I smiled at Joey’s feigned indignation and said, “Yeah, it must be tough working with a couple of slackers like us. Anyway, so our great plan is just to hang out here until…um....until Theresa comes back?”
“Makes sense to me!” Joey answered.
Stoaffer said, “I agree. Being inside saves us from the awkwardness of forcing our way in later. Plus, we get a chance to scout out any other places which might contain items of value. Most importantly, I am much more comfortable waiting for Theresa here in the house than in the car.”
We began reflexively moving through the rooms looking for anything of value. I had to admit Stoaffer’s words made sense. Another thing I had to admit was that being in the house was stirring up a jumble of emotions. Every time I got close to something which brought Theresa’s image to mind, a wave of excitement would break over me. In the next instant, the happiness would be drowned by a flood of dread.
The videotape collection in the cabinet near the television revealed Theresa was a big fan of romantic comedies. The notion brought an image of the two of us sitting on the sofa laughing at the screen. I smiled.
“Everything okay, Thomas?” I turned at the sound of the voice to find Louis standing a few yards away showing an expression of combined amusement and curiosity.
I blushed like I had been caught looking a dirty pictures or something. Even though I had no reason to be embarrassed about anything, I stammered, “Sure, Louis, why wouldn’t I be?”
His face became dark and furrowed as he appeared to give my words careful consideration. All of a sudden, his face brightened and a smile formed. Rather than lightening the mood, his twisted grin irritated me. “For some reason, I am getting the impression your heart might not be in the task at hand.”
The idea of again being questioned about my commitment to doing what I had promised really pissed me off. It took every bit of my limited self-control to keep the rage out of my voice as I responded, “You don’t need to worry about my heart, Louis. I already told you I would do whatever needed to be done, and I will. So stop worrying about me, okay?” I managed to force a broad if not necessarily sincere looking smile to my lips.
Stoaffer watched me for a few seconds as if evaluating the words I had spoken. Finally, he nodded and said, “I apologize, Thomas, but I do worry. I worry about be forcing you to do something you don’t want to do.” He walked to within a few feet of me before continuing, “It might be better for everyone if you just walked away. There is no shame in exercising you free will. It is admirable actually. If you do not feel right in killing Theresa, then you should take no part in it.”
He watched me with an expression of fatherly concern. Whether the expression was heartfelt or not, I was not sure. All I know is that Stoaffer’s sudden display of compassion infuriated me, and I was no longer able to hold my emotion inside. “Listen to me, Louis! I told you I was ready to do this, and I will! Now fuck off!” I walked quickly from the room so I am not quite sure how he reacted. In my mind, I imagined that he was shocked by my outburst, and the picture pleased me.
Within a few seconds of being out of the room, the sense of rage turned to regret. My temper tantrum now seemed more childish than anything else. I had acted like some spoiled kid who didn’t get his way so he threw a fit and left. I was considering whether or not to turn around and go back when Joey’s voice shouted excitedly from the kitchen.
“Hey, check out what I found!” He sounded surprised but pleased.
I headed downstairs to the kitchen. As I stood in the doorway, I turned to see Louis standing right behind me. Without even acknowledging my presence, he moved around me and into the kitchen. Joey stood at the big silver refrigerator with the freezer side open. His face was pressed inside and his body hid the contents of the freezer.
“What?” Louis asked. “What did you find?”
Joey turned to show a grin covered in ice cream, “I think it’s Tin Roof Sundae!” He continued digging ice cream out of the round container with two fingers and shoveling it in his mouth.
Louis looked down and shook his head slowly. After a moment, he raised his head and quietly said, “Joey, I understand you are having fun. We all like having fun, but we are engaged in some very serious business here. There will be time later to have fun and eat ice cream or whatever else you want. Right now, it is important to focus on what needs to be done. We are supposed to be searching the house for anything of value.”
