4.

Saturday June 20th, 1987, and Lydia returned home. She was not going to in any way inform anyone of her two thousand dollar overall win in Vegas, least of all her father, oh no, her winnings were her secret. She was dreading arriving home for a few reasons. The holiday she enjoyed so much had ended, there was no worry attached to that. What did carry plenty of worry would be the condition of Lydia's father.

Was he still in the land of the living? Surely, he can last a few days without her though at that, what kind of condition would he be in? One thing for sure, if her father was conscious then he would have been drinking and most likely until such a time he wasn't.

'Where the hell have you been?' came the shout from the living room.

These words were met by relief closely followed by dread.

'I was away.'

'Away where? And with who?'

'I was far away ... on my own.'

Lydia was greeted by empty beer cans and empty vodka and whiskey bottles, as well as a stench that may have well smelled like death. How and where he got the drink, she did not want to know.

'The state of the place here, have you eaten at all while I was gone?'

'There were some beans in the press' said Lydia's father as he accidentally knocked over a half full can of beer from the armchair he sat on. 'Aw crap.'

He struggled to reach and retrieve what was left of his beer.

'Beans, that it? I have been gone all week and all you had were some beans?'

'I ate, I ate plenty. You still haven't told me where you were and with who? And would it hurt to call me dad?'

'I did tell you', she speaks under her breath. 'C'mon get up and get yourself somewhat respectable. It is my last day before I go back to work, so we are going out for dinner.'

There was only one place to go and that of course would be Abe's Diner, the diner that Lydia works at. Upon her arrival to Abe's, Lydia was immediately greeted with a hug.

'Lydia. You're back. You do know that you are not due back in until tomorrow.'

'I know Sophie, just in to grab a bite to eat with my DAD'.

'Do you guys know what you both would like?'

'Yeah, an omelet with a bit of everything in it, fries and a black coffee for the dad, Cajun chicken salad with a juice for me please.'

'Sure thing.'

'Any whiskey to go with that coffee?' asked Lydia's dad taking a seat in the near empty diner, and in no way being considerate as to how he spoke.

There once was a time he would never speak in such a manner though such is how life has changed.

'No more alcohol for you today, old man.'

'Old man?'

Lydia put her hand on her father's shoulder before following Sophie up to the counter as she put in their order.

'So, you enjoyed your break?' asked Sophie.

'I did indeed. I definitely needed that getaway.'

'Tell me, who is this ... Scott Harmon?'

'Scott who?'

'Ya know, tall well-dressed older man. Almost as old as your father, only he looks like he has money and takes care of himself. He was here only a little while ago inquiring about you.'

While Lydia was talking away with Sophie, Lydia's father took out a small canister from his inside jacket pocket, unscrewed its cap and took a swig.

'Had he got shortish curly hair and a beard both with specks of grey in it?' Lydia asked Sophie.

'Yes, that would be him.'

'Holy crap, how the hell does he know where I work?'

'So, who is he? You weren't with him, were you?'

'No God no, I am not that bad, we shared an elevator, in Vegas no less, and he wanted to have a drink with me, but I wasn't having any of it. I never told him anything about me, well apart from my name that is.'

'Sometimes that is more than enough' suggested Sophie.

5.

It was Sunday 21st of June when Lydia returned to work at Abe's diner, and she did so just before mid-day. The day began pleasantly and quietly enough. With an afternoon of rainfall, business began to pick up. There was always something about the rain that made people arrive at the diner.

There was no let up at all after a few hours of heavy rainfall. If anything, it was getting worse. One hell of a storm was coming in, though as far as Lydia could see; it had arrived already some time ago. Diner cook and owner decided to call it and close the place for the night. Even though the place was called Abe's diner, the owners name was, or is, Gordon Simmons.

Once the patrons had left, and the main restaurant area had been cleaned down, Gordon would shout out to Lydia. He could see her out in the restaurant from his position in the kitchen.

'If you would like to hang on a half hour or so, I can give you a lift home.'

'It is alright Gordon; if I hurry, I will make it home in about fifteen minutes. I want to make sure my father is home and in out of the rain.'

'Alright, take care and mind yourself going home. It's a little rough out there.'

'I will. See you tomorrow.'

Gordon was a nice guy. He had always been a good boss to work for, he, like anyone else would have his bad days, and he rarely if ever gave any of the girls who worked for him a hard time. Lydia put a rain jacket on and quickly made her way home. Unbeknown to her, shortly after she began her journey home, a car pulled away from the diner. Its driver had been watching her for a little while up to this point.

