by Tim Kizer
“For God's sake, what are you afraid of? Nobody’s going to touch you, okay?” said Josephine. “All we need from you is the location of Kelly's grave. We are very traditional people, we’d like to give her a proper burial.”
“We can pay you a lot of money, too.” Albert winked at Josephine. “How does a hundred grand sound to you, Frank? You'll never forgive yourself if you don’t take a hundred grand.”
“Yes, Frank, we’re willing to pay you for Kelly’s body,” said Josephine. “You know we’ve got the money. You give us her body, we pay you one hundred thousand dollars.”
There was a long silence.
“I'll call you once Jimmy gets home,” finally answered Frank. Then he hung up.
Josephine whispered ‘Motherfucker,’ shook her head, and started doing breathing exercises to clear her head.
“Are you sure about letting his nephew go?” asked Graham.
Josephine nodded. “If he screws us over, we’ll just kidnap the boy again.”
“This asshole is acting up. But he’ll come back. I’m sure he will.” Albert lit up a cigarette.
“The important thing is Frank understands what cops will do to him if he rats us out,” said Graham. “Those Marilyn tapes are explosive stuff.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?” Albert turned to Josephine.
“If he’s got half a brain, he will.” Josephine pulled her cell-phone out of her jeans pocket and opened the contact list. “I’m going to call Ron.”
Chapter 18.
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
1.
“Is there a reason you couldn’t meet us at my place?” Josephine asked as she walked up to Frank’s rental Chevrolet Cobalt, which was parked on the side of Springville Boston Road at its intersection with Abbott Hill Road, right in the middle of Fowlerville.
“Kelly’s grave is six miles from here.” Frank opened the door and stepped out of the car. “I think it’s a great place to meet.”
“I hope you’re not playing games with us.” Josephine brought her mouth to his ear and whispered, “If it’s some kind of police ambush, your brother and his family will die, do you understand that?”
Frank nodded silently.
“Are you here alone?” Josephine continued.
“Yes, I am. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay.” She thoroughly patted him down, pulled up the legs of his jeans to check his ankles, and finally looked under his shirt. “Looks like you’re clean. You might have stuck something in your asshole, but I’m not going there.” Smiling, she dipped her hand into the pocket of her jeans and produced a pair of handcuffs. “Let’s take care of this first.” After putting the handcuffs on Frank’s wrists, she waved to the Ford Expedition she had arrived in, which sat a hundred feet down the road.
“Did you bring shovels?” asked Frank, watching the Expedition move towards them. “I want to be done with this as soon as possible.”
“We brought everything we need. Are you going to help us dig, Frank?”
When the Expedition pulled up in front of them, Frank saw that, besides Graham, who sat behind the steering wheel, there was no one else in the car.
“I hope you had your dinner,” said Josephine as Frank got in the back of the Ford. “It’s going to be a long night.” She sat next to Frank and patted him on the shoulder. “Relax, we’re going to be gentle with you. We're not some savages.”
“No, we’re not savages,” said Graham, pressing the gas pedal.
“So tell me, Frank, did you remember the exact spot you buried Kelly’s body?” Josephine fixed her eyes on Frank. “We don’t feel like spending weeks and weeks looking for it, you know.”
“I remember the approximate location. I don’t have a photographic memory, you know.”
“How approximate is it? Give or take a couple of hundred feet or a couple of thousand feet? Or maybe a couple of miles?”
Frank shrugged his shoulders. “I’d say a couple of thousand feet. “It’s been more than three weeks since I was there, remember?”
“All right. We can work with that.”
“I have a question for you, Frank,” said Graham. “Were you faking your amnesia, or not? I want an honest answer, okay?”
Frank shook his head. “I wasn’t faking it.”
“Did you remember why you killed Kelly?” asked Graham.
“I thought she was cheating on me.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were so jealous, Frank.” Josephine put a cigarette in her mouth and lit it up. “You don’t strike me as a passionate man, to tell you the truth.”
