Otter Under Fire (4 page)

Otter thought for a moment. “A couple of years ago, he was working on the floor as a shift lead and I really didn’t like him then. I definitely would have said he was terrible at his job. If there was something screwed up, Clark or one of his people was behind it. I’d bitch about it, but he’d just give me that superior, dopey grin because he knew there wasn’t much I could do about it.” She bit into her ham and turkey salad and chewed thoughtfully. “And when he did inspection he was a total flyspeck inspector.
[5]
I couldn’t get anything shipped.”

“What fun,”

“And then he got sick, really sick. Everyone thought he was going to die.”

“What happened to him?”

“He got some form of lung cancer—and the guy doesn’t even smoke. We lost touch with him for about a year and then he showed up at the shop. He said he was in remission.” She spooned some kind of healthy broccoli and raisin salad on her plate. “Clark was physically weak; he wouldn’t have been able to work on the shop floor, so the boss offered him the sales position that just came open. He could work at a desk and he had a flexible schedule. He took the job.”

“Sad day for you,”

“You know he blossomed in that position and really hit his stride. I realized I had never appreciated him before. He knew the processes and was able to do pricing and quoting like nobody else. He had run a lot of those parts and materials when he was working on the floor. He really became a company asset. This is a good thing because I have to work with him more than I used to.”

Otter sighed and said: “I should write a book about assholes. Oh and speaking of assholes, let me tell you about the fountain guy.” She told Tempest about the plastic tubes.

“You know, sometimes people just suck.” Tempest said when Otter was finished. “You know darn well he wouldn’t have pulled that if a man had been there.”

“True enough, but I think the shock did him some good.”

“It must have felt quite satisfying.”

“It did. I just hope he finishes the fountain in the time he promised.”

“While we are talking about assholes, I have a story you won’t believe.” Tempest told Otter about her financial planner in the skimpy outfit. Otter choked on a slice of tomato.

“And there is one thing that is just
bugging
me now.” Tempest said.

“You want to know how to make your asshole blue.”

“Not only that, but I’m also wondering what other colors they have.”

The sound of motorcycles roared up the street and ended in front of their house.

“Oh no, they’re early!” Tempest jumped up from the table.

“Who’s early?”

“Oh my motorcycle club, we’re going up to Jerome for the Labor Day weekend. Would you mind cleaning up?”

“Not at all, since you brought home the food.”

Tempest flashed Otter a grin as she ducked into her room. It was only a matter of a few minutes and Otter heard the big motorcycle in Tempest’s garage roar to life.

Otter had her own plans for the evening. Shortly thereafter, the leftovers were in the fridge and the kitchen was clean. She got herself changed into a sparkling dress and dancing shoes and headed out for a night of Salsa at a new club over in Glendale.

Otter squinted out into the back yard. “I need a boyfriend who likes to dance,” she said.

“We’ll just add that to your list,” Susan said, sipping a frothy orange beverage that Otter whipped up. They were having Sunday brunch on the patio overlooking the pool and unfinished waterfall. Susan Kincaid was petite, blond and deceptively cute. When she was not wearing her uniform, nobody would guess that she was a sheriff’s deputy, a k-9 officer and a black belt in a myriad of martial arts. Susan’s dad worked at AzTech and her husband was a programmer for the city. She and Otter met and became friends at one of AzTech’s Christmas parties.

Duke, a beautiful German shepherd and Susan’s canine partner was running around the yard and splashing in the pool with joyous abandon. His black and silver fur gleamed in the sun as he pounded around the yard and streaked toward the water in the doggy equivalent of a cannon ball. He then crawled up the steps gave them a goofy grin and did it again.

“Well it’s a pain to go dancing by yourself. I try to take a date, but it isn’t always possible.” Otter shook her head.

“You could take Duke.”

“Very funny
,”

“I bet he could do it. Sometimes I think that dog is smart enough to drive a squad car.”

Otter laughed a little. “Now that I think about it that would be kind of fun. At least it would be for one evening, until he busts someone in the building for possession.”

“He’d probably clear the floor,” Susan agreed. “We’d have to shut the place down. That would be a pity since it sounds like a lot of fun.”

“It is. At least I enjoy it.”

“Speaking of dates and dancing, I was wondering if you would consider going on a blind date.”

“Can he dance?”

“He’s tall, he’s nice, and he’s smart. I don’t know if he likes to dance or not.”

