Box of Crackers - 9. Chapter 9

I woke before the alarm, at first I was startled and then I remembered Jimmy was laying next to me. Sometime during the night, we turned and now I was snuggled up against his back and my arm was around him holding him to my chest. I decided to get up, showered and dressed for the day. I checked on the boys, Bobby was holding Butch but both were sound asleep. I started the coffee, and was just pouring myself a cup, when I felt an arm around my waist.

“Good morning, did you sleep well?” I poured two cups of coffee.

“I did until I got cold this morning. Do you always get up this early?”

“I normally get up at six, have breakfast and then leave for the office after the boys leave for school. This quiet time before the boys awaken, I use to check any work I bring home or finish any work I bring home. I like to see the boys off to school. How about you, what’s your mornings like?”

“I normally don’t have to be at the restaurant until nine, dad opens at eight for deliveries. We don’t start cooking until after nine.”

“That’s good, you can see the boys off to school, Pops.”

He started to laugh, “I guess that’s better than Old Man.”

“It was nice sharing my bed with you last night. Would you consider moving in?”

Jimmy looked at me as if in deep thought, “You’d have to ask my dad.”

“I’ll do that this evening when I come home from work. But just in case he says yes, why don’t you plan on staying here at least tonight.” One thing, which is a drawback to having children, there’s no privacy in the morning.

“Dad, we’re hungry, what’s for breakfast.”

Jimmy went into action, he prepared french toast with sausages. He sat a cup of hot chocolate in front of the boys. Bobby took one sip, looked at Jimmy, then went and gave him a hug. “Thanks Jimmy, you’re the best.”

I must have looked confused, “Chocolate mint.” Jimmy had made the drink as they serve it in the restaurant. The food disappeared as fast as Jimmy put it on their plates. I was glad to see Butch eating. I knew he was hungry, he didn’t have much to eat last night.

“Boys, I’m going to head to work, Jimmy will get you ready for school. If you want, you can come to the office again, you can do your homework while you wait.”

I got my brief case, gave Bobby a hug and a kiss, repeated that with Butch. I started to head for the stairs when I heard ‘Ahem’. I turned around and there was Jimmy smiling. I went and gave him a hug and a little different kind of kiss. I looked at Bobby, he had smirk on his face, the little devil.

When I arrived at the office, I made a pot of coffee and got to work. Checked my emails and found that Fred answered my email from last night. I called him. “What’s up? Why do you need an investigator?”

“I want to get the man that has caused a lot of suffering for me and a lot of other people. Meet me for lunch and I’ll tell you more.”

The rest of the morning I concentrated on work. Several companies were getting ready to issue annual statements and needed to confirm that their financial performance had been audited. The actual audits were finished and now I had to write the reports. This was almost routine, I had the template on my computer and all I had to do was fill in the information and add a little prose. The nice thing about the template, it acted as a road map for the final report. I remember working for six months developing this template, it was to be simple but also complete.

I met Fred at a diner that was about thirty minutes away. It was quiet and the booths were semi-private. After I explained what I wanted to do and the why, Fred was behind me all the way. “We should get John in on this.”

“You’re right, I’m sure he could help and maybe with the judge, we could cut a few corners. We need to know if there’s any cover up going on in the police department. From some of the rumors I hear, there must be someone who is providing him protection.”

“We need to be very careful. I have a buddy that was in the State Police, I did him a few favors when he had a problem. Let me talk to him. I’ll get back to you. Oh by the way, how’s your Italian cook doing?”

“How did you know about that?”

“Luigi is telling everyone his son has found a partner.”

“I never knew he was gay until Bobby told me. Yes, to your question, my Italian cook is doing very well.”

“You know you are setting a high standard, kids, partners. I’m not sure if the rest of us will be able to keep up.” Laughing, we left.

I returned to the office and got right back to work. As usual, I forgot the time. Two boys showed up and Mrs. Marlow sat them down in Dave’s office. I forgot the time until Bobby came into my office. “Dad we’re hungry.”

I looked at my watch and it was six. “Ok, give me five minutes and then we can go home.” I packed everything up and headed to Dave’s office. “You guys ready?”

“Are we going to go and see my mother today?”

“Sure, we’ll go as soon as we get home.”

When we arrived home, we went straight to the garage. I drove to the hospital, parked, took the elevator to the ICC floor. Butch led the way to his mother’s room, I checked with the nurse. Her answer was ‘no change’. I stood in the door way and watched the boys. Butch was holding his mother’s hand, Bobby was holding one of Butch’s hand. His mother seemed to be sleeping but I noticed every once in a while, she would squeeze his hand. I checked the chart and noticed the doctor’s name. We sat there until visiting hours where over. Butch seemed in a better frame of mind than yesterday. On the ride home, everyone was quiet.

When we entered the apartment, we could smell dinner. Jimmy had prepared chicken in a tomato sauce, over pasta. The boys dropped their books in their room and went to wash their hands. I dropped off my briefcase and went upstairs to wash my hands. Jimmy was busy in the kitchen making a salad. I could smell garlic rolls. He looked at me as I entered the kitchen, I went and gave him a kiss. “No change”

Soon the boys were sitting at the table, Jimmy was serving them. I noticed Bobby smiling as he took a garlic roll, opened it to and put his salad in it. Butch watched him, “Is that good?”