“I must have been drunk when I killed her. I still don’t remember all the details of how it happened.”
“You’re just like that Othello guy from the play,” said Josephine. “He thought his wife was cheating on him, too.”
“Othello? That’s a weird name,” commented Graham. “I don’t think I've never met an actual person with such a name.”
Frank turned his head back to check whether there were any cars following them. When he saw a dark blue Chevrolet Suburban about fifty feet behind the Ford, he asked, pointing at the car, “Is that Al and Ron?”
“Yes, it is.” Josephine nodded. “The whole wolf pack is there.”
“Oh, you finally watched that Hangover DVD I gave you?” said Graham.
“I did and I loved it.”
2.
So what’s the plan, buddy?
There was no plan. However, he had an idea that could eliminate his biggest headache. Its success depended on whether one of Josephine’s brothers in arms would accept his offer, which, unfortunately, was not the kind that was hard to refuse.
Frank moved his hands apart to stretch the chain between the cuffs, as if getting ready to break it. He wondered if they were going to shackle his legs, too. Then he drew his hands back together.
“You're a genius, Josie,” said Graham enthusiastically.
“Frank, what do you think about bats?” Josephine turned to Frank. “Do you find them disgusting?”
Frank gave her a slightly perplexed look and replied, “I heard it’s hard to get them out of your hair.”
“I heard that, too.” She peered at his face. “Relax, Frank. Everything will be fine.”
So, you rescued Jimmy, buddy, congratulations. You saved your nephew’s life, and the boy will probably never know how close he was to death in the past few days.
Yes, whatever scheme they had used on Jimmy, the boy seemed to have no idea he had been kidnapped. His voice hadn't sounded scared at all when Frank had talked to him on the phone last night.
“I'm fine, Uncle Frank. I gotta go,” Jimmy said and passed the phone to Andrew, who told Frank he had a hunch that the boy had drunk beer, or maybe even something stronger, at the sleepover.
“Have you ever hit an animal with your car?” continued Josephine. “A bird, for instance.”
Anyway, you still have a couple of aces up your sleeve, buddy. For one, you're one of only two people on the whole planet who know where Kelly’s body is.
“Would you be upset if you killed an animal with your car? Would you even stop to look?”
“I’d be upset. And yes, I would stop to look.”
“As a matter of fact, I believe you, Frank.”
Frank wanted to say something sarcastic in reply but changed his mind and remained silent.
“One more thing,” said Josephine. “If we don't find her body by tomorrow midnight, I'll assume that you are bullshitting us, and you can easily guess what will happen to you then. You’ve got about thirty hours at your disposal, Frank, and if I were you, I wouldn’t waste any of them on sleep tonight.” She turned her emotionless face to Frank. “Thirty hours. Let me know when you feel sleepy; I’ll give you a pill that will keep you awake till morning.”
“One day is not enough,” said Frank. “You must understand my memory could be wrong. I might have buried the body in a completely different place.”
“The
n you’d better hope it’s your lucky day, Frank. You must understand that you have no value to us if you can’t remember where the body is, okay?”
“It’s a thousand acres of forest we’re talking about here, Josephine. You could spend days looking for the body and still not find it. It’s not like I left a headstone there. We’ll need more than thirty hours.”
“I have nothing else to add to what I’ve already said. So please think very hard before telling us where to look. It’s all in your hands, my friend.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Very well.” Josephine patted Frank on the knee. “You had a shitload of time to think about it, so I hope you’re not just taking a shot in the dark. And don’t be afraid that we'll kill you as soon as we find the grave. I always keep my word, Frank. You give us Kelly’s body and we’ll let you go.” She picked up a duffel bag from the floor and opened it. “Here’s the money I mentioned earlier. One hundred thousand dollars.” She tilted the bag so that Frank could see the packs of one hundred dollar bills inside it. “Nontaxable, too. Please don’t tell me you will declare this money.”
Frank kept silent. Josephine zipped up the bag and put it back on the floor.
