by Mike Faricy
“Did he show up with the girls in the car at the Lumberyard?”
“Well, yeah.”
“It didn’t strike you as strange some guy would leave two kids in the car, unattended, at night and come in for a lap dance?”
“That don’t prove nothing, and I didn’t know anything ‘bout them two until I got in his damned car, anyway.”
“Were they crying? Did they maybe ask for their mother? Did they look frightened, scared? Hell, they probably asked you for help, begged you to do something, anything. But, I guess you decided it would just be more fun to dump then at someone’s house and go off and party.”
“Yeah, err, no, well I mean not exactly. Hey, come on they didn’t tell me they were kidnapped or anything. Jesus, those two little brats were crying so hard I couldn’t understand a word they was saying. Carlos told me they were upset ‘cause they just wanted to go to the casino and he wouldn’t let them.”
“Yeah, that’s what they wanted, Rikki, at four and five years old of course they wanted to go to the casino with Carlos. I tell you what, lady, if anything should happen to either one of those little girls you won’t have to worry your little blonde head about serving any time.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because as sure as I’m standing here. I promise that I will kill you, myself.”
Chapter Eighteen
Her eyes grew big and round and she sneered, “You, you can’t just barge in here and talk to me like that.”
“I just did, now get your ass dressed, you got one minute before I call the cops and you end up as an accessory to a kidnapping.”
“But my hair, I mean look at me, I’m a mess. You can’t expect me to go out looking like this.”
A little silvery, shiny, sequined thing hung in the closet area next to the bathroom. I pulled it off the hanger and tossed it to her. “Put that on, and hurry up, now you got less than sixty seconds before I call the cops.”
“But….”
I pulled my cellphone out. “I’m so not kidding you, Rikki. I’ll call the cops and I couldn’t care less if they lock your ass up for the rest of your worthless, life. Besides, I’m reasonably sure there are a number of other things they’d be very interested in discussing with you.”
“Okay, okay, Jesus would you ever just calm down? Maybe think about taking a chill pill, or something, man,” she said slipping the slinky dress on over her head. She was attempting to wiggle into the thing, moving seductively from side to side with her arms extended up and over her head. “Hey, mister, come on, give a lady a hand, a little help here couldn’t hurt,” she said as the garment seemed to get hung up around her shoulders and piled up in front of her face.
I snugged the garment down over her two enhancements and along her side. The dress slinked down to maybe three inches below the fluttering hummingbirds on her hips and clung to her like a second skin. With the exception of a one-inch band that attached behind her neck the dress was backless and featured a neckline that seemed to plunge down almost to the blue stone piercing her navel. It looked like she might bounce out of the top and you could see her red-sequined thong flash when she moved her hips back and forth in an attempt to wiggle into the thing.
There was a price tag hanging from the band behind her neck and a large, white plastic disk resting against her lower back. The disk was a security tag, which strongly suggested that the dress had been stolen. The open back extended down and revealed a lacy tattoo on her lower back and the red elastic waste band of her thong.
“This thing is hot,” I said.
“That’s exactly why I got it, figured a guy like you might just appreciate all the options. So, now all of a sudden baby’s starting to think about all the fun he just might have right here at the end of his hot little fingertips,” she said and leered up at me.
“Sorry to disappoint, but not really. What I meant was, you stole it, Rikki. The security tag is still attached to the back.”
“Oh shit. That ain’t good.”
“Gee, you think? Too late to do anything about it now so come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Get out of here? What if this sets off an alarm at the front door or something? I’m liable to get arrested.”
I reached up and yanked the price tag off. “Guess that’s the chance you’ll have to take. Maybe you should have thought about that before you stole the damned thing. Come on, grab your shoes and let’s go, now. I need to find those little girls. Let me just warn you one more time. You try and do something stupid and the cops will lock you up and throw away the key. I’m not kidding here, Rikki.”
“You’re really just tons of fun, ain’t you?” She said and picked up some sparkly silver heels from alongside the bed. “I think I’ll just carry these til we get outside,” she said and then yanked my bomber jacket off a plastic hanger near the door and draped it over her arm.
We took the elevator down to the lobby. Barefoot Rikki attracted all sorts of attention in her shimmering sleaze outfit as the sparkling red thong flashed against her thighs with every other step. Rather than cut through the casino we exited out the front doors of the hotel lobby. Mercifully there wasn’t a detector at the door that the security tag on her stolen outfit would set off. I’d taken hold of her by her wrist and we were moving pretty fast toward the car.
“Oh for Christ’s sake, what’s the rush? Can you just slow down and hold up for a bit? Give me a minute to slip into these heels, will you. God this parking lot is tearing my damned feet to shreds.”
“Make it fast, I want to get to those little girls.”
“All right, all ready, all right. God, sorry I don’t want my feet to bleed all over your car. Just calm down, a couple of seconds ain’t gonna make that much difference one way or the other. Hey, exactly where in the hell did you park, anyway?”
