71 -- Gotta get out of town
When Dan returned, he brought only bad news -- although in
some respects relieved me. He had guessed right. Billy Night Rider was behind
the break-in, only not quite for the reasons he might have expected.
“The man’s making a move on the local drug scene,” Dan said,
pulling off his hat and wiping the sweat from his walk with his sleeve.
“What does that have to do with us?” I asked, leaning
against the counter between the kitchen and living room. “We don’t deal drugs.
At least, not yet.”
“But he probably thinks we might,” Dan said, reaching for a
cup to pour himself coffee, too. “He’s out to eliminate any competition. Some
of the street dealers think he’s narc-ed on them to the fuzz. A number of
dealers have been busted, including Hal. They got him yesterday.”
Dan’s hands shook as he poured out the coffee, and he
spilled a little as he sipped, drops of brown lingering in his long moustache.
“The cops are looking for Bobo now,” Dan said. “And if he’s
narc-ed on them, what’s to say he won’t narc on us?”
“But we don’t have any dope here,” Louise said, looking
terrified again.
“Will it matter if they haul our asses down to Wilcox
Station and run our fingerprints?” Dan said. “They’ll definitely find out about
me, and even though divorce laws are different in this state, they might just
ship me back east where my ex-wife can get her greedy little fingers on me. And
you, Al, do you really want to take a chance that the phony ID Bob sold you
will hold up under close scrutiny? They might have your Army records and might
find out about the robbery you pulled back east.”
The thought terrified me more than the idea of mobsters
beating me up.
“So, what do we do?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But it’s too hairy to hang out there right
now,” Dan said.
At this point, I told him about Louise’s idea of leaving
town.
Dan’s bushy eyebrows rose, his fearful look eased by a
surprised even relieved expression.
“That’s an idea,” he said. “I got something going out in
Denver that I should take a peek at.”
“Denver?” Louise said, easing between me and Dan to look at
him straight on. “You’re going to Denver?”
“Can’t think of a better time,” Dan said, giving me a wink,
a smile making its way out from under his thick moustache.
“Maybe we can all go,” Louise said, in a tone so hopeful, it
sent shivers of alarm through me, the Tim situation rearing its ugly head
again. I could tell from the brightness in her eyes that she was thinking of
him.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I mumbled, drawing a dark
and hateful look from Louise, who clearly knew what was running through my
head.
“Of course, it’s a good idea,” Dan said. “Do you really want
to hang out here and risk getting busted?”
“Going back on the road seems a bit too much,” I said,
glancing around the apartment. “What do we do with all our stuff? We can’t drag
it along on our backs.”
“That is a good point,” Dan admitted. “We can’t lug it all
with us, not to mention your collection of animals.”
“I’m going,” Louise said firmly. “I don’t care what it
takes.”
“Be reasonable, Louise,” I said.
“I am being reasonable. Someone broke into our home and now
Dan’s saying we might expect a visit from the police. If we’re not here, we
won’t have to worry about criminals or the police.”
“What do we do with our cats?” I asked, using Dan’s
reference, although we all knew that was a poor excuse for me not wanting to go
anywhere, or at least, not anywhere as far away as Denver.
“I’m not staying here and that’s final,” Louise said, then
marched away, through the beaded curtain, down the hall to the bedroom,
slamming the bedroom door behind her.
Dan looked at me sympathetically.
“You two work it out,” he said. “I’m going to make some
calls and arrange things for myself. If you can figure out what you want to do,
let me know. But don’t linger. The longer we hang around this city, the more
likely we’ll catch hell.”
I nodded, and then made my way after Louise, pushing through
the beaded curtain and then, pausing at the door to the bedroom. I heard her
sobs even through the door, which became louder when I opened it and found her
face down on the bed.
“Louise?” I said, easing myself down on the bed beside her,
tempted to touch her shoulder, but scared she might jerk away. Her sobs were as
much sobs of rage as they were of sorrow.
“Go away,” she said, words muffled by the bed.
“We need to talk this through,” I said.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, still face down.
“I’m going with Dan to Denver, and you can’t stop me.”
“What do we do with the cats?” I asked, again resorting to
that thin excuse.
She turned finally and looked at me, her cheeks wet, her
eyes red, but also still angry.
“You can take care of them,” she said.
“You mean you would leave me here?”
“You don’t want to go to Denver, I do,” she said.
“And we both know why,” I said.
“Don’t start that again,” Louise said. “I know you’re
jealous about Tim.”
“I’m also being practical. Tim didn’t want to be with you
when we left Denver, it’s very unlikely, he’ll want you now if you go back.”
“I have to try,” Louise said.
“So, you want to leave me?”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly that,” I said. “If you go to Denver without
me, it means we’re splitting up.”
“Maybe that’s a good idea after all that’s happened
already,” Louise said, although she didn’t seem to like that idea either. “I
mean with the modelling agency. But it’s up to you. I’m going to Denver, and if
you’re not, then you’re breaking up with me.”
“And if I go with you?” I asked.
This made her sit up. She rubbed her already red eyes and
then stared at me, studying my face to see if I meant what I said.
“You mean we could all go together?” she said.
“Somebody will have to pick up the pieces when you find out
Tim doesn’t want to be with you when we get there,” I said, trying not to sound
cruel.
She shuddered; I did internally, not at all certain of where
I stood with her, and whether everything was already over between us.
I knew she could leave without me if she really wanted to,
even though I had money, and she did not. And if she left, she would have to
leave behind almost everything she had collected since our coming here, leaving
in much the same condition as when she came. She could not very well carry a king’s
size bed on the road.
Her nose started to run, and I rushed into the bathroom to
get her a tissue, returning to find her also crying – sadness, confusion,
whatever, I made little sense of it. She gave me a weak smile, but this rapidly
faded.
“I thought we loved each other,” she said, vaguely, looking
around, but not me or the room, but at some vision of her own I could not see.
“I thought so, too,” I said, although secretly thought how the
shinny surface of love had been scraped away, showing a somewhat uglier texture.
“Do we still love each other?”
Her gaze turned back towards me; her blue eyes almost black
with the dilation that had nothing to do with drugs. After a moment, she spoke,
“I still love you.”
I simply nodded, uncertain as to exactly what Louise
expected me to say or do, or what she might think I was thinking.
When I finally responded, “So, you want to go back to Denver?”
“Denver is a start,” she said, she studying my face, reading
no doubt my puzzled expression.
“A start?” I said. “Where else did you have in mind?”
“I would like to go to Alaska,” she said.
My mouth must have fallen open because she hurriedly said, “I
mean it, that’s the only state I’ve never been to, and I always wanted to go.”
“Are you crazy? It’s cold there.” I said, laughing.
“No, I’m serious. And not all of it is cold. And those parts
that are, aren’t cold all year around.”
“What would we do there?”
“Get a job,” she said. “I’ve heard there are really good
paying jobs.”
“You’re serious.”
“Never been more serious in my life.”
This time when the shiver came, I wasn’t sure if it was a
result of this outrageous idea or me already feeling the frigid temperatures of
that remote place.
“I can’t wait to hear what Dan has to say about this,” I
mumbled.
Comments
Post a Comment