The Hooker: A Reprehensible Acts Story (7 page)

My
future victims were finished and the Honda roared into life with a bronchial
gurgle.
 
I gunned my engine, slipped out
of my parking space and followed them to their next port of call.

They
roamed for miles through the city before stopping at Taco Bell.
 
They went inside and I waited in a
neighboring parking lot.
 
When they
finished their meal, they didn’t leave.
 
They returned to their car and sat inside.
 
They waited.
 
I waited.
 
We waited.
 
It was boring stuff.
 
I just wanted to kill them and go home.

It
was twenty minutes before my boredom was killed off.
 
An old model BMW parked two stalls away from
the battered Honda.
 
The kid got out but
his girl stayed put.
 
He did his best not
to look conspicuous.
 
Marks out of
ten?
 
Two.
 
It wasn’t particularly difficult to see that
a drug deal was going down.
 
Nothing
major league, weed by the looks of it.
 
It was a little bit of reefer action to finish off the night.
 
It explained the aimless driving around.
 
They had a time and a place, but they were
early.
 
The deal went through without
complication and took less than two minutes.
 
The transaction completed, everyone went their separate ways and I
trailed the battered Honda again.

Everything
was going swimmingly.
 
I kept a discreet
distance behind them, because I knew where they were going.
 
They were heading out of the city over to the
dam where Lance and I had dumped the Club.
 
It was going to be easy to take them.

But
then it turned to shit.
 
It was a
weeknight and close to midnight.
 
Where
before, I had two or three cars between them and me, now I had none.
 
They could see me and I could see them.
 
I don’t think they knew who I was, but they
knew it wasn’t good.
 
They kicked up the
speed and so did I.
 
I should have let
them go, but I couldn’t take my foot of the gas.
 
My panic kept telling my brain that this was
my only chance to get them and if I didn’t, I was screwed.
 
We belted along the county road at
fifty-five.

The
county road had
a thirty
-five miles per hour speed
limit and it shouldn’t have been a surprise when the sirens wailed and the
lights flashed.
 
I saw the nose of the
Crown Victoria and jumped off the gas.
 
I
didn’t want a ticket.
 
I didn’t want
anything that could link me to a time and place.
 
My speedometer needle crept back to the legal
limit.

The
Honda didn’t see the Ford and sheriff’s car zeroed in on them.
 
The Honda cranked up the speed to get
away.
 
When I think about it now, I think
the kids thought I was an unmarked cop car following them after the drug deal
and the sheriffs leaping out only added to their delusion.
 
I didn’t want them to get away and not know
what happened, so I ramped my speed up.

I
maintained a steady distance behind the chase.
 
The Ford easily caught the Honda.
 
It had the power and the good maintenance schedule to keep pace with the
jalopy, but the kids weren’t backing down.
 
They straddled the lanes to block any overtaking maneuver.
 
It was a classic Cops episode in the making.

If
they thought they could run the red light they were insane.
 
The light was red over a hundred yards before
the Honda reached the intersection.
 
The
sheriff slammed on the brakes.
 
The Honda
didn’t.
 
The gas tanker was broadside, in
mid-turn, when the kids buried themselves under the tractor-trailer
section.
 
Luckily for the truck driver,
the tanker didn’t explode.
 
Unluckily for
my witnesses, the Honda was decapitated by the underside of the trailer before
the back axles crushed what was left.
 
I
made an illegal U-turn when I saw a pair of wheels wedged inside the car’s
cabin.
 
There was nothing more to be
seen.
 

I
was luckier than I ever imagined.
 
My two
witnesses were dead and I didn’t have to kill anybody this time.
 
Somebody somewhere liked me.
 
I couldn’t stop smiling.

But
I had nothing to smile about when I got home.
 
Turning into my street, I spotted English and Taylor slipping into an
unmarked police cruiser.
 
Reflexively, I
pulled into a neighbor’s driveway until they had passed.
 
My hand was trembling when I put the key in
the lock to let myself into the house.

Jane
was in the living room.
 
I expected her
to be upset by a late night visit from the cops, but she wasn’t.
 
Her expression was odd though, a mixture of
emotional detachment and disappointment.

“Don’t
worry, I covered for you,” she said.

I
didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t try.

“They
won’t be coming back.
 
I tied up all the
loose ends for them.
 
Unless they’ve got
something concrete they don’t have a case.
 
So as long as you’ve done your bit, we’ll be okay.”

Water
gurgled in my ears.
 
I wasn’t sure if I
was going to fall, so I put a hand out against the living room doorway to
support myself.

“The
only thing I don’t know is who did it.
 
Which one of you killed the hooker, the transgender or whatever it was?”

My
brain engaged my mouth and I spoke.
  
“Jane, you don’t understand...”

“Mark.”
 
She cut me off before I could bullshit my way
out.
 
“I’ve just committed a felony.
 
I’m an accomplice to murder.
 
Tell me what’s going on or I’ll call the cops
back.”

“I
killed the hooker.”

