Always a Kicker

by Jeff Zwagerman

“How long will you be gone this time?”

  “As long as it takes. What are your plans?”

  “I’m setting up the salon in Breckenridge. The furniture is coming tomorrow. The painters finished up today I hope and the window treatments should be in by the end of the day tomorrow. We should have it staffed and opened by Friday.”

  “Good. I think it will cash flow by the end of the month. It will be a good investment don’t you think?” Van asked and looked at Jayne.

  “I think so and it’s a good location. Lots of money comes through that strip mall. It should be good on both sides of the business.”

  “Alright then. We’ll see you when we see you. I’ll be anxious to see the new salon when I get back. Do a good job.”

  “I’ll certainly give it my best,” Jayne replied with a bit of discomfort in her voice.

  “You always do Jayne. That’s why I trust you completely,” Van said as he walked out the door and got into his car.

  Jayne looked after him as he drove off. Something was not right. That was more of a conversation than she had with Van in over five years. Generally he paid very little attention to her. Maybe it was the new store they were opening or maybe he suspected something. She had been careful to follow procedure but there was the little black box in her Camaro. She needed to finish work and go home and get some sleep. This tangled web she was weaving was starting to make her paranoid.

  *****

  Dee Dee called Lilly at her hotel and agreed to pick her up at the train station in Silverton later that day when she got off work. Zander had called and thought it would be safe for her to return to Montrose.

  When they met at the train station Lilly gave Dee Dee a huge hug and kiss on the cheek.

  “You are such a dear friend to get involved in something like this and I am so thankful to you. I promise to try and make it up to you just as soon as I can.”

  “Nonsense. This is exactly what friends do for each other. I wouldn’t be much of a friend to do any less.”

  All the way back to Montrose Lilly talked about what she did in Durango and what a nice old west town it was. They both jabbered incessantly until they pulled into the driveway. It was dark by the time they got home but Lilly noticed her car hadn’t moved since she left.

  “I don’t think we should let you drive or leave the house during the day until Zander gives us an all clear,” Dee Dee said simply, “We don’t want to draw attention to anything just in case someone might still be watching.”

  It scared Lilly to think about what could still happen if she wasn’t careful.

  “I just don’t want to be a burden to you.”

  “What are you talking about? It will be fun to have someone around to wait on for a change. I’ll make sure you have everything you need so you won’t have to leave when the sun is up. We’ll go out at night when no one can see you so you don’t go completely crazy. With any luck, Zander will call soon and you can get your life back.”

  The two went into the house and Dee Dee poured some drinks to celebrate while Lilly unpacked her bag in the bedroom.

  *****

  Van had employed someone to watch Dee Dee’s house since he received the report from Jayne. It bothered him that no body had been found after all this time. He decided to trust no one but he forgot to have someone watch the watcher. The watcher had become bored with the assignment and spent most of his evenings in the bars and made his nightly reports from there.

  During the day he would park at different locations within eye range of the house but never saw anyone but Dee Dee.

  Most of the time he had a hangover so dozing off was part of his daily routine. He long ago abandoned watching the house at night. When the sun went down he was gone.

  When Lilly arrived back in Montrose the watcher already had consumed three beers at his favorite bar and was working toward a long night of drinking. The money was good and he would take advantage of this windfall. It would be in his best interest to make the job last as long as he could.

  *****

  Fats hadn’t seen much of Zander over the past week. Since Zander didn’t need him to go down to Denver to get massages any longer he was feeling a little left out of the mystery he felt was unfolding.

  He had been putting in a lot of hours at the Branchwater and even been taking a few of Zander’s shifts when he was called to The Bridge. But Fats was getting restless. He needed some more distractions in his life. He decided to go back down to Denver and stake out the salon he had been frequenting.

  Shortly after he arrived, he saw a black Cadillac in the parking area in front of the store. It didn’t take long until a blue Camaro pulled in. He’d seen that car before. It was the same one parked at Zander’s cabin a few nights previously. When she got out of the car, he knew exactly whom she was. It was the woman Zander had been searching for these last few weeks. It was his old girlfriend. Fats always had good premonitions and mostly they turned out true. Why this was, could not be elucidated, but he was sure it could be interpreted by how the planets were aligned.

  He noticed she hesitated when she passed the black car. He thought she was going to turn around and get back into her car for a brief moment. But then she thought better of it and decided to go inside.

  Fats waited in his beat-up pick up. He thought maybe he should be saving some money. He deserved something a little better and maybe one day he’d find something. But that would take some time. He was pretty much flat broke. He had been spending a lot of money on the massages and he didn’t have anything extra right now.

  It didn’t take long and he saw the woman come out followed by a man he had never seen before. He noticed he had a limp. A bell went off in Fat’s head. This was the guy from Zander’s past, the one that stole his girl. Zander had told him the whole pathetic story one night after work when they both had been into the tequila. That’s when Fats found out about Zander’s suspicions because of the private dick he had run into at the bar.

