OLD BEN and BOY
Chapter Two
After his dinner Harvey walked back to his office and called Dan Clawson, in the background he could hear his sister, Donna, asking if Harvey had found anything out about Old Ben.
“Tell her that’s what we are talking about, please. I’m going to call Martin and Paul to see if they want to go with me to talk to Judge Strong. I wondered if you wanted to go as well.”
“The Judge, what does he have to do with Ben? He was retired before Old Ben moved here.”
“True, but according to Jean, he is Old Ben’s attorney.”
“I didn’t know that. Sure let me know I’d like to tag along. Maybe you should call Doc Findley too. Between him and Martin they would know the most about Ben.”
“Good idea, I’ll let you know what the Judge has to say.” With that, Harvey could hear Donna talking in the background again and hung up.
After talking with Martin, Paul and Doc Findley, Harvey called the Judge. Judge William Strong was known to many as “Iron Will” and he didn’t mind the nickname one bit. He was 70 years old had grey hair and mustache with a penchant for fishing and hunting. He had retired from the bench 5 years ago, a year after he lost his wife Adelle to cancer. He came into town regularly to have a meal at the Hard Luck Café, do his various shopping and catch up on the latest goings on. He was probably the most respected man in Hard Luck Creek.
“Hello, this is William Strong.”
“Judge, its Harvey Long. Could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Why sure Sheriff, how can I help you?”
“Would it be possible if I came out to see you, at your convenience, of course? I would like to bring The Mayor, Doc Findley and a couple of others with me. I need to talk to you about Old Ben Nicholson.”
“Is Ben in trouble or something?”
“Not sure, he didn’t come into town today and several people are worried about him.”
“I can guess why you called me, Jean Donnelson is one of the worried ones. Come on out tonight if you want. I’m not doing anything special and would be glad to help in any way I can. I’ll put on a pot of coffee for everyone. Say in about an hour?”
“Thank you, your honor. We will be there.” After hanging up Harvey made plans to pick up the other four men in thirty minutes. They would all ride out in the department SUV.
Half an hour later Harvey, Doc Findley, Martin, Paul and Dan were driving out to Judge Strong’s house just outside the west side of Hard Luck Creek. Although the suns glow was waning in the west just before the sky went through its pink and orange glow before dusk set in, the road to the Judge’s house curved through some of the best red spruce, balsam fir and mountain ash forest in the area. You could still make out laurel and rhododendron bushes mixed in with the tress close to the road. Harvey slowed down just as an opossum crossed the road in front of the SUV. Dusk was just fully setting in as they parked in the driveway at Iron Will’s home. The Judge was sitting in a rattan rocker on the front porch, smoking his meerschaum and holding a large mug of coffee, steam wafting from its rim mixing with the plume of smoke as Judge Strong exhaled.
The five men exited the sheriff’s SUV through all four doors, Martin sliding out last because he had been sitting in the middle of the back seat between Doc Findley and Paul.
“My God, what a motley crew you all are. Hard to believe this is the cream of Hard Luck Creek manhood. Welcome gents, let go on in and see what I can assist you with.” Judge Strong chortled as he turned and open the front door, pipe still in his mouth and holding the coffee mug in his right hand.
There was a mixture of responses, all trying to answer him at the same time. Most in jest to Strong’s humor at their expense. The Judge went directly to an overstuffed recliner close to his fireplace and eased down into it saying “Okay tell me where we are and why you think Old Ben might be in need of help?”
Harvey told the Judge everything he had heard, those who had expressed concern, and his subsequent drive to Ben’s gate with Nat and discussions with Doc Findley and Billy Nichol’s. Finally he mentioned what Jean had said about the Judge being Ben’s attorney.
“I knew that call I got would one day come back to haunt me.” Judge Strong answered in a lone tone more to himself than an answer to what Harvey had just said. Then he continued in a tone meant for everyone. “Somewhere between a year and half or two years ago, I was sitting in the Hard Luck café waiting on my dinner when Jean walked by refilling peoples drinks. Just as she was going to refill my coffee my cell phone rang and I answered it. The call was from a man in California about an issue concerning Old Ben. So my answer to his first question was yes, I am Ben Nicholson’s attorney. I knew she probably overheard the comment, even though I told him I couldn’t talk right then and to call me back in an hour. She had walked away and we never talked about it, but it was Jean and I knew she had.”
