Epilogue
Dirk Thiesse was a tall man, dressed in an impeccable black suit, with a periwinkle-blue tie and matching pocket-square. More importantly, he had a presence, more of an aura, really. It was an aura of respectability and responsibility that he’d maintained throughout his long, career as athletic director at Minnesota University. He’d made his way, of course, through smaller colleges, first as a coach of a successful football program in Washington State, then at a smaller, Catholic college outside of Seattle. He’d worked his way up as a director of recruiting at Minnesota, then assistant director. For the past four years he’d had the head spot and things were looking good. The recruiting program was going strong, they had several successful and vibrant sports programs, football, hockey, both men’s and women’s, and baseball. Donations were coming in strong for those programs as well as building programs.
“Thank you so much for the great work today, gentlemen.” He rose from the conference table, buttoned his suit jacket and walked towards the doorway to usher his guests to leave. “I appreciate your willingness to meet on such short notice and come to terms with these changes so quickly.”
Lenny Cole took hold of Dirk’s out-stretched hand in both of his hands, “And we appreciate the business, Dirk. It’s always good to work with the University. Things are always guaranteed on these public sector jobs. We’ll have lots of construction jobs coming to the state when this Athletic Village goes through.” Lenny, once again, pumped Dirk’s hand, with a wink and a nod towards other arrangements both of the men were going on behind-thescenes.
“As always Mr. Cole. And have a pleasant weekend. My best to your family.” His mock smile followed each of his guests out the door, as he turned to see what was next on his schedule.
He walked to his desk, picked up the receiver and pressed the button to connect to his assistant.
“Yes, Jeanine. Things went well. Thank you for your efforts. Is Mr. Lafferty ready?” There was a pause as his assistant spoke to him. “Good. Send him in.”
Michael Lafferty, a lanky man, dressed in a tweed jacket over a black T-shirt over tan casual pants strolled into the director’s office. “Thiesse. Good to see you.”
“Yes, you as well. Please have a seat.”
“I prefer to stand.” The visitor stood, feet shoulder-width apart, in a slight parade-rest stance. “I won’t be long. I see Cole was at this latest meet for the construction proposals. That was a wise move.”
“Yes, I’ve found it difficult to resist his methods.” Thiesse stood with his fingertips pressed against the top of his desk. “I hope you don’t mind if I sit.” The taller of the two men sat down, twisted his large desk chair to the left a bit to allow him to cross his legs before him and pondered the view out one of his windows over-looking the Mississippi River.
“Not at all.” Lafferty stood, looking very pleased with himself.
“So, has everything been taken care of?”
“Yup. Nice and tidy. No loose ends.” His hands were folded neatly in a cross in a clasp in front of him.
“Good. The connection between myself and Randall needed to come to a thorough conclusion one way or the other. This culmination is just as satisfactory to me, and more so, in some ways, than the previously planned arrangement. It is a load off my mind to have this behind us.”
“There is a matter of payment.”
“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. I nearly forgot.” The bigger man arose from his seat, went to the middle of the large conference table he’d been sitting in for the past two hours. “I believe Mr. Cole left that within his binder.” He opened the plain blue file folder that had been sitting in front of Lenny Cole during their negotiations, pulled out a plain brown envelope and handed it to Lafferty.
“Thank you, sir.”
“So, I shouldn’t be hearing from you again unless there are issues of concern again with the ongoing dealers that you’ve put in place?” Thiesse asked of his accomplice.
“No, sir.”
“Let’s try to choose a little more carefully going forward, shall we? A little forethought could have prevented most of this fuss. Please screen for deviant behaviors and radical personalities in the future?”
“Absolutely. I completely agree. It wouldn’t have happened on my watch, sir.”
“Good to know. Thank you. And be careful not to be seen on your way out, Mr. Lafferty. Perhaps you want to shadow as Mr. Cole’s assistant? I believe he may be waiting for you in the anteroom.”
“Yes, sir.” Lafferty tucked the envelope inside his jacket pocket, opened the door, gave Thiesse a wink on his way out the door and walked down the hallway to meet his “real” boss, Lenny Cole, the head of the largest construction firm in the metro area.
* * *
As Tom walked in the private entrance of the office, the telephone rang at Etta’s neat, tidy office desk that served as headquarters of the Michigan’s latest bed and breakfast on the shores of Lake Superior. Etta, who had been dusting, walked slowly over to the desk to answer. “Silk Scarf Inn. How may I help you?” She looked up from the desk to see him standing in the entryway and their eyes met. She smiled. It was so good to see him every time he returned home from his new construction business, from whatever jobsite where he’d been working all day. He’d just completed work last week on the cozy six-room B&B they picked up for a song, shortly after their wedding, which was quite a “fixer upper”.