  He watched the two talk to each other for a time and he was quick to notice that there didn’t seem to be much of a connect between them. They were facing each other but there was no touching and when they left to get into their own cars, there was no goodbye kiss. Even people who had been married for years and years showed more compassion than this. Fats thought it was somewhat peculiar. He would have to share this with Zander, and soon, but right now he had to decide which vehicle he was going to follow. He knew Zander was working on something involving this woman so he decided to tail the Caddy.

  An hour later he was exiting I-25 and following the car through Colorado Springs and heading up to Cripple Creek. Just past the town and the narrow gauge railroad he watched the car turn into a gated road. At first he thought it might be a gated community but there was no guard post. The gate swung open probably from some remote the guy had in the car. Then the Caddy disappeared up the road and into the night. Fats went up the main road a few blocks and then drove right into the ditch and found a clump of trees that hid his pick-up pretty well.

  He opened the glove box and found a flashlight that still had a little juice. There would be a need to have just a bit of light when going through all the trees and brush.

  After about ten minutes of walking slowly through the underbrush and pines he saw some light flicker through the trees. He couldn’t believe his luck. The only fence was the gate the Caddy drove through. The forest provided a natural barrier to the house. Only this wasn’t a house. It was a castle. Fats had never seen anything so big. He wondered how many square feet it was.

  There was a carriage house next to the mansion bathed in a dozen spotlights and Fats saw some young girls at the front entrance apparently welcoming this asshole home. One of the girls got into the car and drove it into one of the ten stalls in the garage. She looked very young. Fats thought that all three girls hardly looked more than fourteen.

  There was so much light surrounding the buildings it looked like a parking lot at an airport. Fats realized he wouldn
’t be able to get any closer unless some of those lights were extinguished.

  He waited over an hour jumping up and down and slapping his arms and shoulders to keep warm. It looked like these lights were going to be on all night. Finally Fats plodded back to his truck.

  He sat in the driver’s seat trying to decide what to do next. There were too many unknowns for him to proceed on his own. He had to go back to Frisco and tell Zander what he saw and find out what it all meant. He decided right then that he needed to be part of whatever Zander was planning. Friends had to stick together especially when they should ask for help. Sometimes they didn’t realize they should be asking for help and that’s when Fats would come through.

  It would be sunrise before Fats could get back to Zander’s cabin. He hoped he would be there this time. So many times over the last few weeks Zander hadn’t spent the night at his cabin. Fats wondered where he had been and aimed to find out.

  24

  Breckenridge, Colorado--Wednesday, September 18, 1985

  There was a hard knock at the door and Zander merely stirred not really hearing it. There was a louder knock and then someone yelled.

  “Zander, it’s Fats. Open the damn door.”

  Zander sat up in his bed. Then realization eased into his fogged up mind. It was Fats knocking at the door and he would have to answer it even he didn’t really want to.

  He padded across the cold floor without his sandals he used as slippers in the winter. He unlocked the door and Fats burst into the room.

  “It’s dang near colder than that shoulder you’ve been giving me lately,” Fats said, looking around the room for a heat source, “ At least you could have a fire going for a poor friend to warm up.”

  “I just got up, Fats. What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to tell me what is going on with you. You’ve been leaving me out in the dark and I don’t like it. Friends don’t do that.”

  “It’s for your own good. I don’t know if I’m even safe to be around.”

  “I’ve always been under the impression the more people that help, the less the stress on the individual,” Fats said softly.

  So Zander told him everything. He talked for twenty-five minutes and never interrupted once. He wrapped up the explanation with the discovery of the black boxes and what he did the previous night with the car battery. When he was finished he sat back next to the table.

  Fats got up and made coffee. Then he found some eggs and bacon in the refrigerator and set about making breakfast. Neither of them spoke a word. Each was thinking about what had just transpired and what they would do about it.

  After Fats brought breakfast to the table and had poured the coffee into two mugs, they sat eating and each staring away from the table.

  Finally Fats broke the silence. “More coffee coming up.”

  He poured the coffee and put the pot back on the Mr. Coffee maker before sitting back down at the table.

  “So what are you thinking now that you know everything?” Zander asked, “You’ve been extremely quiet and it’s freaking me out.”

  “I’m letting it all process, man. This is going to take all our facilities to avoid getting dirty.”

  “I have no clue what you are saying,” Zander said smiling at his hippie friend.

  “I’ve been doing a little reconnaissance of my own since you discarded me from the inner circle.”

  Zander had to smile. One couldn’t help but like this freak.

  “I thought I was doing you a favor,” Zander replied.

  “Think about it. You just told me he’s been following you with these electronic gizmos. Do you think for a moment he doesn’t know who you hang with and who you work with?”

  The comment made Zander wince. He hadn’t thought about it at all. He had thought about Lilly and to a lesser degree, Jayne. He hadn’t thought about Jo or Audrey or even Fats for that matter. How far did this go? Did Rooster even know about Jasper?

