Angels & Imperfections
Chapter 17
After our meeting with Victoria and her parents, Christine and I were having pie and coffee in a cafe that had a TV tuned to America’s most popular ‘talk’ show. We found ourselves listening to a conversation on the television, already in progress.
“…It’s like the way we all want peace. Everyone everywhere would prefer to live in peace. Peace, at home, at work, in the marketplace, with our neighbors, even inner peace, are all very desirable. But basic human nature is selfish. We are never satisfied. That selfishness guarantees conflict. We want our politicians to agree on a course of action, but they can’t compromise because they want to get re-elected. They enjoy the perks and benefits of being career politicians. They put their personal selfish ambition above the good of the country. We can see their selfishness pretty clearly. We’re all real quick to point out other people’s selfishness, but fail to recognize our own.”
“So, your saying world peace is impossible, because people are selfish?”
“Yes, because we want what we want, and we want it now, on our own terms. Also, we are egotistical. We are convinced our own personal point of view is correct and good, and anyone who disagrees with us is incorrect or ‘bad.’ We choose up sides, which causes conflict as well. One way or another, it’s always ‘us versus them’.”
“How do we get beyond constantly being in conflict? What will it take, for us to all just get along? If we don’t figure it out, then we will simply self-destruct through wars and aggression. The planet can’t sustain our rate of population growth, not to mention what we are doing to the environment...”
“Yep, you can always count on “O” asking the hard questions, but never getting to the truth,” I said.
“I don’t know why you pay any attention, if she irritates you so much,” Christine said. “And, you’re pretty egotistical yourself. You seem to think you know all the answers,” she added.
I smiled. She had a point.
“I guess I just find people fascinating, so intellectually complex and primal, all at the same time. The sheer diversity is astounding. I marvel at the work of God.”
“Oh brother,” she rolled her eyes. “Here we go again with the God talk. You seem to see your God in everything. I never see God at all. If you can’t see it, then it is irrational to believe in it.”
“Really, if you can’t see it, then it doesn’t exist, so it’s irrational to believe in it? What if it’s invisible to our ocular lenses, or just too small to see, like oxygen or the atom?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re just being argumentative. Science has proven the existence of oxygen and the atom. You can’t prove the existence of God,” she said.
“Christine, your test was whether or not a thing could be seen. You said if it couldn’t be seen, it must not be real. What if it isn’t a question of being invisible or too small to be seen, but rather too complex or too big to be seen?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Some things are too complex or too big to be seen. I’m not talking about the entire cosmos with all of the galaxies and billions of billions of stars, which you haven’t seen, though I’ll bet you believe it exists. You have seen automobiles built by the Ford Motor Company. Now, those are just creations of Ford. They aren’t Ford Motor Company. You could go to a board meeting and see some of the workings of the corporation, but that is only one aspect of the Ford Motor Company. You could be a stockholder, but that is only a small part of Ford. The FMC is just too big and complex for you to see it all, at any one time, or in any one place. So is the Federal Government,” I continued. “We see what it does, but we don’t see the government itself. These things are just man made constructs. How much more diverse and complex are the works of God? Just His works, mind you. God himself is far bigger and more complex than our eyes are able to see, or our minds are able to grasp. Science hasn’t proven His existence in the whole. However, science is constantly discovering more and more, about the complexity of His creation. Humans are only able to speculate about how big the cosmos is, and that’s only a tiny part of His creation.” I was just starting to warm up. “To look around us at the things we see on the earth and in the heavens and say we can’t see God, is like a single bacterium on the back of an elephant, saying the elephant doesn’t exist, because it can’t see the elephant. It’s not really a seeing problem, it’s a believing problem. No matter how smart the bacterium is, I’ll bet it’s not as smart as the elephant, and God created both of them.”
Christine blinked at me.
“Honestly John, do you sit up at night thinking about this stuff?”
I grinned at her.
When we got back to the office, my part-time operative, Gary, came in with his report on an insurance fraud case.
“It’s all there in the log book, John. I think this guy is legitimately injured. I watched him for days. He hasn’t left the house much. He can’t play with his kids. I saw him try to lift a bag of groceries out of the back of his wife’s car. He couldn’t do it. I could see he was frustrated and embarrassed. I have video of it. If you combine what I’ve seen with the medical reports and the anecdotal information from people who know him, it all adds up.”
I nodded.
“Good work. I’ll wrap it up with the client. I have something else for you.”
“Yeah, goody, goody, what is it?”
“This one is a domestic issue. Christine took the particulars. We need to gather some information on one Timothy Leroy Shaw, 29 years old.”
“Not another divorce case! I thought we were pretty much through with those.”
“No, this is more of a character assessment. Apparently Mr. Shaw has made some threats against the brother of his girlfriend. The brother is hiring us. He’s concerned for his safety and the safety of his sister. Christine gathered some basic background on Mr. Shaw, but I need you to follow him around for a while and see what he’s into.”
“I can’t start on it until Wednesday.”
“Not a problem, I’ll handle it till then. I’ll pass it off to you on Wednesday, if it isn’t already concluded.”
Tim Shaw’s history showed he had no felony convictions, DWI’s, or any arrest record. He had no restraining orders against him and he wasn’t a registered sex offender.
His credit report was pretty typical for a 29 year old. He had served as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He had never been married. He worked as an electrician for a company that did mostly commercial jobs. On paper, he looked pretty harmless.
