Chapter 35: The Letdown
Two weeks passed by after Melanie took Todd under her arm. In that time Todd had started a part time job working as a Kitchen assistant in a local café. Melanie kept repeating to Max about how proud she was of the former homeless man. Max, however was not impressed and tried everything he could to discourage Melanie from allowing Todd to continue living downstairs in the apartment. None of his arguments worked. Even his future Father in Law could not convince her of her folly. The Lawyer’s fiance was convinced that it was time to take matters into his own hands.
He knocked firmly on Todd’s door. Melanie would not arrive home for at least another hour and Todd was due to work a late shift tonight.
The occupant opened the door several inches before peering out. Once Todd saw that it was Melanie’s fiancé standing there he opened it fully.
“Hello Max,” he said meekly.
“Hi Todd,” Max replied as he calmly entered the apartment and surveyed its contents, “I’ve just come to say that I’m sorry for being so hard on you. You deserve better. So I’ve decided to reward you with a bottle of JD.” On saying this Max revealed a bottle of whiskey that he had been concealing behind his back.
“I’m sorry Max but I don’t think that that is a good idea,” the recently reformed man responded in a downbeat manner.
“Ah come on. Everything in moderation. A little drop never hurt anyone. I got this for you because at some stage you are going to have to confront this bottle. The challenge for you and for anyone is whether you can take it every now and again and not in one go. You’ve jumped every hurdle for two weeks. If you can overcome your inner demons by not drinking all of it then you will know you can handle anything.”
“I’d rather not,” Todd replied as if it was a tub of rat poison. “Please take the bottle away.”
It was evident that Todd did not trust Max and knew that he was hoping that Todd would crack eventually. With each passing day the kitchen assistant wanted more and more to prove Melanie right. However because Max was Melanie’s fiancé Todd knew that he couldn’t tell him in no uncertain terms where to go.
“I’m going to leave it right here,” Max declared, placing the bottle on a coffee table. “Melanie trusts you. Don’t let her down”
Max turned around and left the apartment confident that this was one test Todd would not pass.
When he reached the duplex, he opened the door, locked it behind him and turned off the lights. He made his way to the window overlooking the apartment entrance and sat there waiting to see if Todd had left.
It only took ten minutes before Max could make out the figure of Todd walking down the street.
Seizing his opportunity, Max left the duplex and made his way downstairs. He used a spare key to open the apartment door. The bottle of whiskey was exactly where he had left it.
Max then opened the boot of his car and removed two twelve pack cans of beer and brought them to the apartment. He opened all the cans of beer and emptied them. Most of them he poured down the sink and scattered them across the apartment. Others he spilt over furniture and the floor. Lastly he opened the bottle of whiskey, pouring most of it down the sink but leaving just a fraction in it and placing it on the coffee table once more. Max then left the door of the apartment ajar and went upstairs acting as if it was just an ordinary day.
At 7:20pm later that day Melanie Chowdar was making her way home, when she noticed that Todd’s door was open. Out of curiosity she opened it. The smell of alcohol was palpable. She turned on the light switch and noticed the spilt beer and tossed beer cans strewn across the apartment. It also appeared as if he had thrown some of his clothes on the floor in a careless and lazy manner. Normally she disliked the smell of alcohol but the smell was so strong that she found it hard to breathe. Melanie felt embarrassed. Max had been right all along. She also felt let down and humiliated. The young lawyer had stood up against Max and her parents only for this to happen. The last thing she wanted to do was to admit it to her fiancé. There was no time to tidy up the mess in front of her, knowing that Max was upstairs. Instead, she closed over the door and made her way up to the duplex apartment.
As soon as she opened the door she was greeted by Max.
“Good evening darling,” he said with a warm smile.
“Oh hello,” Melanie responded hesitantly, “you seem happy.”
“Is everything ok?”
“Yes of course.”
“I’ve cooked dinner. It’s all ready for you. Let’s eat.”
Melanie and Max sat down to the meal that he had prepared. She always believed that Max was a good cook although his meal choices were somewhat conservative. Today, lamb chops with potatoes, carrots and turnip were on the menu.
“How was your day?” Max asked in an upbeat manner.
“Fine.” The truth was that it had been a great day up to the point of entering Todd’s apartment. Melanie had played her part in a successful court case. She wanted very much to tell Max, but it didn’t compare to the disappointment of Todd’s relapse.
“Did you speak to Todd at all today?” she asked out of curiosity.
“Well, I was just a little concerned about him,” Max replied in an attempt to feign sincerity. “I thought I heard shouting and other noises coming from his apartment.” Max could see that his plan was working. Melanie looked like she was almost ready to cry, but was making as much of an effort as possible to conceal her emotions.
“I’m sure everything is ok,” Melanie responded.
“Maybe we should go down and visit him, see how he’s getting on?”
