The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  Louis turned to lead him across the patch of grass beside the parking lot to the curb where his truck was parked. He unlocked the door and held it open for Perry to get inside then went around to get in the driver’s side. Reaching under the seat, he pulled out a long paper bag and unscrewed the top off the bottle inside it. He poured the clear liquid in his cup and offered the bottle of vodka to Perry. Perry held out his cup and received a generous dollop in his punch. Perry was tremendously upset by the Primus’ presence and the developments with Maureen Fitzgerald. He was feeling very disoriented. He took a swallow and felt the same burn going down as that produced by the coffee Billy had plied him with. He was not unfamiliar with alcohol, but its effects were puzzling to him. He failed to see the attraction these people had for the stuff.

  “You were referring to Maureen and Sam?” Perry finally realized what Louis had meant by 'drop it' and felt foolish. “Nothing would please me more if they were to get back together,” he said the correct words, but did not believe them anymore.

  In fact he did not think he would be pleased at all if Maureen and Sam got back together. He was losing his objectivity just as Angelica had warned him he would. Was she always right about everything?

  “Really?” Louis raised one eyebrow. “If there is anything between the two of you, you certainly act casual about it. I have to say I was surprised to see you dancing with her.”

  Perry held up the cup and looked at the blood red liquid inside it. A moth fluttered into the open window and fell into the sticky liquid. Perry automatically stuck one finger in the punch to rescue the moth. He blew on it slightly and held it up to the window to let it fly away. Louis watched him in fascination.

  “I thought it would dispel any rumors that might be circulating,” Perry told him. “The fact that I spent one night in her bed does not make me a criminal as you and Angelica might think. Nor does it make me answerable to Sam Morris.”

  Louis choked on his punch and sprayed some on his steering wheel. Did the guy have loose screws or what?!

  “So!” Louis coughed and sputtered before regaining his composure. He wiped the steering wheel with the palm of his hand and then pulled out the vodka and filled his half full cup to the rim and did the same for Perry. “You have regained your memory after all?”

  “I never lost that part of it,” Perry told him truthfully and took another swallow of the hot liquid. “Angelica thought it best to modify the story a bit. She did not want me to be arrested. After all, Louis, you don’t presume to think that I don’t know how you feel about Angelica, do you? I feel the same way about her myself.”

  Louis had to calm himself. He took a great gulp of the vodka and limited punch.

  “If Maureen and I did something illegal, and I don’t think it was, then you might as well arrest me and yourself as well and don’t forget that trooper that stayed with Angelica while I was at Maureen’s house. If there is some law I don’t know about then I find it to be quite hypocritical, don’t you?” Perry turned his eyes on Louis innocently. He turned up his punch cup, finished off the drink and got out of the truck to walk away. Louis sat staring after him and then took out the vodka to drink straight from the bottle.

  Perry had no desire to return to the presence of Angelica and the Primus. He stayed where he was near the concession stands and the refreshment table. Julia Parks waved to him as she passed by on her way to Louis' truck parked by the curb. Presently, she returned with Louis in tow. Louis looked at him curiously when they passed, but said nothing. Perry smiled as Julia led her husband to the dance floor. At least that one had been successful. Had the world become so complicated and complex while he had languished in Beijing? He shook his head. The warm feeling from the vodka spread through him and made him feel very relaxed. He scanned the crowd of dancers, looking for Maureen and Sam, but could not see them anywhere.

  Louis Parks handed his wife off to an elderly admirer when the next dance for the senior citizens began and headed straight for Perry.

  He came to stand next to him watching his wife dance with the very short man in a big cowboy hat. He was strangely quiet, but Perry knew he was going to say something or ask another irritating string of questions.

  “If I was you Mr. Aliger, I wouldn’t say things like you just said to me to just anybody,” he said finally. The meaning of his words was somehow lost on Peregrin. “People might take it the wrong way. There’s no law against what you did. At least none that gets enforced these days. And as far as your wife, I guess I’m just like everybody else. But I assure you, Mr. Aliger, nothing has ever happened out of the way between me and her.”

  Perry knew this was fairly true.

  “I have a question for you,” Louis said after a moment true to form. “I know you come from Houston or some other big city, I suppose. The way your wife takes all this so calm-like makes me think that this is not anything unusual for you. It makes me nervous just talking to you... anyhow, if you are into that swappin’ thing, I’d just like to warn you that Magnolia Springs is a small, kinda back woodsy place. We don’t go in for that kind of thing here. I’ve seen the way you look at my wife, Julia, and I’ve seen her lookin’ back, if you know what I mean and I’d be real upset if I thought anything was goin’ on there.”

  “What kind of thing?” Perry frowned at the policeman.

  “You know...” Louis looked around. “Swappin’.”

  “Oh, I see.” Perry looked at him in consternation, totally and fatally misinterpreting his meaning. “I assure you that I have made no trades with your wife, Sergeant Parks. I paid for what she gave me and I intend to take good care that it remains our secret. I had no idea that she would tell you about it. But my advice to you is to leave well enough alone and just appreciate the benefits she will enjoy as the result of our ‘swap’ as you call it.”

