When 2 A.M. Goes Bang! Bang! Bang!

By S. Everingham

My first book is a murder mystery that has several adventures with twists and turns that are based on things I know to be true or could have happened or maybe this all happened in my mind. When 2 a.m. Goes BANG! BANG! BANG! gets started you will wonder what does 2 a.m. have to do with it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781477288801

S. Everingham

Being born and raised in Detroit,Michigan area, I am now a happy Florida resident. After working for a major Detroit company, I cared for my parents for several years until their passing. MUrder mystery's have always been my favorite reading material, even though I have never committed a murder as of yet............!

Book preview

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Chapter 1

GRANDPA WAS A hunter and took Robbie with him every time the old farts went hunting. He would only occasionally bring home a pheasant or two, which wasn’t enough for the whole family but we made do. He told me stories of how Robbie could shoot and didn’t miss a target very often. He said Robbie wanted to go into the Marines as a sharpshooter. He really wanted to go help our men overseas. We both figured his mother would be mad if we let him go so he wrote about it to his mother and hoped she would agree, but as I said, there is plenty of time for that as he grew up.

When Grandpa passed, the kids were real upset but knew that things would keep going and as the Pastor told each of them, Your Grandmother and parents are the most important people in your life now. The kids then started keeping in touch with me more than ever. During the day from school, I would hear from at least one of them as I was all they had. I was not dead, moved away or in jail. We ate our pizza and drank the lemonade. We could finish the story before the mosquitoes had us for dinner.

Your mother really fell in love with your dad in the year they were both in junior high school, he played football and just happened to be the captain of the team. The only reason he was captain was due to the Moorland’s paying for a new roof on the school after the winter storms caused it to collapse. The crops were doing well and the sale of cows had skyrocketed, beef was going up in price at the stockyard auctions.

Mitch was only 1 year and 3 days older than your mother. He failed a year so he could be in the same grade as your mother. He never told his parents the real reason why he didn’t make good grades, but all the kids in school knew and so did I. Your father had asked your mother to marry him when they were only 13 years old. I had said NO WAY". I knew at that part of my life and hers too, we were always going to be connected to the Moorlands forever.

Whenever the Moorlands had a party we were invited. At every school sock hop, Grandpa and I went just to make sure your mother got home and didn’t end up at the vacant Moorlands house. Barbara-Jean cheered so hard whenever your daddy got a touch down or even got close to a goal post. I hated going to the games, but it was support for her and the team, including Mitch.

We finished our talk with the understanding that tomorrow after breakfast we would be back out on the porch to hear more about what had happened to the kids parents. I got up early the next morning and went to the market so we had chips, dip, lunchmeat, bread and something good and easy for dinner. I knew this day was going to be a long one.

The kids were on the porch before I got home and helped me bring in the bags. Grandma we wondered where you had gone and if you were going to finish our talk. We hurried, put the items away. Robbie made ice tea this time. Then we headed out to our favorite seats. He brought out the snacks and dip along with the tea.

I went back to when Barbara-Jean was in high school. They got along well but your father was teaching her some of the things he did, like how to break into cars. It seemed Robbie was more interested in that part of the story than anything else. The parents of you two were so much in love that no matter what your grandfather and I did we couldn’t keep them apart.

Mitch’s parents tried the same thing they sent him to football camp out of state for 2 months, which didn’t work. I tried keeping the letters but she seemed to know there was one in the house. When he came back, life went back to the Mitch and Barbara-Jean show.

Your daddy was caught breaking into a car on the school grounds and was arrested. They took him to juvenile detention because he was not an adult yet and his father couldn’t buy his way out of that crime. I was satisfied that Barbara-Jean was without the trouble around her neck. They got him to finish high school but no football there. There were lots of things your mother figured I didn’t know about her and Mitch. The one thing I couldn’t say much about was when they came home to tell Grandpa and me they had gotten married.

Your father met Jerry Emerson in juvenile detention. They have remained friends ever since. They have been in trouble even in juvenile detention or as they call it, school. We never liked him and didn’t want him at our house even if he came over when Mitch brought him to see your mother. Your parents were good together even if we didn’t think it was a good fit. She kept him out of trouble for a few years, but every time he heard from Jerry, it was trouble all over again.

They started the marriage great. In the state we lived in you did not need a blood test to get married or your parent’s permission if you are 16 years old or older. They got married and became your parents. They were in high school at the time of the marriage. All the cheerleaders’ were jealous when they found out Mitch chose her to marry since he was the greatest looking guy in school and had his license plus a cool car. Do you remember what you were like when you got your drivers license and had daddy’s car, Grandma Grace?

After the courthouse marriage Mich said come on babe lets get going we got things to do. Our town, which we will just call BRIDGETOWN. There are farms all around us and the closest big city was east over 75 miles away, that was where the BIG CITY MALL as they say. You only got to go when the parents went, which wasn’t often, the only real reasons where school cloths shopping, out of town guests were coming and of course Christmas shopping.

