Trouble (3 page)

“
Yeah, well, you’ve got to do
something to keep yourself amused, don’t you?” I laughed but I
think it only made me seem insane.

“
We should catch up sometime,
maybe get a drink?”

That was never going to happen. “I’m looking
at twenty years in jail so perhaps after that?”

Reuben was speechless, which only made me
happy. I stared him down while he grasped for something to say. I
decided to make it just that little bit worse.

“
You could always visit me in
jail.”

“
Yeah, I guess I’ll see you
around,” he backtracked. I smiled politely as he left.
Relationships were all fun and games until one of you went to
jail.

I got in my car and drove back to my former
residence – our apartment. I needed to get the pawn ticket or I
would never see my jewelry again. The ticket had to be in the
apartment somewhere.

I started with the trash cans and worked my
way around the apartment from there. I briefly wondered who was
going to pay the rent next week with Ryan in jail but I couldn’t
find the energy to care. All my stuff was out of there, if the
landlord decided to sell everything, then good luck to the grumpy
old man.

I spent an hour turning the place over from
top to bottom. I only had the bedroom left and it didn’t offer that
many hidey holes. Most of the drawers were empty now and the closet
only held a few of Ryan’s good clothes. The rest were on the
floor.

His underwear drawer just held pants. His
socks, only socks. I was giving up hope. I checked the bottom
drawer last. His boxers were hiding a set of fluffy handcuffs. I
had never seen them before. Whoever Ryan was playing cops and
robbers with, it wasn’t me. Kind of ironic really. I put them back
in the drawer and closed it with a thud.

The damn ticket was not in the apartment, I
was certain of this fact by that stage. I racked my brain trying to
work out where else it could be. Ryan didn’t own anything, it’s not
like he had a holiday house or an office to stash things away from
me.

The only other place it could be was in his
car. Which was still parked near the bank, it never got its chance
to shine as a getaway vehicle. The police never mentioned it in the
interrogation, I doubt they would have moved it from the street.
Even the parking inspectors normally waited a few days to
tow.

I grabbed Ryan’s spare key and left my car at
the apartment. I would drive his vehicle back, perhaps it would
help my case if they didn’t think we were prepared enough to plan
the escape. I caught the next bus downtown.

I grew up using public transport. I used to
ride it all day long when I was skipping school. I liked the
anonymity, the way you could ride with strangers and just be left
alone.

At least, I used to be able to ride the bus
like that. Thanks to the news reports, I was the weirdo on the bus
that everyone stared at and nobody wanted to sit next to. An old
woman at the front kept looking at me, clutching her bag to her
chest like I was about to steal it. Thanks to Ryan, I was a
leper.

“
Hey, you’re the bank robber,” the
male voice came from the seat across the aisle from mine. He said
it loud enough to tell everyone on the bus if they didn’t already
know. “Shouldn’t you be in jail? Did you escape or
something?”

“
I’m on bail,” I whispered back,
praying he would shut up and leave me alone. I’d never been on such
a slow moving bus before.

“
Oh. They just let you out? Like
that?”

“
Yes.”

“
Man, that’s messed up. Aren’t you
dangerous or something? I heard you shot someone.” He just wouldn’t
shut up. To make it worse, everyone else seemed to be hanging on
every word he said.

I could only see one way out of it. I didn’t
just address the man, but everyone. I was done with whispering. “I
only hurt people who get in my way or talk to me. Especially on
buses.”

Every single set of eyes suddenly averted to
the floor. My own went back to the front of the bus. You could hear
a pin drop for the rest of the journey.

Downtown, my stop finally came. I stood to
leave, a path was magically made for me. They were avoiding me like
I was the sticky patch on the railing. Apparently I was worse than
a mystery goo.

I walked the two blocks to the bank, cringing
when I caught a glimpse of the yellow police tape still stuck to
the wall. The bank was open but they were under heavy guard. I
could see the beefy security men standing just inside the
door.

I kept my head down and continued walking.
Ryan’s car was supposed to be at the corner in the disabled spot,
the first in the row. It was the perfect spot to getaway quickly, I
can’t believe he had blindsided me like he did. I guess you never
expected your boyfriend to be robbing a bank with you. Next time,
I’ll be more suspicious.

“
Oh my God, it’s the bank robber.
She’s going to rob the bank. Everyone, get down,” a woman shrieked
just beside me. I saw her out of the corner of my eye, pointing to
me and looking like she had just seen a ghost. I walked faster,
trying to act normal. “Someone get her!”

Everyone on the street looked at me but didn’t
stop. Either they didn’t care or didn’t believe the hysterical
woman. Nobody tried to
get
me
like she was demanding. I turned the corner to get away from
her.

My day was getting worse by the minute. The
place where Ryan’s car should have been was empty. So the police
had worked it out and impounded the vehicle. Another bus ride.
Great.

CHAPTER 4

“
I
was only thinking about you the other day and now here you
are.” Bradley smiled at me, just like he used to –
crookedly.

Initially I had been mortified to see Bradley
at the impound lot. However, our break up hadn’t been the worst so
I thought I might be able to use him to my advantage. Perhaps I
wouldn’t need a ticket there.

“
It’s funny, but I was thinking
about you too the other day. We had some good times, didn’t we?” I
leaned on the counter, trying my best to be flirty. It might have
been easier to pull off if I wasn’t hungry and desperate for a
hairbrush.

Bradley nodded, his grin growing even wider.
It actually made it to his other cheek, fixing up some of the
crookedness. If he didn’t knock up some other woman while we were
together, I might have stuck around for a little longer. “We had
some
great
times.”

