Chapter 8

Edward Brandt was feeling extra sluggish this morning. He was never much of a morning person anyways. It usually took two to three cups of coffee before he could muster up the strength to start the day. The involuntary week off from work had not done his routine any favors either. The time when he should have been relaxing just led him to worry more about work. The reasoning wasn’t entirely clear to him. He knew that Dan would stick up for him, and things would go back to normal soon enough. But the more he tried to enjoy the time off with his wife, the more he asked himself why he was still in this line of work and, furthermore, why he would want to continue putting up with the bureaucracy.

Joyce had come up the stairs and into the room. “Get up you lazy bum, breakfast is ready downstairs.”

“Alright hun, I’ll be down in a moment,” said Edward.

“A moment for you could lead to the afternoon; let’s go!” She spun back around, her dark hair fanning out around her neck, and made her way back to the dining room.

The rise of the morning sun sent blinding beams of light through the slightly open slats of the bedroom window. Edward rolled his palms into his eyes and flopped out of bed. Dragging his feet, he made his way downstairs, donning a dull pink set of pajamas.

“Nice threads,” Joyce said jokingly.

“Thanks.” Edward had thought he was being helpful by doing some of the chores around the house. Earlier in the week, he had taken it upon himself to do laundry. A task he was clearly not up to. The lecture he received from Joyce about how you don’t mix colors in the washer gave Edward discouragement; he needed to never try that again. Still, he was helpful in other ways. He could do a mean vacuum job on the carpet while attempting to sing Rock You Like a Hurricane.

The week had not at all been how he imagined. The promise of a week off felt like it would’ve been a great time for bonding with his wife. This has not been the case, though. Most of her day was spent seeing patients, while the late afternoons and early evenings were spent doing paperwork in her office. They still had a couple of hours together, though. They would cuddle up on the couch and watch sitcoms and game shows together. He was overwhelmed with boredom hanging around the house all day. Thursday meant that she would work in her crafts room, while Edward would play games with Andrew.

A little bit of luck did come along on Friday, though. The auto shop called early in the morning to inform him that his vehicle was ready for pickup. The excitement consumed him to finally get out of the house. When Joyce saw her last patient of the day, she quickly gave him a ride to the shop. He had been bothering her all day about it. When he reclaimed custody of his cherry red 1987 Chevrolet Corvette C4, Edward jumped for joy. He drove off the lot and cruised for what seemed like hours before returning home. Joyce merely rolled her eyes as he sped away and headed back home.

“Wow, this looks amazing,” Edward said as he sat next to Joyce at the dining table. The large plate contained a perfectly fluffy batch of scrambled eggs, a square of crispy golden hash browns, and two sausage links. A piece of toast cut into triangles was placed upon the small plate next to it. A cup of coffee, already doctored to Edward’s liking, sat at the center of the table. He quickly grabbed the cup and began sipping the hot liquid.

“Have you heard anything from Dan?” Joyce broke the silence.

Edward placed the coffee back onto the table. “Not yet, and I am still contemplating what to say when I do return.”

The two had spent brief moments over the week discussing what Edward would do if he decided to leave the FBI. Suggestions ranged from being silly, working at a fast-food chain, to possibly being a private detective. Edward knew that he had the skills to become a private detective, but what really got the wheels turning was the freedom to work his own hours and take on the cases he wanted to work. The idea was fascinating but still needed to be thought out further.

“This is delicious, hun.” Edward ate another bite of his scrambled eggs.

“I know, I made it.” Joyce threw in a quick jab regarding Edward’s attempts at cooking throughout the week.

“What do you say we go out for dinner tonight? We could pick up a nice bottle of wine on the way home and finish the evening with a nice movie,” Edward suggested.

Her eyes lit up. “Sounds wonderful, where did you have in mind?”

“There’s a new Italian place that just opened up in town. Perhaps we shall give it a try.”

“I love it! Let’s say four-thirty?”

“That works for me. One thing, though. We just need to stop by the gas station on the way there. The Vette is running a little low.”

“Well, if you didn’t decide to drive like an asshole for two hours after you picked it up—Wait, you want to take your car?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Joyce chuckled.

Edward waited at the foot of the staircase. He wore a nice dress shirt with slacks, not too far from his FBI ensemble, but missing the tie.

“Almost ready dear?” Edward called upwards.

Joyce descended the staircase in a stunning black dress. Her black hair draped elegantly down her neck. The red lipstick and high heels complemented her complexion. Edwards jaw dropped for a moment. He was simply amazed at how wonderful she looked. The birds in his head suddenly stopped singing after what she said next.

“Alright, lead the way to your jalopy, my prince.”

“It’s not a jalopy!” Edward insisted.

Despite the irritation from the comment uttered a moment earlier, Edward opened the passenger door for Joyce and gently closed it upon her entrance. “Jalopy,” he muttered to himself as he rounded the car to the driver’s side and got in.

The drive into town had been calm and peaceful. Edward was careful not to cause any further excitement with the car to avoid any cleverer comments. The cool breeze in the air, mixed with green vegetation and fresh rain, felt humbling as they drove with the windows down to take in the fresh air.

They were only a few miles away from the restaurant and Edward had already drove past three gas stations. Joyce broke the silence first.

“I thought you needed fuel.”

“Have you been noticing these prices?” Edward said with a puzzled look on his face.

The first three gas stations featured prices ranging from four dollars and seventy-nine cents per gallon all the way up to five dollars and twenty cents. Edward and Joyce exchanged the same puzzled look as they finally pulled into the fourth gas station. Even with the higher-than-normal fuel cost, each place was filled with customers eagerly waiting for their turn at the pumps. The place they had pulled into had the highest price out of all of them at five dollars and sixty cents, but not as many people. After a few minutes of waiting, he was able to pull up to the number seven pump.

