‘I guess we can ask Vera.’
‘Ask me what?’ said Vera, arriving with their drinks.
‘About the guy that was here the other night,’ said Rolly. ‘The one that gave you the package for Macy?’
‘Oh, yeah. I remember. Big guy. Looked kind of Indian.’
‘What’d he say to you?’
‘Nothing. He just pointed at Macy’s picture and handed me the package. I must’ve nodded at him or something. Then he left.’
Macy chuckled. ‘He’s a man of few words, that Daddy Joe.’
‘You want anything to eat, Macy?’ said Vera.
‘I’m not that hungry,’ said Macy. ‘Maybe bring me some guac.’
Vera left them alone again.
‘You satisfied now, Waters?’ said Macy. ‘I didn’t steal the diddley bow.’
Rolly nodded. He felt satisfied, in both stomach and mind. He felt ready to share what he’d found out so far.
‘I found someone who will give you a thousand dollars for it,’ he said.
‘Really?’ said Macy. ‘That thing is worth money?’
‘I was surprised too.’
Rolly told Macy about his visit with Norwood and his confrontation with the man at the Alien Artifacts store.
‘What’s this guy’s name again?’ Macy asked when he’d finished.
‘Randy Parker.’
‘I went out with a guy named Randy once,’ she said. ‘Randy No Pants.’
‘Nopanz?’
‘No Pants,’ said Macy, separating the words. ‘That was his nickname.’
‘What’d he look like?’
‘Couple years older than me, I think. Even whiter than you. Good hair. Nice ass.’
‘Any tattoos?’
‘No.’
‘The guy I met was a lot older,’ said Rolly. ‘He had some prison tattoos and a really bad wig.’
‘Definitely not the same Randy.’
‘Doesn’t sound like it,’ said Rolly.
Macy took a sip of her beer. Rolly stirred his club soda, watching the slice of lime spin around in his glass.
‘What was the name of that weirdo group again?’ said Macy. ‘The one the lady at the store told you about?’
‘She called them Yoovits. U-V-Ts. Universal Vibration Technologies.’
‘She said the diddley thing belonged to them?’
‘Yes.’
‘Damn. That’s kinda creepy.’
‘What?’
‘I think it was them that lived up near the rez. Daddy Joe was there when they found the bodies.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Well, not there there. It was after they killed themselves.’
‘Wait. Back up. When was this?’
‘I don’t know. Before I was born. Look it up on Wikipedia or something. They all died. It was one of those suicide cult things, I think. That’s how Daddy Joe got involved. He saw the people after they were dead. He arrested one of the guys.’
‘How many people were there?’
‘That died? It wasn’t that many; I mean, compared to Jonestown or something like that. Kinda creepy though, huh?’
Rolly nodded his head and made a mental note to get more information on the UVTs. It was time to creep Macy out even more. He pulled the postcard from his pocket and passed it to her.
‘Take a look at that,’ he said. ‘Tell me what you think.’
‘Desert View Tower,’ said Macy, looking at the card. ‘I remember that place. Daddy Joe used to take Kinnie and me. We’d run around in the rocks.’
‘Read the back,’ said Rolly. Macy read the back of the card out loud. She stopped after the first line.
‘Where’d you get this?’ she asked.
Rolly described the ill-fated trip to Desert View Tower and its aftermath.
‘Seriously,’ Macy said. ‘You got tasered?’
Rolly nodded.
‘Teotwayki,’ said Macy. ‘Daddy Joe had that on the dry erase board in his room.’
‘Is it an Indian word?’
‘Kinnie could tell you what it means. Are you going to call her?’
‘Bonnie will kill me if I don’t.’
‘You got some kind of thing going on with her?’
‘Who? Bonnie?’
‘Yeah. Are you two swapping fluids?’
‘No. We’re just friends.’
‘I didn’t think she’d be your type.’
‘You could say that.’
‘Yeah, I thought so. I was kinda digging on her, actually. She looks kinda hot in that uniform.’
‘Uh huh,’ said Rolly. He couldn’t figure out Macy at all.