“What’s wrong with him? Is he a cop?”

“There is nothing wrong with being a cop,” she said pretending to be insulted, “And no, he’s not a police officer. He works in the coroner’s office. He said it turns a lot of women off when they find out what he does. I thought that since you’re smart and find just about everything interesting, you wouldn’t mind.”

“And what prompted you to get a date for this nice guy who works in the coroner’s office?”

“He’s a friend. I’ve actually known him for years. He asked if I knew anyone intelligent and nice who wasn’t clingy and had an interesting career of her own. Those were his words exactly, and a little exasperated at that.”

“It sounds to me like he’s just had a bad breakup.”

“No, I think it’s just been a series of disappointing dates.”

“OK, sure, why not? I dated an intern for a while in college; he took me to an autopsy on our first date.”

“Omg, did he really? What did you do?”

“At first it was a little awkward, I was dressed up in a dress and heels, but I was fascinated.”

“What was the cause of death?”

“Gunshot to the chest,”

“Gruesome first date,”

“It was, but like I said, I found it very interesting.”

“Well I don’t think Joel will do that to you.”

“That’s comforting. I just hope I’m not one more disappointment to him. Maybe he’s just too picky.”

“I don’t think so. Just give it a try and if it doesn’t work, you did me a favor.”

“I really like the part about you owing me a favor.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll text him your information and he can get in touch with you.”

“Works for me,” Otter said, “so his name is Joel?”

“Yes, Joel Buchanan,” She tapped a message out on her keypad and set her phone on the table, “and now I’m going to finish this nummy breakfast.”

“You’re in law enforcement; I don’t think you’re allowed to use the word ‘nummy’.”

Susan grinned, “You’d be surprised at the words I’m allowed to use.”

They finished their omelets and fresh berries just as Duke came bounding up the steps to the table, all wet, happy dog. He shook himself all over Susan and she used a series of words that Otter was sure wouldn’t be allowed.

Tuesday morning and Otter was getting testy. She was always prompt for appointments and expected everyone else to do the same.

“He’s late,” she snapped at Annie as she paced around the front office. “Clark was supposed to be here 30 minutes ago.”

Annie looked at her watch. “I hope he’s ok, he is not usually late. Maybe he ate too much barbeque for Labor Day and is still sleeping it off.”

“We had a meeting scheduled. He was adamant that we had to do it this morning.”

“Well nobody’s heard from him.” Annie said calmly.

“I’ll be out on the floor, please let me know when he gets here.” Otter was nervous. She had been dreading this meeting for nearly two weeks. Although she had no idea what it was about, she did know that the boss, the GM and Clark were in it. It wasn’t a combination that gave her warm fuzzies. She swung by the time clock to see if he had punched his card. He hadn’t.

But the rhythm of the shop pulled her into her routine and she found herself signing routers and moving jobs and nearly forgetting Clark and his meeting. Still in the back of her mind she entertained all the sarcastic and scathing comments she planned to use on him when he finally made his appearance.

It was almost an hour later before Otter went through the front office again with a stack of travelers to turn in. Annie stopped her.

“Clark won’t be coming in today,”

“Did he call in?”

“His wife called in for him about five minutes ago,” Annie said, “he passed away over the weekend.”

“What do you mean ‘passed away’? Clark wouldn’t just ‘pass away’, what happened to him?”

“I don’t know much more than that. She just asked to talk to the GM.

It was like grayness and fog crept through the shop along with rumor and speculation. Clark wasn’t particularly well liked among most of the employees, actively hated by many, but he was still one of them. Otter was stopped every ten minutes for information and updates that she didn’t have. At lunch, she sat at the smoking table for a change of pace with Annie, Sandy and a few of the guys from the shop. They couldn’t help talking about the only subject on everyone’s mind.

“I’ll bet it was his heart,” said Joe, who had four stents of his own.

“Nah,” said Jay, who was the manager over the fabrication department and Susan’s dad. “It was his cancer’s come back. He returned to work too quickly.”

“I wonder why they’re not telling any of us,” Otter said to nobody in particular. “It’s odd that there hasn’t been an announcement yet.”

“Maybe they have to wait for the doctor or an autopsy,” Sandy said. “They may not know yet.”

“It’s because he committed suicide,” Annie said simply, “they have to be careful who they tell and how.” The group gasped and looked at her as one person. “Well it’s true. I heard the boss and the GM talking to each other in the boss’s office.”

