He’s lying. James isn’t here. He’s hurt James or stopped him from coming somehow. He’s going to kill me. He said the victim would be familiar. He’s killed James.
Kevin smiled at me and it was no different from any smile he’d flashed me since we were kids but this time, knowing what I did now, it radiated anger, hatred, and evil.
“Stay away from me,” I said.
“I’m s…sorry?” he said.
“Stay away from me,” I repeated.
“N…N…Nikki,” he said, holding his hands out and his palms up at the ceiling as he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s m…me. K…K…Kevin.”
“Get the fuck away from me!” I yelled.
My voice finally took flight and my words bounced around the room. It ricocheted off the hallway walls and must’ve reached someone because I heard voices out there somewhere behind Kevin.
“N…N…Nikki,” Kevin said as he closed the distance between us and reached down to touch my arm.
I swatted his hand away and moved as far away from him as I could, which sent me flipping off the opposite side of the bed and crashing to the floor. Adrenaline masked the pain.
“Help me!” I screamed.
“I…d…don’t understand,” Kevin said, this time backing away from me and throwing his hands up to the ceiling as if to show me he meant no harm.
Fucking liar! You mean every bit of harm. Where is James?
“Help me!” I screamed again. “Somebody help me! There’s a killer in my room!”
Two male nurses, the geisha nurse, and a security guard rushed into the room. James was right behind them. The male nurses grabbed Kevin and pulled him away from me. Kevin fought and he was strong. He grabbed the first nurse by the throat, picked him up, and smashed his face through a picture on the wall. The glass shattered and rained down to the tile floor. The second nurse tried to subdue him, but Kevin twisted his hand and broke his wrist.
“Get the fuck off my brother!” James yelled.
Watching the scene was like being in the audience at a movie theater, a spectator somewhere on the outside looking in. The security guard reached for Kevin but James wrapped his muscular arm around the guard’s head and yanked him back in a chokehold.
Cops came flooding into the room. First two, then a third and a fourth and a fifth. Police were everywhere. It was surreal. No hospital would have so many cops lounging around waiting for this kind of action.
What the fuck is going on?
James was on the ground on his chest and he was looking at me through bloodshot eyes. I’d never seen him so angry.
“Nikki,” he said. “What happened? Why are they doing this?”
“James,” I said. “Kevin is the killer. He’s Simple Simon.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” James said.
“Shut the fuck up and stay still,” one of the cops on top of him warned.
“I can’t move much with your knee in my spine like that,” James said.
“Ive…Ive…Ivory,” Kevin said.
Guilt overcame me as I stared into the confused face of Kevin. He truly didn’t seem to understand why he was being arrested.
The cop on James’s back spoke into the radio clipped to his shoulder. He said something about being on scene and having a suspect in custody.
What scene? I’ve caused a scene.
“This is the guy?” a cop asked, looking down at James.
My hand shot out and pointed at Kevin.
“Him,” I said. “That’s the killer. I’m sure of it.”
“And this guy?” the cop on James’s back asked.
“No!” I yelled. “Not him. He’s the brother. He was just protecting his older brother.”
As the cops cuffed Kevin and dragged him away, I feared James might never speak to me again.
Chapter 8 – Ivory
Talk about having your mind blown.
Mine was a cocktail of two parts confused as hell, one part pissed off, and a finger’s worth of sadness for both my brother and Nikki. From what I could gather, something had scared the shit out of her. She was passed out asleep while I sat in a reclining chair watching her. She was an angel with her eyes closed. She’d always been an angel in my eyes but seeing her asleep made me see the child in her again. Her tough exterior melted away while she slept. The nurse had given her something to keep her under for a while.
You’re probably wondering why I didn’t rush off to see my brother. I wanted to. I did go to the police station eventually but my hot temper didn’t mix well with the boys in blue. Remember, I’d served time, and I knew I was lucky I hadn’t been arrested for choking out the hospital security guard. Nikki had saved my ass on that one. She convinced the cops that I didn’t know what was going on and was only trying to protect Kevin.
Kevin. What the fuck had he done to scare Nikki so badly? What would this mean for the future? I couldn’t have them tattooing customers next to each other if she was going to flip her shit and go into a fit like she had earlier.
It wasn’t until I turned on the TV and saw the news alert that I realized what had happened. Somehow my brother’s arrest hadn’t made it into the report.
On the wall mounted screen, I saw a woman with red hair and big boobs staring into the screen with an intensity that said shit was about to get real. Gloria Styles was a well-known newscaster, and with her, shit was always real. Lit up in red at the bottom of the screen were the words: News Alert!
“This just in,” Gloria stated with the voice she saved for terrible news. “An urgent manhunt is now underway. Authorities say there may be a serial killer on the loose. According to police, several murders have now been connected, and there may be more. Let’s go to Paul Wesley on the scene at San Francisco General where he’s waiting with the latest update.”
I leaned forward in my chair and watched as the screen switched to Paul, a blond haired Ken in a designer suit, smiling for the camera. Seeing his bleached grin pissed me off for some reason. Nobody should seem so full of themselves while talking about death.
