by Rita Lakin
A few moments of silence, ‘Well, maybe not a juicy novel. But you still have Hy’s Hialeah racetrack program. You can try to count horses instead of sheep.’
We both laugh again, remembering what I said to Dix.
Tori lies down and browses the program using the flashlight. Her eyes close very soon and I’m pleased to see the child now smiling in her sleep. I reach over and retrieve the flashlight and the program.
Now I am wide awake again. Maybe it will work for me as well. Ha ha. I lean against a wall and open the program and immediately think of my dad. I will try to guess who he might have bet on, had he been there. So many fond memories. Dad always included me on his racetrack days. Even let me try to pick the winners. He and his friends used to get a kick out of the choices I made. I picked horses with the cutest names. All losers. They teased me, but they were kind and put up with me. The years I spent leaning against that rail with him and his cronies will come in useful right now. He taught me well and I know how to handicap. I’ll start with first race. See if I’d have picked the ones who won.
A few minutes later, my eyes prop wide open. ‘Omigod!’ I say. ‘Omigod!’
I didn’t sleep the rest of the night.
FORTY-ONE
Another Sleepless Night
The three guys slump at Izzy’s kitchen table. The bones and fatty remains of a roasted chicken lie there, along with leftover greasy French fries and six empty beer bottles and an equally empty bottle of cheap scotch. They are tired, grumpy and drunk. And they are quarrelling. Well, two at least, Dix and Hicks. Dockson is lying with his head on the table, snoring. What’s left of his food is next to his nose. Neither of the two is aware, nor care, that the sky is lightening and clouds are soon to appear ringed with bright orange and red coloring, proclaiming another sweltering day in which to suffer.
Hicks is angry. ‘The kid doesn’t know anything. So what now?’ Hicks pounds on the table. ‘You’re beating a dead horse.’
Dockson mumbles his annoyance.
Dix pounds back. ‘I tell you, she does!’
‘But if she doesn’t? What then?’
Dix picks up his gun and twirls his finger around the trigger. ‘I kill her, that’s what.’ He grins and it’s an ugly sight.
Hicks is sweating by now. From fury, not enough sleep and too much booze. It’s giving him the confidence he hasn’t had before. ‘Yeah, you are so easy with that gun. You’re so quick wanting to kill. If it wasn’t for poor Helen taking the rap, you’d be on the other side of that cell door with her. You beat up that woman year after year and she never gave you up.’
‘I told you never to mention that again!’ His eyes seem blood-red and livid.
‘Now you reward her by wanting to kill her kid!’
‘Since when do you care about dear Tori?’
‘Since this useless trip started. She’s a kid with a fairy-tale daddy who doesn’t exist. She needed an excuse to run away and that was it.’ He spits. ‘We should have quit on the road. Now look at the mess you put us in. Kidnapping is a federal offense with life in prison. That’s what we’ll get out of this!’
Hicks gets up and paces, zigzagging up and down the room. ‘This whole trip is a disaster. Stupid idea coming all this way for nothing. Even if Fred was still around, which I doubt, after fifteen years that money would be gone! I don’t know why I let you talk me into this stupidity.’
‘Even if he spent every dime of that two hundred thousand, I want at him! I want him twisting in the wind. I’m gonna kill the bastard for cheating me!’
‘Cheating you? It’s always been all about you!’
‘You want out, then get the hell out right now.’ Dix stops fiddling with the gun and points it at Hicks.
‘Yeah, right, I start for the door and you shoot me in the back. What’ll you do with my body?’
‘I remember a nice garden outside.’
Nothing to lose anymore, he cries out, ‘Dumb ass, your daddy’s flowers are in pots, there is no garden.’ Dix glares at him. ‘If it wasn’t for you and that damn gun, we wouldn’t be here today.’
Dix glares back. ‘What the hell are you jabbering about?’
‘It would all been so easy if you hadn’t shot off your mouth along with your gun. It got everyone in the bank panicking. We would have been in and out, and home free, but no, you had to show off! You had to let the scared crowd know you were the boss!’
Dix drops the gun on the table and leaps up. ‘You’ve been bitching all through this trip, so beat it. You either do it my way … or head for the highway.’
