The Subway ; The Debt ; Catastrophic

by Dustin Stevens

  With just such a barb on the tip of her tongue, a combination of factors shoving aside any inhibition she had, Peg was cut short by the din of Freddy bawling nearby.

  Low and clear, the sound drifted in from down the shore, as plain as if she were standing just a few feet away.

  After more than eight years together, there were few things in life she knew as surely as the cadence of Freddy calling out to her.

  Just as certainly, it was clear by the pitch and the rapid-fire delivery that something had him stressed.

  Gone was any of the previous animosity, whatever bits of vitriol she might have felt. In their stead, Peg forgot about the litterers and the cabins and the summer heat, her sole focus on the few feet in front of her.

  Picking her way up and over the uneven shoreline, her breath rose, sweat dotting her forehead. Beside her, a light breeze managed to push a ripple across the top of the water, the muddy brown liquid lapping up just inches from her shoes.

  One time after another Freddy sang out to her, an audible beacon pulling her forward, beckoning her along the shore. As she went, scads of possibilities as to what had him so worked up passed through her mind, all of them ending badly, causing the panic she felt to rise precipitously.

  For all their various forms, though, not a single one rose anywhere near what she found waiting for her.

  Chapter Two

  Standing in front of the mirror in the makeshift gym of her basement, there seemed to be little reason for Talula Davis to towel away the droplets of sweat collected on her skin. Situated as individual beads, they began just short of her hairline, covering her forehead, streaking down over her lips and cheeks.

  From there, they only grew more pronounced, balanced atop her bare shoulders, following the carved lines of her abdomen in thick rivulets.

  No sooner would she wipe them away – these the results of another early workout – than the wicked morning heat would bring them back even heavier.

  Most years in East Tennessee, that was an inescapable truth that didn’t come to bear until mid-August, the schedule seeming to have been accelerated by more than two months this time around.

  What it would have in store by the time the dog days arrived was an eventuality she would rather not deal with for the time being.

  Or ever, if she could avoid it.

  Standing in front of the mirror, Davis worked the towel over her skin, her focus on the cracked piece of glass three feet away and the reflection on display.

  At thirty-three years of age, she found herself now on the cusp of the point where life begins to start stripping things away. No longer could she run for miles on the pavement outside, a long basketball career having caught up with her, tendonitis nagging at her joints.

  Ditto for any form of overhead weight training, the doctors telling her repeatedly that the frayed labrum in her left shoulder was nothing more than one awkward jolt away from tearing for good, an injury requiring surgery.

  That one she could chalk up to her career since leaving the hardwood, a livelihood she never anticipated, still couldn’t quite believe she’d backed her way into.

  Rotating slightly at the waist, Davis tensed her core, seeing the ridges stand out beneath her light brown skin. Starting wide on either side, the striated muscles and ribs funneled everything inward, a series of diagonal lines disappearing beneath the bottom of her sports bra and top of her gym shorts to either end.

  She might not be able to run, may not be able to lift as she once did, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still beat the hell out of a punching bag whenever the mood struck her.

  As it seemed to be doing with increasing frequency lately.

  Allowing herself just a few more moments, Davis kept her focus away from the bags beneath either eye, ignoring the way the overhead bulb seemed to accentuate her drawn features, cheekbones protruding on either side.

  Instead, she focused on her core, on the veins running the length of her biceps, on the wraps pulled tight around her knuckles and wrists.

  Her own definition of feminine beauty, free of whatever society might have her believe.

  Content for the morning in what she saw, Davis reached out and tugged on the string hanging down from the ceiling, extinguishing the light. Once it was gone, she remained rooted a moment, hearing the faint creak of the metal chain the bag behind her hung on, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dark.

  Thirty seconds later, she turned and began her trudge up the stairs, another day stretched out in front of her, a carbon copy of the week before, and an untold many prior to that.

  The sort of small-town thing that could stand as both a blessing and a curse.

  One stair at a time, Davis rose from the basement, the bare steps moaning in protest beneath her weight. Attention aimed at her hands, she unfurled the long wraps as she went, the material damp with sweat.

  By the time she reached the vinyl of the kitchen, both were free from their bindings, Davis clenching her fingers, the world already ten degrees warmer than it had been in the basement.

  Paying the heat no mind, Davis looped the straps over the back of the closest chair and went to the coffee maker. Drawing a fresh k-cup from the drawer beneath it, she tucked it home and slammed the top shut, the machine kicking to life to do the rest.

  Turning away, Davis went back for the straps, the shower already calling for her.

  She made it no more than a few steps before pulling up short, the sound of her phone erupting from the kitchen table stopping her progress. Feeling a ripple pass through her core, Davis’s eyes slid shut, her nose rising toward the ceiling.

  “Jesus, already?”

  Standing in place another moment, she waited until the third ring before making her way across the floor and taking up the phone. Without bothering to check the caller ID – knowing full well who it was without needing to – she thumbed the phone to life and pressed it to her face.

  “Hullo?”

  Against the sweaty surface of her cheek, the phone slid twice before settling in along her ear.