“So, if you don’t mind Judge, we all thought you had retired five years ago, how long have you been Ben’s attorney.” Harvey now asked.
“Almost four years Sheriff.”
“Four years? Ben only moved here three and a half years ago. I’m confused, did you know Ben before he moved to Hard Luck?”
“Not really Harvey. Let me explain.” Strong took a sip of his coffee and continued. “By the way, there is coffee if anyone wants some, it’s in the kitchen, help yourselves. About four years ago I was out in the front yard deadheading some of my rose bushes when this old Ram SUV pulled into my driveway. When it stopped out comes Old Ben from the driver’s door followed by this full grown great looking Australian Cattle Dog, “Boy”. He walks over and introduces himself and Boy just like he was his son or something. When I ask if I can help him, he says he hopes so. To make the story short, he tells me he has just bought some acreage up on Cherokee Ridge Road and plans on moving here in about six months. I tell him that sounds fine and I know his neighbors, Nat and Marjorie. But don’t know how I can help him. He tells me he has done some checking around and knows I am a retired Judge with an honest, as well as maybe stern reputation, and would like to talk to me about becoming his attorney. Although I remind him I am retired, he says knows that but also knows I have kept my license active and makes me an offer that was too good to refuse. Especially after he gives me all the information I need to assure myself that he is an honest man, no criminal, and that the amount of time I would need dedicate to contracts and such on his behalf would be nominal. So after a few days I called him back and we signed an attorney-client contract and he pays me a yearly retainer.”
“I had no idea, surely an old retired guy like Ben can’t have much need for an attorney. Unless I’ve misjudged him all this time. Is there anything you can think of, as to why he would be missing right now? Old Ben is nothing, if not a creature of habit, you could set your calendar and clock by him.”
“Well first off, let’s be perfectly clear on a couple of points. One, you know there are things I cannot say because of attorney-client privilege. Two, there is a whole lot about Old Ben you don’t have any ideas about, he is definitely not some doddering old hermit without a pot to piss in.” Strong’s voice took an almost defensive tone, as if he himself had just been slandered. Then he continued, but this time talking to a couple of the others. “Doc how would you say Ben’s health and mental state is?”
“I hope I am in half as good condition if I get to be 85 Judge. Ben doesn’t have as many physical issues as some of my patients ten or more years younger than he is. From our conversations over the last three years, I would also say he’s still as sharp as a tack.”
“And how about you Martin, how is Ben’s affairs at the bank. Do you have any reason to think he is in need of financial help or help managing his affairs?”
“No sir, Ben and I go over his accounts every other Wednesday. He knows pretty well what’s due coming in and what’s scheduled to be going out every visit. He knows his balances better than I do. I think his visits are more confirmation and maybe even a little friendly more than any form of worry. We looks at where things are and he makes decisions on what he wants to move around, if anything. Then he usually has some things to do in his safety deposit box, and he alerts me, if he is expecting anything unusual to show up in the next two week period.”
Harvey interjected. “What do you mean, move things around and alerts you to anything unusual?”
“Well Harvey I cannot divulge anything purely personal about his finances, of course. But I can say this Ben has more than one account at the bank and he moves money between them as he sees appropriate for what deposits arrive and or money that is due to be paid out. He conducts his affairs in a very businesslike manner. Every now and then he will be expecting a deposit or especially a check to be paid that we are not familiar with, so he tells us in advance that it is ok.”
“Harvey, I know you may find some of this odd, because of what Ben appears to be. But as I said, there is a lot more to Old Ben than most everyone sees, Ben Nicholson is a very private man, he disdains any form of notoriety, good or bad. I know personally Old Ben can be the best friend someone could have. If he liked you, he would literally give you the shirt off his back.”
“I believe that your honor. But what should we do right now. Ben has only been late once in over three years, and normally you wait forty-eight hours for just a missing report to be filed. But he is 85 years old and cannot be sure that its only been one day, he could have had something happen a week or more ago. And as of right now I am finding out that there is way more I don’t know about this elderly man than I do know. Hell, I’m not even sure if I could check his house out. I’m not even sure where it is or if I could get to it without breaking something down.”
