Jamie needed a plan. He needed a plan for making plans first. Having always drifted along on his own meandering course through life, he'd never thought of the future. If he knew what he was going to do for the weekend that was all the forethought he could handle. Go somewhere. Take things as they come. The effects of this weren't all negative. Thinking on his feet and coming up with ideas on the spur of the moment could be regarded as strengths. The future? As far as he'd been concerned it was the same as today and the day before. An extreme lack of adversity, plus an abnormal family dynamic, meant he'd missed out on a large part of growing up.
The pretence of him labeling himself as easy going, or relaxed about life, was revealed to be a lie. These flaws did explain how he'd become engaged to Kelly. It was easier going with the flow, and Jamie was all about making things easy for himself. Why go out searching for a woman to love. Love was temporary as the divorce statistics exemplified. Find a woman you could live with then await the inevitable separation due to growing apart. If you didn't love them, that was a wound you'd never have to worry about. Of course he hadn't rationalized any of these things prior to them happening. Rather like someone giving money to some homeless guy. If they thought about it, the only reason they did so was to feel good about themselves and to create a good impression. Which was a very cheap way of appearing to be a good person. Overt virtue signaling.
As promised, Sophie called him two days later. She sounded exhausted. Emotionally drained. Her voice flat and toneless. The first thing she said was that she couldn't speak for long. He didn't have a long list of questions about how he'd ended up in the situation he was now facing. He didn't know what it was anyway. It would have been a strange game of twenty questions. Dale was dying. The catch in her voice told him she was telling the truth. It was a matter of time. A few days at most before his organs shut down irrevocably. It took him a few seconds to process that. Meaning he missed some of what she was saying. Sophie was perceptive enough to detect this through the phone. The quality of the silence perhaps. When his father died he hadn't felt anything like this. A hollow feeling. That person he'd talked to, not that long ago, would never speak again. They'd never share a beer or a joke. For some reason he was imagining how Sophie must have felt.
He'd made sympathetic noises. Said the same things as every other human. Amounting to sorry for your loss, if there's anything I can do for you just ask. With the unspoken subtext of, please don't ask. It would be so hard coming up with an excuse to renege on the empty promise of assistance. Jamie genuinely wanted to help. His conscience had awoken it appeared. It was what she wasn't saying that was interesting. Nothing mentioned about the patents and designs. She did ask him where he was. Jamie told her it was best she didn't know.
Why had he headed for the hills? That was her unspoken question. With the undoubted indication she thought it was for the best. Instinct would have been his only response to that. He'd known he was in deep trouble, without understanding why. Innate cowardice gave him a shot of adrenaline. He'd started running immediately. Like that long distance runner Jamie was pacing himself. Unsure of what to do. Who to look out for. What the risks, if any, were. All he'd really had to go on was the sense he'd walked into a trap. An extremely obvious one. In his own defence, he'd been distracted by something shiny.
Because he'd been such a superficial person his entire life, Jamie didn't know what to say. His emotional vocabulary was sadly lacking. When she asked how he was, his response was the automatic one. I'm fine thanks. His lack of any depth, shockingly illustrated by one phone call. Neither of them acknowledging the elephant in the room. Sophie's excuse much better than his for this being the case. When he checked later, they'd been speaking for less than 10 minutes. Nine minutes of which was her. Before she hung up, she said something he attached no importance to. Not till much later did he understand how important it was. It came out of the blue. A complete non-sequitur. That should have alerted him. The fact Sophie found it necessary to ask.
"Why does Bradley Kreuz hate you so much?"
The name was familiar. Jamie had been to a few functions. He and Bradley had attended college together. They'd hardly been frequent acquaintances. For a moment he couldn't think of anything.
"That's news to me. The only thing I can think of is a run in we had back in college. Him and a couple of fellow football scholarships tried to bully me. When I didn't back down, Kreuz took a swing at me. I ducked and punched him in the face. Then the other two tried to grab me. I kicked one in the knee and that was the end of the scuffle, by which time Bradley had disappeared. He couldn't play for a couple of weeks, because of a torn cartilage in his nose. I was almost suspended for that, and the knee guy missed games as well. The only thing that saved me was they weren't first string. Other than that I can't think of anything. They were just throwing their weight around. I didn't take it seriously. Shit like that happens all the time."
Looking back on this a lot later, several years in fact, he couldn't believe how naive and stupid he'd been. Not only to dismiss the mention of Bradley Kreuz, but to also miss why Sophie had asked about him. At that juncture Jamie wasn't aware they'd ever met. Dale certainly hadn't met the guy. Kreuz was very hard to ignore. He was loud, and so full of bullshit he was in danger of bursting. All in all, Bradley Kreuz was very impressed with himself.
He wasn't sure how to proceed. The talk with Sophie had affected his mood substantially. Dale would be missed. Lying low was the best option right now. Staying in a motel near where he'd grown up was not keeping a low profile. People who knew him, would notice him. They'd tell others. What was required was some place he could retreat to. The only other requirement being it had to be cheap. Finding a few more of his dad's caches was vital. That thought brought up a memory. They'd had a cabin in the Monongahela National Forest, Pocahontas County. They'd used it for family vacations back when he was a kid. Little more than a hut in a couple of acres of trees. It had a generator as far as he could recall.
All he had to do was think back to his childhood. Then try to remember how to get there. The cabin didn't have an address. Not one he knew at least. It was about 120 miles away. Of course his mother might have sold it by now. His father may well have. It was worth a shot, if only because he didn't know what else to do. Jamie had to admit he wasn't cut out to be a fugitive. There were no skills he'd learned on the subject. If he was going to be honest with himself from now on, he had few skills for anything. No talents either. Christ it was like he was a place keeper for someone else right now. Filling a space until its rightful occupant returned. Like those seat holders they had at movie awards ceremonies. Jamie wondered which celebrity he was filling in for.
Someone hated him. That was new. Although others might have shared that opinion, keeping it to themselves. At least he'd made some sort of impression. Annoying Kreuz was a worthy cause in most respects. Judging by his character it was fairly easy to do so. Jamie really had to get a handle on his life. Do a bit of joined up thinking for a change. It was only while he was driving to Pocahontas County, he seriously thought about why Bradley Kreuz disliked him. Kelly and he had dated on and off. Was he jealous of their non-sexual relationship. Another thing being, was Jamie still engaged to Kelly? It seemed unlikely. As unlikely as him getting that very expensive engagement ring back. It would have been handy as well. Pawning it would have raised some badly needed funds. As soon as he had a base of operations, he'd seek out those stashes his father had made.
Well his memory functioned at some level above cramming for examinations. Jamie found the route quite easily. The dirt track that wound through the forest felt bumpier than it had been all those years ago. He was driving a pile of crap of course. The suspension on a rent a wreck wasn't going to be first rate. The place was much as he remembered it. In far better condition than he'd expected. Unoccupied currently, all evidence indicated it had been empty for a while. Maybe he should have asked his mom about it. This whole adventure was a learning experience for him. One with a steep curve he'd have to negotiate swiftly.
He walked around the property, looking in the windows. No sign of recent habitation. The key was still under the same rock. Opening the door took him back to his childhood. All the furniture and fittings were as they'd been. There was a thin layer of dust, indicating the place had been regularly cleaned. Now he thought about it, his parents had let the place out to those looking for a more rustic holiday experience. The generator started at the push of its button. The tank was three quarters full. As long as no one turned up he should be fine. On the chance it might no longer belong to his mother, he'd keep it clean. Meanwhile he'd think up excuses for being there, if the actual owner happened by. Pre-prepared excuses? He was learning.