Home Free (27 page)

“Okay, thanks.” I slipped the article back in
the pocket with Jimmy C’s card and stood to leave. The Element was
parked back at the police station, and I walked towards it, keeping
an eye out for tall men in ski masks. I didn’t think anyone would
try to nab me a block from the police station, but you could never
be too careful.

Back in the Element, I idled with the AC on
in the police parking lot to keep cool, nothing to do and nowhere
to go. I called Danny, again, and he didn’t answer, again. I dialed
the motorcycle shop, and Kevin picked up.

“Hey, it’s me. Haven’t seen you for a couple
days.”

“Rumor has it you’ve been busy.”

“Hunh?”

“I heard you were at Brian’s fundraiser with
Junior Salazar last night, made quite the scene. Jesus, Alex, you
know how much I hate to agree with Brian, but I gotta wonder what
the hell you’re doing with a guy like Salazar. He’s a fucking
killer, for crissake. You sure picked a helluva way to make Danny
jealous.”

I fiddled with the AC knob, trying to get the
temperature just right. “You think he shot Chambers and set the
fire, don’t you?” It hadn’t occurred to me that Kevin would think
so, but then I’d thought it too, once upon a time. I didn’t think I
had time at the moment to convince Kev that it was our brother, not
Danny’s, that we had to worry about.

“Well, I know I didn’t do it, and I was with
Danny all fucking night, so I know he didn’t. Our alibi doesn’t
stand up because no one else was at his folks’ house, and you had
fucking already gone home. But trust me, we didn’t go anywhere near
the goddamn body shop until eleven.
Somebody
called Danny to
get him to go out there, and Jenkins is mysteriously not around to
confirm it. Nobody else has a fucking motive besides fucking Junior
Salazar.” Agitated again. “And now you’re fucking him. Fucking
wonderful.”

“Jesus, I’m not sleeping with Mikey. But he
didn’t do it, Kevin. I’m sure of that.”

He snorted. “Why, because he said so?”

I sighed, remembering why I’d called in the
first place, which wasn’t to debate Mikey’s character. “Look, Kev,
you have to trust me about last night. It’s not what you think.
Anyway, that’s not why I called. Did you meet with Jimmy C already
this morning?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Danny mentioned it. Did he say anything
about making any arrests?”

“Hunh-uh.”

“Well, they’re getting warrants today, for
you and Danny.”

“Fuck.”

“I know, but hopefully this will all be over
soon.” I pictured Ski Mask, and I knew it was going to all be over
soon, one way or another. “If you see Danny, can you let him know?
I can’t get a hold of him.”

“He’s probably not speaking to you.”

“Whatever.” I clicked off.

I knew Danny and Kevin wouldn’t attempt to
flee, I just wanted them to know what was coming. I figured in some
ways, it was probably a relief, not having to wonder anymore. Then
I thought that was stupid, it was probably never a relief to get
arrested for something you didn’t do. Or even something you did do,
for that matter.

I felt safe in the police parking lot, but it
was getting damn boring. I figured I’d head out to the gravel yard
to give Mikey the update in person, kill a little time. I backed up
and pulled out of the lot, turning right on McKinley Street and
right again on Orchard. I got stuck behind a tractor, and it seemed
to take forever to get to the yard. I parked in front of the office
and wandered in. The same burly woman was at the reception desk,
stapling more receipts to more work orders. I wondered if she had
any other tasks, or if it was some sort of union thing.

“Yes?” No hint of recollection that I’d been
there a few days earlier, stealing tissues and other sundries.

“I need to see Mikey, please.”

She looked at me as if I had insulted her
mother. “Junior is with someone right now. And for your own safety,
you should know that he’s threatened to shoot anyone who calls him
Mikey.” She looked like that would be just fine with her, so I
didn’t think she was so much concerned with my safety as she was
possessive of the boss. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to worry about
her jealous streak.

“Tell
Mikey
that Alex is here, and
it’s important. He’s expecting me.” My level of maturity hadn’t
caught up with my chronological age. My mother was running out of
hope that it ever would.

The VP of Stapling glared, trying to decide,
then sighed and picked up the phone. “Alex somebody is here, says
it’s important.” She rolled her eyes, hung up and jerked her head
towards the office door by way of invitation. I curtseyed and went
back.