“Yes, I think we have an opening that weekend. Let me check my appointment book.” She thumbed through the large black ledger that was open on the top of the desk. “We have a lovely queen-sized room available, if that would be okay.” Tom walked up to her, as she sat with one hip on the desk. His arms went around her waist and his lips began to nuzzle at her neck.
“Yes, all our rooms overlook the lake and it’s very quiet and peaceful here. I can attest to that.” He kissed the back of the hand she wasn’t using the hold the phone. “Mmmhmmm. Yes, you can rent whatever you need at a shop just down the road. Mmmmhmmm. Pictured Rocks are a short drive, yes.” Etta’s hands were slapping at Tom as he continued to shower her with kisses. “Oh that? Just a pesky cat in the office. Yes, he sure does love to purr.” With that Tom began to chuckle against her chest. “Don’t worry. I’ll give him a swat on the bum later. Okay. I’ve got you booked Mrs. Haberman. A queen for two for four nights. We can’t wait to see you. You’ll enjoy your long weekend. I guarantee it. Thanks so much for calling the Silk Scarf Inn.” She hung up the phone, then leaned in to bite at Tom’s earlobe. “Oh you irritating man!”
“Ouch! That hurt,” Tom winced, then let his grip of her go, rubbing his nose against hers. “Serves you right. I was on the phone, you ninny!”
“Well, if you didn’t taste so good, it would be easier to resist.” He leaned in her direction with his hands headed towards her waist, when, again, the phone rang. “Geez, hot spot here today!”
“It’s like that some days. I hardly get time to write sometimes.” Etta picked up the phone. “Silk Scarf Inn. How may I help you?” There was a pause on the phone, while Tom patiently waited for his wife to listen to the other end of the phone. Sometimes patience paid off. “Yes, I understand, Agent Hanlon.” Tom’s eyebrows lifted at the alltoo-familiar name coming from Etta. Etta’s face had dropped and turned grim. “Yes. Thank you so much for calling to inform me. I appreciate your diligence.” She paused again. “No, I’m still standing by my statement. I won’t testify against Joe Peabody. If they insist on going forward, they’ll need to call me as a hostile witness.” There was another pause. “Yeah, I’m stubborn. That’s why I’m alive, Agent Hanlon.” Another pause. “Thank you again. Yes, you’re welcome anytime you want a vacation in the UP, Agent. Have a good evening.” She put the receiver back in its place.
Tom came up to stand before his wife and held her in his arms. Her body had grown tense. No funny business this time. She looked upset by the call. “What was all that about?”
“The FBI called to inform me that Owen Randall isn’t going to be facing charges after all.”
“What?” There was instant stiffness in his arms that were around her.
“Relax. He was found in a storeroom of the prison with a shank in his heart earlier this morning. Somebody killed him in prison while awaiting trial.” She quivered slightly as she told him. “He’d been sodomized with a broom.”
“Oh my God. You’re trembling.” He pulled away from her and sat her immediately in one of the side chairs that were acting as a guest chair to her fancy office desk. “How do you feel about this?” He asked, squatting down in front of her chair, gazing up at her eyes.
“I don’t know. Still trying to grasp it, I guess. Relieved, I suppose. Dumb-founded. Seems like he got his eventually, huh? None of it will ever make any sense to me.” Her eyebrows raised at him. “It’s over. I don’t have to sit in court anymore. We don’t have to go to Minnesota for any more court hearings. We can just go for family now.” She held one hand against his cheek and ran her fingers through his beautiful, long locks of jet black hair. “I love you, Tom. I’m so glad we found each other.”
“I love you, too, Etta. Are you okay?” He held her hand in his. “Sounded like they still want you to testify against Peabody?”
“Yes, but I refuse. If they insist, I won’t cooperate much.” She stood up, took a few steps towards the big picture window and looked out at the wide expanse of Lake Superior before her, with lovely wispy views of birches off in the distance on Big Bay Point. “I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t refused to hurt me, Tom. He took care of me as best he could. He stood up to Owen. He doesn’t deserve a life in prison. He has a family, just like we’re going to have.” She laid her hand on her belly. It was still a small little baby-bump, but she would be growing bigger and bigger with every day. “I can’t stand the thought of him being removed from them forever because of one stupid mistake, which he tried to remedy.”
He came up behind her, held her forearms in his, her hands within his large hands and laid his cheek against her head. “Yeah, well, there we disagree and probably always will. But we’ll agree to disagree.” He rubbed his rough hands against her arms. “So, we should probably make a trip to Minnesota to let everyone know soon, shouldn’t we? Baby showers and all that?”
She leaned back against him. “We should. Then we can come home and live our life as a real family here in Michigan and I can finish my book before the baby comes.” She twisted her head slightly so she could look back at him. “You knew I’d come back, didn’t you?”
“I did. At least I thought you would.” He murmured against her ear. “I knew you couldn’t resist this view.” They chuckled together as the sun set on another day in their life together.