“Storm Chaser Sandi” Series Volume 5
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I couldn’t sleep. Charlie had seemed resigned to the end of our relationship, but I couldn’t help thinking he handed over the key to my apartment a little too easily. So after tossing and turning for a couple of hours, I spent most of the night finishing the financial lock-down.
Banking passwords changed. Credit locked. Passcode to my safe updated.
I dozed a bit in the wee hours, exhausted. Then at 5 a.m. I got ready for work at Brower Farm. On the road, I re-played the audiobook that I couldn’t follow clearly the day before. It calmed me to have my focus back.
Hank Brower noticed my yawning while I worked around his farm house.
“Sandi, girly, I’d tell you to go home if I thought you could drive safely. Maybe you should have a nap in the guest room.”
I sighed. He didn’t call me girly anymore unless I was doing something stupid. “Yeah, um, maybe a quick power-nap, like 30 minutes. Then back to work.”
Around the house I could still see the woman’s touch. His wife had passed almost a year ago, but the signs of her were still present in every room. Part of my job included housekeeping, so I knew the bed linens were fresh and ready.
A bit of rest helped tremendously. My nap was interrupted by a phone call. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hi, is this Sandi?”
“Speaking. Who calls?”
“Um, this is Alyssa. I’m Charlie’s mother.”
A chill went down my spine, and I focused on keeping my cool when I said, “Oh, hi.”
“I have what might be a strange question for you, dear. Are you driving my old Corolla?”
My eyes went wide. “It was yours?”
“Ah, yes. Traded it in at Charlie’s dealership for a newer car. I’m trying to figure out something, and it helps me to know Charlie was telling the truth about the car.”
“I see. Yes, the Corolla is still mine.”
Even as I said it, I realized I hadn’t actually verified the title or called the county treasurer yet.
“Well, Alyssa, you should know Charlie and I are having a rough patch, probably splitting up. If there’s anything else you need to know, I’m happy to help.”
“Oh. That’s odd.”
“Odd?”
“Charlie told me he broke up with you months ago. He has been bringing another girl around. I’m so sorry. Really, I thought he was just trying to pull one over on me about my car, I had no idea he was two-timing you. That does sort of explain why his story yesterday had a smell about it, but I’m so embarrassed.”
“Please don’t worry about that, Alyssa. If you don’t mind my asking what story did he tell?”
“Something about the dealership taking back the Tesla, and his girlfriend wouldn’t let him borrow her car. I thought he was talking about this new girl, who rides an e-bike everywhere in town.” I could hear Alyssa take a long, deep breath before continuing, “Then he said some things about how I owed him for getting a good deal on my car.”
My churning feelings settled, and a warm calm washed over me. I wasn’t even mad about Charlie being a cheating snake. Outrage from the betrayal took a distant second place to the outrage from Charlie’s attempts at scamming the people who loved him. “Hmm, that last bit is almost the same argument he gave me yesterday, too. I’ve since locked down all my finances, but when I get off work today I’ll be calling officials to verify my title and registration.”
“I was afraid I’d have to do that, too.”
“Yeah, you probably should. I’m sorry you have to be suspicious of your own son.”
“Thanks, dear. And you should also call me if you need anything.”
“Sure thing.”
After hanging up, I went down to talk to Hank, and explain why I couldn’t seem to keep my mind on my work today.
He was very understanding about the mess in my personal life, and sent me home early despite how much time I’d already taken off recently. But before he practically pushed me out the door, he said, “Since you want to move westward, if it’s not too much to move all the way out here, there’s a cabin on the west side of the property. My mother-in-law used it a million years ago when my son was young. I can hook the utilities back up and write up a lease for you. Rent will be real cheap. Think about it.”
After getting home, I began the tedious process of verifying my car ownership with the county. Everything was fine. Exactly as I expected.
I called Alyssa and told her that I didn’t find any shenanigans with the car.
“That’s good, dear. I’m afraid I found the opposite for mine. The title is not clean, and it’s in Charlie’s name. They immediately pulled other records of vehicles with his name, and it was… a lot. There’s going to be a criminal investigation. I don’t understand it all. I haven’t called Charlie yet. I don’t know what to say to him.”
My dad’s voice echoed in my brain. Do it all discreetly. Act normal around him.
Then I said, “Oof. Maybe you shouldn’t. Just see what he does next. See if anyone contacts you for more information. You might also need legal help to sort out the mess, but I don’t know how to do that.”
“Yeah. The title office suggested I retain a lawyer.”
“Ouch. They’re probably right. I’m sorry.”
I heard her clear her throat, and I waited. Finally, she said, softly, “In the past, Charlie has… um, well, he can get very angry when he’s desperate.”
I took the warning at face value and checked that my doors were locked. If Charlie showed up angry and desperate, I was not going to let him in at all.
After that call, I was restless. I opened my laptop and worked on scripts for the podcast. That helped me stay calm. After sending them to Jonathan, he called me to say they looked great, and that we should record again soon.
I updated him on the Charlie situation.
“Good riddance,” he said. “You should probably stop taking calls from his mom, too. She might be in on the scams.”
