Piggyback (12 page)

“
Okay,
”
said Jimmy,
“
Who here votes that I kill Becky first? Tristan, it doesn
’
t seem like she cares for you much, would you like to see her die first?
”

Tristan shook his head so slightly it looked like he was shivering with cold.

“
Shelly, you wanna volunteer your life before Becky
’
s, or are we going to start talking about those duffel bags?
”

“
I told you,
”
said Shelly,
“
I don
’
t know what happened. I put them in the garage and now they
’
re, like, gone. I swear, I don
’
t know what happened to them.
”

“
Well, let
’
s start with what you do know happened. How did you and your friends come to steal them from me and my friends?
”

Shelly looked at the other two and began to stutter.
“
I-I-I don
’
t know
…”

Jimmy reached into his side pocket and removed the stun gun.

Tristan whispered,
“
Jesus.
”

Without hesitation, Jimmy moved quickly toward Becky and zapped her in the crotch. A short, loud burst of electricity. Becky flew up and backward onto the bed. He gave her one more, square in the stomach, just to underscore his sadism with the girls.

Shelly
’
s voice went up two octaves.
“
Okay, okay, okay. We took it. We got it from Kevin and Dusty and we were supposed to drive it to Salt Lake City, but we just kept it, we figured Kevin the creep would be able to afford it. We drove it here and hid the car and put the stuff in the garage. We were going to call tomorrow with a story about how we got burned in Nevada. Please don
’
t shock her again.
”

Jimmy put the stun gun to Becky
’
s thigh and gave her another blast.

“
You
’
re only telling me stuff I already know.
”

“
We took some out and smoked it. The rest is all there, I swear.
”

“
All where?
”
asked Jimmy.

Shelly started to cry. Becky was groaning and trying to recover. Groaning and whimpering punctuated with quiet curses.

“
Let
’
s start again,
”
said Jimmy.
“
How many bags did you open?
”

Between her tears, Shelly said,
“
Just one, I swear. We only smoked a few joints. I swear to God.
”

Jimmy tried to consider whether or not Shelly was telling the truth. If the girls had opened only one bag it was still possible that they didn
’
t know about the piggyback.

“
How many bags were there?
”

“
I don
’
t know,
”
she said,
“
maybe thirty, the bag was heavy. I don
’
t know.
”

“
No, not inside, how many duffel bags were there?
”

“
Three. Two blue and one black. I only opened one. A one pound bag from one of the big blue bags, honestly.
”
Shelly was pleading, her mascara now dripping down her cheeks. Jimmy hadn
’
t noticed the false eyelashes before, but now one had come detached from her left eye. It looked like a spider trying to escape her tears. She looked pathetic; it was hard not to believe her.

Paul and Linda were into their second vodka tonic. Linda leaned forward with both elbows onto the kitchen counter, acting enrapt in everything Paul said. He sat back in his chair, feet not even touching the ground. He flicked his ashes into the kitchen sink and blew smoke toward the ceiling. Linda didn
’
t seem to mind.

“
Yeah, college is for suckers,
”
Paul was saying,
“
it
’
s just a piece of paper. I mean, if I really had to, I could just fake it. Higher education, my ass. Nobody ever checks that shit. Turns out I didn
’
t need a college degree; I got mine certified at the school of hard knocks.
”

Linda chuckled. She
’
d heard that one before. She tried to stay focused on her guest but her eyes kept blurring. When her chin slipped off of the heel of her hand, Paul asked,
“
You want a little pick-me-up?
”

Linda raised her eyebrows. Paul smiled as he produced the small square baggie from his breast pocket.

“
Oh my goodness, you are a naughty boy, aren
’
t you?
”
Linda smiled and winked with a red and tired eye.
“
Okay, but we
’
ll have to be quick; I don
’
t want to get caught by the girls.
”

Paul was already fishing for his keys.

Linda said,
“
Wait, I have something better.
”
She stood up from the tall chair and went over to a small drawer beside the fridge. It was a knick knack drawer, full of pens and screwdrivers, broken flashlights and dead batteries. She found what she was looking for: a small, flat chunk of marble.

“
Perfect,
”
she said.
“
One more thing.
”
She opened up their large pantry and, from a box with a clown face on it, took out two long, striped straws and handed one to Paul.

“
Looks like you
’
re no stranger to naughty.
”

“
No, sweetheart, I
’
m well acquainted with naughty,
”
she said, hoping it sounded as flirtatious as she meant it.

Paul grinned and poured a healthy pile of blow onto the marble.

“
Who else knew about your little charade?
”

The girls gave each other a furtive glance. Jimmy crackled the stun gun.