Like two enraged bulls they face off at one another, snarling.
Hicks manages a wry smile. ‘I can’t. I have to protect that girl from you.’
‘Is that so? Like hell you will.’
Dix, maddened, crazed, with fists clenched, rushes at Hicks, who is caught off guard. He falls down, pulling Dix down and onto him. They roll across the room, knocking into kitchen chairs and anything else in their way, punching at each other. Huffing and puffing and groaning.
Dockson, half awake complains, ‘Go somewheres else, I’m sleeping here!’
‘Shut up!’ Dix shouts up at him.
‘All right,’ Dockson says cheerfully, turning his face to his other side. The snoring follows immediately.
The two sweating pugilists get up and leave the room, going in opposite directions.
FORTY-TWO
Hy and Sophie Finally Remember
Jack heads for his old Mercedes, looking at his watch. Good. Nine a.m. He’ll be on time to meet Morrie at the station. Today will be a big day, he hopes. Looks like another scorcher. He takes off his seersucker jacket and tosses it into the back seat, and rolls up his sleeves. He is about to get into the car when he hears, ‘Wait! Wait for me! Don’t go!’
Jack sees Hy, waving something in his hand, coming at him at as furious a pace as his roly-poly body can manage.
‘What’s up?’
Hy reaches Jack, out of breath. ‘My memory came back. I knew it would. You know how it is. Ya have the words on the tip of your tongue. Then you have to wait till your memory sizzles through the whole brain until it finds it again. I usually get stuff back in a few minutes, but this took longer—’
Jack interrupts. ‘I have an appointment …’
‘Oh, sorry. But this is red-hot information.’ He pushes the Hialeah program at him. ‘I save them all. Good thing I do. Look at the first race.’
Jack peers at the page, not getting it, keeps scanning. Hy can’t stand it; Jack’s too slow. He pokes at the words, and keeps poking. ‘Look at the names! Look!’
A moment later, ‘Omigod!’
Hy beams. ‘You might say I’ve solved your case.’
Jack says, ‘Get in the car! I’m taking you with me to Morrie.’
Hy eagerly jumps into the passenger seat, straps himself in and Jack starts the motor. Lola watches her darling leaving. She waves. Hy waves back. Her hero!
As Jack is about to turn left from Building P, he hears:
‘Yoo hoo, don’t go! Wait for us!’
Both men look out the window to see Sophie and Bella hurrying as fast as their arthritic legs allow. ‘We need to tell you something important,’ says Sophie. ‘It’s about Izzy’s house! We finally remembered.’ They reach the car, breathing hard.
Jack says, ‘All right, get in. I’m late. We’ll talk at the precinct.’
Eagerly they lift themselves into the back, Sophie carefully folding Jack’s jacket out of her way. Hy is as surprised to see them as they are to see him.
All the way to the police station:
Sophie. ‘Oy, remembering your memories is such a mish-mash.’
Hy. ‘Yeah. Right.’
Sophie. ‘You try to remember and you try and nothing comes when you want it.’
Hy, with a world-weary sigh. ‘It’s always on the tip of the tongue.’
Bella says nothing. She just moans.
Hy continues to lecture on what h
e considers his fine knowledge on the subject of memory, as Sophie nods along with him, and Bella remains unhappy.
Jack tunes them out as he drives. His mind is rattling with the amazing new information he now has. Thanks to, of all people, Hy Binder.
Meeting is called to order in Morrie’s office. Hy and the women all want to talk at once. Morrie calms them down with coffee and some stale cookies that his assistant manages to dredge up. He couldn’t find decaf for the ladies, but they settle for tea.
Hy and Jack get him to look at the racing program. ‘Amazing,’ he says.
Jack agrees. ‘Right under our noses. Panorama Stables, purposely named after the city Tori lived in. The elusive horse breeders and owners, Harvey and Lila Woodley – now found at last. And their business partner, Mr Frank Sterner (not far off from Fred Steiner; why do people in hiding tend to use their real first initials?). Tori was right. Tori’s daddy is alive.’
‘What about us?’ Sophie asks. ‘We know something just as important.’
