Dark Alleys

by Rick Polad

  “No thanks,” said Spencer with no attempt to make excuses.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” she answered with a smile completely devoid of warmth.

  Spencer was pretty sure he knew what he was missing, but felt no need to explain. He had to hurry to catch up to Laura.

  Halfway down the block he noticed a middle-aged, well-dressed man who came out of a bookstore, turned left, and then, after noticing Laura, turned right and followed her. Spencer had wondered what he would do if she got picked up. He wasn’t against private enterprise, but anybody could be the guy with the knife. He had considered making some kind of disturbance that would chase the guy off. He had even considered picking her up himself, taking her for a cup of coffee, and trying to talk some sense into her. But that would end his surveillance, so he just watched.

  The man caught up to Laura, and they started to talk as they walked. Spencer wished he was close enough to hear what they were saying. After ten seconds of conversation, the man laughed and stopped and stared at Laura. She shrugged and kept walking. The man turned around and headed north. Spencer wondered why the deal fell through, but was thankful it did. From the laugh, he assumed she was asking more than the man wanted to pay.

  At the end of the block, Laura waited for the light to turn red and then walked across Broadway, heading straight for Spencer. He turned and stared at a dresser in the window of an antique store. A car honked and someone yelled, “Hey honey,” out the window. Ignoring the car, Laura leaned against a brick wall just thirty feet from where Spencer was standing. The rain had stopped, and even in the shadows Spencer could see that Laura was beautiful. She was full of youth and innocence, despite the outfit and the curves. Her hair glistened in the glow of the street lights. He sighed as he remembered the college coed he saw that afternoon.

  The sidewalk was crowded and several people leered at Laura as they walked by. She was very alluring.

  The woman who had propositioned Spencer was leaning against a street light smoking a cigarette. Laura stopped a few feet from her, leaned against the wall of a coffee shop, and started a conversation.

  A bus horn sounded as a brown van squeezed a little more yellow out of a red light. Another honk brought Spencer’s attention to the same car that had passed a few minutes before. This time it stopped at the curb. A punk in the passenger’s seat rolled down the window and smiled at Laura. Music blared out the window.

  “You just holdin’ up that wall, honey?”

  Laura stared at him without responding. The kid folded his arms out the window and stared back. After a minute of thinking, Laura slowly pushed away from the wall and ambled over to the car. She bent down, giving the punk a good look at what she had to offer. They talked quietly.

  The other woman watched intently.

  Because of the music, Spencer couldn’t hear what they were saying until the kid yelled, “You gotta be kidding! I could get ten broads for that!”

  Again Laura shrugged, and walked back to the wall. The punks didn’t leave. Evidently not everyone agreed, for the discussion in the car was hot and heavy. The other woman walked to the car, bent down, and had a few words too quiet for Spencer to hear.

  After a minute, the car pulled away from the curb and sped down the street, taking the obnoxious music with it.

  Spencer moved to a different window of the antique store and watched people’s reflections in the glass as they passed by. A squad car drove slowly down Broadway.

  An hour went by with no new events. Then a stocky, tall man dressed in expensive-looking clothes walked up to Laura. Spencer joined a group of laughing, drunk twenty-year-olds as they walked past her. He heard the man say, “Girls on this street work for me.” An entrepreneur. He had more to say, but Spencer had moved with the group and heard no more. The other woman had disappeared.

  The man left, leaving Laura with a decision to make. She would certainly be a good addition to his business. But if she didn’t agree to work for him, what was the consequence?

  Laura went back to leaning against the wall and seemed indifferent to the crowd until a young man with dark skin and a brown leather jacket walked briskly past her spot at the wall. She followed him with her eyes as he disappeared around the corner. A minute later he returned, walking more slowly. Laura slid one foot up the wall behind her, tightening the leather on her leg. She crossed her arms under her breasts and lifted them just enough to send a message.