It did indeed take her just over fifteen minutes to get home and when she did arrive home, it was to a darkened house. The fact that there were no lights on at all, not even one, did not bother her too much. Her father may be sleeping somewhere in the house, especially if he had been drinking all day which was quite likely.

'Dad' Lydia called out turning on the hall light.

She stumbled over an empty beer can and managed to catch her balance as she made her way into the living room. Her father was not sitting either awake or sleeping in his usual seat in the living room. Lydia then made her way up to her father's bedroom half expecting to see him passed out on his own bed, still fully clothed. He was not on his bed. He was also not on the floor or passed out in any of the wardrobes. In fact, he was not upstairs at all.

'Father' she called out loudly beginning to worry.

Down in the kitchen there was still no sign of him. Sudden loud clapping of a heavy sounding thunder startled her; it was soon followed by a flash of lightning and some more thunder. Neither the thunder nor the lightning stopped Lydia from going out to check the back garden shed, and still there was no sign of her father.

The only place in the house Lydia had yet to look was the basement. He has to be home, the thoughts of him not being home with this kind of weather, well that doesn't sit well. Thunder once again sounded followed by another bolt of lightning just before she reached to open the basement door. It made her turn her head right at the moment she did open the door.

When she hit the light switch, nothing happened. The light in the basement did not come on. There was no pop, no burst of light, nothing. She flicked the switch a few times in quick succession and the light still did not come on.

Cautiously, Lydia went down the wooden steps once again calling out for her father as she did so. She could hear a slight movement so someone or something was down there in the darkness. Maybe her father had fallen and had hurt himself or maybe there was something else in that darkness.

Looking at the base of the house from the outside there are numerous small square windows, all of which are also located all around the top of the basement itself which is at the base of the house as indeed, the rest of the basement is below ground level, so when lightning next struck it briefly lit up the whole inside of the basement. It also briefly revealed the presence of a man, a man who was definitely not Lydia's father. He had more than startled Lydia and once having spied him, she immediately turned and began to run back up those wooden steps.

'Now just hold on there a second young lady. I do not mean you any harm' spoke the man, loud enough to be heard over the inclement weather.

Lydia stopped and fearfully turned back towards the man; she remained on the steps while also at this point not being able to see the intruder, though she did recognize his voice, or at least assumed she did.

'Who are you? What do you want? And where is my father?'

'One question at a time young lady, besides can you not tell who I am?'

'It is you, isn't it? That guy from the hotel in Vegas? Scott something or other.'

'Yes, Miss Devlin very good, Harmon is the something or other.'

'How did you get in here and where is my father?'

'I think we should continue our discussion in the kitchen, don't you?'

Lydia left the basement fearing every step she took, and Scott soon followed. Never before did her heart beat the way it is in this moment. In the kitchen Scott took a seat and indicated for Lydia to sit too but she refused. Her hands were shaking; she clasped them together for a moment or two to make it stop. She briefly thought about reaching for the household phone but decided better of it.

'No need to be frightened young lady. I will not hurt you.'

Scott paused for a moment before he continued.

'How fitting it is too that we first met in Las Vegas. Taking after the old man I see.'

'What do you mean? You have still yet to tell me where he is.'

'He is not here though he is alright for now. You see ... for quite some time your father has owed me money. His problems go way beyond his drinking. He borrowed from me, and I think it is time to collect. If anything, collection is way overdue.'

'How much?'

'Fifty-three thousand, give or take a few dollars.'

'Look around you. Does it look like we have that sort of money?'

'No, but I do know you did make a tidy little sum on your little trip away and I think that we can come to an arrangement as to what we can do about paying off the rest.'

Scott stood up and smiled. Lydia began to back away from him.

'Don't you come near me.'

'Do not be afraid young lady, I promise to go easy, and you may just learn to enjoy it too.'

Lydia continued to back up. The door to the basement was still open. Losing her footing Lydia tripped, fell the whole length of the wooden steps and ended up flat on her back on the basement floor. Scott paused for a moment. The lack of any sound coming from beyond the basement door told him that this lady he had come to, might be a little more than hurt so he let out a loud whistle. Two of his henchmen came into the house. One went down to the basement and came back up a moment or so later.

'She is dead boss.'

'Bury her, both of you and clean the place down.'

'What about her old man?'

'I will deal with him.'