Amateur Hour

Ted

Stephanie was waiting for him, when he got to the coffee shop, in Sneads, leaning against the hood of the white Mustang, with a half finished cigarette, in her hand, and her head on a swivel. She spotted Ted, immediately, and had butted her smoke and disposed of it, by the time he reached her.

“You seem nervous,” he observed, by way of a greeting.

“I am.”

She was unsmiling, and unsure. Liam had tattled to her as well, Ted supposed. The man couldn’t keep a secret, to save his soul.

“No need to be. I’m not going to kill Gordon, and all I want from you, is a ride, home, for Nina.”

She didn’t appear convinced. Ted smiled slightly, and shook his head.

“It’s getting ready to rain. You want to discuss it, out here, or in there?” He waved his hand toward the coffee shop.

“Inside, I suppose.”

Steph led the way, and Ted held the door for her to enter the brightly lighted little cafe. The place had no booths, only tables and chairs. She chose one next to a picture window.

They didn’t have to wait for a server. The cafe served breakfast, and a few lunch items, but closed before dinner time. Apparently, they had missed whatever lunch rush the place usually had.

“How did you figure out where he was, so quickly?” Steph asked. “I was barely back to my room, when you called.”

“I’m sorry about that. I wouldn’t have asked you to drive all the way back here, but Liam and Janice are visiting his sister, today. I couldn’t ask just anyone to help me. When you get right down to it, I’m in short supply of friends, on a good day.”

“I don’t mind. It’s not that. You didn’t answer my question.”

“I recognized the house,” Ted shrugged. “Lived there, for three years.”

The answer seemed to ease her mind, and some of the tension went out of her shoulders.

“I was getting ready to tell you more. I just thought it could wait, until I was home.”

“It could have. Relax, Stephanie. You’ve done very good job, and I’m grateful.”

Steph nodded, still frowning, as she stirred creamer into her coffee. Ted cut a bite of his pecan pie, and leaned away from the table, a bit, to chew it.

“I’m assuming you have a plan.”

Ted swallowed his morsel. “A very simple one. I’m going to knock on Gordon’s front door. You’ll wait, in your car, for Nina to join you, and then you’ll drive her home.”

“Leaving you to do, what?”

“To find out what the old bastard wants. Decide whether or not I’ll give it, to him. Though, I have to say — the odds of that are not in his favor. The point is, he’ll never see you, I won’t mention your name, and the only thing you’ll be involved in, is getting Nina home, safely.”

“Liam was pretty sure you planned to kill him.”

“When I said that, I didn’t know where my wife was, or if she had been harmed. Now I know she’s all right, physically, at least. You could say that patricide is off the table. What? Do you want me to swear, on a Bible?”

“I kind of do, yes. But, since neither of us have one, I’d settle for a promise.”

“I can promise you — I have no intention of harming my father, in any way, unless he threatens my life, or Nina’s. Will that do?” He offered her his hand.

“It’s going to have to,” she replied, shaking it.

“Good. Eat your pie.”

“Shouldn’t we get going?”

“Let’s let the rain slack off, a little.”

Steph glanced out the window, at the downpour. “That came up, fast.”

“If you don’t like Florida weather, wait five minutes,” Ted joked.

They applied themselves to their pie. Stephanie was still not reassured, Ted noted. She ate mechanically, with no real appetite, matching him bite for bite, and when he pushed his plate away, she did the same, even though there were a couple of bites left, on hers.

Her face was weary, with hints of circles under her eyes. Evidently, she hadn’t been sleeping much, or well. Ted regretted that he had dragged her back, after her stakeout.

*******

Gordon Eldridge’s estate still boasted a manned gatehouse. After they had identified themselves, and the guard had consulted someone on the phone, both Ted and Steph were allowed onto the grounds. The landscaping had changed, Ted noticed, but the house was exactly the same — a yellow brick Victorian monstrosity, that gave him an inner shudder.

