The Name Game

By Donald Klink

Butch

When he was a kid, they noticed that he was bigger than many of the children his age. He was also extraordinarily smart. He lifted weights religiously and was an avid reader. By the time he was seventeen he was muscular and as strong as an ox.

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designers freedom scale: level 3

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796070859

Book preview

1

The blessed event for Mark and Linda Conrad had occurred on the ninth day of July, Nineteen Sixty-Seven. Butch Conrad had been delivered by emergency Caesarian Section at three-fourteen p.m. It was the hottest day of the year so far. The meteorologist said it would eventually reach ninety-six degrees. The oppressive heat could not dampen the spirits of the new parents.

Mark and Linda had unsuccessfully tried to have a child for the past three years. Her first pregnancy had ended with a miscarriage. Linda had carried the second child full term, but the child had been stillborn. When Linda found out she was pregnant again, she told Mark that she knew this pregnancy would not end unhappily. Six months into her pregnancy her doctor ordered her to bed. That is where she stayed for the next eighty-seven days. Mark waited on her dutifully. She was taken to Magee Women’s Hospital one week prior to her due date. Three days later she developed complications and was rushed into surgery after she started hemorrhaging.

When the doctor came out to talk to Mark, he feared the worst. The doctor held out his hand and congratulated him on being the father of a healthy baby boy. The doctor told him that they had gotten Linda to stop hemorrhaging; but natural childbirth was no longer an option, so they took the baby via an emergency Caesarian Section. He went on to tell him that both Linda and the baby would be fine. Linda needed to stay for a couple of days for observation, but he said there probably would not be any more complications. Mark thanked the doctor profusely. When the doctor left, Mark sat back down in the waiting room chair and started crying. God had finally given them their miracle baby.

As Butch was growing up, they noticed that he was bigger than many of the children his age. He was also extraordinarily smart. He lifted weights religiously and was an avid reader. By the time he was seventeen he was muscular and as strong as an ox. He had also maintained a 4.0 grade point average throughout his four years of high school and had graduated at the top of his class. He immediately entered college, attending the local University, because his parents could not afford a big-name college. He had no difficulty continuing the grade point average he had achieved in high school. He even decided to take the advanced courses and breezed through them as well. After he had finished four years, he had decided to stay in school, and eventually he graduated college with a master’s in criminology and a Doctorate in Forensic Medicine by the time he was twenty-five.

In 1993, he joined the Philadelphia Police Department. He was very well liked by his fellow officers. He had earned the rank of Detective three years later. Then his life changed forever. In May of 1997, he had given his parents a night on the town to celebrate their thirty-fifth anniversary. He had surprised them with reservations at one of Philadelphia’s swankiest restaurants, and tickets to see a very popular musical.

They were held up at gunpoint as they walked from the restaurant to the show. They had decided not to take a cab since it was such a beautiful evening. His father had stepped in front of his mother to protect her. He handed the gunman his wallet and watch. The man was not satisfied however and smashed the butt of his Smith and Wesson .357 into Marks face, breaking his glasses and shattering the orbital bone and splitting his eye wide open. The force of the blow knocked Mark backwards and he fell to the ground. When the gunman grabbed for Linda, she started screaming. She was hysterical at this point because Mark was bleeding copiously from his head wound. She dropped to her knees beside her husband. He told her to shut up, and just hand over her purse and jewelry. She started taking off her rings, but because she was crying and trembling with fear, she was not quick enough for him. He shot her at point blank range in the right side of her head, spraying blood and gray matter all over the sidewalk. The gunman reached down and snatched the jewelry and purse from her lifeless body. Mark, not fully unconscious, felt his wife fall on top of him. He tried to roll her over and cover her with his body to protect her. He was unaware she was already dead. Seeing that Mark was attempting to move, the gunman fired again. This time the bullet entered Marks back and exited out his chest embedding itself in the sidewalk beneath him. Mark died beside Linda, their blood flowing away from their bodies, eventually pooling together in a puddle a few feet from their lifeless bodies. To this day, the gunman has not been apprehended.

Detective Butch Conrad never fully recovered from the loss of his parents. He started drinking and it severely affected his job. Later that summer, he was involved in a job-related shooting. He was called to the scene of a robbery at a Sunoco convenience store on the North Side. The gunman was still inside, and he was holding the young female cashier hostage. After negotiations failed, the gunman shot and killed the hostage. Thinking he could get away, he ran out the front door, firing a barrage of bullets at the police. Butch pulled his gun and was able to get off a couple of rounds before several bullets struck him in the neck, torso and thigh. Falling backwards, and clutching his throat with his left hand, he fell to the ground. The force of the impact with the ground, caused him to inadvertently fire off another round. This shot tragically hit his partner in the face, killing him instantly.

The bullet that struck Butch in the neck had nicked the carotid artery. He nearly bled to death that day. He was in the hospital for three weeks recovering from his wounds. After he was released from the hospital, he quit the force. There were no charges brought against him for the death of his partner, as it had been ruled accidental. He decided he could not stay in Philadelphia any longer, so he moved to Pittsburgh.

2

The early morning sunshine that was coming through the slats of the Venetian blinds was throwing lined shadows across her face as she lay in her bed going over in her mind what all she had to do today.

Mary Jansen was a real estate agent. She worked for one of Pittsburgh’s principal agencies. Although she was only twenty-four years old, she had become a member of the Million Dollar Club in just a very short time. She specialized in the selling of homes in the half million-dollar range. Today she had three showings. Mary was confident that she could sell at least one of them today. Her clients for today were a prominent local attorney, and a member of one of the Pittsburgh’s sports teams. She could not remember if he was a football player or a hockey player. She made a mental note to find out before meeting him, so she would not come across looking like an ass for not knowing anything about him. Her last client for the day was a mystery. Her boss told her that he called and asked specifically for her, saying that she had sold his friend a home. She would have to ask him who, so she could send them a nice card thanking them for the referral.

Today was also the day she expected her boyfriend of eleven months to propose to her. He had asked her not to make any plans for this evening. He was going to take her to the Benedum Center to see an opera. Then they had a late dinner reservation at the LeMont in Mt. Washington. She loved Jeffery so very much.

She had met him at the auto dealership where she had purchased her new car with the commission from the sale of a seven hundred and fifty-thousand-dollar home. When she had pulled into the Mercedes dealerships lot, in her six-year-old Taurus, she could almost see the dust clouds from all the other salespeople running away from her. When she parked and got out of her car, she walked up to the large showroom doors and instantly saw the car she wanted. Mary walked in, went right up to the car, opened the door, and sat down behind the wheel of the Mercedes S Class Sports Coupe. Inhaling the aroma of the fine leather upholstery, she was startled when Jeffery came over and said This is the finest German engineered sports coupe there is. It handles like a dream and has a fantastic sound system. Would you care to take it for a test drive?

As they were driving along the streets of Sewickley, he was telling her all about the safety features and available options. She was also asking questions. She asked about things most women would not even think of asking. She had asked about horsepower ratings, maintenance schedules, and if it came with a full-size spare tire. Answering all her questions, he still did not think this was going to be a sale. After all, how many young women have seventy thousand dollars to shell out for a new car? He was enjoying her company though. She was very easy to talk to, had quite a sense of humor, and above all, she was absolutely one of the most beautiful women he had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Mary went back to the dealership three times before finally agreeing on a selling price of seventy-four thousand dollars. She had decided to get most of the options Jeffery had told her about. It was two weeks later that Jeffery had called and asked her to have dinner with him. They have been inseparable ever since. He still showered her with small gifts, bought her flowers, even after she had declined his sexual advances. She had told him that she was