  Louis was dumbstruck. He wanted to pull out his revolver and shoot the man on the spot, but he wasn’t wearing it. He wanted to drive his truck over him... several times. He wanted to belt him in the stomach and jump up and down on his head. Instead, he stood paralyzed with shock.

  “If it will make you feel any better, Mr. Parks.” Perry smiled at him. “Julia didn’t do anything she couldn’t have done at any time. She only needed a boost. Something tangible to hold on to, as it were. In her case, she wanted it so badly, I hardly had to do anything at all, but show up and offer her the opportunity.”

  Louis felt as if he would faint for the first time in his life. He felt as if his own shirt collar were choking the life out of him. His ears roared and his vision blurred. A pain struck the center of his chest and ran with lightning speed down his left arm burning like melted lead. He reached for Perry’s neck and the world turned to a whirlwind of colors, noise, lights and then nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-Five:.

  Perry climbed the stairs to the apartment with his hands jammed in the pockets of his soaking wet slacks and shivered as water ran from his hair and dripped into his face. The downpour had arrived with the ambulance that had taken Louis Parks away to the hospital and put the finishing touches on the evening by ruining most everything that wasn’t already ruined. Even his little construction paper haircut coupons had lost their ink and were now a crumpled mess in his pocket. He dragged them out and dropped them over the railing. He should have known something was wrong with Louis before it had had happened, but Falco’s presence and the effect of the alcohol had combined to make him totally unreceptive. Louis would be alright and Julia was with him, but he could not excuse himself so easily. He knew that he could put an end to Falco’s interference at any time he pleased, but then Angelica would know and his cover, as they called it here, would be blown. All he needed was a little rest and time to think.

  The living room was dark. The cat met him at the door and he bent to pick him up and scratched his ears. He was disgusted to find Falco sitting in his chair by the window watching the rain. The cat abandoned him. Agamemnon didn’t appreciate his wet clothes. He stood for a mome
nt considering several acid remarks to make and then refrained from saying anything at all. Dry clothes were his objective.

  “How is your policeman?” Falco asked him when he passed through the living room. Angelica was with him, sitting in her chair with her feet tucked under her. It was like a waking nightmare. Falco was sitting in his chair with his Angelica drinking his tea and watching the rain from his windows. It was almost more than he could bear.

  “He will recover,” Perry told him shortly and went down the hall to change clothes.

  A short while later, he dragged the cedar box from the bedroom closet and checked the lock. He opened the lid and counted the boxes to make sure they were still intact and undisturbed. When he had replaced the lock and stood up, he found Falco standing in the doorway watching him.

  “And what do you propose to do with them?” He asked.

  “The same thing I always do with them,” Perry answered vaguely. He could see that he would get no rest there tonight. He carried the heavy box past his ‘brother’, down the hall and into the kitchen to set it on the counter. The man followed him. Angelica wandered into the kitchen and leaned against the sink. Perry had never felt so tired. He looked at her and saw no sympathy or concern in her eyes, only curiosity. He went to the closet in the foyer and took a gray raincoat and small folding spade from the top shelf.

  “Aha!” Falco said as Perry pulled on the raincoat. “A clue! You bury them. How quaint.

  “You can’t be thinking of going out in this weather?” Angelica asked him.

  “This is perfect weather for dirty deeds,” he told her lightly.

  Angelica crossed the space to look up at him. “You are upset about something,” she said and he almost laughed. “I have done some research, Peregrin, and I have learned some interesting things concerning the subject we discussed earlier today during supper.” She glanced back at Falco who stood watching them through the kitchen door. “If you would delay this... activity until later or perhaps, tomorrow,” she lowered her voice. “Now would be an opportune moment for our thirty minutes.”

  Perry blinked at her in surprise. Had she learned to tell jokes while he was away?

  “I don’t think now would be a good time,” he said without further elaboration.

  Angelica accepted his answer without the slightest change in her expression. She felt as if there was nothing she could do. Whatever was between Peregrin and the First Order Citizen was their affair and had nothing to do with her. Peregrin had blocked her completely from the moment Falco had arrived and she had not had time to herself to try to make sense of these latest developments. She needed time to think and time away from both of them. She wished fleetingly that Falco was not there and that she and Peregrin could sit in their chairs in front of the windows drinking tea and watching the rain, but she knew that Falco would know what she was thinking and she quickly diverted her thoughts to another subject less provoking to the Primus.

  On an impulse, Perry turned from the door of the closet and bent to kiss Angelica lightly on the lips and an almost audible snap of electric blue erupted between them that caused him to smile at her momentarily. She backed away from him.

  “I’ll take a rain... check on that,” he told her and dragged the box across the floor to open the door. A gust of wind blew the rain inside the apartment before he picked up the box and disappeared into the night.

  Billy Johnson sat across the street in front of the old pharmacy building watching the rain wash against the cracked windshield of his one-ton pickup truck. The sounds of country music emanated softly from the radio speakers as he took another pull from his bottle and then laid it on the seat beside him. He was feeling very depressed which was unusual for him. He didn’t normally think long enough to be depressed anymore. He’d given up on thinking a long time ago. He’d never been too good at it anyway. His strength lay in action. He reacted to situations as they came along. Planning and dreaming were foreign concepts to him. The closest thing he had to plans were thoughts about Friday and Saturday whenever Monday morning rolled around.

