The Mystery of the Congressman and the Jazz Club. Part 2: The Culprit

The rock bounced off Ethan’s head as he was driving home on the dark road. Then he noticed that there was a hole in the windshield. That was the order of perception. First, the feeling of something bouncing off his head and then seeing that strangely, he was looking through a hole in his windshield. 

He wasn’t hurt by the rock through the windshield. It kind of glanced off of the steering wheel and grazed his head lightly and ended up on the floor in front of the passenger’s seat. Or maybe it hadn’t hit him. Maybe it was the opening up of a hole in the windshield that made him think when he saw the rock that it had hit him. But he wasn’t hurt. That was it. It must not have struck him. 

Just down the road he pulled off to the side of the four-lane highway and assessed the damages and thought about what had happened. He realized that he had gone under an overpass and someone must have thrown the rock down at his car. Randomly most likely. He couldn’t imagine at that moment that anyone was targeting him. All he knew was that he had to drive on. He had to get away from the culprit who had done this to him. 

Culprit. What a word and it sped into and out of his mind as quickly as the hole in the windshield had appeared. Some culprit had thrown a rock and now he had a damaged windshield and he had to get back on the road and away from this place. Maybe the culprit, he kept thinking that word over and over, would see him from the overpass, see that he had pulled over, and come down to finish the job. But why? Why would he have someone trying to kill him?

Then, slowly, he remembered why he had gotten out of town early on Saturday morning in the first place, why he had taken this spur-of-the-moment trip by himself. He had relaxed so much the last few days that on the drive home this dark night he was just listening to some jazz on the radio and feeling safe before the open windshield jolted him back to reality. The jazz continued to play and reminded him of his seeing his Congressman coming out of the jazz club a few weekends back, just before it was announced that his Congressman had died at home after being sick for a week. But he knew better.

And now as he realized why the rock might have been thrown through his windshield he realized that this was no random incident, not just someone drunk or letting off steam or showing off to his friends that he could hit a car with a rock. He was targeted. Ethan began to realize as he drove that if the rock would have come through the windshield and struck him directly in the face he might well have crashed the car and died. The news wouldn’t even have made much of a splash what with all the car accidents that happen from time to time.

The more he thought of what could have happened the shakier he felt as he drove. As quickly as he could he went to a friend’s house and knocked on the door even though it was late. She opened the door and said the kids were in bed and her husband wasn’t home yet from work but of course he could come inside. She could tell that something had happened to him as soon as she opened the door and took one look. 

Ethan closed the door behind him and locked it and looked out the front window. He walked around very nervously as he told her about the rock through his windshield. He didn’t tell her his speculations and what had happened about the Congressman but he told her about the accident itself and that he was worried that someone might be after him. She tried to calm him down and assure him that those kinds of things happened randomly from time to time and that it was all over now. He felt calmer hearing her say that but kept pacing and as he walked into the kitchen he noticed that the overhead light bulb was out. 

She knew where a bulb was so soon she was standing on a chair with a bulb and replacing the burned-out one when it slipped from her hand. It seemed to explode when it hit the floor and Ethan panicked. It was like a shot had been fired and any calmness that had come upon him was instantly gone and he felt under attack. He balled up on the couch in the living room and she pulled him into her arms and held him for a long time telling him that it was just a broken bulb and that he was OK. He was safe now she said over and over. 

Ethan rocked back and forth as he was held. He was like a child but also inside him he knew that he had reason to be afraid. Not from a light bulb or anyone in this home but from someone, some organization, that knew that he knew too much. A weekend away couldn’t make this all go away now. Two Congressmen were now dead and he might be the only one to know that there was a link between them and that the link was that if one more Congressman died and was replaced by a governor of the opposing party the majority in the House of Representatives would shift.

Would people really kill to take over power in Washington? It seemed as absurd to him now as it had when he had first thought of it. But now someone was after him too. Someone wanted to make his death look like an accident just like they made his Congressman’s death look like it was from some illness. If they would kill two Congressmen they would have no problem justifying killing him as well and eliminating any more questions. So many thoughts ran through his mind as she held him to calm him down. He started to relax in her arms.