I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see it. “I don’t know. She seemed surprised and upset.”
“Yeah, whatever, in any case, hopefully you can just put that all behind you, and we’ll launch the pod soon as we head deeper into autumn.”
The next few days seemed normal enough, except for the fact that Charlie didn’t call.
I went to work. Hank Brower’s cabin was actually a well-appointed Mother’s House with a modest bedroom and an extra room I could use as an office. I had two months left on my lease at the apartment, and after that I’d head west for a quieter rural life.
On Friday night, I was relaxing at the apartment when I heard a knock on the door and nearly jumped out of my skin. I wasn’t expecting anyone, or any deliveries. I slipped off the couch and reached under it to get my baseball bat.
The knock got louder, then louder again, and a voice I recognized joined it. “Sandi! I know you’re home; your car is outside!”
Charlie.
Fuck that guy.
As I fell back to the bedroom, I tightened my grip on the bat in my right hand, and I unlocked my phone in my left. Jonathan was my most recent call. That made it easy to call him back.
“Hey, Sandi, what’s up?”
“I’m recording this call. Charlie is banging on my door.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Wait. Please just wait on the line. If I hang up before you’re sure I’m safe, please call the cops.”
“Got it.”
I slipped back into the living room and set the phone on the coffee table so it wouldn’t be muffled in my pocket.
Three more bangs. “Sandi! Open up!”
I stayed silent.
Then I heard a key in the lock.
Knew it.
I leaned close to the phone and said, hushed, “I think he copied the key before he gave it back. He’s trying to get in.”
Jonathan sounded panicked. “Sandi…”
“Shh!”
I stood up straight and leaned on the back of the couch, both hands with a white-knuckled grip on the bat.
As the doorknob turned, I shouted. “Go away, Charlie! I don’t want to talk to you!”
He paused for just a beat, and then opened the door wide and stepped in.
“You can’t just ignore –” He stopped short, taking in my rigid posture and raised weapon.
“Go away,” I said again, at a normal volume. “I want nothing to do with you.”
Charlie didn’t bother to soften his voice. “What the hell did you tell my mother?!”
Okay, I was done being calm. I’d speak as loudly as I felt like, and if that helped with clarity in the recording, all the better. I raised the bat a fraction higher. “None of your business. Get the fuck out, now!”
Charlie’s eyes raked up and down my form. He sneered, “You won’t hit me.”
“You’ve already trespassed. Don’t take another step closer or you’ll find out just how much I remember from playing softball.”
“Come on, Sandi, be reasonable. I just want to talk. You owe me that much.”
“I don’t owe you shit! Get out!”
“Four years, Sandi! You’re throwing away four years over my mom’s lies?!”
“You’re the one who threw it away! Your insane jealousy when you’re the one cheating is unforgivable!”
“I never cheated on you!”
“Either you’re lying, or mom is, and I don’t need the drama either way. I’m sick of your shit, and you gotta go! Now!”
My hands were starting to shake. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up, or how much longer until Charlie lost his cool and did something worse than he already did.
And that’s when the police officer appeared in my door behind Charlier. I dropped the bat, and Charlie took two steps toward me when the officer barked, “Stop right there!”
Charlie spun on his heel and pitched over sideways, falling into the couch.
A second officer appeared, and the two of them pinned Charlie to the floor and cuffed him.
I think I was in shock. The rest of the night passed in a haze. We went to the station, and they booked him while I gave a statement and sent a copy of the phone recording. The process officer then asked me, “Do you have a safe place to go tonight?”
“Yeah, um, I’ll call Jonathan back. And tomorrow I’m changing my locks.”
She finalized the paperwork, and Jonathan picked me up.
As soon as I slid into the passenger seat of his Jeep, I started crying.
He hugged me and said, “I called right away. I muted my end of your call, and I used my other line to call 911. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t.”
The legal proceedings that followed were slow, and considerably less dramatic than Charlie’s attempt to intimidate me in my own home.
His legitimate work on selling me his mother’s car had given him some ideas on how to game the system. In the three years that followed, he’d played financial games with over a hundred vehicles.
Between that, the breaking-and-entering, and a handful of other fraud-related violations, he went to prison.
I couldn’t sleep at the apartment anymore. My doctor prescribed a sleep aid, and that wouldn’t even do it. My landlord allowed me to break my lease 6 weeks early, due to the extraordinary circumstances. “Your neighbors might be a bit relieved, to be honest. I got a few calls about the domestic that night.”
It was such a nice feeling that I could laugh about it.
I kept the Corolla. It was all decked out with what I needed for storm chasing, and I’ll run that baby into the ground before I get something new.
The podcast with Jonathan was an overnight success. Our first episode was a vlog post that included the footage from when we got a little too close to a tornado.
I watch that video sometimes and look at the girl, wind whipping and rain pounding all around her. That girl looking up with awe as a monster of nature swallowed a weather balloon that was in her hand a moment earlier. That girl thought she loved a boy named Charlie, but in the video you can tell the truth.
She really loves the chase.
THE END