by C. C. Wall
“Daddy! It isn’t like that. I don’t “know him” know him, I just like his band. All the kids in town are going to be there.”
“We can discuss it later, Princess.”
She sat there with a scowl because she knew that meant they would end up saying “NO.” That’s what “discuss it later” always meant. Her mind began to play out scenarios. “Daddy, what were you and mom talking about when I came downstairs?”
Jonathan was nervous. “Nothing dear, I told you…” he said as they approached the first street light in town, which just so happened to be red.
Elizabeth grabbed his face and turned it to her as soon as they stopped. Her big baby blues were daggers made of ice and she pierced her father’s eyes with them. “Daddy, I’m going to that concert.”
Jonathan got lost in her eyes. His absurd smile vanished and was replaced by grief. His little princess was now becoming a queen. Jonathan's eyes worked hard to hold back the tears. The light turned green. The car behind them honked it’s horn, and snapped him out of this daze. Jonathan smiled his absurd smile and said “Whatever you want, Princess.” He looked ahead and drove.
Elizabeth pulled a cigarette out of her purse and lit it up; blowing smoke out the window.
8 - The Knocking Door
The room was still dark, even though the sun was fighting through tiny cracks in the blinds. Bekka felt little strips of her skin getting hot as the sunlight beat upon her skin. Her thighs, her stomach, her breasts, her neck, were all feeling the warmth. It made it worse that she was naked. She always was when she would sleep over at Dakota’s. They would stay up all night. She would get off work at Cook’s as a waitress around 2:30 in the morning. Dakota was usually there drinking until she got off. They would come back to his place and continue to drink and have sex until they passed out. On that morning, they luckily made it to the bed. That was rare.
Dakota in his slumber, could also feel the heat from the sun but had learned to keep on the move, even when sleeping, across his bed to hide from the rays. That always made it hard for Bekka to ever get a good night’s sleep when she stayed over, which was generally only on work nights, which was usually only weekends. So, when the knocking at the door started, it wasn’t a big deal for Bekka to get up to answer it because she was pretty much already awake.
“Who the fuck is knocking at the door!” Dakota grumbled, “It’s not even nine in the morning yet.”
“Don’t freak out babe, I’ll get it,” Bekka said. She stood up and grabbed the closest shirt she could find on the floor, smelled it to make sure it wasn’t filthy. It was the one Dakota had on last night, it just covered all her parts that needed covering.
She exited the room and walked through the dingy little house, stumbling over beer cans and work boots. She opened the door as far as the chain would let her. She was immediately kicked in the face by the bright sunlight. She closed her eyes tight. Her head began to pound. “Yeah?” she said to the silhouette on the porch.
“Good morning ma’am, I’m Detective Chaney with Black Star Canyon Sheriff’s Department,” said the shadow in the blinding light. “There was a little incident out here last night and I just wanted to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind?”
Bekka couldn’t keep her eyes open. “I do. I do mind. I’m asleep. I got home really late, now I’m going back to bed, to sleep, if you don’t mind.” Bekka shut the door and tried to get her eyes to adjust to the slight darkness again.
“Wait,” Chaney continued through the door, “if you feel like answering a couple questions later, or if anything strange or out of the ordinary happened last night that you could think of, just give me a call.”
A business card slipped under the door and hit Bekka on the big toe. She picked it up and looked at it. She put it in the shirt pocket and headed back to the room.
“Who the fuck was that, hun?” Dakota barely got out.
“It was just some freaking cop asking if anything weird went on last night or something. Don’t sweat it.” Bekka got back in bed and curled up next to Dakota.
Dakota felt her skin push up against his. He rolled over toward her and wrapped his arms around her. Even though he was half asleep, the instinctive nature to become aroused, while he was forced against her body, began. Without opening his eyes, he ran his lips on her bare shoulder, he traced his hand down her torso, and he pulled her hips back against his own.
There was another knock at the front door.
Dakota jumped up and stormed down the hallway. “I’m gonna kill that damn cop. I need to sleep!” Dakota stumbled on his work boots. “Fuck!”
“Dakota, calm down.” Bekka feared the worst. What if Dakota opened the door and that cop, who has heard all the things Dakota had been yelling, decided not to take that chance, and shot him as soon as he opened the door in the rage! Bekka was terrified. “Please Dakota…”
“No screw that guy! He can’t just fucking come and go as he pleases. This is my house!” Dakota exclaimed. His hand landed on the door knob. His wrist turned. The door flew open.
At the door, wasn’t Detective Chaney, but a man that looked very much like Dakota. Same color hair; so blond it’s almost white, except this person’s hair was longer and more scraggly. Dakota’s hair was short everywhere but in the front. The man at the door was wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and torn up jeans.
“Hey, baby bro,” the stranger said.
“Colt?” Dakota gave him a big hug. “Jesus, when the hell did you get back in to town?” He didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Come in here, man.” Dakota’s rage was gone. He was just full of smiles. With the door open, the light shined in on all the empty beer bottles and cans and all the ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts. Dakota pulled Colt through the door and sat him down on the closest couch.
