4.
Romero.
~ Alex was shot.
That's why he'd been discharged from the Marines all those years ago. He was still bitter about the whole thing. Still bitter about answering the domestic abuse call at a family housing unit at the military base in California. Some Sargent and his wife were fighting again. Loud enough to wake the entire cul de sac of little houses that had been built in the fifties for enlisted men and their families. Little houses with paper thin walls where Alex and the other MPs were sent out almost every night to break up fights or marital disputes.
That night had been different. Alex had been distracted by the children and the wife who was bleeding from the head. The screw driver lodged in her husband's shoulder. Everyone screaming at each other and all he could think of was that small children were having to see all of this. He hadn't been paying attention to the Sargent with the screwdriver jammed in his shoulder. Thought his partner had him under control. Didn't realize there was a gun in play and the Sargent didn't care about shooting someone in front of his children.
It didn't register right away that he'd been shot. At first, Alex thought he'd been punched in the chest. Hard enough to spin him around. The wife was screaming then. The children were crying and Alex didn't understand what had happened. There there was more gunfire. Gunfire he later found out came from his partner. Alex was staring stupidly at everyone there; wondering what went wrong. As if he'd missed something important. The punchline to a joke perhaps.
Then he saw it. Saw the great rush of blood coming out of him. Coming out of him and he couldn't explain why or when it had happened. Panic set in and he felt his legs grow weak.
The screaming woman became white noise and Alex accepted that he was going to die. That he was going to die in this filthy little bungalow surrounded by strangers who were screaming and crying. Who would have to see him die and always remember it.
But then, he didn't die. He awoke from heavy pain medications to find himself in a clean and comfortable hospital bed. One of about ten in the large hospital barracks. No privacy at all in the military. Not even after a major surgery.
A doctor came by, asked his name and told him he would live, but he would do it as a civilian from now on. The Marines didn't want him anymore. No mater how much he had given to them or how much he wanted to be there.
A few weeks in physical rehab and Alex was medically discharged. He took a bus back to White Pine Bay. Just in time to find out his mother had died and his father was being arrested. It had all seemed like something from a horror movie. A life he was supposed to pick up the pieces to and pretend he wasn't at all broken; inside and out.
He'd sold his father's house. Bad memories anyway, and decided to rent a small house. Alex liked the option of leaving White Pine Bay whenever he wanted. Escaping in the dead of the night maybe. But he'd stayed for some reason. This town made it easy for him to stay.
It wrapped it's arms around you, pulled you under and you didn't even realize it was drowning you till it was too late.
Dylan.
~ The scrap man, Dylan never knew there was such a thing, came by the motel as soon as his mother left to make her report to the Sheriff's office.
"I don't understand." Dylan said to the hefty looking older man who was pulling an empty flatbed trailer behind his truck.
The older man shrugged.
"I got a call this morning." He said. A pinky digging in his ear and he looked a little bored. "Sheriff's office said to come out here and remove dangerous debris." He shrugged again and looked around the empty motel parking lot. "Where is this dangerous debris? Sheriff Romero said it was a public safety concern and that it would take a lot to haul it all away."
Immediately, Dylan understood.
"Oh. Yes. Sorry. Didn't sleep well last night." He explained. He quickly showed the scrap man the piles of unsightly refuse that he and his mother had been trying to get rid of for a week now.
"Well, shit." The scrap man said when he saw the old car under the rusted metal.
"We've been making calls." Dylan explained.
"I'll have to come back for the car." the man said. "But I can start on the bulk of it now."
"Really?" Dylan asked hopefully. They had called places all over town. Prepared to pay anything that was asked to get the junk hauled away.
"How much?" Dylan asked. He had access to his mother's checkbook and could write this man a check today.
The man shook his head.
"I'm contracted with the county. Sheriff said it's a public health concern and he wasn't kidding. My fees are taken care of by the county. I'm only saying, I can't get all of it today is all. I'll have to come back for the car tomorrow." The man explained.
"That's fine." Dylan said eagerly.
Norma.
~ "What?" Norma asked again. If this was a joke, it wasn't a good one. She wasn't in the mood for jokes right now anyway.
"This guy showed up, he's hauling all the junk away from the back of the motel." Dylan said.
"When... when did this happen?" Norma asked paying the clerk a small fee for documents on the bypass.
"Right after you left. He showed up. He's already hauled off a big truckload." Dylan explained.
"Did you ask how much he was going to charge?" Norma asked irritably. It was an old scam in a bigger city. Men coming to do chores around property and then charge an outrageous fee.
"That's the thing, he said that Sheriff guy from last night called him and told him to come down here and do it. Said it was dangerous debris and the county would pay for its disposal."
Norma looked up from the new form she had to fill out to see Sheriff Romero striding quickly across the lobby of city hall. He seemed to not notice or care about her. He was dressed exactly the same as he was last night. His large leather coat obscuring his police uniform, yet everyone seemed to give him a wide birth and avoid eye contact.
"Are you sure?" She asked suspiciously. Romero struck her as a bulldog just now. Someone who wasn't too keen on being nice to anyone he'd just met.
"Maybe he was trying to help us out. Wanted all that shit gone." Dylan said on his end.
"Don't say shit." Norma scolded without thinking.