“Thanks, Gloria,” Paul said. “Paul Wesley here outside San Francisco General where a dispatcher from Swift Fleet, the rapid response private ambulance center, was brought in after being struck by a car shortly after receiving a call from a man who called himself…Simple Simon.”
The pause before the killer’s name was intentionally dramatic and worked well. The name would have been silly in any other context, but there on the news, especially after seeing Nikki flip out the way she did, it seemed like something out of a horror movie.
“Police say,” Paul continued, “the dispatcher, whose name has not been revealed, told detectives the caller whistled the children’s nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosy before laughing and confessing to having killed multiple people.
The screen cut to the shot of yellow crime scene tape blocking off a dark alley where passersby were trying desperately to get a peek at what was obviously a morbid scene. Paul’s voice kept going over the shot.
“A source has told News 9 that the killer has been mutilating the bodies. Placing food items into the wounds of the victims.”
Back to Paul in front of the hospital.
“Police will not confirm that allegation, saying they cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, but the police chief did give a statement urging the public to be vigilant about personal safety.”
Paul looked into the camera, dropped his face a little while still peering up into the camera, as if he were the killer himself. It was another dramatic effect that only made me want to reach through the TV screen and wring his scrawny neck.
“Simple Simon met a pie man,” he said. “Is this an odd coincidence or a twisted take on a beloved toddler’s tale? This is Paul Wesley reporting for News 9. Back to you, Gloria.”
I turned off the TV and looked over at Nikki’s sleeping face again. God, she was beautiful. In another life, she’d be on the cover of a magazine or quite possibly dancing across a stage. Sh
e commanded attention, but in the life she’d lived, that attention wasn’t always good. Our time at Mrs. Rebecca’s flashed through my mind again and I remembered sitting on that bed, staring at Nikki’s tear streaked face, while our makeshift mother tried to convince her to take off her pants. Yes, regardless of Kevin’s warped fascination with Mrs. Rebecca, the truth is, she was a fucking lunatic.
The room suddenly felt stuffy and I needed air so I stepped out into the hallway where I ran straight into Valerie, knocking her against the wall with a thud.
“The fuck?” she spat out before realizing who’d caused the accident.
“Valerie?” I said.
What the hell is she doing here?
“Ivory,” she replied.
Her reason for being in the hospital could come later. I needed to feel her in my arms, to hold her, to feel some sort of normalcy in this crazy ass night. As I moved to hug her, she backed away from me and held up a finger to warn me off.
“No,” she said.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. In an hour I’d gone from seeing my brother arrested to hearing one of my best friends had spoken with a serial killer to being pushed away by an angry girlfriend. A girlfriend I’d had sex with the night before.
This is like a fucked up episode of The Twilight Zone.
“It’s not okay,” Valerie said. “Everything is not okay, you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I replied, “But I don’t understand you at all. Babe, what’s the matter with you?”
“What’s the matter with me?!”
With that, she grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and pulled me down the hall. She was like a seething bull on a stampede. I wouldn’t say her petite frame could force me to go anywhere, but she definitely suggested it with a power I didn’t realize she possessed. At the end of the hall, she halted, turned, and slapped an open palm against one of the room’s windows.
I wasn’t expecting to see what was beyond that panel of glass. A man, or what I learned was a man, was completely covered up in a blanket. His face was wrapped in plaster with red showing through spots on the gauze.
“What is this?” I said barely above a whisper.
“As if you don’t know,” she said.
When I looked over at her, her face was wet with tears.
“I’m afraid I don’t know,” I said.
“Your brother,” she replied.
What the fuck is going on with my brother tonight? Is she saying he did this?
“Kevin…” I started.
“Kevin is a fucking monster,” she spat, saliva hitting the window. “Davey can’t speak. He has to be fed through a fucking straw, Ivory.”
“You’re saying Kevin did this to him?” I said.
My thoughts instantly went to Kevin’s battered and bruised appearance. He’d said he’d gotten into a fight at a strip club.
“Alfie, one of Davey’s friends, he got away from your brother,” Valerie explained. “But the others…Alfie said he came at them with a hammer in one hand and a pipe in the other and they didn’t even have time to defend themselves. He was crazy and stronger than any man he’d ever seen.”
Kevin was stronger than most men. Hell, he was quite monstrous when backed into a corner, so I didn’t doubt that he could be physically capable of what she was suggesting, but my brother was also an all-around nice guy. Then again, these were the guys who’d beat the shit out of me recently and Kevin wasn’t one to allow his little brother to get stomped without some kind of repercussion.
“That’s Davey?” I said, still trying to make sense of it all.
If anyone had a serious beat down coming to him, it was this motherfucker, but this guy breathing through tubes looked like he’d needed the Jaws of Life to get him out of a fucking NASCAR crash.
The rest of the conversation was a blur. Valerie went on and on. I shrunk deeper and deeper into myself, refusing to believe my gentle giant of a brother could be the beast Nikki, Valerie, and the police seemed to think he was. Thinking back to the news report, I wondered how long it would take for the rest of the city to think the same.
My brother isn’t a fucking killer.
The words rotated around in my mind but I couldn’t shake the sight of Davey’s injured body. Nor could I repel the memory of Paul Wesley’s words.
