by Kim Smith
The coffee maker let out a gasp of steam to indicate it was finished, and I poured myself a cup. I noted my shaking hands. Not surprising considering how much I hated when things didn’t go my way, and even more when things were out of the realm of my control. Like now.
I carried my coffee to my bedroom only to hear my cell phone buzzing on my dresser. It was too early to be anything good. I set the coffee down and answered. “Hello?”
“Shannon? It’s Sal. Where are you?”
“At this hour? At home, of course.”
“Good. Keep the doors locked. Stay there.”
“What’s going on?”
“Green’s disappeared.”
My pinkie nail went into my mouth, and I chewed viciously. I guess the silence worried Sal more than if I had gasped.
“Shannon? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I’m a good liar too.
He paused. “Where’s your watchdog?”
“Sleeping on the couch.”
“Keep him there, and keep that pepper spray handy.”
I didn’t tell him I had something made of cold blue steel that would serve me much better. When we got off the phone, I stood in the middle of my bedroom floor debating what to do. It was like in Gone with the Wind when the Yankees were coming.
Where do I go? What do I do now?
Take a hot shower.
Steam filled the air, and I relaxed. Drawing in deep breaths, I whispered the only mantra I’d ever learned.
“I am safe in my home. There is nothing to fear.”
After shutting the water off, I pulled the towel from the rack outside the shower door and stayed in the warmth of the shower stall for a few moments. Wrapped in the first towel, I reached for another to use to dry my hair. The back of my neck prickled. Someone was watching.
My shower door was mottled plastic and not see-through, so I threw it back and found Dwayne leaning against the wall, back to me, face averted.
I squealed in fright. “What the hell, Dee? Why are you in here?”
He straightened. “I woke up smelling coffee, and when I went to get some, you were missing. I heard the shower running, so I came looking for you. Let me step outta here.” He left and stood in the bedroom to allow some privacy, but kept talking. “I would have hollered to let you know I was around, but the damn cell phone rang out here. I didn’t want to scare you by running in there with it, so I answered it.”
“Who was it?”
“Guess it was that Green piece of shit.”
“What did he say?” I stepped out of the shower, tucking the towel securely around me.
“Said he would do you right in front of me then I would be next.”
Weakness flooded through me. I sank to my knees by the toilet as memories of the recording returned to hit me. “Oh God. Oh God.”
“What’s wrong?” I heard a rustle like he was about to whip through the doorway.
“Don’t come in here,” I croaked.
“What?”
“Leave. I’m going to be sick, please…”
The rustling disappeared, and I willed the sick feeling to pass. But it didn’t, and I knew it wouldn’t until Levi Green was out of my life for good.
I had gotten all my shopping finished before we were quarantined to the apartment and had no real need to go out, but before the afternoon set in, Dwayne and I were anxious for something to do. My lack of patience made me wish Green would make some sort of move. The cops wouldn’t find him if he wanted to stay hidden. Get him out in the open was my plan, but he had to call and give me a chance first.
My wish was granted later that afternoon. He called and breathed in my ear, and I breathed back.
“Hey man, instead of playing games on the phone, why don’t you do both of us a favor and agree to meet me somewhere. I’ll bring your goods, and you bring mine. We can both walk away and nobody gets hurt.”
No answer, but he didn’t hang up.
“Meet me at South Lake city park at seven, over by the lake.”
He disconnected. The enormity of what I’d just done punched me in the gut. I felt like a bird in a cage when a cat prowled around.
Dwayne watched me gently set the phone down, and began a barrage of questions, pacing the floor, hands on his hips. “You are taking cop protection, right? You ain’t got no card to give him anymore. What are you gonna do about that? You need to think about this before you do it, in my opinion-”
“I think I know your opinion, Dee. But I don’t need cop protection; I have you, and I’ll give Green a new blank disk instead. He can’t watch it until he gets back in his sewer, and we’ll be long gone. And yes, I’ve thought about it. It’s either the cops finagle a meeting with Green using me as bait, or we do it my way. I personally don’t believe the murdering asshat will show up if he thinks the cops are involved, so my way’s really the only way.”