“Why is everything one to two dollars more today?” Edward asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t been paying attention to the current events.”

Edward’s expression was both of concern and agitation as he exited the vehicle. “I’ll be right back; just going to pay for this.” He entered the convenience store. During the additional minutes he waited in the checkout line, he paid attention to the background noise caused by the other patrons. Everyone was seemingly befuddled by the recent and aggressive increase in fuel prices.

“Next, please!” The cashier said while motioning at Edward. There was visible stress on his face, probably from working long hours while answering questions from aggravated customers. Edward moved forward and handed the cashier eighty dollars.

“Eighty on pump seven, please.” Edward thought it to be a good opportunity to acquire some additional information. “Uh, what’s the story with the gas prices?”

“Have you been living under a rock these past few days?” The cashier responded. Clearly having been repeatedly asked the same question over the past couple of days.

“No, I’ve been living in a house. What’s the deal?”

“Refineries all along the east coast have been experiencing power issues since Thursday night. When they are finally able to bring a refinery back online, it shuts down again a few hours later. The news doesn’t have much to say other than it’s probably due to the aging power grid at those locations. If you ask me, I think it’s some form of cyber-attack, probably from those damned Russians.”

“Alright, thank you.” Edward turned around and exited the store. He didn’t want to be baited into a conspiracy theory conversation, especially when he had an otherwise lovely evening planned with Joyce. Edward pumped the gas and entered the car.

“Did they mention why the prices are so high?”

“Some kind of refinery glitch. I’m sure it’ll smooth over in a couple of days.”

The restaurant had a very aesthetically pleasing atmosphere. A mix between the old world and the new. The exterior exhibited a more modern architecture, while the interior offered a quaint little piece of Italy. Vertical wooden planks adorned the lower half of the dining room, while the upper half featured classic artworks upon a stucco wall. The lights were only slightly dim to establish a calming mood, and the table had a white cloth draped perfectly over it for that extra charm.

Being the gentleman, Edward pulled out the chair for Joyce and waited for her before he sat down. The waiter had just dropped off the menu. They ordered two glasses of water, along with two glasses of house red wine to start their evening. Both were glancing over the menu, deciding what they were in the mood for. The waiter quickly dropped the beverages off and gave them a little more time to consider the menu.

“At least the pasta refinery is still working,” Edward said jokingly.

Joyce giggled. “I’m glad that your sense of humor is still intact after earlier.”

The food was indeed reasonably priced. A little more costly than going to a chain restaurant, but not so bad that it would break the bank account of the patrons. Establishments such as this put care and pride into their food, and you could taste the quality.

Edward let out a little spontaneous chuckle.

“What?” asked Joyce.

“I was just reminded of something the cashier said at the gas station.”

“Is that what took you so long in there, you were exchanging jokes?”

“Not at all. That place was swamped! He wanted to get me into a discussion about how it’s all probably some Russian hacker messing with our infrastructure. I couldn’t be bothered with it.”

“Well, we are here for a while. What do you think about that?”

“The whole idea just seems highly unlikely. Surely places like that would have the best security.”

“In the world of computers, they say anything is possible,” Joyce said.

“I’ve heard that. But it’s too far outside of my area of expertise. I can type on the machines and sometimes play a game only because Andrew taught me how. Besides, many teams and agencies are designated to figure that out.”

Joyce was just about to speak when the waiter interrupted her.

“Are you ready for me to take your order?”

Joyce ordered the Ragu Alla Bolognese while Edward simply ordered Fettuccine with shrimp. Around thirty minutes passed until their meal finally arrived. Except for the classical Italian music playing over the speakers and their periodic acknowledgment of how good the food tasted, they ate mostly in silence. When they finished their meal, Edward asked Joyce to pick a bottle of wine to take home for later. She chose a Brunello, a nice red wine from the Montalcino region of Italy.

They arrived home a little after eight. A little tired from all the excitement of the day, they agreed to finish the evening on the couch with the procured bottle of wine and a movie. While Joyce went upstairs to change into her nightgown, Edward took the time to fluff up the couch pillows and threw a blanket over it. He opened the bottle of wine to let it breathe before also going upstairs to change into his pajamas.

“What do you want to watch?” Joyce called out from the bathroom.

“I feel like I’ve seen everything last week. You pick,” Edward replied.

Joyce came downstairs first. She removed two stemless wine glasses from the kitchen cabinet and poured two generous portions of wine into the glasses. When Edward finally came down, Joyce was already cozying up on the couch. She began scrolling through movies on the television app as the two wine glasses rested on the coffee table. Edward was just getting ready to sit down when he heard his cell phone ring. “What the hell?” he said under his breath as he picked himself back off the couch.

“Who is it?” Joyce asked.

Edward examined the phone on the kitchen island. “It’s Dan.” He found it strange for Dan to be calling this late at night, and even more strange that it was coming from his office number. Edward answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Edward, I know it’s strange to be calling at this hour, but I need to see you in the office Monday morning. There’s an urgent matter that I think you can help with.”

“Sir, is this about the investigation last week?”

“Oh, no. You’re good to go on that one. You were cleared of any wrongdoing on Wednesday, I just wanted you to have some extra holiday.”

“Ok, sir, can you tell me anything about what’s going on then? You seem a little spooked.”

“No, it’s best to wait until Monday. We’ll all have a clearer head by then. See you then.”

Before Edward could ask any further questions, Dan had already hung up the phone.

“So, what was that about?” Joyce asked.

“Dan wants me to come back to the office Monday morning.”

“Everything is right again at work?”

“I think so, but Dan seemed kind of weird. He mentioned there was a kind of urgency in the matter.”

Edward put the phone down, trying to shake off the confusion in what just happened. He walked to the couch and sat down with his wife.