  The man stopped next to her. She looked up and down the street as they talked. Probably looking for the entrepreneur. This time there was no protest, and the two walked toward Spencer. He watched their reflection in the window as they passed within a few feet of him. The man was about six feet tall with dark complexion and dark hair. Spencer registered a mental picture that he would remember.

  Without looking back, Laura and the man turned into an alley that ran beside the antique store. Spencer gave them a few seconds and then walked past the alley. He glanced quickly into the darkness as he passed. But after the bright lights of the street, all he saw was dark. He walked past, and then came back and stood at the corner of the building, staring into the alley. Two phone poles and a few dumpsters stood like eerie ghosts against the walls of the buildings. His stomach turned as he thought of Laura on the wet concrete behind one of those trash bins. As his imagination ran away with thoughts of what might be happening to her, he decided, against his better judgment, to walk through the alley.

  Walking a few feet in, he paused to let his eyes adapt to the dark. He was at enough of a disadvantage without being unable to see. He stood quietly and listened, and heard nothing but the traffic in the street. Gathering courage, he cautiously made his way deeper into the alley. He could see that it T’d about eighty feet ahead as it ended at the back of another building where a dim light hung over a door. He could see two dumpsters about halfway down the alley. Other than those, the alley was empty. Expecting to run across the couple behind the dumpsters, Spencer walked faster. He glanced quickly as he passed the dumpsters and saw a small pile of boxes next to the first. As he passed the second, he was startled by a body lying next to the dumpster.

  “Hey, shmister. Gotta buck?”

  A bum was using this spot to get a night’s sleep.

  Spencer kept walking. Hurrying to the end where the alley T’d, he looked up and down the alley. Laura and her client were nowhere in sight. He had passed two doors about halfway down the alley, one on each side. Walking quickly, he went back and checked them. They were both locked. He walked back to the T.

  To his right, Spencer saw the bright light of the street just one building away, like the sun at the top of a well. To his left, the alley dissolved into darkness as it stretched to the north. If she had walked toward the light, Spencer certainly would have seen her, so he turned left and headed into the darkness.

  The moon cast fingers of light that glimmered on pools of shimmering water in low spots of the alley. Past that, the alley was dark. Avoiding potholes, Spencer crunched along over crumbling concrete. Just before the light, he noticed someone lying in the recess of a rear door. He was holding a paper bag shaped like a bottle. By the dim glow of a bare bulb across the alley, Spencer saw a scar on his neck. He wasn’t very old, but he had definitely seen better times. The man gave Spencer a bit of confidence as he walked toward the doorway—he wasn’t alone in the alley. Spencer glanced back at the man. A ragged old trench coat, buttoned to the collar, a wool ski cap, and shoes that were not as worn as Spencer would have expected, covered whatever pain and suffering must have been on the inside. What Spencer didn’t see was the gun the man was holding in his other hand, tucked behind his right leg. He also didn’t see another man who had entered the alley from the south end and was crouched behind a trio of garbage cans.

  Peering down the alley into the darkness, Spencer decided he wasn’t willing to go any farther by himself and started back toward the street.

  The man in the doorway raised his bottle in a drunken
salute as Spencer walked by. Spencer nodded and kept walking to the end, glancing back once to relieve the growing feeling that he was being followed. He looked back down the alley. He wasn’t. And he wasn’t following anyone either. Laura was gone. He thought of going back and asking the man if he had seen anyone, but realized the odds of getting an answer were slim.

  There was less traffic on the street, but more on the sidewalks. Young couples jostled along on their way to the night’s entertainment without a care in the world. But Laura could be lying somewhere in pieces. Wondering if it was worth bothering Stosh, Spencer squinted into the bright light and checked his watch. Almost midnight. He had nothing to go on except a gut feeling, and he wasn’t about to walk back into that alley by himself.