She
nodded like she’d known all along.

“Lance
wanted to get me a hooker before I got married.
 
I didn’t want to do it.”
 
I
stopped before carrying on.
 
I heard
myself.
 
I sounded like a ten year old
with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
 
It was pathetic.
 
“We were duped
by the hooker.
 
Lance paid her to give me
a blowjob.
  
I lost control when I found
out it was a man.”

“Did
you come?”

“No!”
I flared, but instantly calmed down.
 
Actually, I was glad of the little rush of blood to the head.
 
If it hadn’t I think I would have passed
out.
 
“No, I didn’t come.”

“You
two must have been pretty drunk not to have been able to tell the difference
between a man and a woman.”

“We
were.”

I
could have made excuses, but why try?
 
I couldn’t
stand any longer and flopped into my easy chair.
 
Jane sat on the sofa.
 
Alone, she looked small, vulnerable.
 
I should have gone to her, but her piercing
gaze asked for nothing but the truth.
 
It
was me who needed the comforting.

“Lance
shot the pimp,” I blurted after a long moment of silence where Jane just sat
examining me.

“But
you finished him off…then you killed Lance.”

My
vehement denial died in my throat, although I’m not sure there was one.
 
Truly, I was scared at that point and I could
tell no lie.
 
When I’d killed Hope and
Lance, I was merely fearful and that fear made me ingenious and devious.
 
I became a liar of Olympic standard, but not
when faced with the truth.
 
English and
Taylor were bad guessers, shooting half court baskets with no chance of
success.
 
But Jane was different.
 
She knew the grim realities of what had
happened.
 
I was an honest man again.
 
I was relieved.

“How
did you know?” I asked.

“I
saw you do it.”

My
hands were cold and I rubbed them together to generate some heat.

“You
weren’t fooling me.
 
I knew you two had
done something when Lance came to the wedding with his messed up face, but I
didn’t know what.
 
I followed you and
Lance to the park.
 
I saw everything,
Mark.”

“Why
didn’t you say anything?”

She
faltered, unsure of herself, but quickly recovered.
 
“Shock, I guess.
 
I didn’t know what was going on; only that it
was serious.
 
I was scared of you, Mark.”

It
was understandable and I nodded.

“Are
you scared now?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“You
were identified.
 
That’s why the cops
were here.”

“I
know.”

“Have
you taken care of it?”

“Yes.”

“Is
that where you’ve been?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

We
sat in silence for a couple of minutes although it felt like hours.
 
Jane stared at me.
 
I couldn’t look at her and examined the
carpet’s pile.

“What
do you want to do?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“What
do you mean?” she answered, shaking her head.

“Do
you want me to turn myself in?”

“No.”

Funny,
I didn’t feel relieved at her answer.
 
I
should have, but I didn’t.
 
They say
birds and animals can sense when an earthquake or a twister or some other
catastrophe is imminent.
 
Jane saying no
and protecting me from the law only heightened my sense that something
devastating was just over the next ridge.
 
Animals in that situation resort to the fight or flight instinct.
 
I wasn’t so wise.
 
I did neither.

***

With the eyewitnesses dead and no
other leads, the case died for a second time and the cops left me alone.
 
English and Taylor provided a plausible explanation
and parceled the evidence into a nice, neat box that wouldn’t raise any further
questions, although it needed considerable shoehorning to pull it off.
 
I haven’t heard from them in nearly a year.

So,
I was free.
 
But only
from the law.

Jane
wanted a Lexus, but we couldn’t afford it.
 
Our credit was maxed out.
 
But
Jane wanted a Lexus and it was my job to provide.
 
There were consequences if I didn’t come
through for her.
 
She liked to dangle a
key to a safety deposit box to let me know what those consequences were.
 
I didn’t know what she had in the deposit box
and it didn’t really matter.
 
The message
was clear, a sword would always hang over my head and I’d better do as I was
told.

Jane
got her Lexus.
 
She had a frail aunt in
Iowa with a lot put aside for her favorite niece.
 
In July, I took a trip to Iowa, introduced
myself and put a pillow over the old girl’s face.
 
By the way, the Lexus is black.

It’s
November and Jane wants a baby, a girl.
 
She wants to name it after the dead aunt.
 
We’re still maxed out, credit wise.
 
But that’s not the point.
 
I don’t want a child.
 
Can you see us as parents?
 
I can’t imagine how our progeny would turn
out.
 
From our genes, it couldn’t be
good.

But
Jane’s insistent.
 
The key was jammed in
my mashed potatoes last night.
 
She’s
getting impatient.
 

I
have a gun now, a .32 automatic, just like Lance’s.
 
It’s legal.
 
I have a license and all that.
 
Bullets too.
 
I don’t want to be a
father and I don’t want Jane to be a mother.
 
Some things just shouldn’t be.

It’s
Tuesday today.
 
I’ll give you cops until
Friday to bring us in,
or I’ll add to my body count.
 
Don’t send a black and white.
 
Send English.
 
Tell Taylor to stay home.