Beginning of the Reckoning

by Vera Quinn

  “Don’t leave me hanging girl. Did you rock Becky’s world?” She looks at me and smiles. “At the time , Becky denied it but later when we were together she confessed to me that her body was in shock overload. We both had too much to drink and we fell asleep with her lying beside me and we were holding hands. The next six months was a crazy train ride. Becky pulled away from me but I didn’t give up on her. She confessed to her mom what happened and her parents banned me from their house and forbade Becky from seeing me. It was a mess but we worked it out and by the beginning of our senior year, Becky’s parents came around and we were an official couple even if everyone at our school didn’t know. We lived in a moderate sized town, but all our parents’ friends and our friends would not have been accepting so we waited until after graduation to go completely open with everyone.” Lisa stops and her tears start rolling again. “We loved each other and now she’s gone. All our hopes and dreams are just gone. Who would hurt my Becky? She is…” Lisa stops. I hug her to me. I don’t know what to say or do.

  “What did the cops say? Do they have any leads? Have you been in that apartment?” Once I start, the questions just keep coming. I hope this distracts her for a few minutes, as if anything could.

  “I stayed at a hotel last night but I couldn’t stay still so I started driving. I drove back by the apartment and they still have tape up. The police haven’t said a lot. They asked me questions that made no sense, like who had a grudge against Becky. No one dislikes Becky.” Lisa stops again and it takes me a minute to realize why. Lisa is talking like Becky is still alive. Shit, this situation sucks donkey balls. My heart is breaking for this woman. Lisa’s life has just been screwed in the biggest way. How did I not know what was going on? I have been so self absorbed that I don’t even know what is going on around me.

  “Do you need any help with anything? Can I make calls for you? Anything you need, hon, I am here.” I just want to help comfort Lisa. “My mom is flying in today to handle everything. We are staying until the police coroner releases Becky’s body and then we are taking her home. Becky’s mom and dad wanted to come but they are inconsolable and Patricia has had to be sedated. Mom said Dave isn’t very far from it and he is staying in touch with police here through his office.” Lisa looks at me. “Dave is a detective in Daytona. Patricia works at the courthouse so they have some connections. I just don’t understand how any of this could have happened. Becky and I live a low key life. We aren’t partiers. We don’t do drugs, we barely drink alcohol, a glass of wine here and there. We live in a small town. We don’t own anything that anyone would want to steal. We own a small television and a computer but surely no one would break in to steal a computer. It’s the most expensive thing we own. I have my cameras and lens but they are always with me. We drive vehicles that are three and eight years old. Why?” I don’t know what to say or if there is anything to say. I don’t even know if Lisa is talking to me or herself. I just let her talk. I hear a knock on my door. I know it must be Tara. I get up and walk to the front door and open the door. I realize I didn’t even lock the door when Lisa came in. I need to remember to lock my door. Tara is standing there looking like she just rolled out of bed. Her hair is flat on one side and she is wearing a big t-shirt and some sweats that must belong to Rome because they are falling off of her. Tara walks in and sits down beside Lisa on my sofa. “Can I get you some coffee?” I ask Tara.

  “God, yes ,” Tara tells me and then she looks at Lisa. “Lisa, I thought you were staying at the hotel until your mom arrived.” I walk over and pour Tara a cup of coffee. I know she takes it strong and black like me so I take it and hand her the cup. I swear that Tara and I are sisters from another mother. Our attitude and love of coffee, something we shared with Becky.

  “I couldn’t stay in that room any longer a nd I remembered the last time I talked to Becky that she was telling me about her early morning coffee drinking with Joy.” Lisa takes another deep breath. “She mentioned you too, but she said that you didn’t always make it to drink coffee because of that man of yours. You two becoming friends with Becky meant so much to her. We have friends but they live too far away to run over for an early morning coffee fix. Becky was always talking about one of you when I called to talk to her. We talked every night usually. To tell you the truth, I was a little jealous of the time the two of you got to spend with Becky.” Lisa softly laughs, sort of. She looks at us. “We were fine and in my head, I know I was being silly, but I spend a lot of time away. I wished I could have spent every morning with Becky even if I don’t…or didn’t have her love of coffee and now our time is up. I will never get a chance to spend those moments with her.” That’s all Lisa gets out and she falls apart. She’s crying so hard and I have no idea what to do. What does one say at a time like this? Tara takes her and hugs her close. I have never felt so useless. There’s a knock at my door and I walk over and open the door. I need to remember to start locking that damn door. Rome is standing there with two of his club members with him. I don’t know their names but I have seen them around the apartment complex. I step back and let them enter my apartment. They all have solemn looks on their faces. Rome goes over by the sofa and stands next to Tara. The other two stand over by the wall, opposite the sofa. Tara looks up at Rome. Rome kneels so he is on the same level that Lisa and Tara are on. I don’t know exactly what to do or where to stand so I just walk around Rome and sit on the other side of Lisa.

