“
Hey… pretty lady,”
“
Oh God,” she looked to her shoes hoping her rudeness would
make him go away.
“
Hey, pretty lady, I said. You sure are beautiful,”
Anna shuddered
and zipped up her coat to hide her body.
“
Don’t go hiding from me pretty girl. You can show me your fine
body any time,”
“
Fuck sake Larry leave the girl alone,” the bar manager came
out from the back. “I’m sorry miss. This loser has never seen a
lady before,”
“
Oh it’s ok,” she sipped at her drink and winced.
The manager
came out from behind the bar and shooed away Larry like a
mischievous cat. Anna looked up to his friendly face and felt safe
in his company. His furry eyebrows framed a chubby face. And he
appeared to be in a perpetual state of sniffing in order to stop
his glasses from falling off his little snub nose.
“
You look too nice to be working in here. You actually don’t
smell of anything,” Anna laughed.
“
And you definitely look to nice to be drinking here and far
too young I may add. Do your parents know you’re here? You need a
ride somewhere?” he asked seriously.
“
Oh no. I’m fine. My boyfriend’s just in the bathroom,” and as
she spoke he strode back over to the bar and the manager shrunk
away in his company.
“
I see you’re getting creeped on again. I can’t take you
anywhere!” he ran a hand through her hair.
“
You don’t know the half of it,” she huffed and attempted her
drink once more. “I’m sorry this is just rancid. It’s yours,” and
she pushed it over to Carl.
He knocked
both his and Anna’s drinks back in seconds. Then fumbling in his
jacket pocket he pulled out a little bottle of Vicodin and took
two.
“
For my back pain,” he explained to the manager who was eyeing
the couple suspiciously. “But…” Carl continued. “I’m gonna find us
a cab to town. Hey you!” he pointed at the manager who seemed to be
grossly offended at his behaviour. “You have a
payphone?”
“
No. We do not. But there’s one around the corner. Just on your
left there,” and he pointed towards the back wall of the
bar.
“
Thanks buddy,” and Carl got up to leave.
“
Don’t leave me again. Please!”
“
You’ll be fine! I’ll only be gone two minutes. You don’t mind
watching my stuff do you?”
“
No, that’s cool,” and she grabbed hold of the
briefcase.
Carl swaggered
out the bar and headed to the payphone with the manager glaring
into his back as he left. Anna thought he wanted to come back and
talk to her but was too afraid. Carl had that effect on people
though. His size always seemed to mean no one chanced their
luck.
Meanwhile
outside, Carl meandered to the payphone and rifled through his
pocket for change. But before he reached the booth someone stood in
his way.
“
You lookin’ for a good time honey?” he looked over at an
attractive, blonde girl who would have been of average height if it
wasn’t for her eight inch heels.
“
I don’t pay for it,” he spoke sternly and moved to dodge
passed her.
But she wasn’t
going anywhere and she stepped over to block him.
“
But you’re so sexy baby. I can show you a real good time. And
cos you’re so hot I could always give you a discount?” she was
pushing her luck.
“
No,” he answered firmly. “Not interested,” and he tried to
edge around her again.
But it only
made her more determined. Zipping down the first few inches of her
dress she exposed the top of her fake breasts.
“
You like?”
“
Not really,”
“
Oh you talk lies honey. Everybody likes!” her voice was
gravelly and intoxicated.
And once again
he tried to get around her. And once again she blocked his path.
This time she pushed right up close to him and caressed his face
with her long acrylic finger nails.
“
I can take you to the moon and back,” she whispered into his
ear.
But Carl stood
as straight as a board, scared to move in case she did something
else. He hoped if he didn’t react at all then she’d get bored and
move away. But he had no such luck. Instead she leaned in and
kissed his lips grotesquely with her tongue writhing wildly. He
thought for a moment he would throw up as he smelled her toxic
breath. Eventually he regained his senses and pushed her away.
“
Are you stupid? I said no!” he lost his temper and the woman
stepped back upset. “Just get the fuck away from me immediately.
Seriously, just go!” and his face was beet red.
With a
deflated ego the girl scurried away and Carl saw her approach
another man in the distance. He shook his head sadly and finally
reached the phone booth.
~
Anna was
waiting at the bar for what felt like forever when she decided she
couldn’t escape the other customers’ flirtatious glances anymore.
Sliding Carl’s backpack onto her shoulders and gripping onto his
briefcase she ventured back outside to find him. She was sure the
bar manager said to go left so she followed the sidewalk around the
corner hoping to see Carl on his way back. But instead her stomach
churned and her heart felt as though it stopped.
Right there in
front of her stood Carl with the arms of another woman around him.
They were kissing passionately and tears instantly began to fall
down her face despite her not being conscious of it. As she ran
back to the bar she didn’t remember much of what the girl looked
like except for the fact she was tall and blonde with enormous
breasts. She was in shock, she didn’t know what was going on
anymore, but the world swirling around her and the anger that
burned inside her made her want to run.
Her teeth
began to hurt as she clenched her jaw in rage but what hurt most of
all was the betrayal. Losing his trust made her feel as though
she’d bottomed out and she wretched onto the sidewalk.
“
Men are bastards,” she whispered to herself. “How could he?”
her thinking was carrying her away to a dark place.
Pushing her
way back into the bar she found the manager cleaning a table.
Tapping him on the shoulder she saw his face light up as he saw her
again. He saw her tears and his smile fell.
“
Hey… you ok?”
“
Still OK to get that ride?” she asked.
~
When Carl
walked back into the bar he thought his eyes were deceiving him for
a moment when he didn’t see Anna waiting for him. As he returned to
his seat he desperately asked the barman.
“
You seen my girlfriend?”
