Sassafras, Part 38

Rick


Tony was wrong, we made it to work on time. Paulson didn’t notice my shoes, so I didn’t get written up. I don’t know who Tony told about Joan, but everybody started calling me Romeo. Even when they were calling me over the intercom to pick up a pallet they called me Romeo. In prison the time didn’t drag like it did that day. It seemed to take forever until work was finally over. I couldn’t wait for a chance to see Joan again, but first I had to get home and crack into Jenny's computer. I should have just gone home last night, or stayed up and got on Jenny's computer after Joan fell asleep.

I wanted to call Joan as soon as I got off work, but didn’t want Tony listening. He was already giving me enough shit. I didn’t need to give him anything else to rag me about. When I got home I called her. She wanted to meet me at Tanner's for dinner. That gave me about 2 hours to look through Jenny's computer. I was glad her computer was hooked up through the cable company instead of normal dial-up. As long as Jenny’s computer was running it was on-line. If she had dial-up I would have to wait until somebody there got on-line to get in.

I started searching through her photo files, but she had hundreds of photos. I decided to check out the printer history. She printed a photo the day she died. I looked it up and saw that it was a picture of a grocery store decorated for Homecoming with posters and streamers cheering on the local high school football team. Standing in front of a grocery store with two other men was Santos. Sneider was standing next to him, laughing about something. At first I didn’t recognize the third man, until I remembered the county sheriff’s deputy I saw Officer McDaniels talking to at Don’s when I was tailing Joan. I looked at the properties folder to see if I could find out when it was taken, but all it showed was that it had been downloaded onto the computer about two weeks after Santos disappeared. It could have been taken weeks before that.

I cropped out just the section with Santos, Sneider and the mystery man and e-mailed it to Boyd to see if he could find out what the other man’s name was. I wished I could have called Boyd, but we were both pretty sure my phone was bugged. Sneider had tapes of people's phone calls, plus some tapes that sounded like they weren't phone calls. I don’t know if he had bugs in people’s houses, or if he wore wires to get information to use against people. I had searched my apartment for bugs a couple of times and hadn't found any, but that didn't mean there weren't any. On the other hand, I knew he could have my phone bugged without leaving any evidence behind. I wondered if Jenny's house was bugged. Another thing I should have done while I was there.

Before I left for Tanner's my cell phone rang. I hoped it was Joan, but it was Sneider.

"How'd it go last night?" he asked.

"No problem," I answered.

"Get any?" he asked. "I hear you spent the night."

“What are you doing, checking up on me?”

"I don't pay you to ask me questions," he said.

"You don't pay me at all," I said.

"Just shut up and tell me what she said last night."

"How do you expect me to remember everything she said all night long?"

"Well, you can leave out the part where she looks at your dick and laughs," he said.

"You are a real asshole," I said.

"And you can also leave out where she starts snoring while you're banging her," he said.

"Shut the hell up, you little prick," I told him.

"Ooh, back up, Cassanova. You're a little touchy.”

"This would be a lot easier if you told me what I was supposed to be looking for."

"Look, everything will be fine if you just tell me if she said anything about her sister. Did she say anything about the accident?"

"What accident? That wasn't an accident and you know it. What did you do to her sister?”

"I didn't do anything.” He actually sounded indignant. “You may not believe it, but I'm not the one she needs to watch out for."

"Then tell me what's going on, Sneider."

"It's better if you don't know. Trust me, you're safer not knowing. Just tell me what she said."

"We just talked about when they were in school, about New York. We talked about Jenny's son Bill. Look, this is touching, but I'm supposed to meet Joan at Tanner's in ten minutes. If you're not going to let me in on whatever is going on, I've got to go."

"Alright, just keep a leash on her. If she keeps asking questions she's going to end up just like her sister."

"Is that a threat?" I asked.

"It's a fact," he said and hung up.

I sat there thinking about everything he'd said. He sounded worried. I had always assumed he was the ring leader, but he wasn't acting like it. He actually sounded like he was worried about Joan, not just worried that she was going to uncover something. Maybe there was somebody pulling his strings. I wondered if it was that county cop, or maybe one of the drug dealers and crooks he was playing turned the tables on him.