Chapter 5 – Amid the Hugh and Cry

Jackie held onto a sheet to cover up her exposed body. Hugh sat at the side of the bed with a big grin. “Wow! Simply wow!” he said. She giggled. He added, “Mind if I rinse off first and then you can get dressed. We’ll go out and get something to eat with Mark.”

“Sure.” she sighed and stretched out. She watched him walk into her bathroom and take a shower. She ogled his body as he soaped up. “Nice six pack!” she said to no one listening. He looked back at her and winked. He grabbed a towel and began to dry off. He folded up the towel neatly and put it on the counter. Then he came over and picked up his boxers lying next to the bed and put them on. Then he put on his pants from way over there. She snickered. Then a sock off a lamp. She crowed. Then another sock off her dresser. She chuckled. Next, he put his undershirt from the foot of her bed. She said, “I loved removing that.” And lastly, he grabbed his shirt from near her bedroom door. She said, “Ah well, had to go back on sooner or later.”

“Did I get it all?” he asked rhetorically as he looked around the room.

“Well, if you haven’t, I am pretty sure I’ll let you come back for more. Thanks for a great first time.” she proudly announced. He responded by coming over and then kissed her probing her essence with his tongue and letting her do the same back to him. He released her at last into a heap of pleased woman.

“Did you ever as a guy?” he asked whimsically.

“No, you really did pop my cherry.” she crowed.

“Well, glad to be of service, Ma’am.”

“I’ll be out in a few. Make sure Mark isn’t robbing me blind.” She stood up letting him take in her loveliness as she slowly started to head to the bathroom strutting her stuff.

“Do that again sweet cheeks and we’ll never get out of the bedroom.” She smiled, blew him a kiss, and went in to get cleaned up. He carefully left the bedroom and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water. For some reason, he thought, he was dehydrated. Mark was busy playing Assassin's Creed. In the back of his mind, Hugh thought it was an appropriate game for him. Back home, he didn’t have much money to go out and enjoy himself. So, he too spent too much time on the Xbox. This being able to date and live it up was intoxicating. He knew it would be a shock to his love life when he finished his assignment here.

Mark looked over at him and winked. Hugh knew that even with the headset he was wearing, he probably heard what was going on in the bedroom. Hugh also knew that Mark understood there was no way he was going to be able to knock up his sister, so why worry about it. He felt a little worn out, so Hugh sat down and closed his eyes. He felt good. Real good. A moment later, delicate arms reached from behind him and embraced him. He felt a kiss on the head and a moan of delight. He looked up and she kissed him. “So, where to go for something to eat? I have worked up an appetite.” he asked as she kissed him on the cheek again.

"How about some good Texas BBQ?"

Hugh opened the door for her to get into his car. Mark would follow in his car since Hugh only had two seats in his car. They headed to Railhead BBQ, south of downtown Fort Worth, a restaurant known for its t-shirt that says ‘Life is too short to live in Dallas.’ They were having a good time having BBQ when Jackie got a phone call from Malcolm. In the din of the restaurant, all heard her say was, “So they talked to Travis directly?” She looked pensive and worried. She stood up and went outside. Hugh watched her pace back and forth outside the window. She started to cry. After about five minutes, she came back in.

“What’s the matter?” Hugh whispered into her ear.

“Malcolm. We’ll talk about it later.” She tried vainly to smile but couldn’t. Hugh noticed the change in her mood, but didn’t know what to do about it. He tried flirting. She took it well, but didn’t respond as freely as before.

After having some great BBQ, they sent Mark on his way. “Why don’t you go back home Mark. I think she needs to go shopping. I am sure that will bore you to death.” Hugh said.

After Mark left, Jackie turned to Hugh and said, “Let’s go to the Amon Carter museum. I don’t feel like shopping. They have a Degas exhibition I have been wanting to see.” The two of them drove over and wandered through the museum. It was nice to be in a place where it was all free, he thought. Makes his expense report all the easier. In fact, he had noticed over the last few days, she was quite frugal. Whataburger and Railhead didn’t cost all that much.

“What is it you like about Degas?” he asked.

“His color palette. It gives me ideas for my home renovations.”

“You know, I haven’t see what you work on.”

“Would you like to see an example?” she asked sounding like she wanted to show it off to him.

After they left the Amon Carter, they headed to an old neighborhood south of the freeway. The homes were large and had beautiful front yards. Jackie said proudly, “You try to find something like this in Dallas, you are looking at millions. Here, they are about a quarter of the cost. One day that will change.” They pulled into a two story home with a large front porch facing north. The walls were grey and thick. “Back in the day these homes were built, they didn’t have air conditioning or refrigerators. They used ice boxes. They had ice brought in from near the train station. It would keep their food cold. They also have basements here because they would store some food in there to keep it during the summer. They also had a maid’s room where they housed live in help.”

“Would you like live in help helping you sweet cheeks?” Hugh asked without thinking. She blushed at the appellation being used on her again.

