Prologue
A large wrought iron gate came into view as John Williams, the chairman of the Zoning Commission of the City of Santee, CA, pulled the town car up to the entrance of the gated community where he and his wife, Joan, lived. He reached up to the sun visor and pressed the automatic door opener’s first button. The large wrought gate shuddered for a moment, then slowly started to move. Williams tapped the steering wheel impatiently as the gate continued opening. Once the gate cleared the rain soaked roadway he steered the black town car into the community.
This gated community was very secluded and sparsely populated by design, and their large wooden home was located at the end of a cul-de-sac containing three homes set far apart from each other. Williams had fallen in love with the lot for that very reason; he was a man who valued his privacy. He had quickly purchased the lot soon after seeing it and then had hired an architect, who designed the house, they presently live in. Joan didn’t like the house’s design; it reminded her of a Southern plantation house, complete with the large columns in front. But John loved the design, and that was all that mattered. In their relationship it was all about making John happy.
The town car pulled down the long driveway and stopped in front of a three-car garage. Williams reached up and pressed the garage door openers’ middle button and looked out the front windshield through the raindrops, expecting to see the door open. It didn’t move. He pressed the button again, but still nothing happened.
“Damn it! I told you to put new batteries in the remote control!” he barked at Joan, who started to shrink down in her seat bracing for John’s ranting that was sure to come.
“I did. It worked for the security gate at the entrance,” she said, feebly attempting to defend herself.
“Well they’re dead now, and I’ve got to get out in this rain and open the door. I should make you do it,” he grunted, as he pulled his suit jacket up around his ears.
“You can’t expect me to get out in this rain. It will ruin my dress,” Joan pleaded.
Williams looked disgustedly over his shoulder at his overweight wife, who was sitting there with her double chins resting on her large bosom. She was worried about her dress. Those high priced designer dresses she bought just looked like drapes for a window on her useless fat ass, he thought, as he started to exit the car. He shook his head back and forth in bewilderment; no wonder he paid other women for sex. No one would blame him once they saw his wife.
Williams grunted as he exited the car, “Good-for-nothing bitch.”
“Thank you!” Joan breathed a sigh of relief. “Use the side gate; the roof overhang will protect you from the rain, and the side gate is closer to the garage utility door.”
Joan watched her husband run around the front of the car and head toward the side gate that led to the backyard. The rain was falling hard now, and she could barely see him as he disappeared into the backyard. She thought to herself that she would have to figure out how to get his suit dried out tonight since he was such a stickler about his suits. She didn’t need him finding anything else to be upset about. She knew he was still mad about how the business meeting went with the CEO’s of Brougham Enterprise earlier in the evening and now the garage door was acting up. She knew she would need to tread lightly around John tonight to avoid him going off. She would have to make sure she tended to his suit immediately.
Williams walked down the side of the house and wondered why the light over the side door hadn’t sensed his presence and come on. He had hired an electrical company to install a new light with a motion detector on it just for nights like tonight. They had sent a technician, who was Mexican, to his home to do the work. His first thought, upon seeing that the technician was a foreigner, was to send the man back because he didn’t like the idea of some illegal immigrant working on his home. Now he wished he had followed his instincts since the man obviously didn’t have the skills to do the job right. He’d have to tell his friend Dino, the local sheriff, to have the company investigated for hiring illegal aliens; that would teach them. He smiled to himself.
He hugged the garage wall, trying to shield himself from the downpour, and as he got to the door, he realized something was amiss; the door was wide open. Someone was in his home. He shielded his eyes from the relentless rain, squinting as he tried to see into the dark garage. He figured it was probably the technician who had installed the light, and now he had returned to rob the place. Anger swelled up in his chest.
“Whoever is in the garage better leave NOW?! I’ve called the sheriff!” Williams yelled over the sound of the falling rain.
A large man stepped onto the threshold of the door, filling the door frame. “No, you didn’t call the sheriff. I am the Sheriff!” The man said, his baritone voice echoing off the side of the house.
Williams recognized the voice. “Is that you Dino? What the hell are you doing in my garage?!” Williams was puzzled now.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Dino said, coldly.
“Waiting for me? Why?” Williams asked. He stood in the pouring rain, with a puzzled look on his face.
“It’s like this John; my business associates told me that you refused the offer they made to you at dinner, at The Lounge tonight. It was an offer you couldn’t refuse. And the fact that you did refuse is causing them a problem. And I’m here to fix the problem,” Dino said, matter-of-factly.
“Problem, what problem you have with me? What the hell are you talking about? What associates? Have you been drinking again? I’m going to have to tell the mayor about this. Santee can’t have a sheriff who’s an alcoholic.” Williams tried to push past Dino to get out of the rain, but Dino blocked his way.
“Fuck it. Let’s get this over with. My associates wanted me to tell you that your words caused this action, and now your wife will be a widow,” Dino said, as he shoved Williams back from the door and placed his hand on the .22-caliber pistol that was in his jacket pocket.
“Don’t you put your hands on me asshole. Don’t ever put your hands on me! Who are these associates you keep talking about? Williams asked. “Did you say my dinner at the Lounge? Are you talking about those niggers, Nathan and Jerome, who I met with tonight? What are you, some kind of nigger lover?” The words were spat of Williams’s mouth.
“You see, that’s your problem John; you run around spouting off about the white race and how other races are inferior to the white man. I am so sick of listening to you. I love only one color, and that’s green; and you’re standing in my way of getting lots of it,” Dino said, raising the pistol.
Williams saw the gun, “You wouldn’t —.”
The pistol fired, and William’s head snapped back and then returned upright, his dead eyes staring at Dino. Then in the next split second, the lifeless body crumpled to the wet concrete. Blood and brain matter mixed with the rainwater and flowed down the sidewalk, turning it a pinkish color. Dino, straddling Williams’s body pumped two more shots into Williams’ chest, just to make sure he was dead. The Marine Corps had taught him that. He calmly holstered the silenced .22-pistol and walked around the back of the house, disappearing into the stormy night. When he got to his Sheriff’s SUV, he pulled out a cell phone and pressed the number one on the keypad.
In the back room of Mr. M’s, a nightclub in downtown San Diego, Nathan’s cell phone rang. He lifted it from his shirt pocket and answered the call.
“It’s done.” The baritone voice said.
“Good! Did you have any problems?”
“None, the problem is solved.” The call ended.
“Come on. Bid, damn it,” demanded the old white haired man who was sitting on Nathan’s left.
Nathan was playing the game he loved, Bid Whiz. Every night at Mr. M’s, there would be at least one Bid Whiz game going on. The stakes were high, and the nerves were short.
“Ok! I bid eight no trump,” Nathan said as he placed his cell phone back into his pocket.
“That figures! You’ve been holding all the good hands all night,” the old man said in disgust.
“I know.” Nathan said, smiling as he thought to himself. I hold all the cards now.
