Deception (16 page)

“Is he dead?” Alicia
asks with tears in her eyes. Billy, sweating and breathing heavily, is sitting on the bench next to me.

“No,” Billy says with conviction.

“How do you know?” she says.

“Because I know.”

Alicia looks across the van at me as I stumble over Frank’s body and sit next to her.

“Is he breathing?” Alicia asks.

I look over to Billy, who turns his head and looks away. Although he said Frank’s alive, I have to wonder if he does have a slight doubt about that. He went too far and he knows it. I slide off the bench and crouch down next to Frank’s motionless body on the floor of the van. I kneel on an empty soda can, which pinches my skin. I grab it in disgust and toss it to the side before placing my ear against Frank’s chest. It’s subtle, but there is a heartbeat. Either Billy knew how far he could push it, or he got lucky.

My vote is lucky.

“He’s breathing,” I say.

Alicia lets out a long sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.”

Some tension releases from Billy’s body too. He tries not to show it, but I can see right through him. He definitely got lucky this time.

A few minutes go by without anyone speaking. No one looks at each other and the tension is heavy. Now that my heart has stopped racing, I’m able to gather my thoughts. Something is going on with Alicia, something major I suspect. She was about to say something before, to explain what’s going on I suppose, but I may never know what that was. Is she really pregnant or did something happen to the baby? Was she going to come with me? Maybe they won’t let her, maybe they’re not going to let her go like they promised. My thoughts are interrupted by Billy’s words scissoring through the tension.

“Well, we can’t go back and we can’t stay here,” he says. “We need somewhere else to go while I figure out what the hell we’re going to do next.” Billy’s eyes lock onto mine. “Somewhere unexpected.”

I toss my arms in the air, I’ve got nothing. I’m done coming up with ideas. But he continues to stare at me like it’s my responsibility.

“What?” I snap.

“Your place.”

I shake my head furiously. “No, absolutely not. Not happening.”

“Do you want to live, or do you want to die?”

I continue to shake my head. “No, anywhere but there. If they find us I’ll never be able to go back there again.”

Billy shrugs, not caring in the least. “I expect it will take them at least a day to figure out who you are and where you live,” he says. “We’ll be safe there until tomorrow.”

I say nothing and continue to shake my head. Billy reaches in the front of the van and grabs the gun from the seat. He clouds the barrel with his breath and pretends to clean it. While still looking down at the gun and keeping his head steady, he looks up at me with just his devilish eyes.

“I’m not asking.”

---

I didn’t want to
go to my house originally for obvious reasons, but at least the surroundings are familiar. Billy watches curiously as I struggle to find the right key from my keychain. I’m exhausted and can barely even think straight. It’s only been a few days since I’ve been here, but it seems so much longer than that. I’ve missed being home.

Everything is exactly how I left it, except for the dust piling up on the end table next to the couch. That’s new. The blue light illuminates on the dishwasher, letting me know the dishes are clean. My cereal bowl still rests in the sink with now crusted flakes on the perimeter. The three day old paper sits on the table where I left it in a rush.

After helping Billy carry Frank into the house, I make and quickly devour a couple of sandwiches. When done, I make my way down the hallway and slide into my bedroom. I throw myself on the wrinkle-free bedspread and sprawl out. I sink into the caved in outline of my backside and some tension releases from my body. The mattress is a little old and I’ve thought about replacing it recently, but it feels so perfect right now. It’ll beat a cement floor any day.

A few minutes pass, and I’m nearly asleep when I can sense someone standing in the doorway. I struggle to force myself to turn around, but when I do, I see Alicia’s silhouette standing above me. It startles me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says.

“It’s okay.” I slide over to make some room and tap the bed beside me. “Sit down.”

She does. “You’re a good man, George. You really are.”

This takes me by surprise. “Oh, well thanks.”

“The way you’ve handled this whole situation has been…admirable. And to do it for me, you don’t even know me that well.”

“Us. I did it for us.”

She smiles widely, like she did back when we first met.

“There it is. There’s that smile,” I say, playfully pointing at the dimple on her cheek. She blushes and turns away. “Where has that been?”

She shrugs. “There hasn’t been a whole lot to smile about lately.”

I nod in agreement.

Maybe that’s all it was, maybe I’ve been overthinking this. Maybe she’s just been struggling with this whole situation like I have.

“Anyway,” she continues, “I just wanted to say thank you. So, thank you.”

“Well it’s not over yet, but you’re welcome.”

There is a brief silence, then Alicia stands. “I’ll let you be alone, I just wanted to say that.” She starts toward the door.

“No, stay.” I spread my arm open and invite her to rejoin me. Although emotionless, she turns and comes back to the bed. She sits on the edge and slides herself up toward the pillows. I place my arm across her belly and pull her close to me, hoping I will feel the baby kick. Her belly is still quite small, much like her frame, and almost non-existent. Maybe it’s too early to feel anything. I’m not too sure how this all works, but I’ll figure it out.