“
The pretty red head who ran in here crying a minute ago? Yeah
I seen her. And she just left,”
“
She left? Did you say she was crying?”
“
She sure was. Was sad as hell when she came back from
outside,” he appeared to be enjoying breaking Carl’s
heart.
Suddenly the
penny dropped as Carl realized what she must have seen. “FUCK!” Was
all he could scream in the moment, “Where did she go?”
“
I dunno. I’m no psychic,” the barman sniggered and picked up a
dirty glass.
CHAPTER 24
Vultures were
circling the people carrier as John Reiner traversed the dusty
desert. He was beginning to feel dizzy but he was sure it was just
because of the heat. As soon as he reached the house he could lie
down and cool off. And it wasn’t long until he’d get there. If he
was right then he was less than half an hour away. But he noticed
as the day moved on he was starting to forget little things. He
noticed he was getting confused at just the smallest task but again
he put it down to the heat.
Refusing to
acknowledge the aching, growing wound in his side he only focused
on getting to the house. He had family nearby and they’d help him
for sure. That was if they remembered him though.
An open patch
of empty road stretched out before John and the effect of the heat
on the horizon gave off a peculiar illusion. John was certain the
road ahead was melting, that the landscape was swaying. But it
wasn’t until he consciously felt the car move him from one side of
the lane to the other that he realized he was veering off the
road.
Quickly
righting himself he pulled the vehicle back into the center of the
lane. He wondered what the hell had just happened. Had he
momentarily gone mad? Had he lost his sight? Or was he starting to
succumb to his injuries? He concluded that it was the heat making
him tired and he drove on towards Monterrey.
~
Anna was sat
in the passenger seat of the bar manager’s sedan clutching at the
briefcase of money.
“
That bastard,” she muttered to herself. “That dirty
dog,”
Meanwhile the
bar manager kept sneaking glances at her.
“
I’m Tony by the way. Just realized I never told you,” he felt
so awkward in her presence he almost croaked out the
words.
“
I’m Anna,” she grumbled. “I’m sorry I’m not much company right
now,”
“
Oh don’t worry about such a tiny thing,” he smiled at her.
“We’ll get you to the station soon,”
“
Thanks,” and she looked out the window to another strange town
with new people and new accents, new experiences she couldn’t
explore and different cultures she wouldn’t learn about.
As the car
pulled into the station parking lot she felt the need to hug Tony
hard. He was both surprised and ecstatic and hugged her back
eagerly.
“
Good luck kid,” he smiled at her. “And I hope whatever’s upset
you goes away,”
She waved
goodbye to him and disappeared into the crowd. When she emerged out
the other side she was scanning her eyes for a payphone. Delving
into Carl’s backpack she found lose change swimming between his
belongings. Stepping into the nearest booth she slid the coins in
and felt the sweat on her palms as she clutched the receiver.
“
Hello Chicago PD, how may I help?”
Anna hesitated
for a moment before choosing her words carefully. Her voice shaking
as she spoke, she hesitantly uttered the hardest six words she’d
ever said.
“
I want to report a murder,”
She filled
them in making sure they knew every detail.
“
He’s in Corpus Christi right now. I left him in a bar called
The Bison. About three miles to the south, just off the
highway,”
And she hung
up with a heavy heart.
“
What have I done?” she stared into space for a second but she
was too angry to think about it much more.
All men were
dogs who treated women like filth. At least that’s what was going
through her mind in the moment. Making her way over to the bays she
looked over the various busses about to depart. Her eyes caught
sight of the nearest one that was heading over the border. She
fumbled in the briefcase as subtly as she could then joined the
queue to get on board. Holding her cash out to the bus driver as
she climbed the stairs, she tried to stifle the tears flowing from
her face. But it was no use and she could tell passengers were
staring at her.
“
One way please,”
~
Carl was so
enraged and panicked that he ran up and down the length of the
street desperately trying to find her. Little did he know she had
already boarded a bus… with all his possessions. When he exhausted
himself he returned to the bar.
“
Have you seen her?” he felt like throttling the
barman.
“
For like the tenth time, no I haven’t seen her,”
Carl felt like
crying as he climbed back on his stool. He pushed his fingers into
his jeans pockets and counted what cash he had left. It amounted to
$115.
“
Hey, can I get bourbon? Actually can you just give me the
bottle?” and he slid over twenty dollars.
“
Look I don’t want you to get blind drunk and pass out here,”
the barman explained glibly. “How about your find yourself a motel
and crash there? If your girlfriend comes back I’ll send her your
way,”
Carl nodded
glumly.
“
There’s a place two minutes from here. Just cross the road and
take a right down that alley. They’ve got cheap rooms and cable TV,
if you don’t mind the cockroaches,”
“
Carl slid off his stool clumsily. “Thanks buddy,” he clutched
at the bottle of bourbon and made his way out the door.
~
Detective
Callahan was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He had
a migraine coming on and still had six hours left before he could
go home. Not that he wanted to do that either. He thought back to
his wife’s hollering from last night and felt his stomach
churn.
Suddenly
another detective swaggered up to his desk with a crisp, new
file.
“
Hey Callahan, that mob hit on the south side from earlier this
week. That’s your case ain’t it?”
“
Yup,” he sighed and prayed he wasn’t getting more work to
do.
“
Well we got a suspect. A Carl Reiner,” and he dropped the file
on his desk.
Callahan
pricked up his ears at the name and hurried through the file. “Son
of a bitch!” he declared. “Thanks buddy,”
And the other
detective walked away.
Callahan
fumbled in a hurry for his cell phone. Dialling Jerry’s number he
jogged to the bathroom. Checking no one was in there he opened the
file and began babbling.