Larkspur (7 page)

Heather smiled. The kettle clicked off and
Blane moved to make her tea. She finished making his sandwich. They
sat down at their dining room table.

“
My
guess . . .” Blane said with his mouth full. He
smiled at himself and chewed. After swallowing, he said, “My guess
is, that by the time we’re out of all those state jobs, we’ll be
plenty busy. Work has a way of finding Jake and Sam. They’re
already fielding calls from cities to do road work this summer.
It’s not high paying but we’ll get by.”

“
I hope you’re right,”
Heather said over the rim of her tea cup.

“
Me too,” Blane
said.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Fifty-two

New start

Thursday morning — 8:35 a.m.

Erik La Monde knocked on the door and
waited. A girl about the age of his Wanda came to the door. She
took one look at him and yelled, “Mom!” He waited a few more
minutes and a middle-aged woman came to the door.

“
Hi, I’m Erik,” he said.
“I’m from Lipson Construction. We’re replacing your sewer line
today.”

“
I don’t know anything
about it,” the woman said. “My ex-husband set it up. We still share
the house and he said we had to do it to sell.”

“
Yes ma’am,” Erik said.
“I’m here to explain the process and check to make sure we put
everything back right.”

The woman gave him an annoyed look.

“
May I come in?” Erik
asked.

The woman gave an exasperated sigh and held
the door open.

“
Listen,” she said as Erik
stepped into the home. “I don’t have a lot of time. I need to get
my kids to school and . . .”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Erik said.
“I’m here to make this process easier, not harder.”

She gave him a long, irritated look.

“
I just need to look at
all your drains,” Erik said.

“
Why?” she
asked.

He bit his lip and tried to remember what
the plumbing super had said. “We plumbers are totally expendable
here. They’re only keeping us because we’re owners. Time to make
our wages.” His super had talked the site managers into including
plumbers on these sewer teams so they’d have something to do. Erik
felt pressed to hold up his end of the bargain.

The woman tipped her head sideways and
looked at him.

“
You’ll notice if we do it
wrong,” he said. He gave the woman a broad smile.

“
I suppose you’re just
doing your job,” the woman said. “Yeah, I’d like to know what
you’re doing.”

The woman saw her kids looking at them
through the rails of the stairwell.

“
Kids, don’t bother Mr. La
Monde, he . . .”

“
I don’t mind, ma’am,”
Erik said. “They’re going to be homeowners soon enough. We’ll go
through this fast and get you on your way.”

Erik smiled again.

“
Plus, ma’am, I’m an owner
of this company,” Erik said. “Everybody working today owns a part
of the company. We’re not just doing our jobs; we’re passionate
about making sure people live comfortably.”

Erik nodded his head emphatically and the
woman rewarded him with a smile. She turned around and walked
toward the kitchen.

“
I read about you guys in
the paper,” the woman said. “Seems like you got
screwed.”

“
We’re owners, ma’am,”
Erik said. “We made our choices and the state made theirs. That’s
what happens when you own a company.”

Her kids scooted around him and reached the
kitchen when their mom did.

“
Let’s look out in the
back,” Erik led the way to the back door.

Jacob was walking through the backyard with
a thin, bent metal stake.

“
What’s he doing?” the
woman’s son asked.

“
He’s divining where the
sewer line is,” Erik said.

“
Divining?” the woman
asked.

“
There’s always a little
bit of water in a sewer line. He’s using the flow of water to
interact with that metal stake in his hand,” Erik said. “See how it
turns?”

“
Wow,” the boy
said.

“
This gives us a general
idea of where the sewer is located,” Erik said. “We’ll use a long
probe first and then start digging to see if we can find
it.”

“
Does it work?” the woman
asked.

“
Nine times out of ten,”
Erik said. “Of course, Jake there knows the neighborhood. He’s
almost an expert on how these houses were built. But the divining
gives us a general idea. We probe the ground and then we
dig.”

“
Will he show me how?” the
boy asked. “Mom, please! I’m all ready for school.”

“
I don’t know why not,”
Erik said. The woman used her key to work the locks and Erik opened
the back door. “Hey Jake, you have time to teach your
wizardry?”

“
You bet.” Jacob waved the
boy out into the yard.

“
Please!” the boy begged
his mother. She nodded and he raced down the back steps.

“
That’s Jake Lipson,” Erik
said to the woman and her big eyed daughter. “He’s the guy who’s
selling the company to us employees. He used to be the boss, but
now he’s just another owner.”

Jacob yelled for another stake and a young
woman stepped off the backhoe to bring him one. They watched for a
moment while Jacob bent the stake and showed the boy how it
worked.

“
Now, I know you’re in a
hurry,” Erik said.

The woman nodded.

“
I just need to see your
drains,” Erik said.

“
What about telling us
what you’re doing?” the little girl asked.

“
Oh, right. I forgot,”
Erik blushed and chuckled at his mistake. “Our first task is to
find the old clay sewer. Then we’ll dig it up and replace it with
new PVC line. It’s pretty simple. The real trick is hooking it into
the city sewer line. Lucky for us, that guy with the clipboard
standing by the backhoe set this sewer line for the city. He’s an
expert at tapping it.”

“
What about my garden?”
The woman’s voice reflected the real reason she was irritated this
morning.

“
Good thing you mentioned
that,” Erik said. He leaned out the door and yelled for the backhoe
operator. The young woman trotted across the yard. “We have a
choice of digging it up by hand or with the machine. The machine is
faster and cleaner, but Josie here is fast on either a backhoe or a
shovel. She’s second generation Lipson, grew up with a shovel in
her hand. Why don’t you take a second and show her where you want
us to be careful?”