I close my eyes and think back to the day we met and the night we spent together. We were almost in these very same positions. I doze off to the rhythm of Alicia’s heartbeat, comforted by knowing that she’ll definitely he here when I wake up this time.

Early in the morning
while still dark, I wake up and leave the old station on foot. I grab some coffee and doughnuts from a shop a block away and bring them back to share with the group. Between the four of us, we devour all but three of the two dozen doughnuts and empty the entire box of coffee. The initial sugar high wears off by late morning, and the three of us, the men only, struggle to stay awake in the van. I think we’re all envious that Alicia is able to stay behind and sleep.

Frank, George, and I spend most of the day in the van outside Snake’s house, just out of site behind the tower. We wait until just after 5:00 P.M., when Snake finally leaves. An inconspicuous black sedan comes out of nowhere from behind his house and Snake hops inside. I watch intently as the car pulls away with Snake and some of his men inside before exiting the van. Frank is staying back and will be on the lookout for a sign of any unwanted company. He’ll lay on the horn if someone shows up.

George and I make our way toward Snake’s house on foot through the bright sunshine. I carry a light black duffel bag containing the foam for the vents. Once at the house, I drop the bag and pile the strips of foam into George’s hands. I toss the bag back over my shoulder and head around the back of the house, looking for a way in.

I had watched Snake lock the front door before he hopped in the car that came by, so I don’t even bother checking it. I check each of the windows as I walk around the perimeter of the house, and they’re all locked too. All of the windows are at eye level, so I could break the glass and pull myself inside with some help, but that’s not going to work. Why waste time on plugging the vents if I’m just going to leave a window open?

As I make my way around the back side of the house, an obvious entrance peers up at me from the lawn. I approach the rusted steel doors and toss the duffel bag to the side. The doors to the bulkhead are unlocked as I tug on them, so I open the right side and head down the rotting stairs. As I approach the bottom, a foul odor catches my nose, and I cover my face with my shirt. My backside blocks the sunlight as it tries to brighten a path for me, so I’m unable to see the source through the darkness. There must be a dead critter beneath the stairs, perhaps an opossum or a raccoon.

At the bottom of the stairs, I feel around for the doorknob on the wooden slab in front of me and grab it when I do find it. Like the main bulkhead doors at ground level, the door is unlocked, so I’m able to push inside. It’s a stupid mistake on Snake’s part, but I’ll gladly take it. There is one tiny window that peaks through the foundation which provides me just enough light to find the string that hangs from the single light bulb on the ceiling. I pull on the frail string and the bulb shines.

The basement is ordinary. It’s cool and smells of mold and the dead critter from under the stairs in the bulkhead. The ceiling is low and lanes of unorganized copper pipes hang above my head. I try to follow the paths of the pipes to find the sources, but they intersect in multiple places and all seem to end up in the same location next to the two tanks that are near the furnace. I remove the knife from my pocket and slide out the blade. I reach above my head and flex the pipes as much as possible before punching holes in them. I stab in multiple locations and move up and down the trail of copper until my arms ache. Most of the holes are small, no larger than that of a pinhole, due to the knife struggling to penetrate the tubes, but it’ll do the trick.

Before heading upstairs, I scan the basement for a clothes dryer, and find one tucked away underneath the staircase. Its vent is cemented to the foundation, so I make multiple puncture wounds all over the duct until it’s frayed enough to be torn in two. I turn the knob of the machine to the longest time allowed and push the button in to start the machine. It rumbles and shakes as I make my way up the stairs.

For all of the time that I’ve spent tracking and watching Snake, this is the first time I’ve seen the inside of his house. I’m almost giddy. The air is stale and the house nearly empty. It’s hard to believe that it has ten million dollars hidden somewhere inside, but it does. The floors are outdated and the walls are stained yellow where they meet the ceiling from excess smoke. The walls in my house got this bad once, which is why I no longer smoke indoors. I’ve determined that it’s less expensive to smoke outside.

Through one of the windows in the kitchen, I spot George as he fills the gaps of the vents with the foam as instructed. He doesn’t look up from his work and doesn’t notice me surveying him. I get a sense of satisfaction by watching him slave away at my direction.

I work my way down the hall and find the bedroom. I enter the room and immediately see the painting that George had mentioned hanging on the wall.

He was right, it’s out of place.

The colors are bright and vibrant, and it most certainly doesn’t fit in with the rest of the house. I approach the painting and lift the bottom of it up to take a peek at what rests behind.

Bingo.

Despite the enticement, I leave the painting on the wall and gently caress the front of the stainless steel safe with my finger. The safe is embedded into the wall, so I’m unable to tell how deep it is. The house is old and the walls are thin, so I should be able to access the backside of the safe from the side yard. We’ll find out how big it is then.

I’m tempted to try and crack it now, but if Snake returns during the attempt, we’d all be screwed and there’d be a lot of bloodshed. I must be patient in order to do this properly, despite how strong the lure is.

I gently release the painting and allow it to blanket the face of the safe. I step back a few steps and measure for levelness in the form of an eyeball test. When satisfied, I leave the room and head back down the basement stairs. I ignore the temptation to turn on the gas on the stove for fear that it’ll be too much and will explode once the fumes make their way upstairs through the vents in the floor. I restart the timer on the dryer before holding my breath and heading back above ground through the bulkhead. 

