Author Archives: John

An Accident

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February 5, 2010

Elmo was driving out to the convenience store to pick up some smokes. Suddenly the car jumped and took off. It was like it was demon possessed or something. Elmo noticed that the pedal was all the way on the floor, like someone had their foot on the gas. He tried the brakes, but the car kept speeding forward. He tried honking his horn and weaving in and out of traffic to avoid a collision. Suddenly a large semi hauling a trailer appeared in front of him. He opened the door and dove out of the car and the car buried itself into the trailer. Elmo was hurt there was no doubt about it. He probably broke a wrist and perhaps a few ribs. Elmo then saw another truck bearing down on him and despite the pain, he managed to lung out of the way. The police and EMS personnel arrived within minutes and Elmo was rushed to the local hospital. The police impounded the vehicle and gathered the pieces of the car off the road to see if Elmo was hot rodding or if as he said the car just took off on him.

Jack, Jr. got a call that Elmo had been in accident. Since he saw his father talking to a customer at the dealership, he knew that his latest attempt had been unsuccessful and he just shook his head. He informed Jack, Sr. and the two of them headed off to the hospital to see Elmo and let the workman’s compensation carrier know that Elmo had been injured on the job.

When they arrived at the hospital, Elmo was livid. “They wanted to give me a ticket for reckless driving, the damn car just took off, it wasn’t my fault.” Jack, Sr., thought for a moment, and looked at Jack, Jr., “sounds like bad motor mounts”, Senior said. Junior just nodded. “Son, don’t worry, sounds like the car had a problem and I’ve seen you drive, you drive like an old woman, if I had been driving, it would be a different story. In the future, if that ever happens to you again, just slide the car into neutral and let it just roll to a stop. Other than that, how are you feeling, I heard you jumped out of the car?” Jack, Sr. asked. “Pretty bruised up and sore, but I’m alive”, Elmo smiled. “Well rest up and get better and we’ll see you in a week or so. You’re being paid for this week”, and Jack, Sr. patted the young man on the head and headed out of the room. Jack, Jr. saw that his dad was the consummate people person. As they left the hospital, Jack, Sr. looked at Jack, Jr. Motor mounts don’t go bad very often and that car is at the crime lab, if they was messed with, we’ll know it.”

February 1, 2010

Later that night, Jack, Jr. followed Elmo’s path and saw the motor mounts and bolts laying on the side of the road. He picked them up and put them in a dumpster behind a restaurant a few miles away.

February 6, 2010.

“Where are the motor mounts and the bolts?”, the technician asked the officer. “We picked up everything at the scene”, the officer said. “The motor mounts would have been several miles back, could you go back and look for them?”, the tech replied. “Sure” said the officer. After calling Elmo and retracing the route, he found no motor mounts, no bolts, no nothing. Somebody probably saw them as used parts to sell on ebay, he thought. He called the technician, they’re gone. “Thanks”, the tech replied. He looked at the bottom and it was clear that a rusty motor mount had been installed on the bottom of this car, must older than the rest of the body and it left an impression.

A change of Plans

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January 31, 2010

“Hello is Mr. Jenkins, Sr. there, this is Joanne Bo”, Sally said into the prepaid cell phone that Jack, Sr. gave her. “No trails for her husband if he came into the dealership snooping around”, she thought. It was the code name the two of them had agreed upon. “Hello, this is Jack Jenkins”, came a familiar voice into the headset. How are you today darlin’?” “Not so good”, she answered. “Beau saw me leaving the bar and saw you there, and he is jealous as hell. He already suspects something, but so far he’s not there yet”, she continued. “Hmmm, we’d better take a few days off and see what old Beau is up to. He can’t take too much time off from work to follow you around, or he’ll be unemployed. I know the ole coot that runs that Service station he works at, and he’d fire his daughter if he was mad. Let’s change our meeting place to that diner on 5th Avenue at about 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Drive a circuitous route and not be make you paranoid, see if any car appears to be following you. He’ll be hard at work and that’s on the other side of town from his garage, so he’s not likely to go there for lunch and stumble on us. But if you see someone following you, just stop at the nearest grocery store, buy some groceries and go home. Then we’ll head out from there. You know your going to have to leave that SOB sooner or later, or you’ll end up dead, he’ll be in prison and your kids will be in foster care”, Jack added caringly. “I know, but I don’t want to leave into the arms of another man as attractive as that man might be”, she said in a sad tone of voice. “I understand”, Jack said. “Well I see you tomorrow then at the diner”.

That night, at the garage in the car dealership, Jack, Jr. had the pully system employed in the garage to hold up the engine while he swapped the good motor mount brackets for the old worn ones. He used latex gloves.

