No More Birthdays (Carol Ann Baker Crime)

by Pelzer,Lissa

  ‘I missed my bus.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  ‘You should have waited for the next one, I did.’

  ‘I didn’t know who I was looking for back then. I drove up here, two cars behind wondering the whole way which one of those twenty new girl’s faces was Lilly Lessard.’

  Lilly smirked. ‘It could have been any of them.’

  ‘My thoughts exactly.’

  ‘But I guess I’m not Lilly Lessard anymore. I don’t have that ID. I don’t even have the credit card.’

  Davis sighed. ‘If only it were that easy…’

  They sat there for a few seconds, Lilly looking off at the board and Davis at everyone except Lilly.

  Davis said, ‘If I’d have seen you Friday morning at the terminal, I would have taken you in right away.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘I can’t help it. Twenty years on the job, the date of birth of every kid I know goes around my head like the ticker tape in Times Square. But my, we would have saved ourselves some trouble, don’t you think?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘I was going to suggest you fly back with me this evening…’

  ‘But I don’t have any ID.’

  ‘And perhaps it’s best I see some of my colleagues face to face first, so I can brief them on the situation. I would like to tell them how cooperative you have been, how you’ve agreed to return to Miami of your own free will. Maybe it’s the start of things to come, good decisions, adult-like actions…’

  ‘Or maybe I have no choice.’

  ‘In the end, it’ll be for the best. You didn’t manage to get what you came for?’

  ‘I didn’t get what I came for. Does that make you happy?’

  ‘Not really.’ Davis pushed her shoulders back. ‘I like to see people pay their debts, whatever they might be. We all have debts, actions taken and favors owed.’

  ‘Well, that’s one debt I don’t think I’ll ever see.’

  ‘No need to be so negative about it… Perhaps it’ll get paid in some other way by someone else.’

  ‘He’s the only hitman I know.’

  ‘That’s not what I meant.’ Davis opened her eyes really wide. ‘No, when someone else comes along and repays a debt they’ve owed when they pay it forward to you, the debt gets repaid. You see right now, all you can think of is the money in Bobby’s pocket, taking it off him, and what that money could do for you in the short term.’

  Lilly squinted at her.

  ‘But money never solves any problems in the long term, anyway not the kind of money you and I ever get our hands on. It’s like the bible says. You’ve got to teach a man to fish…’ And there it was, Davis the Christian just waiting to come out and preach.

  ‘I don’t believe in God, or Angels or Karma or anything else like that so you can save your breath.’

  Davis twisted in her seat. ‘Neither do I, but I did, a long time ago. You see. I was with him for a couple of years… I was the first, but twenty other girls came after me.’

  ‘With who?’

  ‘With God.’

  And right there in the waiting room of the Greyhound terminal, Lilly’s legs turned to stone. Did Davis mean she’d been dead, in a coma or something, or that she’d been in heaven? That was too much. Lilly studied her face, but it would explain why she looked so bad.

  ‘Married isn’t the right word, he didn’t call us his wives.’ Davis winked. ‘A god can’t be tied down by wives. We were just living out west, and having his babies. That’s where my two girls come from. We had a farm, worked hard and grew everything we needed and I was perfectly happy…then a journalist came along, and she dragged us out, gave us no choice in the matter, wrote a piece on us and got the police involved.’

  ‘Sounds kind of familiar.’

  Davis was nodding. ‘Overnight she made me a poor, single mother living on welfare and I hated her for it. She was educated. I hated her for not understanding, not having the common decency to leave what she didn’t understand, the heck alone.’

  ‘There you have it.’

  ‘But then I got a job, working with underage girls married off into cults and then I applied for the academy and I got in. Now…’ Davis held her finger up. ‘I can only imagine what my life would have been like if she hadn’t have come along. And I’d like to repay her, but there’s nothing she needs doing. So how can I repay the debt? I’ve got to pay it forward.’ Davis was looking up at Lilly through sun-bleached lashes. ‘You have to take my debt, Carol Ann.’

