by Rita Lakin
Hicks said, ‘See, this here in my lap is a gun, at the end of the gun is a silencer. Nobody’d hear a thing. And my pals have their guns as well.’
She was scared. No, terrified was more like it. She mustn’t let them see her fright. Summoning up a bravado she didn’t feel, she said calmly, ‘Go ahead, Dix, start talking. Why aren’t you in LA, where you belong?’
Dix took his time lighting a cigarette. ‘It’s all your fault, chickadee. Nowhere I’d rather be than back home, but you screwed up my life. I grew up in Florida. I hated Florida and because of you, I’m going back.’
Dockson grins ‘And that makes him as mad as a hen with her feathers on fire.’
Tori tried not to show her fear. Florida, oh, God … what did they know?
The guys nodded solemnly in agreement, as if they were aware of how much their pal hated going back to his hometown. Dockson smirked. ‘Dix comes from a family of crooks.’
Hicks added, grinning, ‘Yeah, he comes by his trade honestly.’
Dix acknowledged their comments by smiling, waving them off. He reached down next to the bed for an open liquor bottle. He gulped some and passed it around, the bottle eagerly accepted.
Dockson, at the door, was restless. ‘Get on with it, already.’
‘What’s your hurry? We want our girl to understand background, here. So, maybe she’ll give us what we need willingly.’
Dix lifted her chin and smiled down at her. ‘Back, fifteen or so years ago, five people robbed a bank. We had a perfect plan. We used two getaway cars. Us three guys raced outa the bank and jumped into our Jeep. Our other two partners, a husband and his very pregnant wife, were in the second car with all the money.’
Tori shuddered. Oh, my God! There were five of them? She never knew.
‘See, if the cops stopped us, we were just guys out for an innocent drive. No cops would think of stopping a car with a pregnant woman, maybe on her way to the hospital. They were holding all our money, every hard-earned stolen buck, in their car. Any of this sounding familiar to you?’
Dix walked behind her and rocked the chair, slowly. Tori grew rigid, gripping the arms, trying to keep it steady. Leaning over her shoulder, he said, ‘Funny-lookin’ rocker with wagon wheels. Never saw one like it before.’ He rocked harder. Tori tried to keep her panic down.
Dockson chimed in. ‘Two hundred thousand smackeroos, supposed to be safe in your daddy’s wagon. We was gonna split the dough at our meeting place.’
Hicks added, ‘But what the hell were they doin’ down in the LA River wash?’
Dix shrugged. ‘Easy, boys, remember the pourin’ rainstorm that day. That’s what your pretty ma told us. Runoff from the storm caught them in a flood, she said with the tears runnin’ down that darlin’ face. And they were trapped. They ran for their lives, so she said, leavin’ all that money behind. And your poor dad fell and was sucked away downriver, along with the car and all the dough. Your mom was saved. Caught by the cops, with her ready to pop you out. And yeah, you did, right then and there in the jailhouse.’
All she could think – they had partners. How come Mom never told her about partners?
He rocked her harder. She was getting nauseous. She felt the fake beer gurgling in her stomach.
‘But now that we know about dear old dad, something that always bothered me makes sense. When the cops found the car, there was only a couple of hundred soaking-wet bills in it. Everyone assumed the rest floated away. Yeah, sure. Floated away in a bag with Dad in Florida. All these years, living it up off our dough.
‘Of course I didn’t believe your mama. I managed to get guard duty in her cell block. No matter how many times I beat her up, she stuck to her story. I gotta give her credit, she never once turned us in to the cops.’
‘Too bad she didn’t,’ Tori lashed out. ‘They might have given my mom a lighter sentence. And then you wouldn’t be her jailer, you’d be in your own little cell where you belong.’
‘Water under the bridge, chickadee. Under the bridge.’
‘I hate you!’
‘Big deal. Everybody does. Get in line.’
Another slug of whiskey and more story. ‘Imagine how mad we was. Even had a funeral for Daddy, of course, without the body. I didn’t believe he was dead. Finally, after a lot of years, we had to believe Mom. Fifteen years, no matter what beatings or what drugs I pumped into her, no matter what threats, not a peep – until you. The baby born in jail, now growed up and old enough for her mom’s secret to be let out.’