He felt the full weight of his suppressed fury, as he parked his car, and stared at the pile. For a moment, he gripped the steering wheel tightly, drawing deep breaths. Nina couldn’t see his feelings, or she would be reluctant to leave, with Stephanie. Self-control would be critical, until she was out of this house.

All that mattered, within the next ten minutes, or so, was to get her the hell out of here. Ted opened his door and stepped out, onto the gravel. Stephanie looked as though she might be thinking about joining him, but he shook his head, and motioned for her to stay where she was.

It was starting to sprinkle, again, so Ted opened the rear car door, and found the umbrella he kept on the back seat. He didn’t want it, for himself. It was for Nina. When he glanced at the Mustang again, his accomplice was gazing at him with some alarm. He held up the folded umbrella, to give her a better look at it.

Nervous as a cat…

The door opened, as he reached the veranda. The small, formal man who met him there, was familiar.

“Stanton?” Ted hazarded.

“Staunton, Mr. Theodore,” the older man corrected him, quietly. “You’ve grown, sir.” His observation was coupled with a wry smile.

“And, you’ve aged, Staunton,” Ted replied. He wasn’t in the mood, for false niceties.

“I have, indeed.”

The admission had the desired effect, if the desire was to make Ted feel ashamed of himself.

“Pardon me, Staunton. You didn’t deserve that.”

Staunton was a decent man. He had always treated Ted well, if not warmly.

“It’s quite all right, sir. I believe I understand. Mr. Eldridge and Mrs. Billie are in the sitting room. You’re expected. If you’ll follow me…”

This escort was as necessary as teats on a bull. Ted knew the way, well enough. Still, he followed the butler with outward docility, masking his inner turmoil. He was in no hurry to get to the room, itself. Some of the ugliest scenes from his boyhood had played out there. He would have been just as happy never to see it again, but, Nina was there.

Staunton knocked twice, and slid aside one of the pocket doors, at a command from within. At first glance, the room seemed unoccupied, then an inarticulate sound to his left brought Ted bodily around.

Nina hit him like a small cannonball, and flung her arms around him.

“Teddy,” was all she could manage, her face buried against his chest.

“I’m here. Are you all right, Sweetheart?”

He felt her nod, and he tightened his arms around her bending his head toward her, to breathe in the scent of her hair. After a moment, he kissed the top of her head, and eased his grip, on her.

“Nina, listen to me,” he said, pulling her gently away from himself. “I have a friend waiting for you, outside, in a white car. She’s going to drive you home.”

His wife gazed up at him, her eyes brimming. A surprised, hurt look was quickly supplanted by a crease between her eyebrows.

“No. I’ll ride home with you.”

“I’ll be right behind you. I don’t think Gordon and I have that much to talk about.” He shot his father a cold look.

Gordon hadn’t bothered to rise from his own chair at the table, where the accouterments of afternoon tea had been placed.

“You might be surprised, Theodore,” he smirked. “I asked Jack to pack your things, Nina. He should be bringing them down, presently.”

“They aren’t my things. Save them, for your next hostage,” Nina replied, in a voice like ice water. “Let’s go, Ted.”

“I’ll be home, soon. Here,” he handed her the umbrella, “it’s raining, again. I’m going to walk you to the door, and watch you get into my friend’s car. Or, I’ll carry you. Your choice.”

He tried to look and sound amused, but he had failed, judging from the sad look in her eyes.

“Please, Nina,” he added, dropping the pretense.

She raised her hand to touch his face.

“All right. I’ll put a pot roast on, for dinner. Beef or pork. Your choice.”

She was better at getting smiles out of him, than he was, at getting them, out of her.

“Beef. Don’t skimp on the sweet potatoes.”

“I won’t. I can see myself out, if it’ll bring you home, any faster.”

Ted leaned close to her and spoke softly into her ear.

“Have Stephanie honk her horn twice, once the car is rolling.”

Nina nodded.

