Letters From the Grave
girls handled all the transactions, occasionally talking to Julie about a price for something, but it was amazing how much was gone by dusk.
That night, Jake, Julie and her friend Sue ate pizza, sitting on the patio furniture. Gail had to be home with her family. Sue was still single.
Sunday was another busy day and most of the remaining “salable” things were gone. That night, Julie was amazed that they had made almost twelve thousand dollars. It was more than twice what she had expected, but she’d had no idea how to value Paul’s tools, guns and fishing gear. He’d also had an old Chevy “409” engine in a crate at the back of the garage that two men argued over, driving the price to nine hundred. Paul always said it was a legendary engine – whatever that meant.
By Wednesday, everything that wasn’t going to be moved was gone, and the house was cleaned. They had worked together for the whole time, too tired to cuddle each night, but she could now go with him. They would return over his next break and pack things into boxes from the moving company, but their life together was actually beginning. Sometime during the week, they came to realize that they were already over the threshold and would live together from this point further. On Wednesday morning, Julie notified the school that she wasn’t going to start the year as planned, and they wished her happiness. There were many young teachers waiting for their first jobs. She also called the Justice of the Peace to set the date for their ceremony. It would be done in an empty house, but no one would really care. Her friends were all happy for her and would manage everything. On Wednesday afternoon, they drove in separate cars back to Lafayette, arriving around midnight.
He drove into the driveway ahead of her and she followed. He figured this would be the last time he would park under the carport. In the future, she would get the cover, and he would park in the open.
They got out of their cars in unison. She looked all around. “Wow, you’ve been busy.”
He smiled and kissed her. “Wait until you see the inside. Come on around front, so we can get the full effect coming through the front door.” He glanced across the street into the shadows of T.W.’s front porch, but the chair was empty.
She walked up the three brick steps to the stoop, standing beside him, as he unlocked the door. “It really looks nice out here, Jake. It makes me feel special that you did all this work.”
“You are special.” He put one arm around her shoulders and picked her up in his arms. “Time to carry you across.”
“We’re supposed to be married!”
“We’ll pretend tonight.”
It was a romantic evening for both of them after they showered together and had a glass of wine in the early morning hours. At one point during the night, she protested that he needed to rest before flying again in a few hours, but felt energized. At six o’clock, he felt remarkably refreshed, leaving at dawn. He wore a new flight suit that she would only see at night when he returned.
When Julie awoke hours later, she had a light breakfast, and rearranged some furniture, trying to visualize where her remaining pieces would go. They needed to sell some of his, maybe most of it. This was the one area where their tastes differed greatly. She liked country French and he liked cheap. He would accept hers, and she knew he’d love it. She got dressed and started drawing floor diagrams where things would go and listing his items that would be for sale next weekend. By two o’clock she was happy with the plan and sat in the living room to enjoy a cup of tea when the doorbell rang.
She opened it to see a young man, well groomed, with a bouquet of flowers. “Oh, hello ma’am. These are for you.” He handed the flowers to her.
“Well, thank you. That’s sweet. Are they from you or did someone send them?”
“Oh no, ma’am, these is from me. My name is Will, Will Ryan. I was a mechanic at CHI and know Jake real well. This here’s jus’ my way of welcoming you to the neighborhood and wishing you a good future with Jake. I know he thinks a lot o’ you and if you don’t mind my sayin’ it, I do see what he’s so excited about.”
“Ah. Well, thanks, Will. It’s Will Ryan, is that right?” She was trying to recall if Jake had ever mentioned his name.
“That’s right, ma’am. Will is short for William, my daddy’s name.” Something clicked. She still wasn’t sure what it was, but she was alarmed.
“Okay. Look, Will, I’m in the middle of something and have got to go. Thank you for the flowers, and I’ll tell Jake you came by when he gets back in a few minutes.”
“Why you’re welcome, ma’am, and you jus’ say hi to ol’ Jake for me now.”
