QR Code Killer (23 page)

“Yeah, the baby is pretty lively today, is all,” she
said, grabbing Ty’s hand and holding it on her stomach. He left his
palm where she placed it and could feel tiny little kicks against
his hand.

“I tell you, he’s going to be a first-class kicker on
the football team,” Ty said, smiling at thoughts of his future
nephew.

“She could also be a ballerina or a soccer player,”
Beth said with a twinkle in her brilliant blue eyes, the exact same
shade as Ty’s.

“So have you and Nate finally settled on names?” Ty
asked as he gathered up plates and silverware, setting them on the
table.

“We’ve got the list narrowed down to a dozen
each.”

“Wow, that is real progress,” Ty teased, putting the
butter dish and napkins on the table.

He and Beth both looked up as Nate came in the door,
tired and dejected. Nate spent his days filling out applications,
participating in interviews, and trying to drum up some interest in
his resume. The past few months he grew accustomed to hearing he
was overqualified, too experienced, or they couldn’t afford someone
with his skill set. Those doing the hiring didn’t even give him a
chance to say he’d happily take a huge cut in pay just to be
employed.

Hanging up his coat and putting his umbrella next to
Beth’s, he gave her a warm hug before extending a hand to Ty.

“Hey, bro, good to see you,” Nate said, loosening his
tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

“You, too, man,” Ty said. “No luck today?”

“No. You either?” Nate asked as he carefully brushed
off his suit jacket and hung it in the hall closet.

“Maybe,” Ty said, leaning against the wall between
the kitchen and the rest of the open apartment so both Beth and
Nate could hear him.

“What’s ‘maybe’ mean?” Beth asked, sticking her head
out of the kitchen to look at Ty. “Care to expound on that?”

“I fired off an inquiry for a mechanics job in Harney
County. The requirements were pretty vague, so I’ll see if I get a
response,” Ty said, nonchalantly.

“Harney County? Isn’t that somewhere in Eastern
Oregon, in the middle of no-where?” Beth asked while Nate changed
his clothes in the bathroom.

“Southeast, I think,” Nate said as he reappeared,
wearing faded jeans and a sweatshirt. “What would you be
doing?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Do you have yesterday’s
classifieds?” Ty asked as Beth brought a basket of hot rolls to the
table. The steam escaping from around the edges of the napkin
caught Ty’s attention and he shoved his hands in his pockets to
keep from snitching one.

Nate pulled the paper out of his briefcase and gave
it to Ty. Snapping it open, Ty scanned down the column of ads,
placing his finger on the one listing for a mechanic. “This one,”
he said, handing the paper to Nate.

“That is vague,” Nate said after reading the ad
twice. “Based on the qualifications, you shouldn’t have any
problem. You’ve been a certified mechanic for what, eight
years?”

“Nine. I got my certification the day I turned
twenty. It was quite a celebration,” Ty said with a cocky grin.

“I remember that,” Beth said, smacking Ty on the arm.
“If Mom had known about your little after-party antics, she would
have boxed your ears.”

“Yeah, she would have, but you were always good at
keeping me out of too much trouble,” Ty said, waiting for Beth to
sit down before he took his seat at the small table. Scrunched into
the corner by the kitchen, the table was laughably small when he
and Nate, both over six-feet tall, sat around it. They’d gotten
into the habit of extending their legs in opposite directions to
keep from bumping knees under the table.

Ty studied his sister and felt love and tenderness
tug at his heart. Two years his senior, Beth always mothered and
protected him. Their mother, Toni, was wonderful and loving, but
she worked multiple jobs to keep a roof over their head and food on
their table.

From information he and Beth pieced together over the
years, their mom fell in love with a no-good loser. He was a
good-looking bad-boy type, oozing charm and telling her whatever
she wanted to hear. Toni married him, thinking he would settle down
and change his ways as they started a family. He played at being a
husband, but preferred drinking, gambling and carousing to acting
like a grown up. He tried to be a father after Beth was born but
when Toni announced she was pregnant with Ty, the jerk disappeared.
They never heard from him again.