Tori wanted to jump off the rocker and beat him to death, but that was wishful thinking. ‘You hurt my mama, you piece of garbage.’
Dix’s partners pretended righteous indignation. ‘She had no right to lie to us,’ said Hicks. ‘He’s been livin’ all these years and we never guessed,’ whined Dockson.
Dix put his hands around her neck. ‘Imagine my surprise when you and your sis came to visit and Mom gave you her crazy clues and I heard you say on the way out, you was going to find Daddy. Daddy, that sly old SOB, alive and well with all our money.’
‘Yeah, spendin’ our money,’ chorused Dockson and Hicks.
Tori tried to calm her trembling body. She shook his hands off her neck. He laughed. She didn’t know for sure how dangerous these men were, but she felt she needed to keep talking. ‘Hey, Dix, how did you find me?’
‘No problema. You disappeared. We guessed you left to find Daddy. So we visited your dopey sister. The chubby one, Shirley. She took one look at us, and our guns, and she vomited out words. What a nutcase; we couldn’t shut her up. She kept yelling we shouldn’t tear her hair out or pull her teeth out, and when I asked her where you were going she kept yelling, New Jersey, no, Florida, no, New Jersey, no, Florida.
‘We finally figured out you were hitching rides. Clever girl, you, traveling the shortest route, the I-10. At first we planned on going to your granny in Fort Lauderdale to wait till you got there. But then, not sure you was going straight there, we wanted to see if we could find you on the road. We got lucky. It took us a while, going from town to town showing your photo. We could tell where you stopped. Places you ate. Places you slept. We caught up to you. We spotted you talking to the bus guys. We was barreling down to grab you but that damn ugly bus kid beat us to it.’ He removed his hands and stretched. ‘I think that catches you up, chickadee.’
He took another long slug of the booze, and shared it with his buddies. The bottle was empty and he pulled another one off the floor.
‘Where’s your daddy?’ asked Hicks, waving his gun wildly.
No use denying the truth of what Dix said. But this was her truth. ‘I don’t know.’
Dockson taking his turn again, ‘Yeah, sure, heading maybe three thousand miles across country and don’t know where you’re going?’
‘All I know is that he’s in Florida. Mom didn’t know where.’
‘But you had a clue, didn’t you? You knew exactly what city to go to and it wasn’t just to visit your granny.’
‘Damn it,’ Dix took over again. ‘We’re gonna have to do this the hard way. Let’s look at all the clues in the little lady’s backpack. Everybody settle down. It’s gonna be a long night.’
Tori shivered. A long night, guys with guns who were getting drunk. With a wry smile, she hoped they didn’t tear her hair out or pull out her teeth.
TWENTY
Tori’s Story – By the Dawn’s Early Light
She had never felt so tired. Her eyes drooped, unable to keep her lids open. Every time her head dropped, desperate for sleep, he’d pull it back up. Dix took some pills early on, she guessed in order to stay awake. Hicks was snoring on the bed. Dockson, at the door, had slid to the floor, occasionally dragging himself awake.
Dix stayed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, whatever that silly saying meant.
‘Okay, let’s go over this again.’ He pointed at the money pouch he had taken out of her backpack.
Again? Was it the fifth or fiftieth time? She had no idea
how many hours had gone by. She wondered what time it was. The shades had been drawn before she’d even entered the room. She had left them open, earlier, but she hadn’t paid attention when Luke brought her back to the room. Luke – would she ever see him again?
‘Yes, I stole the money from my grandparents. They were dead, it didn’t matter.’
‘And the postcard from your grandma in Florida?’
‘Yes, it’s my grandma’s address. I wanted to visit her.’
‘You never, ever had any contact with her before? So why now? That’s because she knows where your dad is.’
‘Ask me fifty more times, the answer is the same. I’m sure she has no idea where he is. She has no clue I’m coming to Florida. I had no family any more. My other grandparents are dead. I wanted to move in with Grandma Ida.’
All Tori could think about was the photo she carried with her. Thank goodness she hadn’t left it in her backpack, or even jeans. It was the only real clue she had toward finding her Dad, and she’d tear it up and eat it before she’d let that rat see it.