“Try it”

He did and I think they filled up on garlic rolls and salad. “Jimmy the chicken is delicious. You can cook for me anytime.” There was a chorus, me too.

After we all pitched in to clean the kitchen, “Have you boys finished your homework?”

“I have some reading to finish and I have some math problems to finish.”

“Why don’t you sit at the kitchen table and finish, then we can have some ice cream when you're done?”

It wasn’t long before our life set into a pattern. Jimmy was home to see the boys off, after school the boys came to the office and did their homework. In the evening we’d go and see Butch’s mother.

It was a Friday evening when I was able to talk to the doctor before he left concerning Butch’s mother. I asked him about her status. “She’s going fast. She’s not in any pain, but her system is shutting down. She had a hard life and it has caught up to her. I’d estimate maybe three to five days.”

“Thank you, doctor. Just let me know so I can make the final arrangements.” When we got home, Jimmy had made a smorgasbord from left overs. The kids pretended they were at an 'all you can eat' restaurant. Jimmy taught me that left overs could be just as good the second day as well as the third day.

The boys went to their room to play games on their lap tops. I told Jimmy what the doctor said. “Jimmy, do you know if she had any relatives, mother, dad, siblings?”

“No, I don’t know but maybe we could do a search.”

I looked at the form for guardianship and she signed it Mary Sebring. So I used that name to search. I found several people with the last name of Sebring. I copied down their addresses, using my letterhead, I sent them a letter asking if they were related to a Mary Sebring of Canon City.

Mary lasted a week after our last visit when I spoke to the doctor. During this time, I made sure Butch spent as much time as possible with her. We had a routine, from my office, we walked to the garage, drove to the hospital and spent our time there until they told us we had to leave.

Butch was very upset when his mother died, Bobby told him that she was with his mother and she was feeling good. That help and then Bobby told him that she might come to him in a dream like his mother did.

It wasn’t until Mary passed on before I had any response from my letters. The responses indicated that they had no knowledge of Mary Sebring.

I arranged for her funeral, Father Jenkins officiated at the burial. I picked a nice spot and had a bench installed so Butch could sit and talk to his mother. Bobby said that was what I should do, so I did it. Of all the people to show up at the funeral, was the landlord. When he found out I was paying for the funeral, he told me that she owed him money. He wanted to be paid out of her estate. I guess he thought I was a relative, because I started to laugh at him. That was when Butch came up to him and gave him a kick in the leg followed by a kick to his privates. The guy crumbled to the ground. When people came and saw him on the ground, those that knew him just laughed. Those that didn’t, looked shocked, until the whispers started. A cop came and picked him up. I watched carefully and noted the cops badge number. The guy said something to the cop and he came over, reached to grab Butch. I step between them and asked him what was he doing. He said he was going to take the kid to jail for hurting that man. “He didn’t hurt him. He never touched him, the guy is a liar. Ask anyone here.”

The cop turned to some people who were standing by us and asked, they all said the kid didn’t touch him. “He was standing here with us all the time. We just buried his mother.”

“He said the kid kicked him.”

“He couldn’t have. That guy came over here and started to yell about the woman we buried owing him money. He was told to leave, when he turned, he stumbled over that rail and fell to the ground.”

Everyone around said that’s what happened. The cop went over and told the guy, he looked over to me, I smiled and he started to yell again. The cop said something to him and then he helped him to his car. Now I knew who I was going to get locked up. While all of this was going on, I took several pictures of the guy and the police officer. Butch was very despondent. I put my arm around him, Bobby held his hand and Jimmy walked behind us with his hand on his shoulder.

That Monday morning, I asked Jimmy to walk the kids to school and I’d be there to pick them up. When I arrived at the office, I loaded the guy’s face picture and then did a search of outstanding warrants. I was about ready to give up when 'bingo', he was wanted in Texas for trafficking with illegal children. I notified the Texas authority, sent a picture.

Three days later a Texas Ranger showed up at my office. I told him of my interest in the case and that I suspected there was a cover up by the police. He wanted to make a call, I showed him Dave’s office. He called his headquarters. “We need to get finger prints or DNA to close this case. Can you help us?”

I’d do anything to have that guy in jail. I’d also make sure that everyone knew he was a pedophile and child molester. Jimmy showed the ranger where he lived and the general area he controlled. I didn't see the Ranger for a week. Then one day, in the newspaper there was an article about a man being arrested for sex with an underage child. I read the article, it had to be our person of interest. The following day, the Ranger came into my office. "Mr. Atwood, I want to thank you for your assistance in capturing this guy. There’s a reward for his capture, I'll have the checks sent to you. Thanks again."

One month later a check arrive from Texas for twenty thousand dollars. Along with the check was an article about the murder of a child molester. The picture that accompanied the newspaper, was our dear friend.

I took the check home along with the news clippings, I showed it to Jimmy, ”What are you going to do with the money?”

“Just as soon as the judge okays the adoption, I'll deposit the check into Butch's account. Invested right, it should grow to help him with his college expenses.”

It was one week after the funeral of Butch’s mother, we were before the John's father again. And basically with the same scenario as last time. The judge announced his name as Elliot Sebring Atwood.. He just added Atwood to his name. But for us, it was Butch.