Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

and I were preparing for our trip to Waco, Paula stopped in and brought us up to date on the Walter Stanley case. She told me about her meeting with Sylvester at TI and Bart's encounter with the DA. It amused me that Bart was getting a little revenge on Shepard, but I shared Paula's concern for their safety.

  That afternoon Agent Lot of the FBI called. I didn't take the call as I still didn't know what to do about the lie I'd told him. If they discovered that we'd taken the memory gun off one of the kidnappers that would be obstruction of justice and we could all go to jail. Somehow I had to find someone who could pretend to be my client and talk to Agent Lot. Whoever it was would have to be damn convincing or Agent Lot would see through the ruse.

  On Saturday I picked up Tehra and we headed down I-35 toward Waco. Neither of us had eaten breakfast, so we stopped at IHOP in Hillsboro to eat. I told Tehra about Agent Lot and the lie I had told him. I knew Kulchz would be listening and wondered what his reaction would be. Tehra agreed it was a troublesome problem. I asked her how the technology was transferred from Tarizon to the scientist in the U.S.

  "I'm not a scientist nor am I involved in that process, but I do know that scientists from Tarizon do frequently visit Earth. That's part of a guide's job. In fact, that's what I was about to do when I got reassigned to you. I was supposed to meet some scientists and help them prepare for the trip back to Tarizon. If I hadn't been reassigned to you, I'd probably be traveling with them."

  Anger welled in me as I thought of Tehra with other men. What kind of government would use woman like that? I shook my head in disgust. "Do the scientists ever bring their wives and families?"

  "Their mates, we don't have marriage on Tarizon. Each male is assigned a female mate for life. Few children are born on Tarizon, so I doubt they'd have any to bring. A scientist assigned to Earth might bring his mate, but it's not the usual policy. Most Tarizonian women are sterile due to the environmental contamination since the great eruptions. The men come here to find a fertile Earth woman. Often they stay and have several children before returning to Tarizon with the children."

  "What about the poor women like Charlotte Wenzel who lose their families? That's pretty cruel, don't you think?"

  "Yes, I agree it's a horrible sacrifice, but would you have our planet die?"

  "No, but there must be another way?"

  "We've tried everything to clean up the planet but it's such an incredibly monumental task it will take many generations to complete. In the meantime the repopulation project is helping to stem the rapid population loss that we've suffered in the last fifty years."

  It was an interesting debate that we continued after we were back on the road. It was a hot August day and the weatherman had warned that temperatures would be in the triple digits. Dark clouds loomed ahead as we approached Waco. I prayed we'd get to Ben's place before the clouds unloaded on us. I'd driven through plenty of thunderstorms where visibility became next to impossible. We had a long tedious day ahead and I didn't want to get there already stressed out. Fortunately the skies held firm until we stepped inside Ben’s place. A clap of thunder shook the building startling Tehra. Seeing the terrified look on her face made me wonder if they had thunderstorms on Tarizon.

  "Well, I'm glad you made it okay," Alice said. "I've been listening to the weather reports on the radio and we're under a tornado watch until noon."

  I nodded. "I don't doubt it. The sky looked pretty ominous all the way from Hillsboro."

  Alice smiled at Tehra. "So, this must be Tehra. We've talked on the phone. It's good to finally meet you."

  Tehra extended her hand. "Yes, it's so nice to meet you too. Stan has told me a lot about you."

  "He has?" Ben replied. "Not all our dirty secrets, I hope."

  I laughed. "No. Not those. I needed her help, so I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want her refusing to come down here with me."

  Alice shook her head. "To hear us, you'd think we were gathering for a wedding rather than a bankruptcy."

  "A reorganization," I stressed. "Let's be positive now."

  "Right," Ben agreed. "We're going to straighten this mess out and get back on track."

  "Exactly," I said patting Ben on the shoulder. So, where have you piled your mounds of records?"

  Ben pointed to a double door that led into a conference room. I nodded and started toward it with everyone else close behind. Inside there was a long wooden table with dozens of stacks of papers and records. We all found a place to sit and I began asking questions about the business, its assets, and its liabilities. Occasionally, I would have to stop writing as Alice would rummage through paperwork to find the answer to a question. At noon we stopped and went down the street for a hamburger. Alice and Tehra were getting along well and seemed to have lots to talk about. While they were in the ladies’ room I asked Ben how Alice was holding up.