She tried to tune him out. Bla-bla-bla. He walked over to her and smacked her. ‘Yeah, sure, moving to Florida. Liar! I’m talking to you, girly, so pay attention!’
Ouch, that hurt. Damn him, she thought, damn him. She wanted so badly to hit him back. But she had to stay calm. ‘When are you gonna quit the pesterin’? My answers aren’t gonna change.’
‘You expect me to believe you just was poppin’ down to Florida and, maybe, hope to run into him sometime?’
‘I didn’t know what I was going to do. Or how I’d find him. I just believed he was in Florida someplace. Maybe my mom is so crazy, she made it up. Maybe I’ll never find him. Maybe he doesn’t live there any longer. Maybe he’s dead, and Mom wouldn’t have known. Enough! Can I get some sleep, please?’
‘I think you’re trying to fool your pal Dix. So let’s stop pretending the nonsense of visiting Granny. You are gonna find Daddy somehow.’
Tori refused to say anymore.
‘So help me out here, little sweet pea. What do we do next? Stay glued to you all the way to Florida until you find him?’
Tori tried hard on a last futile attempt. ‘I think you should go back home. This is probably a dumb thing I’m doing, but it was an excuse to get out of LA. See, you hate Florida and I hate LA. So you go back. And I’ll try to make a new life on the East Coast.’
‘Nice try, chickadee. You are one smart kid and my money’s on you to find him. That’s funny. It is my money that’s on you to find.’
‘Ha-ha, yeah, funny.’
‘Trouble is, I think you are keeping something from me. Something you aren’t sharing with your pal Dix.’
She wanted to wiggle her feet in her shoes, just to feel the photo, but she didn’t dare give it away.
Tap-tap. A knock on the door.
Hicks’s eyes popped open. Dockson looked confused. Everyone froze.
It was Luke, calling. ‘Hey, sleepyhead, we gotta get going.’
Tori looked to the door, hope rising.
Dix grabbed her and, once again, his hands were around her neck. ‘Easy, girl.’
Luke knocked harder. Hicks and Dockson were starting to drag themselves up.
Dix whispered in her ear. ‘You tell him you’re tired and need to rest some more.’ He squeezed her arm and she tried to shake him off.
‘I can’t go with you,’ she called out. With that, she elbowed Dix in the ribs, and jumped off the rocker. She ran to the door, tripping over the slow-moving Dockson. ‘Help! Help!’
Luke yelled, ‘Tori, get away from the door!’
She shifted her body just as two shots rang out, and the door lock was blown off; bits of pieces of wood dropped into the room. Seconds later, the door was shoved open, pushing Dockson out of their way; and there they were, the Four Musketeers, the L-Bros with four guns drawn.
Hicks groped all over the bed trying to find his gun. Dockson reached for his gun, but not in time.
‘Stop, don’t move,’ Luke shouted, ‘stop or I’ll shoot!’ He grinned at Tori. ‘I always wanted to say that line.’
She ran to him and hugged him around his waist. ‘My hero. I always wanted to say that line.’
Dix and pals remained rigid, not daring to move.
Lonny walked over and grabbed the gun off the bedspread, where it lay too far for Hicks to reach.
‘How did you know I was in trouble?’ Tori asked.
Luke smiled. ‘The dumbos parked the SUV in front of your room.’ He pointed to Hicks. ‘Besides, earlier I saw the odd word “Hickory” on that one’s arm. I saw a gang tag also. I knew these guys were up to no good. We decided not to wait till breakfast time. It’s three a.m.’
Lubbock added, ‘The minute you said you couldn’t come with us, we knew for sure you were in deep … well, you know what.’
Larry jumped in. ‘We knew you wouldn’t want to miss a free breakfast and a free ride.’
Again from Luke. ‘Besides, you yelled “help”.’ The brothers laughed.
Larry asked Luke, ‘What do we do now?’
Dix stood in front of them, arms folded, arrogant. ‘Yeah, kids, what now? Really gonna shoot us?’
‘Nah, you’re not worth our ending up in prison. But if you move an inch, I promise you won’t ever walk again.’ Luke pointed his gun at his legs.