  ‘I suppose it helps too if that person has something you want in return…’

  A wry smile flickered across Davis’s face. ‘I just want to see you become the adult woman you were meant to be.’

  ‘So you got lucky. You picked someone who has no choice but to accept your kind offer. If I don’t come to you, and let you save me, you’ll be coming to me.’ Lilly sat up. She closed her eyes for a long time but when she opened them, Davis was still there. ‘There are other people you can save,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t need to be me.’

  ‘There are, but you can never really repay your exact debt. You have to keep going. Doing it again and again and again.’ She wiped her hands on her trousers and Lilly saw them darken. ‘I’m very glad you’re heading back. This is the right decision.’

  Lilly looked up at the board. The destinations flashed as the screen refreshed. She had hours to wait until the Atlanta bus came in. ‘Are you going to sit with me until I leave?’

  ‘Do you want me to?’

  ‘You can, but I’m just saying, I might go for a walk at some point. They’ve got lockers…’

  Davis stood up. ‘You’ve bought a ticket?’

  Lilly held it out for Davis to see and she looked at it hard.

  ‘That’s that then. But I guess I better say something else before I go.’

  ‘Don’t say it,’ Lilly pleaded.

  ‘Happy Birthday.’ Davis reached out and laid her hand on Lilly’s shoulder.

  Lilly waited for her to take it off, was worried for a moment that she wouldn’t.

  ‘You’re a woman now, in all senses of the word.’

  ‘Thanks…. really.’

  Davis gave her a nod and half a smile and turned away.

  ‘So if you need to keep doing this,’ Lilly called after her. ‘I mean paying back debts, then why am I getting this treatment and Cassandra isn’t?’

  ‘Cassandra?’ Davis said as if she’d suddenly forgotten who that was.

  ‘Yeah, Cassandra. You used to see her and you told her you’d help her out, but then you didn’t. You think she doesn’t deserve it? Or won’t pay it forward? Because if you think she won’t, I happen to know you’re wrong.’

  ‘Cassandra… Some people you just can’t help and maybe they don’t really need your help.’

  ‘Why not?’

  Davis shifted her weight. ‘Her situation is very different from yours. You have a lot more to gain and a lot more to lose than Cassandra ever did. You threaten Cassandra she threatens you right back. I told her once, hanging out with Bobby would ruin her life. She told me back, following Bobby would ruin mine.’

  Lilly smirked. That sounded like her. ‘But you used to want to try and help her, right? When she was younger, you used to meet up with her. Now she’s older, you don’t.’ She played Davis’s own theory back on her.

  ‘You’re right. That’s got something to do with it. When she was underage and running around for Bobby, she could have helped me to help her. I spoke with Cassandra a few times like I’ve spoken to you, but she wasn’t interested. I told her if she testified against Bobby Alvin for the underage ring, we’d put her up with a family, like a foster home. There is funding, you know, for some technical college, for kids under police protection. But she just left, when up North and took herself out of the equation.’

  ‘But what about now? You could go and help her now, couldn’t you.’

  Davis sucked air in through her gritted teeth. ‘No, not really.’r />
  ‘How come?’ Lilly leaned forward. She wasn’t going to let Davis dismiss Cassandra so easily and she wasn’t going to let her play the martyr-paying-off debts-card either. She was sure, working in child protection and busting a case for murder a judge was going to be the kind of thing that would land her a big promotion.

  Davis nodded slowly. ‘I remember the report coming down from Sea Island about Judge Ramsey. I knew he was crooked. I remember reading it in Bobby’s record - Murder One - Judge Ramsey presiding. Then I called a buddy up there and I got the room list, and I saw Miss Lilly Lessard under a deserted house address in Miami. I called Cassandra… ’

  ‘You figured Cassandra had been with him?

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘And then, nothing. Game over for Cassandra. It was too late. She’d already married him.’

  She must have seen the look on Lilly’s face, the confusion.

