Family Secrets

By Stephen P. Matava

Chester Heffernan went on trial for first degree murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. He is presently appealing it from the Connecticut State Prison in Northern Connecticut. Elizabeth Heffernan was found guilty of aiding and abetting a criminal act and is in Connecticut State Prison for women in southern Connecticut. Sam Jones went through his by-passes and because of his health; he never worked a fire again. The mayor of Alton appointed him Chief of the North Fire House in Alton. Margaret Belinski recovered from her broken limb and went to work for a company in Hartford. She sold the house that was left to her. The people of Westland never heard from
her again.

LIFE GOES ON!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796080148

Stephen P. Matava

Stephen Matava was born of immigrant parents, ten years after his parents came from Slovakia. He was raised in a Slovak neighorhood and spent most of his life in the shadow of his parent's native land. He was the fifth child and the first to graduate fom high school. The older children had to leave school to help support the family. He was raised with strict family and religious values and passed these on to his own children, He hold a degree from the University of Hartford and spent most of his life in the insurance business world. The author is married and has raised three children who have left the nest There are three grandchildren that he sees as often as possible. He learned of his ancestors from the stories that were told around the supper table and from any other material that he could find on the subject. He spent fifteen years years as a claims adjuster for a large insurance company before going into business for himself as an insurance agent. Following the family values of his forefathers has been good to him and he now finds time to write full time. Besides this nove, he ahs written a book of selected poems which will be next to be published.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

It was a cold day in January with some moisture in the air when Peter Janek went into the Hartford Branch of the Protective Assurance Company. The roads were full of cars and it was still dark. He had the radio on and he heard a bulletin that there was a body found in a car in the Berkshire River. It didn’t name the town and Peter hoped that it wasn’t one of his. He was sure that he would hear more of this before the day was over.

He hated this time of the year because he had to park in the company lot and walk through four intersections in weather that was in the teens. The people in their nice warm cars watched Peter as he stood on the curb while they went through red lights. He couldn’t wait to go into the basement of the office building where Sol had his sandwich shop. It was time to get his bagel and his really hot cup of coffee.

Peter had joined the Protective as a claims man in 1964 and worked for them for the last four years. He really enjoyed the work. He was trained by a man named Herman who had since passed away. He always remembered Herman and the advice he gave him many times.

These instructions came from someone who had been in the business many years. He remembered them as he waited for Sol to brew a fresh pot of coffee

You must always remember these three things, said Herman. The first is that you have the check book and they have to come and take it away from you. The second thing you have to remember is you may have thought you have solved a problem, but if you haven’t solved the cause of the problem, you haven’t solved anything because the problem will come back. The last thing is that you have to exercise the body, but you also have to exercise the mind. You have to think all the time. You also have to retain the stories people tell because people forget what they said before.

Peter was smiling when Sol gave him the bagel and coffee. Is anybody in yet? he asked.

Sam Hale has been here for an hour. Does he have a life outside of the office?

He lives in Springfield and he drives here every day. I have been considering going to Rome where I can talk to the Pope. I want to get his wife started on Sainthood.

That’s a new one, Peter. I look forward to you coming in every Friday, said Sol. I want to get out of here early because I heard a Nor’easter is going to hit us later."

Peter started up the elevator. He was getting really adept at handling the elevator carrying his bagel, coffee and his briefcase. It was a good thing that the elevator door opened directly into the claims office on the third floor and he didn’t have to open any more doors.

Sam Hale was the suit supervisor and it was his job to go over each file that was in suit to be sure there was enough investigation so the company would win the suit. If there was something lacking, Sam would send it back to the supervisor who would reassign it to the claim man who handled the case. This didn’t make Sam the most popular guy in the office, but Peter saw very few cases that needed extra work because he settled most of his cases. Herman had trained him very well so he knew what information to get.

Peter went by Sam’s desk and asked. Are you going to be in all day? I hear we are going to get a bad storm later in the day.

I plan to leave early. I’m going to take some work home with me so I will have something to do over the weekend.