Ty thought that might have been part of why Beth
waited so long to start her own family. She wanted to make sure
Nate was going to stick around, but he was one of the good guys. Ty
knew despite their current financial situation, Nate would take
good care of Beth and their baby.

“This job description says you must like animals.
Have you ever been around animals?” Nate asked as they enjoyed the
delicious chicken soup Beth served for dinner.

“One of my friends had a dog and Mom let us keep a
stray cat for a few weeks once. I liked them both just fine,” Ty
said, buttering another warm roll. He’d have to find a way to buy
more groceries to pay back for what he was eating tonight, but the
food tasted so good.

Nate nodded his head. They went on to discuss some
places they applied for jobs that day. Ty just finished his second
bowl of soup when his phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket,
he was surprised to see a text message in response to his inquiry
about the job.

Looking up, he smiled.

“What’s that about?” Beth asked, curious.

“It’s about that job. They want my full resume and
references by tomorrow morning,” Ty said, trying not to get
excited. Turning to Nate he grinned. “Can I use your laptop for a
few minutes?”

“Sure, man. Let’s help Beth with the dishes and then
you can prepare to dazzle these people with your extensive
experience and credentials.”

Ty laughed and helped himself to another roll.

After the dishes were done, Beth sat on the couch
working on a baby blanket she was trying to crochet, while Nate and
Ty sat at the table with the laptop computer. Having gone through
the routine multiple times before, Nate created a folder on the
computer for Ty so he could easily attach his resume and references
to emails. Ty could have done it all from his cell phone, but it
was a lot easier to sit at a computer and type out a cover
letter.

When he finished, he asked Beth to read the letter.
She suggested a few changes which he made before sending off the
information to Lex Ryan of Riley, Oregon.

“Maybe this will be the one,” Beth said, placing a
warm hand on Ty’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

“I hope so. Although I’m not so sure I want to move
too far away from you, especially with the baby coming soon,” Ty
said, honestly. He had no idea how far this job would be from
Portland, so the three of them pulled up a state map and found
Harney County. By zooming in on the map, they finally located the
tiny dot that marked Riley. It was really out in the middle of
no-where.

“Good grief, Ty. That looks like a lot of open
country. What if you get eaten by a bear?” Beth asked
dramatically.

Ty and Nate both laughed.

“I don’t think I need to worry about wildlife or bear
encounters. I’m not going to the wilds of some third-world country.
Besides, let’s see if I even get an interview before we get all
hysterical.”

“Good point,” Nate said, hugging Beth to him. “How
about a game of Clue?”

As Ty sat playing the board game, he realized being
destitute really changed your attitude about a lot of things. At
29, he never pictured himself sitting crammed into a corner playing
a silly board game with his very pregnant sister and her husband
and actually enjoying it.

One good thing he could say about being broke and
without resources was that it made you appreciate the people who
loved you.

<><><>

Beth talked Ty into spend the night on their couch.
It was too short for him to be able to completely stretch out, but
better than trying to sleep in his pickup. It was also a lot
warmer. Peeking out of the miniscule balcony window the next
morning, Ty was shocked to see a frosting of snow covering
everything. He smiled to himself, thinking Beth was right once
again.

Taking note that Nate and Beth were still asleep, Ty
quietly took his things to the bathroom, enjoyed a hot shower and
dressed before bundling into his coat and heading outside. He
walked down the street to a bakery and bought them all muffins and
hot coffee, returning to the apartment just as Beth came out of the
bathroom, dressed for work.

“Told you it would snow,” Beth said triumphantly as
Ty set the muffins and coffee on the table. Taking off his coat, he
offered her a grin and helped her get plates and napkins. By then,
Nate was up and the three of them ate breakfast before Beth left
for work.

“What are your plans today?” Nate asked as he sat
sipping his coffee and eating another muffin.