  He’d taken Hannah home and had driven back to town intending to check out the band once more before heading home himself, but the sudden rainstorm had caused everyone to leave the dance early and the fact that his windshield wipers were non-existent had caused him to pull over and stay put until the rain let up enough for him to see without wipers. The rain spattered into the crack at the top of his window where he blew the smoke from his Hava-Tampa out into the night. He turned his head to blow out another stream of smoke and stopped. The sight of Perry Aliger lugging a large wooden box down the stairs of his building in the rain caught his attention in an iron grip. He watched in fascination as the man slipped and slid down the stairs and then hurried across the little yard toward the cars that were parked at the rear of the building. When he passed under the street lamp, the box lid gleamed in the light reminding Billy of an old pirate’s treasure chest. That’s what he needed a chest full of money or jewels or gold. He’d pay off the taxes on Hannah’s land and then refurbish the marina. Go into business for himself for a change. He laughed aloud at the idea, but wondered what in the world Perry Aliger was doing out in the rain with the big box at this time of night. Maybe it was his clothes and the little wife had kicked him out for good.

  He took greater interest in Perry’s activities when he by-passed the VW and the red sports car parked under the carport and turned at the rear of the building then headed at an angle across the backyard toward the pecan grove instead. This was more interesting than Tejas Tom’s cowgirls. Billy picked up the bottle, took another swig and then turned up the collar of his shirt and let himself out onto the rain slicked pavement. The downpour was letting up a bit now and he hurried across the street and down the sidewalk staying close to the shadows of the buildings. Billy thought, if nothing else, he could finish up that ass-kicking he wanted to do and there would be no audience and no one to interfere this time. His spirits lifted and he sobered a bit in the cold rain.

  Billy headed down the street in front of the Gift Shop and glanced up at the second floor windows. He saw no one looking out as he passed. He cut close to the far end of the building and walked rapidly across the open space to the hedge row that separated the pecan grove from the street beyond. He could see Perry under the trees as the wind caused the tree limbs to sway back and forth allowing the street lights to flicker beneath their swirling shadows. The scene had an other-worldly appearance as he edged his way into the grove and drew closer to his objective. Perry had set the box on the ground and was digging at the dirt with a small spade. His actions fit the atmosphere, but Billy could not believe the man was actually going to bury the box. It was like a scene from a good murder mystery. Maybe there were body parts in the chest. Maybe he had killed his wife and cut her up and put her in the box. It was big enough to hold her. Billy shook his head and almost laughed. He decided to wait a bit before he made his move. He couldn’t really tell if it was Perry Aliger or his brother, but it didn’t matter, did it?

  A million thoughts went through his alcohol befuddled brain. What if it really was money? Maybe drug money or something even more interesting. Maybe it was some family heirlooms, but why would a man like that be burying something in the first place? Whatever it was, it had to be good. The longer Billy waited, the more he wanted to find out what was going on. He decided against the ass-kicking. He would wait until the project was finished and then just go get his own shovel and dig it back up. It wouldn’t take long. What if it were some sort of family secret? Evidence of some crime? He would need someone with a brain to help him figure out what to do with it. Someone who would keep his secret and someone who had no love for Perry Aliger. Someone who might want to help him bring the guy down a few notches. The sight of Sam Morris charging into Perry at the auction flashed in front of his face. Sam Morris would help him. He would dig up the box and take it over to Morris’ house. He would know what to do. If it was full of gold doubloons, he’d
just have to share it with Sam. Hell, he wasn’t greedy. He was just mean.

  Angelica had waited patiently for Perry’s return. She met him at the door.

  “You are covered with mud.” She frowned at him as he entered the apartment.

  “Yes,” he agreed with her and took the shovel with him to the bathroom. She followed him and watched him rinse the mud from the shovel and then from his ruined shoes.

  “Where is our friend?” He asked as he looked over his shoulder at her.

  “He’s gone.”

  “Where did he go?” He asked.

  “He didn’t tell me,” she said. “I didn’t ask. It wouldn’t have been... proper.”

  Peregrin turned to look down at her and then pulled off his wet shirt. When he started to unbutton his jeans, she retreated from the room and closed the door.

  He laughed to himself and shook his head. Apparently her offer of '30 minutes' had expired.

  “Tyler! Tyler!” Paula Anne’s voice sounded near hysterical.

  Tyler got up faster than his ribs could tolerate from the recliner and hurried as best he could down the hallway toward the sound of her voice. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” He indulged his pain as he limped along. It was probably a big spider in the bathtub or a mouse under the counter.

  “Tyler!” She stood in the middle of the bathroom staring at him. She looked cute in her red and white ruffled shortie nightgown. She held a plastic thing in her hand. He looked about for the source of her alarm, but saw nothing.

  “What?!” He asked her and clutched his sore ribs.

  “It’s positive!” She told him and then came to throw her arms around his neck causing additional stress to his ribs. “We’re pregnant!”