Hy razzes them. ‘Not as big as mine.’
‘Speak up, ladies,’ Morrie invites.
Sophie takes another sip of her tea, pats her lips with a tissue and is finally ready to perform. Bella sighs.
‘Well, it’s like this. We went to Izzy’s house to feed his fish and water his plants. Being in jail prevents him doing it himself.’
Jack tries to nudge her into getting to her point. ‘Perfectly sensible. Do go on.’
‘Well, we get the key from under the rock like Izzy told us …’
‘Move it along, babe,’ insists Hy, that man of little patience. He’s annoyed that his fifteen minutes of fame has been overshadowed by those two irritating women.
Bella tries to get in a word. ‘Jackie, you did say even if something is silly …’
‘I’m talking here, Bella.’ Sophie interrupts ‘Anyway, I’m downstairs giving the little fishies their lunch when Bella decides to go upstairs and snoop.’
‘It’s not snooping. I like looking at furnishings.’
‘Whatever you want to call it. I say, snooping. Then she comes racing downstairs to tell me,’ she pauses for dramatic effect, ‘she saw a ghost.’
‘I did.’
‘You did not, there are no such things as ghosts.’ Sophie now turns lawyer-inquisitor. ‘Where were you, when you saw the alleged ghost?’
Hy can’t resist. ‘That babe watches too much Law and Order.’
Sophie ignores him. Jack and Morrie are being patient, as well as amused. They doubt this will take them anywhere. Sophie waits for Bella’s answer, tapping her nails on Morrie’s desk.
‘I thought I heard water running so I went to the upstairs bathroom and there he was. The room was filled with clouds of air.’
Sophie interrupts, taps her foot impatiently. ‘Not clouds. It must have been steam from hot water. Describe what your “ghost” was wearing?’
‘It was kind of a white flowing thing.’ Bella frowns; it feels like her best friend is betraying her.
Even Jack can’t resist. ‘A Greek toga?’
‘Yes, a toga.’
Sophie huffs. ‘Let me translate. There’s a naked man wearing a towel who just got out of the tub. Now who on earth would be taking a shower in Izzy’s house?’
Jack and Morrie, finally getting it, practically jump out of their seats. ‘Izzy’s son?’ Jack says.
Morrie adds, ‘Charles “Chaz” Dix! Of course, his father’s house, the perfect place to hide. Bella’s ghost!’
Jack. ‘Incredible. Let’s get going.’ They are already moving their guests toward the door.
Sophie is confused. ‘I was thinking, it was someone homeless, who needed a shower.’
The two men are galvanized into action; Morrie, says, ‘Before we jump the gun, let’s get Izzy down here. Now.’
Morrie turns to the three helpers, who are beaming now. ‘You’ve all done something very important, now us cop guys need to take over. I’ll have one of my men take you home.
Jack shakes Hy’s hand. ‘You are a hero.’
Hy pretends humility, and fails at it.
Then Jack hugs both ladies. ‘You, too.’
And they are ushered out. Grinning.
Jack and Morrie shake their heads. ‘Utterly astonishing.’ Morrie picks up his police radio.
Jack teases his son. ‘Brilliant deductions, great police work, wouldn’t you say?’
FORTY-THREE
Gladdy and Tori Get It
I can hardly wait for Tori to wake up. She needs her rest, but I must tell her. I shake her. ‘Tori. Up. Up. Now!’
Still sleepy, she rubs her eyes.
‘I have incredibly good news for you.’ I hand her a last water bottle. ‘Throw some water on your face.’ I am clutching the racetrack program in my other hand.
Tori stretches. ‘Is it morning? Is it even light out there?’
‘I think so, I don’t know, but pay attention.’
‘I have to pee.’
‘Don’t think about it, look at this.’ I pull her up into a sitting position.’
‘What? Why?’
I hand her the program, that missive of great news. ‘Look at the names of the horses that Hy won in the first race and the third when Hy picked a long shot owned by the same breeders. Read them out loud.’
Tori leans with her back to the wall, so she can get comfortable and read easily. ‘Temple Star. Glory Girl. M&M.’
She looks at me, puzzled. So what?’