From the reception area, the door to his
office opened in the middle of the long wall. The wall to the left
was taken up by a long window that looked out back, onto the gravel
yard. Mikey’s desk was situated so that his back would be to the
window if he were in the chair, which he wasn’t. To the right of
the door, a medium-sized oak conference table was surrounded by six
upholstered chairs. I guessed it was for going over plans with
contractors and whoever else buys gravel by the ton. Or possibly
for entertaining kinky females with handcuffs. A much smaller
window was centered in the wall behind the table, providing a
partial view of the front parking lot. Directly across the room
from the doorway stood four dented metal filing cabinets, several
of which I’d rifled through on my previous visit here.

As I suspected, Mikey wasn’t with anybody. He
was sitting at the conference table, looking over some papers. I
closed the door behind me.

“Hi, Junior.”

He looked at me and flapped the papers
towards a chair. I examined it closely, then sat.

“You mad at me?” he asked.

“Hunh-uh.”

“Then what’s with the
Junior
?”

“Your VP said you’d shoot me if I called you
Mikey. Didn’t feel like getting shot this early in the day.”

“VP?”

“Uh-hunh. Of Stapling.”

“Right. I’ll let her know you have special
dispensation to call me whatever you like. Was there a reason for
this visit?”

“I just saw Jimmy C,” I said. “They’re
getting warrants to pick up Danny and Kevin later on today. I just
wanted you to know.”

“Shit.” He let go of the papers, and they
floated gracefully to the floor. “Any sign of Brian?”

I shook my head no. We stared at each other
for a long time, and this time it was me who did the ESP thing. I
shook my head no again. “No way, Mikey, you are not going to run.
You can’t let Danny and Kevin take the fall for this. We’re going
to prove Brian did it. I don’t know how, but I know I damn well
can’t do it by myself.”

He looked at me a minute longer, then smiled.
“Jeez, that mind reading
is
annoying, isn’t it?” He gathered
up his papers. “Fine. I promise I won’t leave, not today anyway.
But now you need to get out of here so I can think.” He pushed his
chair back, and I stood as well, and he walked me to the door. He
didn’t open it. Instead he stopped and looked at me, pushing a
strand of hair behind my ear. “Thanks, Alex.”

“For what?”

He shrugged, awkward. “Believing me, I
guess.”

“Well, you don’t make my stomach hurt,” I
said by way of explanation.

He grinned then. “The fact that I understand
your logic worries the hell out of me.”

He assured me again he wouldn’t leave, I
promised not to let Brian or his henchman kill me before we proved
his guilt, then I got back in the car to wander around and waste
the day until something happened or until Danny got done with his
errands. Damn, I wondered, what if something didn’t happen today?
What if Brian was patient and decided to wait till tomorrow, or the
weekend to kill me? Danny would be in jail by then. I’d have to
come up with a better plan for not being alone. I could always call
Pauline or even my mother, but if I was a target, I didn’t want to
endanger anyone else as well. Maybe I could get a temp job, filing
or something. Hey! Maybe Jack would hire me as a construction
worker for a few days. It seemed to keep him in shape, and I needed
some exercise after all the pizza and cookies lately. If Brian
didn’t try to kill me by the end of the day, I’d definitely ask
Jack for a job. He’d have to be a real jerk not to hire his new
wife.

I couldn’t believe I was planning my day
around my own brother’s attempts to kill me. I’d been thinking
about what Danny said before, about all the bad guys being
somebody’s brother. He was right. The problem was, nobody thought
they would ever be the somebody.

I drove to my house, cruising by slowly, and
noticed that the lawn was almost completely green now. The miracle
of automatic sprinklers. It needed to be mowed, though. I’d do it
this weekend, then maybe ask Jack if he knew of a good gardener.
Lucifer was on my roof, asleep in the sun. As I was coasting by,
the gray Escort came down the street from the opposite direction. I
stared, trying to get a glimpse of the driver, but he’d looked down
to fiddle with his radio just as he approached. Bummer. He didn’t
park, just kept driving, and turned left on Bear Creek. I thought
about following him, but decided the orange Element wasn’t the best
car for undetected surveillance. Besides, I had to focus. Where
would Brian or his stooge not kill me? I wondered.