“Don't be scared, Frank. We are not after you. We are forgiving people. All we want is bury our dear sister, that’s all.”
“Got it.” Frank shut his eyes and laid his head on the headrest.
3.
“Turn left there.” Frank pointed at the turn. “Then drive a mile into the forest.”
“Let’s make it half a mile,” said Josephine. “Just in case.” She looked at Frank. Frank nodded to let her know he agreed with her.
“What about him?” Graham pointed at Frank. “Do we leave him in the car?”
“Of course not. You’ll take him with you. Keep a good eye on him, Graham.”
“I guess you can’t run too fast in those chains, can you?” Graham said to Frank. Frank remained silent.
The Ford Expedition began to slow down and soon pulled over to the side of the road. The Chevrolet Suburban stopped a few feet behind it.
“So do you feel lucky tonight, Frank?” asked Josephine when Frank got out of the car. She grabbed Frank by the elbow and followed after Graham, who was helping Ron and Albert unload kennel boxes, which contained two Labradors, a Collie, and a Shepherd, from the trunk of the Suburban.
“Did you bring dogs?” asked Frank when all four kennel boxes were on the ground.
“Yes, that’s our little helpers.”
The dogs began to bark and bustle as soon as Albert let them out. Fortunately, it took them only a minute to calm down and get serious. Josephine took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. The air was still and warm; the night promised to be pleasant and free of weather surprises that could hinder their mission.
“These are cadaver dogs,” she explained to Frank. “They can smell dead bodies buried as deep as five feet. If I were you, Frank, I would pray that they are in the mood to work tonight.”
Actually, only the Labradors had been trained to find decomposing human flesh; the Collie and the Shepherd were regular search and rescue dogs: Josephine was not sure what a hibernating vampire smelled like to dogs.
“Well, here we are,” Josephine declared, looking around. She took the Collie’s leash reel from Albert and gave the dog a few gentle strokes on the head. “Frank said he had carried the body for about eight hundred feet.” Josephine glanced at her watch. It was 9:09 pm; they had less than two hours before the woods became completely dark. Thankfully, the dogs didn’t need light to do their job. She turned to Frank. “Do you remember which way you took Kelly?”
After thoughtfully scrutinizing the trees both to the south and to the north of the road, Frank replied, “I think we’ll have to search the whole place. I honestly don’t remember.”
Josephine scowled, heaved a disappointed sigh, and said, “Okay, we’ll search the whole fucking place.” She switched on her walkie-talkie and gestured Albert to distribute the flashlights, walkie-talkies, and shovels. “Al and I will go south. Graham and Ron will go north. And remember what I told you last night. Take your time, don’t rush yourselves.”
4.
Thirty hours, pal. That’s plenty of time to make your move.
Frank lowered his eyes on at the tip of the knife handle sticking out of the sheath on Graham’s belt.
“Don’t worry, it’s not for you,” said Graham, having noticed his glance.
The Suburban’s car alarm beeped as Albert switched it on, and Ron asked, “Al, why are locking the car? Who’s going to steal it here? Raccoons?”
“You can't be too careful.” Albert put the car keys in his jeans pocket.
“He’s right. You never know who might be lurking in these woods.” Graham pressed the button on the Ford Expedition’s remote, locking the car. Then he jerked the leash he was holding, showing his Labrador the direction of search, motioned Frank to follow him, and headed into the woods.
Frank felt relieved that the ghouls had not chained his legs.
“Wait for me, partner.” Ron trotted after Graham, with his Shepherd eagerly pulling the leash.
When they were a hundred feet into the forest, Ron pressed the button on his walkie-talkie and said, “One, two, three. Testing, testing.” He laughed loudly. “What’s their range?”
“Twenty five miles,” replied Graham in an emphatic tone. “I picked them myself. They also have GPS in them so we won’t get lost in these boondocks.”
