Chapter 30
When I finally returned to the office, Christine sent a call through on line one.
“Hello, John Tucker, speaking.”
“Mr. Tucker, my name is Edward Nordstrom. I’ll get straight to the point. I work for WWSA. Does that ring a bell?”
The World Wide Security Agency, yes, it rang a bell alright. Was Edward Nordstrom one of Walter Farley’s goons?
“Yes, Mr. Nordstrom, I’m familiar with the WWSA. A little too familiar for my tastes, what can I do for you.”
“Well, to be brief, I need a job. Now, don’t hang up on me. Please hear me out.”
“I’m listening.”
“I can’t continue to work for WWSA. I can’t work for Farley anymore. The guy is nuts. He’s not paying on time, and he’s obsessed with you, for some reason.”
“I’m aware of those things. You have to be aware me hiring you, would be pretty stupid on my part, considering the fact Walter Farley is apparently out to get me.”
“Yes, sir, I thought you would see it that way. I’d like to sit down with you and explain the situation, as I see it. There is something about the relationship between Walter Farley and Ted Simpson you don’t know. If you won’t hire me, I’ll completely understand.”
“Will you come to my office?”
“Yes sir, when would you like me to be there?”
“Tomorrow evening, at 1800.”
“I’ll arrange it. Thank you.”
“One more thing, Mr. Nordstrom…Make real sure you come alone, come unarmed, and be prepared to answer some tough questions.”
“Yes sir.”
Christine came into my office.
“Is now a good time for us to talk about Lori?”
I pointed to one of the richly upholstered chairs.
“John, we have to do something. We can’t let her go on having a relationship with Walter.”
“How do you know she is friendly with Walter?”
“She told me. We talk two or three times a week and we text back and forth. We’re friends on Facebook. That’s where I saw Walter pop up.”
“Have you talked to her folks?”
“Not yet, I wanted to talk to you first. We need to come up with a plan.”
There was a lot to consider.
“Here’s the thing Christine. She isn’t our responsibility anymore….”
I held up my hand, as she started to interrupt.
“…Knowing Walter, like we do, there’s a probability he’s planning to use Lori to get at us in some way. I get that. We’ll talk to her parents and tell them we think Walter is dangerous, and they should try to end Lori’s friendship with him.”
“I don’t care about Walter’s plans. I just don’t want Lori to get hurt by that jerk.”
“Right, but she’s their daughter. We’ll let them deal with Lori.”
“Who’ll deal with Walter?” she snapped.
“It looks to me like Walter is getting out of control. I believe he’ll self-destruct.”
“Maybe, but how much damage will he do in the mean time?”
Good question.
“Do you know a guy by the name of Edward Nordstrom?”
“No, should I?”
“He says he works for Walter. He may be one of his “goons.”
“The only members of Walter’s goon squad I know are the ones that hung out with Walter and travelled with Mr. Simpson. They were always hanging around the office. I’ve never met anyone named Nordstrom.”
“This guy is coming here to meet with me tomorrow evening. It should prove interesting. If he lied about his name, you may know him. Can you stay late?”
“OK, but I have my yoga class at seven o’clock.”
“No problem. I just want you to greet him when he comes in. I’ll be interested to see if you know him. Then you can go.”
“Speaking of interesting, I‘ve been trying to read my bible.”
I grinned. “That is interesting. How’s it going?”
“I haven’t got a clue.”
“Do you have a red letter edition?” I asked her.
“I don’t even know what that is.”
“It’s a type of bible with all the words spoken by Jesus, printed in red letters.”
“Yeah, I think mine’s that way.”
“You might want to read what Jesus had to say, or you might want to read your way through a whole book, like the book of Romans or one of the Gospels.”
“What are the Gospels?” She asked.
“The first four books of the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of them is a first-hand account of their individual experiences with Jesus. The word ‘gospel’ actually means ‘good news.’ So the gospels are the ‘good news’ about the life of Christ, as told by each of those men, who were personally acquainted with Jesus.”
“I thought the word ‘gospel’ meant ‘truth,’ like when someone says something is “the gospel truth.”
“The word gospel has come to be thought of that way, because the four gospels, the ‘good news,’ are true accounts of the life of Christ.”
“Huh, you learn something new, every day.” She mused.
I grinned. “God willing.”
“So, you think I should read one of the Gospels, which one?”
“Whichever one you want, all of them, eventually. You’ll find they all tell the same basic story, with some unique observations from the different perspectives of the individual men.”
“Are you saying these guys, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were all real people, who actually lived during the time when Jesus was walking around teaching?”
“Yep, they were men who actually knew Jesus. Jesus is a real person. There is no question about it. You can check it out in any legitimate history of the time.”
Christine looked perplexed
“I guess I sort of knew that, once. I wonder why I forgot.”
“It wasn’t important to you before. It is now. Why do you suppose it’s become important?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know for sure, maybe because it’s so important to you.”
“…Maybe.” I said