THE TIMING, JOE PARENTE [ereader ebook .txt] 📗

and deeper into the darkest depth of the musty alley. I walked towards it again. Curious fear was gripping my heart as it beat with an irregular rhythm. No longer could I distinguish the lettering of the source of light. It now appeared as a dime sized smudge of ruby red. Curiously, its fluorescence saturated my mind to focus primarily on this crimson dot. The point of light increased in intensity in an unusual way. Its luminescence became a red sparkle once, then a muted glow, only to repeat this intensive dance. Repeatedly, this occurred, as I became came closer to the source.

Within ten feet now I had the urge to flee, but the need to have an answer offset the cold shivers that started at the neck down to the middle of my back. Cautious steps and quickened, uneven heart beat brought me a little closer.

Each time the red glow intensified, the reflection from its glare shone edges of a strange shape. The closer I got to it the shape came truer to form. Was it the mouth of the ‘Cheshire’ cat? Was something smiling at me? Closer now the edges of a mouth’s sickening smile glinted back. Each time the glow grew in brightness that familiar sick, wanting to help, smile burned an image into my mind.

The red glow was the result of a deeply inhaled cigarette. The familiar smile was created by the Bellman, Jules!

This still did not explain the dark.
This still did not explain the quiet.


THE TIMING Joe Parente

Chapter 6


Awakened in the room, I could see the flashing red light on the telephone. It reminded me of a terrible nightmare. I had a bad headache. I fell back asleep.

I was awakened again by a mad pounding at the door. Struggling to get out of bed, I called out. “Who is it, who’s there?”

“It’s me, open the door!”

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s Willhelm. I need to talk to you!”

“Let me get something on, one minute,” I muttered.

“Open up Brad!” he retorted. “Now!”

I worked my way to the door, at the same time threw on a robe. “Yes, Mister Rhorem.” I knew I was in trouble.
“I looked this over and kept what I needed!” He threw the briefcase onto the bed, as I grabbed a cold bottle of water from the cooler.

“You stood me up!” he angered.

“Well I sort of blacked out.” I rolled the cold bottle to my forehead.

“What the hell happened to your head?” Rhorem bellowed. “Look, you were trained never to be late and if you were, to call! You stood me up!”

“As I have tried to tell you, I had a problem. Getting out of the cab”—

He interrupted, as he turned his back to reach for water, “what are you talking about?”

“When I got out of the cab things went, well they all went dark and”--

Interrupting, he turned back, “let’s get back on track. Now you’ve saved time getting the contract signed, but I’m still mad about you missing our appointment. I do not want to have to replace you, but remember, we sell time management here. Understand?”

“But last night”—

He kept on, “yes, well uh, you will need to make an appointment with the son of the owner. What’s his name?”

I answered, “Jeff, Jeff Foster.”

“Yes, Jeff.” He paused, “set up a meeting and sell him on our program. He sounds like the type that would spoil the milk, if you know what I mean.” His eyebrows furrowed. “I have to have everyone on the same page with this. When you sell one of these, you have to sell the whole company. It’s sort of an insurance policy.”

“Okay,” I replied.

He continued as if he were testing my work. “Now when you are done with that I want you to work on that printing company. What was that firm’s name?”

“Quick Print, they have twelve great locations with good volume but they need our help.” I answered as if by rote.

“Yes, Quick Print, a perfect candidate.” He said this as if he were twisting a mustache. He went on. “Now get this job finished with Baetacom so you can start on the next. He started toward the door. “Now I don’t mind a few drinks but let’s not over do it!” He slammed the door quickly and left.

With a deep breath, I said to myself “What an asshole. I know for sure that his picture was in the dictionary under the asshole section.”
He didn’t even listen to my problem. It was as if he knew the answers to every question he had asked. The Old Man would be a tough one to live with. Thank God, that experience didn’t fall into my lap.

I was glad I took the time to look into Quick Print, and more than glad I was able to get the rest of those papers signed. It might have been my ass right there and then.