Then he heard the garage door go up, a car driving in, and the garage door go back down. His friend let go of the hug as she slid to the other end of the couch. Just then Ethan’s phone rang. It was the voice of the man who had warned him before. He said to get out of the house. Now. 

Ethan told his friend he needed to take this call in private as he got up and went out the back door, waving at her husband as he walked in from the garage. His friend smiled and then his expression changed as he saw the look on Ethan’s face as he saw who walked in behind him. It was the man from the jazz club. The one who without a doubt in Ethan’s mind knew the real cause of death of the Congressman.

Ethan ran around the house to his car and jumped in. Then he raced away, looking out through the hole in the windshield. He didn’t know for sure but it definitely was a good possibility that the jazz club man was behind a lot of what was happening. But why was he there at his friend’s house that night? Was the long hug a set up to give her husband plenty of time to get home that night? Ethan didn’t think so. It didn’t feel staged to him. He felt comforted by a caring friend. Nothing out of the ordinary in that.

But regardless of why the jazz club man showed up right then, Ethan thought of one real possibility. That man might well be the one who threw the rock through his windshield and was looking to finish the job. He definitely could be the culprit.

The Mystery of the Congressman and the Jazz Club. Part 1: No Doubt About It

The ringing of the phone, yes an old school setting of a telephone ring on his phone, awakened Ethan from a sound sleep at 3:04 a.m. At 25 you would think he might have still been out with friends at that time, especially on a Friday night. But he had fallen asleep on the couch about midnight after a very long and stressful week. Each day this week the pressure had built more and more and he knew he was the only one who could do what had to be done. At least he felt that way.

The phone just kept ringing as he moved towards the coffee table where it lay while thinking of what the call could mean. Since finding out on Monday that his Congressman had died he had felt an ache in the bottom of his stomach. Just last weekend he had seen the man getting into a stretch limo outside of a jazz club that he himself was going into. He thought it was odd to see him because he had always heard that the Congressman fancied opera. Still, Ethan thought it was kind of cool that the Congressman would appreciate jazz as well. Good for you man he thought to himself as he turned from seeing the limo drive away to going into the club to the sounds of sax and trumpet and more soothing his aching heart. Jazz will do that, except when it penetrates a hurt in a different way that doesn’t soothe at all but brings out the pain.

He hadn’t thought about that anymore until hearing of the Congressman’s death. The report said that he had been sick in bed for a week and had finally succumbed to the illness. Most people just heard the news, said that was too bad, and turned to the next news item or favorite video to watch again. Ethan couldn’t get it out of his head. He knew the Congressman hadn’t been in bed for a week. He knew he had seen him last Friday night, just a week ago now, and he was climbing into a limo.

Ethan also knew that it was none of his business. Who cares whether the man was bedridden for a week or had gotten out for one night for some jazz? If he was dying who could blame him. But something just didn’t feel right about it. Why would anyone hide the fact that during his illness he decided to go out on a night that he felt a little better and enjoy some good music? Wouldn’t that make him more human, more of a regular guy? Surely no one would berate a dying man for wanting to be out among the living just one more time.

Ethan had shaken it off on Monday when he heard about it and gotten back to work. Then after work late that afternoon he drove by the jazz club on his way home and saw that it had a sign on it that it was closed. Closed for good. That definitely seemed strange since it had been around for a lot of years and when he was there it looked full and very prosperous.

He pulled in front of it and saw a guy coming out and locking the door. He rolled down his window and said that it was too bad the place was closing, that he really liked coming there. The guy just looked around like he was afraid that someone was watching and said he agreed that it was too bad. Ethan said that he had been there on Friday night and thought he had seen the Congressman getting into a limo outside. The guy stared at him and said he didn’t know anything about that and Ethan must have been mistaken. Then he hurried away as Ethan stared after him.

That night Ethan did some research on the Congressman online. It seems that, as he had always heard, the Congressman was one of the good guys. He tried to do what would help the people he represented while still caring about the country overall. He would be missed for sure. Ethan closed the cover of his laptop and went to bed, still wondering about having seen the guy getting in that limo.

The next day he saw a news report about how there would not be a viewing for the Congressman and not even a funeral or a burial. He was being cremated and his family would privately scatter his ashes somewhere. There was to be nothing public at all. He thought that was pretty strange for such a public figure but the report said that his family was asking everyone to respect their wishes for privacy in this loss. He could respect a family’s wishes for privacy but this seemed very odd to him that there wouldn’t be at least some kind of time and place for people to express their feelings about the Congressman. 

