Foreign Deceit

“Bye Dad.” Jack turned and walked inside.

Wolf stood up. “So, how are you doing, Sarah?” It was a weighted question and they both knew it.

“Fine, David. I’m doing just fine.” She said sincerely, crossing her arms and looking back toward Jack. “What was that all about?”

“I have to go out of town. I’ll be gone all week, all right?”

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down.

Wolf saw a shadow in the door window. “Hey Mark, come here for a second?”

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him.

Mark stepped around Sarah out onto the front porch.

“Can I talk to you for just a second?”

“Of course, David. Of course.” Mark nodded his head to Sarah, who stepped in and closed the door quietly.

Wolf turned and walked a ways down the massive front deck, and the guy followed next to him. He placed his hands on the railing and looked out into the brightening pines.

“What do you do Mark?”

“I’m a builder. Custom homes,” he said rubbing his hands together. It was starting to get cold during the nights and it was a frosty late summer morning.

“And, do you know what I do?”

“Yep. You’re on the police force. Up for appointment to Sheriff from what I hear.”

“And you’re shacking up with my ex-wife, who’s three days fresh out of rehab, at her parents house, where my son happens to live.”

Mark exhaled uncomfortably and scratched his head.

Wolf looked at him in silence.

“Yeah, I guess that’s exactly what is going on,” he said. “Look, I met Sarah in rehab. I’m…I wasn’t in the rehab myself. Well, not this time around. I…I was before. I’m an addict. Now I’m clean, and I spend a lot of time helping out at the center as a counselor. Sarah and I met, and we’ve become very close.”

“Okay, whatever. I don’t want to know the love story. That’s none of my business. But I’ll be checking out your story, you can bet on that. That’s my business. Because my son is everything to me, and, well, here you are.”

Mark held up his hands in a defenseless gesture, “Hey man, I’m not here to interfere in any way with your relationship with your son, or…anything like that.”

Wolf gave him a sideways glance, “No, Mark, I’m not worried about that. It’s much simpler,” he said looking him in the eye. “If you touch my son, I’ll take you into the hills, kill you, and dump your body in a mine.”

“Ah. Okay.” He chuckled and looked up into the trees.

Wolf stared at him unmoving, waiting patiently for the semblance of a grin to wither to nothing from the man’s face. He didn’t like how long it took.

“Alright then. Just so we’re clear.” Wolf turned and walked away.

Nate Watson’s Watson Geological Services pickup sat in his house driveway; half the windshield locked in frost, the other half dried by the bright morning sun. Wolf pulled in directly behind and got out. He didn’t bother calling before visiting. He knew he would be home, and

Wolf stepped onto the front porch and looked through the windows. Nate looked up wide-eyed, did a double take at the site of Wolf, and gave him a beckoning hand wave.

“Hey! What’s going on? How’s it going?” Nate was cooking what seemed to be an ungodly amount of food on a skillet in the kitchen, which smelled like bacon and fresh ground coffee. Wolf’s mouth immediately began watering. “Perfect timing! The skillets almost done, there’s plenty for you too!”

“Hey man. Uh, cool. I wasn’t fishing for a free breakfast or anything. I just need to talk. But, I’ll take it.”

“Pffffft, sit down. HONEY! KIDS! Breakfast is ready!”

A small boy darted into the kitchen almost running into Wolf’s legs.

“Hey Willy! How you doin’?”

“Good. Hi Dave,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to mooch your food and talk to your dad.”

“Hey Davey.” Brooke entered the kitchen and squeezed his arm. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Hey.” Wolf gave her a hug.

A two kid hurricane blew into the kitchen straight into them.

“Kids! Chill out!” Brooke stumbled sideways.

“Hey Dave!”

“Hey Dave!”

“Hey Joey, hey Brian.”

They sat down at the large kitchen table and dug into their plates. Wolf put on an act of normalcy the best he could. He always enjoyed spending time with their family, but as always, it was also a painful reminder of the alternate reality he was so close to having, but didn’t.

“What’s up Dave?” Brooke studied him. “I hear Sarah’s back?”

“Ah, yeah. She is. I’ll let Nate tell you all about it a little later.” He turned to the kids, “You guys like being back in school?”

“Nooooooooo!” They all answered at the same time.

“Whoa! Easy! What? Isn’t it fun? All I hear from Jack is how fun it is. He says that he and Brian here have a blast — studying hard, doing all their homework, never talking in class, being model students for everyone else.”

Brian was blushing and forking his eggs with concentration. “Jack did not say that.”

Wolf looked to the ceiling with a dumb look. “Oh, yeah. Wait…nobody said that. Ever.”

The kids laughed loud and Wolf gave a knowing look to Nate. Brooke shot him a scolding glance.

When they finished, Nate set down his napkin, stood up and looked at Wolf. “Hey let’s head outside.”

Wolf said his goodbyes and stay-out-of-troubles, and they went to the dirt driveway. Wolf reached into his truck and put in a pinch of snuff in his lip. Nate snapped his fingers and Wolf threw the can his way without looking. He caught it and turned his back to the house, taking a pinch.

Birds chirped and a lone crow cawed in the trees somewhere in the distance, beyond the blinding mist that hung feet from the ground.

Wolf exhaled hard. “John’s dead.”

“What?” Nate stepped forward and hugged him before an answer came. Wolf just stood with his arms limp at his sides for a few seconds, then returned the hug. He shuddered a few times with deep sobs, letting all his emotion out in a five second burst. He peeled away from Nate and composed himself with a steely determination.

“What happened?” Nate was wide eyed.

“We got a call yesterday from Italy telling us they found his body. He had apparently hanged himself in his apartment.”

“Jesus…buddy, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty shaken up. I just wanted to ask you a few favors in the next week or so.”

“Of course. Whatever you need.”

“I’m leaving town today, heading over to Italy. The thing is, as you know, Sarah is back on the scene as of a few days ago. She’s at Jack’s grandparents. Keep an eye on Jack. When he’s over here with Brian, ask him how things are going.” Wolf spit onto the gravel driveway. “There’s a guy hanging out over there. In fact, just keep an eye on things over there first hand, please. There’s no reason to think this time in rehab would be any different from before, and who knows what kind of guy this is hanging out with her.”

“I’ll kill anyone who lays a finger on your boy.” Nate’s chin was out, looking Wolf in the eye.

“All right.” Wolf returned the steely look, then broke into a smile. “Easy Turbo…just beat the living piss out of him if need be. No sense making my job any harder. I don’t want to be pretending I don’t know there are dead