I still can not believe that last night was my imagination. A throbbing head told the story. Many questions remained un-answered. I was leery of leaving the hotel. I must admit I was afraid of another event. What was Jules doing there? This thing twisted my head and I couldn’t put things together. I didn’t have time to dwell on it right now. An appointment had to be made. A shower and a cold beer would help.

“Baetacom, may we help you?” Judy answers her telephone.

“Hi.”

“Is this Brad?”

“What would you do if it wasn’t?” I asked.

“Do you normally know who is calling before you confirm?” I said in a joking way.

“I do when you have caller I.D., how are you?” she replied.

“Oh yes I forgot about that. I’m better now when I’m talking to you.”

“What’s the matter, didn’t your meeting go well?” she sounded concerned.

“It’s kind of a long story. The problem is I didn’t make it. I would like to talk to you about it at, let’s say, at dinner?” I awaited a response.

“Hey, you are a lot sharper than you look, just kidding.” She laughed. “You didn’t make it? Why, what was the matter?”

“Let me cover that at dinner. It’s rather complicated, what do you think about trying that Italian restaurant next to your office? I can meet you there at 7:30. What do you think?” I was feeling very comfortable with her.

“Oh, you mean Rodolphos, all these years, I’ve never tried that place, sounds good. In fact, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Is that because you can’t stop thinking about me?” I was testing the water.

“If you really want to know I”—

Interrupting, I didn’t want a bad answer to spoil things. “I know what you were about to say. That sounds great. I am also anxious to see you.” I cleared my throat. “I am very happy that you have accepted.” I paused. “Remember when you asked me to talk to your brother?”

“Yes I do.” She said.

“Do you think I could set up an appointment with him? Do I do that through you?” I asked.

“Yes you can but I’ll have to confirm it. He is out of town however, he is supposed to call in today. When would you like to see him?”

“Do you think tomorrow would work for him?”

“You’ll know when I see you tonight.” She was very nice.

“Thank you, you are being very nice to me. I like talking to you. “I’ll see you tonight.” I prepared to hang up.

“Brad?”

“Yes?” I asked.

“Thank you for calling me.” The receiver went click.

Wow- wow--- wow! That made me forget what had happened the night before, or, was it the day before. Whatever, I was in a great mood now. I could hardly wait for this evening.

I spent the rest of the day going over what I was to say to Jeff however my mind was thinking about Judy.

The telephone rang at 4: PM; it was Frank. “Hey buddy, you ok?”

“Frank, I have wanted to get hold of you!” I asked anxiously. “How am I supposed to keep in contact with you if I don’t have your number?”

“Now take it easy Brad, I’m on the go but I have a beeper number to give you.” He said apologetically. “What’s the matter, I tried to call you yesterday I wanted to know how your meeting with The Old Man went. Did anything happen?”

“Yeah, a lot of shit happened. I blacked out or something. I banged my head, and I missed the meeting!”

“For Christ’s sake, how could you let that happen? I mean, were you late or something?” He sounded upset.

“Frank, I had to go back for the briefcase. As far as being late, it was only a matter of minutes. Things went to hell after I got out of the cab. I don’t know if I was hallucinating or if some one is playing a trick on me. I’ll tell you Frank, I was in fear of my life!” I was agitated.

“Take it easy now Brad.” He took a breath. “I told you before that if you were late, things would happen. That is not why I called. I called to tell you our investigation has; I have to say, ‘stalled’. Any information that you may have, I’ll need to know about it. That is why I’ll give you the beeper number; it is going to be available to you day or night. I need to know everything that happens.

“What about this blackout that I experienced!” I yelled.

“I’ll look into that.” He was not convincing. ”I gotta run just make sure you report to me.” He hung up.

Now what the hell was that? Frank sounded as though he was being preached to by Old Man Rhorem. I certainly did not need two bosses. It seemed like no one wanted to hear about the incident that happened to me. If there was any information that I could become privy to, I suppose that I have to share it with Frank. From the way it looked, Frank was the only contact that was able to bring to light the nightmares to which I have been exposed. That is, if they were nightmares.

A sudden thought came to me so I decided to call the beeper number Frank had given me.
He called back within fifteen