Thursday, September 25, 2008

How Does That Happen?

Have you ever been doing something and, from out of nowhere, a memory pops into your head? Well, that happened to me this morning on my way to work and I just wonder what made me remember it.


True story, but it contains my opinions only. I've also changed names.


When I was a senior in high school, I had a part-time job at a restaurant. We'll call it Moe's. WAIT! I wasn't a senior anymore. I had graduated already and was sharing an apartment with a complete nut, another story entirely.

One morning, very early, I had gotten up to attend the mandatory staff meeting at Moe's. We always dreaded them because they usually started around 9am, which back then, was ridiculously early for me. Nonetheless, I was a good employee and showed up as required.


Just a few minutes later, the Managers began their spiel. Not all the employees were there. Particularly a couple that had been dating and one of the other Managers. The missing Manager, Peter, had been going through a really rough time as he had just divorced his wife and moved out of his home of many years into an apartment. He was a doll and joked with me often that he had named his daughter after me, even though she was born before we met. The couple consisted of a server, Beth, and the Manager's brother and bartender, Jack.


About thirty minutes into the meeting, the couple showed up and sat down. They were acting strangely and Beth, in particular, was very fidgety. The meeting continued for a bit longer and then, we all split up. Those that had to work that morning, such as myself, went on to finish the opening duties and the others, left. While working on my duties, the phone rang and I happened to answer it. It was Beth. She was HYSTERICAL. "It's Peter! He's dead. I need to talk to Don (another Manager)!" I started to ask what had happened, but thought I'd better just get Don. So, I ran down the steps to the Manager's office and yelled to Don.


I was pacing the floor until Don hung up the phone. Don explained that Jack had found Peter when he returned home from the meeting. Jack and Peter shared an apartment and Beth, as Jack's girlfriend, had been staying there quite a bit also.


As you can imagine, the cops were all over the place. They were all over the apartment, the restaurant and other areas following up leads. We were told that we could possibly be questioned and if so, we were to cooperate and offer any information requested. I was never questioned.


I attended the funeral for Peter a few days later. It was awful. Of course, funerals aren't generally happy occasions. When I saw his two daughters, I just cried my eyes out. I was thinking of little Jessie and how she was going to grow up without her daddy. I know how much Peter loved his kids and it just made my heart hurt.

After the funeral, rumors flew around for weeks. I heard rumors that: he'd had an affair and the husband caught up with him, his wife was still the beneficiary on his policies and had him killed and that he was killed by some man he'd quarrelled with a few weeks prior at a local bar. I didn't believe any of it. To this day, I believe Jack and Beth were involved. As far as I know, it is still unsolved.

So, I wonder why in the world this popped into my head today.

2 comments:

Courtney said...

That is a very sad story. I hope they did eventually catch whoever did it and how terrible if it was them. Sounds like it to me from your side of the story! Wonder why that did pop into your head, but I'd look for something about it to come up (someone like Jack or Beth to pop back into your life or the case finally be solved etc.) that's what usually happens to me.

allie said...

That's crazy! That does seem very suspicious. I hope they figured it out. Don't you want to research the case? I can't stand not knowing the conclusion to something, in real life or not! Oh btw, I found a really cool pumpkin patch, I'll email you the like to see if you're interested in that one. Can't wait to see you!