“I think it’s bad timing darling. He might be gone to work by the time we finish our meal. I’m sure we’ll bump into him soon, if not by the weekend.” Melanie hoped that this was a passing thing and Todd would mend the error of his ways by the weekend.
“Whatever you say,” Max replied in a soothing tone as he stretched out his hand across the table to make contact, with hers. “I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on him in the past but you should understand that I’m looking out for your interests.”
“Ok Darling, but let’s take it easy tonight. I’m going to take a shower and then we can snuggle up in front of the TV and watch some old movies,” she said as she made her way upstairs. Once she reached the bathroom door she breathed a sigh of relief. She desperately hoped that Max would not find out the truth.
The following morning Melanie checked Todd’s apartment. Max had been in the shower when she left the duplex and she had time to spare. The door was left ajar as it had been the day before. She knocked and then entered when there was no response. The beer cans were still in the same place. Nothing had changed. Todd was nowhere to be seen. Melanie felt both let down and worried. He could be lying in the gutter somewhere or in a prison cell.
The young Lawyer closed the apartment door in the hope that her fiance would not discover what was inside and then went to work. The state of Todd’s welfare preyed on her mind throughout her working day. She wasn’t able to focus on anything else.
At the end of the day she left on time. This was unusual for her and was something that was frowned upon within the firm.
Melanie arrived at Mel’s Café at 6:15 and approached the manager.
“Hi Emir,” she addressed him, “Is Todd here?”
Emir was a very friendly and warm human being and Melanie had a lot of respect for him. His parents were both Indian but he saw himself as more of an American. He was the same height as Melanie and she was indebted to him for offering Todd a job. As a manager, Emir was always courteous to his customers and willing to engage in conversation with them from anything ranging from sports to shopping to family and to holidays.
“No, Miss Chowdar. He left a few days ago. I haven’t seen him since. He didn’t tell me where he was going. I thought it was a bit strange. He was a good worker but then he decided to leave without giving a reason.”
Initially Melanie was shocked to hear this. She wondered if she would find Todd wandering the streets looking for money. This was one battle Max had won. He would surely find out now.
“Was he boozing while he was here?”
“I didn’t see anything. As I said, he did a good job and I don’t know why he left. There was no evidence of alcohol being used. He told me he was planning on leaving a few days beforehand. Nobody knows where he went to. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No Emir. You have done plenty. I’m sorry that he left you short handed. Thank you,” Melanie said warmly before leaving. She was sure that Emir said something considerate in response but was too hung up with her own problems to notice.
The young Lawyer frantically considered her options. Her resources were very low, so she had insufficient funds to even hire the cheapest of private eye’s. The only alternative was to visit the police station. However, the first thing she had to do was to ensure that Todd had not returned home in the meantime. She altered her normal route in the hope that Max would not notice her. Once more she knocked on the apartment door before opening it herself. Nothing had changed and Todd was still missing. There was absolutely no evidence that he was home.
As she left, once more she tried to avoid being spotted by Max. At 6:50pm she reached the police station and approached the officer at the front desk. He was a tall man, pushing sixty, with a wrinkled face and thinning white hair partly sealed by his cap.
“I’d like to report a missing person.” Melanie declared.
“How long has he been missing?” the officer asked while munching on a ham, lettuce and cheese sandwich.
“48 hours,” Melanie responded hesitantly.
“Is he a relative?” The police officer asked as if he was reciting it from a manual.
“No,” the stressed young woman responded.
“Then who is he exactly?” the Police officer asked in a slightly exasperated manner. Melanie was conscious that she was coming between him and his ham, lettuce and cheese sandwich.
“A friend.”
“How long do you know him?
“Two months.”
“Two months! Next thing you’ll probably tell me he’s a bum you took in from off of the street.”
Melanie stayed quiet.
“O.k.,” he responded, “Here is a form you can fill out. We’ll need photographs and as much other information as you can give us. Then we’ll look into it,” he said handing her the form with all the enthusiasm of an inebriated garden slug.
Melanie filled out the form, providing as much information as possible and then handed it over to the man at the desk who was on the phone at the time. Melanie waited for two minutes until the call was over.
“We’ll be in touch,” he declared, after placing it on his desk.
“Do I have a number I can call you on?”
“Like I said, lady we’ll be in touch,” he said in a deadpan manner. “Our number is on the net. It’s also on the plaque there inside the doorway.”
“Do you have the name of a detective I can talk to?”
“This isn’t a movie lady. This is real life. These things take time. There are procedures and priorities. A lot of red tape. We’ll be in touch.” He made it very clear that he was more interested in finishing his ham, lettuce and cheese sandwich than being honoured as employee of the month.
Melanie left the police station in a downbeat manner. She rang the police station numerous times over the following week and combed the streets several times for any sign of Todd, but her efforts proved fruitless.
