"No, I don't believe it. My brother wouldn't do something like that. My folks didn't raise him that way." Said Alvin shaking his head in contempt.
Bridget sat on a white leather sofa with her legs crossed and fondled her orange plastic purse like she was petting a kitten. She longed for a cigarette but knew better to ask just judging on the condition of the brand new almost half a million dollar house. It was her second trip to her future brother in law's house. The vanilla carpet was soft and squishy without any beer or coffee stains unlike the carpet in Vinny's trailer. To her left was a beautiful fireplace that ran on gas and could be started by remote control. Out in the kitchen she could see lofty swivel bar stools encompassing a glossy onyx counter top and a refrigerator so big it looked like it belonged to a celebrity. Bridget had always dreamed about living in homes like this but knew she would never find a mature enough guy to help her establish her dream home.
Alvin sat in a hand carved rocking chair across from Bridget still dressed in his uniform minus his shoes with his feet perched on a rocking hassock that matched the rhythm of the rocking chair. Alvin had a doctor's look of concern on his face and kept his gaze on his smelly socks that were dilating as he spread out his worn out toes. The starlike epaulet on the side of his shoulder was marred suggesting at one point he had been involved in some sort of scuffle.
Bridget nervously crossed and uncrossed her thunder thigh legs.
"I don't want to believe it either! I love Vincent, really,I do. But there is definitely something going on with him." She said squeezing her unique purse out of frustration.
It was still Sunday and getting close to 10pm. Alvin was having trouble relinquishing the thought of his favorite television show "The Man Show" which was supposed to be the last episode coming on in about 20 minutes when Marie would be leaving for work. Marie was Alvin's newly wed wife and two months pregnant but it had not yet started to show.
Marie scurried around the house in her green hospital scrubs trying to get ready to work the night shift at the local hospital. Weighing only 105 pounds Marie had the body of a gymnast and the smile of a Hollywood star. Bridget could tell by observing Marie's gesticulations that she was a high maintenance woman.
Marie pranced around the house humming an unknown tune while spraying hairspray into her jet black hair. In just a blink of an eye Marie popped out of the kitchen holding two mugs of steaming hot coffee and handed one to Alvin and then one to Bridget which she graciously accepted.
"Careful it's hot." Forewarned Marie extending her arm and showing off her new diamond bracelet she had just got for Christmas. Bridget took small sips pursing her lips and savoring the English flavor. Alvin looked too distressed to even sip his coffee and remained gawking at the Bridget Jones look-A-like with a deadpan look on his face.
"So, please tell me more about this so called hidden code you found in one of Vinny's People magazines." He said scratching a dried up particle of food from the tip of the mug that the dishwasher didn't pick up.
Bridget quickly used her free hand to dig into her orange purse and fished around for the stippled article she had ripped from the People magazine. Before she could rise from the sofa to hand Alvin the article, his fatigue eluded him and he sprung from the rocking chair and snatched it out of her hand. She wondered if he was going to chew it up and swallow it decomposing the evidence that might incriminate his only brother.
Alvin's eagle eye vision was quick to pick up the subtle pinholes intentionally punched above certain letters in an effort to cry out for help.
Meanwhile...
Marie donned a furry coat and gyrated towards the front door as she put it on. She waved a cutesy bye-bye to both of them and slipped out the front door.
After decoding the hidden message, Alvin folded up the magazine article and stuffed it into his front shirt pocket. "You said there's more to the story. What other things have you discovered?" He said with both hands now resting on his hips.
"Well, I called up the Church Of The Brethren and spoke with the secretary. She said that she is positive that Vinny wasn't at church this morning. Vincent rarely ever misses a service."
"You don't go to church with him?"
Bridget shook her head. "That's where him and I fall out. I've believed in Karma since I was 16."
"Okay, I'm a little confused. What does Vinny's not being in church have to do with anything?"