‘Grandma Ida told me that your mom and dad loved going to the movies. They even used movie-star nicknames for themselves. Old time stars: Helen Hayes and Fred Astaire. Now tell me your name and your sisters’ names.’
‘I’m Tori,’ she says, sarcastic again. ‘Like as if you don’t know?’
‘No, your mother did not name you Tori.’
Slowly now, thinking; something is happening. ‘Gloria. Marilyn. Shirley.’
‘You might not know this old-timer. But the famous Gloria was Gloria Swanson.’
Starting to catch on. ‘She used to call me Morning Glory.’
‘Marilyn Monroe. Shirley Temple,’ I add.
Tori reads from the program again. ‘Temple Star. Glory Girl and M&M. Omigod! Omigod, they’re clues, they’re meant to be clues!’
‘Now read the name of the owners and don’t forget their partner.’ I’m trying to keep calm, but Tori is kicking her legs in the air.
‘Mr & Mrs Harvey Woodley at Panorama Stables! The Woodleys, at last! Panorama, named after the city where we lived!’ She looks again. ‘Their partner is Frank Sterner! He couldn’t use his real name or the cops would find him. Same first initials. It’s my dad! We found him. You found him! Tori looks up at me in amazement.
Her face brightens. ‘Mama tried to tell me. Where the flamingos fly. They live at the racetrack. Omigod!’
‘That’s what I said.’
‘He’s been sending all those clues for me to find him!’
‘Probably.’
She jumps up and grabs my arms and swings me around. ‘He’s alive. He’s really alive. I looked so long and there they were, so close by.’
She’s laughing, then crying, but still dancing. I am just about to warn her that we need to keep this quiet.
Too late. We hear the applause. We freeze. Dix and his sidekicks are standing inside the shed, staring at us from the back door, hands clapping.
‘How nice to see such happy faces,’ Dix says, nastily. ‘Now why would that be?’
Tori drops back down on her sleeping bag, hiding the racing program behind her. With a quick look back as she does so.
I know what’s coming and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Dix moves in close to her. I can see Hicks frowning and Dockson looking clueless, as usual.
‘Ever play poker, Tori?’ He smiles, but it’s an unpleasant grimace.
She shakes her head, scared now.
‘A good gambler watches the other players and looks for the
“tell”. Know what a tell is?’
Tori shakes her head again.
‘When a player gets a really exciting card or hand, he can’t resist one teeny, tiny look. It’s a giveaway. He looks and then I know what he’s got, and then I know I’ve got him beat.’
All is silent. Tori is miserable.
‘You looked back. That was your tell. Hand it over, cutie pie.’
She hangs her head down, refusing to look at him.
‘Don’t be stupid. Do it the easy way or we do it my way.’
Tori stares up at me. I close my eyes; we are helpless.
‘No!’ Tori won’t give up.
Poor, sweet heroic girl, I think.
‘It’s nothing, nothing that would interest you!’ She practically throws her body over the program.
Dix grins. ‘Let me be the judge of that.’
‘I knew you were holding out on me,’ he says purposefully, looking at Hicks, saying it to prove his point, Hicks turns away, unhappily.
Dix then shrugs, nods to Dockson. Dockson marches over to Tori, pushes her down, then turns her over. She struggles to keep it away from him, but he’s way too strong and he grabs the program in seconds and knocks her back down again.
Dockson hands it to Dix.
‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ she shrieks.
‘You get to go when I know what made you so happy.’
I walk over to him; I am quivering with rage. ‘Enough, big shot, let her go inside and I’ll tell you what you want to know.’
Dix looks at me in a way that curdles the blood. Suddenly, weepy Grandma turns tough? He’s impressed. He nods to Dockson.
Dockson puts on the blindfold and takes Tori out, kicking and yelling. He’s slapping the duct tape over her mouth as they go.
I notice that Hicks has been left out of this. He stands there, board-stiff. Trouble in Paradise?
Dix doesn’t need my help, he sees the names immediately, and gets it. Dix is not only cruel, but he is also smart. He waves the program at Hicks. ‘You were worried about money. Looks like Daddy struck it rich. Not only is he alive, but he’s loaded!’