“I got back last night,” Colt said.
“Last night? Why didn’t you come by or call?” Dakota asked.
“I had to take care of some crap. No biggie.” Colt found a beer can that seemed to be about half full. He smelled it and apparently decided that it was safe and took a swig. “Is Bekka here?”
“Yeah man, she’s in bed. Why?”
“I’ll keep it down then. I don’t want to wake her.” Colt leaned in a bit to tell Dakota something.
Little did Colt know that just beyond the entry way, not in bed, was Bekka. She was eavesdropping on the brothers. She looked confused.
Dakota was getting impatient. “Are you gonna tell me or what?”
Colt smiled. “Man, it was wild.” His smile was so big, it was almost as if it was about to jump off of his face and swallow Dakota whole. “I picked up this hitchhiker chick last night. The chick was ridiculous crazy. The things she did man…blew my mind,” Colt laughed.
Dakota punched him playfully in the arm. “You dirty, dirty, dog! A hitchhiker?” Dakota laughed. “That’s dirty shit right there, man.”
Bekka not liking the sound of that, felt compelled. She felt that something wasn’t right. She reached her hand in the shirt pocket and pulled out Detective Chaney’s card. She ran her fingers slowly across the embossed lettering. She stared at it. Something wasn’t right and she knew that what she was about to do would be dangerous.
9 - Henry’s Handy Shop
Jonathan parked his truck diagonally on the main street. He and Elizabeth got out and stepped up the curb. There wasn’t a lot of bustling going on as it was still relatively early, but all the shops were starting to open. Jonathan took in a deep breath of country air and felt proud to be running this beautiful little piece of Americana.
Henry’s Handy Shop had just opened. The sign on the door had just turned from closed. Before they could get to the door however, Jonathan was met by an old “friend”.
“Good morning, Jonathan.”
Jonathan’s face told the story of his past with this man. His face went from happiness and prideful to disdain and loathing. “Hello, Eugene.”
Eugene Wellington was the ri
chest man in all of Black Star Canyon. He owned most of the town. And as one does when they own most of something, they believe that all of it is theirs, as did Eugene. “Isn’t this a fine morning here in our beloved town?” Eugene said with a smile only a politician could love.
“Yes it is, Eugene. Just like most mornings here,” Jonathan said.
Eugene noticed Elizabeth. “And my, look at how our children grow! Elizabeth you have turned into quite the beautiful young woman.”
Jonathan stopped him there. “What do you want, Eugene? We are in a hurry.”
“I wouldn’t want to keep the Mayor, I was just wondering where you were leaning on my proposed business plan for the Black Star Canyon Enrichment Project.” Eugene’s smile seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.
“The only thing that would get any enrichment are your pockets, Eugene. There is no way I can vote for your project. It would destroy many, many acres of what makes Black Star Canyon the beautiful place that is!” Jonathan protested.
“But think of all the money this could bring our town, Jonathan,” Eugene pleaded.
“You want to drill for oil. To do that, you would have to level most of our forest. It isn’t going to happen!” Jonathan cleared his throat and composed himself. He took a deep breath and smiled absurdly, yet again. “Now, if you would excuse us?” Jonathan and Elizabeth walked into Henry’s.
Eugene, not liking being told no, rocked back and forth on his heels thinking about what to do next. He already knew what he would do, he just wanted to make sure that now was the time. He took a cell phone out of his coat pocket, made a call and said. “I’m ready. Proceed.” He put the phone back in his pocket and pulled a huge cigar from inside his coat’s breast pocket. He lit it. As the smoke passed out of his lips his smile came back. Bigger than before.
Inside Henry’s Handy Shop, Elizabeth looked at the covers of the magazines on the rack. She looked at them by gently running her fingers across the titles. Jonathan walked up to the counter. There was no one in sight so Jonathan rang the little bell.
“Just a second!” came a voice from the back. A large bald man with a mustache appeared from the back. He was wiping his hands off on a dirty rag. “Jonathan! What can I do for you?”
“Good morning, Henry. I was wondering if you had my rifle finished yet?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t think so but let me see if Michael finished it last night after I left.” Henry turned and cupped his hand around his mouth to yell into the back, not that he needed to since his voice was so big and boisterous. “Michael! Do you have Mr. Kensington’s rifle done?”
A voice from the back filtered quietly through the air. “Checking.”
“He’s gonna check,” Henry said. Henry tapped his finger on the counter. An uncomfortable silence echoed through the store.
Elizabeth noticed that Henry was looking at her legs. This brought a smile to her lips. Elizabeth loved the attention men gave her since all the boys at school were terrified of her. She reached down and pinched a bit of her skirt and slowly slid it up higher. She checked out of the corner of her eye that Henry was still looking, and also to make sure that her father was oblivious to the whole thing.
Henry, on the other hand, was still looking, but also checking with even greater intent that Jonathan wasn’t noticing. Elizabeth turned her leg out to give Henry a nice view of her inner thigh. You could almost hear Henry’s heart beat out of his chest.