Bridget cupped her hand over her mouth. "You don't know what happened in Baltimore this morning? It was all over the news. A 6 month old infant was kidnapped from a church and placed in a crib with bombs strapped around it!" She said standing up to get her point across, "I'm not positive, but I think the father of that kid was one of Vinny's students from 7th grade that got him in trouble. The police are linking the father to the crime because he is missing but I think Vinny may have set him up." She said wiping a tear from her eye.
Alvin tried to keep himself together but the news he was hearing was disturbing. It suddenly dawned on him what Bridget was talking about.
"I spent all day in the squad car patrolling so I didn't get a chance to watch television. Come to think about it, I do recall the Amber alert on the radio this morning and hearing something about it." He said digging his toes into the carpet. Alvin still had a hard time believing his older brother could possibly be the Gadget Man. He finally took his first sip of coffee and tried desperately to put his mind at ease.
Bridget had tiny tears trickling down her rosy cheeks. It seemed like every time she fell in love there was always a catch. A drug addiction, psychosis, or in Shaggy's case, important body parts on the fritz.
"Where's my brother at right now?" Asked Alvin pulling a cellphone out of his pocket.
Bridget plucked a Kleenex from her unique purse and pampered her impeccable face.
"I don't know where he's at. We got into an argument at dinner over religion again. We were supposed to catch a movie after dinner but he seemed really upset and said I was acting up. Then he accused me of sleeping with my ex- boyfriend who I haven't even seen in three years. He paid the tab at the restaurant, gave me 20 bucks and told me I had to find my own ride home and then took off!" She said with resentment coming into her voice. She watched Alvin punch some numbers into his cellphone.
"Who you calling?"
"I've got a friend in the FBI that might be able to help us out. He has a lot of clout with the bureau." He said holding the phone to his ear. Bridget began to feel like a snitch but she knew she was doing the right thing. She secretly wished she could put all of this behind her and lock Marie out of the house then live the rest of her days with Alvin. Marie had the tight body of an Olympic skater but Bridget had a prominent buxom that looked like something you might see at a renaissance fair which kept guys gawking from hundreds of feet away. Sometimes she wondered if that was her only asset.
Bridget took her seat on the sofa again and nursed her coffee while preparing herself to eavesdrop on Alvin's phone conversation. Everything was completely quiet except for her beating heart while she waited for Alvin's friend to take his phone call.
After a few rings Alvin's thick uni-brow jounced like Tiger hopping around from Winnie-The-Pooh. Bridget leaned forward and tried to listen intently.
"Erik? Hey what's up this is Alvin..." He said rolling his eyes. Erik had curtailed him and had already begun gabbling like usual. "Oh yeah, she's doing fine. She's two months pregnant now. Hey look I really need to ask you something. How much do you know about this so called Gadget Man?" Said Alvin quickly pulling a pocket sized note pad from his shirt pocket and clicking his pen.
Alvin's face looked like it grew 3 inches longer as he scribbled on the pad. "Okay you said they believe he was prior service, tall, and well educated in the field of electronics and was believed to be seen driving a red Jeep Wrangler?" Said Alvin incredulously shaking his head at Bridget. Although he rarely stayed in touch with his brother, he had never saw Vincent in a red Jeep.
Bridget raised her hands palms up signaling that she didn't know either. With her keen sense of hearing, she thought she could make out Erik's voice on the other end of the line.
"Is this all speculation or do you have any real evidence for me?" Asked Alvin crossing his fingers behind his back. If Vincent really was the Gadget Man, Alvin's good reputation might be quashed forever just for being his brother.
"None? You sure about that?" He said with a sigh of relief. "Oh... I don't have any leads I was just curious that's all...yeah I know...that reward money is kinda high...hey look I gotta go thanks for your insight." He said winking at Bridget as if to say everything is going to be okay.
Just before he was about to flip his cellphone shut his eyes got all big. "Oh, there's more?" He said clicking his pen and getting ready to jot.
What he wrote on the pocket sized notepad made an indentation into the next 5 pages. At the bottom right hand corner of his notation Alvin had written out and carefully circled the most puzzling piece of the puzzle that would eventually tie everything together.
5 twists.