“That part Sheriff I can answer. I not only know exactly where Ben’s house is, I can get you through his gate and into his house. As one of Ben’s precautions I have the device that opens his gate and key code to his house. I also have a partial power of attorney to make decisions on his behalf if and only when the occasion arises that would require such decisions.”
“So you have been to his house, Judge?”
“Yes, a few times. Ben and I have fished in South Branch a few times and hunted wild turkey on his property once.”
“I didn’t even know he fished or hunted.”
“He doesn’t, but he goes with me so I can every now and then. Like I said he can be a good friend.”
“Let me go into my study and I’ll get the keys if you want, or we can go in the morning when it’s light out. The drive past his gate to his house is rather tricky at night time.”
“Tomorrow will be fine Judge, I just hope that is the right decision, but another ten hours shouldn’t make that much difference. I’ll come by and pick you up at say, seven.”
“That sounds fine Harvey. Now you all better get back to your wives and get some sleep. We all have things to do in the morning.”
A few well-meant goodbyes and the five men left Judge Strong standing on his front porch as they headed back to Hard Luck Creek. Thirty minutes later Martin, Paul and Doc had been dropped off already while Harvey and Dan sat in Harvey’s SUV in Dan’s driveway. Both of them reflecting on how little they knew about an old man who just about everyone in town liked.
“Sounds to me like Ben has more money than most people assume. So why did he move here to a place where he knew no one, lives most of his time with just his dog and himself. If he doesn’t have some hard or bad times in his past that he wanted to escape?”
“I was thinking the same thing earlier, but Strong said he checked Ben out four years ago and found him to be honest, upstanding and with no criminal connections. I believe the Judge. But that doesn’t help with who actually is “Old” Ben Nicholson. Maybe I’ll know more tomorrow.”
“Maybe, at least Doc Findley said he’d go with you two, just in case. See you later tomorrow Brother-in-law.”
“You will Brother, right after I get done. Tell that sister of mine hello and good night.”
“Done, Harvey.”
Once Dan was in his house, Harvey drove home, went inside and right to bed. The morning would come, probably sooner than he wanted, whether he slept or not.
Promptly at seven sharp Sheriff Harvey Long pulled his Sheriff’s Department SUV into Judge Strong’s driveway and pulled to a stop next to Doc Findley’s car, already there. Before he could start up the front porch steps, the Judge was opening his front door and holding it open.
“Come on in Harvey and have a cup of coffee before we go.”
“Sure thing Judge, I could use another one, this morning.”
Once in the kitchen, Harvey got himself a cup and sat down with the Judge and Doc Findley who was about half done with his. The three men chatted for a few minutes before the Judge said he needed to get a couple of things from his office, so they could go. He put his cup in the dishwasher and took Doc and Harvey’s cups when they offered them. Then all of them went to the Judge’s office.
Once in there Judge Strong took a key out his pants pocket and unlocked a drawer on the right side of his desk. While he was taking out a garage door clicker and small note pad, Doc looked around at his library shelves filling three sides of the room. Two of them were loaded with what appeared to be law books and legal reference books. The third on was filled with novels, books on fishing and hunting, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
“You must read a lot William? I see several here that I have at home myself. But very few people keep encyclopepias anymore.”
“No most just look things up on Google or some other app. I guess I’m rather old fashioned, I still like to pull one down every now and then and just browse through one. You two ready?”
With that they all walked out the front door, Strong locking it and then getting into Henry’s SUV. About thirty minutes later they had passed Nat McIntosh’s farm and were turning into Ben Nicholson’s driveway. As Harvey pulled to a stop, the Judge rolled down his window and holding the clicker out and depressing its center button. There was an instantaneous mechanical sound as the gate started to open to the right. Within a few seconds the gate was open and another sharp sound of metal butting to metal thudded.
“Okay, Harvey lets go on in. Drive on this rutted drive through the trees, when you get past them the track will veer to the left just follow it. Believe me you will know when to stop.” As they drove past the gate you could hear the gate start to close again behind them. Within five minutes Harvey pulled to a stop, there was no guessing where, it was obvious. Even without Old Bens SUV anywhere to be seen.