The office looked empty when Peter walked down to his desk. He looked at the clock and it was seven-thirty. The office didn’t open up until a quarter past eight so Peter could photocopy some material before the line at the machine became long.

The office had four units with four men in each unit. The supervisor’s enclosed cubicles were against the outside wall with windows and Peter thought that this was one of the perks for getting promoted. There were five desks in front of each supervisor’s desk. One desk was for each claims man and the closest one to the supervisor’s was for the secretary who was assigned to each unit.

Kathy Armstrong was assigned to Peter’s unit and when they called in every day, she warned them of any problems. Kathy had been around for a long time and she knew her way around. She took good care of the guys in her unit and they could rely on her to warn them of any problems. Peter felt comfortable working with Kathy.

Peter’s supervisor was Clint Waller. He had been around for a good number of years also. Clint never gave his men any problems and they all knew that he would stand behind them.

The corner office was reserved for the Claims Manager, Jim Evans; he had an assistant on either side of him. The Claim Manager came from Charleston, West Virginia. He hated the snow and the cold he found when he moved north. He never came into the office before ten in the morning and he usually left around three in the afternoon. With the approaching storm, Peter doubted that he would come in at all.

Kathy, who was the main girl in the unit, left her bottom drawer empty. This was where she kept messages and the correspondence for her four buddies. Each had a folder and Peter went to get his. He had a rather easy week so there wasn’t too much in it. He called in every day in the afternoon so there was nothing new in it.

Each man in the unit was assigned a day to come in to the office and Peter’s day was Friday. He spent Monday at home with his dictating machine and there wasn’t much to dictate on. He mailed his disks in on Monday. The finished reports were on his desk when he came in on Friday. They wouldn’t take long to read and initial. Most of the men didn’t bother to read their dictation, but passed it right along to Clint. Peter wanted to read each page because he didn’t trust the girls upstairs to be accurate on what he dictated. A single word could change the complexity of his report and he didn’t want that to happen. Clint looked for Peter’s initials on each page so he went through his reports rather quickly.

Peter spent Tuesday in his territory which consisted of the whole northwestern corner of Connecticut. There were three towns, Newton Crossing, Alton and Westland. All the towns were located in the southern section of the Berkshire Mountains and the people living there knew how to navigate the roads with the cold and snowy weather.

Wednesday was Peter’s hand holding day. His company insured the Berkshire Community Hospital in Westland. Peter was required to sit down with the administrator, Miss Cody, to go over the outstanding claims. Miss Cody was a capable administrator and there were very few claims so all Peter did was to go down to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. Miss Cody knew everything that was going on in the area and he got some valuable information from her. It was well worth the time to sit down in the cafeteria and listen to her.

The next stop was the City of Alton which his company insured. He sat down with the comptroller John Selbeck of the city to discuss all of the outstanding claims so John could report them the mayor. That didn’t take any time at all especially in the winter time when few people were working.

The next stop would be to the Adams Insurance Agency which was the largest agency in the area. Elmer Adams wanted to be brought up to date on all the claims that came out of the agency. Elmer insured the City of Alton. The City of Alton had the most claims.

There was a large construction company that Elmer insured. It was the P&C Construction Company. Peter liked to refer to it as Peaches and Cream, but never to anyone associated with the company. He usually stopped in at P&C on Wednesday.

Thursday was Peter’s fun day. He worked on his outstanding claims. He loved to stop in unannounced at one of his claimant’s that was out of work and receiving worker’s compensation. He usually caught the person doing something that he could do at work. Sometimes he would catch them chopping wood or cleaning the driveway. That was fun!

He was reading his dictation on his desk and noticed that there were people coming into the office, but he didn’t see a single claim man. They knew when it was time to stay home to dictate. This was going to be a quiet day, he thought. The elevator door opened and his boss, Clint Waller got off and he came right over to Peter’s desk.

Clint was carrying a briefcase, a cup of coffee and a Danish pastry. I’m glad you came in today. I have nothing to read and I can always count on you to have a bunch of stuff.

Is there any snow out there yet? asked Peter.

Nope, but it feels like we are going to get some. Do you have anything planned for lunch?

