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Suddenly, the activity stopped and the voices fell silent. Then the Queen Bee, also known as Councilman Calvin Carpenter, a rather overweight man in his fifties, opened his office door and walked out. Everyone seemed to be waiting for some announcement and when none came, they simply resumed their activities.
He just stood there and looked around. I noticed that his hair was mostly grey under the fluorescent lighting. Finally, he walked over to another desk and handed the woman there some brochures.
"Councilman Carpenter!" I called, as he turned to go back to his office. He looked down at me just as I reached his side.
"Can I help you?" he asked. Then recognition crossed his face. "Oh, you're that little barista down at Roasted Love. What can I do for you?"
I tried to give him my nicest smile. "Councilman, I'm interested in doing some part-time work on your campaign. I have some afternoons and evenings off during the week, on the days that I come in for the early shift at the coffee house. Is there anything I could work on for you?"
He frowned a little as he looked closely at me. There was no doubt in my mind that he was thinking of the coffee and shelter I'd offered to John.
Before the councilman responded, I pressed on. "But first, could I ask you a few questions? I just want to clarify some of your issues and campaign promises, so I can be sure I'll be a good fit to work here."
He gave me a professional grin. "Sure, I can give you a few minutes. We can always use more helpers to get the message out. Your position at Roasted Love could actually help, since you get such a good crowd of customers in there." He stood aside and we entered his office. He closed the door and I sat down in the chair he offered me.
"I’ve seen your ads often on TV, and in most of them you mention doing something about the homeless people in West River," I said. "Do you have a definite plan for taking care of the problem?"
Again, his eyes scrutinized me. Being a politician, he smiled broadly and leaned back in his chair. "I do have ideas on that issue. Vagrants are becoming a bigger problem all the time, and it's one that will only grow as time goes on."
"Yes, but – "
"And I don’t know of a single one of them that's not on drugs. We don’t need drug dealers and users moving into the Piazza. Thank God, they're concentrated in a small area for now, but I want to stop it right there."
I kept quiet and waited for him to say more. I didn’t have to wait long.
"My goal," he said, "is to get them to move somewhere else unless they get jobs and move into some kind of housing. Right now, they're bringing our city down. We want to restore that blighted downtown area. We can’t expect businesses to move back in there if owners and customers have to step around vagrants just to get inside their buildings."
"How would you get the homeless to move?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Well, I'm glad you asked me that," he said, with a nice white smile. "Policies can be put in place that would prevent people from living outside on the streets – especially from sleeping outside. I’ve been told that the two shelters we do have in West River fill up fast. And anyway, the homeless are only allowed to stay there at night. They still wander the streets all day long."
"What about families with little kids?" I asked. "I just saw a news story about a homeless woman with two small children. If she got a job, who would care for those kids? Day care is expensive and you've got to pay up front."
Carpenter cleared his throat. "Well, now, she shouldn’t have gotten herself in that situation to begin with. She probably left her husband – if she ever had one – and struck out on her own. It was her choice to end up like this."
I stared at him. "Oh – so, most of them choose this lifestyle? I didn't know that." I wasn't above playing dumb to get the answers I needed. "But don’t you think it’s a little cruel to force people to move far away from West River if they don't want to?" I didn’t mention the fact that no woman would choose to leave her husband and take her children to the streets if she didn't have to.
The councilman shuffled some papers on his desk, trying to look like he was too busy for any more talking. "It’s for the good of the town I represent. We can’t have people like that making an already blighted area even worse. Before we know it they'll spread through the city – even up here."
"What if they don’t want to 'move somewhere else,' as you put it? What's the next step?"
"Well, ma'am, if it comes to that we'll have to make sure they go – one way or another. My goal is to get all of them out of West River."
"What did you think about the man who died?" I asked.
He switched two folders around and opened one of them. Then he closed it and placed the first one on top of it. "If you’re talking about the one who'd been sleeping outside Roasted Love – well, he's a good example of what I’m talking about. He once stayed downtown. Then he suddenly appeared on a street like the Piazza and called it his home. And look at what happened. He brought violent crime with him to our streets. Surely you don't think anyone wants that."
He looked at me, and gave me another one of those fake politician smiles. "If you want to work for me, even part time, you'd have to be on the same page that we're on here in this office. Otherwise, you'll be better off sticking with your job at Roasted Love."
I nodded slowly. "I’ll give it all some thought," I said. "Thanks for your time."
"Oh, you're welcome, young lady," he said, as I got up and walked to the door. "We'll look forward to hearing back from you!"
As I left Carpenter's office, I noticed a short hallway that led to a side door. I saw an exit sign above the side door, followed it, and took the back way out. Then I walked around to the front of the building to get into my car.
I couldn’t believe that Calvin Carpenter would actually murder one homeless person at a time until they were all gone from West River... would he?
Just then, I saw a familiar person walk up to the front door of the office building. It was Ronald Larch. Well, he does work here, I reminded myself. But I was sure glad we hadn’t met face to face inside.