The tension broke when Michael, Henry’s nephew, came out from the back. Michael was in his early twenties and had only been in town for a couple of months. His mother, Henry’s sister, had sent him to stay with his “manly” uncle once she found out that Michael was a homosexual. She was desperately hoping that the testosterone and being away from the city would “straighten” him out.
“Not yet I’m afraid,” Michael said with an over animated frown.
“I’m real sorry, Jonathan,” Henry said. He then turned to Michael, “You think it could be done by five?”
“I think I could make that work,” Michael answered.
“Make sure it is.” Henry shook his plump finger at Michael. He smiled at Jonathan. “Five it is.”
Jonathan smiled back. “all right then, gentlemen. See you at five! Elizabeth dear, let’s get going.” Jonathan grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. She winked and blew a kiss to Henry as they exited.
Henry and Michael stood there in an awkward silence. Then Henry broke it, “Get back to work!”
10 - The Freebie
The coroner van drove away with the body of the Jane Doe. Lukas walked down the road towards the cruiser. He was wracking his brain, trying to come up with the movie that he was talking about earlier when he said that the victim looked like an actress. He couldn’t place it.
Chaney was sitting on the bumper of the car, waiting for Lukas to hurry up. He was glad seeing how far he’d had to go and how warm it had gotten, that Lukas had insisted on taking the home on top of the road.
“You find anything?” Lukas asked.
“Nope. You?”
“Not really. The woman up there said she heard either a car or a motorcycle ripping through here around 11 o’clock.”
“That’s not terribly odd. Cook’s isn’t too far from here,” Chaney added.
“It seemed odd to her, which might be odd itself.”
They got back in their car and drove back towards the station. About a mile down the road, they saw something off the roadside that stopped them in their tracks. It was a small, red car with its hazard lights on.
“That’s Gus’s car,” Chaney said.
“Huh, I guess our crack police force, all must have missed that this morning.” Lukas said full of ugly contempt.
The two men walked quickly down to the car, each unsure of what they would find but both sure that it might help them. They could see there was someone in the driver’s seat so they both drew their guns out and proceeded with caution.
There they found a huge, fat man in his late twenties, passed out, covered in blood and tattoos. Even his beard had dried blood in it, coming down from his mouth. The “wife-beater” tank top he had on was completely crusted. The fast food bags, beer cans and empty cigarette packs almost reminded Lukas of what his car looked like. The size of the man inside the little compact car would’ve been comical under any other circumstance.
“That was easy,” Lukas said. Lukas banged on the car door. “Out of the car, Gus!”
Gus, startled, jumped up in a panic and flailed his arms about. When he saw Lukas with a gun, his first reaction was to start the car; he fumbled along with the keys that were hanging out of the ignition.
“I said out, Gus!” Lukas yelled.
“Hands off the wheel!” Chaney added.
Gus looked at them and acted like he couldn’t hear them. “What?”
“Now! Out of the car!” Chaney yelled.
“Okay. Okay. Calm the fuck down.” Gus got out of the car and stood up. His enormous frame shadowed Lukas and Chaney. “What seems to be the problem?” He said with a grin.
“Where were you last night?” Lukas asked.
“Around.” Gus was getting agitated. “Could you get your damn guns out of my face?”
“In detail, please,” Chaney said.
“I was at Cook’s for a while, got drunk, thought against driving once I got this far and pulled over. Did I break a law?”
“You did actually. You operated a vehicle while intoxicated,” Chaney said.
“How did you get the blood all over you?” Lukas asked.
“Blood?” Gus asked, totally oblivious. He looked down at his giant gut and laughed. “That? That’s fucking barbecue sauce!”
Lukas put his gun back in the holster. “Gus, you are coming back to the station with us to answer some more questions.”
Gus chuckled, “Like hell I am, pig. You ain’t got nothing on me. Go screw some poor dude that doesn’t know his rights.” Gus turned to get back into his car.
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Lukas kicked him in the side of his knee. Gus screamed and fell down on the knee. Lukas grabbed the back of Gus’s fat head and slammed it through the driver’s side window. The sound of glass shattering drowned out Gus’s yell. Lukas pulled his head from the window and shoved him face down on the dirt road.
“Cuff him,” Lukas said.
Chaney looked at him in shock. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Cuff him!” Lukas yelled.
Chaney tried to put the handcuffs on him, but couldn’t get his arms around his mass. “I’m gonna need yours, too.”
Lukas rolled his eyes and handed Chaney his handcuffs so that Chaney could join them together to make them longer, in hopes of securing Gus’s arms behind him.
“The hard part is going to be getting him up and into the car,” Chaney said looking at the whale on the ground. “I hate you sometimes, Lukas.”
11 - Gus Vs. Lukas’s Face
Gus was in a chair in the interrogation room when Lukas and Chaney came in. “Looks like you got fixed up,” Lukas said. He was referring to the small bandage on Gus’s forehead that covered the gash on his face from the impact of the window.
