Authors: Monique Miller
The Marrying Kind (18 page)
Chapter 25
That Wednesday morning Travis called in sick to work. Luckily he was in between training classes so there wouldn't be a burden placed on Kevin or any of the other trainers to have to take up any of his slack.
He was standing in front of the doors to the library when the librarian opened the doors. He was the first one to get a pass to get on the computers. He had armed himself with a bottle of water, a sandwich that he packed in his book bag to eat later, and some money to make copies of any information he might need to print, should the need arise.
The first thing he did was to pull up a search engine on the computer and he typed in the name Darrin Michael Hobbs. This search yielded numerous people in numerous states with the same name. There were links for various pieces of information, like social networking site links, YouTube links, and links to people-search Web sites.
So to narrow down the search, he clicked on to one of the people-search sites and typed in Darrin's name and the state of North Carolina. This search yielded a list of people named Darrin Hobbs with various ages. He saw one Darrin Hobbs who was age fifty-five and next to his name was a list of relatives, one of which was another Darrin Hobbs. Travis wondered if this was the father of the Darrin he was looking for.
He reentered his search. This time he put Darrin's full name and his age along with the state of North Carolina. Immediately Darrin's full name pulled up along with his age of thirty-three, the previous cities he'd lived in, and a list of his relatives, which included his father Darrin Hobbs, and other various people with the last name Hobbs. Travis assumed the other people were his mother, maybe, and also siblings.
The site showed that there was other data available for Darrin M. Hobbs. So to see the full report for Darrin, Travis clicked the icon for a full report. When he did another window opened up, stating that for a small fee of just $49.95, Travis could get information about any property Darrin owned as well as information about judgments, aliases, if he'd been married before, or was currently married, any bankruptcies he might have had, and if he had a criminal record.
For just $2.97 he could pull up basic information like Darrin's address and phone number. Travis opted for the second option. If it came down to it, later he would pay for the full report. Travis knew that there was more than one way to get information and if he did the legwork he could find out about much of what the full report would give him instantly. He had all day.
Periodically he found himself checking his phone to make sure he didn't have any missed phone calls from Beryl. He had to inwardly chuckle to himself because just a few short months ago he was dreading a call from his ex-wife, and now he waited in anticipation to hear from her.
Travis looked on the North Carolina Department of Correction offender Web site and did a public information search. There he was prompted to put in a first and last name as well as the middle initial, the person's gender, race, and age. After inputting all of the requested information he clicked the search button.
Only one name was pulled up, and from the looks of things it was Mr. Darrin Michael Hobbs himself, with the correct age, gender, and race. He clicked on the document number corresponding to Darrin's name and Travis's eyes bugged out when he saw a record for the guy.
The record showed that Darrin had been arrested for assault on a female. For the assault, he didn't spend any time in prison, but he was put on probation. The assault had happened twelve years prior. If Travis was doing his math right, it looked as if the incident had probably happened when Darrin was in college.
So on the surface it looked as if Darrin might be a woman beater, but there was only one record for him. He wished there were more specifics as to what had happened in that case. Did Darrin have the potential to be someone who would eventually end up trying to beat Beryl, or had he just had a misunderstanding with a girl in college who decided to file charges on him? Travis didn't know. He printed out the information so he would have a hard copy of it.
Next Travis did a basic search for Darrin Hobbs in Silvermont, North Carolina. He was surprised to see a list of links related to Darrin Hobbs. It looked as if Darrin was a very popular man in Silvermont who had several accolades and various civic-club, social affiliations as well as affiliations with the Carson State University Alumni Association.
As Travis clicked on each link he saw the nerd posing in pictures with his fraternity brothers and members of the city council, and there was even a picture of him with the governor of North Carolina. It looked as if Mr. Hobbs was a very popular person who was not only in the know but many people knew him also.
He clicked on each site and found Darrin mentioned in a favorable light. Other than the misdemeanor assault for which Darrin didn't do any time, Travis couldn't find anything else negative about the man. He looked virtually squeaky clean. Of course a lot of people looked squeaky clean until they got caught, especially the white-collar ones. And from the looks of it, Darrin was about as white-collar as they came.
Travis printed out some of the articles he found about Darrin with the various affiliations the man had. He seemed to have it all: connections, a home in a gated community, and his own business. But in all the pictures and stories Travis had reviewed about the man, there seemed to be one thing missingâa family.
It looked to Travis as if this was something that Darrin was currently working on. Beryl and the boys were a ready-made family. All Darrin had to do was slip the wedding ring on Beryl's finger, say, “I do,” and sign the papers.
Then Travis wondered what Darrin's plans were for after they consummated their marriage. People normally showed their best selves during the dating stage, and their true selves after the honeymoon was over. Darrin was already showing that he was overly controlling and acted as if he couldn't trust Beryl. In Travis's mind it would only get worse.
He felt a tap on his shoulder. “Sir, your time is up for the computer.”
He looked at the clock on the computer. Time had flown by. It was already noon. As if his stomach were connected to the clock on the computer, he all of a sudden felt hungry.
“Okay, sorry about that,” Travis said to the librarian.
He went to the printer, paid for all of his copies, and placed them in his book bag. Then he drove to the park and sat at a picnic table to eat his lunch while he went back over the information he'd gathered on the Internet.
“What to do now?” Travis said to himself. He checked his phone again, but there weren't any missed calls or messages from Beryl. Throwing caution to the wind, he went ahead and dialed her cell phone number. After it rang four times he heard the voice mail message with Beryl's voice saying to please leave a message.
He left a quick message about setting up a time to see the boys. The whole time he spoke he tried his best to disguise the concern in his voice. He left the superficial message, while wanting to yell a different message to her voice mail. He wanted to tell her that something wasn't right about Darrin and that she needed to leave and just cut her losses.
