by Mike Faricy
“Kind of a bad time right now, Wayne.”
Wayne looked over her shoulder and sneered at me. The rectangular bruise on his forehead was still there, but not so purple, more of a light blue with tinges of green and brown around the edges. He still had a splint on his nose, but it was half the size of the one he wore the last time I saw him. The swelling had gone down around his eyes and they were no longer purple. In fact, the black rings just made him look kind of tired and overworked, not that he ever did anything.
“What the hell is he still doing here? You’re the bastard that assaulted me, ain’t you? I wasn’t holding these pizzas I brought for the lady, you and me would have ourselves a little discussion, and by the time…”
“Wayne, shut the hell up. We got problems, and Dev here is helping us. So please. Shut. Up.”
“Sure, baby, anything you say.”
“And I’m not your baby.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot. Hey, maybe I can help. What’s the problem?”
“Bonnie, don’t,” I said.
“Dev, he’s bound to find out sooner or later. We seem to be stuck wondering what the hell we’re going to do. Is one more person trying to figure out what’s happening going to set us back?”
“We’re not even sure who’s side he’s on,” I said.
“Maybe I could tell you, if you’d give me half a chance. What? I suppose he went and knocked you up. It’s just lucky for you I’m…”
“Wayne, shut up.” Bonnie shouted. “If you’re going to help, I want you to shut up, you are the last person in control here, you got it? Well, do you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I mean it, Wayne, the very last. Okay. Much better, now bring those pizzas downstairs and no, I’m not pregnant. By the way, that’s Iggy down there on the computers. Say hello and nothing else, and I’m not kidding.”
As Wayne hurried past he gave me a look that suggested something along the lines of, ‘You just wait.’ I heard him say, “Hello, I brought you some pizza,” as he entered Iggy’s room.
A moment later Iggy called, “Bonnie? Dev?”
* * *
I was on my second piece of pizza. Wayne had been repeating, “I can’t believe they’ve been kidnapped,” for the past ten minutes. I’d been on hold for almost the same amount of time, waiting for Donna at the DMV to pick up. Suddenly, she was on the other end of the line and sounding very flustered.
“This is Donna, is she all right?”
“Oh, hi, Donna, actually it’s Dev Haskell. I wanted to get…”
“Are you kidding me? They told me it was my daughter’s school calling. They said she’d been in an accident. What in the hell are you doing at her school?”
“I’m sorry. The receptionist must have misunderstood me?”
“Oh, God. You got me out of an important meeting for this nonsense. I’m going to hang up right…”
“Donna, Donna, calm down. This is serious, there’s been an incident. It does not involve your daughter, but we suspect there have been some children kidnapped. I need some information.”
“Kidnapped? Oh, my God. Why is it that you…wait just a minute, here. If you’re working with the police, why call me? They can access our files probably faster than I can.”
“I’m not working with the police. The family is afraid to go to them just now. Can you just look up two names? We’re just trying to find out if they have access to additional vehicles.”
“So help me God, if I find out you’re lying to me, I don’t care if you do report me for the one dalliance you know about. I’ll report you and make sure you go to jail. I just happen to have contacts, too.”
“Fair enough. Here are the two names, Niles Wegger and…”
“Isn’t that the same name you asked me about the other day?”
“Yes, you checked out his license number and gave me his name and address. I need to know if he or a brother named Delmar Wegger have access to any other vehicles besides that Jaguar.”
“So help me,” she said, but I could hear her working the keys on her keyboard. “Okay, there is a second vehicle registered to Niles Wegger. A 2015 Cadillac Escalade, Crystal Red Tint Coat in color, so it’s red. I’m not finding any reference to a Delmar by that last name.” There was a pause as I heard more keys clicking. “No, I’ve tried a number of different spellings, M-A-R, M-E-R, D-E-L, double L, nothing coming up.”
“Can you give me a license number on that Escalade?”
“It’s a Minnesota personalized plate, E-G-G-H-E-A-D.”