He shook his head and wandered back and forth, muttering.
I put out a hand to stop him. “Listen Dwayne, we have to recover the SD card, or cards—as the case may be, before the cops catch this guy. Once they have him, Sal will have to go through the data and so will everyone else involved with the case. God, can you imagine? They would have them in some evidence locker, and every night a different guy will go sneak a peek. And drool. Or worse! Yuck.”
He glared at me. “Is that all you’re worried about? Those damn movies? Are you nuts? This guy has killed at least three people and is gunning for your ass. Geez, Shannon, listen to yourself.”
Fear furrowed his brow. I touched his arm. “I’m scared, too, but I can’t hide forever. At least now I know who I’m looking for. Now I can plan better. This way it’s a controlled crash. We control the situation, not him.”
Dwayne sighed and plopped on the couch, dejected. “If I wasn’t so tired of worrying about you all the time, I would probably argue longer.”
“Good. Now you’re with me.”
He chewed his lower lip. “Seven?”
“Seven.”
“One time I got talked into seeing a crystal ball reader at the Mid-South fair. She told me the day and time of my death.” His gaze wandered the room.
I waited for a second for him to tell me the punch line. He didn’t. “Well?” I asked, finally.
“Oh. It was summertime. Seven o’clock.”
“She might have been wrong.”
“Naw. She was right. She also told me when I would lose my virginity. Happened just like she told it.”
I squinted at him but refrained from asking any questions. Sometimes you just don’t need to know.
Chapter 20
Dwayne and I drove to the park early, our police protection right behind us until we intentionally lost him in the industrial park on the east side of town. We doubled back to the park and drove through looking for other police personnel. Finding none, I dropped Dwayne off and parked by the tennis courts.
After walking around, watching people for a while, I relaxed a little. No one resembled Green. Maybe he wouldn’t show. Wouldn’t that be my sucky luck?
Realistically, if I had been in his shoes I wouldn’t make an appearance, although meeting a snip of a woman in a public park should give him more comfort than he deserved.
At seven on the dot, I situated myself on the park bench by the lake and waited for Green to appear. Dwayne hid somewhere close by, refusing to tell me where. I supposed it was because he didn’t want me to give him away by looking in his direction. He promised that he would be there, but I took my gun and pepper spray too, tucked securely in my tote, just in case. I had begun to be very limited on my trust issues.
The sunset glittered to my left. The golden rays bounced off the water turning everything orange and pink. At any other time, I would be enjoying the sunset, enjoying my life. Now all I could do was worry that I might lose it.
Minutes passed. I glanced at my cell phone’s clock. I didn’t want to get stuck meeting this nut-case after dark. Dusk began its approach over the t
ops of the towering pines lining the park, settling over the other side of the lake like a giant tent. I scanned the area to my right and saw a lone figure sitting at a picnic table.
He faced me, watching. I shifted away from him and placed my hand on my little five shot pistol lying heavily in the canvas tote. It was small comfort. I couldn’t whip it out in time to shoot him. I was even less sure I could shoot another human.
How long had he been there? Had he seen Dwayne? Chills seeped into my body. Dwayne’s words returned to haunt me. Green had killed three people. The card or cards he might possess no longer mattered. This was my life I was fooling with.
I stood and walked toward him. The closer I got, the less frightened I became. The trip to that picnic table took forever, it seemed. I stopped across from him on the opposite side of the table. My mind whirled through every phone call he had made to me.
“Sit,” he commanded.
I glanced at bird droppings and was immediately glad I was wearing jeans. I draped my legs over the concrete seat, placed my tote on my lap, and sat. “Do you have my goods?”
“Do you have mine?”
“You answer me first.”