  “L isa, Edge and Ridge are going to take you back to your hotel. Devil is having a doctor friend of ours come over and give you something to help you sleep until your mom arrives later this morning. You need some rest. Gertie is going to meet you there and stay with you until your mom arrives. Can you do that for me? You are going to need to make a lot of decisions today and you need a clear head to do that,” Rome is speaking quietly to Lisa.

  “I don’t even know you that well, why are you and your club helping me?” Lisa stops and starts again. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful and I know Becky worked at the Feral Steel’s gym but the things that Devil offered to help me with and you trying to help me makes no sense and right now, I need something to make sense. All of this makes no sense to me. I keep thinking I am going to wake up and this is just going to be a bad dream.” Lisa is almost pleading for an explanation.

  “You are too tired for anything to make sense right now. When is the last time you slept or even ate anything?” Lisa looks like she is thinking about it. “If it takes that long to answer the question then it has been too long. Becky hasn’t worked at the gym that long but we still valued her as an employee and we all liked her. You and Becky have lived here and never given us a bit of worry and this apartment complex is owned by the Feral Steel MC also. We are trying to help in a time that you need it. You are far away from your families and so we want to help.” I know that Rome is only telling half the truth but right now that half of the truth is what Lisa needs. “Now I want you to give Edge your keys. He is going to drive you because there is no way you should be driving right now. Edge will go in and stay in the hotel with you until Gertie gets there with the doctor. The doctor is not going to give you anything that will hurt you but will let you get a few hours of sleep after you eat. Tell Ridge what you want to eat and he will stop off somewhere and pick you something up.” Lisa starts to interrupt but Rome raises his hand. “Don’t argue.” Rome looks at the one I am guessing is Ridge. “Just get her a hash brown and some breakfast sandwich.” Ridge nods his head alright. Rome looks back to Lisa. “Eat a few bites. The medicine will work better and maybe it won’t upset your stomach that way. Take the medicine the doctor gives you and try to sleep. Gertie will sit with you until you wake up or your mom gets there. Ridge will pick your mom up from the airport. Gertie will call us when your mom arrives so one of us can be there for the decisions that will need to be made today. The Feral Steel MC will make sure whatever you and your mom decide on arrangements is done. We will be the buffer between you and the people you need to
deal with. You are dealing with enough, let us do this for you.” Lisa looks like she is going to ask more questions or argue but then a look of complete defeat comes over her face.

  “That will be alright. I just want answers from someone.” Tara hugs her tight and then lets Lisa go. Rome stands up and steps back so Lisa can stand up and she hands her car keys to Rome. Rome hands them to one of the men.

  “Lisa, we are here if you need us ,” Tara tells her.

  “Me too, Lisa,” I add.

  “I’m going to need to get in our apartment to get some clothes and things.” Lisa looks at Rome. “Do you think you can find out when I will be let back in?” “I will get a message to the detective in charge of the case and as soon as I get word back I will give you a call,” Rome tells Lisa and then he looks at his brothers. “Go get her car and bring the cage around so she doesn’t have so far to walk.” Rome goes and sits in the lone chair closest to the hall.

  “My car is parked in our parking space,” Lisa says.

  “They’ll get it.” The two men leave the room.

  “Do you have enough clothes and everything with you until you have access to your apartment? You can borrow something of mine. I don’t know if we are the same size but I am sure we can find something to work,” I volunteer. Lisa looks back to me.

  “That is very kind of you but no. I mean, yes, I have enough clothes for now. I never unpack when I am on the road. I just threw everything thrown around back in my suitcase.” I nod my head okay. Then we just sit in silence until Rome gets a text on his phone. He looks at it and then gets up and walks back over to Lisa.

  “Ridge and Edge are out front. I’ll walk you out.” Rome reaches for Lisa’s arm and helps her up. Lisa smiles up to Rome. Both Tara and I stand up. Lisa reaches back to me and hugs me. Rome steps away and moves closer to the door. When Lisa lets me go she reaches for Tara and hugs her.

  “Thank you both for listening to me and please be careful around here. You never know when your time is up. Becky and I thought we had forever. A friend once told me never ever love one person. I know now never forever. Lesson learned the hard way.” That’s a strange thing to think at a time like this or maybe just to me. Something about the way Lisa says it makes me think that Lisa is never going to come back from this. I guess I have no way of knowing the depth of her sorrow. I’ve never been in love. My heart breaks all over again for Lisa. I look at Tara and she has a puzzled look on her face. I’m guessing if I could see my own face it would look close to the same. Rome takes Lisa by the arm and guides her out of my apartment. Tara and I are left staring at each other.

