by Goode, Ella
“I need my stuff.” Hurt is giving way to anger. I can’t believe he’d do this—lock me out of my only home.
“Nothing in this house belongs to you.”
“That’s not true. I have clothes in there. And other stuff.” I have a few pieces of jewelry that my mother wore, some pictures, books. I want that. I jiggle the doorknob and bang on the wooden door. He allows the curtain for the sidelight to fall and then his figure moves away, ignoring my pleas.
My eyes fall to the key stuck in the lock. Crap. That is Easy’s key. The key to his house. I tug on it, but it won’t budge. Tears of frustration, hurt, unhappiness start flowing. I brush the back of my hand against my eyes and pull out the phone. I’ll call someone—Easy, Michigan, Pippa. Someone.
But the phone doesn’t work. I don’t even get a dial tone. In the dark I see that the service is disconnected. Did he cancel my cell phone plan too?
Taking a deep breath, I dry my eyes and think about my options. I can’t call anyone—not Michigan and Easy, not Pippa. The granary that serves as the motorcycle clubhouse is five miles west of town. Fortune is a safe town but it’s not Mayberry. It’d be dangerous to walk the five miles in the pitch dark. On those country roads there aren’t any streetlights and a car could easily hit me. Maybe Michigan and Easy haven’t left yet. It takes me twenty minutes to walk to the other side of town where they live.
My feet are sore because the flats I’d worn to the house aren’t meant for walking. Their house is completely silent and dark. I tap on a few windows but no one shows up. They are gone. A peek inside the garage shows only the truck and no bikes.
There are a couple of lawn chairs on the back porch. I pull those together and lie down. At least it’s summer. I can survive out here for one night in the summer. If it were winter though I wouldn’t make it.
I barely sleep a minute.
Between the mosquitoes and the late summer night air, there was no rest for me so I’m up at dawn and at the bank’s ATM. I insert my card and punch in my key code. The machine beeps at me and then swallows my card!
I make my way to the gas station, buy a coffee and a donut and sit on a bench at the park for the next three hours waiting for the bank to open. At nine o’clock sharp I’m outside the bank waiting for the doors to open.
Sara Ellerby, a high school classmate of mine, waves to me as she unlocks the door.
“Morning, Annie.” She holds open the door and I march in.
“Morning, Sara. I need to make a withdrawal and check my balance.”
“Sure thing. You have your debit card?” She hustles around to the back of the counter and holds out her hand for my card.
“No, the bank ATM ate it this morning.”
“God, I’m sorry. I’ll just need your driver’s license and bank account then. I can order you a new card too.”
“Thanks,” I sigh. So I had a few bad hours. I’ll withdraw some money, enough that I can stay in a motel tonight if I have to and a prepaid phone. As I make plans, Sara taps away at her keyboard. It seems like it’s taking her a long time. A little divot appears on her pretty face as she stares at the screen.
“Something wrong?”
“Um, no. I don’t think so.” She taps out a few more keys. “Do you have another account, Annie?”
“No. Just this one.”
She turns back to me, hands clasped and her lips pressed tight together. “Honey, that account is closed. It was closed this morning by your father. He was a cosignatory on the account.”
“He can do that?” I ask in shock. “Close it without me?”
She nods and misery is all over her face. “He transferred all the money over to a different account and I can’t tell you which one.”
“But, but—” My mouth is flapping like underwear on a clothing line. “The bank just opened,” I sputtered.
“I know.” She grimaces. “It was done right as the bank was opening. I’m so sorry. Do you need a loan? I’ve got a little money set aside.”
“No,” I say dazed but furious. I can’t believe Father would do that to me.
“I heard you were seeing a couple of the Death Lords. They take care of their own. If you needed something, I’m sure they would help you out.”
“Is that already being talked about?” I said with dismay.
“Unfortunately. It’s Fortune. What else have we got to do?”
“Thanks,” I say faintly. “For everything.”
I march over to the church. I’m hungry and I haven’t slept well which means I’m really irritated. The church is open all hours. There are no locks on the sanctuary door. Give me your tired and needy and poor is the unofficial motto.
Well, I’m all three.
The doors bang open and echo inside the empty worship hall. For once I don’t feel that sense of reverence. I’m too angry. I stomp down the center aisle and through the side door to the back where the parish office is.
I don’t even knock. My, I’m rebellious today.
“What is it?” Father asks impatiently.
“You took my money,” I accuse.
He steeples his fingers. “No, that money came from the church. You were just merely the custodian of the funds which could be taken from you at any time should you not be in alignment with the principles of the church.”
I gasp. “I earned that money. I worked here for years for that money.”
“Is money all that you can think about?” he says with disapproval.
“No, but I don’t understand why you’ve taken it from me. I earned it.” Tears start falling but they’re tears of anger and frustration. I’m upset about so many things. His betrayal being number one. “You locked me out last. I had to sleep outside on lawn chairs. This morning I went to draw some money out of my account and it was gone. All of it. What is this all about?”
“Anne Bloom, do not play dumb with me. You know what this is about.”
“Is it because I want to see Easy?”