“Egg Head?”
“That’s correct, with no space, just one word.”
“Donna, thank you for your help, I really mean it. Maybe watch for this on the news.”
“Like I said before, God help you, if you’re trying to pull one of your usual stunts, I’ll see you behind bars.”
“Thanks, Donna,” I said and hung up. “Okay, we’ve got a vehicle and a license. Now we just need to watch his house and hope he goes there.”
“In the meantime, I’d better get prepared. If we can’t stop him, we’re going to give him access and just pray for the best,” Iggy said.
“You all talking about that bastard, Niles Wegger?” Wayne asked. He was in the process of tilting his head back and holding a piece of cheese pizza above his mouth. Not unlike the way you might feed a seal.
“What if we are?” Bonnie asked.
“Well, it just seems to me that if he’s trying to pull something fancy, he ain’t gonna use his house as a hideout, I mean, you know.” Then he sort of lurched his head up and snapped off maybe a third of the piece of pizza before he looked around and smiled at the three of us.
“Wayne, honey,” Bonnie said. “Are you trying to tell us something we don’t know?”
“I don’t think so, y’all know ‘bout his other place on the St. Croix, don’t you?” he said, then took another huge bite of pizza.
We looked at one another, then together turned and focused on Wayne. His head was tilted back and he was about to go for a third bite of pizza.
“Wayne, honey, tell your babydoll more.”
“That place he’s got down on the St. Croix, it’s a big fancy joint. I was down there with some guys, partying. Niles had us down for the night. It was really great,” he said, then lurched upwards and snatched the remainder of the pizza from his hand.
Chapter Forty
The St. Croix River marks the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin for a hundred and twenty-five miles. It’s designated as a natural scenic river way and falls under the protection of the National Park Service. It would be the perfect place from which to launch Wegger’s plan of bugging Iggy’s programs and conducting a release of Bonnie’s kids.
“He’s got a place on the St. Croix?”
“Hello. Yeah. Took a bunch of us out there one night. Had these girls come in. Let me tell you, they…Oh, sorry, Bonnie. I mean, that’s just what I heard, you know, from some of the guys.”
“Shut up, Wayne. Believe me I so. Do. Not. Care.”
“Wayne, you’ve been out to his place on the St. Croix?” I asked.
Wayne gave a nervous glance toward Bonnie for a moment, then sort of moved his head from side to side and said, “Well, yeah.” Suggesting something like ‘Who wouldn’t want Wayne at their place?’
“Is this close to town or way up north?”
“Pretty close to town, I’d say. I mean, Niles rented a limo and hauled all of us out there. Trip back is kinda fuzzy and all. Pretty good time from what I can remember. See, there was this one redhead…”
“Wayne, you think you could find it again? Take us there?”
“I suppose, ‘course the girls don’t live there or anything. Not sure there’d be a party going on tonight. They was just brought in as entertainment, see.”
“Yeah, I get it. Look, I’m serving no purpose here,” I said. “If Wayne and I went out there to this place on the St. Croix, we might have a chance. It makes sense, Wegger almost
has to pass by the place to get home. Better he stays out there, I’m guessing it’s secluded, private. Iggy, would it make sense he could gain access to your systems from out there?”
“From what I know of Wegger,” Iggy said, rattling his sheet of Mylar, “he wouldn’t be anywhere that didn’t have access. It makes perfect sense to me. In fact, let me search county records and see if I can obtain an address. It should only take a minute,” he said and spun around in his chair.
“Oh, Wayne, if you can get the kids back…” Bonnie said then fell into another bout of crying.
“I’ll get em, back,” he said, then stepped over and wrapped his arms around her. He shot me a look that suggested something like, ‘Look what I got and I’m not sharing,’ then he proceeded to subtly wipe his hands off on the back of her olive-drab t-shirt, leaving a trail of pizza grease.
“If they’re not there by now, they’re liable to be there pretty soon,” Iggy said.