Ted touched his forehead to hers, thern watched her walk to the sitting room door. She stopped there, and turned to Gordon.

“I will take my bag, and my phone, Gordon. You still have them, I think.”

“By now, they’re in the hall. Hannah’s flutes, as well. Take those, as a gesture of goodwill.”

The look she gave him would have dropped a charging bear, in its tracks.

***

Steph

Ted Billie’s wife had appeared young, from a distance, but Steph was shocked, on closer inspection of the woman who climbed into the passenger seat of her borrowed car. She was nearly Steph’s own age.

“Ted told me to ask you to tap the horn twice, once the car is moving,” were the first words out of her mouth, as she dropped her tote onto the floorboard between her feet, and reached for the seatbelt.

“Will do,” Steph nodded, putting the vehicle into reverse. “I’m Steph Howard. I doubt he had time to tell you that.”

“Nina. Glad to meet you, Steph.”

“Are you okay, Nina? Do you need to see a doctor, or anything?”

“I’m fine. My neck is still a little stiff from the accident, but it’s getting better.”

Steph turned the car onto the circle of the drive, and tapped the horn twice, never slowing.

“Is there any way we can pull off and wait for Ted to come out?” Nina asked.

“Sorry, but my orders are to get you home, and give him a call.”

Nina stared fretfully at the rear view mirror, until they had passed the gate, and the big house was out of sight, then she slumped a little, in her seat. Steph didn’t blame her for being unhappy. She wasn’t thrilled, herself.

“That coffee is for you, by the way,” Steph said, breaking a silence, and indicating the untouched paper cup in the holder next to her own.

“I was wondering if you were a two-fisted coffee drinker,” Nina smiled a little. The expression barely touched her eyes, but it was an improvement.

“Ted got a couple of cinnamon rolls for you, too. They’re in the bag. He said you were partial to them, from that coffee shop.”

“I’ll save them, for later. I’m not hungry, but coffee would be good, right now. Do you know how to get to our house?”

“It’s in the GPS. Your husband isn’t the kind of man who forgets much, when it comes to details.”

“He’s not,” Nina agreed, sipping her coffee. “Are you with the detective agency he hired, Steph?”

“Not anymore. I’m working for him, privately, along with my partner.”

“Your partner. You were actually inside the school,” she marveled. “I thought you looked very young.”

It was on the tip of Steph’s tongue to say that she had thought the same thing about Nina, but some good angel prevented that.

“I know,” Nina resumed, with a broader smile. “That’s the pot and the kettle. Maybe being older than we seem is something we have, in common.”

“Maybe so.”

“How old is your partner?”

“He’s actually a year older than I am, if you can believe that. Guy is one of those strange specimens who is going to look forty, when he’s eighty. Unless hair dye is outlawed.” Steph smirked at this last.

“Is he vain?”

“Not overly,” she admitted. “He likes to look good, and he usually does. But he also has a few grey strands that can be a problem, when posing as a seventeen year-old. I’ve enjoyed teasing him about his coloring routine.”

“Are you worried about him?”

“Very. I shouldn’t be. God knows, he’s competent, and can protect himself, but… Well, he’s my partner. We’re kind of a set, and I don’t feel quite whole, without him.”

“I’m worried about mine, too. I know he seems quiet, but Ted has a temper.”

“He was angry, when he realized that you’d been kidnapped. But, he calmed down, considerably, once he knew you weren’t badly hurt. I don’t think his temper is going to get out of hand.”

Steph hoped this was true. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the umbrella, still folded, where Nina had placed it, between their seats. She had thought it was a weapon, when Ted had pulled it out of his own car. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her, she decided.

*******

Ted

“You really crossed a line, Gordon. Several lines.”

“Perhaps,” Gordon allowed, pouring himself another cup of tea. “Would you care for some? I can have another cup brought, for you.”

“I can use my wife’s cup.”