“Yes, I’ve got them. All five tributes to your prowess and your lover’s, of course.”
Five? Whew.
“My lover. Oh, you mean, the man you stabbed to death?”
The reminder of his prowess, murdering, stabilized me. The cold feeling evaporated, and anger, white-hot and raging, replaced it.
He shrugged as if what he had done was of no consequence. My gaze followed his hand into his lightweight jacket. He was carrying a gun.
Damn. Why couldn’t one thing go my way?
“Your lover interrupted my plans. If he had just been smart and viewed the card when my secretary sent it, he would have known he had the wrong one. That was what I wanted. But no, he was stupid and dumped the card off at home.
“He was a busy man,” I said.
“He was a stupid man,” he drawled. “And a very easy victim. You’ll be comforted by knowing that he never knew what hit him. After giving me his address to come and pick up my little keepsake, which he didn’t remember even having, it wasn’t hard to encourage him to let me in.”
That answered the phone call Rick had been on when he called me into his office that fated Friday. If only I had known…
My anger suffused my regret. “I suppose you were the one doing the pranks, making him think he was being stalked?”
“Of course. I had hoped he would go and stay with someone, you or his brother, so I could get a look around his apartment. I never found it in his office, so I knew he had it at home. But he didn’t scare easily. At least, not until he saw the knife.”
“And Joe? Why did you kill Joe?” I asked quickly, trying to change the subject. I didn’t want the details. I was afraid I would puke all over the concrete picnic table and then faint. I just didn’t want him making a move before Dwayne could get ready.
It didn’t matter now how much I asked. His gun was probably trained on me under the table. So what if he spilled his guts? Who would find out?
He smiled, like he was about to divulge a secret. “Mr. Drury. Yes, he was smart, but he was too close to your lover. I took a chance that Fine had given the card to him, since I hadn’t found it in any of the places I thought I would. Did you know that he almost caught me at Fine’s place? Oh yes, he came to call right before I did. His timing was perfect, and he was on the way to being the perfect suspect.”
I gazed at the table in an attempt to hide my horror. My fingers were gripping my gun. The conversation was not going where I wanted it to go, but keeping him talking seemed like a good plan.
“So now what? You don’t seem too worried that I have your card and the cops might have seen it. Did you even think of that?”
His voice didn’t change, but the smile did. “I’ve thought of everything. You should already know that. So did the cops see it?”
I tried to imitate his smile. Let him sweat.
“Ah, Shannon. Tsk, tsk. Not a good plan on your part. If they’ve seen the contents of the card, or worse yet, copied it, I will have to kill you.”
The fake smile died on my lips. I squirmed and glanced toward the road leading out of the park. Where were the police when I needed them? Didn’t they usually ride through here once an hour?
He stood and pointed the business end of his weapon at me through his pocket. “No help for you this time, little lady. Let’s go for a little ride.”
“Then what? You kill me?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t like your plan. I like my plan better.” I pulled my gun out and held it on him.
He glanced around. “Put that away. This is not the showdown at the OK Corral.” He sat back down. “Not as dumb as you look, eh?”
“I try.” I kept my gun pointed at him. I hoped someone in the park became nosy, saw the interaction, and called the cops.
“Ah well. No sense in playing games. We obviously have a standoff.”
“In chess this would be called a stalemate.”
Where was Dwayne?
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A sudden rustling came from behind him. A man appeared, stepped to the side of the table, and showed me his gun trained on me through his lightweight jacket.
“Drop it,” the man said, nodding at my weapon.
I smiled at Green. “You know how to play chess, too?”
He nodded, unsmiling. I kept my eyes on the man and leaned over to carefully place my gun on the ground beside me.
Before anyone could contemplate their next move, Dwayne jumped from the arms of a huge oak tree behind both of the men. He bobbled a little, but never moved his gun’s sight from its twin targets. He rushed forward, shoved his gun into Green’s accomplice’s back and with the element of surprise, disarmed the man.