“Best say that when we are alone, Stud Muffin. My folks won’t take it well. I suppose it would be nice to have live in help. But, these days, these rooms are used for a relative like a single elderly parent or as a guest room. Most of the restoration I do in this kind of home is to redo the electrical and add modern HVAC that will keep the house. Then I insulate the walls. I have to be careful since some of the homes in the area have asbestos. That is a real pain to remove. Then there is the pain of removing lead paint.”

“It is more like you are bringing the home up to code than doing any real demo then?”

“Yes and no. I do remove some walls and add others. I do redecorate and update kitchens too. But, more importantly, I have an engineer come in and mark the load bearing walls after I buy one of these homes. Once I am done, I sell them to a family. I do quality work, which, given some of what my relatives do, is rather rare.” She looked away hiding her shame at their scams.

“Why do you say that?”

“No reason. Just some of them do home renovations and do shoddy work. My cousin and I built a real nice fort when we kids. I turned it into a home.” She stopped and smiled at the memory.

“So, what do you think of my project?”

“I like it. But there is more work you should look at doing. Like the floors. These are nice hardwood floors.”

She giggled. “Oh, I do that after the modernization is done. I can’t allow them to be contaminated. And, if they are during the initial demo, a good sanding gets the asbestos out of the wood.”

“So, do you think I would find anything like this in New York City to do?”

“Why? You thinking of moving there?”

“Only if you move back home.” she said presenting herself in front of him asking for a kiss. He responded by kissing her.

He heard her phone beep. “You going to check your phone?”

“In a moment.” Then she embraced him and kissed him even more passionately. They were clearly headed for another assignation, but the phone beeped again. This time the tone was unique. She looked back up at him and said, “That’s Malcolm.”

She looked at the phone and her expression became worried and she was almost teary eyed.

She stammered out, “Hugh, do you mind taking me home. Something has come up. I am so sorry.”

“Sure, I understand.” On the drive home, she looked out the window and hardly talked. She was upset, but he could tell that it wasn’t with him.

Upon dropping her off, she said, “Thank you Hugh. I know it’s me. I am just distracted. Maybe a good night’s sleep will help.”

Hugh walked her to the door, they kissed. She gave him a hug and softly cried. Jackie went inside and he went back home himself. He took the time to write a postcard to his aunt and walk down to mail it. He then hit the sack. About six in the morning, he heard a tap on the back door. He let agents Doyle and Polk in.

“I think Malcolm is in too deep. Something has gone wrong. Jackie seems terribly worried about him. I am wondering if this is the time to strike. What do you think I should do?”

Polk quietly considered what Hugh said. “The only thing we have been able to do is to watch their movements. Malcolm went over to the Hallard’s place while you two were spending time together yesterday afternoon. I won’t ask what you were doing. But, we were restricted from being able to shoot a laser at the window and hear things.”

Hugh blushed and said, “We didn’t discuss anything important. Just talked about clothes and her family’s reaction to me. I heard her say something about someone named Travis.”

“I’ll accept that on face value and not pursue it that you two were discussing things.” Doyle interjected with a smirk. Polk looked at him as though she was about to give it to him and then she chuckled. The two winked at each other. It was clear that they knew the two had been in the bedroom but didn’t want to talk about it.

“Look, at this point, we have a plan to turn Malcolm. That they mentioned Travis is significant. They have a cousin named Travis which is the more likely use of the name. After all, there is a Travis county in the state. Travis settles disputes in the family. He is kind of a judge. His real name is George. But, they call him Travis because of his special function. It is too common a name in Texas to mean anything yet other than that the location of the state capitol. But, I feel you will need to get your Captain to fly out. Can you do that?”

“Sure. But how?”

“Call him, before he goes to work. Right now would be best.”

Hugh picked up his special cell phone and called the captain. “Sir, I cannot explain. Assume someone is listening at work. Just come. ASAP. Trust me! Okay? Text me with the information when you know you are coming.”

“Okay Hugh, but it had better be worth it.”

“I believe it is critical, Sir.” Hugh said confidently. Hugh hung up.

Agent Polk said, “We will watch the flights and see when he is coming. Don’t worry. I think we can intercept him. Now, here comes the hard part. We have to find a way of getting them into a place where they won’t know what is going on.”

He turned to the two F.B.I. agents and said, “So, you think Malcolm is ready to turn?”

“Yes. While you were in the BBQ restaurant yesterday, one of our agents tailing you overheard her say on the phone, ‘What do you mean they want it all. Everything? Not even a commission for handling it?’ The other phrase she heard was ‘What are you going to do, you are taking all the risks?’”

“So, what is your plan to turn him?”

Before she could answer, a knock came at the back door. Hugh was surprised to find it was Jackie. Agents Polk and Doyle looked at each other and then motioned to Hugh in sign language showing they would hide and they quickly hid in an adjacent bedroom and listened in.

After they hid themselves, Hugh opened the door and in a sexy voice said, “Hello Beautiful, what’s up? Why the back door?”

Jackie came in crying to his astonishment. Following her closely was Malcolm, who didn’t look terribly happy. Malcolm looked very scared too. Hugh’s jaw dropped when she called him by his real name and said, “We need your help Officer Hugh Horner.” She fell into his arms sobbing.