After six weeks Max convinced her to let out the apartment again. She decided to humour him on condition that he stop making her out to be naïve for believing in Todd in the first place. In any case, her wedding was just around the corner and all of her family and friends were united in encouraging her to focus on her big day.
Eight days prior to her wedding day Melanie Chowdar was seated outside Reno’s Café once more with her friend Cynthia.
“I can’t wait for you to see the dress I’ve picked out for your wedding,” Cynthia said with enthusiasm.
“What colour is it Cints?” Melanie asked before joking, “I hope it doesn’t clash with mine.”
“Well then, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
“How is Tony, by the way?”
“Tony’s old news. I didn’t really like him anyway. I’ve been seeing a different guy for three weeks now. I shouldn’t really be telling you. It’s only three weeks. He’s ok. Very attractive and quite nice. We’ll see how it goes.”
It was at this time that both women were interrupted by a shabbily dressed woman. The woman wasn’t wearing any makeup, looked to be in her late thirties, and had her long brown hair tied in a ponytail.
“Are you the woman?” the mysterious woman asked. “Do you know Todd?”
Initially Melanie suspected that the woman was trying to raise funds for an illegal charity or some similar reason but at the mention of Todd’s name she suddenly became interested.
“Please go away,” Cynthia replied.
“No,” Melanie replied. “How do you know him?”
“He’s in trouble,” she replied.
“Has he been drinking again?” Cynthia quipped.
“He hasn’t had a drink in three or four months. He helps out at the homeless charity, but now he’s been taken by The Reapers.”
Instantly Melanie feared for Todd’s welfare. She had never heard of anyone who had been taken in by the Reapers and survived. Victims were either, executed, jailed or put on trial for show.
“How can I help?” she said weakly, partly intimidated and partly feeling obligated to help.
“You’re a lawyer aren’t you? You must know someone who can help him even if you can’t”
“I hate to break it to you but most lawyers wouldn’t touch this case. Once someone is taken by the Reapers they’re as good as dead. Anyone associated with Todd. Anyone who sticks up for him will just end up like him.” Melanie knew that what she had just said was quite harsh, but above all else she believed it to be true. There was little or no hope for Todd.
“I thought you were his friend.” She said this in such a way as to indicate that Melanie had let him down badly and had returned to her pretentious ways.
“You have some nerve,” Cynthia responded in an irritated manner. “She gave that homeless man every chance but he walked out on her. Melanie was worried about him. She even went to the police and he didn’t even have the decency to say where he was. If he has any respect he wouldn’t have anything to do with Melanie.”
“He doesn’t. This is my doing. He doesn’t know I’m here,” Todd’s friend replied. “He’s resigned to his fate. He was helping to provide food and water to homeless men and women on the street when he was rounded up with the very people he was protecting.” The woman was forceful in what she said to the point that Melanie believed Todd’s colleague believed in him. It didn’t explain however the alcohol stains in Todd’s apartment.
Melanie always thought it was strange that the Government almost always rounded up undesirables and put them on trial for being alien life forms. These undesirables and anyone who sympathised with them were no more likely to be changelings than the President himself or the army of Reapers who captured them. For a long time Melanie had turned a blind eye to the practices of the Government because it didn’t affect her. She never felt in danger as long as she never interfered. This however was the first time that she knew someone arrested as a changeling. She felt bad about it but not badly enough to interfere.
Melanie was conscious that there were onlookers outside the café listening in. Her life was so perfect up to this point. She was about to get married. Part of her hoped that none of the eavesdroppers would report her for this.
“I really don’t think that there is anything I can do,” Melanie responded. “I only have a junior position as it stands. I have no influence where I work, to make them want to defend Todd. I have no experience to go it alone. I’m also broke and more importantly, if I was to interfere I would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Nobody ever comes back from this.”
“I guess I’m going to have to tell him that he was right. There was no point in asking. Thanks for nothing.”
The charity worker said this with contempt. It was as if Melanie was the most heartless lawyer on the face of the planet. Melanie kept telling herself that this was a case that no lawyer on the face of the planet would be willing to take. The woman turned around abruptly and walked off in an annoyed manner.
“Don’t mind her,” Cynthia advised. “She’s a hyprocrite if you ask me. Imagine having the gall to ask you to risk everything for a guy you hardly know, just because you helped him out. Now she’s treating you like you did nothing. She’s trying to make you feel bad. Imagine that.”
The truth was that Melanie did feel bad but what she was being asked to do was so overwhelming that she didn’t see the point in trying.
“It’s strange,” she said aloud, “that girl indicated that Todd didn’t drink in months, yet his apartment was filled with empty beer cans.
“Obviously, she lied,” Cynthia replied as she tapped her cigarette against the side of the ashtray. “The Reapers probably found him with a bottle of whiskey. Helping the homeless, my behind!”|