He erupts. He jumps from his chair and strides around his desk. “Easy?” he spits out. “You call him by that ridiculous gang name. You’ve spread your legs not only for him but for his friend. You’re nothing but a whore.”
I gasp at the insult. He looms over me. It shocks me that I’ve forgotten how big he is. I got my height from him but he stands at least six inches taller than me. And he’s big. Big boned. I never gave his size much thought. Other than that one time, the one time we don’t speak about, he’s never given me cause to worry about it.
“Yes, that’s right,” he continues. “I had an edifying conversation with Chief Schmidt last night. He shared with me the perversions that go on in that club. It is a den of iniquity and now that you are part of it, you do not belong here in this sanctuary, contaminating the good people of the community.”
“There’s nothing in the Bible that says I can’t love more than one man,” I say defiantly.
He grabs my wrists in his one big paw and leans over and spits in my face! I draw back in utter shock. My mouth drops open but I can’t even wipe the spittle away because his big hand is holding me captive. “You are an abomination.”
He raises my wrists higher with one hand and reaches behind him with another. He shoves two brown pieces of leather in my face, mashing my face against the metal clasps so hard I feel my lips bite into my teeth.
“And these? What are these?” he thunders, shaking my wrists.
“Bracelets.” I tremble. The urge to vomit burns the back of my throat. His hate for me in this moment is so strong I can almost taste it. The bitterness makes me cold.
He tosses them aside. I yelp and lunge for them but he’s too strong. His grip is merciless. With his free hand, he rips my shirt down the middle. My naked breasts hang out for him to see and I cringe in shame. He slaps me hard, not across my face but across my breasts!
“Why even wear a shirt if you mean to flaunt your nudity? Go without,” he shouts.
I try to cover myself, closing my elbows togethe
r so my abused and naked breasts have some covering. My face drips with his spit and my tears. Between panting sobs, I cry, “Stop it, stop it.”
But he doesn’t. He stares in disgust at the purple and red bruises around my breasts and torso. The secret marks of possession that I was so proud of before now seem terrible, like the mark of the devil. Father looks at me as if I’ve lain with Satan himself.
He throws my wrists aside and I reel in shock and surprise, trying to cover myself with the tattered pieces of cloth. With a sigh of utter disgust, he moves away from me.
“You need to go to your room and pray.”
I run there. Inside my room I see a mat of rocks. He wants me to kneel there, but I’m not going to do it. I’m leaving. I rip the suitcase off the upper hall closet shelf and race into my bedroom but I’m not fast enough. He’s already at the doorway with a paddle from my childhood in his hands.
He advances quickly and pushes me facedown on the bed, his heavy knee planted in the middle of my back. I’m like a pinned butterfly on a corkboard. He whacks me on the back, just above my bottom.
“Did I spoil you too much?” he bellows.
“What? No! I—”
There’s no room to finish my thoughts for he pushes himself off me and I scramble back. He stalks me to the corner. He raises his paddle again and I raise my hands to ward off a blow to the face, but he hits me right in the pelvis and I fold over from the pain.
“Did they touch you there?”
“Father. Stop this! This isn’t right. I’m not a child!” This time the paddle strikes me right in the face and I reel against the wall. He strikes me again from the other side. I collapse into a heap, dazed and in real pain.
“Did you fornicate with both of them at the same time like a whore of Babylon?”
He begins hitting me with the paddle everywhere. I curl up into a ball to protect my head. My arms feel like they are on fire. My back hurts. I hear the clink of his belt buckle and then feel the bite of metal on my shoulders.
He yells, punctuating each blow with a barrage of words. "The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."
I become turtle-like, until all I feel is the lash biting into my bare skin, onto my jeans and my arms. Until there isn’t anything.
Chapter Nine
Easy
The business in Minneapolis takes longer than we anticipated. Junior swears up and down that his brothers are being set up by a rival gang. We don’t know many cops up here and neither does Junior so we can’t buy anyone off. It looks like a couple of these guys are going down on weapons charges. The best we can do is hire them a good lawyer and move their assets.
After Wrecker has a talk with the two soon-to-be felons, we take the cage to the three different safe houses. They’ve got a stash of cash, drugs and some weapons which we’ll take to a cabin in Detroit Lakes. There’s a cellar that only the Death Lords know about and we’ll stick everything there.
Both of the club brothers will get about four years. It sucks, but they’re young. Better to make those mistakes when you’re twenty than when you’re forty.
It’s four in the afternoon by the time we get done transferring everything to the private cellar. Wrecker and Abel climb into the cage and head home while Michigan and I stop to make a phone call to Annie.
“That’s funny. Annie’s phone isn’t working. Says it’s disconnected.” Michigan holds up the phone and I hear the distinctive beep beep beep of a line not in service.
“Let me try.” I pull out my own phone and dial her number but I don’t even get the disconnected signal. Instead an automated voice says “This number has been disconnected. If you believe you have reached this message in error, please hang up and try again.”
“Something’s fucked up.” Michigan looks grim.
“Maybe she’s getting a new one along with a new apartment.” I toss my phone in the saddlebag and throw a leg over the seat of my bike. “Let’s go get our girl.”