“Cool, cool.” Ron slipped his walkie-talkie into his shoulder bag. “You know, Frank, you should have seen the things your nephew and a female friend of mine did in bed back in California. Kids are so damn kinky these days. He’s fourteen, right? Where do they learn this kind of stuff?”
“Television?” Graham suggested.
“Yeah.” Ron nodded. “I bet that was the happiest time of this kid’s life. Almost three days of endless sex. I wish someone had offered me the same deal when I was fourteen.”
“Me too.” Graham squinted at Frank, probably wondering why he wasn’t joining the conversation.
“The funny thing is this kid didn't want to go home. You hear that, Frank? I put your nephew in the cab and he asks me, ‘Can I visit you in New York, Uncle Chuck?’ Can you believe it, Frank?”
“Yeah, I understand him,” said Graham. “I’ve seen that girl. She’s got some nice titties on her.”
“The kid is obsessed with sex, plain and simple.” Ron winked at Frank with a playful smile. “I’m so glad it worked. Honestly, Frank, I didn’t expect you to care about Jimmy. I know I wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of surprised myself.” Graham guffawed. Then he jabbed Frank lightly in the shoulder with his fist and continued, “Did you lie to us, bro? We’ve kept our promises so far, haven’t we? Your nephew is home, safe and sound. It’s your turn now. I hope you’re not going to disappoint us, Frank.”
“I’m doing my best,” replied Frank.
When they reached the edge of the forest and turned right, Ron said that Graham’s pace was too fast for him and that he had decided to quit keeping up with Graham and change to a more leisurely speed.
“I don’t want to hold you back,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you, guys.”
The twilight was turning into the night by the minute.
5.
What if Frank was lying?
Josephine shifted the leash from her right hand to her left, took the Marlboro pack out of her pocket, and stuck a cigarette in her mouth. Then she thought about the dog and its sensitive nose and spat the cigarette out: she didn’t want to distract the Collie with smoke.
Josephine sighed. How wonderful it would have been if the vampire blood gave them telepathic abilities and they didn’t have to use dogs to find Kelly. Immortality was a priceless gift, no argument about that, but the telepathic powers would have surely been the cherry on the top.
Then the nagging thought that had been bugging her this whol
e time resurfaced in her mind again: what if Frank was lying and had brought them to the wrong location? There were countless places where he could have buried Kelly. And what if he had actually put cement shoes on the body and dumped it in the lake? Besides, even if Frank was telling the truth, there was no guarantee that his memory hadn’t been playing games with him and he hadn’t imagined bringing the corpse to this forest.
There were a dozen plausible shitty scenarios, and Josephine was painfully aware of that. Josephine wanted to believe that Frank had buried Kelly. She wanted to believe the grave was in this forest as she had gotten sick and tired of living in the constant state of worry about her future. She would love for this nightmare to end tonight.
However, she wouldn’t also mind if Frank had just lied about the location of Kelly’s grave. As long as her body was in one piece and could be reached within reasonable time, they were in good shape. Of course, she was especially concerned about the “one piece” part.
Her walkie-talkie made a crackling sound, and then Graham’s voice said, “Hey, Josie, how’s it hanging there?”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Are you bored?”
6.
“I would be if not for my buddy Frank here.” Graham laughed.
Frank looked back towards the road, which was completely hidden by the trees. They had already crossed their portion of the forest twice and now were moving to the woods’ edge again. He was reckoning they were about a quarter of a mile away from the road. Ron was trailing them by a couple of hundred feet.
“Is Frank behaving himself?”
“Yeah, he’s being a good boy.”
“Very well.”
“Okay. Take care.” Graham stuck the radio back into the holder on his belt. “Are you tired?” He turned to Frank. “We’ll take a five minute break in an hour. No one’s going to sleep tonight, bro.”
“It will be over much sooner than you think.”
“We’ll see.” Graham took a few sips of water from the plastic bottle he had in his shoulder bag and continued, “I want to tell you this: I hate walking. If we don’t find Kelly’s body in three hours, I’m going to kick your ass.”