We continued walking through the parking lot. I kept a lookout for my Infiniti just incase that fat scumbag Carlos suddenly appeared. Now there were a number of squad cars parked haphazardly in front of the main doors to the casino. Their red and blue roof lights were still flashing and seemed to be synchronized in time to the neon lights blinking off and on across the length of the casino.
“Oh, oh, looks like someone’s going to be in trouble,” Rikki slowed down and giggled. I yanked her wrist to pull her back in step.
A few minutes later Rikki half laughed and said, “Look at that piece of shit. Can you believe it? God the things people drive. Who would ride in that thing let alone drive it anywhere?”
“Thanks, Rikki, I hope you’ll enjoy the adventure. That’s what we’re going to be riding in.”
“You’re joking?” She said giving the car a thorough once over. Her eyes settled on the torn convertible top. “You gotta be kiddin? Is this thing even safe? Hell, is it even legal.”
“Just get in, Rikki,” I said. As I yanked the passenger door open it gave off an ear splitting creak. Rikki looked in at the long bench seat running from the passenger door over to the steering wheel.
“Charming, not. Jesus, look at the size of this damned thing,” she said then pulled on my bomber jacket and slid in. Once in, she caught sight of the mattress in the back and stared for a very long moment. As I climbed in behind the wheel she reached over the seat and pulled up one of the hosiery restraints and tugged on it.
“Well, what do you know? Maybe we can have a little fun after all. What do you say? You a player?” she asked then raised an eyebrow suggestively and ran her tongue across her upper lip. “Maybe just pull over to that dark corner at the far end of the parking lot and we can get a little something going here.”
“You just get me to those little girls, Rikki.”
Chapter Nineteen
We roared down the dark highway heading south toward the twin cities. I wasn’t just speeding, I had the thing floored. I wanted to get the girls, rescue them and end this nightmare. Carlos and even Tubby for that matter be damned. Screw the money, they could deal with it and do whatever they wanted, t
hey would anyway. I just wanted to get the girls back to poor Isabella.
I didn’t think it was possible, but the top was flapping even louder than before and was now completely torn all the way across. With the wind whipping through the tear I had the heater on, blowing full blast.
We were leaving a black cloud of sooty exhaust in our passing and I was sure we were in violation of a number of pollution control laws. From time to time Rikki would glance into the backseat to stare at the mattress and restraints then rub my shoulder or my arm. I continued to ignore her.
After the better part of an hour she shouted over the roar of the torn top, “God, what’s with the seats in this thing, something keeps poking me in the back.”
“It’s probably that security tag on the back of your dress.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t think of that. So, like what’s the deal, do these kids belong to you or something?”
“No, they’re a friend’s.”
“Oh, so a girlfriend?” she said and raised an eyebrow, you could see the wheels beginning to turn in her head.
“No, not a girlfriend.”
“You must be a pretty nice guy, then,” she said and began to massage my shoulder and the back of my neck. As good as that felt, the last thing I needed was someone like Rikki in my life at any time, let alone right now.
“Actually, I’m not a very nice guy. In fact, women seem to run away from me all the time. They file restraining orders, tell me to never ever call them again, block my phone calls, spray paint mean things on the side of my car. I’ve had a couple of husbands after me, some women have moved completely out of the state to get away, a few threatened to have me killed. One or two have even tried.”
“Oh, so you’re a pretty bad boy, sounds like it could be kind of exciting,” she said then snuggled a little closer to me and ran a finger back and forth along my ear. “Who knows what’s in store?”
“They all seem to get kind of tired of me after awhile. Most of the time it doesn’t seem to work out the best for either one of us.”
She nodded like this made complete sense. “Is that what happened to your face? Looks like you took an awful pounding. Was it a crazy husband? Or, maybe jealous boyfriend, right? I mean if you don’t mind me saying, you sort of look like shit. If you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I think you mentioned that before, it seems to be a pretty common sentiment. No, to answer your question, it wasn’t some crazy husband. Actually, what happened was your sometime-pal Carlos blindsided me, then grabbed those little girls, along with a big chunk of change.”
“Oh. My. God. You mean to tell me all that cash he had stuffed in that little pink suitcase, all that cash he was gambling with was yours?” She snuggled closer and started to run her hand up and down my thigh.
“He sure as hell didn’t earn it. Let’s just say none of that cash belongs to Carlos O’Kelly and leave it at that.”
“Carlos O’Kelly? You gotta be kidding me. You mean to tell me that’s his last name, O’Kelly?”
“Yeah,” I said glancing over at her. Now it was my turn. “If you don’t mind me asking, how in the hell could you not know his last name?” Then, I thought about some of the fast and furious, meet and greet relationships that I’d had with women and figured it might be wise if I didn’t comment any further.
She just shrugged and ignored my question. “Can I just ask you something?” she said then plowed ahead without waiting for my reply. “Just what in the hell do you do, exactly, that you carry that kind of cash around in a little pink suitcase?” She continued to rub her hand suggestively along my thigh.
“I wasn’t carrying that cash around in the suitcase. That was your pal’s gig. When Carlos took all that cash, he stuffed it in that suitcase.”