Green flinched. “Mr. Brown, I presume? Bad timing.” He made a move to pull his gun out to fire it at me, but Dwayne shoved the unarmed man forward into Green’s back, forcing him into the concrete table.
“Uh-uh-uh,” Dwayne warned him. “A bullet at close range will go through both of you. Now I’ve got two guns, both loaded. I’d say the odds are in my favor.”
“Better do as he says, Levi. I believe he’s nervous enough to shoot accidentally,” Simon said.
“You ain’t listening, you primal scream film freak,” Dwayne said, poking the barrel of his gun into the back of Simon’s head. “Drop it, now. Or you’re gonna both be splattered all over this table.”
Green gingerly pulled his gun out, barrel down. He tossed it behind him. I leaned down to get my gun, and at the same time, Green yanked up on the tabletop.
Childhood memories of my father saying how the tables were made of solid concrete flashed behind my eyes. All eight hundred million pounds of picnic table rushed toward me. I scrambled backward off the bench and ended up on my butt as the tabletop landed where I had been sitting.
Green’s goon reacted, twisting away a few steps to get at the gun Green had tossed. My sucky luck held true. We armed ourselves at the same time. I fired and watched as he grabbed his shoulder. “The next one in your fucking head!” I screamed.
He fired back, the bullet flying totally off to my left. I started to fire again, but Dwayne’s legs got in the way. Stupid Simon decided this wasn’t a fair fight with a bullet in his wing, so he scrambled off toward the woods.
The sounds of a struggle between Dwayne and Green made me pause. I flipped upright, and crawled to the concrete slab just as a thick slap rang out. Dwayne landed on his side by the table.
I didn’t know who had a gun any longer and my bravado dissipated.
“What are you doing?” Dwayne yelled at me, scrambling to his feet. “Shoot him!”
I staggered upwards, gun jerking out to shoot at anything that moved, but it was too late. Green had followed his goon into the thickness of woods and night.
“Don’t shoot,” Dwayne said,
breathing heavily. “Stray bullets might travel and hit some innocent kid or his baby sister on the swings by the tennis courts.”
My sucky luck had finally gotten better. No one was dead, no one was hurt. Best to keep it that way.
We managed to run toward the parking lot, but it was too late.
Green’s pewter-colored Intrepid spun out in the gravel as he fled the park. We stood panting and coughing for air as his taillights disappeared.
“Why didn’t you shoot the bastard?” I gasped, when I could talk again. “You had him right there.”
“He busted me in the jaw. I couldn’t get a good shot off.”
“And now he’s gone. Oh, brother.”
“So, now what?” Dwayne huffed.
“Now we’re really in deep shit.”
“What makes it any worse now than when we got here?”
“Because now he knows the cops have seen his video. I’m the only thing standing between him and freedom.”
Dwayne sat down hard. “Did I ever tell you I don’t like you anymore?”
“What?”
“I’ve never been so close to crapping on myself.”
“I thought you wanted to be a private investigator? This is the life of one, danger on all sides, fleeing felons, all that stuff.”
He shoved his gun into his waistband and removed bullets from the others before handing the guns and ammo to me. Then, he scowled. “I don’t think so.”
“I do.” I dropped the weapons and gear into my purse. “It’s so exciting.”
“Then I retire.” He wiped sweat off with the heels of his. hands.
“You’ve just gotten your first client. How can you retire?”
“Trust me, it ain’t hard.”
“That’s what she said,” I quipped under my breath, leading the way to the car.
Dwayne strode along behind me watching for any signs of danger. “Wonder where that Simon dude went?”
“He’s most likely in the car with Green,” I told Dwayne. “I shot him. I really did it. I wish I was a nurse at Baptist. I’d keep him waiting in triage until he fainted from a lack of blood.”
“Not me. I’d rather be the surgeon who has to dig it out,” he said grinning. “With a sharrrrrp knife.”