The girl at the clerks desk looked up at her in alarm.
"My son." Norma explained with a manic smile.
"Well the guy will be back tomorrow to take the old car. I say we take this as a win." Dylan said.
"Did Norman get to school?" she asked instead. Dylan was her right hand man and they were forever playing a game of catch with Norman. Whoever was home was responsible for the youngest child.
"Yes." Dylan said lazily. "He got on the bus. Did you file that compliant?"
"Yes." Norma said with equal annoyance. "Only it's not just this Keith Summers guy we have to worry about now. Did you know they city is putting in a bypass that will completely cut off our motel?"
"What?" Dylan asked. "The realtor didn't say anything about that."
"The realtor lied to us, Dylan." Norma snapped snatching the papers away from the young clerk and scurrying away to a more secluded location. "That's what these people do. That's what they always do. They lie to you to get ahead in life."
"Well, can't we sue or something?" Dylan asked. "Isn't that how rich people get ahead?"
"That Sheriff Romero guy is having me meet with a councilman right now to talk about an off ramp. I don't know." Norma said.
"Well that's something. Don't be afraid to be nice to him." Dylan said. "I mean, look what happened to our old junk pile."
"I've been perfectly nice to him." Norma said scathingly. "I'm not going to flirt with a local Sheriff and I don't need him doing me any favors thinking he's getting something in return, Dylan."
"I meant be nice to the councilman, mom. Jesus!" Dylan exclaimed. "You always get so carried away."
"I do not."
"If you want to flirt with that Romero guy, go for it. You could do a lot worse."
"Dylan!"
"Hell, you have done a lot worse." Dylan reminded her.
"Norma Bates?" Came a harsh voice and Norma looked up to see Sheriff Romero standing nearby. He looked as though he disapproved of her for some reason.
"Gotta go." Norma said and hung up on Dylan.
Romero.
~ Alex was glad Lee Berman had made the time to see them. He wished Norma had been more prepared and was a seasoned, educated business woman with plenty of resources and a good lawyer. As it was, the only thing she had going for her was general sympathy.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bates." Lee Berman said when she explained the situation to him. "I understand how frustrating this must be, but the decision has been made. We've got a deal with several major retailers that are going to bring hundreds of badly needed jobs to the area. I can't just scrap the bypass for your business."
Alex caught the look of heartbreak on Norma Bates' face.
"Is there anyway we can put an off ramp close to my business?" She asked hopefully.
Lee Berman leaned in closer. He glanced at Alex worryingly.
"Mrs. Bates, your motel has only what, a dozen cabins? We have a much larger, much nicer motel that we're dedicating an off ramp into town to. I know it seems unfair, but all this was decided months ago. Long before you even bought the place. Designs have been implemented and paid for, construction starts in the spring."
"Lee, what are her options against the realtor for not telling her about the bypass?" Alex asked knowing full well the answer. Lee Berman was an attorney in his normal life. He was only a city councilman part time.
Norma looked hopeful.
"I'm afraid you bought the property at auction 'as is'." Lee explained delicately. "In this case, it's a buyer beware situation. The realtor has no obligation to tell you anything about any proposed city developments and it's up to the buyer to learn these things for himself. Herself." Lee corrected nodding to Norma.
Alex saw Norma Bates' body deflate. Her form crumple and almost go limp.
"I am sorry." Lee Berman explained with an honest sincerity Alex wasn't used to hearing. "For what it's worth, in the busy season, the motel business is always very good here. I'm sure you'll do well once your place is cleaned up. We have a lot of activities in town and there are families looking for a quite place like your motel, Mrs. Bates."
"There's really nothing I can do?" Norma asked him. Her voice small and winded.
"I can put you in touch with a good advertising firm. Maybe a billboard?" Lee suggested.
Alex rolled his eyes.
"Thank you." He said standing up and shaking the councilman's hand. "For taking the time to talk to us."
"Thank you." Norma said weakly and allowed him to usher her out as Lee Berman was trying to give her his business card and to call him if she needed a lawyer.
Norma.
~ "Thank you." Norma said sharply to Romero as he walked her down the city hall steps.
"I'm just glad Lee Berman was in a good mood today. He's normally not so pleasant." Romero said.
"No." Norma said and pulled away from him. She could feel his hand graze lightly on her elbow, wanting to guide her down the steps, and she didn't like it.
"No, Dylan called me and told me you had some guy come to the motel and haul all that junk away? Said it was at the county's expense?" She reminded him.
She saw he was making a show of looking around the parking lot to see if there was anyone watching them.
"Said it was a hazard." Norma offered.
"It was a hazard." Romero said quickly. "You weren't going to get anyone else out there. Not without paying an inflated price."
Norma stepped away from him. A group of older women walked between the two of them and said nothing.
"Thank you." She said. "For doing that. And for making time..." she nodded to the courthouse. "To talk to that guy. I know it didn't accomplish anything, but I appreciate it."
"You're welcome." Romero said slowly and turned away when another group of people started to climb the stairs towards them. Clearly the local Sheriff wasn't a fan of attention and didn't want people to think they were together.
"Well, my car is over there." She nodded to the Mercedes. He nodded.
"I'm over here." He said nodding to the Sheriff's station that was right next door.
"See you around." She offered and was greeted with silence.
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