I decided to check out the girlfriend, Diane Montgomery, and her brother, Tom Montgomery, as well. When they came up clean I was back to square one.
“Christine, Tell me again about the Tim Shaw case. What’s the issue exactly?”
“A guy by the name of Tom Montgomery called in and requested our services. Tom Montgomery is about 30 years old, and his sister, Diane Montgomery, is 22. He said his sister is dating this guy, Tim Shaw, and his sister, Diane, thinks they are in love and will get married.” She began. “Mr. Montgomery claims he heard from a friend that Tim Shaw is a well-known player, and is only interested in putting notches on his bed post. He decided to confront Tim Shaw about these allegations. When he did, Mr. Shaw told him to mind his own business and keep his mouth shut. Mr. Montgomery claims Shaw threatened to kill him if he said anything to his sister about the matter.” She concluded.
“It’s a crime to threaten violence against someone, but since there were no witnesses...” Gary trailed off.
“…Exactly. That’s why he decided to hire us to check out Mr. Shaw. He hopes to get something conclusive against him that he can take to his sister. He doesn’t want to risk doing anything which might put him crossways with Mr. Shaw. He believes Shaw was serious about killing him,” Christine said.
“Yeah, but if we do find anything Mr. Montgomery can use against him, Shaw is
going to know Montgomery was involved. Then what happens?”
“I guess he’s hoping we find something criminal, so he can get Shaw put away.”
“Sounds like a good way to get into trouble with his sister. The heart wants what the heart wants. Diane might hate her brother for interfering.” I pointed out.
“Not if she doesn’t know about it.” Christine answered.
“Oh. Did you agree to keep the investigation a secret from the sister?”
“Uh, look, this is all new to me, John. Did I make a mistake? Mr. Montgomery added that last part, when he brought me the check for the retainer.”
Since my name had been all over the news, we had been swamped with calls. Christine had handled it all with her usual grace and style. The guidelines I had given her about what kind of case we would or would not take, or what considerations were important, hadn’t covered anything like this.
“No, Christine, you didn’t make a mistake. I just needed to know I shouldn’t talk openly to Diane Montgomery about the investigation. I didn’t understand that, when you first told me the story. Is there anything else I should know?"
“Diane Montgomery is pregnant,” she said.
Since I had decided to re-connect cameras to the brackets in the hallways, it made sense to call an electrician. It was a simple, four camera CCTV system that would be easy for me to install all by myself, but I would arrange to have Tim Shaw be the electrician sent to us to do the job. It would be more convenient for us to observe him up close in the workplace.
“...Yes sir, I’m ready to install the three dome cameras in the hallway. One camera will be directly above the office entrance, facing down the hall toward the elevators and the stairwell, the other two at each end of the short hallway, facing toward the one above the door. You’ll be able to see anyone or anything approaching this office from any direction. Where do you want the fourth camera?” Tim Shaw asked.
“I want it directly behind and above Christine’s desk in the reception area. I want to be able to see anyone who comes in the front door,” I replied.
“John! That’s creepy. I’ll feel like you are constantly looking over my shoulder,” Christine said.
“It might be annoying at first, but once you get used to it, you won’t even think about it. With the system set up this way, we can monitor the pictures from our computers or our smart phones, and we’ll have a digital record of everything.”
“Mr. Tucker, do you want separate monitors so you can have a constant picture of the hallways?”
“No, Tim, we don’t need to constantly watch the hallways. The cameras are mostly to record the traffic in and out of the office, and keep the honest people honest. No one will be able to break into the office without being recorded. They can’t steal the recordings, because they are being digitally recorded directly to a separate data processor they won’t be able to find.”
“OK, I’ll get started. I’ll need to get up into the ceiling behind your desk Ms. Valakova. I’d like to start there and get that camera set up, so I’m out of your way as quickly as possible.”
“OK, how much time do you need? And please call me Christine.”
“Yes, ma’am, I mean Christine. I’ll need at least thirty minutes, to mount the camera and run the cables.”
“Wow, your fast. You must really know what you’re doing.”
Christine was playing her part well.
“It’s really pretty simple to do, ma’am. The most time-consuming part will be mounting the camera,” Tim said.
“Will I be in your way if I hang out in here with you? I’ll use my laptop, so I don’t really need to be at my desk,” she asked, demurely.
I was impressed and surprised. For a woman who didn’t like to be touched or flirted with, she was pretty good at turning on the charm.
“No ma’am. I’ll try not to get a lot of dust and debris on your desk top.”
I caught Christine’s eye. She nodded.
“I’ve got to go out for a little while, I’ll be back in about an hour,” I said.
“OK, see you later,” Christine said, smiling a big, million candle watt smile.
I was on my way to interview Tim Shaw’s landlady. I had only driven a few blocks, when I got that old familiar feeling. Something was wrong.
Christine answered her cell phone on the second ring. She was fine, no problems there. What I had seen or heard, now alerting me to danger?
It was my rear-view mirror.
Behind me, was a big black SUV which had followed me out of the parking lot from my office building. There was nothing odd about that. My office was in one of a pair of high rise buildings. The parking lot was a busy place, with lots of traffic coming and going. In Texas, big SUVs are as ubiquitous as ball caps or cowboy boots. The SUV could have been going in the same direction as I was. I had only made one turn.
It was time for another turn.
Without signalling, I took the next available right turn. I immediately found myself in a residential neighbourhood. Watching my mirror, I saw the black SUV come around the corner behind me. Now it was getting more interesting. I decided to play follow the leader for a while.