“Well shit,” Joe said. “I need another cigarette.”

“That can’t be,” Otter said to the group in general, and Annie particularly. “He was too arrogant to kill himself.”

“That’s what his wife told the GM anyway,” Annie said. “They found him sitting on his bed; the gun was on the floor.”

“But what about his religion,” Jay asked, “He was so devoted to his church. Mormons are quite against killing yourself.”

“Yeah, that too,” Otter said, “but that’s not enough for me. He was so arrogant and self-satisfied; to debase himself like that and embarrass his family would be totally unlike him.”

“You have a point there,” Jay said thoughtfully. “Of course I always thought that Clark and Defray would do anything they could do to outlive each other. I suspected that each one secretly wanted to be the one to dance on the other’s grave.”

“This is a horrible conversation,” Otter said to Jay, but she noticed that everyone was nodding in agreement with what he had just said.

“I know he and his wife were having problems,” Joe volunteered. “He asked me for advice on some place to stay temporarily because she asked him to move out.”

Everyone continued to stare at him.

“Ok, ok,” he said waving his hands in the air. “It’s because I have some rental properties. He was asking if I had a place he could stay for a couple months. I didn’t have a vacancy but I gave him the websites of some places that did that weren’t half bad.”

“If he needed help, all he would have had to do was ask us,” Annie said. “Any of us would have been there for him.”

Everyone stared absently at nothing, lost in his or her own thoughts. All anyone could think about was Clark and wondering what would have driven him to take his own life.

“You know,” Sandy said taking a drag from her cigarette and then making smoke rings. “They say you should live your life as if each day was your last.” She flicked the ash into the coffee can on the table. “I thought about that.”

Everyone nodded solemnly.

“And I decided I just couldn’t be that drunk all the time.”

Later that afternoon, Otter walked back to her office thinking that there was something seriously wrong. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it bugged her for several hours before she realized what it was. Clark had wanted to tell her something the week before. He had made a point of it in his Clark kind of way. What the heck could it have been?

Unfortunately, there was no way for her to find out.

It wasn’t the same room as last time of course, this time the room was gray. It was very luxurious though and what it did have was a big four poster bed—perfect for what Tempest had planned that night. She personally checked all the toys and equipment to make sure everything was functional. She had quizzed Joseph several times to make sure he was well versed on how everything was supposed to happen.

The candles were lit and glowed all around the lovely, soundproofed room. The walls shimmered like silk. Tempest’s eyes reflected the candles with an emerald green glow of lust. He stripped clothes off her body piece by sensuous piece and clamped her nipples just tight enough to make them tingle. She felt his hard body naked against hers. With barely a ripple in his routine, she was suddenly naked and on her back on the bed. Tempest was impressed—she didn’t know Joseph had had that kind of dexterity. Before she had a chance to marvel at how well he had done all that, she was chained and spread eagle. A few brief moments later and the whip was singing to her stinging skin.

“What is the most important thing to remember tonight?” She gasped between blows.

“That I am to be forever attentive to your needs, my lady.” He said in practiced script. She could see he was hard and ready as he stood over her. She burned with desire as he tickled her most sensitive areas with the whip tassel. He had forgotten the gag she realized as he began to go over her striped skin with a feather. What did he have on that thing that stung so much? She screamed as the devices on the feather intensified the long skinny bite marks all over her body.

There was an ominous gurgle.

“What was that?’ She looked toward the bathroom.

“It’s nothing to worry about.” Joseph assured her.

He started clamping wooden hinged clips on her toes.

The gurgle was louder.

“Are we going to need to call the front desk?” She looked at him suspiciously.

“Ok, ok, I may as well tell you.” He said holding his hands up. “My mother sent me a gift box of some of her home made goodies. I couldn’t resist having a few before I got ready to come and meet you.”

“You mean that noise is your stomach?”

He was beginning to look pale and sweaty. “Well yeah, but see, she sent me some homemade sauerkraut. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a taste of good homemade sauerkraut?”

The look on Tempest’s face indicated that not only did she not know how long it had been, but she seriously didn’t care.

The gurgle was stronger now, like someone had pulled the plug on the Mississippi. Joseph clutched his stomach and headed for the bathroom.