‘A woman in uniform gets me hot and bothered. I think it’s a sex and authority thing, you know, like a fetish.’
‘Thanks for sharing,’ said Rolly. ‘But can we get back to what’s on the card?’
‘“Golden eyes key,”’ said Macy, reading the card again. ‘You think that’s got something to do with me?’
‘It’s the first thought that came to me.’
‘OK. I get it, now, Waters. I get why you’re giving me a hard time.’
‘Do you know anything about a key?’
‘No. Do you?’
‘Yeah. Maybe.’ Rolly pulled out his phone again and tapped into his notes app. ‘Read me the number,’ he said. ‘The one on your necklace.’
Macy read the number to him. It matched the number he had entered in his notes, digit for digit.
‘So?’ said Macy.
‘You know that electronics schematic I told you about, the one I got from the maps display at the tower? It’s got that word and that number written on it.’
‘What’s it mean?’
‘I don’t know. Could be a serial number or something.’
‘Why is it on my necklace?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘This is kind of freaking me out,’ said Macy. ‘They must be connected, right?’
‘It’s something simple. We’ll figure it out.’
‘I got something else freaky for you,’ said Macy. ‘That guy with the rocket-ship van?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I know him.’
‘You do?’
‘Slab City. Me and No Pants were there for a couple of days. After Coachella.’
‘You and Randy No Pants were in Slab City together?’
‘Yeah. I met that guy with the van. His name’s Bob.’
‘Does Bob have a last name?’
‘I don’t know. Everybody calls him Cool Bob.’
‘Do you know anyone with a normal name?’
‘That’s weird about the van. I should go talk to Bob.’
‘Maybe I should go with you.’
Macy took another sip of beer. ‘Bob might let me stay with him. Don’t think he’d go for you being around.’
‘We’ll just drive out and come back the same day.’
‘Folks are kind of tight-lipped out there. I’m not even sure Bob will want to talk to me. We might have to camp out a couple of nights. We’d need a trailer or an RV. You don’t want to sleep on the ground. Too many spiders and scorpions and other weird stuff.’
Rolly rubbed his head and sucked the last of his club soda up through the straw. It made a squelching sound. He knew he was going to say something stupid, something he shouldn’t. But his tongue and his lips conspired against him. They said the words before he could stop them.
‘I know where we can get an RV,’ he said.
TWELVE
The Rez
Rolly drove the Tioga along Interstate 8, heading up the grade into the mountains of East County on the way to Slab City. Macy rode shotgun, her bare feet propped up on the dash. They would pass the Jincona Reservation soon, then Desert View Tower, and begin their descent into the desert. The Cuyamacas weren’t the loftiest mountains to cross, but it was still slow going in the Tioga. It would take them at least three hours to arrive at their destination.
He’d felt embarrassed asking
his stepmom, Alicia, if he could borrow the motorhome, but she been more than happy to lend it to him. She’d seemed relieved to get it out of the driveway, the two-ton elephant that had caused her so much distress. Rolly’s father was still in the hospital. His condition had been upgraded to stable, but he wouldn’t be taking any trips for a while. The great adventure would have to be rescheduled, put on the back burner for a few months, while he recuperated.
Alicia had primped her makeup and made herself presentable by the time Rolly and Macy arrived at the house. The larder of the Tioga was stocked and the gas tank was full. A great weight seemed to lift from Alicia’s shoulders as Rolly backed out of the driveway. He pointed the Tioga in the right direction and set the cruise control. As mobile homes went, the Tioga wasn’t that large, but it still felt like he was driving a house.
‘You wanna see where I grew up? On the rez?’ said Macy.
‘I thought you never wanted to see the place again.’
‘Now that we’re out here, I guess I’m kind of curious. I could show you the place where those people died. The UVTs.’
‘It’s on the reservation?’
‘It’s next door,’ Macy said. ‘You can see the house from Daddy Joe’s place.’
‘You sure about this?’
‘C’mon, Waters. I said I wanted to go. DNA.’
Rolly took the casino exit and crossed the bridge back over the freeway. They drove down a narrow country road that twisted through rocks, manzanita and sagebrush.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ Macy said. ‘Not.’
