Sintown Chronicles I: Behind Closed Doors (98 page)

Spider stood up and Penny rolled away from him. “You have money in the Mustang?"

“No,” Tim said. “It's in investments and in the bank, but I can get it for you in a couple of days. I'll give you the half million you want if you'll just let us go."

Spider slipped on the brass knuckles and crashed his fist into Tim's rib cage again, causing more blood to erupt from Tim's mouth. “You think I'm stupid or something? You think I'm going to trust you? I ain't educated, but I ain't dumb either."

“Let Penny go. Take me as a hostage,” Tim moaned. “My wife will give you anything you ask."

“What do you think, Bud?"

“Shit, man. We've been here too long already. The bitch is telling the truth. Let's get the money out of her desk, waste these two and get out of here."

The doorbell rang, quickly followed by a woman's shrill voice. “Penny? Tim? Its me, Leora."

“Who the fuck is Leora?” Bud asked.

“She's a friend—an elderly woman,” Penny sobbed.

“Get some clothes on fast and get rid of her,” Spider demanded as he cut and ripped off the tape from her wrists and arms. “Bud, you get the money out of the desk. The bitch said it was in that room over there. And you, rich guy. You make a sound and you'll all die."

Bud headed for the study and Spider moved behind Tim, the assault rifle pressed against the back of Tim's head. Hurry up, bitch,” Spider snapped.

Penny pulled up her slacks and, as she painfully moved towards the door, she pulled her shirt over her head. The doorbell rang again.

“Penny,” Leora called out stepping away from the door. “Penny, dear, are you in there?"

Penny opened the door slowly at first and then flung it against the wall as she dived onto the porch.

Spider lifted the rifle towards the door. A shot rang out, followed by the rat-a-tat-tat of an automatic rifle discharging bullets harmlessly into the ceiling as Spider fell to the floor with a bloody hole in the back of his head.

Randy seemed frozen, holding Sean's pistol with both hands, still pointed towards the place where Spider had stood. Bud burst through the study door spraying bullets aimlessly into the living room. Billy hit him with a flying tackle and one punch to the jaw rendered Bud unconscious. As he lay on top of the pickle-faced thug, Billy looked up and grinned. “Penny teach Billy to play football too."

Jo moved into the room from her vantagepoint in the kitchen doorway. “It's all over, Leora,” she called out.

Leora and Penny cautiously came through the front door. Penny screamed and ran to Tim, pants pulled to his knees, taped to the chair and covered with blood. His shoulders were slumped. His chin rested on his chest. “He's been hit,” she cried. “Somebody do something.” Her eyes seemed to bulge. She gripped her stomach and toppled to the floor, the crotch of her pants darkening from the flow of blood and water from her vagina.

Suddenly the room filled with the shrill wail of sirens ripping through the rural setting and uniformed deputies and detectives in plain clothes.

“I told you to let me handle this,” Detective Borders gruffly said to Leora as he surveyed the scene.

Before Leora could respond, Penny screamed at him from her fetal position on the floor. “You damned fool. If it weren't for Mrs. Nickels we would all be dead."

Having assured himself that the deputies and paramedics were in control of the situation, Borders pulled Leora into the privacy of the kitchen.

“Leora,” he said his eyes searching hers, “are you sure you're all right.” He wanted desperately to hold her.

Her eyes twinkled. “I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm all shook up, as Elvis used to sing, but yes, I'm all right."

“You could have been killed."

“I'm an old lady, Detective. My life doesn't matter that much any more."

“It matters to me, Leora."

“Oh, does it now? You never answered my question, you know."

“How can I? It's like asking if a man has quit beating his wife. If I say I have a sexual interest in you, and you're not interested in sex, I'm doomed. If I say I am interested only in companionship and you're interested in sex, I'm doomed. All I asked for was a dinner date. Can't we do that and see what happens?"

She smiled. “I don't even know your first name."

“Oh, brother,” he said, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “Its Julius, but for goodness sakes, don't tell anyone."

“Well, then. What should I call you?"

“Friends just use my last name. I prefer that."