“I forgot just what sauerkraut does to my innards,” he said as he shut the door, “cleans ‘em out just like a plumber.”

Ron Defray refused to go to the funeral. “There is no point in being a hypocrite,” he told Otter. “That’s what I told the boss. Clark and I fucking hated each other. If I showed up, he might get out of his coffin and throw me out.”

“Then we would know for sure if he was dead or not.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not going to change.”

“But you’re the only manager not going.”

“Think of it this way, I’m paying tribute to him by running the shop for a couple hours so all of you go and pay your respects. We can’t shut the place down.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Otter said. She didn’t particularly want to go either. Mitch the GM said it wasn’t mandatory, but implied that her presence would be noted and appreciated. She even dressed in appropriate funeral wear: a somber black blouse, tailored gray trousers and her black pumps. Clark deserved a couple hours of her time on his way to eternity and to not dress properly would be disrespectful.

She and Annie drove to the funeral home together. Annie wore a black sheath with a rainbow pin on her right breast pocket.

“Why would you wear a rainbow?” Otter asked out of curiosity.

“Rainbows are a sign of hope. I always wear a rainbow to a funeral.”

“Hope for what, exactly?”

Annie shrugged. “It could be life after death, resurrection of the spirit or that the person is properly reincarnated, it wholly depends on the beliefs of the person in the casket.”

“What about a suicide?”

“That they have finally found peace and can figure out a way to complete their journey on the other side.”

They found the mortuary chapel on the other side of Tempe and slipped into a back pew just in time for the service to start.

It was weird, only Clark’s wife and four children and a few friends, Otter thought. She knew he came from a family of ten children, but not one sibling was to be seen. Her bewilderment grew when it became clear they were burying him in a city plot. She whispered this to Annie.

“He killed himself, Otter,” Annie whispered. “He’s not one of them anymore. He can’t be buried in consecrated ground.”

She was as little surprised at that. Otter had been raised Catholic and knew the rule about suicides in the Roman Church. It hadn’t occurred to her that other churches may have the same rule. She let her mind cruise during the service and noticed the young man across the aisle from them crying quietly into his prayer book. Nobody in the chapel paid any attention to him. Then the pall bearers took their positions, the boss, the GM, the quality manager, Jose, Jay from fabrication and one of the inspectors and they carried the coffin out to the hearse. Everyone else filed out to their cars behind them to drive to the cemetery.

At the gravesite, Otter saw the young man again, out among the headstones. After she put a flower on the coffin, she worked her way over to him by reading headstones while she waited for Annie. He didn’t move and allowed her to catch up to him.

“Sad day today,” she said to him.

He looked at here with ravaged, tear filled eyes. “He was like an uncle to me.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“He couldn’t have done this to himself,” he said to her. “He promised to be there for me. He just wouldn’t have. He and my dad were best friends in the army. When dad died last year, Uncle Clark promised him that he would see I was taken care of.”

“So why aren’t you sitting with the family?”

“They don’t like me much. Well not me so much, but I don’t think his wife liked my dad. She felt he was a bad influence on Uncle Clark.”

“I see…”Otter put out her hand, “My name is Mackenzie Ottenberger, and I worked with Clark for years.” She held out her business card.

“My name is Jeremy Redding. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me.” He shook her hand and took her card, looking at it briefly. He then turned and walked away from her out among the gravestones.

“Who was that?” Annie asked.

“Another casualty,” Otter said. “Let’s get back to work.”

“Ottermagic,” the cheerful voice said on the phone when Otter picked it up.

“Hey Juan, what kind of hot job do you have for me today?”

Juan chuckled, “I just want to say ‘hi’. Isn’t that OK for someone to just want to say ‘hi’?”

“If it were true, it would be just fine, but you never call just to say ‘hi’.”

“Ah, Ottermagic, you are so special to my Irish Mexican heart.”

“Let me just dust off my magic wand especially for you,” she said, wishing that she had one to wave around, “now what do you need?”

“This time I have some 6061 aluminum. Can you get it to T6 for me in a couple days? Or sooner? I need to get it on a jet and out of here.”

“When will it be here?”

“You’ll have it in an hour or so. I already sent it, knowing you’d say yes.”

