Evil in Hockley (4 page)

“That’s Shelley.”

She certainly was beautiful and he
could see why many a man would fall for her on looks
alone.

She sat then said,

“Hello Karma, Tony, and…”

Karma filled in the name.

“Shelley, meet Harry
Tanner.”

Shelley lost her smile.

“I’ll see you later, Karma. I have some
work to do.”

Harry wasn’t going to let her off that
easy.

“No please, stay seated. I heard you
knew Jarrod. Can you tell me anything about him? I haven’t seen him
in three years.”

She was definitely
uncomfortable.

“I knew him personally. I still feel
his loss and can’t talk about him. I have to go.”

If that were true she would have been
at the service but she wasn’t. Harry got the distinct impression
she knew something she wasn’t willing to share. As Shelley walked
past a table a customer grabbed her arm. She smiled, gave him a
kiss on the cheek, then pulled free. Harry thought she bounced back
fast for someone stricken with grief.

Someone had once called Karma a foxy
whore. He couldn’t remember who’d said it but those words played in
his memory when he saw her smile and looked into her
eyes.

“She doesn’t know you Harry. She
thought you were requesting information. I know you were demanding
it. Want me to let her know she should talk to you?”

“No, let her think about it for
now.”

Joe came out of his back office looking
from table to table until his eyes rested on theirs. His brow
furrowed and his eyes narrowed. The man was in his forties yet
still in appeared to be excellent shape.

Karma glanced at him then
said,

“Duty calls.”

She and Tony left. Joe liked to be
greeted by his staff a the beginning of the night. Harry knew he
really only wanted to look over his merchandise. He was critical of
everyone, questioning their appearance, pointing out the tiniest
flaw. He shot a glance at Harry after talking to Karma and Tony.
Harry nodded and smiled. It irked the shit out of Joe.

Harry knew what was coming next. Joe
gestured to his two bouncers and they gathered around him. After a
brief discussion with their boss they approached Harry from two
sides.

“You’re out of here pal,” said
one.

He grabbed for Harry and got a whiskey
glass in the face. The open end fit over his nose as Harry slapped
it home with his palm. He wouldn’t be able to see for awhile. The
other tried to use momentum as a he rushed in but received a broken
nose for his trouble compliments of Harry’s elbow.

Harry moved through the bar as a bar
tender neared with a baseball bat. Harry picked up a chair and
using the feet pushed the man over a table. Harry left and on his
way out passed Joe Sharky.

“See you soon Joe.”

He wanted to speak to Shelley but never
gave her a glance. Harry believed she was the one with information
but he put the emphasis on Joe. If he didn’t Shelley might wind up
dead.

Chapter 7

The drive home was not a straight one.
Harry took detours down side roads and searched for a tail. There
wasn’t one but he took precautions in any case. They probably knew
where he lived but not when he’d be there or where he would
sleep.

When he returned home he heated some
leftovers Sandy had made the day before. He ate as he tried to
assimilate any information he may have picked up tonight. He went
over everything in his mind in triplicate. Shelley was the only one
who stood out. She had to be the clue.

Harry was tired after a long day’s
activity so hit the sack. He took blankets and a pillow to the shed
out back. If someone entered the house gunning for him he’d hear it
from there.

Good plan but it didn’t
work.

He was awakened when a canister
exploded and gas filled the shed. He had no choice but to race for
the entrance. He made it out the door but the blunt end of
something hit him in the back of the skull.

Harry woke, his hands and feet tied, a
rope around his waist. He only peeked out of one eye not wanting to
give away the fact he was awake. It was dark and a half moon hung
in the sky above the tree line.

He thought at first that he was in the
back of a pickup truck then heard a sound like a paddle moving
through water. He was in a boat nestled into the bow. Two men at
the stern rowed the boat as it gently bobbed up and down in the
mellow water.

He gazed over the side and saw the
night lights of buildings along shore and the traffic lights at the
corner of Highway 10 and Broadway. He was in the Orangeville
Reservoir moving away from the north shore. His eyes followed the
rope around his waist along the bottom of the boat to a large metal
weight, the kind used to verify the accuracy of a weigh scale. He
was beginning to get the drift, literally.

He was destined to spend eternity at
the bottom of the reservoir.

What had he missed? They were on him as
though they’d followed but he knew that was not the case. If they’d
put a bug on his car it would have taken a while to get in position
and find out where he was. Only one option remained: they were
there all the time watching his house. Joe Sharky had arranged this
before he set foot in his bar.

The boat stopped and a man moved
forward and slapped him in the face.

“Wakey, Wakey, Harry.”

It was his old buddy, Tony.

Harry didn’t move or react.

Tony was at the bar so how did he wind
up here? They must have had another team at his house and that team
handed him over to Tony.

“I know you’re awake, saw your head
move as you looked around shore. Say good bye to an old buddy. I’ll
miss you.”

“Why are you doing this
Tony?”

“I told you before, a man needs to
work. I don’t have a lot of talent and little education. Not like
the Tanner brothers, my pals. You know I hated you two all those
years. Everything came easy to you two: school grades, money,
women.”

So that’s why Tony took over: he wanted
the honour.

“Is that why you killed
Jarrod?”

“No buddy, I didn’t do the deed. The
day he was killed I was stoned on cocaine. I could hardly walk. I
was so high I could almost fly though. You ever had that feeling?
Of course not. The Tanner boys were never that weak.”

