Two Bits Four Bits

Two Bits Four
Bits

By

Mark Cotton

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright © 2010 by Mark
Cotton

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This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

*.*.*.*

Two Bits Four
Bits

*.*.*.*

CHAPTER ONE

I was sleeping deeply when
my cell phone rang. It was Ray, his early morning voice
ragged.

“Hey, bro’, I don’t know
if we’re still playing golf today after what happened. Did you hear
about it?”

“No, what?” The red
digital letters on the clock by the bed showed 8:38 AM.

“Somebody shot Russell
Chilton last night after the reunion.”

“Russell Chilton?” The name
didn’t register immediately, my brain still buzzing with the
remnants of an interrupted dream.

“Kandy’s husband. The
banker dude. She found him floating in the pool this
morning.”

“Aw, shit,” I said. “What
happened?”

“I’m not sure of the whole
story. Remember Melba’s sister Ramona? She’s been working down at
the cop shop as a dispatcher and she called Melba a few minutes ago
and said he got himself shot while he was skinny-dipping in his own
pool. He and Kandy were both still at the party when we left last
night.”

Ray and I, along with
Ray’s wife Melba, had attended the first event of a high school
class reunion weekend at Elmore Country Club the night before. Ray
Garcia and I were best friends in high school, and played football
together for the Elmore High Drillers.

“Yeah, I remember,” I
answered.

I had seen Kandy sitting
on a couch in the lobby of the country club as we passed by on our
way out the front door at one-thirty that morning. Russell Chilton
was visible in the small side room bar just off the lobby, laughing
with a group of local businessmen who were obviously too old to be
our classmates. I remembered thinking he looked like a guy who was
friends with everybody in town. I guess I was wrong about
that.

Kandy Chilton had been my
high school sweetheart two and a half decades earlier, and Ray had
been teasing me about seeing her again since plans for the reunion
were announced.

“You wouldn’t believe how
hot she looks, dude,” he would suddenly say, when we were talking
about something entirely different.

“I hear that Russell guy
she’s married to runs around on her. You’ve probably got a chance
to move in on that action and become Mr. Kandy.”

And, even though I
dismissed Ray’s ribbing, I had been mildly interested in seeing
what had become of the woman I was once determined to marry. At the
reunion the night before, I was talking to a couple of former
classmates when Ray grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away
urgently.

“They’re here, man,” he’d
said, nodding toward the ballroom entrance. “Kandy and Russell
Chilton.”

An attractive woman with
dark red hair was standing with a tall well-dressed man just inside
the doorway engaged in introductions with two other couples. I
could tell it was Kandy from across the room, even with the change
in hair color.

“So, she changed her
hair,” I said. “Interesting.”

“Yeah, dude,” he said. “I
think she looks hot. I just love redheads.”

I had watched her for a
few seconds, thinking how strange it was that I’d known her so well
in those high school days, yet knew nothing about the woman she had
grown into. We hadn’t been in contact since our breakup the summer
after graduation. After going together for so long, we were both
ready for the split when it came, being from different worlds and
neither of us willing to leave our own behind. I wouldn’t put up
the social facade that was necessary to fit in with the people in
Kandy’s crowd. Their behavior felt like fakery to me and I refused
to shut out people based on their popularity or how rich their
parents were.

I was just about to turn
away and try to resume my conversation with the people I was
talking to when Kandy Chilton looked up and caught me staring at
her. She smiled and waved, and I waved back. Then, she returned her
attention to one of the women in her group, who was gesturing
wildly as she talked.

I followed Ray to the bar
where I got my soda refreshed and then stepped outside the front
door of the country club for a break from the roar of conversation.
A small group of alumni were talking and smoking under the wide
portico. I shook hands with a couple of people and then strolled
toward the golf course. The sun had just set, but it wasn’t dark
yet.

The greens had looked good
from where I was standing, but the fairways had large patches of
dead grass, a result of the relentless summer heat and lack of
rain. The Country Club was struggling to stay open since the major
oil companies relocated their offices to Midland and Houston,
taking dues-paying executives with them. I’d never really cared
much for the elite atmosphere of the club, but it was the only nice
place in Elmore to hold a large gathering, such as the reunion.
And, even with the dry fairways, the golf course was paradise
compared to Elmore’s nine-hole public course.

“Hey four-bits! You can
tee off from here if you want, but most players start from where
those markers are over there.”

I knew it was Kandy
Chilton without turning, from the nickname she used. I held out my
hand, but she waved it away and threw her arms around
me.

“Buddy Griffin! I don’t
want to shake your hand you big ox, I deserve a hug after all this
time.”

She had squeezed herself
tightly against me and I’ve got to admit the squeeze I returned
wasn’t something I had to force.

“How you doing,
Four-bits?” she had said. She smelled wonderful. Some kind of
subtle, but no doubt expensive perfume mixed with the clean scent
of soap.