It was Wednesday as he was eating lunch at a Food Truck several blocks from his work that he glanced over his chilidog and saw the man from the jazz club talking to a man in a suit and nodding over at where he was. That guy wasn’t nodding at Ethan he was nodding towards him so that the man in the suit would see him. Ethan glanced away and took a bite of his lunch and then started walking back to work, still eating and carrying his drink. 

When he finished lunch he stopped to throw the trash in a garbage can along the street and noticed that the jazz club man and the suit guy were walking at a little distance behind him in the same direction as he was going. They looked away when they saw that Ethan had seen them. This whole thing was getting stranger.

Ethan walked into his office building and tried to shake it off as a coincidence as he worked that afternoon. That night he stopped at his church to just sit and pray awhile in a quiet atmosphere. It felt good to just be there and sort through his thoughts, hoping that God would give him peace to just let this all go. 

But that didn’t happen. Instead, he sensed that he should not just let it go but instead try to figure this out, or at least let someone know what he had seen. He could pass on his information to the police and then just let it all go and get back to his life.

On his way home he stopped at the Police Station and asked to speak with an officer. The officer heard what he told him about having seen the Congressman the previous Friday night outside the jazz club. He listened to Ethan and said he would pass it on to his Captain but that there was no ongoing investigation about the Congressman’s death so there was really no one to talk to about this. He thanked him for being a concerned citizen and assured him that what he had told him would be passed along.

Ethan left the Police Station feeling like he had done what he was supposed to do and that now it was time to just let it all go. Evidently, someone else agreed with him because when he got back to his apartment there was a note that had been slipped under his door. It said that if he was smart he would just let it all go. The note didn’t say what “it” was but there was no doubt in his mind what they were talking about. 

Ethan took a picture of the note, put it back into the envelope that it had been in, and went back to the police station to find the officer that he had just talked with and handed him the note. The officer read it and then disappeared for a few minutes before coming back to Ethan and asking him to come with him to the Captain’s office. Ethan followed him and then told the Captain everything that he had told the officer earlier and gave him the note that he had just found at his apartment.

The Captain looked very serious and told him not to talk to anyone else and that he would follow up on all of this. He told Ethan what a good thing he had done by reporting this. Very few would have he said. Very few get involved. He was grateful and even though he thought that it was probably nothing serious he would look again at the report that the officer had filed earlier and make sure it was updated and looked at again.

The next day when Ethan got to work his boss called him into his office. He told Ethan that a police officer had called him and asked about the kind of person that Ethan was, about his character and his trustworthiness. He didn’t tell his boss what this was about but his boss knew it must be serious. He asked Ethan what this was all about and Ethan told him that it was best if he didn’t tell him, that he had been asked by the police not to tell anyone.

Just then the phone of his boss rang and he answered it. He glanced at Ethan and nodded that he should leave his office and close his door on the way out. After Ethan was out he could hear his boss talking quietly to someone and heard his own name in the conversation. 

Though he hadn’t been at work long, Ethan decided to leave and get a cup of coffee to try and calm down. He knew something was up and now his boss knew something about it, whatever it was. He walked to a food truck that was selling coffee and danish a block away and got what he wanted and started walking. By the time his head cleared he realized that he had been out walking for an hour or so and decided he better get back to work. 

Upon arriving at the building and walking inside he was greeted by a security guard that he had never seen before. Normally Ethan would greet the regular guard and then talk a moment about a game the night before or about the weather. Today, however, Ethan was asked for his company ID. Quizzically, Ethan pulled it out and handed it to the new security guard who told him that it would not be returned and that Ethan had been terminated by the company and should leave immediately.

Stunned but being walked back out the door by the guard Ethan realized that something was very wrong. Just an hour or so ago he was talking with his boss and now he was fired, without his boss even having the decency to tell him about it himself. 

The guard stepped back inside the building and Ethan stood there for several minutes just looking at him and the building and not believing what was going on. Then he turned and went to the police station to talk to the officer that he had talked with just the day before. But the officer wasn’t there. Ethan was told that the officer had not reported for work this morning. The person at the desk laughed and said maybe he had decided to take a vacation that he had been talking about for a long time.