“But what if they’re not planning to go there? What if he goes to his house? Or he gets a hotel room or something?” Bonnie cried.
“For this sort of transaction, he almost has to go somewhere that’s under his control. A commercial establishment like a hotel, a library or an educational institution is too risky, and the actions would be traceable. Some sort of internet cafe place would be even worse. No,” Iggy said. “It almost has to be his home or this other place out on the St. Croix.”
“Come on, Wayne, we’re wasting time just cooling our heels here,” I said and headed for the door.
“Now, you just hold on a minute. I’m the one who came up with this idea. I’m the one who knows where in the hell this place is at. I think I’m the one should play the boss here. You see what I’m saying?” he said, looking at Bonnie.
“Basically, you’re saying you’re an idiot,” Bonnie said.
“Listen, Baby, I think…”
“Stop right there, Wayne. Please don’t think. I want Dev to go with you. This isn’t some stupid game we’ve been playing for the last four hours, this is serious. Now, take Dev with you and do whatever he tells you to do. He’s the boss.”
“But, Baby…”
“Wayne!” she screamed.
We all jumped, Iggy pulled the Mylar tighter around his shoulders.
“Okay, okay, he can come with.”
“When Luscious comes back bring him up to speed, then tell him to watch the backyard. If, for some unknown reason, Wegger does happen to show up here, he’ll either have to ring the doorbell or try and sneak in the back. You’ll have him, either way. I’ve got my cell, contact me with any changes.”
“You be careful, Dev,” Bonnie said. Then, as an afterthought, added, “You, too, Wayne.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “The key is the kids. That’s the goal, we’ll make sure they’re safe. That’s the mission, the important thing, the only important thing. Okay?”
Bonnie and Iggy nodded. Wayne gave me a sort of disgusted look, then mumbled, “Whatever, man. Come on, let’s get going.”
Chapter Forty-one
I followed Wayne out the door and up the stairs. He opened the front door and hurried to his truck, which was parked across the driveway, effectively blocking anyone with the idea of coming or going. He was behind the wheel and turning the ignition as I walked around the front of the vehicle. Just as I reached for the handle on the passenger door, the truck lurched forward and the door swung open. I jumped inside and pulled myself into the seat as the door slammed closed.
“Thought I had you there for a minute,” he said, then turned up the volume on the radio, some country rock song was playing, with a guy moaning off-key because he’d been dumped by his girlfriend. There were three empty beer cans rolling around the floor on the passenger side. I stomped my foot on them, one after the other, then picked them up off the floor.
“You’re pretty tough when it comes to empty beer cans,” Wayne said.
I tossed the flattened cans into the back seat. “You know, Wayne. I’m sorry I hit you with that board the way I did. And I’m sorry I broke your nose. I should have hit you a hell of a lot harder with the board and knocked some sense into that thick skull of yours. Then, after I broke your nose, I should’ve busted your jaw.”
He looked at me, wide-eyed. The guy on the radio sang, “Go ahead and kiss him, see if I care.”
“Now this isn’t some game we’re playing. There’s a good chance someone’s going to get hurt,” I said, then pulled my pistol out from behind my back, checked the chamber and stuck the weapon back in my belt. “Let’s make sure it’s not you or me and certainly not one of the kids. Okay?”
He didn’t say no. As a matter of fact, he didn’t say anything until he pulled onto the interstate and headed east. “You didn’t have to break my nose, man.”
“Okay, first of all, I didn’t know who you were. Second, you were in the process of breaking into Bonnie’s house. Third, you asked me if I thought I was tough. Fourth, you threatened to sue me. You know, at some point, you keep pushing, you’re just going to sort of run out of luck and end up with your nose in a splint.”
“You got any idea what a pain in the ass this has been for me?”
“Pain in the…Wayne. You’re lucky we didn’t call the cops on you. Didn’t Bonnie file a restraining order on you? I mean, technically you’re in violation just for bringing those pizzas over this afternoon.”