After finishing his sandwich, Travis got an idea. Now that he had Darrin's home address and now that he had his own car, he could go over there. He wouldn't actually go to the door, but he could do a drive by and check it out.
With newfound energy, he threw the napkin and sandwich bag from the sandwich he had eaten into the trash can, and headed to his car. When he got into his car, he only had one problem. He had no idea how to get to Darrin's house. He didn't have a GPS, nor did he have his trusty city map.
“Think, Travis, think,” he said to himself.
There were three options. He could buy another city map, he could go home and get his own city map, or he could go to the local library and print off directions straight from the library to the house. He opted for printing off the directions at the library. Already he was doing enough guesswork trying to figure out how to help Beryl and he didn't want to contend with the hassle of trying to drive and look at streets on a city map the whole time.
According to the directions Travis printed out, Darrin's house was somewhere in the subdivision he had just entered. He marveled at the homes he was passing. They were like mini-mansions. Each home had nice sprawling lawns, and some had three- and four-car garages.
He picked up the paper he'd printed out with the directions from his passenger seat. The directions said for him to turn left on Greenleaf and then to turn right on Chamberlain Drive. He followed the directions and looked to the left for the odd-numbered homes.
As he drove down the street he whispered to himself, “One fifty-five, one fifty-seven ... Okay, here we are, one fifty-nine Chamberlain Drive. Bingo.” He didn't stop in front of the house. Instead he drove a little bit farther down the street, then turned around in one of the other driveways. A couple of houses down from Darrin's there was a home for sale. Travis pulled into the driveway all the way up to the garage and turned his car off. He didn't want to be too close to the house for fear that either Beryl or Darrin might see him.
He wished there were a way to see or know what was or wasn't going on inside the house. Questions popped into his head. Was Beryl even home? It was hard to tell since people in this neighborhood actually used their garages for their cars and not as a storage area.
Beryl was still unemployed so there was a chance she was inside but she might also be out running errands. He guessed that Darrin, who had so many hats to wear, was probably in his office or making a business deal somewhere. He wondered how long he should sit there.
His cell phone rang. And as soon as he saw the caller ID he was disappointed.
“Hello,” Travis said.
“Hey, nephew,” Travis's Uncle Billy said.
“Well hello, stranger,” Travis said. He didn't have an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.
“I know I've been off the radar for a while. Sorry about that,” Billy said.
“No problem.”
“Hey, man. I need to ask you something.”
“Yes, what's up?” Travis asked.
“I need for you to be my best man at my wedding.”
“You two set a date?”
“Yeah, New Year's Eve.”
Travis could hear the joy and excitement in his uncle's voice.
“New Year's Eve? Why New Year's Eve? That's like in two months.”
“Because we wanted to start the New Year off right.”
“Okay,” Travis said. He closed his eyes. The lack of sleep from the night before and the dip in adrenaline was finally starting to catch up with him.
“So can you do it?” Billy asked.
“Of course I can do it. I am there for you, always,” Travis said. He was honored that his uncle wanted him to be his best man.
“Great. I'll let Ashley know.”
Travis laid his head back on the headrest. “Just let me know what I need to do and where I need to be.”
“I knew I could count on you,” Billy said.
“Hey, let me call you back a little later. I am in the middle of something right now,” Travis said.
“Oh, okay. Hit me back later,” Billy said.
“Will do.” He hung up the phone and opened his eyes. When he looked back down toward Darrin's house, he saw movement. The garage door was closing. He wondered if he had just missed either Beryl or Darrin pulling in to it. But when he looked both ways down the street he saw Darrin's black Lexus with the unmistakable
EXCEL
license plate. Darrin was leaving the house.
EXCEL
license plate. Darrin was leaving the house.
Travis cranked his car back up and pulled out of the driveway of the home that was for sale. He figured if anyone had seen him, then maybe they would think he had actually been there to see the house.
He drove slowly down the street in the same direction Darrin had gone in. “So where are we going this fine afternoon?” Travis spoke to himself, wondering out loud.
Darrin drove through the streets of the subdivision until he hit one of the main streets where he picked up speed. Travis did the same, picking up speed to try not to lose him. When he got three car lengths away from Darrin he slowed down a bit, keeping a couple of cars in front of him.
Travis honestly didn't think that Darrin would notice him in his early-model, nondescript Honda Accord, but he was going to be careful just the same. When a light turned red, Darrin stopped and so did Travis. At that point there was one car separating Travis's from Darrin's. Travis could see Darrin through the car in front of him and it looked as if the man was on his cell phone. It made Travis wonder if he was calling Beryl to check up on her.
Darrin pulled to the side of a street and parked and Travis did the same. When Travis looked around he saw an elementary school with cars were lined up in front of it. He read the sign in front of the school that said T
RINITY
P
ARK
E
LEMENTARY
. He remembered that Cameron went to Trinity Park Elementary. In the line of parked cars waiting for school to be dismissed, Travis saw Beryl's car.
RINITY
P
ARK
E
LEMENTARY
. He remembered that Cameron went to Trinity Park Elementary. In the line of parked cars waiting for school to be dismissed, Travis saw Beryl's car.
Other books
An Underestimated Christmas (Underestimated 3) by Woodruff, Jettie
The Darke Chronicles by David Stuart Davies
For a Roman's Heart by Agnew, Denise A.
The Fire Kimono by Laura Joh Rowland
Charlie by Lesley Pearse
Cotton: Satan's Fury MC by Wilder, L.
Ophelia by Jude Ouvrard
The King’s Assassin by Donald, Angus
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
The Witch of Painted Sorrows by Rose, M. J.