“Indeed, you can,” Gordon smiled, inordinately amused by this comment. “It’s all the same, isn’t it? Wife and husband being one flesh, and all that. Come, sit down,” he invited.

Ted complied, taking his time. He maintained his resting stern face, but every sense was on high alert.

“What do you want, Gordon? Most people use the phone, to invite guests to tea.”

“Would you have come, if I’d used the phone? I doubt it. What I want is to catch up, a bit, before discussing some very important matters, with you, Son.”

“I’m not your son.” Ted said it quietly, firmly. He’d waited all his life to say it, but the reaction he got wasn’t the one he’d expected. Rather than being hurt or angry, Gordon maintained his creepy amusement.

“Truer words were never spoken, my boy. You are not, in fact, my son. I have no sons, legitimate, or otherwise. No daughters, either, for that matter. I had a wife, though. And, as a man and his wife are one flesh, you are my son, by proxy. By law.”

To say that he was stunned at this news, would have been an understatement. A hundred thoughts pressed against the boundaries of his mind, at once. A hundred emotions, and a hundred questions warred with one another, to be expressed, first. Yet, somehow, he was able to maintain a bland facial expression, and even to take a sip of tea.

“If you’re looking to turn me into your weapon against my mother, you’ve miscalculated, Gordon. Those days are over.”

“They are,” Gordon agreed, surprising him. “I did use you, to get to Hannah, when you were a boy. Oh, I was never deluded that you were mine. But, I was willing to forgive her, for that. I loved her, despite what you may think, or have been told. I had no particular aversion to you, for that matter.”

“Love. We have different definitions of that word, I suppose.”

“I suppose we do. I was unable to give Hannah a child, but I didn’t begrudge her one. Could you say the same, if the child Nina is carrying, wasn’t yours?”

A bit of Ted’s composure slipped, at this news. A soft, short intake of air betrayed him.

“You didn’t know.”

“No,” he admitted. “She was on her way to the store, for an in home test, when your thugs grabbed her.”

“My apologies, for spoiling her moment. Dr. LaFace discovered her condition, when treating her injuries, which were all minor. Not to worry — your child is well.”

“For your sake, I hope so.”

“Answer my question, then. Do you love Nina enough to grant her a child, even if it wasn’t also your child?”

“I won’t dignify your question. Nina and Hannah are not the same, and you and I certainly are not the same.”

“Fair enough, though you were the one who questioned my definition of love. Getting back to you, then; you were of no more importance to me, when you were an infant, than you would have been, if you were a demanding little pet Hannah had chosen to adopt.”

“I doubt the same was true, of my actual father.”

“Your biological father meant even less, to me. I never knew who he was, and I never cared. Presumably, some man Hannah knew, from her past, and reconnected with, at one of her Tribal Fairs. The timing was about right, given the month you were born. It wasn’t some heated, longstanding affair.”

“None of what you’re saying adds up, Gordon.” Except, that it some of it, did.

“Doesn’t it, Theodore? I accepted you. Over time, I came to appreciate you, for your own sake, and reared you, as my own. Then, your mother left me. Did she ever tell you why? Because, she never told me.”

“You left her, first,” Ted shrugged. “She couldn’t compete with your business ventures, for your interest or your attention. When she did have your attention, all you had were cruel and cutting things to say to her. You broke every single vow you made to her, including that of fidelity. Your business was your mistress.”

“My business kept her in comfort; even in luxury.”

“Cold comfort. Empty luxury. Then, you took from her the one thing she had left. Her son. Out of spite. You’re crying to the wrong person, Gordon.”

“I would be, if I were crying. You don’t think that I’m much of a man, do you, Theodore?”

“That’s the most astute observation you’ve made, yet.”

“Yet, I’m enough of a man, to admit my mistakes. I was wrong to use you as a weapon, against Hannah. It would have been more to my advantage, and to yours, if I had cultivated you, from the beginning. You’ve shown yourself to be an intelligent and resourceful man, over the past four years.”