“Sure, baby, whatever you say. I’m just thinking you must be a pretty successful at whatever it is you do, and a girl can find that pretty attractive,” she said and got a little more aggressive with my thigh.
I glanced at the speedometer and saw I was doing a little over ninety. I didn’t need to be stopped for speeding in a car that didn’t belong to me, spewing a black cloud of exhaust over the pristine wilderness with a woman wearing a stolen dress that I didn’t really know. I let up on the gas and reached down and gently removed her hand from my thigh.
She frowned for half-a-moment before she said, “So, I was starting to work some magic, after all, wasn’t I?” Then she snuggled in a little closer to me, rested her head on my shoulder and gave a little sigh.
“I need to get to those little girls.”
“Sure, baby, whatever you say, and we need to get that cash back, too. Then you should probably think about doing something to celebrate.” Her smile suggested she suddenly knew way more than she had just a moment before.
“I need to get those little girls, first.”
“The thing I can’t quite figure out is, if you got all that dough, why in the hell are you driving around in this piece of shit? I mean, with all the noise it makes it kind of hard for a girl to whisper nasty little things in your ear. And what the hell happens when it rains? God, can you just picture me in the back with my arms and legs all bound up? Just think, I’d probably need a life jacket if you had me all tied up back there and it rained,” she said then placed her hand back on my thigh and started massaging again.
“This isn’t my car.”
Rikki glanced over her shoulder into the backseat at the mattress and the restraints. She looked more than a little disappointed. “Well then, if it doesn’t belong to you, where did you get it?”
“I sort of borrowed this from a guy.”
“You sort of borrowed it? That sounds like you ripped the thing off, no offense, but I can’t believe you’d actually choose this thing to steal. Of course, if that’s the case, well then, where’s your car?”
“My car, well that’s another thing I plan to get back from your pal, Carlos just as soon as we meet up.”
“You mean to tell me that piece of shit he’s driving around in is really your car? God, that almost makes this thing look like a step up.”
“I don’t know if that’s exactly the way I would choose to describe it, but yeah, he took my car and I want it back.”
“So let me get this straight, you keep a suitcase full of cash, lots of cash and you own a car that ain’t worth more than about ten bucks. You realize the thing is all dented up and the windshield’s cracked. Was it like that before you let Carlos use it?”
“I didn’t let him use it, he just took it, stole it actually and yeah, it had a series of incidents prior to becoming stolen property.”
“God, I don’t know. Hey, you got anything to drink in here? I think I could use a little something to keep me in the mood right about now.”
“Sorry, but I’m fresh out.”
She sort of slid back over against the passenger door and seemed to be in deep thought for a few minutes. Occasionally, she would glance over her shoulder at the mattress and shake her head. She attempted to adjust the heater, but it was already on full blast. Seemingly bored, she opened the glove compartment and rummaged through a stack of papers crammed in there.
“Well, look at what I just found,” she said and triumphantly held up a half-pint bottle that was slightly less than a third full. I couldn’t read the label and in the moonlight the contents appeared to be less than appealing.
“What is it?”
“Who the hell cares?” she said, gave a shrug and then unscrewed the cap, put the bottle to her lips and took a big swig.
“Any good?”
“Oh, yuck. It sort of tastes like someone might have pissed in the bottle or something,” she shook her head and seemed to shutter.
“That might not be far from the truth.”
She placed the bottle to her lips, took a couple more gulps and seemed to think for a moment. “Yeah, definitely, God that’s bad,” she said then rolled down the window and tossed the bottle out onto the road.
Chapter Twent
y
Rikki settled into the corner of the seat, stretching her legs out until they were up against mine and then proceeded to massage my thigh with her toes. After a while she sat up and said, “Okay, Double X is the next county road, it will be on the right hand side, just after you cross some railroad tracks up ahead.”
We went over a slight rise with some railroad tracks, the turnoff for Double X was immediately after that and I had to hit the brakes hard not to miss it. Rikki slid across the bench seat and back up against me as we skidded around the corner. She didn’t move back to her corner once I straightened out, instead she leaned into me and pressed even closer. The slinky, sparkly silver skirt had slid up to about where the hummingbirds were tattooed on her hips and I had to use all my concentration to focus and keep the car on the road. We drove around a long gentle curve with what looked like open pasture on either side of the road.
“Dee just lives over in this development coming up, you want to take the first left,” she said a minute or two later. All sorts of new homes suddenly seemed to spring up out of nowhere on the left hand side of the road, occasionally there was a light on in one of them. A moment later a lane on the left came into view.
“Yeah, turn here and then just follow the street around for a few more blocks,” she said.
The street wound round in a gradual curve. A series of short, dead end streets with maybe ten town-homes on either side spun off the main artery as we curved through a neighborhood of duplicate structures. I lost count of the number of identical streets we passed before she said, “Take the next right and Dee’s place is the last house on the left hand side.”
I turned and drifted past a half dozen driveways then slowed and parked in front of the last town-home on the left. The short street came to a dead end about fifteen feet further on. I turned the ignition off then waited a good half minute while the engine sputtered and coughed before it died altogether in one final explosion.