She began to rub her right eye, and turned her back to him as she said, “Okay, Borders. Excuse me a second."

“Something in your eye?"

She nodded. When she again faced him, she was holding open her blouse, which she had unbuttoned. Her breasts bulged above the tops of her brassiere cups.

“What do you think,” she asked.

He could not speak.

“Good answer,” she said with a wicked grin on her face. She wrapped her arms around him. “Sure, I'll have dinner with you."

At midnight, Billy lay asleep on the floor in front of the flickering flames in the fireplace of the Nickels new home. Randy and Jo slumped on the sofa, staring into the fire.

“I'm beat,” Randy said softly.

“Me too,” Jo agreed. “You and Billy did a great job of rearranging the furniture."

“The movers did a good job of guessing where everything goes. They didn't leave that much for us to do."

“It could have been worse, that's true. What are we going to do with Billy?"

“Let him sleep,” Randy said. “He's had a tough day, too."

Jo chuckled. “I think your mother is the only one of us who isn't worn out, and her's was the roughest day of all."

“I killed a man today, Jo."

“You had to."

“In the movies even the bad guy doesn't usually shoot someone in the back."

“There was no other choice. If you waited another second Penny and Leora would both be dead."

“Yeah."

She put her hand on his thigh. “I love you Randy Baby."

He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Mama Jo."

Leora came into the den carrying a tray with four mugs of steaming coffee, which she placed on the oval oak table in front of them. She nodded at Billy and whispered, “I didn't know he was asleep."

Jo smiled. “He lay down about five minutes ago and dropped off instantly. I think working all night in the greenhouses and all day as a mover finally caught up to him."

“Where's Lucky?” Leora asked as she sat beside Randy.

He nodded towards Billy and Leora smiled when she saw the dog, also asleep, folded into Billy's arms.

“Mom,” Randy said. “I killed a man today."

“Today you saved at least two lives—maybe six lives."

He nodded and Jo continued to caress his thigh.

“I just got off the phone with the hospital,” Leora said as she lit a cigarette and tossed the pack on the table. “Tim is out of surgery and in intensive care. He's awfully messed up—his jaw is broken and he has two cracked ribs. One bullet caught him in his left shoulder and the other just missed his heart."

Randy reached for the pack of cigarettes. “What's the prognosis?"

“Guarded, but they think he will make a full recovery."

Jo reached for the burning cigarette Randy offered, took a long drag and let the smoke trickle out of her nostrils. “How's Penny?"

“She lost the baby,” Leora answered sadly. “Sean is with her. They're young. They can have lots of children if they want to."

“Maybe,” Jo said, rubbing her tummy.

“Mom,” Randy said patting her on her knee. “I want you to promise me you won't get into anything like this ever again."

Leora's eyes twinkled. “Of course, Sugar,” she said.

He knew she was lying. “When things calm down a bit, Mom, I want you to tell me the whole story. It will make one hell of a novel."

“It sure will, Honey,” she replied, “and I'm going to write it."

“What?"

“Calm down, Randy Baby,” Jo joked. “Where's it written that there can't be three novelists in the same family?"

Randy sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa. “Okay, Mom,” he said jovially, “but future novels must be based solely on your imagination."

“Of course, Sugar.”

Billy shivered against the early morning air as he made his way from the Nickels’ new house to Julie's. On tiptoe he mounted the porch steps and felt in his pocket for the house key. Although it was new, the screen door squeaked when he pulled it towards him. “Don't wake up Julie,” he admonished himself. He slipped the key into the lock, turned it and heard the tumblers fall into place. “Hush,” he whispered to the lock. He turned the knob and gently pushed against the door. It opened about two inches and stopped.

Julie has the chain latched, he thought. As the sun began to peek over the eastern stand of pines, he considered his options. He could try the back door, but she probably latched that chain also. He could return to the Nickels’ house, but no, he locked their door when he left and did not have a key. He could simply wait in the cold until Julie woke up.

As if things were not bad enough, he suddenly realized his dire need of a bathroom. He could urinate in the yard, as he did most of his life, but Penny said that wasn't nice. If worst came to worst he decided he would have to be a bad boy, just this once, and if the back door was latched, he would just have to wait on the porch.