  ‘Bobby married her two days after he got back from Sea Island. Cassandra told me if I contacted her again she’d file for harassment. You can’t be made to testify against your husband,’ she explained. ‘So then I had to look for evidence. No one up in Georgia wanted to follow the Miami lead, it was pure speculation. That’s why I’m here on vacation. I knew that credit card was the key. Whoever used the card was the girl I needed to find. It was pure speculation, Bobby getting off on Murder One, Bobby supplying girls in reward, then, Bobby killing the guy who got him off – you’ve got to admit, it doesn’t add up.’

  And Lilly sat there, her nails dug into her legs.

  ‘But I can see, now is not the time and here is not the place to discuss this any further. You just have a good, hard think on the way home about what you intend to say to the police.’

  Lilly didn’t move. She just sat there, thought about how eager Cassandra had been to get rid of her and waited it out until Davis decided to leave.

  Chapter 19

  Bobby was already sitting in the green Ford, the driver’s side window down and smoke coming out the side. She didn’t think he’d seen her, but he didn’t flinch when she pulled the door open and put her head inside. She glanced in the back seat, saw Cassandra’s roller case and Bobby’s hold-all shored up on one side. She looked down in the foot well and saw Cassandra’s Louis Vuitton.

  ‘You going to get on in?’

  ‘You’ve got the money, the ten thousand?’

  He blew the smoke out over his shoulder. ‘I arranged a loan.’ He bit at the words. ‘We’ve got to go pick it up.’

  Lilly tossed her bag in the back and got in. ‘Who did you get a loan from?’

  ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business.’

  ‘Where are we going to pick it up?’

  ‘So many questions.’ Bobby almost smiled, but his face dropped too quickly. ‘You’re getting your money. Isn’t that enough? You just sit tight and we’ll sort this out.’

  ‘I only mean because I’ve got a bus ticket for five thirty already.’

  ‘This won’t take half an hour.’

  They drove out of the park, Lilly looking back over her shoulder to check for Davis, half wanting her to be there on the sidewalk, clocking Bobby’s plates, but the street was clear.

  ‘We’re not being followed,’ Bobby said. ‘I got your note. Trust me, I don’t want to be seen with you any more than you want to be seen with me. Miss Cassandra went downstairs to have a chat with the old dear….’

  ‘She was there when you left?’

  ‘She was there.’

  ‘Did you expect to see me here at three?’

  Bobby flexed his grip on the wheel. ‘It’s what we arranged, wasn’t it? There’d be no point in you hounding me for two days and then not showing up when you’d got me by the balls.’

  Lilly smiled and turned her head. He didn’t know. Cassandra had tried to scare her off for her own reasons, to keep that ten thousand in the family purse. She’d be sitting down there on a couch now with Davis wondering why Bobby didn’t text her to tell her to leave, to tell her Lilly had stood him up. That was okay, it would give Davis another chance to tell her story while Lilly got her money and got out of here.

  ‘I left a message at The Plan 8 Hotel. You know that place?’

  ‘No I don’t.’ Bobby said, his eyes on the road like it might suddenly shift.

  ‘It’s the hotel where Davis is staying. I left it with the boy who works there, told him to give it to her if I didn’t come back in before five.’

  ‘Now, why the hell would you do stupid a thing like that?’ He turned to look at her. ‘Five o’clock? Lilly darling. That’s less than two hours away.’

  ‘Is it? You just said I’d make my five-thirty bus. You just said it wouldn’t take half an hour.’

  ‘I did?’ He blinked quickly. ‘But what if we’ve got to wait for this guy to show up?’ Bobby pulled on the wheel and turned the car in the middle of the road. ‘What if it takes an hour or two?’ The tires whined and Lilly reached for the strap. ‘Darling, you’re just going to have to pick that note up before we can carry on.’

  ‘I’m not going to do that.’ She tried to keep her voice calm, leave no room for negotiation.

  ‘Quite frankly, I’m insulted, that you would even feel the need to do such a thing!’

  ‘Don’t take it personally. Business is business. And maybe it’s not you that I don’t trust. Maybe it’s the other guy. It doesn’t say anything bad, only where I’ve gone, with who and what the plates are on this car.’