  “That was chilling. Do you mind if I get another cup of coffee?” Tara asks me. “Of course. I’m sorry. I guess I should have asked Rome and his brothers but my mind is in shock. What the hell happened?” I watch Tara fill her coffee cup so I keep talking. “I had a bad interview with Hacksaw and then I went shopping and by the time I got home, I noticed some cops around but I would have never guessed a murder occurred. I fixed myself something to eat and filled out some applications to drop off today in case the gym doesn’t work out then took some medication and went to sleep. I think I woke up one time last night but I got up and went to the bathroom and got a drink of water and went back to sleep.” I wait for Tara to answer.

  “It’s all crazy. The only thing I know is what the cops told me when they came to do a well check on Becky yesterday.” Tara takes another drink of her coffee. “They came in the office and said they had an anonymous tip that something was wrong with Becky and she wasn’t answering her phone. I tried calling her and then I called Rome. I made the cops wait until he arrived and he opened the door for them and that is when they found her.” I shake my head. That is scary.

  “The cops didn’t say anything?” I ask. “Not to me. Once they found Becky, Rome cut me out of the loop. I am not allowed to leave without a prospect or brother with me. Orders from Devil,” Tara tells me.

  “Is the club on lockdown?” I ask her.

  “Not yet, just careful,” Tara says and then there is a knock at the door and it opens and Rome walks in. “Joy, lock your doors and plan to stay with Tara today. We have one prospect to watch the two of you so where one goes so does the other one.” Tara’s eyes move to me. I want to argue but I know it is for our safety. I have learned to pick my battles and this is one I know I will not win.

  “Let me get a quick shower and I will cook us some breakfast.” I smile letting Rome know he is getting no argument from me.

  “Finally, a woman who doesn’t argue.” Tara slaps Rome’s belly. Rome grabs her hand. I laugh.

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” I sit my cup down and head to my bathroom. I walk through the clubhouse and it is empty. I have been busy all day trying to run down leads on who would murder a woman who, by all appearances, has no enemies. I have talked to every contact we have in this town to put out feelers on who wants to take the Feral Steel MC down. There’s nothing to be heard from anyone. No one has heard anything against us and Becky wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. I hope Oz or Tito has dug something up. I don’t know why Devil won’t take my suggestion about this other woman serious. Joy, that’s her name. I hear voices in the back of the clubhouse and it looks like everyone has already showed up for church. I walk into the room and make my way over to the table that holds the weapons and put mine down and put my phone beside it. Bowie is standing guard over it as usual since he is our SAA. Crocket stands up and walks to the doors and closes them. I guess I am the last one. Devil looks at me and then stands up and pounds his gavel on the table. I take my chair to the right of Devil. I look around at all the brothers and not a one of them look like they have had a better day than I have. I notice Ridge and Edge aren’t here.

  “Has anyone turned up anything new today because I have nothing?” Devil looks at us and waits for an answer. “Every contact I have has nothing. They’ve heard nothing for a while and they didn’t even know who Becky was. No threats made against us. I went over to the diner and talked to Bud and he said he never heard anything bad about Becky. Everyone seemed to like her. I called Sal and the same thing. Those two old men hear everything going on in this town and they have nothing.” I let Devil know my patience has grown short. I hate dead ends.

  “Rome, what about the security cameras around the apartments? We just updated them, they had to catch something.” Devil looks to Rome. “Oz knows more than I do ,” Rome says as he looks to Oz.

  “A man dressed in black with a mask on his face walked up the stairs just before midnight. He shot out one of the lights with a slingshot from the stairs. Why a sling shot is beyond me. The asshole knew exactly where the cameras were located. He spray painted over the cameras. I couldn’t see one inch of skin to get any kind of idea who he could be but I did see the head of another man waiting on the stairwell. I just know he had brown hair. The man in black knew too much, so he had been there before.” Oz lets us absorb that much and then goes on. “I looked at the security tape for the parking area and again the man knew exactly where the cameras were located. He waved at the damn thing and then just walked away as if he hadn’t just mutilated and shot a woman in her own apartment. The other man never showed up on any camera and how that is even possible, I cannot explain.” Oz is pissed. He is the one who helped with buying and having the cameras installed and he is not happy someone got around them.

  “Are you sure they are both men?” I ask the question. Devil glares at me but Oz considers my question. “The clothes that the person was wearing could have been man or woman but if it was a woman she is an amazon of a woman. This person had to be close to six feet tall but the other one I couldn’t say. It was just hair I saw but I will look again to make sure,” Oz tells us and then something crosses my mind.