We had better not go very far with the weather, said Peter. Let’s go to the burger joint down the street.

Sounds good to me, said Clint.

Clint went to his desk to finish his coffee and pastry and Peter checked his messages. There was one from Miss Cody, but she always called with something that wasn’t important. He would be seeing her in a few days anyway. He liked to answer his calls in the early afternoon. That was when people had full tummies and were easier to get along with. He would finish his dictation and wait for the line at the photo copy machine to go down so he could make copies of the material that came in today. He wanted to dictate at home. The phone was quiet at home. The phone might not be quiet in the office because with the weather, everyone stayed inside and made their phone calls to the office.

He put all of the reports that he had read in the out basket for the mail girls to pick up. They put them on Clint’s desk for him to read. At a quarter till noon Clint was standing in front of him with his coat and hat on so it was time to go to lunch.

When Peter and Clint went to lunch, the employer-employee relationship stopped and they talked like old friends. Peter talked on how his three children were doing in school. He mentioned that his wife, Ella was pestering him about getting a job to help them pay for a few things that she wanted to buy.

Clint had two children that were teenagers and he tried to bring Peter up to date on what was going to happen to him when his offspring got to that age.

When they returned, Kathy was anxious while she waited for Clint to take off his coat and hat. She hurried over to him with the message in her hands. Clint took it and when he sat down, he looked it over. The next thing he did was to look over at Peter who was watching all the snow coming down.

Clint answered the message and walked over to Peter with the first report. I just got off the phone with Elmer Adams and we have to talk.

Peter looked at the first report and handed it back. I need a copy of this, he said.

Elmer wants you to get on this as soon as you can.

I’ll have to wait until Monday. With all the snow coming down I might not make it out to the boonies.

Read the report and then we will talk.

Peter made a copy and sat down to study it. It seems that a man by the name of John Keller drove his car off the entrance of a bridge and into The Berkshire River. It happened late last night or early this morning. A man driving to work early this morning found it when it was light out and called the police. They found John in the front seat and he was dead. The Newton Crossing Police would be in charge of the investigation. Peter knew the Chief of Police Joe Tully and that would be his first stop on Monday.

The report said that Elmer didn’t insure the vehicle, a 1966 Chevrolet, but he did carry two hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy on John. It looked like the policy was in force for the last six years so the suicide clause could not be used as a defense. The only defense would be if it was a murder and the beneficiary would not be able to profit from a crime.

He called Elmer right away and his secretary, Nancy answered. Elmer has been sitting here waiting for your call, she said. I’ll put you right through.

I just got the report ten minutes ago, said Peter.

Elmer’s voice came over the phone. Peter, I’m glad you called. We got a real messy one this time. I won’t go into any details, but we got to sit down real quick.

How’s the weather up there? asked Peter.

It’s snowing like a bat out of hell. The weather people say we are going to get eighteen inches of snow. They called off all the schools and I’m sure that the roads would not be cleared until Monday.

The earliest I could come up there would be Monday morning and I want to see Chief Joe Tully first so I could stop in about ten o’clock.

That would be fine. You can tell me what Joe Tully has found out.

Do you know who carries the auto coverages? asked Peter.

He doesn’t own a car. The one they found him in belongs to the United Investigative Services. He works for them and does a lot of work for the government. He told me once that he gets to use it for his job and for personal use.

When is the funeral?

I don’t know, but the body is waiting to be shipped to New Haven for the autopsy.

Elmer, I’ll see you Monday and I should have some information on this.

Peter hung up the phone and looked up to see Clint in front of him with his coat and hat on. He was smiling as he said, I’m going home. There must be ten inches of snow in Granby. It has been snowing quite a bit since we got back from lunch. Do you want Kathy to photocopy the coverage?

That won’t be necessary. I have to see Elmer at ten on Monday. Let’s use their paper and ink, said Peter with a wide grin.

Clint left and Peter got his desk clear of files and other paper work. It was three-thirty as he rode down on the elevator and went out the back door. Sol’s Sandwich Shop was closed. He was looking forward to a cup of hot coffee as he began his long trek through the snow.