  They came to a stop at the lights and Bobby looked at his Rolex. When the lights changed he pulled out and did a U-turn. ‘I’ll deal with the note later.’ He hunched his shoulders over the wheel. ‘I’ll send Cassandra to go pick it up. She has a way with boys in hotels you know.’

  ‘She won’t get it off him. It’s hidden. But he’ll find it.’

  And Bobby began to laugh. ‘You little grifter…’

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘You had me worried! But I should have known. You wouldn’t risk confessing to Davis, not when you think you’re getting your money. There’s no note.’

  ‘There’s a note. I’ll call him right now and tell him to go find it unless I get the money I’m owed.’ She pulled out her phone and he slapped it down out of her hand. It bounced into the footwell and under the seat and she scrambled to find it.

  ‘The money you’re owed? You’re the one owing money! And you’re going to damn well earn it.’

  The car jumped up the curb into an empty lot, almost empty except for a man in chinos, a gray t-shirt and sunglasses. Gary pulled on the handle and got in the back next to the luggage. Lilly pulled on her door and leaned out, but felt the burn on her scalp where he had her by the hair.

  ‘Afternoon, All. Lilly, Bobby. So good of you both to come.’ He pulled her back in. ‘Door, please.’ And she fell back into his face, feeling his mouth on her cheek and his teeth bared. The door clunked closed.

  Bobby put his foot down, getting up to a speed so she wouldn’t think about bailing again. They were moving fast now, heading out of town between anonymous buildings and chain link fences, passing cars and houses, but both becoming fewer and fewer.

  ‘What’s with the long face? Come on now, didn’t Bobby tell you we’ve got work to do?’

  She turned away. ‘You talk about trust…’

  ‘Don’t play up,’ Gary said. ‘I can’t stand it when girls play it up. It’s your own fault. If you’d just gone off to the station this morning like you said you would. We wouldn’t be here now.’

  Lilly looked at Bobby and wondered how true that was, but he was just looking ahead, his veined hands welded to the wheel.

  ‘Didn’t Bobby tell you that I would be here?’

  ‘I didn’t tell her anything,’ Bobby said.

  ‘So there’s no money?’

  He didn’t answer.

  ‘You were just going to skip town?’

  Gary was laughing in the back. ‘She catches
on quick. There’s money honey. But it’s not for you. Am I right Bobby old boy?’ He leaned back in the seat. ‘You pay the farmer for the milk. You don’t pay the cow.’

  ‘You’ll get some money, Lilly,’ Bobby said without looking at her.

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Just some, can’t you leave it at that?’

  ‘He’s a nice guy this one.’ Gary rubbed Bobby’s shoulder and Lilly saw it tense. ‘That’s how it goes. Now come on. We need this story out by the evening. Pick it up Bobby.’

  They were plowing down between wastelands now. Whichever police department they were going to it wasn’t the local one and Lilly didn’t need to ask why. A guy like Gary, he didn’t let opportunities slip away. If he was going to make her talk to the cops when she didn’t want to, he was going to make her do other things that she didn’t want to do while he was at it. The only thing she could do was to take his mind off it.

  ‘I need to know how much,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘How much am I’m going to get?’

  ‘Don’t you get it? Mr. Bobby here is offering you some money as a bonus. As a thank you. Where are your manners?’

  ‘I’m not doing anything until I know how much I’m getting paid.’

  ‘Good God. You act so innocent. I know what you do for money, so don’t act like you wouldn’t do this. What’s wrong with you? Not enough old, wrinkled cock involved for your liking? That’s what she likes right? Huh Bobby, you must know. She didn’t make much noise when I put it in her, just lay there. How was she for you?’

  She didn’t turn around, didn’t want to see his face. She didn’t want to see Bobby’s face either. She just wanted a truck to come hurtling off the highway and take them out, save the world from these two assholes, and take her with them, wipe out any memory of them too.

  ‘You got that baggie still?’ Gary asked. ‘Hey! You got it still?’

  For a second she didn’t know what he was on about and then remembered it, the nasty little square tucked into her pocket.

  ‘Get it out. Do you have that dress from last night? Hey. I’m talking to you.’