Bob fished in his jacket pocket and pulled out a Pinnacle Investments business card. He always kept business cards. James Mitchell hadn’t given him one, but
Bob had one from another Pinnacle representative. He looked at the embossed card and brandished it like a winning lottery ticket.
Bob removed his cellular from his jacket pocket and dialed the telephone number on the card. “Moment of truth.”
“Hello, Pinnacle Investments. Your life is in our hands. My name’s Karen. How can I help you?” the receptionist said.
“Hi, Karen, could you give me a contact number for one of your insurance agents, James Mitchell, please?”
“Just checking for you, sir.”
Silence greeted Bob for nearly a minute.
“I’m sorry, there’s no one by that name working
here. Are you sure you have the correct name?”
“I don’t know. I’ll check my paperwork and get back to you. Thank you so much for your help.”
“Could I have your name, sir?” the telephone receptionist asked.
Bob hung up.
“What did they say?”
“They’ve never heard of James Mitchell.”
“Why are we going to see a florist?” Bob asked.
“I want to know who sent that wreath,” Josh said.
“Pinnacle Investments, right?” Bob answered.
“So the card said, but there’s no proof. James Mitchell, or whoever this guy is, said he was from Pinnacle Investments, but he wasn’t. So who says they sent the wreath?”
The florist that sent the wreath was situated a few blocks from Josh’s home, a small business amongst many on the strip mall put up to service the local community.
Forget-Me-Nots was sandwiched between a
delivery pizza joint and a manicure parlor that sold false nails for 7.95. Bob pulled into a parking space directly in front of the store, just vacated by an old woman in a Cadillac Seville.
They entered the store and the electronic buzzer
sounded. The staff consisted of one person—a tall middle-aged woman who came out from the rear of the shop. She was gaunt and a good fifteen pounds underweight.
She looked as though someone had let the air
out of her. Her iron-gray hair was thick and loosely curled to the middle of her back. Her jeans and big wool sweater hung on her like clothes on a coat
hanger.
“Can I help you with anything?” she asked.
“We were after some information,” Josh said. “You sent a sympathy wreath to my house last week. It came from Pinnacle Investments.”
The woman pursed her thin lips as she narrowed her eyes. “You’re Josh Michaels?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Oh, you’re the one. Chris was none too pleased
with your … outburst.”
Josh flushed a little, embarrassed by his misdemeanor being brought to book. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to kill the messenger. And if Chris is here, I would like to apologize to him in person.”
Her face softened at Josh’s apology. “Well, he’s not and I don’t think he would be too interested in what you had to say anyway.”
Josh winced and looked at Bob. He smiled flatly.
“Is that all you wanted?” she asked.
“I hope you can understand that my friend was under a lot of stress and someone played a sick joke on him. His car was forced off the road into the river. And we are here to get to the bottom of it,” Bob said.
“That was you? Wow. I saw the car dragged from the river on TV.”
Josh nodded.
“Can you tell us who placed the order for the wreath?”
Bob asked.
“Let me check.” She disappeared into the rear of the store.
Bob placed his hands in his pockets and leaned back slightly, forcing his jacket open, displaying his ample belly. He looked approvingly around the store.
The florist returned through a string bead doorway.
“It was ordered by Pinnacle Investments from their head office, in Seattle.”
“And it definitely came from Pinnacle Investments?”
Bob asked.
“Yeah, I had to call them back to check some details.”
Josh frowned.
“Is that the answer you were looking for?” the florist asked.
It wasn’t.
Josh walked the five blocks from Forget-Me-Nots to his home with a bunch of roses in one hand. The flowers would be something nice for Kate. He hoped it
would put a smile on her face. Also, the purchase was in some way Josh’s apology to all those employed at the florist he’d offended. He hoped he would start making people happy.
But he was far from happy. He’d tracked James
Mitchell down to his motel, but that wasn’t his name and there was no sign of his existence. He’d expected the man to have bought the wreath, but he hadn’t. Pinnacle Investments had sent it. It didn’t make sense.
There was no connection, no conspiracy, no nothing.
Maybe he was overwrought from the stressful events of the last week and his paranoia was unfounded. An irritated driver beeped her horn at him. Josh snapped back
into the real world and found he had stepped onto the crosswalk when the light was against him.
Josh arrived at his home a few minutes later. He let himself in and called out to his family. He heard voices from the backyard and immediately put the flowers behind his back. He closed the door with his foot as Kate and Abby came in from the patio.
“Hi Dad,” Abby said.
“Everything okay?” Kate said.
“Yeah.” Josh produced the flowers from behind his back. “These are for you, babe.”
At a loss for words, Kate took the flowers, put her arms around her husband and kissed him. “Thank you.
I love you,” she whispered in his ear.
“I’ve been such an idiot,” he whispered back. “I’m sorry.”
“Never mind that.”
Their embrace was brought to a sharp conclusion by Abby. “What about me?” she said.
They looked down at their daughter.
“Oh yeah,” Josh said.
He released Kate and removed a single rose from the bunch. Kneeling, he gave it to Abby. “Of course a rose for my other lady.”
“I’ll put it in my room,” Abby said, and tore up the stairs.
“Don’t forget to put it in water,” Kate called after her.
“Am I a good husband?” he asked.