The back roads were just as clogged as the main highways, he noticed as he drove through one of the entrances. Peter thought that everyone had the same idea. He got home at five-thirty and he looked forward to having something hot for supper.

It snowed all day Saturday and he and the boys spent the morning outside trying to clear the snow from the driveway. They would get it cleared and go inside to get something warm to drink and when they got back outside, they had to start all over again because the plow came by. They must have gotten well over a foot of snow. The next morning Peter looked towards the heavens and thanked the Heavenly Father for making the snow stop. They still had to clean more snow off, but that could wait until they got home from church.

On Sunday mornings, Peter usually made his world famous Mickey Mouse pancakes. They didn’t taste any better, but the boys enjoyed eating the ears off of Mickey Mouse. This was a good day to just sit in the recliner, put his feet up and watch the playoffs in the National Football League. It didn’t take him long to close his eyes and he was sound asleep.

CHAPTER TWO

Peter woke up early on Monday morning. He made a pot of coffee because Ella liked to drink coffee all day. She wasn’t pleased that Peter had to take the car and leave early. She reserved Monday to do the shopping. It was her day to get out of the house with nothing to worry about except shopping. She usually decided what she was going to serve all week and she wanted to shop when there were less people and she could get the best prices. When Peter had to go out on Monday, which wasn’t often, he would get out of the house early so Ella could go shopping in the afternoon. He didn’t like that because he would have to entertain the kids when they got off the school bus and they were noisy.

He made himself a bagel, smeared it with cream cheese and put on some strawberry jam Ella made last summer. There was very little traffic going north. Most of the people worked in Hartford so traffic was heavy going south. He had hoped to be home at noon.

He got to the Newton Crossing Police Station at eight o’clock as he was expected to be there. He saw Joe’s pickup in his reserved spot and he breathed a sigh of relief.

The officer at the desk looked up when Peter walked in. The chief said that you would be an early bird today. he said.

I guess he must be expecting me.

He was on the phone all afternoon especially with Elmer Adams so he knew you were coming.

When Chief Tully heard Peter’s voice, he came right out of his office. He was impressive with a height of five feet and ten inches tall with a muscular body. Peter smiled and thought ran through his head that the good chief must work out and he must find the time. Every time Peter came into the police station, Chief was there.

What did you do, get up before breakfast?’ he asked. Come into my office so we can talk."

Did you know the guy that got killed? asked Peter.

He kept mostly to himself and I saw very little of him. He was married and had two teen-aged sons and one daughter.

What happened?

We got a call Friday morning from a guy who saw the car in the river. He didn’t know if there was anyone in it.

Do you have any idea how it got into the river?

Yep I got a pretty good idea, but what I’m about to tell you is not for publication. He waited for Peter to nod his head. We shipped the body to New Haven because we found a hole in the back of his head. The other thing that bothers me is that he was in the passenger’s seat when we found him.

He could have slipped over during the impact.

It’s not possible. Wait till you see the car. There is so much crap between the seats that he had to be put there.

What was the hole in his head?

I suspect that it was a gun shot, but that will have to be determined by the autopsy.

Where is the car as if I didn’t know?

It’s at Hank’s garage and he can’t really allow anyone to go over it. I’ll call him and tell him that it’s all right if you take pictures.

When do you expect the autopsy report? asked Peter.

Those people in New Haven live in a world of their own. I don’t expect to hear from them for a few weeks.

I’ll be in touch in a week or so to see if there is anything new.

After Peter got directions as to where the car went into the river he went down the road that went along the river. He didn’t have any trouble finding the spot because the car made a deep rut where it went in. He took many pictures and since he was already in Newton Crossing and he had some time before he had to meet Elmer, he stopped at Hank’s Garage.

The gas station and repair garage was the only one in town and Peter thought that Hank had a gold mine going. There was a young man pumping gas as Peter went into the body shop. Hank was under a car that was on the lift. Hank was not very tall, but he had an athletic body. He had an attitude problem. Peter always said that you could talk to Hank, but you could not tell him much. He had an opinion on everything and every once in a while, Peter got a hint as to what was going on. This hint about one of his cases would lead him to a final solution.