Ted didn’t answer, but he did help himself to more tea, and even plucked a biscuit he didn’t want, from Nina’s abandoned plate. He took a bite. The thing tasted like chocolate covered sawdust. Waiting, he chewed it slowly.

“I was amused, at first, when your cousin came to me, in a complete dither, after he found out who you were. Presence of mind isn’t one of Joseph’s greatest gifts.”

“Starkey ‘found out’ who I was. He didn’t recognize me, at first. I was counting, on that.”

“Not too bright, that one,” Gordon agreed. “Education isn’t a substitute for intelligence, is it? How he panicked, when he heard about all the questions you were asking other staff members! Before they were instructed not to talk to you, that is.” Gordon chuckled, at the memory. “You did gamble. That’s one mark of a good businessman, by the way.”

“Spare me. I have no interest in business — especially your kind of business.”

“No? You’ve invested a lot of time, trying to figure out just what it is. A lot of effort, a lot of your grandmother’s money. You were willing to put your friends in harm’s way. Honestly, Theodore, you’re far more ruthless than any blood son of mine could be. You must get it, from your mother. I mean that, as a compliment.”

Ted thought about Hannah, asking each day, if Gordon had died yet, and smiled.

“Cut to the chase, Gordon. You’re boring me.”

“Very well. You are not my biological son, Theodore, but you are my heir.”

Ted laughed. It was startled out of him.

“Leave your blood soaked money to someone else!”

“It’s not about my money,” Gordon returned, unperturbed. “The money is but a byproduct of what I produce.”

“What do you produce?” Ted challenged.

“Something you would give your eyeteeth to produce. Socially responsible, highly educated, principled human beings.”

“Not from where I’ve been sitting, for the last four years.”

“No, not from there,” Gordon waved it away, impatiently. “New Canaan graduates are above average, for the most part, yes. Admittedly, they’re profitable, too. However, they aren’t my passion. They aren’t superior. Some of my elect, come from there, as you well know.”

“Elect, like Jess Greene?”

Some of Gordon’s manic enthusiasm ebbed, at the mention of the deceased girl’s name.

“A tragedy, indeed. How did you find out?”

“Does it matter?”

“I suppose not. Miss Greene killed herself. She escaped her handlers, and panicked when she was cornered.”

“Imagine, not being eager to become one of your ‘elect’. Did her parents ask for a refund of her tuition? No,” Ted answered himself. “They’re none the wiser, are they?”

“You’re mistaken. They were well compensated.”

Ted felt sick.

“Had they been ideal parents, their daughter probably wouldn’t have been in a therapeutic program, to begin with,” Gordon pointed out, interpreting his look. He leaned closer, and fixed Ted with a grave look. “I know whereof I speak. If I had been a better father to you, you wouldn’t have needed to be placed in the earlier incarnation of that school. I was the only father you had, Theodore. It made me take a good, long look at myself.”

Before Ted could reply to this, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and rose from the table. Without excusing himself, he stepped out the double glass doors, and out onto the lanai, where Nina had first been spotted, by Steph.

“Are you home?” he asked Nina, not bothering with a greeting.

“Can we talk?” she replied.

“Yeah. I’m outside. He’s still indoors. Are you home?” he repeated.

“We just pulled into the driveway. I want to ask Steph to stay — she looks beat.”

“I’m fine,” he heard Stephanie protest.

“She’s worried about someone seeing her, and I’m worried about her driving more.”

“Block her with the umbrella,” Ted suggested. “That’ll look casual, and no one will notice. She can take a nap, and we’ll feed her, before sending her off, again.”

“You read my mind. Are you on your way?”

“You have no idea how ‘on my way’, I am. I can’t listen to any more of Gordon’s crap.” In fact, he wasn’t at all sure he would go back inside.

“A little of it, goes a long way,” Nina agreed. “You’ll be home soon, then?”

“Very soon, Sweetheart. I promise.”