“Hey, man. It hasn’t exactly been easy for me, you know.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me, she built a business from the ground up. She and Iggy have developed this program that the folks out in Seattle seem to be really interested in. She’s been raising three little kids all by herself. She…”
“Dude, in case you weren’t listening, I was talking about me.”
“Maybe that’s a big part of the problem, Wayne. You’ve been so busy trying to be cool, you’ve done absolutely nothing to help your family.”
Neither one of us spoke after that. I noticed he had two naked girl air fresheners hanging from the dash and another one sitting on the console. I was about to say something, then remembered the little farewell gift I’d left on the floor the night I broke his nose.
He didn’t say anything until we were almost at the St. Croix River and just about to head over the river bridge and into Wisconsin. He took the last exit, just before the bridge. He turned off the interstate onto St. Croix Trail and headed south toward the town of Afton. He gave me a sideways glance, then stared for a long moment.
“So, what do you haul your ass around in? I s’pose something that’s good for the environment.”
“Me? God, no way. I drive an American machine, none of that foreign stuff for me.”
“Oh?” He couldn’t seem to hide the surprise in his voice. I’m sure the one track mind was thinking an F-150 just like him, maybe one of the Super-Duty truck models, a Humvee or some gigantic SUV.
“Yeah, I’ve got a classic, an ’87 Lancer.”
“An ’87…does it even run?”
“Most of the time. It was originally red, but, with the fading going on over the past almost thirty years now, it’s kind of a bunch of different shades of pink.”
“Pink?” he half shouted and almost went off the road.
“Yeah, really stands out.”
We drove through both blocks of the main street of Afton. Wayne cast a couple of sideways glances at me as we traveled past a couple antique stores, an ice cream store and some gift shops. He shook his head and mumbled, “Pink.” A moment later he said, “Okay, on one of these next roads we take a left and head toward the river. I’m not exactly sure which one it is, but I’m pretty sure I’ll know it when I see it,” then he slowed down, maybe trying to remember.
“I got the address right here, says it’s on River Hollow.”
“That ain’t any of these signs,” he said, driving past the fourth or fifth turn. “I don’t know, shit, maybe it’s up ahead a ways?”
I glanced at the digital clock on
the dash. It was getting close to eight. In case I had any doubt, dusk was fast approaching.
“I just remember we took a turn, maybe one of those back there, and then we took another one. Some sort of private road, for maybe a mile. I kind of remember gravel, I think, maybe.”
“So what you’re saying is, this River Hollow address is his private road, and you don’t know how to get to his private road, right?”
“God, I thought I did. Honest.”
“Let’s head back to one of those shops or maybe the ice cream store and ask directions. We can’t be the first people to get lost out here.”
“I think I can find it,” he said as we passed two more lanes, and he muttered,. “That ain’t it, least it didn’t look like it.”
“Come on, Wayne. Go back to town and we can ask someone before it gets dark, otherwise we’ll never find the place. Besides, things are supposed to go down at nine, that gives us barely more than an hour.”
“I don’t know, I think…”
“Wayne, turn this damn thing around, we’re wasting precious time here.”
He seemed to think about that for a quarter mile, then pulled onto the shoulder and let some BMW shoot past before he pulled a U-turn and headed back into town. Thank God. He pulled to a stop in front of a gift shop. Although it was on the main street of town, the two-story structure looked like a farmhouse from a hundred and fifty years ago. Painted a sort of mauve color with white trim. There was a porch light on over the door and a long bench sitting in front of a giant picture window. A flower box ran the length of the picture window and was overflowing with red geraniums and impatiens. Potted flowers sat on each of the three steps leading up to the front door. All sorts of little figures were arranged throughout the yard, and as soon as Wayne turned his truck off I could hear wind chimes.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Come on, let’s go, man,” I said and opened the door.
“You kidding? I wouldn’t be caught dead in that place. Look at it.”
