Dead Man Running (15 page)

"
Fred, you must have left that open.
"

"I
thought you checked that one
, Lou
.
"

Jones
reache
d
the door first.  As he
opened the door fully a head drop
ped
to the floor
.  It
wa
s Mrs. Wiley's head with
the
shocked expression
of sudden death frozen on her painted lips
.

"
What the hell?
" shouted Jones. 
The detective
s
immediately dr
e
w their weapons
, pointed them at Chi and Jan
.

"
Don't move!  Where's Wiley?
"
 
Jan and Chi
raised their hands.

"
I think he's downstairs
," Chi
stammered, nearly as shocked as the detectives
.

Said Leone: "
Given this piece of evidence, I think you
are
all coming downtown.  Now let's go!
"

He wave
d
Chi and Jan down the stairs.  The detectives follow
ed
behind, guns still point
ed
at the pair.

In the living room Wi
ley
had remained
s
eated
on the loveseat
.  The
group enter
ed
the room.

"
Reverend, we found the severed head of your wife upstairs.  Do you know anything about this?
" asked Jones.

"
Amen.
"

"
Have it your way.  Get up, we're going downtown
,
"
said Leone.

Wiley doesn't move but he
shifted his eyes upward, onto the angry face of the
detective.

"
Keep them covered Fred while I cuff the good
r
everend.
"  Leone holstered his weapon, and proceeded to lift Wiley off the loveseat.

"
I'm sorry to have to do this, but you give me no choice.
" 
The detective place
d
a handcuff on Wiley's wrist.  Before he c
ould secure
the other handcuff, Wiley place
d
his uncuffed hand on the detective's
bald
head.

Jones pointed his weapon at Wiley.  "
Let him go, right now!
"

Wiley stare
d
at
Jones
. 
While keeping his eyes on Jones, with a quick jerk, he
separate
d
Leone
's head from his body.

Jones began to convulse.  "
God damn!  God damn!
" 
The detective fire
d
into Wiley.  Jan grab
bed
the detective's arm
and b
ullets
flew
into the ceiling as the two
grappled
.  Wiley drop
ped
the head and walk
ed
over to the struggling pair.  He t
ook
the
gun away from both and proceeded to bend the gun's barrel.

Jones look
ed
on in disbelief.  "
What is he?
"

Jan smiled.  "
That's my man.
"

"
What are you gonna do to me?
" Jones asked.

Jan grabbed the stunned man's arm as Wiley approached.  "
I'm not going to do anything to you.  Now Ben, he's going to eat you.
"

She smiled as the detective screamed.  Wiley
grabbed the detective's head and twisted
it
from his body, ending the noise.

Jan allowed the detective's body to fall to the ground.  Wiley, his mouth opened impossibly wide,
ate
the man's head.  Jan smiled, patted Wiley lovingly on the cheek as he
chewed
.  Her eyes surveyed the room, finally falling on Chi, crouching
in a corner, terrified.

"
Hey, Chi, I'm glad you're here.
"

Chi does not move.  "
Am I next?
" He ha
d
to speak loudly to overcome the noise of snapping bones.

Jan smiled.  "
No, of course not.  You're a friend.  Right?
"

Chi stood, his legs jelly.  "
Of course.
"

"
Good, now get a bucket and
a
mop and help me clean up all this blood.  Cleaning up blood is hard work.
"

As Jan walk
ed
away, the loud crunching continue
d
in the background.
  Chi left the room after telling Jan that he would get the cleaning implements.

At the opposite end of the house, Chi
enter
ed the study.  He s
oftly close
d the door
.
  He
walk
ed
over
to
the desk and
steadied
himself.  He reache
d
for the phone and dial
ed
.

Elias answered: "
Hello.
"

"
I
t's me.
"

"
What's up, Chi
?
"

"
What's up is that we were visited by those same two detectives
who came by the headquarters
.
"

"Y
ou should have called me!  They're gone now?
"

"
They're about as gone as you can get.
"  There
was
silence as Elias considered Chi's words.