Joey stopped shoveling ice cream into his mouth and said, “Any valuable stuff, hunh?” He turned back toward the freezer, put the ice cream container on one of the shelves, reached to the back of another shelf, and took out a bundle covered with frost. He turned back away from the freezer while holding the bundle up for Stoaffer to see. “You mean like this? Or like those?” Joey nodded toward two similar bundles sitting in the sink, one of which had been torn open revealing stacks of $50 bills inside.
I smiled as Stoaffer let out a roar of laughter and exclaimed, “Yes, my boy, I would say those qualify as things of value!” He stepped toward the sink. But instead of looking at the packages, he pulled open a drawer to the left and took out a spoon. He handed the spoon to Joey and said, “Go ahead and enjoy you ice cream!”
Louis guided Joey over to the table and even pulled a chair out for him to sit in. I immediately thought of a toddler being guided by a parent. Joey’s docile manner certainly completed the image. He even sat at the table wearing a big smile and devoured the whole container of ice cream.
Meanwhile, I headed over to the sink and tore open the bundles of cash. There looked to be about seventy-five grand all together. I have to admit that I was a little too excited to count it all. I could not remember when, if ever, I had seen that much money at one time. It sort of took my breath away.
“This, my friends, is what they call cold, hard cash!” Stoaffer announced as he smiled at the stacks of money. The kitchen filled with enthusiastic laughter, and any thoughts of what had happened upstairs were wiped away.
“Why would someone stash so much money in the freezer?” I wondered aloud.
Stoaffer replied slowly, “It might be a lack of trust in financial institutions or for a quick exit.”
“You mentioned before uh … your partner’s wife didn’t trust banks. Now you’re saying this Theresa is involved in some scam here? Not sure we can buy anything you say.” My voice made me sound irritated, and I was. But I was also enjoying the idea. I had pleasure of getting dirt on someone who acts too perfect. Even if the pedestal was solely a product of my imagination, in some strange way I liked seeing Theresa knocked from it.
Again, Louis did not answer right away but regarded me with curiosity for a moment. “I am not accusing her of anything,” he replied with a smile. “I am simply tossing out possible reasons for a person to have a freezer stuffed with money.”
A snicker came from Joey as he wiped his chin off with a dish towel. “So I’m thinkin’ maybe yer little angel ain’t as pure as you thought,” he giggled.
“Possibly,” Stoaffer commented flatly. “However, she might also have a legitimate reason for storing money in the freezer.”
“I remember hearing somewhere that the freezer is a good place to store important documents, because they will be safe even in case of a fire,” I offered before realizing how ridiculous I sounded.
Both Joey and Louis stared at me for a few seconds before Louis said, “The reason for money being in the freezer is of no concern to us. Enough that we found it. Now we should be searching for any other reserves of money or other valuable documents around the house.”
“So I guess those gold coins and all the secret stashes were more of your bullshit,” I spat out.
Louis grinned and replied, “Please forgive my melodramatic flair, but I had to keep you interested.”
After watching him for a moment, a thought popped into my mind, and I blurted it out without thinking it through, “Why not just grab the cash and head out?”
Stoaffer
shot me an ice-cold stare, so I turned my attention to Joey in the hope he might see the benefit of my idea. “This money would go a long way toward living the good life on a warm beach somewhere.”
As soon as my words were out, Louis broke in by asking, “Why leave when there is so much more to get?” He shook his head like he could not understand such a concept. “I mean, there is an opportunity here for you to be set for life. No more pulling little holdup jobs. No more having to worry about the next job going badly. No more having to worry about where you were going to get money for your next meal or cheap motel room. You keep talking about a warm beach somewhere. Well, this is your chance to make your dream a reality. But rather than making the most of the opportunity, you are talking about being satisfied with a small score which won’t keep you in the black for more than a few months.” Louis extended both of his hands palms up as if comparing the weight of two things. “A few months on Easy Street? Or a lifetime on that warm beach?”