  “Damn it, Fats. You always get me thinking about the worst possible scenarios.”

  Fat’s laughed for the first time.

  “It’s my job, dude.” Then he got serious again. “I did a little following myself last night.”

  “I’m listening,” Zander said suddenly interested.

  “Saw your old girlfriend at the salon I was watching. This guy with a limp comes out and gets into his Cadillac and I had to decide which of these two I would follow. The woman is a beauty and it was all I could do not to take after her just to see what could happen. I did the prudent thing, however, and followed the asshole.”

  “What did you find? Anything we can use?”

  “I like it when you say “we”. I don’t know if we can use it but the guy lives in an enormous compound just a little north of Cripple Creek. He’s got some young girls there with him. I think I could stake the place out and when I see him leave, I could go up and find out what’s going on.”

  “I already know. He’s a sick man, Fats.”

  Zander explained his lust for young girls and what Jayne had told him about his trips to Mexico.

  “This asshole has to stopped.” Fats was passionate and stood up.

  “Where the heck you going?” Zander asked quickly.

  “To the john to get rid some of this coffee,” Fats said and went to the small bathroom.

  After a bit he came back out and headed toward the door.

  “Now I’m going back to stake out his place. From the looks of him he doesn’t get going very early in the morning. I should have time to get back up there and watch for him to leave.”

  “Then what?” Zander asked.

  “Then I’m going to break into his house and find out if there is anything we can use against him.”

  “You know we can’t go to any law enforcement. There are too many innocent people who could get hurt,” Zander said.

  “You think Sara Jane, or whatever her name is now, has any innocence left?” Fats asked with some vehemence.

  “I wasn’t really thinking about her,” Zander said sadly, “I was thinking about Lilly and those young women.”

  “Sorry, Zander. You’re right. I wasn’t planning on finding any evidence we could give to the cops, I was thinking about something we could use against him to back him down.”

  “Things like that always sound good but he’s a killer. The threat would have to be pretty big for him not to try to eliminate the problem and that problem would be us.”

  “Well, we’ve got to try something and I’m not going to sit around waiting for him to finally try to kill you.”

  “I appreciate that, Fats.”

  “I’ll report back to you when I find anything. With any luck I’ll be back later this afternoon.”

  “I’ll try to cover for you until you get back if you run late.”

  “I won’t wait that long. If I can’t get in without him being there I’ll be back before my shift starts.” Fats went out the door.

  Zander sat at the table just thinking about involving Fats in this mess. This was all getting far too complicated for his little mind. Things were starting to move now and he had a feeling it would all come to a head soon.

  He was afraid it would happen before he could get any preparations in place. Hell, he didn’t even know what the preparations were.

  *****

  Jayne confirmed her appointments with the deliveries to the salon in Breckenridge. They would be there after lunch to deliver and install the furniture and blinds. She would take along one of the girls and drop her off to wait at the salon. That would give her some time to do some shopping for some accessories to brighten the place up. It actually would free her up to find Zander and have lunch or a drink with him.

  She would book a room at the same hotel. She knew she could make the opening arrangements for the salon last two days and Van wouldn’t suspect anything.

  Besides, he was going to Mexico and wouldn’t be back for at least two days. Jayne smiled. She hadn’t realized how much she had m
issed her old friend. It made her feel young again just being with him.

  It was a dangerous thing she was doing involving Zander in her life again. She knew it, but couldn’t help herself.

  *****

  Fats made the drive back to Van’s monstrosity. No one should have something like that. Hundreds of homeless people could live there and not even see each other.

  Fats got to the place where he had parked the night before and drove a little deeper into the woods to make sure his truck wouldn’t catch anyone’s eye. He walked back toward the house the way he had come before. He could see his tracks through the brush. When he reached the edge of the trees he stopped and looked. Nothing was moving. The carriage house doors were all closed. He decided to wait. He could wait until 3:00 if he had to.

  He didn’t have to wait that long. It was about noon when one of the girls, from the night before, ran out to the garage. She didn’t go to the same door where they had parked the car from the night before.

  Fats watched her punch in some code and then the garage door opened. She went in and a moment later out came a Jeep. It was the four-wheel kind with the open top. The top had its canvas covering on for the winter. The canvas top and body were both black. Fats wondered if all the asshole’s cars were black and then he wondered what the heck was going on.

  Soon enough Van came out of the front entrance with the other two girls. He got into the jeep as the girl was getting out. One of the other girls handed him a case of some kind. They all came over and gave him a ceremonial kiss on the lips. He grabbed each little ass as they did. Then he shot down the driveway in the Jeep and was through the gate. The girls went back into the house.

  Fats wondered if he should get in his truck and follow him but he decided against it. He wanted to see this place with his own eyes. He would have to be careful. He didn’t know who else was in the mansion besides the three young girls.

  No one had remembered to shut the garage door. Fats hoped it was just memory lapse and not this guy planning to return momentarily. He decided to take a look inside.