“That’s a beautiful cabin Judge. I had no idea this was here?”
“Wasn’t, before Ben bought this place. Don’t get me wrong Harvey, there was an old dilapidated shack right where this one sits, but it had been here so long that no one even remembered it was back in here. Ben found it when he first came out here, something over four years ago. He was thinking about buying this place. Or I should say bidding on it, he found it listed on a county website listing property on an upcoming tax sale.”
“That’s why most people didn’t know about it then. There was no real estate company selling it.”
“Right, seems it had passed down father to child a few times. But either the last one to inherit it didn’t care about it or couldn’t afford the taxes or something like that. Ben made his bid at the auction and his bid won.”
“I’m still surprised Nat didn’t get curious when all the construction started though. He told me he didn’t know where this house was.”
“Probably didn’t. You see how this rutted drive keeps going.”
“Yeah, where does it go?”
“About another quarter of a mile and winds back to Cherokee Ridge Road. But by then it is in Grant County. Most of the materials and workers came from there.”
“So how much land does Ben own?”
“Only around one hundred acres, forty of it is in Hardy County, the rest is in Grant County. All of it had belonged to the same family and all of it went up for tax auction, Ben got them both. And before you ask, yes there is another gate just like the one we came through on the Cherokee Ridge Road in Grant County.”
“You said you can get into the Cabin?”
“I can, let’s go.”
The cabin was of good size, without being huge. Its walls were all native stone which helped it blend with the surrounding scenery with large hewed timber posts and lumber. The roof was covered with large solar cells and there were storage buildings on both sides, one looked to be a garage. As the judge got to the front door, he punched in a code on the keypad next to the front door. And after hearing the slight click opened it.
Inside was a large main room with a couch, tables, a loveseat all facing a huge fireplace. An opening at the back went into a kitchen with a hewn table and four chairs, pantries and the usual appliances. On the wall next to that was another opening to a hall. In that hall were four other doors. One led to a bedroom, one led to an office, one led to the bathroom and the last to a rather large closet. No one was inside, not Ben, nor Boy, and nothing looked out of place. The walls had pictures hung in many places. They were mostly of a woman, or a woman and young girl or of Ben with both, and in a couple Boy. Sheriff Long was assuming they were Ben’s family. Doc commented on them and the Judge agreed they were.
In the office they saw his desk with an ergonomic desk chair, an easy chair across from it and bookcases on every wall. Doc perused the bookcases and after a while made a comment on what he saw.
“I see Old Ben has some of the same books you and I have Judge. He must like to read a lot.” Doc said almost absent mindedly as he slowly moved down the wall of shelves.
“Ben doesn’t read too much anymore Doc, says he doesn’t have the time to. Got too many irons in the fire to attend to.”
“That’s too bad some of these are recent like this one here.” Doc said with an almost sorrowful tone as he reached up and pulled one off the shelf in front of him. When he opened the cover he saw it was signed by the author and the inscription caught him by surprise. He turned to Harvey rather than Judge Strong. “Harvey, something just came to me. Something I hadn’t thought of until just now.”
“Okay Doc what is it?”
“You do know Ben is not actually Old Bens first name don’t you?”
“I hadn’t given that much thought Doc, I guessed his legal first name was Benjamin, but he liked to go by Ben, like many men do.”
“Not exactly, Harvey. I’m sure the Judge knows as I do, because I have Ben’s medical records and the Judge is his attorney. That you’re right in Ben being a nick name, but it isn’t short for Benjamin.”
“So what is his legal name then?”
“Ben is his nick name because it’s his initials. What he told it me was his Aunt that called him that because she didn’t like his first name, and the nick name Ben stuck with his whole family. His first name is Bernard I only know E is his middle initial.”
“Okay, but what’s your point.”
“Well, first off, I’m sorry Judge if I wasn’t supposed to see this. But I think Harvey should know.”
“It would eventually come out Doc. Go ahead with what you found.”
“You see, Harvey there is this note from the publisher on a piece of paper to the author, it was tucked behind the cover leaf, in this book I pulled off the shelf. It says that this is the proof book for the author to approve before they put it into print for release. Then on the open blank page is the author’s signature to who he gave this book to.”