I wondered how long it would take you to get here, Hank said as he wiped his hands on the rag that he always kept in his back pocket.

I just talked to the chief and he said it was all right if I took some pictures.

He called me, but warned me not to let you touch the car or go into it because it is evidence.

All I want to do is to take some pictures, nothing more.

Good, now that we understand each other. Let’s go into the back room.

Hank always kept the back room locked and he had the only key. It was a small room with a garage door. There were two cars in it and Hank led him to a black 1968 Chevrolet Impala.

No one else has come in to look at the car and I couldn’t find any identification in the glove box.

Peter snapped a few pictures. I don’t know who owns it. It must be the outfit that the guy worked for. You can bet your bottom dollar that someone will be out to look at it. Was the guy in the car when you pulled it out of the river?

Yep and he didn’t have the seat belt on because he hit the windshield with his head.

It seems that the steering wheel would have blocked him from doing that, said Peter.

He wasn’t in the driver’s seat.

That’s strange.

Now that you mention it, it is strange. I assumed that he was the driver of the car but and maybe he wasn’t. Maybe you had better take your pictures so I can get back to work. Monday is always a busy day for me and the chief told me not to leave you alone with the car. Maybe he knows something I don’t, said Hank with a smile.

Peter took a full roll of film. He took some of the outside of the vehicle. He took some from the outside of the driver’s side window that was completely out. Hank was right as to where the guy was sitting. This confirmed the chief’s opinion as to where the guy was sitting. The driver’s side of the car did not show much damage. The right front wheel was completely distorted and it leaned almost under the front of the car. The car went down at least fifteen yards down the embankment and it looked like it wasn’t going very fast. This accident was going to take a lot of work to find out what actually happened, but that was his job.

Elmer must know something about John Keller, where he worked and what he did for a living. He looked at his watch and it was time to see Elmer.

Nancy was sitting at her desk across from the door and she hung up the phone when she saw Peter. Must be a personal call thought Peter.

Elmer is waiting for you, she said as she pressed a button on the phone. It was only a few seconds before Elmer came out of the door to his office.

Elmer started his agency when he got out of the army right after World War II. He never rose above the rank of corporal and he always said that he wanted to do something with his life. He started off working from his home and his wife; Nora was his secretary. She gave that up when Elmer moved into his office.

Elmer was a small, thin man who wore a jacket, a shirt with a bow tie. He told Peter once that he wanted to look business-like and he wanted people to have confidence in him. He built up a good business in the twenty years he was selling insurance.

He seemed a little anxious when he walked out of his office. I got a real bad case for you, Peter. Come into my office where we can talk. I have the file on my desk.

What happened? I never had a case with John Keller before, said Peter.

He was a good insured and never caused me any problems. Some guy saw his car in the river and called the police.

I know. I just got through talking with Chief Tully and he was pretty closed-mouthed about it. He doesn’t have too much to go on. The car is at Hank’s Garage and I took some pictures of it. He sent the body down to New Haven and that will take some time. I notice that we don’t have any coverage on the car. We got two hundred thousand dollar life policy on him. Who has the auto coverage?

"I’ll start from the beginning. John got married to a German gal named Hilda. Her family moved to the US just before the war. John is father to two sons and a daughter. He worked for the United Investigative Services out of New York. They owned the car and they carry the coverage. They gave him the car to use because his job was to solve cases all over the northeast. This caused him to be out of his home for some periods of time so they gave him the car because it was cheaper than him renting one all the time.

Who insures the car?

You have to talk to Hilda about that. Why would you want to know anything about the car if you don’t insure it?

We carry a life policy and we don’t know how he died. It could turn out to be a murder and the law says that a beneficiary cannot get the benefits from a policy if he or she caused his death by an illegal act. The autopsy will tell us a lot.

When do you plan to see his wife Hilda?

"It will probably be tomorrow morning. I’ll call her now and make an appointment for the mid-morning. Her kids will be in school so she will be