Chapter 27

“What’s with the looks,” Jake asked as he parked the car on the curb in front of what could only be described as a mansion. For that matter, every house in the subdivision fit the same category.

Barbara acted as if she did not know what he was talking about, “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Nasty looks and they’re not directed at me,” Jake told her, “something’s got to be wrong.”

“I bet you grew up in a place like this,” Barbara said.
For Jake, that came completely out of left field. He was good at left field though. He just shrugged, “not really. I mean we weren’t hurting but, we sure never had anything like this.”

Barbara rolled her eyes, “oh give me a break Barton. Your father is a rich and powerful US Senator.”

“Powerful,” Jake thought about it and said, “ok I can give you that one but, rich? No, those two don’t always go together unfortunately. In case you didn’t notice I do have to work for a living. What is it Barbara? You got something against rich people?”

“No,” Barbara replied as if she were talking to a first grader, “I don’t have something against rich people. Just maybe, I have something against people who take their titles and use them for something besides the betterment of others like their job descriptions say they’re supposed to do.”

“Don’t tell me,” Jake replied, “Governor Crass lives on this street.”

“As a matter of fact Barton,” Barbara replied smugly, “she does not.”

“One street over,” Jake shot back quickly.

Barbara snorted, “ok it’s three streets over just to save the time.”

Silence descended on the car as Barbara and Jake waited for the other to say something. Finally Jake broke it by pointing out, “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“That’s because you didn’t say anything,” Barbara replied quickly.

“Which proves my point,” Jake replied. When Barbara growled in frustration Jake then asked, “when did that woman piss in your corn flakes, exactly?”

“It’s none of your damn business,” Barbara replied in a very hostile fashion. Then Barbara’s face drew up as if she had eaten something sour and she told Jake, “did you have to put it that way? That is disgusting.”

Jake went on with, “my father pulled some strings and got me this job after I got out of the hospital. The army was going to pull my jump status after I broke my leg and I really didn’t feel like going back to being Joe Grunt. Too many rules to follow. I grew up in Lake George, New York with a brother and a parade of Nanny’s that changed every couple of years. When the time came for me to strike out on my own I ran off with my girl friend to get married.”

Barbara was stunned. It took her a moment to recover before she managed to ask, “what happened? You change or mind or something?”
“Nope,” Jake replied in a way that made it clear he was not emotional about it. He very much sounded like a man talking about a long forgotten past, “Secret Service found us just before we reached Niagara. I’d like to say we went there cause it was all romantic, you know, the falls and everything. Truth is, it was the only place two kids could legally get married or, at least, that we knew of.”
Barbara could not believe she was actually felt a spark of sympathy for this man, “So what happened? Do you know what happened to her? Did you run off again? What?”

“Oh yeah,” Jake replied. “she wound up getting married only not to me. She’s got two kids, a car, a two bedroom loft in Manhattan, and an ex-husband who used to be a stock broker and now cleans toilets at Grand Central Station.”

“Guess you dodged a bullet Barton,” Barbara said with a snicker, “he lost his ass on the market and so she divorced him?”

Jake waived it off, “nothing like that. It just didn’t work out and they’re still friends and all. Oh, and no he took the job with the city because it paid better so that had nothing to do with it. Do you have any idea what those museum guys get paid? Even the custodians?”

“No and,” Barbara replied, “I don’t care. What happened to you?”

“Isn’t it obvious,” Jake told her, “what does any parent do with a kid that runs off? My father sent me to military school.”
Barbara detected something there. It was the part that Barton was not saying, “and how old were you when he sent you there?”

“Eighteen,” Jake replied, “the school was West Point.”

Barbara raised a hand, “and I’m going to let that part go.”

“Why?” Jake asked her. “You’ve been doing everything you can to check up on me. Oh yeah, that is except for the one thing you should have done.”

Barbara remained smug, “and that is?”

“Ask me,” Jake blurted out. When Barbara didn’t reply, Jake went on, “your turn.”

It took Barbara a minute before she even slipped out, “she’s just a bitch, Helen I mean. That‘s all, really.”

Jake calmly asked, “you don’t even see what you’re saying do you?”

“I think it’s a fair assessment Barton,” Barbara replied.

“It might be but,” Jake pointed out, “when you talk about Governor Crass you use an entirely different tone from when you’re discussing ‘Helen.’ That makes it personal which means you and that woman got a long history that has nothing to do with work.”
With crossed arms and an irked voice, Barbara asked, “did they teach you this in John Wayne school or did you pick it up from the Senator?”

“People are my hobby,” Jake replied before also pointing out, “and what you just did is called a distracter.” When Jake saw the evil eye he relented, “ok I’ve had a little bit of training. Still not an answer.”

After fidgeting, Barbara let out a deep breath and said, “in case you didn’t notice Barton, my family is pretty prominent in this colony. We run in the same circles as Crass.”

Jake shrugged, “so? What is it, a family feud or something like that?”

“No,” Barbara replied as if it were the stupidest thing she had ever heard. “It’s just, well, um…”

“Yeah I already heard this part,” Jake told her.

Barbara developed a sneer and said, “do you mind not being a jack ass for five seconds?” When Jake did not reply, Barbara took the time to collect herself and said, “let’s go see who lives here.” She got out of the car.

Jake rolled his eyes at the woman and just shook his head in resignation. He got out of the car and followed her up to the mansion’s front door. Barbara looked as if she were not really sure what to do. Then she even asked, “do we pull our guns? Do we um…”

“I was thinking about knocking,” Jake replied as he reached over and slammed the brass knocker against it’s base plate a few times.
As they waited, Barbara asked, “what kind of guy do you figure lives in a place like this? Maybe he’s got a butler or maybe he just answers the door himself? Think he’ll be in a tux or maybe a…”

The door opened and the guy standing on the other side was a little bit of a surprise. He was a young skinny kid with pimples on his face. He was also wearing a class B, field gray, office uniform of the Wehrmacht. Jake looked at the kids stripes and realized the boy was only a corporal. It made Jake mumble, “I just knew I should have joined the German Army. They pay a hell of a lot better.”