Ethan asked if he could talk with the Captain and after waiting for an hour was finally shown in to see him. When he walked into the Captain’s office a man greeted him and asked how he could help him. It wasn’t the man that he had talked with just the day before. Ethan asked about him and was told that the other man had been reassigned to another precinct.

Ethan thought that it was interesting that the policeman had not shown up today and the Captain was reassigned but he tried not to let on and just asked this Captain if he knew about his report from the day before. Ethan told him his name and the Captain said he didn’t know anything about it but he had just gotten there this morning from the other precinct and Ethan should tell him the details. Ethan told him what he had told the policeman and now the Captain asked Ethan to wait outside of his office while he checked on it.

While Ethan waited he saw several people go in and out of the Captain’s office. Then he was called back in and told that there was no record of him or any report on him. Ethan asked if he could have the note back that he had brought in the night before but the Captain said there was no record of any note either so he couldn’t help him out with that.

Just as Ethan was pulling out his phone to show the Captain a picture of the note that he had received he thought better of it and just said that he had gotten a text from his Dad and needed to check on him. The Captain told him not to worry about his report and that the Congressman had been at home for a week before he died and that Ethan must have been mistaken that he had seen him out. Ethan just smiled and said that he certainly could have been wrong and thanks for talking to him. 

As Ethan left the police station he felt like he was being watched. But every time he looked around there was no one. So he went home and got on the internet and looked for more information on the Congressman and his death. Not much was there about his death other than the fact that the Governor had already appointed someone to fill his congressional seat until the end of the term. The Governor had decided that since it was only eleven months until the end of the Congressman’s term that they wouldn’t have time for a special election before then. Ethan didn’t recognize the name of the person who the Governor had appointed. He had never heard of him. But he knew that the Governor was of a different party than the Congressman had been and so had most likely appointed someone of his own party. That’s how those things worked. 

The minority party had only been three persons away from reclaiming the majority in the House of Representatives. Now the margin was only two. Ethan thought to himself that it was too bad that his Congressman had died. He was a really good guy. 

It wasn’t until the next day, after spending the day searching for a new job, that he had time to look up more about the new Congressman. He recognized him when he saw him in a news interview that night. He was the man in the suit that he had seen with the jazz club man.

The phone ringing roused him from his thoughts of this week and he grabbed it. A voice on the other end told him that he might like to know that another Congressman had just gotten sick this week and died tonight. Then the phone line went dead. 

He brought up the picture of the note he had received just a couple of days ago. The one that said that if he was smart he would just let it all go. Right then he decided that he wasn’t smart. No doubt about...it.

Light

As I lay in bed the light slowly creeps into the room. It isn’t quite sunrise yet but it isn’t completely dark either. I stretch the littlest bit and then roll over to my other side to sleep some more, not yet fully roused for the day and wanting to stay in my half-asleep, half-awake mode.

The light of the sun shouldn’t be able to come through our darkened drapes, our made to keep the light out drapes, but there is often a crack between the sections of the drapes that somehow allows a little light. By the time I awake more fully there is more light than before which is actually a good thing because I don’t like to have to get up while it is dark. 

I slide my legs over the side of the bed and my feet touch the floor as more light floods the room. By now my eyes are adjusted. It’s so much better than the harsh light of the bathroom when I need to go in there during the night and turn on the lights. Just the right amount of light comes into the bathroom through the blinds there at this time of morning so that there is no need for more.

In a few minutes, I run my fingers through my hair to sort it out and get it presentable for the day, and then sometimes, if I haven’t already prayed before getting out of bed, I lay back down and talk to God.

I love you, God, I say. Repeating it and meaning it, I do love God. Then by habit, and by necessity, I say please forgive me, God. I think of what I have done that needs forgiving and remember that I really need both of these. I need God to love me and to forgive me and tell me so.

I hear God say, I love you, I forgive you. Then I can move on and pray for those in my family and for others I might pray for that morning but first I needed to be told by God that I am loved and forgiven.

That is the light that I needed most to come into my darkened room, to my darkened life. Love and forgiveness. Light.