“Wow, so who is that written to, what does it say?”
“To Mayme, you mean everything to me and without you I could never have written anything. Ben.” Doc stopped just for a moment then continued. “The thing is, this author is one of my favorite mystery writers over the last few years. And his name is not Ben. So I turned to the back and looked at his picture there, now I have seen that same picture in several of his books. But this time I took a real close look. Here look at the signature and then open the back and look at the picture of the author.”
Doc handed Harvey the novel and then looked at Judge Strong. “Ben’s real name is Bernard Edward Nicholson, isn’t it Judge?”
“Yes it is. I’m actually glad you caught that, I could never have legally divulged that out right.”
“You see Harvey the author’s name is Nick Edwards, a nom de plume for Ben’s real name. and if you look closely at the picture, change the hair style and color, add maybe forty years, who could that picture be of?”
“You’re right Doc, this could be picture of Old Ben forty or so years ago. So why did you pick this one out to look at anyway?”
“Well like I said I’m a fan of Nick Edward’s books, and this one is to come out as a movie pretty soon. I was happy when I heard they were making it because Edwards hasn’t let but one of his books be made into a movie before. Then my mind started to add things up.” Doc paused for a couple of seconds as if choosing his words, then continued. “You might not remember but about a year and half ago Dale and Debbie Allen’s little daughter, Jewel, got really sick. They were scrambling to decide just what they could do, to get her the help she needed when all of the sudden a well-known Pediatric Specialist from the Mayo Clinic in Los Angles called me and they took her as a patient on a special program with no cost to the Allen’s.”
“Sure everyone in town helped them as much as they could. What does that have to do with Ben?”
“Maybe nothing, but then again I think my suspicion back then was spot on. Well I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but on the day I had Dale and Debbie in a patient room at the clinic and was going over Jewel’s test results, Ben was in the room next door waiting on me for his appointment. Now he never said anything at the time, but two days later when I got the call from the Mayo Clinic I wondered how they had heard about her case so fast. I mean I was still making calls when I could, trying to find her help. At first I thought they may have been called by staff from WVU when I called them. But afterward, when I talked to the Specialist myself, he said he got a call from a producer he knew there in California asking him to do whatever he could for her, all costs covered by his production company. When he asked why, all his friend would say was it was part of a deal for a movie he wanted to make. Now finding out who Ben is, and like I said before a movie being released soon from one of his novels, I am just adding one and one and getting two.”
“Sounds possible, but that could just be coincidence.”
The Judge who had been listening while Doc gave his assumptions and Harvey’s answers quietly finally spoke. “On the other hand Harvey, let’s say hypothetically, you’re a typical Hollywood type and there’s this book you’ve been trying to get the rights to produce for a while. From an author who hadn’t been very interested in having it made into a movie and all the sudden he calls you and says “if you can do this for me and that is what I would want as my upfront payment, then I will agree to sign the movie rights to you. What do you think said Producer would do?”
“Well yeah, if it was within what I was going to pay anyway, sure, I’d jump on it.” Harvey answered.
“Wait, Judge are you saying I was right, it was because of Ben?” Doc interrupted.
“I’m saying, hypothetically of course, the assumption is quite possibly fact. I told you last night there is much you do not know about Ben Nicholson. You have barely scratched the surface, his heart would never let a young girl die, if there was anything he could do. His wife would have had him to do everything he could for her, a hurt animal, or anyone who deserved better. And Ben would have done anything his wife wanted.”
“I haven’t asked yet Judge, where is Ben’s wife?”
“Gone, she passed away about the same time as my Adelle. Only hers was unexpected not like Adelle’s illness, she died in a car accident. She was broadsided in an intersection by a truck driver texting and driving, Ben wasn’t there, but he blames himself for her death.”
“I see, had to get away from the sad memories.”
“No, Ben says he doesn’t have anything but wonderful memories of his wife. She is still with him, in every way that counts except physically. Right now he has Boy to care for. He also has some other things to attend to as long as he can, so he and his wife’s wishes are all completed. Then and only then can he be ready to ease up so he can be with her again, when that time comes. He says he hasn’t done enough yet to deserve her, she always deserved better than him.”
