Burst by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Chapter 11
We hung around the house for a week. Each day which did not produce a disaster we got more secure in the thought that everything was going to be all right. I said; “Diane is going to be back in a week, and she’s not going to go for this.”
Mal said; “I’m ahead of you there. I’ve already made arrangements for us to stay at my friend Wes’ house. It’s really his girlfriend’s house, but she’ll be leaving for a month to visit her family in Illinois.”
I didn’t want to appear to be “too happy,” but was relieved at the least.
“I just need one more favor,” Mal added.
“ ........... “
“I want to use those Jersey plates you have in the garage.”
I’m a bit of a pack rat. It was kind of a nostalgia thing for me to keep remembrances of my first home. I also was a little wary of Mal’s idea, as just in case somebody was still looking for them, I didn’t need any tie to me. I tried to divert him saying; “The tags are twenty years old. It’s a guaranty of getting stopped by a cop.”
“You think a car thief doesn’t know how to fix tags. I got loads of them in my trunk. They’re New Mexico, but all the cops know how to look at is the number.”
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I didn’t have any other “reasonable” objections available, and maybe even of more significance, I couldn’t really deny them when in need. So, I said; “Okay. Bring them back in two months?”
“Sure, chief.”
“Okay. Just to be totally up front with you; if you get into any trouble, my story is that you must have taken them from my garage when you were working for me.”
Rikki looked at me. Her eyes flashed as if she was close to an attack. She indignantly said; “You don’t have to do that.”
Mal saved me when he answered her, by grabbing her around the waist, and saying; “All good, bitch. Gotta protect yisself.
Figured that anyway. I’ll handle it. It’s cool.”
For some reason I restrained myself from making some comment about that nigga shit this time. As food supplies were running low I figured this was a good time to take my car to Walmart and restock. I told them that, and looked at evil eyed Rikki when I asked; “Can I trust you to be left alone unsupervised?”
Rikki alleviated my fears when she answered; “Of course not.”
My car started first turn. I closed the garage door behind me and I was on my way to the deep discount land of plenty.
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I got back; trunk and back seat loaded, parked in the garage, shut the door behind me, and started to carry the bags into the quiet house the back way.
On my first trip in with the groceries I found Mal waiting, tied to one of the kitchen chairs, his back congruent with its hard back, and gray duct tape covering his mouth. Stuff was all over the place and all the drawers were open. I immediately knew what had happened; with the possible exception of something kinky I didn’t think he or Rikki were into.
Well, the news wasn’t any good. I saw the possible personal ramifications, and immediately concluded that there was no purpose in crying over spilled milk, so I tried to act cool by saying; “Excuse me. Did I walk in on something private?”
Now in a genuinely silly mood which probably served to obscure my implicated trepidation, I further asked duct-taped Mal; “Does Rikki have to go through all this trouble to keep you from Lydia, the chlamydia jokes unfortunate?”
Mal started jumping around in the seat, and I untied him.
He ripped away the duct tape from his mouth and said; “They took Rikki.”
My two worst fears were confirmed by those words; the other that the bums knew where I lived. Since they did, it didn’t make much sense to me for their having waited a week to descend. I said; “You had your guns. How did it happen?”
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“Ah, I got a little careless after the time went by. Rikki and I were getting friendly; and when we heard the car drive up, we thought it was you. The next thing we knew was that they came in the back door you left open, guns ready.”
“They must have been casing the place.”
“I guess so. That back door is easy to pick if you know what you’re doing. But, they must have waited for you to leave.”
Incredulous, I said; “They’re afraid of me?”
“No. ........ Yes. They don’t want a witness with no criminal record.”
“How did they know you were here to begin with?”
“Probably leaned on some of my nervous ‘friends.’ The two of them are screws. I remember their faces from my last visit to County. When they took Rikki, one said; ‘You got three days to get our money back or your bitch is dead.’ ......... Now, these guys ain’t big time. They probably have never killed anybody and don’t want to. But, still; amateurs can be quite an irrational pain in the ass.”
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