“I thought I’d try going to some of the bigger car
dealerships again to see if any positions have opened up since the
last time I checked,” Ty said, slowly drinking his coffee. It was
too early to start going door-to-door and too cold to sit out in
his truck for any length of time. “How about you?”

“I heard a rumor that a new facility was opening in
Woodburn. Thought I’d drive down and check it out. If I can get a
contact name, maybe I can get my foot in the door before they fill
all the positions,” Nate said, finishing his coffee and getting up
from the table. He and Ty did the few dishes from breakfast and
left them in the drainer to dry.

Shrugging into his coat, Ty gave Nate a slap on the
shoulder as they stood at the door.

“Thanks for letting me crash here last night. I might
have frozen outside,” Ty said, opening the door.

“Thanks for coming in. You know Beth worries about
you. You’re always welcome, bro,” Nate said as Ty waved and walked
down the hall.

Before he had a chance to make the dealership rounds,
a friend called and asked Ty if he could come over right away to do
some work on a car.

Ty arrived at Jeff’s house to find his wife’s car
dead in the garage. It didn’t take long to determine the problem.
Calling Jeff, he offered an estimate on the cost of parts. Jeff
gave him the go-ahead so Ty purchased the parts with his credit
card and had the car back together and running smoothly by the time
Jeff arrived home for lunch. Taking the car for a quick test drive,
Jeff stopped by the bank and made a withdrawal, paying Ty for the
parts and throwing in a nice chunk of change for his labor.

Inviting him in for lunch, Ty accepted and they
visited for a few minutes before Jeff headed back to work.

Ty deposited the cash needed to cover the credit card
expenses into his bank account then pocketed the rest, planning to
buy some groceries for Beth and Nate later that afternoon. He was
waiting in line to leave the bank parking lot when his cell phone
buzzed with a text message.

Pulling back into a parking space he read the text
from Lex Ryan about the job in Riley. According to the message, Lex
was impressed with his experience and references and wanted to
conduct an interview. Ty needed to call someone named Swede at four
o’clock if he was interested. He would also be receiving a list of
questions Lex wanted completed and e-mailed back before four if
that was possible.

Ty quickly changed his plans and drove to the
library. Going inside, he sat down at an empty computer station,
opened his email account and completed the questionnaire from
Lex.

At first the questions didn’t seem like anything out
of the ordinary, but toward the end of the two-page document, a few
of them caught him off guard.

He answered them as best he could, confused and
somewhat unsettled by the questions:

Are you afraid of dogs?

No

Do wide open spaces bother you?

No

Can you live without access to modern
conveniences?

Yes

Ty didn’t know how he could have access to any fewer
conveniences than he did living in his pickup, but decided it was
best not to offer that opinion.

Are you willing to relocate to a rural
atmosphere?

Yes

How bad could it be living in the country? He’d gone
for many drives outside of Portland and enjoyed the gentle rolling
hills of farmland. It seemed peaceful and nice. He could adjust to
that, no problem.

The final question Ty classified as downright
bizarre:

Will it bother you to live in a house with the rest
of the hands without access to a nightlife or eligible young
females?

No

A guy living in his truck doesn’t have a night life
or dating scene and there are no eligible females who want to hang
out with a man who is homeless, so it didn’t bother Ty in the least
to answer that question honestly.

The reason behind the question did, however, give him
a moment of pause before he hit send.

He needed this job, though, and if Mr. Ryan had a few
quirks, so be it.

Staying at the library until time for his phone call,
Ty found a quiet corner and pulled a small notebook out of his coat
pocket. He used it to keep track of all sorts of information and
wanted to have it handy in case he needed to take any notes from
the call today.

At two minutes before four, he punched in the number
and the phone was answered on the first ring.

“Rockin’ R Ranch,” said a voice that sounded like it
chewed gravel for breakfast.

“Hi, this is Tyler Lewis. I was asked to call this
number at four today and speak with Mr. Swede,” Ty said, trying to
use his best professional phone manners.