“So who killed him? Joe
Sharky?”

“Got no idea pal. Joe doesn’t confide
in me. Hell, I’m really only a customer. Keeps me around for part
time work cause I know the area.”

“You’re a snake, Moore.”

“I maybe one but I’ll be the last man
standing after you go down. Who’d a thought I’d not only outlast
Harry Tanner but I’d do him in?”

“I’m not dead yet.”

Moore pulled a semi-automatic pistol
from his jacket and attached a silencer. He pointed it then
said,

“You’re mine but I’d rather watch you
squirm under water. I’ll get a kick out of watching the air bubbles
rise to the surface. It’ll turn me on so much, get me so high, I’ll
go home and fuck Karma.”

He set the gun on the boat deck then
gestured for the other man, the bouncer to help toss Harry
overboard. The guy had a smile on his face under his bandaged nose.
Harry didn’t fight as they hoisted him over the side, wanting to
save his energy to free himself. The weight splashed in dragging
him down.

Harry fought to move his hands downward
to one of the blades tucked in his boots. That is if they were
still there. If they hadn’t been found and removed. His hands were
tied behind his back making it almost impossible.

Chapter 8

Sandy three hours
earlier:

Sandy drove her old Cavalier toward
Harry’s house, her mind obsessing over him. She’d loved him since
they were kids. He gave her the first kiss she’d had from a boy and
was her first love. She remembered losing her innocence to him, the
joyous pain. He was amazed at the amount of blood on the back seat
of his old Ford. They both tried in vain to clean it from the old
fibres but only darkened it. He put a seat cover over it then asked
if she was all right. He cared. She wondered if he’d ever bragged
and showed that spot to his friends.

No way, not Harry Tanner.

He was too much of a gentleman,
sometimes too caring for his own good. Not that he was without
fault; his biggest flaw, the way she saw it at any rate, was his
disregard for others whenever he changed his life.

The most shocking was when he enlisted
in the armed forces and asked for duty with the coalition in
Afghanistan. He hadn’t considered her in the least. He’d told her
he was going and said good bye. That was it.

A fucking good bye.

When she saw him again three years
later staring at her in the donut shop her heart almost shattered.
She knew he’d be home to attend his brother’s service but… Actually
seeing him was another matter.

Son-of-a-bitch.

Sandy knew he was going to do something
real stupid so she decided to keep an eye on him, help if he needed
it. He fought for Queen and country so the least she could do was
show him support if he needed it. She was armed with hairspray and
a Swiss army knife. The hairspray stung the eyes and the army knife
had a four inch blade, almost deadly.

She passed his house but his car was
nowhere to be seen. She parked on the side of the road barely
within sight of his house. Shortly after she parked he came home.
What was she going to do? Sit here all night? She’d watch for a
couple of hours then go home.

An hour later a sedan pulled into his
laneway and minutes after that Harry was carried between two men as
though he was drunk. They tossed him into the back of the car and
left. Sandy followed at a respectable distance hoping they didn’t
go too fast. Her old car wouldn’t do over ninety clicks.

The sedan pulled into the road west of
the Toyota dealership, toward the Headwater Conservation area. She
had to give them space or they’d know she was following. She gave
them a minute then followed with her lights out, the driving lights
still on. In the distance she saw the sedan parked by a boat so she
cut the engine on her car.

Sandy stalked toward them with her
purse over her shoulder loaded with hairspray and the Swiss army
knife. As she walked she tossed out everything else so nothing
could interfere with her weapons. They loaded Harry into a boat and
tied him up. They were going to dump him into the reservoir. The
boat pushed off from shore and two men rowed it into the icy black
water.

“Shit, Shit, Shit,” she
swore.

They were taking her Harry out to drown
him.

Her man.

Not without a fight.

She clasped the top of her purse and
kicked off her shoes. She was only wearing a light summer dress
which would not weigh her down. She was an excellent swimmer thanks
to Uncle Gordon who used to be a life guard. She went through every
positive thought she could come up with as she entered the cold
waters.

“I’m a fucking long distance swimming
champion,” she said to herself.

She’d won a twenty length swimming
contest when she was twelve.

The oars on the boat made more noise
than she did. She almost caught them when they threw Harry
overboard. She inhaled then dove deep. She swam along the bottom
unable to see. The half moon didn’t light the water much way down
here. She could see the outline of the boat above so followed to
its bow. Once there she spotted movement in the water. It had to be
Harry.

She swan toward him and breathed into
his mouth. That finished her air supply so she rose to the surface
for a breath. She inhaled deep and heard a man on the
boat.

“What the fuck?”

They spotted her.

A flashlight came on.

Pop. Splash.

She knew it was a silenced pistol. She
seen them in movies.

“Cut the fucking light idiot. Someone
will see it and call the cops.”

She heard that before she dove down to
Harry again. She pulled out her knife and cut his bonds. He was
free and they both went up for air.

Pop. Splash.

They went under and after Harry kicked
off his boots, swam south. They rose to the surface for another
breath.

Pop. Splash.

The boat had followed. She pointed to
the east shore of the reservoir and they both swam underwater for a
minute. They rose but this time were not seen. The boaters were
still rowing south.

They finally climbed out on the
southeast shore near the traffic lights on Highway 10 and
Broadway.

Pop. Splash.

It was a long distance shot but they
were seen leaving the water. They ran toward the lights in their
bare feet, keeping low.