“
Nobody. Nobody knew. Just me, Becky, Tristan, and Jerrod.
”

“
Somebody else knew.
”

“
We didn
’
t tell.
”
Tristan had finally spoken up, he voice was hoarse and it still cracked like he was in puberty.
“
We were going to meet the girls here and take the stuff to a friend of ours back in Chico.
”

“
Who
’
s the friend?
”
asked Jimmy.

“
Jerrod
’
s friend, Sky, but he didn
’
t know where it was coming from, no way. We were only gonna sell him four pounds, then sit on the rest until he wanted more. That
’
s all, Jerrod will tell you.
”

“
More what?
”

Tristan was bewildered. His eyebrows arched. He wondered if it was a trick question.
“
More weed,
”
he answered.

Jimmy was getting tired of the interrogation. Either these kids were stupid as they come or they were not telling him the truth. He stood for a moment weighing his next move.

“
Go downstairs and ask him,
”
said Tristan.

“
Maybe we should.
”
Jimmy stepped toward the door and opened it a crack. From the kitchen, he could hear the familiar sound of chopping. Paul and Linda seemed to be occupied. Jimmy returned the stun gun to his jacket pocket and unholstered the .38. Directing them with the gun, Jimmy said,
“
Alright. One at a time. Let
’
s go down to the scene of the crime.
”

They crept down the stairs in single file. First Tristan, then Becky, then Shelly. The girls wishing they had the courage to run for a phone, call for help, scream, anything. Tristan was sullen, broken, resigned to his fate being in someone else
’
s hands. They tip-toed past the kitchen where Paul and Shelly
’
s mother
’
s noisy laughter would have drowned out any noise they made anyway. Shelly turned her head toward the happy sounds and felt the hard poke of the .38 in the middle of her back.

They reached the door to the garage and passed on through. Jimmy shut it as quietly as possible. The laughter and conversation from the kitchen was suddenly cut off. They stood in the bright light on the smooth cement of the garage floor with an echoing silence filling the space between them.

“
Becky? C
’
mere for a minute,
”
said Jimmy as he walked to the rear of the Camry. He fished in his pocket for the key as he waited for her to walk over to him. Jimmy stuck the key in the lock located just to the left of the In-n-Out bumper sticker.

“
Now, Becky,
”
his voice was patronizing, as though he were speaking to a 10-year old.
“
I want you to ask Jerrod where my duffel bags are. I want you to make him understand how serious this situation is.
”

Jimmy opened the trunk.

Becky saw her boyfriend laying there, dead. The few hours that had gone by only furthered his grotesque appearance. Bluish-gray with rigor mortis setting in, Jerrod resembled a zombie. Becky had never even seen a dead body before. She wanted to scream, but instead her body convulsed. She turned slightly to the left and promptly threw up. The sour stink of the white wine mixed with bile rose up from her feet.

Shelly cried out,
“
What is it? What
’
s wrong?
”
But Tristan knew exactly what was wrong. He
’
d guessed it before. He tried to shut it out, tried not to believe it. He hoped against hope that their little scheme would not have this kind of price tag. All those miles in the car trying to communicate with Jerrod in the trunk. He felt his stomach churning as well.

“
Go ahead, Becky, ask him,
”
said Jimmy.
“
Ask your stupid boyfriend if he knows who he told about your little plan. Ask him if he regrets getting in over his head. Ask him how it feels to steal from me.
”

Becky heaved, her stomach emptied. Only bile was left, but she still heaved.

“
What
’
s a matter? You want to comfort him? Why don
’
t you climb in there with him and give him a hug?
”

“
Is he okay?
”
Shelly was crying now.
“
What
’
s wrong with him?
”

The garage door started to open. Jimmy pointed the gun at Tristan and Shelly, but neither of them had moved to hit the opener. He saw headlights reflected in the rear window of the Camry. He slammed the trunk shut and concealed the .38 under his jacket.

As the door rolled up, Damon Lafleur first was angry about the strange car sitting in his garage. He thought the girls had some male guests over to visit. They
’
d better not be smoking weed here in the garage. It was not a good time for company and he planned to say so. Then he saw Becky on her knees retching. The girls were fucked up, now he was going to have to mete out some discipline as well. He stopped his car and, leaving his headlights on, unbelted and climbed out, slamming his door.

“
What the hell is going on here?
”
he said. It was taking him a moment to realize that the man in front of the car was way too old to be a friend of the girls. The man wearing the leather blazer was stone-faced, angry. Before he could ask the question again, the stranger pulled a snub-nosed .38 from under his jacket and said to Damon,
“
Get in here, fuck-hole.
”