“Okay, lemme see.” Joey stuck out his left hand palm up and said, “A little time on Easy Street?” He extended his right hand palm up and continued, “A whole lifetime on a warm, sunny… Throw in a couple of hot babes?”
Louis laughed and said, “With all the money you would have, I’m sure some female companionship could be arranged.”
Joey looked at his left palm as if seriously contemplating his alternatives. “Hmmm, a short time on Easy Street.” He turned his eyes to his right hand as he continued, “A whole lifetime on a warm, sunny beach with a couple of hot babes.” He raised and lowered both of his hand as if gauging the weight of the options. Finally, after a few moments of focusing upon his hand scales, Joey looked up at Louis and said with a grin, “You know, Louis, I think I’m gonna go with a lifetime on that beach!”
Stoaffer laughed loudly at Joey’s answer and then turned to me, “So how about it, Thomas? Surely, you cannot argue with the kind of logic applied by our friend here. After all, ‘logic is Satan’s enemy’, as they say.”
Although I had never heard anyone say logic is Satan’s enemy, the idea sort of made sense. I mean, stories about the devil always had him tempting people with the things they desired with passion rather than any sort of logical thought.
Joey interrupted my thoughts by asking, “Whadda you say, Thomas? We can’t do this without you.”
“He is right,” Stoaffer said. “We can’t do this without you, Thomas.”
I must seem like the world’s biggest chump since I kept making decisions then changing them a minute later. I was about to give in to the others once again when the sound of the garage door opening interrupted me.
“Shit,” I hissed as I scurried around looking for a place to hide. My companions did the same. We needed for Theresa to come into the house without suspecting anything. Once inside, we could surprise her. None of the furniture seemed to offer even short-term security. Finally, I ran upstairs and crouched under the railing on the landing. From where I hid, I had a view of the living room and entrance from the garage. I did not know where my companions had gone. Once Theresa came in, she would notice things had been moved, realize someone had broken in, and run screaming from the house. Before I had a chance to consider the problem, I heard Theresa’s voice as she came in from the garage. The conversation sounded pretty heated. My heart jumped into my throat. None of us had even considered that Theresa might not be alone when she returned. More people put a new light on things. It would be much more difficult to keep two people quiet and under control. The image of a lifeless body of a man dumped along a road in Oregon reminded me of the talent Joey had for keeping people quiet and under control. Fortunately, none of Joey’s gifts were necessary as it became obvious that Theresa was on the phone.
Watching from above gave me a sense of being removed from the whole thing. Then a strange thought came to me. From this position, instead of being removed, I became a puppet master making everyone move according to my wishes. I could clean up this whole mess, get rid of my companions, and start a new life with Theresa The thought brought me a smile until Theresa’s entrance wiped away the slightest notion of me having any control.
Even from the upper floor, I was struck by her beauty. A sense of happiness wrapped me up. The warmth pulsed through my body, and I felt great. Luckily, I was out of sight so no one saw the ridiculous grin plastered on my face.
Theresa had the same book bag as earlier and was looking down reading something on her phone as she entered the room. Otherwise, she would surely have noticed that something was wrong and never walked right into the living room. She set the bag on the couch and sat down next to it without looking up from the telephone. The sensation of being watched must have caught Theresa’s attention, because she looked up to find Louis watching her from a few feet away.
Louis and Theresa stared at each other for a few seconds. All of a sudden, a spark of recognition or awareness or something else shone in Theresa’s eyes.
She muttered quietly, “Uncle Lou?” Then she jumped to her feet, and yelled, “Uncle Lou!” She closed the distance between Louis and herself in seconds and had her arms around him before he had time to react. From my position, I could not see Stoaffer’s face, but I imagined his blank expression melting into a smile against his will.
The two of them held the embrace for a few seconds before Theresa pushed back to look at the person in front of her. “Uncle Lou … I … I haven’t seen you in… My God… has it been ten years!” She started to move closer to him but stopped and said, “I haven’t seen you since...” Theresa looked down and stayed quiet for a moment.