I settled on the mall. I circled until a
parking spot near the front entrance was vacated, and then I
swooped. It was cool and quiet in the mall, not many shoppers
before lunch on a Wednesday morning. Still, enough people were
around that I felt an attack was unlikely. I went to a jewelry
store and found a pair of cubic zirconia earrings I liked. I asked
the sales clerk if I could try them on. She shrugged and shoved a
mirror in my direction. I pushed the studs into my ear holes and
looked in the mirror and gasped. I had my A’s hat on, my hair in a
cute little ponytail sticking out the opening in the back. But my
eyes looked tired, and I had dark circles under them in spite of my
best efforts earlier with the concealer. My mouth was drawn,
unsmiling. I looked ten years older than the girl with the
dangerous dress and sexy hair from yesterday. I guess fear will do
that. Goddamn Brian. If my hair went gray, I’d fucking kill
him.

I left the earrings on and paid for them.
Maybe they’d draw attention away from my appearance. I thought back
to the rumors of my impending death. Now I definitely looked the
part. If I ran into Rory Blankenship, she’d probably call the
coroner on the spot.

I wandered the stores, trying on things I
didn’t even like just to kill time. Turns out, super-low-rise
stretch jeans don’t look good on me. I found a nice purse, not too
big and not too small. It was brown, and I figured with fall right
around the corner, I could use a brown purse. I paid for it and
thought this hiding out nonsense was getting darn expensive.

I got some chow mein from the food court and
people-watched while I ate. I considered calling Pauline, but I
didn’t know what to say. I checked my watch. Two-fifteen. I sighed.
I felt like I’d been in this mall forever. What the hell was taking
Danny so long? My cell phone chimed the
William Tell
Overture
, and I almost jumped for joy.

“Hello?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, Mikey, I’m fine. I’m going to die of
boredom before Brian gets another chance at me.”

“He just called.”

I dropped my fork, and chow mein splattered
across the table. “What did he say?”

“He wants to meet me here at closing time.
Says he has a deal for me. I’m guessing it’s not a deal I’ll like
very much.” Sonofabitch. I realized that until this very second,
I’d still had hope it wasn’t really my brother.

I thought, the wheels in my brain spinning
too fast for me to keep up. He killed Chambers. He let his own
brother take the heat. And he tried to have me killed.

Why?

“Mikey, we need to record the conversation.
Maybe Brian will say something that will implicate him, or at least
clear you and the guys.”

I was pretty sure I could hear his jaw
clenching.

“Can we wire you up somehow? Or put a tape
recorder in the desk?” I felt silly, and I knew he was going to say
I watched too much television.

He hesitated a minute, then let out a breath.
“No, if he’s going to make an illegal deal of some kind, he’ll
check for a wire, I’m pretty sure. I mean, I would.”

“I know!” A couple at the next table turned
and stared, then went back to their egg rolls. I lowered my voice.
“You have a speaker phone, right? What if you call me up before
Brian gets there, and I’ll tape the conversation on my end?”

Big sigh. “Alex, I appreciate your effort,
but this isn’t going to work. The speaker phone has a mic, but, as
you might guess from the name, it also has a speaker. So we’d be
able to hear you, too. Plus, the little light goes on to indicate
the line’s in use. Brian may be crazy, but he’s not stupid. Well,
not that stupid. I’m just going to have to meet with him and see
what he wants.”

“Let me call Jimmy C.”

“And say what, exactly? That your brother,
the politician, requested a meeting with me? Big deal. Half the
town saw me at his fundraiser last night. Chang’ll just assume
Brian wants to meet with one of his supporters.”

He was right, I knew, but I wasn’t going to
let Brian get away with any of this. I looked forty, and my hair
color was in jeopardy, and I was getting really pissed.

“I have to think. I’ll call you back.”

I clicked off and stared straight ahead.
There wasn’t a window, and that was slowing me down. I got up and
walked to Sears and stood by the entrance, staring out at the
parking lot. A phone in the men’s department rang about seven
hundred times before the VP of Telephones finally answered it. Damn
phone, I thought. And then the window did its thing, and I had an
idea.