Dix kept on. ‘You gonna call the cops? Mess up your schedule, lot of paperwork down at the station. And besides, your word against mine. I’m an old pal of Tori’s. We look like regular businessmen, and you look like drugged-out hippies.’
Lonny was furious. ‘You watch what you say, dogface. Like they’d believe you and not us!’
Luke touched his brother’s arm. ‘They’ve got a point. Long messy day with a lot of explaining. I got a better idea. Find their car keys. And all their wallets. Tori, pack up your stuff again. Lubbock, you know what to get.’
While the SUV guys glared, Luke and Lonny held them at gunpoint; the two other band boys and Tori did their job speedily.
Lubbock was out the door and back in moments with rope and duct tape.
When the SUV guys were tied up and their mouths covered, Tori took a last, backward glance at Dix. This time he was in the rocking chair, trussed up like a turkey ready for the Thanksgiving roasting pan. For the first time she understood the expression – if looks could kill. She shivered. Somehow she knew she’d be running into Dix again.
Tori and her heroes left the room. Making bets about how long it would be until the dorks would be found and what story they would come up with.
Tori wanted to know; she asked Luke. ‘With those noisy gunshots, how come nobody came to investigate?’
Luke smiled, ‘Around here everybody’s got guns and people have a habit of minding their own business. I knew we were okay.’
Tori watched the boys letting the air out of the SUV tires.
Ready to leave, they duct-taped the ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the broken-locked door. And for good measure they wrapped a towel on the doorknob. Luke grinned. The almost universal sign that something sexy was happening inside – keep out. That would delay those guys being found.
As they headed for the band bus, Luke gave her a brotherly hug. ‘Promise, you’ll find me again when you’re eighteen?’
‘That’s a deal. Right now, I’m thinking huevos rancheros for breakfast.’
‘Good choice.’
PART FIVE
The Search
TWENTY-ONE
Stakeout
It’s a long time since we’ve been on a stakeout. This time we’re working in daylight. We are parked across the street from the Starbucks which Izzy showed us from the back yard of his house. Excuse me, his castle, as the girls call it. So far he’s robbed six Starbucks and I’m betting his ‘local’ will be next.
Nothing has changed. My girls are stuffed in my Chevy wagon. Evvie still gets to sit in the front with me. The other three are jammed in the back. Why jammed? Becaus
e they’ve brought the same items as before: a basket full of supplies; knitting needles, balls of yarn. Playing cards. Sandwiches. Snacks. Drinks. Blankets, even though it’s 85 degrees outside, ditto flashlights, even though it’s brightly sunny outside. All because they were on their take-to-stakeout list. Said items are on their laps and on the floors and under their feet. In the back seat, Bella sits wedged in the middle between Sophie and Ida. Alas, the kvetching is the same.
‘Stop crowding me.’ Bella.
‘Stop complaining.’ Ida.
‘You’re squishing my stomach.’ Bella.
Sophie, to Ida, ‘Pass me a donut. One with jelly in it.’
‘You get jelly on my seat covers, you will know worse pain than in your legs.’ That comes from me.
Evvie, laughing, ‘I’ll take a cruller.’
That’s the basic routine.
They are a jolly crew because for a change they aren’t staring into darkness, and they can window-shop out of my car windows while waiting for Izzy to show up. This is a street filled with tempting stores, most of which are open on Sunday.
The last stakeout was late at night and bathroom problems had loomed large. A possible car chase might also have occurred. With the probability of me having to follow the muscle car of a big macho guy who drove seventy-five miles an hour on the freeway, while I could only manage thirty-two driving through streets. Luckily, macho guy had left the bar and went home instead. A local address. But that’s behind us. A successful closed case. This one looks to be just as easy. Izzy in drag. What a character. Coffee this time instead of banks. What will he think up next?
My girls are less jolly as time goes by with no sign of Izzy. With the realization that it’s more difficult with bright sunlight beating down on us. The car’s temperature is rising because I keep shutting the AC off and then on. The windows are open for breaths of air; mostly, we get waves of Florida’s favorite brand of stifling heat.
‘I need a break,’ demands Sophie. ‘I need to take a walk with my cane because my legs are stiffening up.’