On the marriage night they went to the cheapest motel in town, thank goodness we didn’t have cell phones back then or Grandma Grace would have rung the phone to death trying to learn were I was and how long I was gone to be, and don’t forget, who were you with? That is a big question in our house, and they always said no hanging out with boys! Momma knew I liked Mitch Mooreland from down the way. His parents had a big farm with lots of crops, cows and horses along with five farm hands. That is money in my world.

Mitch got a job at the local auto parts store. He still was friends with the wrong kind of people. We got the place in the back of the auto parts store. He took on the guard job at the store at night, so we figured we were making good money. His wrong kinds of friends were Jerry, Bryce and John. They all had cars that needed some parts. Therefore, Mitch sold any parts out of the stock room to all the boys for half price of what the store sold parts. Jerry and Mitch became closer. He got Mitch to do a few extra jobs with him. Jerry said he was teaching my husband some new trades that would help him bring in extra money. However, Mitch was not sure what the main job would be. He never told me the kind of jobs they were doing, he would just say, I’m getting paid aren’t I so I started to worry if you know what I mean.

Jerry was the kind of person that did not know what NO meant. He was at our door almost every night wanting Mitch to go with him for that so-called extra job. Well, this went on for months, which turned, into years. Between the owner wanting us to work longer hours and the extra jobs with Jerry every other night I was sure we were going to go to divorce. Mr. Howlett owned several auto parts stores around our five counties but this store that we worked & lived at seemed to lose money, parts and when asked I lied, but we lost our apartment plus our jobs any way. Mr. Howlett was going to press charges against Mitch. I helped by sleeping with him so my man would not go to jail. What a mistake. I ended up being pregnant and not sure, if it was Mitch’s or Mr. Howlett’ s I just played it off as if it was Mitch’s.

Mitch was as happy as any man could be when he saw the baby bump. Now I knew I was going to have to get a job to pay for all the babies’ things. Mitch just could not find another job. He had changed so I thought the job with Jerry was paying more than the main job, I figured he still had. But, with 16 hr a day work, who was going to get into trouble, yeah right.

Barbara-Jean went to work at the local hospital after our baby girl was born. Grandma Grace helped the best she could but Mitch’s parents put a second story with our own entrance on their house so we had our own place to raise Betty-Ray Moorland. Ray is his middle name and that was an argument over her middle name but he won as normal.

Time went on and we both worked and saved as much as we could. He bought a new truck so we all could ride in it whenever we went to town. Speaking of town it grew as time went on. So did the automotive industry and dealerships. It seemed the closer you are to the big three automotive manufactures up near Detroit, the more your town grew and faster than a farm town.

The churches grew along with other smaller stores. Our average income grew also and so did the cost of living. Mitch got a better job at the local plant, he became a welder, and his supervisor liked him. We thought we were in the big money then, with two steady incomes and the part time jobs with Jerry.

Years of good living went on and I had a baby boy who we named Robbie William Moorland. We started to fight more and each time it got more violent. We tried to grow up and back in love with each other even though we had two children. By now, I had been at the hospital a few years, gone back to school and got my register nursing degree.

I was working ten-hour days only 4 days a week, but that included every weekend when Mitch was off. I had no idea he was out with the boys while his mother watched the kids.

Over the years, we had our arguments and fights. I had moved out for a while and went back home to my mother, which was worse than staying with Mitch. At least with her I didn’t get beat up almost every night. Nevertheless, she knew how to raise our children better than I did or Mitch did. As she would always tell me.

I moved back with Mitch after a lot of talk, and him promising not to beat the shit out of me again. Boy does he hit hard, the last time he hit me I ended up with one black eye and fat lip, lots of x-rays. The people I worked with at the hospital were surprised to see me in emergency on a Saturday night after all the bars were closed. Trust me I was surprised to be there also.

Jerry and Mitch found all the homes where folks had gated places with guard dogs and alarms. They had a notebook with information about each home: the size of the house, how many people living there, number of cars who drove what kind, license plate numbers, coming and goings. They knew the number of guard dogs if any, they even followed the homeowners to see if they went to the bank along with the bank name or if they used the ATM often. If they had kids, ages, what schools, what time they went to school and when they got home. Both of them knew if there were caretakers, babysitter or if the kids were home alone after school. Every home was marked on a map in five counties.

Mitch would sometimes pretend to be a meter reader so he could find out if the misses was home all day or if she went to lunch often with the girls or to a spa. As people were trusting of someone in a uniform, they would let him in, so he got a good look to see if it was worth coming back when everyone was gone or asleep.

Several weeks went by and I finally got a night off work to be with the family but there was no Mitch. He said, He had to go with Jerry and guys for the part-time job. I had no idea what it was and he refused to tell me where or when or what he was doing.

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Chapter 2

IT WAS 11:30PM on a balmy Friday night; winter was just finishing its last run of cool weather with no snow but nice sunny days. It takes winter a long time to leave in the mid-west, if it ever leaves by the end of May. The house Jerry and the guys were near was over 6,000 square feet that had five bedrooms, four people, a husband and wife with two girls ages 13 and 17.

