil. He hadn't heard from Angie and Renee hadn't been back to see him. His way of coping was to bury himself in his work, but that was wearing thin. His boss was after him to take a vacation to regroup after all the excitement in his life but Gil just wasn't in the mood to go off somewhere by himself.

He'd managed to put Angie in a position in his mind where she was still with him constantly but he could get through his days without falling apart. He had e-mailed Renee and she promised to come see him and with it being Saturday he hoped that would be the day. He heard a small sound like a scooter but he went back to his reading until his door opened and in came Renee. "Hi Dad I'm home."

He jumped up and met her half way and they shared their usual hug and kisses on the cheek. "How did you get here, your mom's car again?"

"Nope a motorbike."

"A what?"

"A motorbike, you know, two wheels and an engine."

"Don't tell me your mother bought that for you."

"Earth do Dad, we're talking about my mother, remember? No I borrowed it and it's pretty cool."

"Those things are dangerous."

Renee laughed and said, "And this from a guy that just blew across part of Ohio hauling a sexy woman behind him on a cycle as he dodged weaved and rode like a mad man. Yes I know they're dangerous so I came by the back roads. What are you drinking?"

"Coffee."

"Great," and she went to the kitchen and came back with cup in hand.

"Since when do you drink coffee?"

"Since like about forever is all. Well at least a couple of years anyway. Want to hear the latest?"

"Will I like it?"

"I hope so. I'm going to Ohio State."

"Really? That's fantastic."

"Yeah well not to Mom. She wanted me to go to Georgia Tech."

"Why Georgia?"

"Who knows. She probably read some propaganda somewhere and fell for the pitch."

"That's great, what will you major in?"

"Probably business and hospital administration. I mean there will always be hospitals right?"

"I'm pretty sure there will be."

Then he heard, "Gil are you decent?" He almost tripped over his own feet as he raced to the door and they fell into each other's arms and held on tightly.

Renee waited for a minute and then walked over and said, "Well don't I feel like a fifth wheel now. I'll see you two later."

"No wait honey I want you to meet Angie."

"Oh we've met Dad."

"You have?"

"Yes, Angie and I had a nice talk a few days ago. I'll see you two soon."

"Renee," Angie said, "Wait a minute because I have something to show Gil and I think you'll even find it interesting. Did he show you the treasure map?"

"No but he told me about it."

"Well I think I've solved the mystery."

"Really? That's so cool, tell us."

Turning to Gil she said, Get it for us honey and I'll show both of you."

Gil stopped and said, "Wait a minute I haven't heard how you two met."

"Dad I called her."

"How, you didn't even have her number."

"Dad you need to get out more or something. You told me her name so I just looked it up in the phone book, called her and then went over to see her."

"But...you tricked me Renee. That's why you asked me for her last name. But...why?"

Angie said, "Oh we can go into that later, I want to tell you how I solved our mystery."

Gil was about half dizzy from all that was happening, but he pulled the map from the oak cabinet and handed it to Angie as she sat down on the couch and Renee dropped down next to her. Gil sat on the other side wishing he could just hold Angie in his arms and talk to her. But he behaved and looked at the map. "Gil honey we've been reading it as land here she lies, which makes no sense. But if you take the L away it's 'and here she lies,' which makes a lot more sense. The so called L is really an arrow pointing to something and that could be what we're looking for."