February 1, 2010

“Hey Sally, glad you made it.” Jack said. “I ordered us some coffee. Its pretty good.”

“I wasn’t followed, I swear”, Sally said. But someone had followed Jack.

What to do, what to do?

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January 31, 2010

Jack, Jr. looked at the car Elmo was driving. What could he do to rig the car to make it look like an accident? The brake tampering had failed in New Orleans and he darn near got figured out and his Dad still might be piecing those together and the New Orleans police haven’t yet closed the case. Electrical wiring has possibilities, but again probably traceable. He remembered his dad talking about a recall in the 1970’s when engine mounts on cars failed and the engine dropped causing the accelerator to drop to the floor. He went to the garage and looked around to see if there were any worn bolts and nuts for engine mounts. He went into the computer to see if they had worked on any in the last week or so. And there it was, just yesterday in Bay 3. He grabbed a large muffler box out of the trash. He went to Bay 3 and talked to the mechanic, Bart. “Bart, you still got the engine mounts and parts, you took off that muscle car yesterday?” “Yessir, but why do you want them?” Bart asked inquisitively. “Corporate wants them to see if this is a bad batch or not”, Junior fired back. “Cool”, Bart replied as he handed put the parts into the muffler box and handed the box to Junior. Junior headed back to his office, sealed up the box. Now he had to figure out how to swap out the parts and not have the engine fall on him and crush him in the process. .

After Bart handed over the parts,

Beau Beaudine was watching TV when the ad came on and there he was the man from the bar, Jack Jenkins, stud football player and car dealer. “Car dealer! I hate $%!@ car dealers!”

Beau went into the kitchen and confronted Sally. “Sally, do you know Jack Jenkins”. Sally always assumed that her husband watched her, but she had to play this one just the way she rehearsed it. Show animation and anger at Jack, that was the tract. “Yes, I saw him in a bar the other day when I went for a coke to wait for the kids to get home from school, he tried to pick me up, but I told him to buzz off”, she replied from her mental script. “I told him I had a man twice as good as him, and why was he trolling bars for younger women anyways”. “Good job, honey, you cut that man’s balls right oft”, Beau exclaimed. “Good thing, too, I’d have killed both of you. Now stay away from that bar, you hear.”

Some Information

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January 17, 2010

Jack, Sr. returned to Jerry’s Bar and saw Sally in the same spot. This time they didn’t stick around. Elmo drove them back to Jack’s house and they spent the day like a couple of high school kids kissing and holding hands and watching a movie on his DVD player. She memorized the directions to the house so they could go to the bar meet and then leave and meet up here so that any prying eyes would not see them leaving together. At the appointed time, Elmo returned her to the bar and she headed off.

Elmo called Jack, Jr. during Sally’s visit. “He took Sally to his house.” After he hung up, Jack, Jr. looked at the burley man in front of him. We need you to check up on a Sally Beaudine. She’s apparently caught my dad’s eye. The usual dossier please. “No problem, Jack” said the P.I. “Five Hundred bucks?”, he asked. “No problem”, said Jack, Jr. As the three hundred pound man left the room, Jack looked down at the locked file drawer in his desk where dozens of such files were kept. He knew the flaws of each and every woman Jack, Sr. had been involved with and he knew what was needed to get rid of them if need be. Luckily, his dad tired of them quickly. But this one was more worrisome.

January 30, 2010

“Here’s the file on Sally”, Marco said to Jack, Jr. “Here’s your Benjamins”, Junior responded as he eagerly tore open the large manilla envelope to see what mysteries there were about Sally. “Hmm, married, two kids, um hmm, hot headed husband, good, very good, police record for assault, owns guns, thanks Marco”, Jack said, I thought this one might be one that might be trouble for dad.

As he looked further in the file he saw the grainy photos of his dad and Sally doing things at his house that weren’t meant for family viewing. As Marco left the room, Junior locked the dossier in the file drawer. Things are looking up.

Later that day, Jack, Jr. and Jack, Sr. met at Lawyer Dobbins office to go over the drafts of the various estate planning documents. “Mr. Dobbins, I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, I need to think about this plan some more, I’ve met someone.” Dobbins looked at Jack, Sr. with an inquisitive look? “Well, all these documents are revocable and amendable”, he responded. “I know, but I just need a little time to think it through” Jack, Sr. said shaking his head. Jack, Jr.’s face twisted with the look you get when you suck a lemon at the news. He’d have to move up his plan sooner rather than later.

Bo Beaudine saw his wife leave the bar shortly after arriving. A man left shortly thereafter in another car. He knew that face from somewhere, he’d figure it out soon enough. In the meantime, he’d have reason to beat his wife around a little bit for going drinking in bars.