Without being conscious of it, I had moved down to the middle of the staircase to get a better view of the young woman. Theresa wiped her eyes with the palm of her hand and sniffled. I still could not see Stoaffer’s face, but he stood still and quiet.
When she continued, Theresa’s voice sounded a bit colder than moments earlier. She asked, “How did you get in here, Uncle Lou?” She looked around as if searching for an entry point. Her eyes settled on me for a second. An expression of fear fluttered across her face, and her eyes flew away.
“I found an open window in the backyard and let myself in,” Joey’s cheerful voice came from somewhere near the bottom of the stairs. “Hope you don’t mind.”
He walked to the place where Louis and Theresa stood and stuck his right hand out to her. She stood motionless for several seconds regarding the hand offered. All of a sudden, as if she had been shaken from a daydream, Theresa took Joey’s hand and shook it.
“This is my friend Joey,” Louis muttered .
She managed to bring a trembling smile to her face as she said, “Hello, Joey. Sorry the house is such a-” Theresa stopped as she caught sight of the signs we had been searching the house. “I’m confused. Are you robbing me, Uncle Lou?” She stuck out her bottom lip to complete a pouting expression.
For an instant, I saw the little girl Stoaffer had known many years ago. Louis must have seen this also, because there was new brightness in his voice when he answered, “Of course, I could never steal from you, sweetie. My … my friend … and I are just looking for some things your mommy and daddy kept for me while I was away.” He moved closer to Theresa and as if he was about to embrace her, but she backed away from him.
At the mention of her parents, a mixture of pain and anger showed on her face. “I … uh … don’t think Mom would have kept anything which belonged to you.” A mocking, twisted smile formed on Theresa’s lips before she continued in a calm voice, “I guess maybe you never thought about the pain you left behind. Why should you? You were swept away to a place far removed from any responsibility or regret.” Theresa paused drying her eyes, wiping her nose on her sleeve, and trying to get herself together. Satisfied with the effort, she continued, “Let’s see. When you went away, my dad was dead. But you probably didn’t hear about Mom. After Daddy died…” Theresa’s voice was alternating between a tremble of emotion and a forced coldness. “Mom was terribly depr
essed. It didn’t help that her drinking binges became part of her daily routine. The doctor kept saying she was going through the normal grieving process and prescribing more sleeping pills.” Again, she had to pause to gather her strength before continuing, “Of course, looking back now and talking like this, I still can’t believe I was so blind. I mean, I should have seen it coming.”
Theresa started crying without holding back. I wanted nothing more than to go to her and offer some sort of comfort, but I fought the urge and instead stood silently watching. Finally, she continued, “Sorry, I didn’t think I would have so much trouble with this. Anyway, the police report listed it as an accident. I guess that was supposed to make me feel better. Obviously, the over-dose was what Mom had planned, and she never woke up. I was in fourth grade. I went off to school in the morning with my mother still sleeping just as I did many days back then. On this day, when I got home the paramedics and Mom’s doctor had already been there and left. The place was clean and quiet as if nothing was wrong. I walked into the living room and dropped my book bag on the couch before Aunt Cindy came out of the bathroom with her eyes all red like she had been crying. That’s when I knew something terrible had happened. But that’s all I knew until years later when I turned eighteen and a lawyer explained all of the details. I had been living with Aunt Cindy and her family since Mom’s death.”
She paused for a moment and looked of into the distance before continuing, “This place remained in my name and empty the whole time. So when I got my inheritance, I moved in here and started studying at San Pietro Junior College.” She smile and added, “So you see, Uncle Lou, there’s nothing here for you.”
Something about Theresa’s words, there’s nothing here for you, stuck in my mind as I watched Louis step closer to the young woman and say, “I guess I made a mistake, hunh?” He stepped back and smiled broadly. “Well, no matter! It’s great to see you, Theresa. I have missed you.”
Soul Hostage Page 18