The long driveway made it easy for them to hide because it was dark, tall bushes on both sides, the only security lights were in the back yard to show off the pool. It seemed someone left one of three garage doors open, that gave Mitch and Jerry an easy way in for the first job. The other two were lookouts. At the time, Jerry had forgotten to look for a neighborhood patrol car. They had seen what looked like a patrol car on the way thru the streets. Nevertheless, no one even thought of some young person in the car. John thought that only old men retired from some job took that kind of work, security stuff.

Jerry went into the garage first. His flash light was bright, but in the garage who could see. Mitch went to the door after Jerry. It was unlocked so they entered, pillowcases in hand. They took only items they hoped the homeowners would not miss; silver wear, Royal Dolton, liquor, and anything else lying on tables. They were in and out is less than 20 minutes, which they thought was good.

The haul was good for the first job, they had a pawnshop almost 60 miles away lined up to buy the items and they made three thousand dollars for the two of them. They paid the lookouts $200.00 each so everyone was happy. They were so excited they failed to make a list of items from the house to know if the pawnshop dealer was giving them a good deal or not. The idea of pillowcases was kind of funny because Jerry had a pink one while Mitch had the old baby blue from the old crib when our son was born.

I can just imagine what they would have told the police if they had got caught. It was a sleep over, officer and I brought my favorite color pillowcase. The men in jail would have thought they were funny also; so much, so that they might try to get them their favorite colors or make sure their jail wear is a favorite color. Not being in jail ever, I don’t know how it works.

When Jerry and Mitch got back to Jerry’s trailer, they realized how easy the first job was and how much they had made. Thinking that was a great deal of money for the first time, they started planning the next one. They thought if the jobs were out of town, they were safe. Jerry knew no one knew the cars or would know where the burglars were from; they figured a 30-minute drive to get goods was great.

They laid low for a week and watched the news for a report of stolen goods. If anyone got a look at them, it would be on the TV. No description was given but the news said the home had been robbed but no list of items was given. The police were canvassing the area and pawnshops to see if any of the stolen things had been turned in for money. None of the local shops reported any of the items at their pawnshops and no one fitting the description with the goods was seen.

The two of them knew they were home free because they went so far away from their hometown. Some of the newer subdivision with mini mansions thought they were safe from any crimes. They left doors unlocked, keys in cars, took dogs inside and let any staff off for the night if they had staff.

Detective Bryan Stewart, his buddies called him Stewy, was assigned the case. They found no fingerprints at the home nor did they find any foot prints outside. The homeowner said one of the kids had forgotten to shut the garage door and left the door from the garage to the kitchen unlocked so that is how they figured the burglars got in.

Detective Stewy figured it was a random break-in or maybe it was a teenager friend of the daughters. Lists of the daughter’s friends were made and the juvenile Detective Larry Cranston started looking at the local high school were she went, or at any house parties, she had recently attended.

A week went by and they figured everything was ok because no one had come to Mitch’s home or work. Jerry had not had any police visitors to the trailer. They had gotten several big duffle bags in place of the colored pillowcases, which made it look like they were coming from the gym instead of break-ins if they were caught.

Mitch received a call from Jerry about the next job; he explained the place was farther away this time. He followed a fancy car as he called it out highway 635 for about three quarters an hour. Then he turned off the highway to Windermere Drive. He found the largest home he had ever seen in the middle of a cornfield with its own windmill for electric power. Jerry said, You can’t miss the house because the tower is about 200 feet above the house with that windmill on top. I told him it is not a windmill but rather a turbine that produces electric.

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Chapter 3

BARBARA-JEAN WAS JUST getting home from working at the hospital so I ask if she could bring a box or two of latex gloves home so I would not get scratches on my hands when I did stuff at work. Welding with latex glove on would have caught my hands on fire, so I had to think of another reason why I needed then. I couldn’t say, So I don’t leave finger prints when I steal other people’s things.

That night I meet up at Jerry’s trailer and off we went. Three quarters of an hour in a car with Jerry just about made me crazy; he talked and talked about nothing at all. I was about to say forget it then I saw the white turbine in the distance, what a site.

There were no homes as far as the eye could see because it was so dark. Not a house light or streetlight in sight. Sometimes homes in farm country had their own streetlight in the yard so when you drove up a driveway you wouldn’t hit the house or animal in the way. I always thought it was so you did not hit the burglar in your driveway.

We drove past the home and I had to ask Jerry Are you fucking nuts, this is only our second job. That house has at least 10 to 12 bedrooms and who knows how many bathrooms. Most rich people hide their everyday jewelry in a drawer in the bathroom attached to the master bedroom, so I have been told. Therefore, I ask Jerry, the genius that he thinks he is, what room is the master bedroom. He hadn’t said anything so I figured he was at a loss for words for the first time in his life. We kept driving, take me home so I can get some sleep after that stupid stunt.

The next day Jerry was up early he dressed like a service repairperson