  “Hey, Davis,” a thick, husky voice said over the line. “You on, yet?”

  “Not for another hour,” Davis replied, “same as always. What’s up?”

  Her tone and her word choice were both deliberate, each deployed in hopes of heading off any future repeats of the conversation.

  Hopes that, given the number of times it had played out already, didn’t stand much chance at coming to pass.

  “Got a call just now from Peg Bannister,” the man replied, “think this is one you ought to take.”

  “Yeah?” Davis asked, raising the towel to her face and clearing the left side with a single swipe. “Why’s that? She have another noise complaint to file?”

  “No,” the man replied, oblivious to the comment or the sarcasm it carried, “this time, she swears there’s a body.”

  Chapter Three

  The front end of Talula Davis’s Bronco bucked over the uneven pavement of the single lane running around the outside of Lake Edstrom. The third such pothole since turning off the main thoroughfare, this one seemed to be larger than the previous two, sending the vehicle airborne for a few brief seconds.

  Just long enough to launch every loose item in the cab – from spare coins to flashlights –into the air before depositing them back again, many at least a few inches away from where they started.

  If not more.

  “Dammit,” Davis whispered, her body leaned forward so her chest was just a few inches away from the steering wheel. Already she could feel sweat passing from her palms into the rubber cover encasing it, just as she could feel droplets running down the outside of her face.

  Why she had bothered showering at all, she wasn’t quite sure.

  Glancing into the rearview mirror, she saw moisture already lining the front edge of her hairline, the glossy black hair pulled into a bun behind her head, the foot-long locks still damp. The tan canvas uniform shirt she wore was open at the collar, the indent of her t
hroat wet and glossy as well.

  Just thirty minutes had passed since she got the call, but already she felt like she was behind for the day.

  A feeling that only grew more pronounced as she rounded a final bend in the road and was forced to mash down hard on the brakes. Much like it had a few moments before, the aging rig overresponded, the tires locking up, the body rocking forward several inches, again scattering assorted items around her.

  Moving forward enough to mash her top half against the wheel, Davis pushed an elongated sigh out through her nose before raising her gaze to the reason for the sudden and unexpected stop.

  There, standing in the road, both hands extended high overhead, stood Peg Bannister.

  Well past her sixtieth year, the woman had a shock of white hair hanging to her shoulders and a proclivity for wearing workout clothes designed for people forty years younger. Today being no exception, she was adorned in black yoga pants and a neon pink top, waving as if trying to direct in a small plane on approach.

  As if there was any chance Davis could miss her or the glow of the outfit she was wearing.

  Raising a fist away from the wheel, Davis waved to let Bannister know she had been spotted before easing her foot back off the gas. The engine responded with a low grumble as it idled forward, Davis steering it just off the side of the road before pulling to a stop.

  “Oh, thank God you’re finally here,” Bannister opened the moment Davis stepped out, her voice and the humid morning air both arriving in tandem.

  Each swirling around her in one concentrated burst, they did nothing to improve Davis’s mood as she slammed the door shut behind her, the assorted items on her belt groaning slightly as she circled around the front end.

  Ignoring Bannister’s use of the term finally, Davis said, “Good morning, Peg. What seems to be the problem?”

  In the past couple of years, trips out to respond to Bannister’s complaints had become something of a rite of passage around the department. Usually nothing more than a few scattered beer cans or some music she deemed “too loud,” or “too angry,” or even once, “too black,” it was the sort of assignment nobody ever wanted.

  What Davis had done to piss someone off bad enough to field the call this morning, she couldn’t be sure, though she would certainly look into it soon enough.

  “Oh, it’s just awful, awful!” Bannister replied, waving both hands in front of herself. “The blood. Oh my gosh, so much blood!”

  For the first time since answering the phone while still standing wet and sweaty in her kitchen, the words of dispatch returned to Davis’s ears.

  This time, she swears there’s a body.

  At the time, she had dismissed it as nothing more than hyperbole, the sort of thing Bannister was often prone to, especially if she thought her calls weren’t being taken seriously enough.

  “Blood?” Davis asked, her eyes narrowing as she unconsciously pulled back her right hand, tapping at the base of the Glock-19 strapped to her hip.

  Shooting an arm out to the side, holding it parallel to the ground, Bannister gave an exaggerated nod. “Right down that path. No more than fifty yards. Can’t miss it.”

  Chapter Four

  The screen door on the front of the farmhouse swung wide, the hinges moaning loudly in complaint. Catching it with his shoulder, Radney Creel tapped at the door behind it once with his knuckle – a hollow echo ringing out – before grasping the doorknob and pushing on inside.

  As he did so, a puff of stale cool air washed over him, the momentary relief from the heat more than negated by the combined smells of cigar smoke and body odor.

  “Jesus Christ, will you shut that damn door? Hot as hell out there.”

  Fixing his jaw into a clamp, Creel didn’t bother to respond, merely doing as instructed, the early morning light blinking out behind him, plunging the space back into a state of semi-darkness.

  “Shit,” the same voice said again, “my ass is baking like a boiled ham in this place.”