---

We’re back in the
van, heading toward the old police station while Snake’s house slowly builds up enough toxicity to kill him. It’ll hit him like a ton of bricks when he returns home, and he’ll fall brutally ill shortly after he arrives. He’ll go to bed early thinking he ate some bad sushi or something, and he’ll die in his sleep.

That’s what I’m hoping will happen anyway.

George hasn’t made a peep from the back, as I’m sure his heart is still racing from our encounter with the newbie cop from Jefferson. How he didn’t pick up on the fact that I’m an officer of the law will surely baffle him, maybe even more so than the fact that Jefferson now thinks he’s one too. I chuckle to myself. I am truly enjoying watching him trying to catch up with me. I’m a step ahead and always will be. It’ll be too late by the time he does finally figure out what is happening to him.

We pull into the garage shortly after 6:00 P.M. and Frank escorts George back to the holding area. I get out of the van and wander the halls looking for Alicia. I find her reading a paperback in one of the offices. She pops up from her chair when I enter the room.

“There you are. How’d it go?” she asks, rather excitedly. It’s nice to see her enthusiasm has returned.

“Everything went great, maybe even better than planned. I was able to get inside.”

Her face lights up. “Did you see it?”

“I saw the safe, yes. I have no doubt that’s where the money is being kept.”

She lets out a passionate yelp and runs toward me. She jumps into my arms and kisses me on the cheek. After savoring it for a moment, I release her.

“So, what does that mean for us then?”

“It means we’re going back tonight. If all goes well, we could be sailing through the Gulf within a matter of days.” I smile at her, and she returns the gesture. 

“Are you hungry? You must be hungry. I got some food,” she says, changing the subject. She turns around and bends over next to the chair she was sitting in. I gawk at her silently as the denim wraps itself tightly around her hips and reveals the outline of her thong.

My legs start to shake.

She tosses a few plastic bags on the desk and turns back to me. She catches me fantasizing and reddens. She walks over to me and whispers in my ear, “Not tonight. Let’s wait until we’re alone, sailing across the ocean, our bodies bouncing to the tides of the waves.” She swings her hips slowly and provocatively to show me what she means. “I want it to be special.” She smiles at me and kisses me on the cheek again.

Now she’s just torturing me.

I twist my lower body to readjust my now bulging self as she backs away.

“I bought a bunch of snacks from the store,” she says. “Help yourself.”

I approach the table and look through the bags for something of substance. “When did you go to the store?”

“A little while ago. I had some money in my pocket, so I grabbed something to eat and that book over there.” She motions to the paperback she was reading that now rests face down in the chair. “You guys were gone for a long time.”

I nod in understanding, although I don’t like the fact that she went out without my permission. I can’t blame her though, I suppose, but I don’t have to like it. What if someone saw her come back here? What if she was followed? I want to ask her this, but I decide to let it go for now.

It’s not long before Frank finds us and he and I scoff down the remainder of the contents in the bags of snacks. He tosses a few items he doesn’t want in to George, per Alicia’s request, and I spend the next twenty minutes describing to them what happened at Snake’s that neither one of them saw.

Shortly thereafter, we call it an early night and go back to our normal sleeping quarters in the van. Frank falls asleep and starts snoring almost immediately. I grimace and can hardly stand it.

I set an alarm on my phone for 2:00 A.M. so we can head over to Snake’s while the night is at its darkest. That gives the fumes almost eight hours to fester in the house and build up enough toxicity to kill Snake. I had originally thought that it was going to take a few days to get this done, but me being able to get in the house and jumpstart the process should make it go much quicker than that. We’re looking at less than a day now.

---

The melodic chime wakes
me at exactly 2:00 A.M., and I struggle to find the button to dismiss it. My eyelids are heavy and I’m still sleep deprived, but I force myself to get up. I reach over to shake Alicia awake, but my hand falls flat on the seat next to me.

She’s gone.

Lacking the energy to be concerned, I drag myself out of the van and walk into the station. The hallway is dark, but I find a light switch and flip it. The LEDs above my head brighten the path for me. As my eyes adjust, I see Alicia scurrying toward me, looking guilty.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I had to pee.”

I nod, satisfied with her answer.

“What are
you
doing?” she asks.

“It’s two o’clock, it’s time to go.”

“Already?”

I nod again. “The next time you see me we’ll be ten million dollars richer.”

She smiles weakly. “I hope so.”

She moves past me without saying another word and drags her feet into the same office I had found her in earlier. She’s not a morning person I guess. That’s just another thing we’ll learn about each other as we build our new life together.

I flip the lights on inside the holding area, and I can hear George shuffling around as I open the door. He’s shielding his face from the light as I enter the room.

“Get up, it’s go time,” I say.

George slowly rises to his feet and staggers toward me. I put my hand on his shoulder and lead him out of the room.

“Okay, so here’s the plan.”