When we get home, though, the house is completely silent. There’s no dinner on the table, not that there needed to be, but there isn’t any sign of Annie anywhere. She’s not sitting in the living room or lying in either of our beds. The bathroom is empty.
We go down to the unfinished basement and there’s no one there either.
“What the fuck?” Michigan snarls.
“Her dad has her,” I conclude. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” He grabs my arm as I’m climbing the basement stairs. “What if she decided it’s too much. That she doesn’t want to live with us?”
“Then she tells it to our faces.”
Only when we get to the house, the old man refuses us entry. “She’s not interested in seeing you.”
“I’d like to hear that from her.” I try to look past him but he’s a big fucker and fills the doorway.
“She said to give these to you.” He holds out the two bracelets. “Now please leave. We aren’t interested in your kind anymore. Annie’s praying and seeking forgiveness for her behavior.”
Michigan snatches the bracelets up.
“I still want to see her,” I repeat. Michigan is ready to believe that Annie has rejected us, but I’m too stubborn or stupid to leave. “And I’m not leaving until I do.”
“If you continue to remain here, I’ll have you arrested for trespass.” He slams the door in our faces.
“Let’s go,” Michigan says.
“No.”
“She doesn’t want us, man.”
“So you’re giving up?” I walk around the small house trying to pinpoint which room is Annie’s.
“I know when to cut my losses.”
There. On the upper left side is a window covered in lacy curtains. I mean, it could be her old man’s. “Don’t you think it’s fucking strange that he won’t let us see her? I’m calling Pippa.”
To avoid getting arrested, I stroll to the sidewalk. For all of Michigan’s complaints, he’s not getting on his bike and leaving. I know he’s not ready to give up no matter what he says. He leans against his bike and lights up a cancer stick. Fuck, I gotta get Annie out of that house.
“Hi, Easy. Shouldn’t the three of you be too busy to call me?” she laughs throatily.
“I’d like to say yes but Annie wasn’t at our house when we got home and her old man is telling us that she doesn’t want to see us.”
“What? I thought she was with you all day. I told her that I’d take her over to meet Judge but when she didn’t show or call me, I thought you guys got home early and were, um, celebrating.”
“No. So when’s the last time you saw her?”
“Last night. I drove her straight home from your place and waited in the car until the front light came on and her dad came to the door. God, I hope nothing happened to her.”
“I called her phone and it was disconnected.”
“Oh,” Pippa’s obvious distress bothers me. Something is wrong. “Should I come over and see if I can talk to her? I’ll tell her dad it’s library business.”
“Let me call you back.” I hang up and turn to Michigan. “Pippa hasn’t heard from her since she dropped Annie off. We need to go back.”
“And do what? He’s not letting us in. We should just knock the preacher over and bang on her bedroom door until she gives us a reason why she isn’t coming over like she promised?”
I nod because that sounds like a dandy idea but before I can say another word, my phone rings. I answer immediately without looking at the screen.
“Annie?” I bark into the phone.
“No, Abel here.” The low voice of the Marine is definitely not the one I wanted to hear.
“What’s up?” I scrub a hand over my face. I hope we don’t have club business that needs attending to because right now, I’m not in the fucking mood.
“Your grandmother’s here.”
“Here? At the granary?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. Tell me that everyone is clothed
.”
“Everyone’s got their clothes on but some of the guys’ jimmies are rustled so you might want to get her on the phone and see what she wants.”
“Will do. Thanks.” I hang up and dial my grandma’s phone. Thank Christ for Judge’s stupid “no nudity on the first floor” rule.
“Hello there, Van, how are you?”
“Grandma, isn’t it late for you? What are you doing at the granary?”
“Honey, just because I’m a member of the AARP doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a late night or two but actually, I came out here to find you. I confess I’m worried about your librarian friend.”
“Annie?”
At the sound of her name, Michigan straightens up and flicks his cigarette on the ground.
“Yes, her.”
“Why’s that?”
“Mrs. Erickson lives by the parish house, you know, and she said the other evening she heard some yelling between Annie and her father, Pastor Bloom. So we went over to the church to see her today and her father looked very agitated. I asked about her and he said that she was sick. Perhaps you could look into it for me. I’m just so concerned.”
“What aren’t you saying, Grandma?” She wouldn’t just call me up because her neighbor overheard some yelling.
Grandma hesitates and then says, “Mrs. Erickson thought she saw Pastor Bloom go into his cellar with a big bag. A really big bag—and he never goes into his cellar. She found it very odd. I’m sure it’s nothing, Van.”
Holy shit. I shove the phone into my pocket and run around to the back of the house. Annie’s house has external cellar access meaning the cellar doors are on the outside of the house. The two small slanted doors are covered with a bright new padlock.
“What’s going on?” Michigan asks. He’s been right behind me the whole time.
“Annie and her dad were heard fighting last night. She missed an appointment with Pippa.” I kick the cellar door, testing its durability. There’s a little give. The doors rattle against the foundation and the lock.
“So what?” He’s impatient and staring at me like I’m a crazy man.