  Feeling his rear molars grind together, Creel crossed over the small living space that the front door opened into, thick carpet beneath his feet. With each step, underlying floorboards creaking could be heard, preceding his arrival into the kitchen a moment later.

  There he found the source of unending and unwanted comments sitting at the kitchen table, his partner Elijah Pyle stripped down to a plain white ribbed tank top. The color of it was matched by the pale glow of his skin, bright red curls twisted up atop his head and covering the lower half of his arms.

  Beside him, a pair of cigars sent twin curlicues of smoke into the air. In his hand, a cup of coffee, Creel willing to bet it was at least his fifth of the morning already.

  As if the man needed liquid enhancement to his already jittery nature.

  “Hot as blazes, I tell you,” Pyle said.

  Glancing down to the gray t-shirt he wore, to the extra dark tone it had taken since he’d sweat through it hours before, Creel didn’t bother to comment.

  Didn’t believe there was any point in ever stating the obvious.

  Waiting, as if expecting a response that wasn’t coming, Pyle eventually returned his attention back to the cup in his hand. Lifting it to his lips, he tilted his head back a few inches before realizing the mug was empty and jerking it away. A sour look on his face, he slammed it back down and took up the closest cigar, wrapping his lips around it.

  Only once he was encased in a plume of smoke so thick it almost obscured him from view did he say, “You’re back early.”

  Again, Creel didn’t bother to reply.

  He was back early, much sooner than either one had anticipated.

  “Guess it went better than we figured on?”

  Taking a step forward, Creel pulled out the closest chair and lowered himself into it. Running a thumb the length of his eyebrows, he wiped the collected sweat against the front of his jeans.

  “It did,” he said, his first words since arrival. “Some old broad out with her dog came across the place.”

  Across from him, Pyle continued working the cigars, trading one out for the other.

  “And?”

  “And she called it in,” Creel replied.

  Seeming to forget the somewhat new and strained relationship they were working under, acting as if they’d spent years working together, Pyle leaned forward onto his elbows, his face emerging from the cloud of smoke, expecting a full explanation to be made.

  Actually looked a bit surprised when nothing more was added.

  “So the cops all came screaming in, lights and sirens and everything?” he asked.

  Shifting his attention out through the cracked window above the sink, Creel shook his head. Somewhere in the back, he could hear the single window air conditioning unit they had snagged the day before fighting a losing battle against the tepid temperatures inside.

  Based on the rattle it was producing in the process, he guessed it would be a miracle if it even managed to finish the rest of the day for them.

  “Nope,” Creel answered. “Single deputy from the sheriff’s department. Waited until she pulled in before I headed in the opposite direction.”

  The job of sticking around and waiting for the response was one he had volunteered for, knowing that for his myriad skills, being inconspicuous and knowing when to slip away didn’t seem real high up on Pyle’s list.

  The man was good, but he liked it to be known, to bask in whatever glory he felt was coming to him.

  Creel had no such compunction, his actions motivated by money and nothing more.

  “That’s it?” Pyle asked, his eyebrows rising with each word.

  “That’s it,” Creel responded.

  Shifting his focus down to his feet, he thought of stripping away the hiking boots he still wore. Of shrugging out of the wet clothes and lying naked on the floor in front of the a/c unit, letting it provide him a tiny bit of relief as he pulled in a couple of hours of sleep.

  On the back end of a twenty-six-hour stretc
h, it was long past time to get some rest.

  If things went to plan, it would only be the first of many long nights ahead.

  “Huh,” Pyle said, more a statement than a question, relaying his surprise at the paltry response. “You think it will work?”

  Whether it would or not, there was no way to be certain. All they could be sure of was that it was the closest they had been in a very long time.

  The particulars of which he wasn’t sure of, knowing only that it predated himself by a considerable margin.

  Once more, Creel ignored the man across from him. Rising to his feet, he grabbed at the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, the wet fabric clinging to his skin for a moment before tugging free.

  “You call it in to the old man yet?”

  Chapter Five

  Despite serious objections – both from Peg Bannister and her pleasantly plump Labrador – Talula Davis left both standing along the road. Not yet wanting to turn away a potential material witness should this be something more than the woman crying wolf, the explicit directives to stand alongside the road, say nothing to anybody, and stay out of traffic, were rendered.

  Whether any of those things would come to pass, Davis could only guess at.

  Keeping her right hand rested on the butt of her Glock, Davis descended the driveway, rounding a small bend in the path, blocking her truck from view. Beneath her, twin tracks had been beaten into the soft dirt, a layer of pine needles obscuring any sound.

  To either side, the trunks of pine trees crowded right along the path, so tight it wasn’t surprising to see a few scrapes dug into their bark.

  Thankfully, the tight confines also managed to block out much of the light from overhead, bringing with it a five-degree dip in temperature.

  Which still made it just south of Hell itself.

  With her head up, gaze darting back and forth, Davis walked on, moving through the thick forest for more than thirty yards before the vague outline of a cabin moved into view ahead. Alongside it came a small spike in her heart rate, the back of her uniform shirt clinging to her skin as the structure took shape before her.