If anyone just glanced around the living room at the house where Otter and Tempest lived it would look like a nicely decorated living area perfect for entertaining. Stare at it for a few moments and the walls and ceiling formed into an alternate reality--much like a picture where lines of color form into a three dimensional figure. This bit of crazy engineering was a cat highway system created for the comfort and happiness of three creatures of the feline persuasion. All the shelves and ramps were painted, decorated and placed in such a way guests would have to take a moment when they saw one of the cats walking up a wall and adjust their eyes. The cats belonged to Otter, but Tempest was guilty of a good bit of kitty spoiling herself.

When Otter got home from a tough day it was comforting to have those three furry bodies to snuggle. This particular day Spooky, the 20 pound, black male cat was her best buddy, because Tempest had stopped on the way home and got sundaes. Food was Spooky’s main goal in life.

An ice cream treat was the perfect thing to find waiting for her after a long and wretched day, Otter thought. They were eating their sundaes slowly with great appreciation in the living room with their little plastic spoons, all the cats in attendance.

“This was really nice of you,” Otter said as she scooped up another spoonful of the pecan turtle ice cream.

“Well you’ve had a pretty rotten couple of days,” Tempest said as she licked her spoon. “Plus, I didn’t want to eat ice cream all by myself.”

“You’re right, you either hide away by yourself to eat it or you con a friend into eating it with you. Not unlike getting drunk.”

“So true,”

“So how was your get away with Joseph last weekend?” Otter asked, concentrating on corralling some caramel at the sides of her dish. She heard a plastic spoon snap.

“Cheap things,” Tempest fumed, got up and strode into the kitchen.

“I take it the rendezvous didn’t go so well.” Otter called after her.

Tempest rattled some drawers in the kitchen, slammed one and stormed back into the living room with another spoon.

“Just don’t mention sauerkraut in my presence ever again.”

“Sauerkraut? But I love sauerkraut.”

“Nobody likes sauerkraut. Not seriously.”

“It’s my German ancestry.” Otter shrugged, “I can’t help it. So how did sauerkraut ruin your sexcapades?”

“He ate half a jar before he met me at the hotel. Apparently he’s not used to it and it gave him explosive diarrhea.”

“Ouch, I’ll bet he was in pain.”

“You’re worried about his pain, what about me? I was chained to the bed and helpless. He couldn’t stop long enough to get off the toilet and come and unlock the cuffs.”

“Oh dear,”

“That bathroom door isn’t soundproof,”

“I see,” Otter stifled a laugh.

“And the smell…”

“Just be glad you’re not on the cleaning staff.”

“I think they were putting on hazmat suits when we checked out. I had my dark glasses on but I’m sure they recognized me.”

“You know that was just your imagination.”

“I’m not going to be able to use that hotel again. They will make sure I never get another room there ever.”

“Yeah, they probably have a black mark in your file.”

“But I blogged about it today, at least my sex life gives entertainment to others even if it isn’t doing anything for me.”

“Maybe you should try straight old fashioned sex, no toys, no gimmicks just a fun release.”

“Are you crazy?” Tempest put her ice cream down with a thump. “You mean go vanilla? I haven’t done anything like that since I was in my teens.”

“Ok, ok—I just thought it would work off some of your frustrations.” Spooky was patiently patting her knee while the other two cats were looking hopefully at Tempest.

“I am not frustrated! Maybe orgasms are a distant memory and I’ve had a few setbacks. There’s no sense in talking crazy.”

“Ok, fine, calm down,” Otter said and she laughed a little. “One day you might meet a guy that does it for you, and you won’t need all the artifice anymore.”

“I told you to stop talking crazy.”

“Ok, let’s change the subject. Did I tell you that Susan is fixing me up with someone new?”

“What’s the catch?”

“Why would there be any catch?”

“Remember the dog trainer she fixed you up with last time?”

“We weren’t compatible, that’s all.”

“He had a wife and a girlfriend and I think he was sleeping with his sister.”

“That’s what I meant by not compatible.”

“So what is the catch?”

“He’s from the coroner’s office. He works with the dead.”

“Oh,” Tempest said and thought about it a minute. “You’ll probably like that.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means you’re the kind of person that goes to exhibits that have plasticized cadavers and body parts. It means you’ll probably have a lot to talk about.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“No, but I think it would be great if you met a man who had the same intellectual capacity as you do.”

“Well we’ll see if he calls me.”

“And then this very strange funeral you went to.”

“The minister was very kind in speaking about people who kill themselves, but you could see that it was an extremely taboo thing.”

“It is in most places.”