‘I didn’t really get to see the terrain the other night. It seems kind of nice.’
‘Not to me.’
‘A bit austere, I guess.’
‘Desolate is more like it.’
‘We can still turn around if you want.’
Macy stared out the window. She’d lost interest in talking to him. Rolly checked his speedometer. The Tioga felt huge on the backcountry road, with the driver’s side hanging over the centerline or the passenger side hugging the gravel shoulder. Two cars passed in the opposite direction. Small herds of sheep, horses and cows dotted the landscape.
‘That’s it, over there, the UVTs place,’ said Macy, pointing at a wood sign set close to the ground on the opposite side of the road. Rolly slowed. A dirt road led away from the sign, blocked by a gate.
‘Beatrice House for Girls,’ he said, reading the sign.
‘Yeah, that’s the place. Kinnie used to say Daddy Joe was going to send me there. Like all the other bad girls.’
‘I don’t see any house,’ said Rolly.
‘It’s over that rise, looks out on the mesa. You can see it from Daddy Joe’s place.’
Rolly continued down the road. A large, open vista came into view, a mountain peak in the distance. Macy pulled her feet from the dash.
‘Holy crap!’ she said, pointing at the building that loomed in the foreground. ‘Is that the casino?’
‘That’s it,’ said Rolly. ‘That’s where we played the other night.’
‘Sure is ugly.’
A small green sign on the right side of the road informed them they were entering the Jincona reservation. They passed the sign, then the casino.
‘Hard to believe they could make this place even worse,’ said Macy. ‘I guess they’re all gonna get rich.’
‘Some of those casinos don’t do that well,’ said Rolly. ‘We played this place near Julian. There were only three people in the room.’
‘Maybe that was because of your band.’
‘Nice. Thanks.’
‘You want to see Daddy Joe’s place?’
‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’
‘I grew up there, you know. I got a right to visit my old house.’
‘I haven’t been able to get in touch with Kinnie yet.’
‘So what? You called her, right?’
Rolly nodded. He’d left two messages for Kinnie. She’d left one for him.
‘She might not like us snooping around.’
‘If Kinnie shows up we’ll just say we were coming to see her. We’ve both got alibis for the other night.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Daddy Joe might’ve shown up by now, anyway.’
Rolly bit his lip. He hadn’t told Macy what the man with the taser had said to him, that Daddy Joe was a dead man. He didn’t want to tell her. He didn’t want to tell anyone, not without some kind of proof.
‘C’mon, Waters,’ said Macy. ‘A trip down memory lane might help me remember something important. Take a left at the intersection.’
Rolly turned at the stop sign. The road got rougher. He did what he could to avoid the larger potholes, but the bumps and ruts weren’t friendly to the Tioga’s suspension. They crested a small hill. Below them the road ran straight down to the edge of a triangular mesa. A small ranch-style house stood on the edge of the mesa, overlooking the intersection of two canyons.
‘That’s Daddy Joe’s place,’ said Macy.
Rolly lifted his foot off the gas. The Tioga inched down the road like a tiptoeing elephant. The house was surrounded by a yard, if your definition of yard included an open space filled with gravel and cactus and tumbleweeds. A low chain-link fence helped keep the tumbleweeds from entering or leaving the yard. He pulled to a stop in front of the gate.
‘This is where you grew up?’ he said.
‘Yep. I lived here with Daddy Joe and Kinnie. Aunt Betty too, I guess, although I don’t really remember her, just from photos.’
‘How old were you then?’
‘Two or three,’ said Macy.
Macy opened her door and stepped down from the cab. She was all the way to the front door of the house before Rolly could protest. Macy seemed oblivious to caution, unconcerned with self-control, that imprint of age and experience. Rolly knew he’d acted that way himself once. His compulsions weren’t as strong anymore, but he often found himself in conflict with his natural tendencies. Macy’s impulsiveness felt exciting, almost sexy. She opened the door to the house and walked in.