  Chapter 20

  Several girls passed by on both sides of Broadway. But the one he had picked out was working the other side. She was a pretty young thing. After watching several men talk to her and walk away, he crossed the street and started a conversation that quickly turned to money. He agreed to her price and they calmly walked to a nearby alley and turned in. As they walked, she said something about smelling alcohol on his breath. She said most men needed alcohol to do what he was about to do. He didn’t answer.

  They walked down the dimly lit alley toward the end where they turned left into a dark section lit only by a little moonlight that filtered between the building tops. It was a world away from the bright lights of the street just a few hundred feet away. The girl stopped next to a dumpster and asked how he would like to start.

  Without saying a word, he reached out and gently caressed her cheek with the back of his right hand. What beautiful skin. As she started to smile, he clamped his left hand around her throat and strangled her until she passed out.

  After letting her slump to the pavement, he pulled out a knife that was in a sheath under his jacket and plunged it a few inches into her stomach just below the ribcage. With one quick movement, he made a cut down to her waist. He stood back and admired his work as blood poured out onto the concrete pad the dumpster sat on.

  The shock of the cut had awakened her, but only long enough for her eyes to register the fear of something she could do nothing about.

  He pulled the skin apart and then grabbed her intestines, pulled them out, and hung them over her left shoulder.

  Taking a paper towel out of his pocket, he wiped off the knife and returned it to the holder. He threw the paper towel on the ground next to the body.

  With no emotion, he stared at the girl for a minute and then pulled a small, plastic baggie out of his pocket. Inside the baggie were five coins. Holding them carefully by the edges, he arranged them neatly and placed them next to her shoulder. He then walked out of the alley and blended back in with the crowd on Broadway.

  Chapter 21

  Stosh was dreaming he was in high school and late for class. Hurrying down a hall that had no end in sight, he heard the period bell ring over and over again. “Okay, okay, I’m running as fast as I can,” he yelled angrily as he lost hold of his books and they scattered across the hall. Then he woke up. The bell was still ringing. Slowly, he realized it was the phone and got up to answer it. The phone was on top of a table next to a clock. Twelve-fifteen. This would not be good news.

  “Yeah.”

  “Stosh, it’s Spencer.” No response. “You awake?”

  “If I’m not, I’m havin’ another nightmare. Either way, it’s not good.”

  “Stosh, I think I’ve got a missing person.” He explained the last hour’s events from a corner pay phone.

  Stosh yawned and rubbed the back of his neck which was stiff from two hours of sleep in a chair. “Just cuz you can’t find her doesn’t mean she’s missing.”

  “But she just disappeared, Stosh.”

  “Spencer, has it occurred to you that girls in that line of business don’t exactly want to be found? They know how to disappear.”

  “It was too fast, Stosh,” Spencer argued. “It was like she vanished into thin air.”

  “You’re worried?”

  “Yeah, I’m worried.”

  Stosh chose his words carefully. “About a girl you don’t even know.”

  “Right. What’s your point? She’s a human being too, you know, and I think she’s in trouble.”

  Stosh put the phone on the other ear and rubbed the side of his neck. “My point is, you fear for the safety of a complete stranger. Okay, that’s commendable. But what about yourself? Ever stop to think about that? You walk into a dark alley in the middle of the night all by your lonesome. How smart is that? And what about me worrying about you out there doing stupid things? What do I gotta do, put one of those kiddie leashes on you and tie you to a tree?”

  “Can we skip the lecture, Stosh? I know it wasn’t a smart thing to do. I promise never to do it again. Now can I get some help here?”

  “I’ll get you a patrol car to look through the alley. That make you happy?”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Corner of Broadway and Webb. Southeast.”

  “Okay, sit tight. Should be somebody there in a couple minutes if they’re not busy.”

  “Thanks Stosh, I owe you.”

  “Yeah, you do. Spencer, you don’t have a gun on you, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Good. But walking into a dark alley by yourself without one wasn’t too bright either.”