  "Not well, actually. She's worried sick about what Ralph will do next."

  "What makes you think he'll do anything else?" I asked.

  "Because he's obsessed with wrecking our lives. I don't think he'll be happy until we're both dead."

  "Don't say that. In jail he'll have a lot of time to think. Maybe he'll realize he's brought everything on himself. It's certainly wasn't your fault. You were the victim."

  "He won't see it that way," Ben said. "We were the ones who took away his freedom. Because he was once part of the family, I'm sure he never thought we'd turn him in. He feels betrayed, no doubt."

  "Oh, so it's okay to steal from your family? Is that his logic?"

  "I'm afraid so."

  "Well, I really don't know what else he could do to hurt you," I said.

  "Oh, I'm sure he's got a long list of possibilities. I just hope Alice is strong enough for whatever else he throws at us."

  Ben's pessimistic attitude bothered me. What could I do to protect him and Alice from this lunatic? I couldn't think of a damn thing, yet there must be some way to stop him. I decided to contact Larry Wakefield who was responsible for Ralph until his embezzlement trial. Perhaps he'd have some ideas on how we could restrict Ralph 's access to his friends in the outside world. If Ralph had additional plans to hurt the Stover’s, he'd need help.

  After working all afternoon we finally completed all the bankruptcy forms necessary for the initial filing. It had been a long day and I wasn't relishing the idea of driving two hours to get home. Tehra offered to drive, but she didn't have a license, so I declined the offer. The weather was still bad and a line of thunderstorms was moving across central Texas from the west. I was hoping to beat the storms but ran right in the thick of them about twenty miles south of Hillsboro. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was nearly impossible to see the road.

  Just past a little town called West, the sky turned an ominous green color and the wind whipped up in a frenzy. Debris began to blow across the highway and trees along the median were bending almost to the ground. Just as we saw the Hillsboro city limit's sign, a big branch came right at us. I tried to veer left and miss it, but the branch landed right in front of us. There was nowhere to go but over it. Our headlights were shattered as the branch hit, then we were jolted violently up and own as we ran over the branch. The car shifted left still entangled in the branch, but I was able to compensate by turning the wheel hard to the right. We finally skidded to a stop on the side of the road. I took a deep breath and looked over at Tehra.

  "You okay!"

  "I don't know," Tehra said breathlessly. "What's happening?"

  "There must be a tornado close by. We should get out of the car and lie in the ditch beside the road."

  "What?" She said looking at me incredulously.

  "The tornado can toss this car around like it was a beach ball. We've got to get out now!"

  As I opened my door and started to get out of the car there was a clap of thunder and then the wind started to calm. By the time I got around to the other side of the car the rain had stopped. Tehra opened her door and got out.

  "Maybe, we just got l
ucky," I said looking at the rapidly clearing sky.

  "Good. I didn't really want to lie in the ditch."

  I laughed and then started looking the car over for damage. The front end was smashed in a little bit and both headlights were broken, but other than that I couldn't see any damage. "Get back in. We'll see if she'll still drive."

  Back in the car I started the engine and gave it a little gas. We drove along the shoulder of the road for a few hundred yards without difficulty. The only problem we had was our broken headlights.

  "I guess we'll have to spend the night here in Hillsboro and drive home in the morning," I reasoned out loud. "We can't drive without headlights."

  Tehra nodded. "No. That would be too dangerous."

  There was a Best Western motel on the outskirts of town so we stopped and went inside to get a couple of rooms. A heavy set woman sat at the front desk reading a magazine.

  "Can I help you?"

  "We'll need two rooms for tonight," I said.

  She frowned. "You got reservations?"

  "No," I said as a sinking feeling came over me.

  She grumbled something to herself and then started typing on the motel computer. "Sorry, I've just got one room left."

  "Really? Hmm. How about the other motels in town? Do you think they might have some vacancies?"

  "No, they usually fill up before I do. Your best bet would be Waxahachie about twenty miles down the road."

  "Oh, we can't drive that far. We lost our headlights."

  "Well,