T.W. saw the whole exchange from across the street, but couldn’t hear the dialogue. Julie locked the front door and went immediately to the kitchen, dropping the flowers in the sink, making sure the back was locked. It was unexplainable, but she felt creepy the rest of the afternoon, sitting in the living room, watching to see if the man returned.
Jake pulled in around five o’clock and she hurried to unlock the back door as he approached. She went back into the living room and sat waiting. He laughed to himself coming through the door on the first day of living with her. “Honey, I’m home.” She walked up to him quickly. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” Then he saw the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
She just hugged him for a moment, and he put his arms around her. “I don’t know, Jake. I’m just glad you’re home.”
He held her for a moment then gently pushed her back to look at her face. She wasn’t crying, but there was a worried expression that he’d never seen before. “Okay, tell me what’s going on?”
She stepped back slowly and pointed to the vase on the kitchen counter. “You see those flowers?”
“Yeah.”
“A man brought them to me today. His name was Will Ryan.”
“Will Ryan! Are you sure? What did he look like?”
She described him then said, “He just sort of freaked me out. I don’t know why, he just scared me.”
Jake didn’t say anything, but went immediately to the phone and pressed a speed-dial number. “Let me talk to Detective Tibbs. (Pause) I’ll wait.” He wasn’t looking at her.
“Tibbs?”
She couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation.
“Will Ryan came by the house today. He scared my fiancé.”
Pause. “I know, Tibbs, but this is too much. I don’t want him around here.”
Pause. “I don’t think Restraining Orders work.”
Pause. “Yeah, I will. And, Tibbs, please keep a close eye on this guy. He’s dangerous.”
Pause. “I know you know. What? Say that again? Okay, I’ll do that. Bye”
She was staring at him. “What was that?”
“That was the Lafayette Police.”
“Jake, what’s going on?”
He led her to the couch and sat holding her hands. “Sweetheart, Ryan is the guy that stole my coins and killed some people. I told you his name before, but you probably forgot with everything that’s been happening.”
She started to tear up then sat upright, controlling her emotions. He loved her strength and said, “Look darling. He came here to send me a message. He’s threatening you to get to me. He’s got some sick idea that I’ll give up my collection to him.”
“Well, you won’t will you?”
“I would for you.”
“No, Jake, you can’t let him intimidate us. I can protect the collection. Give me one of your guns. Us Texas girls know how to shoot!”
“Hold on, partner. I don’t want you anywhere near that guy. He only came to scare us. He probably won’t do anything during daylight. He’s a coward and not as dumb as he should be.” He turned her slightly, looking out the front picture window. “You see that fellow across the street?”
She squinted against the evening glare. “Ah huh.”
“That’s our neighborhood watch dog, T.W. Boudreaux. He sits right th
ere all day long drinking beer.”
She stared at him. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out. We have a peeper across from us?”
“He’s not like that. He doesn’t leave that chair all day long, until sunset when the mosquitoes come out.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Look at it this way, T.W. can see three sides of this house and into the carport. Ryan couldn’t do anything foolish in the daylight without T.W. seeing him. He’s not going to be that stupid. Until I do something about Ryan, you just keep the doors locked and make sure T.W.’s in place before leaving.”
“What are you going to do, Jake? Maybe I should go back to Mineral Wells.”
“No. I can’t help you there. Ryan knows where you live. He sent Callie there. I’m gonna be sure not to be deployed until this is over. Ryan’s under tight security at nights and I’ll be home before dark.”
“I’m scared, Jake.”
“Julie, I don’t know what to say. This creep got into our lives and caused the death of my best friend. I would never want you mixed up in anything like this. It’s not the way I wanted to live.”
She asked, “Is there anything we can do?”
“Tibbs said we could get a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) with no problem. I don’t think he’s gonna come back here. He made his point. We just need to be careful. A TRO isn’t going to stop him.”
She held on to him. Not crying or shaking, just for strength. He said, “Look, I’m going over to talk to T.W. for a moment to see what he