It was time to get moving, I doubted my
definition of our great times together would be the same as his.
“So… I’m looking for a car I think has been impounded. Think you
can help me out? For old time’s sake?”

“
Oh, I guess I could do that.
What’s the registration?” He opened the ancient ledger book on the
counter between us. His finger was poised.

“
A-U-G-1-9-5,” I said before he
started skimming the entries. He stopped at one mid-way down the
page. “It’s here?”

“
Yep. It’s going to cost two
hundred bucks to get it out.”

“
I don’t want it, I just want to
have a look inside it.” He raised an eyebrow at me in question. I
guess I did need to explain a little further. “I don’t have the
cash right now but I left something in the car that I’d really like
back.” It was only partly a lie. Not that I felt any guilt about
lying to Bradley. He deserved worse, much worse.

“
We’re not supposed to do that.
It’s pay or nothing.”

“
Since when did you follow the
rules?” I challenged him, knowing it would stroke his ego. And if
Bradley liked anything stroked, it was definitely his
ego.

He stared at me and I shrugged, refusing to
say anything further. I could see the cogs in his head turning,
thinking what a man he would be to bend the rules.

“
Fine, but be quick about it,” he
grabbed the keys off a corkboard and handed them over. “Row five,
it should be about the middle. Bring the keys back when you’re
done.”

I thanked him before hurrying away. As I left,
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was still with the girl he left me
for. His kid would be about two now, I think he had a boy. Or it
could have been a girl, I didn’t care to ask. Knowing there was a
pregnant woman in his house was the only thing stopping me torching
it at the time.

Ryan was just like Bradley when I thought
about it. They were both charming fast talkers. Easy to get me into
bed and I was too lazy to get out again. I seriously needed to stop
falling for their act. From that moment onwards, I vowed I would be
smarter. Perhaps then I could avoid stalking the rows at the
council impound.

I found Ryan’s car and started with the glove
box. He had so much junk in there I wondered when the last time he
had cleaned it out had been. Probably never.

Besides an optimistically large box of
condoms, there was nothing other than maps and take away menus.
Definitely no pawn ticket.

I looked under the seats, in the back, on the
dash, and then finally in the boot. It was at that point that I
knew the police hadn’t been the ones to find the car. It had to
have been the council, parking in a disabled spot without a permit
tended to anger them. Sitting underneath a blanket were two more
handguns.

I have no idea where Ryan got all the guns
from or why he had so many, but there they were. The bastard knew I
didn’t like weapons and refused to have them in the house, I guess
he decided to keep them in the car instead. At least he listened to
me occasionally. And abided with my wishes, that was almost
sweet.

Making sure I didn’t touch the weapons, I
checked the rest of the boot. The elusive ticket was nowhere to be
seen. I locked up the car, returned the keys, and waited for the
next bus.

If the pawn ticket wasn’t in the apartment and
wasn’t in his car, I was at a loss for where it could be. Ryan had
no secret hiding places, I would have found them. He wasn’t the
most subtle at hiding things. With the exception of big things,
like his master plan to rob a bank.

I wondered how he even managed to plan that.
At what point did he think robbing a bank would be a
good
idea? And then how did he come
to the conclusion that I would willingly help him? Did he seriously
think I would just go along with it once I was inside the bank? I
was certain his brain didn’t function like a regular
person’s.

There was only one more place I could check
for the ticket and, to do that, I had to return to the police
station. And I would have to convince the cops to let me go through
his wallet. I think I had a death wish.

Walking through the station doors, the face of
Constable Lucas Heron was starting to appear familiar. Not that it
was a bad thing, if there was ever a face to filter through my
mind, his was rather nice. Those dimples were to die
for.

“
Miss. Cressly, you’re back
again,” he smiled and I almost felt my knees go weak. I had to stay
strong, I had to remember why I was there and how sneaky the cops
were at getting people to reveal too much information.

“
Yeah, I can’t stay away,” I
joked, trying not to cry. It was all I had left. “How’s the inmate
this afternoon?” Not that I cared.

“
He’s doing well, complaining
about the food. I told him if he wanted a la carte service he
should have robbed a bank uptown. I hear they have pancakes at
their precinct.” Charm was not what I wanted right then and
there.

I decided to cut right to the chase, I didn’t
have anything else to lose. If I stayed there any longer, I might
not want to leave again. “I was hoping for a favor.”

“
What kind of a favor?”

“
I need to have a look in Ryan’s
wallet. It’s not like I want to take anything, I just need to know
if he has something of mine.”

“
Sounds cryptic. What is it you
are looking for?” His blue eyes were piercing me, I could have
fallen into them like they were as deep as the ocean. Stay focused,
Tessa, stay focused.

“
He pawned my grandmother’s
jewelry and I can’t find the ticket. Without the ticket, I can’t
get them back. I’ve searched everywhere and can’t find it. His
wallet is my last hope.”

“
And how do I know it’s your
grandmother’s jewelry and not the spoils of a previous robbery we
haven’t caught you for yet?” Constable Heron said it light
heartedly but I think that was only for my benefit.

“
You know I had nothing to do with
robbing that bank. It’s not like we’re pretending to be Bonnie and
Clyde. I wouldn’t even be here if they weren’t my family
heirlooms.”

We stared at each other as the moments ticked
past. I was trying to look as innocent as possible which was almost
impossible considering the constable had been in on my
interrogation only a day before.

Finally, he opened the gate. “Come on
through.”

I followed him into a small meeting room,
similar to the interrogation rooms but this one had no windows – or
cameras. It was just an empty box, as void of character as much as
furniture. A sole table and two chairs sat in the room. I took one
of them while I waited for Constable Heron to return.