“Actually, I do try and keep it quite clean, I give it a good sort out after every trip, but I haven’t had a chance so far, and I wasn’t expecting guests.”
Linda picked up the rubbish from the foot-well and stuffed it into a fast food takeaway bag so that she had somewhere to put her feet then placed the bulging bag behind her seat.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I am now, let’s go!”
With Linda giving directions they headed north. Ed kept looking in his mirror, so much so that Linda asked “Are you okay?”
“I guess. I wasn’t going to tell you but I am pretty sure I was being followed this morning.”
“What?! You’re kidding me?”
“I wish I was but no, I’m not kidding. To be honest it kind of unnerved me a little.”
“Well I think it would completely freak me out. But why, who?”
“I think word has got around pretty quickly about me looking into Grace’s disappearance and someone isn’t too happy about it.”
“Did you see who it was, what they looked like?”
“No I couldn’t, the car had blacked-out windows but I found out later the car belonged to a guy that runs a junkyard around here somewhere.”
“Oh, well that’s ominous, I think we need to start being a little more discrete with our enquiries.”
“Agreed, but I’m also thinking if it is even slightly dangerous you shouldn’t be involved at all, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Too late for that I’m afraid, I’m in for the long haul.”
They were almost on the furthest reaches of the town limits when she finally said “It’s the next turn on the right, just there”. There was no traffic so he didn’t signal, just slowed and turned onto the road. North Acre Road took them on to an estate called Forest Hills, replete with a brick-walled entrance that lasted just fifteen feet on either side of the road. Most of the houses were ranch style and set a little back from the road. Some even had white picket fences but most of the lawns needed tending or were faded to brown. Discarded toys and small inflatable pools lay out front in the gardens that had young families. As the road went on Ed thought the houses looked rougher the further he drove. “It must have been nice back in the day.” He mused.
“It was a Levitt Estate,” she offered. “Folks used to call it Levittown. Identical starter homes but very affordable, and as you said, back in the early sixties they were quite sort after. We are getting close, there’s 1223, slow down a little” said Linda as she peered closely at the numbers and names on mailboxes. “That’s Buster’s house up there, I can see his pick-up, the yellow one”. Ed pulled up by the sidewalk and killed the engine outside of 1241.
“Linda?”
She looked at the salesman, doubt still clearly etched on his face.
“Really, we need to do this Ed, I think he can help”. “I know he’s a big guy but he’s a gentle giant, he won’t bite” she added.
“It’s not that, not at all. I just don’t want to upset the fella.”
She gently took his hand, pleasantly surprising and immediately disarming him.
“It might upset him some, but if we can find his daughter for him I think he will understand don’t you? Come on”. She leaned across, gave him a peck on the cheek then opened her door and stepped out. Dazed by the affection Ed followed, the car alarm chirping twice as he locked the doors and followed Linda past the old faded yellow pick-up to Buster’s front door. By the time Ed had stepped onto the shaded porch Linda had already rung the bell. Deep inside the house, Ed could hear the electronic chimes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony fade away. Half a minute went by in what seemed like an eternity to Ed. The smallest movement behind curtains confirmed that someone was home. Finally, the door opened.
Buster’s massive body filled the opening, causing a greater obstacle than the wood door. He was dressed exactly how Ed had seen him at the gas station, in a light but grease-free t-shirt and dungarees. He looked at Linda then to Ed and slowly back to Linda. His deep baritone voice rumbled out, “Hello Miss Linda, how are you today?”
“Hello Buster, I’m fine”. She turned to Ed.
“This is Ed Saunders, a friend of mine”.
The two men nodded at each other. Buster broke out in a warming smile, “I think we already met maybe, full tank of regular gas”.
Ed returned the smile. “Yes, that’s right.”
Linda spoke again. “Buster, can we come in? We want to ask you something and it’s kinda delicate.”
The smile went as fast as it appeared.
“I knows why you here Miss Linda” he slowly drawled, “I been ‘specting you.”
The visitors both looked surprised. He nodded to himself as if making up his mind.
“You better both come in outta that sun.” He turned and led them into the house. The house was cool a dark. He took them into the room to the left of the front door where Ed had seen the curtains twitch. The carpeted room was homely, with old but well cared for furniture. A two-seat sofa and armchair had matching floral print covers while the dark brown coffee table that separated them carried the signs of many a spilt drink, the only occupant now being a silver TV remote. In the corner was a relatively modern TV that matched the remote from the table that sat on a black metal stand. An old John Wayne western film was showing but the sound was muted. In front of that sat the largest recliner Ed had ever seen. He knew that you could get out-size clothes, but he had never thought about out-size furniture before. An old TV ad popped into his head, and he wondered how many Naugas had given up their hides in the making of that one chair. Hard to accept that people once believed that the PVC infused knit fabric had really come from an animal called a Nauga. A series of ads had suggested that Naugas gladly gave up their pelts as they shed skin much like a snake so that no animals were killed in the making of the leather replacement. Few people realised that the truth was much more mundane. Named after the town where it was first produced, Naugahyde was first made by Uniroyal in 1936 at a factory in Naugatuck, Connecticut. A grim smile twitched briefly across the salesman’s features. He continued his brief inventory of Buster’s furniture. Against the back wall sat a wooden writing desk crowded with family photos of Buster and his wife, and of course, pictures of Grace Benjamin. Ed walked over to the desk and picked up a picture of Grace. Although the photo was obviously dated, it still had vibrant colours and was a close-up of the little girl’s face and torso. She was dressed in a yellow flowery dress that complimented her dark skin. The way she was hugging a dolly close to her chest stirred something in Ed’s mind but he willingly let it go.
“Folks have been talking, saying you been askin’ bout my Gracie”. Buster said it as a fact, not a question. Linda looked at Buster with sadness in her eyes.
“Can we sit down? I think you are going to want to hear what we have to say.”
“Sure you can Miss Linda, please” he waved to the two-seater as he dropped heavily into the over-sized nauga-covered chair.
He swivelled it around so he could face the couple. Ed joined Linda on the settee, cleared his throat several times, trying to think of an easy way into this conversation. Linda laid her hand on Ed’s as if to say ‘it’s okay, let me start’.
“Buster, I know it’s been a long time that she’s been gone but we think Ed might be able to find Grace.”
She looked into Buster’s big brown eyes but couldn’t read them at all, so she continued.
“When Mr Saunders came into town the other day something happened to him, something strange, that he cannot figure out, but he thinks it has something to do with your little girl going missing. We’ll understand if you want us to go and not hear us out, and we’ll definitely understand if you don’t believe a word we have to say, but believe me Buster, we are here because we want to help. Is that okay?”