  The phone went dead. Spencer hung up. He sat down on a concrete stoop and waited. In five minutes a patrol car pulled up to the curb. Jamie Hernandez rolled down the passenger window. Jamie and Spencer had been in the academy together.

  “Hey, Spencer. Hear you’ve had a busy evening.”

  “Hi, Jamie. It’s been interesting.”

  Nodding to the back seat, Jamie said, “Hop in, we’ll go take a look.”

  Jamie introduced Spencer to his partner, Mike Wells, and they drove to the alley as Spencer explained what had happened. He described Laura and told them about the man in the doorway.

  Jamie twisted and looked into the back seat. “I assume you already got a lecture from the Lieutenant, so I’ll keep my two cents to myself.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  Mike turned on the spotlight and slowly drove into the alley. After the first building, Mike drove and Jamie and Spencer got out and walked. They looked down stairwells, walked up passageways between buildings, and checked in dumpsters. Jamie held his gun at his side. Spencer held his breath every time they opened a dumpster, expecting to find something, or someone. Laura had to be somewhere, and there just wasn’t enough time to have made it out of the alley. They had to have walked down the dark part. The man could have knocked her unconscious and hidden in one of the passages until Spencer left.

  When they reached the doorway, Jamie inspected it but found nothing. There were no signs that anyone had been there recently.

  Jamie opened the door of the squad car and got in. “She’s not here, buddy.”

  Spencer nodded. “No, I guess not. But that’s good. Cuz if she was, she’d be in trouble.”

  Pulling the door closed, Jamie said, “Tell you what I’ll do—I’ll put her description out and keep a lookout. You got a number if we find something?”

  Spencer took a card out of his wallet and handed it through the open window.

  Jamie took it and nodded.

  “Thanks guys.”

  “No problem. Part of the job. Hey, I’ll give you a call, we’ll have a few beers. And stay out of dark alleys.”

  Spencer managed a smile. “Sounds good, Jamie. Take it easy.” He knocked on the side of the door and they drove off.

  It took five minutes to walk back to his car. There was no light in Laura’s apartment window. Spencer quietly entered the building and made his way back to her apartment. Listening at the door, he heard nothing. A gentle knock brought no answer. He jimmied the lock again and slowly opened the door, still expecting to find the worst. She wasn’
t there. A minute later he was back in his car. He started the engine and let it run until it was warm and ran the heater until the chill wore off. Then he sat and watched some more, but she didn’t show. An hour later he drove home. He called Stosh, who answered with the same gruff “yeah”, but this time he sounded more awake.

  “Stosh, it’s me. We didn’t find her.”

  “I already know that. You got something worth keeping me awake?”

  “No, guess not. But would you run her name and see what you find?”

  “Already asked for it. I’ll have it in the morning.”

  “Both names?”

  “Both names. I’ve been doing this a few years now, Spencer. Come on over this afternoon. We’ll watch the Cubs and I’ll fill you in.”

  “Okay. Thanks Stosh.”

  * * *

  As Stosh shuffled back to his chair, he mumbled to himself “I don’t get paid enough.” He sat down and got comfortable. Before he fell asleep, he thought at least Spencer’s was the only interruption of the night.

  Chapter 22

  Stosh slept soundly until six a.m. when the phone rang again. Two officers, responding to a call from the owner of a Chinese laundry, had found the body of a girl in the alley behind his shop. She was lying next to a dumpster on north Broadway.

  Stosh was out the door in three minutes. As he turned the corner, he got on the radio and asked dispatch to get the officers on the horn. Officer Jenks responded within one minute.

  “How old, Jenks?”

  “Hard to tell, Lieutenant. I’d say twenties.”

  “How’s she dressed?”

  “Black pants, black jacket.”

  Stosh turned onto Western and headed north. He didn’t need the siren. There wasn’t any hurry. The city would wake up slowly and quietly as it stretched out the aches and pains from the night before. “What color top?”

  “Well, brown. Far as I can tell.”

  “Far as you can tell. What’s that mean?”