"
He killed them?
"

"
Yeah.
"

"
Any witnesses?
"

"
No.
"

"
Good.
"

"
Good?  I tell you two cops get killed and that's all you have to say?  Good.
"

"
Calm down man.  Hey, I'm as broken up about this as you are.  We just gotta keep our eyes on the prize, that's all.
"

"
Yeah, our jobs.
"

"
Don't forget those honeys, man.
"

"
And the 110Gs.
"

"
That's it.  Remember, we'll take care of our boy once he takes care of us.
"

"
Election night.
"

"
Don't touch him till then, Chi.  You want me to come over?
"

"
No, I got things covered here.
"

"
Okay, I'll talk to you...
"

"
Boss?
"

"
What now Chi?
"

"
I know I ain't the brightest penny in your pocket but ain't killing wrong?
"

"
Sure it is, Chi.  But just think about all the lives we can save by being in Congress. 
Taking care of the sick and feeding babies and all that shit. 
Wiley might kill a few but we'll balance it out and then some.
"

"
Oh
, okay
.
"

"
I'll call you later.  You're doing a great job Chi.  Hang in there
buddy
, okay
.
"

Dial tone
.  Chi pull
ed
the phone away from his ear
,
stare
d
at it for a moment,
and then
finally
he replaced the phone in its cradle.

With heavy legs, Chi climbed the stairs of the Wiley ho
me
.  He ha
d
spent the past ten hours in exhausti
ve
efforts to erase the fact that two men were brutally murdered there.  Their possessions – the ones not
stolen by Jan
– have been sprinkled around the five boroughs
.  He located their vehicle and it
n
ow
sat beneath
thirty feet of water in a central
New
Jersey
rock quarry.  He replaced the living room carpet and washed down the walls.  He knew from watching CSI that they have stuff - Luminol? - to identify blood on walls even after you clean up but they would need a warrant to do that, and they wouldn't get a warrant because they ha
d
no proof that the detectives had been there.

Chi
m
ade his way to Mrs. Wiley's bedroom
. 
He didn't bother to undress or bathe.  Those things could wait until
after
he got some rest. 
He remove
d
his shoes and lay on the bed.  His eyes waver
ed
,
and then
close
d
.  Soon, Chi enter
ed
into a
dream
:

He
wa
s at a rap concert.  The audience
went
wild as a pulsating rap beat hits their ears.  The volume increase
d
as the Harlem D Lites hit the stage.  It
was
Mookie and
Hamid
, each dressed to the nines with retro
Jets
jerseys, ten times too large baggy jeans, white sneakers and baseball caps cocked to the side.  Dancing as the booty girls
we
re Jan and Mrs
. Wiley, each dressed in halter
top
s
, skin tight leather
miniskirts
and
knee
high
boots
.  They d
id
their booty best as they dance
d
around the two men.

Mookie and
Hamid
start
ed
rapping to the beat,
while
prowling the stage.

HAMID

You gotta hack him, gotta wreck him.

MOOKIE

Don't ya let no sucka protect him yo
.

HAMID

Take that hatchet and cut off his head.

The booty girls motion
ed
like they
we
re swinging an ax.

MOOKIE

Ya gotta keep hacking till ya know he dead.

HAMID

You gotta hack him, gotta wreck him.

MOOKIE

Walk up to that sucka and ya smack him.

HAMID

I say ya hack him up.

MOOKIE

Hack him up.

HAMID

Hack, h
ack him up to death.

MOOKIE

W
h
ip, w
h
op, wham.

HAMID

Hack him up, don't you freeze man.

Suddenly the DJ spin
ned
another beat.  Wiley
came
on stage, break dancing.  He dance
d
for a minute,
finally disappearing. 

The
beat return
ed
as before and the D Lites t
ook
over again.

MOOKIE

Hack him up.

HAMID

Back him up.

MOOKIE

Hack him up to death.