Free The Gift of Illusion: A Thriller by Richard Brown Page B

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jack-of-all-trades, loved to work with his hands, and wasn’t afraid
of trapping a little dirt under his fingernails. Randy had to be
the hardest worker Isaac had ever known, but then again he had to
work hard to support his four children.
    Isaac struggled to remember the names of
Randy’s kids as he readied himself to open the door. He had
narrowed it down to three girls and a boy, but as for their names,
he hadn’t the foggiest clue. He was positive, however, that all but
two of the four children had come into the world with different
mothers. Randy had been divorced as many times as he had been
married, three altogether, and Isaac had witnessed all of it from
one door over. And, unbelievably, Randy had recently been toying
with the idea of getting married a fourth time, like three trips
through hell weren’t enough.
    Randy had given up on Isaac answering the
door and began walking away, when the door finally swung open. He
turned back around and greeted Isaac. “There ya are,” he said. “I
was wondering what happened to you. I saw your car pull up.”
    Isaac wondered if he was even looking at the
same man. A total transformation had taken place in Randy’s
personal appearance since the last time they had spoken. The long
scraggily hair that used to hang down over Randy’s shoulders was
washed and cut back to his ears. The full beard was shaved off
leaving just a neatly trimmed goatee in its place. The ripped blue
jeans moved out as a nice pair of slacks moved in. Even the smelly
grease stained undershirt that had become the staple of Randy’s
wardrobe was replaced with a dark blue turtleneck.
    “I was just fixing myself a little lunch,”
Isaac said, not taking his eyes off the new and improved Randy
Wilson.
    “Long time no see."
    "Yeah. How are the kids?”
    “Good.”
    “You seeing the same girl?”
    Randy nodded. “Lizzy.”
    “Wow,” said Isaac. “So, how’s that
going?”
    “Pretty darn good actually,” Randy said with
a devious smile on his face. “We’re getting married. Not for at
least six months though. We’ve been planning it together. This time
I want a real wedding, not one of those cheap last second things.
I’ve been saving up my money so I can give her the best wedding
possible. I’m tired of jumping into things with my head up my ass.
Those days are over. I’m not getting any younger, ya know? It’s
time to do something real with my life. Make a commitment.”
    “Well, I hope it works out for the best. Did
you get a new job or something?”
    “How’d ya guess?”
    “Just a hunch. Last time we talked you were
still working for Joe Little rebuilding transmissions.”
    Randy sighed. “Yeah, Joe had to close up
shop. Couldn't keep the lights on I guess. Tough times."
    “So where are you working now?”
    “As of this week, I’m officially a used car
salesman.”
    “So you went from fixing cars to selling
cars? Nice change of scene."
    “What can I say I love cars. It's pretty
good money, but I’m still trying to get the hang of the whole
selling thing.”
    “Did you have today off?”
    “Well, I was supposed to be working the big
sale today, but the owner Frank Delano sent everyone home after he
heard what happened to James this morning."
    "James Ackerman?"
    “Yeah. Did you know him or something?”
    Isaac brushed his hand across the front of
his jacket and felt the small stone statue resting comfortably
inside the inner pocket. “Two policemen also died this
morning.”
    “Oh, that’s right. I forgot who you work
for,” said Randy. “James showed me the ropes. He seemed like a
pretty cool guy. Terrible thing that happened to him though. Hey,
you gonna be around later?”
    Isaac couldn’t believe that Randy Wilson had
gone from fixing junkyard cars to selling them. Something gave
Isaac the impression that Randy couldn’t sell shit to a constipated
man. But more surprising than his friends sudden makeover was that
Randy had worked and been trained by the