As he turned away from the door, the porch light came on.

“Billy, is that you?” Julie called through the closed door.

“Yes. It's Billy. I'm sorry I woke you."

Lights came on in the living room and Billy heard Julie fiddling with the chain. Finally, the door opened.

“You didn't wake me, Billy,” Julie greeted angrily. “I haven't been to sleep. Where the hell have you been?"

“You know. I helped the Nickels move,” he said, kicking the door shut with the heel of his brogan.

“That was yesterday."

“Julie, I have to go to the bathroom."

“Pee in your pants, for all I care,” she said as she propelled her wheelchair away from him.

“I'll be right back,” he promised. The closest bathroom was on the first floor down the hallway and he sighed with relief as his urine began to flow. For the first time, he noticed the loud noise his stream made as it hit the water in the bowl and for reasons that eluded him, he did not want Julie to hear. He tried to cover the noise by turning on a faucet in the sink, but he couldn't reach it. He tried to stem the urine flow, but that didn't work either. With embarrassment he didn't understand he finished, flushed and washed his hands.

“Why is Julie angry with me?” he asked when he returned to the living room.

“Angry with you?” she said sarcastically. “Hell. I'm not angry with you. You can wander off and stay six months if you like. It won't bother me a bit."

“Julie, I don't understand."

“I figured you'd be starved after working all day helping the Nickels’ move. I cooked you a big dinner, but you didn't show up. Where the hell were you?"

“Penny was in trouble. We all helped her. We didn't get finished until very late.”

“Penny, Penny, Penny—that's all you ever talk about. If she's so damned important to you, why did you move in with me?"

Billy dropped to his knees in front of the wheelchair and took Julie's hands in his. “Penny is a very special friend. Julie is a very special new friend."

She began to cry. “Where were you, Billy. I was so worried."

“I was right next door."

“Why didn't you come home?"

“I lay down on the floor in front of the fireplace to rest. I went to sleep. I came home as soon as I woke up."

“You could have called."

“Not while I was asleep."

“The Nickels should have called."

“You could have called the Nickels,” he countered.

“I kept thinking you would come home. By the time I gave up on you it was so late I was afraid I would wake up the Nickels with a phone call. I thought maybe you'd gone to your mother's house and she doesn't have a telephone."

“Julie, please don't cry,” he said as he stood up. “I'm sorry I worried you. I won't do it again.” He leaned over and kissed away her tears. “You go to bed now."

“Its too late. I have to be at work in less than three hours."

“Okay. Let me take a shower and I'll cook you the best breakfast you ever ate."

“You can cook?"

“Sure. I used to cook for mother and Pe ... you know."

She smiled weakly. “You can say her name. I know she's important to you."

“Thank you."

“Well, why are you standing there?"

“May I take a shower?"

“Of course. I'll go get dressed."

Billy showered, shaved, put on clean jeans and a green and red checked flannel shirt. He came down the steps and knocked lightly on Julie's bedroom door.

“Yes?"

“May I come in?"

“No."

“Okay. Julie?"

“Yes?"

“Thank you."

“For what?"

“For worrying about me."

Her tears returned.

“You certainly do cook a great breakfast, Billy."

“Thank you, Julie."

“I've never tasted grits this good."

“Bacon bits."

“Bacon bits?"

“Yeah. You cook a couple of slices of bacon real crisp and drain off all the grease. Then you crumble the bacon into the grits and stir."

“I'll have to try that some day."

“Yesterday was your first day on your new job. How did it go?"

“It was awful. Total chaos. I hated it."

“I'm sorry."

“I thought it would be a day of getting organized. Boy, that's a laugh."

“Tell me about it."

“The editors have twelve books lined up to be published for our fall offering. I went through the printing bids and selected who gets what and sent the manuscripts on their way. The advertising agency Randy selected has never worked with a publisher before. Their jacket proposals were terrible. I had to explain everything to them in minute detail. No one even thought about order forms and representative layouts. There were stacks of manuscripts on the floor the editors hadn't even opened. It was a mess."