Chapter 10
Well, I'd better start telling you about my family or I'm going to lose you. No, you haven't heard about my family yet; at least not all of my family.
I had several meetings with the different groups of employees and told them about Abby leaving the company to Peggy and me. There were a lot of questions but I think that I answered the major ones and at least bought myself some time. I knew that a lot of the employees were waiting to see how things would shake out. I'm sure that there was some grumbling; there's always a few that hate everything. All in all, everyone chipped in and did his or her share.
Peggy really shined in the office. She was almost as good as Abby had ever been and my only problem was to make sure that I didn't spend ten dollars if we only had nine dollars in the bank. I consulted with Peggy before each major purchase and before bidding on any major project. Peggy made sure that we always got paid on time and anybody that didn't pay on time got a call from Peggy and they would soon learn just how hard nosed she was.
Peggy never took any form of birth control and when she hadn't got pregnant after two years she decided to get checked out. After a battery of tests on both of us the doctor called both of us into his office and sat us down. The news was devastating for us. When Peggy had been chased by her uncle and had fallen on the coffee table she had injured her uterus and there was severe scarring in her uterus. He told us that there was some other damage from that incident but that the scarring was the worst problem. Then came the words neither of us wanted to hear; Peggy would never be able to have children.
Peggy started crying in the office and she cried for days. She cursed her uncle, God, the doctors and anyone else she could think of. When I told her that I loved her she made some kind of comment about half a woman or something. When I suggested adopting she looked at me like I had just murdered a child. She ran into her room and I didn't see her for two days.
Things really went downhill for the next six months. Out love life was almost non-existent. The few times that we tried sex I could tell that she was just submitting to me. After the fourth month I didn't even try to make love to her. It was if someone had ripped the soul out of her and just left a shell of who she once was.
She became so depressed that I had to make sure that she was never alone. I was terrified that she would commit suicide. When I talked to her doctor about this, he suggested having a relative come to live with us for a while until Peggy snapped out it.
I sat in the office that night, as I often did lately, and began to think. Her family was out since she only had a sister and we didn't know where she was. The uncle was definitely out. I don't think he would live for fifteen minutes after Peggy saw him walk through our door.
I suddenly got an idea. I grabbed the phone book and dialed the number of a private detective. I wasn't thinking about it being night time and I got a recording. I left my office number and my cell phone number and ask that someone return my call the next day.
The next morning I received a call on my cell from the private detective. I explained what I needed and he suggested that we meet somewhere for lunch and he would explain my options, what I could expect if I hired him and our chances of finding Peggy's sister. He asked if I had the resources and the desire to pay for a search if it turned out to be a protracted search. I assured him that I wanted Brenda found and that I was willing to mortgage my house if I had to.
I met Bob Cassidy at the restaurant that day. He quickly explained his qualifications and gave me a brief history of his company. Bob Cassidy was a retired police detective. He had been in business for himself for about seven years and his list of solved cases was impressive. By the time we parted, I had hired Bob and he went back to his office to start work.
It was a week before I heard from him again. He had told me that he had other cases that he was working on; I was really shocked that he was calling back so soon. He asked that we meet at the same restaurant and told me that he had some good news.
As I walked into the restaurant I saw Bob Cassidy standing next to the hostess with a thick folder under his arm. The hostess sat us and Bob handed me the folder. We ordered drinks, mainly to get the waitress away so that we could have a couple of minutes of privacy. When she sat the drinks in front of us I told her that we needed about fifteen minutes without being disturbed.
"I was only able to spend around fifteen hours on this case," Bob told me, "This was an easy one. Your sister-in-law is living in Denver. She was married and the man she married had a spotty work history. The man that she was married to was a pedophile and was caught raping a ten year old child. When the man was sent to prison the case was a big deal in the newspapers. The husband was stabbed in prison, by another inmate, and died a couple of days later. It made the papers again. A lot of people took their hatred for her husband out on her. She had a pretty rough time of it.
She's working in a diner waiting tables. She lives in a rented room in a section of town that isn't the best. As far as I can tell, she has no social life. As you can see, I've taken some pictures of her. Her life isn't the best right now and any help that you could give her would probably be appreciated."
I looked at the pictures. Brenda's hair was a mess but it was easy to see that she was a brunette version of Peggy. I knew if we didn't get her out of this life she would be an old woman long before her time.
I looked up at the detective," You're pretty good. I was really expecting this to take months."
He smiled, "Ah, technology."
"Did you find out what days she works?"
"As far as I can tell, she works pretty much seven days a week."