The caller whistled the children’s nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosy before laughing and confessing to having killed multiple people.
Ring around the Rosy was one of Kevin’s favorite tunes to whistle.
Valerie slapped the window a couple more times, stomped her foot once or twice, and pushed me at least once, but only one thing she said stuck. As she pushed past me and stormed off down the hallway, she said the words, “You’re all fucking violent. I hate you all.” I didn’t chase after her. I didn’t demand an explanation. I simply fell back against the wall and put both hands to my temples and massaged the oncoming headache.
We are all violent.
I hadn’t meant to leave the hospital. Being there for Nikki when she woke up would have been the smart thing to do. She had nobody else. Being there for Kevin seemed like an honorable thing to do too. So that’s where I went next.
The sun was coming up by the time I caught a cab and made my way to the police station. The trip turned out to be a waste of time since the cops wouldn’t let me anywhere near Kevin. I begged them to at least let him know I’d stopped by. He’d been there for me when I was on the inside and I couldn’t imagine the disappointment he’d feel if he thought I hadn’t at least tried to do the same for him.
I returned to the hospital and was told for the second time that I couldn’t visit somebody important in my life. Nikki had become a hot commodity in the couple of hours since my absence. I later found out that one of the news crews had tried to sneak into her room to ask her some questions and a cop detail had to be put on her.
I knew I’d eventually be able to see Nikki, but I hated not knowing what would happen to my brother. Not being able to see him nor speak to him drove me nuts. It pushed me to do the one thing I hated to do. I called in a favor.
From the waiting room, I called the one person I thought I’d never have to reach out to like this. I’d once shared a cell with Antonio Tamburelli, not what you’d consider a mob boss, but let’s just say he has some connections nobody fucks with. If Tamburelli liked you, your time on the inside would be a breeze. If he didn’t like you, you were as good as dead. Most people stayed the hell away from him altogether. He’d gotten released from prison a year or two back and we’d spoken a couple of times since then. It’s never a good idea to deny knowing a powerful man, but it’s nearly as bad being a pest. So he knew I still cared and that was enough.
When I called him, he answered on the third ring. It was about a quarter after 10 a.m. and I didn’t expect him to answer at all. Especially not as winded as he was and with a woman giggling in the background. From my short time spent in a small space with the man, I learned more about him than most people would ever learn. His love for meatball subs was only rivaled by his love for pussy. One was the reason he was so overweight and the other was the reason he was having a hard time talking to me. It’s hard for anyone to chat when they’ve got a young piece of ass riding their cock.
“This better be…umm…good,” he said.
“Mr. Tamburelli,” I said. “It’s Ivory.”
“Ho…ho…holy shit,” he said as he kept getting his rocks off. “Ivory, I was expecting this call.”
“You were?” I asked.
I hadn’t even been expecting this call so hearing that he was had me baffled.
“It’s about your brother,” he said. “Ohhh fuck. Right?”
I contemplated offering to call back at a better time but the fact he was still talking to me said a lot. If he wanted to discuss this later, he’d let me know. He wasn’t one to keep his feelings locked inside.
“Yes,” I admitted. “He’s in some trouble and I was wondering about that lawy
er you once mentioned. Or any lawyer for that matter. I guess what I’m saying is I need some legal help for Kevin.”
“Hmmm,” he said with a couple of grunts at the end.
I didn’t know how to respond to that so I didn’t. I waited.
“Alright, I’m done,” he said. “Get off me.”
A girl whined in the background, obviously not happy about the fact that he’d blown his load long before she ever would.
“Are we talking about the same brother of yours who bounced my godson Davey’s head off the sidewalk last night?”
Silence. Again, I had no idea how to respond and there was no fucking way I was about to touch that one.
How the fuck is this possible?
It would be a coincidence if Davey and Tamburelli got their favorite meatball subs from the same deli but the fact that they knew each other beyond that...that was fucking ridiculous.
“We are talking about the same brother, right?” he asked.
Making him ask it a third time wouldn’t be wise so it was time to man up and face my fears. All three hundred or so pounds of him.
“Mr. Tamburelli,” I said. “I had no idea…”
I didn’t mean to sound like such a bitch but there was no way around this one. My voice wasn’t going to come out as manly as usual when Antonio Tamburelli was on the other line.
“Shut the fuck up, Ivory,” he said. “I’m just fuckin’ wit ya.”
“He’s not your godson?” I asked.
“Oh, he is my godson,” he replied. “But he’s a fuckin’ nitwit. A fuckin’ idiot. For somebody wantin’ to become a made man one day, he makes some of the dumbest goddamn mistakes known to man. I woulda disowned his sorry ass years ago if it wouldn’t upset his mother so much. And she took care of me when I was on the inside. Remember the prosciutto?”
Of course I remembered the prosciutto and I was psyched to hear that Tamburelli hadn’t changed a bit. He was still moved more by food than by any other thing on earth. His only care about this Davey character was the fact that his mom sent him deli meat. How fucking awesome is that?
Quills and Daggers - A Second Chance at Love Romance: The Collective - Season 1, Episode 5 Page 10