He jumped out of the Tioga and looked around to make sure no one was watching. Across the canyon he could see a large house, the Beatrice House for Girls, if he’d understood Macy correctly. It looked much nicer and newer than Daddy Joe’s rundown hovel. He walked to the front door. Macy had left it ajar.
‘Macy?’ he whispered. No one answered. He pushed the door open then raised his voice. ‘Macy!’
‘I’m in back,’ she said. ‘There’s nobody home.’
‘We shouldn’t be in here,’ said Rolly. ‘What if somebody shows up?’
‘Chill out, Waters. It’s cool. It’s my house as much as anybody’s.’
‘Macy …’
‘There’s something in here you need to see.’
Rolly took a deep breath and entered the house. The kitchen was piled with dishes and the living room was dusty. It had dank green carpeting and a dirty brown sofa. Heavy curtains prevented any sunlight disinfectant.
‘Where are you?’ he said.
‘In here,’ said Macy, from a doorway off to his right. He walked to the doorway and peeked in. Macy sat at a small desk in the corner. The desk was piled high with papers. All sorts of papers, drawings, photos and maps covered the walls.
‘What is it?’ he asked. Macy turned from the desk.
‘My flyer,’ she said. ‘Daddy Joe’s got my flyer.’
She handed Rolly a flyer, just like the one she’d handed him the night they met.
‘It was here on the desk?’ Rolly said.
‘There’s a letter, too. It’s not finished …’
‘What?’
‘It’s addressed to me,’ she said, handing him the letter.
Rolly inspected the paper in his hand. It felt coarse, like an autumnal leaf. The handwriting was rough too. You could almost see the quiver of the hand that had written it. But the words were legible.
‘“My Little Alien,”’ he said, reading the salutation
.
‘Daddy Joe called me that sometimes,’ said Macy.
Rolly continued reading the note. ‘“I have seen a photograph of this woman. The one called DJ Crazy Macy. I know it is you. You are old enough now. I must tell you some things. About the gold charm which I see you still wear. The one stolen from me. It is yours now. I have something else for you. It is an instrument of great power.”’
Rolly looked over at Macy. She nodded. Rolly turned back to the letter.
‘“I had intended to make it a gift to you on your eighteenth birthday, when you would have your freedom, but you left us before that time came. There is more I still hope to give you. So that you may be free. But you must speak with me first, before I can—”
‘He didn’t finish,’ said Rolly.
‘Flip it over,’ said Macy. Rolly flipped the paper over. Three words were scrawled on the back.
TEOTWAYKI? TEOTWAYKI? TEOTWAYKI?
Rolly looked over at Macy. ‘What’s this stuff on the walls?’
‘Kinda creepy, huh?’ she said. ‘He’s still obsessed with the UVTs. It’s up there still.’
Macy pointed at the dry erase board on the wall, at the capital letters in red lettering. TEOTWAYKI.
‘We shouldn’t be here,’ Rolly said.
‘Yeah,’ said Macy. ‘This is totally spooky.’
‘I don’t want anyone finding us here,’ Rolly said. ‘Especially if Daddy Joe’s still missing. It would look suspicious.’
He handed the letter back to Macy, who placed it back on the desk. Their fingerprints were all over it now. They trooped back out to the Tioga and climbed in.
‘That was stupid,’ said Rolly, as he buckled himself in. ‘Let’s get the hell out of here.’
‘Yeah, I’m sufficiently creeped,’ said Macy. ‘But at least we know how Daddy Joe found me.’
Rolly turned the Tioga around and headed out the same way they’d come in. It was the only way to go.
‘Why didn’t he send me the letter?’ said Macy as they jounced along the road that was more like a ditch.
‘He couldn’t wait, I guess. Maybe he thought you wouldn’t talk to him if he only sent you a letter.’
‘Shit,’ said Macy. ‘Everything’s different now. I thought I didn’t care. Coming back here, suddenly I’m worried about Daddy Joe. Maybe he’s in trouble or something. Maybe he’s dead.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Rolly, trying to manage his own sense of uneasiness. ‘They’ll find him soon.’
Desert City Diva Page 8