“I’m doing great,
Two-bits,” I answered, using the pet name I’d given her on our
first date, a play on one of her pep rally cheers. “You’re looking
good these days. Whatever you’re doing sure agrees with
you.”

“Well, it’s a constant
struggle,” she laughed. “It seems like I spend more time at the gym
and the beauty shop every year just to keep from losing
ground.”

“I hear that,” I said,
patting my belly. “Hey, I saw your husband in there. He looks like
a great guy.”

“Oh, he is. I wouldn’t
trade him.”

“Ray tells me he’s
president of the bank now.”

“That’s right. Daddy
convinced Russell to come back here to work for him when we were
living in Dallas. Russell was practically running the bank by the
time Daddy passed away.”

“So, do you have any
kids?” I asked.

“Two girls. Heather just
finished her junior year at Baylor and Megan starts at Georgetown
in the fall. She’s going into pre-law and got a summer job as an
intern at a law firm in D.C.”

“They sure grow up
fast.”

“Isn’t that the truth. I
can’t tell you how quiet it is since we don’t have the girls at
home anymore. I guess we’re turning into those empty-nesters
they’re always talking about. The privacy is nice for a change, but
I sure do miss them. What about you? Didn’t I hear that you had a
son?”

“Daughter,” I said.
“Adrienne. She’s going to medical school at Texas Tech. Her
mother’s dad is a retired doctor.”

“Is your wife
here?”

“No, we’ve been divorced
about eight years.”

“What’s her name? Is she
from here?”

“Peg Avery. She grew up in
Austin.”

“That’s right. Somebody
told me you were a policeman in Austin.”

“I was a homicide
detective up until a few months ago, retired after twenty-three
years.”

“Retired. It sounds
strange for somebody our age to be retired. It makes it sound like
we’re getting old. So, are you still in Austin?”

“Yeah, I still haven’t
decided what I want to do next. I’ve been doing some work for a
private security company, but I’m taking time off to wrap things up
with my parents’ estate here.”

“We’ll have to have you
over for dinner then. I’m sure Russell would love to meet you. But,
I’ve got to warn you, he may try to talk you into going to work for
him. He’s fired two of his tellers this past year for
embezzling.”

“I’ll look forward to it.
Is he playing golf with us tomorrow?”

“I think so. Russell never
misses a chance to play golf. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
called him at work before three in the afternoon and been told he’s
gone for the day.”

As we walked back to the
building, she hung onto my arm and it felt for a second as if we
were back in high school again.

“It sure is good to see
you again,” she said. “Are you coming to the dinner and dance
tomorrow night?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I
said.

“Good. You’ve got to
promise to save a dance for me.”

“You can bet on it,” I
said.

Inside, she excused herself
and headed off toward the ladies room and I went back to the
ballroom to rejoin the festivities. I had enjoyed seeing Kandy
again, but it just reminded me of how different we were and made me
grateful that we hadn’t gotten more seriously involved than we did.
I knew there would never actually be an invitation to dinner with
the Chiltons. But, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Common
courtesy dictated that Kandy bring up the possibility of a dinner
invitation, and that I do my best to appear eager for it to be
offered. But, we both knew that the only thing Kandy Chilton had in
common with a retired cop from the wrong side of the tracks was a
frivolous high school romance and a pair of pet-names,
Two-bits and Four-bits
.

* * * *

CHAPTER TWO

With the news of Russell
Chilton’s murder, Ray and I agreed that we’d skip the golf
tournament with our classmates that afternoon. I told Ray I was
going to pay a visit to Kandy to offer my support and I wasn’t sure
how long I would be there. As a former homicide investigator, I was
interested in learning more about how the death
occurred.

So, an hour after learning
of Russell Chilton’s death, I drove through the streets of an
upscale neighborhood located in the southwest part of town,
searching for Kandy and Russell Chilton’s house number. The Chilton
residence was a large brick home with high, arched windows and
immaculate landscaping. There were at least a dozen cars lining the
street in front of the house, including two Elmore City Police
Department cruisers, a van with police department markings and a
big white Ford sedan that had all the earmarks of belonging to a
plainclothes detective.

A large well-dressed older
woman who introduced herself as a neighbor of the Chiltons met me
at the door. She led me into a large formal living room where
several people stood in a group talking quietly.

“Kandy’s in with the
police right now. Can I get you some coffee while you
wait?”

I declined, and stood
looking out the window at the pool where Russell Chilton died.
Three young men, who probably represented the entire staff of the
Elmore PD’s forensics team, were working around the yard, making
measurements and taking samples of pool water and soil from the
garden area beyond the pool. Black fingerprint powder stained the
edges of the pool in several places. Yellow police tape blocked
access to the pool area from the house. The pool water had a red
tinge to it. Beyond the pool, the back yard was lavishly landscaped
and surrounded by an ivy-covered wall that was easily nine feet
tall.