We parted after lunch and I hid the file in my office. I called Peggy into my office and told her that we had to go to Denver that weekend to look at a project that I wanted to bid on. She nodded and went into her office to make the arraignments. Peggy often went with me to discuss projects. Invariably, money was a big part of the discussions.
When Friday rolled around we took our bags to the office so that we could go to Sky Harbor Airport straight from the office. Peggy wore her slacks and a blouse in order to be more comfortable on the plane. After we got through security it was only a short wait until the boarding call. Peggy hadn't said much since we left the office. I hoped that this didn't blow up in my face. Peggy hadn't mentioned her sister in a long time.
After we landed, we took a taxi to the hotel where Peggy had reserved our room. She insisted that she wanted to take a bath before we went to eat and I insisted that I was hungry now. She told me frostily that it was too early for dinner but she finally threw her jacket on and strode out of the room in a huff. I followed a short distance behind.
We caught a taxi and I gave the driver the address of the diner. When she saw the diner she gave me a look that would freeze water. After paying the driver we got out and went into the diner. I steered her to a booth.
In a minute a waitress came to our table. Peggy looked up at the waitress and gasped. She looked at me and saw that I had engineered this. It was at least a full minute before either of them spoke.
They both called out each other's name at the same time. Peggy jumped up and grabbed Brenda around the neck and I was afraid that she was going to hurt her. Both of them were crying so loud that everyone in the diner was looking at them.
The grossly overweight man behind the counter harshly called Brenda's name and I yelled back that she just quit. Brenda looked at me funny and Peggy grabbed my arm and told her that I was her husband.
"Come on, let's get out of here," I said.
I led them outside and called a passing taxi. Brenda and Peggy were talking so loud that I had trouble making the driver understand that I wanted to go to our hotel. I don't think that they even realized when we pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. I reached in front of Peggy and opened the door. She and Brenda got out and walked ahead of me into the hotel. They never stopped talking until we were in the room.
I went over and opened the door to the adjoining suite. Peggy looked up and saw what I was doing and she looked at me questioningly.
I smiled, "You don't think that I came unprepared do you? Brenda can stay here tonight and you two can catch up."
Peggy rushed over to me and threw her arms around me, "God I love you. How long have you been planning this?"
I pushed her away, "Go talk to your sister. I'll have room service send dinner up for us. Is steak Ok for everyone?"
I waited for an answer but they were so busy talking that they didn't even know that I had said anything. I ordered three steak dinners and two bottles of Champaign. I knew that it would be impossible to get them both decent enough to go out for dinner tonight. Tomorrow might be better.
When dinner was delivered, Brenda and Peggy sat at the table and poured Champaign and toasted them getting back together again. As they ate they toasted a couple more times.
When they had finished eating Peggy asked how Brenda wound up in Denver, "I hitchhiked until a trucker picked me up. He was going to Denver so that's where I was going. After I got here I had a lot of trouble getting a job and if it wasn't for the Salvation Army I would have starved. I worked wherever I could for a couple of years and lived in whatever shelter that had room for me that night. I met a guy and he said that he wanted to get married. He had a decent apartment and I think that I really married him to have a place to sleep. He wasn't so bad at first. After a year or so he didn't have much to do with me and he was rarely home. He liked young stuff and he was caught twice molesting kids. Both times he got probation. Then he was caught raping a ten year old girl. They threw the book at him. When he was sentenced a TV reporter found out where I lived and my face was on the ten o'clock news. It was rough for a long time after that. People thought that if I could live with a man like that I must be just as bad as him. I didn't have enough money to leave town so I stayed and made the best of it."
Peggy ran over to her sister and threw her arms around her neck. They were both crying. They held each other for a long time without saying a word.
Brenda finally asked, "How about you two? You seem to be doing alright for your selves. What's going on in your life? Any children yet?"
I tensed but Peggy seemed to take it in stride and told Brenda that she couldn't have children courtesy of Uncle Ted. This brought another marathon hug from them. Peggy told her sister how we had met and fell in love. She made a big deal out of how she almost had to rape me to get me to notice her. She told Brenda about Dan and Abby and how Abby had left us everything.
Brenda look at her sister with pride, "You must have turned out Ok in spite of Uncle Ted."
Peggy patted my leg, "For that you can thank my husband. He's a keeper."
I could see that they were going to talk well into the night so I excused my self, saying that I was beat and went into the other suite, showered and went to bed. I was wakened during the night by Peggy getting into bed. She was naked and she snuggled close and kissed me.
"Thank you for what you did. I thought about Brenda everyday and I'd just about given up any hope of ever seeing her again. She likes you too. I think she's jealous of me."
Peggy pulled me over on top of her, "I hope you got enough sleep
because you're not going to get any more."