She looked at him and he smiled.

“
I’ll wait right here,” he
said.

“
You can look around,” she
said. “We have the kitchen, a bath on this floor, and two
upstairs.”

“
I’ll meet you here,” Erik
said.

The woman nodded. Erik went into the kitchen
and checked that the drain was open. He turned the water off for
each of the toilets and flushed them. He was waiting for her when
she was done with Josie.

“
I see that you still have
your old, water-hogging toilets,” Erik said.

“
Yeah,” the woman said. “I
keep meaning to replace them, but . . .”

“
We have a whole warehouse
full of toilets left over from that big job we had to leave,” Erik
said. “I bet we can work you a good deal, better than you could get
at the store. And . . . well, I have to be here
until they’re done outside. Changing a toilet is nothing. I can
probably get them all done while they’re working outside. Bill the
ex for the work; he’ll be happy because you’ll get a great deal.
You’ll be happy because you get the rebate. We’ve got paper people
too. They can file your rebate with Denver Water and
everything.”

The woman gave him a big smile.

“
What?” Erik
asked.

“
That would be really
nice,” the woman said. “A real relief to have that done. It’s on
our agent’s ‘must be done to sell’ list.”

Erik grinned.

“
I’ll wait here for your
son if you want to finish getting ready,” Erik said. “I turned off
the toilets, but if you need them, just use it. I’ll go through
again before we start digging.”

“
Thanks,” the woman said
and went into the house. A few minutes later, her son ran in the
house. Erik shooed him upstairs. Erik took out his phone and called
the plumbing super.

“
Go,” the super said. An
ex-military man, the super had little time for
pleasantries.

“
I figured out what to do
with those toilets,” Erik said.

When Erik explained what happened, the super
called his assistant. While Erik waited on the phone, they worked
out who would fill out the rebate paperwork so the homeowners would
get the rebate.

“
I’ll call the others,”
the super said. “Jeez, we could get rid of all of those toilets,
make a profit, and give people a real service.”

“
Yes, sir,” Erik
said.

“
Good work, La
Monde.”

Erik grinned and went out into the yard to
tell the crew.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 10:35 a.m.

Jill shifted uncomfortably on the cracked
vinyl chair. She swallowed back her nervousness. She hadn’t told
Jacob that she was going to see this doctor. She knew he would
insist that they stay with the fancy expert Valerie had gone to
see. But Dr. Anna had been on call when Jill was ready to deliver
Katy. Now that money was tight, Jill figured she might see if Dr.
Anna would help her again.

A little boy ran into Jill’s knees and Jill
smiled. The clinic’s waiting room was bustling with activity. Women
in various stages of pregnancy sat chatting in Spanish and Chinese
and Greek and Russian and two languages Jill didn’t recognize,
while their young children played. It had been a while since Jill
had been around the hubbub of humanity. She was having a great time
watching the kids run around.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Tanesha
said when she sat down.

“
I haven’t been called
yet,” Jill said.

“
Is that unusual?” Tanesha
whispered.

“
I don’t know,” Jill said.
“Dr. Anna delivered Katy, but I went to the Denver Health Clinic
for my check ups and stuff.”

“
The whole place has a
great feel to it,” Tanesha nodded.

“
Jill Marlowe?” a nurse
asked. She looked at the folder in her hands. “Jill?”

Jill and Tanesha walked over to the nurse.
Focused on the folder in her hands, the nurse held the low wooden
door back for them to go through. She stared at the folder for a
moment and then looked up at Jill.

“
This way,” the nurse
said. She led them to a small examination room. “Completely naked,
ties in front.”

She nodded and closed the door.

“
That’s weird,” Tanesha
whispered.

“
What?” Jill asked as she
undressed.

“
She didn’t leave the
file,” Tanesha said. “They usually slip them into the holder on the
door. But she didn’t. I was going to read it.”

“
What do you think that
means?” Jill asked.

Tanesha shrugged. Jill put on the worn gown
and sat on the exam table.

“
How’s school?” Jill
asked.

“
I love it,” Tanesha
smiled.

“
Jer?”

Tanesha smiled.

“
Good,” Jill
said.

“
I know, right?” Tanesha
chuckled. “The IRS is taking custody of the condo tomorrow or
Monday. Then we’re done with all of that.”

“
Wow,” Jill
said.

“
Just means he’s almost at
zero,” Tanesha said.

“
Zeroes are better than
negative a few million,” Jill smiled.

“
How are the kids?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Noelle’s healing,
slowly,” Jill said. “Wanda’s… It’s just tough.”

“
Any word on the case?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Nothing,” Jill
said.

“
Nothing?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Freaks us out,” Jill
said. “Sandy calls a couple times a day and so
far . . . nothing.”

“
Weird,” Tanesha
said.

There was a tap on the door. Dr. Anna and
the nurse came in carrying Jill’s file.

“
Jill!” Dr. Anna said. “I
remember you.”

“
Hi, Dr. Anna,” Jill
said.

“
How is Katherine?” Dr.
Anna asked.

“
Perfect,” Jill smiled.
She was glad she’d come to see Dr. Anna.

“
You
were . . . Jill Mc Guinsey when I saw you last,” Dr.
Anna said. “Right?”

Jill nodded.

“
She upgraded,” Tanesha
said.

“
That’s what I’d hoped,”
Dr. Anna said. “We called to get your file and . . .
Gosh, Jill, it was just odd.”

“
Odd?” Tanesha
asked.

“
My staff called
yesterday,” Dr. Anna said. “They faxed the records right away, like
always. But then the weirdest thing happened.”

“
What?” Jill put her hand
to her racing heart.