G'Day USA (35 page)

I gave her a hand a reassuring pat. ‘I’m always careful. And I know it’s not safe. Let me relieve the pressure and I’ll tell you what I’ve got planned.’

I peered around the edge of the door, made sure the coast was clear and slipped around to the back. The storm was well and truly gone. The sky was blue and the sun promised a very warm day. In the daylight I could barely see where Ann and others had peed. But I could see I’d been sitting in one of those places last night.

I’d been out here on the streets too long. I didn’t even notice the smell.

When I went back in Ann was sitting up and staring at the wall. I wasn’t sure if she had slipped off to some private world of her own or was just trying to think things through. I’d been in that vacant stare space many times myself. Almost missed auditions a couple of times.

Regardless which state she was in, it was time to go. I needed to find some food and needed to find a place suitable for a final standoff. I was pretty sure how I was going to so it; I just needed to stay alive until I did.

I placed the remaining tissue beside her and quietly collected my phones, battery pack and tried to slip out the door.

‘
I’m coming with you.’ Ann stood and stretched. ‘Sorry for startling you this morning, but you were having a nightmare earlier and some strange motherly instinct came over me.’ She smiled. ‘Very foreign feeling, trust me.’

I peered closely in her eyes. ‘You’re home?’

She tapped her head. ‘Up here? Yeah. As home as I’ve been in a long time. It’s you, I think.’

‘
How is it me?’

‘
I don’t know. You’ve been kind. You’re concerned about my welfare. You treat me like a real human being instead of an aberration messing up the streets.’

‘
It’s the least I could do for all the help you’ve given me.’

‘
Let’s not get all lovey-dovey. What are we up to now?’

I didn’t like this. I shook my head. ‘This is going to be dangerous. I need to set this guy up and lure him into a trap at the same time I lure the police to the same place. I don’t want you getting in the middle of it.’

‘
Honey, I’m in the middle of it. I saw his face. He knows me. He knows my haunts. If he gets you, he’s coming after me next. I’ve got as much invested in taking this guy down as you do.’

‘
That’s where I have an advantage, Ann. He knows you know him. He doesn’t know I know who it is. I didn’t get a look at his face when he was attacking me. I’ve got a leg up. If he sees you with me, he’ll know his anonymity is blown.’

She sighed, thinking about something. ‘Look, I’ll hang back a bit. I’m feeling really protective right now and I can’t let you go on your own. Look at it this way: either I come with you and we work together, or I skulk around in the shadows and you’re never really sure what I’m up to.’ She smiled. ‘Easy decision to make now, isn’t it?’

She had me there. ‘Okay. First things, first. We need food.’

‘
I could eat.’

‘
You never eat. You’re like a bird. How do you keep from passing out?’

She laughed. ‘Spend enough time out here and you’ll develop the same skill. I can go quite awhile without food. Water I need every day, but food is as I can get it.’ She chuckled. ‘All this talk now has me hungry.’

‘
I’ve got a treat for you.’

‘
Breakfast at Tiffany’s?’

I laughed. ‘A movie buff. Perfect. I’ve got friends. We’ll sneak around the back way.’

I led her down side roads, past two houses partially constructed and abandoned, past an empty lot with a couple of abandoned cars and to the back of Emily and Henry’s place and rapped on the door.

‘
You sure this is okay?’

I nodded. ‘These people are okay.’ I waited another couple of minutes and knocked again.

Emily opened the door. ‘We aren’t expecting any deliveries, Henry. How would I know who it - oh.’

She stopped in mid-sentence and looked at me, then at Ann, and then at me again. ‘You look like hell.’

I grinned. ‘Excellent. My disguise is working. Emily, this is my good friend Ann. Ann, Emily. She and her husband run a very nice cafe. I hope one day to enjoy a sit-down meal with you there. In the mean time, Em, you wouldn’t have some fruit or rolls you could spare?’

She looked up and down the alley. ‘Get the hell in here. Both of you.’ She pulled door closed behind us and snapped on the light. ‘Explain?’

We were squeezed in pretty tight. I’m sure we didn’t smell that great, but Emily made no mention of it. ‘Ann has been a fantastic help keeping me below the radar. There’s a guy trying to kill me, the police want to arrest me and I’d love nothing more than to get them all in the same room and duke it out. That’s my plan, anyway.’ My stomach growled. ‘But first, food. I can pay you if you want. I’ve still got a couple of hundred dollars on me.’ I fished in my pocket and took out a couple of twenties. ‘That should cover it.’

‘
First you take off and we think you’re maybe dead and now you insult me with money? I thought we were friends.’ She looked at Ann. ‘And any friend of Ellie’s is a friend of ours. I’ll get you some food.’ She stopped herself as she was opening the door to the restaurant. ‘One exception to that “friend of a friend” thing. You know those guys you brought over for breakfast? The taller one? He’s not so much a friend. He came by here earlier today looking for free food. Looked terrible. Henry asked if he’d mind sitting outside and the lanky asshole threw one of the chairs though the front window.’

Kent. I looked at Ann and gave her a small shake of the head. ‘Is he still here?’

‘
No. He marched up the beach on the hunt for something. The guy’s crazy.’

Ann finally spoke up. ‘I’ve seen crazy. Hell, I’ve
been
crazy and
that
guy is so far beyond crazy he’s scary.’

‘
She speaks the truth. Wait here and I’ll get you some grub. On the house.’

‘
And I’ll pay for your window.’

‘
Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s drawing a paying crowd and the insurance will cover it. Everyone thinks the storm was worse than it really was. I’m not going to set them straight. Stay here and stay quiet.’

She closed the door and Ann turned to me. ‘You trust her?’

‘
With my life.’

‘
Yeah, you just did. I hope you’re right.’

We stood in silence for a couple of minutes, my nerves stretching to the breaking point. You never really knew someone and while I thought I knew Emily, there was a small sliver of concern.

Unfounded, it turned out. She came through the door, opening it just wide enough to let herself through with two bags of food.

‘
You might want to hightail it out of here.’ She handed a bag to Ann and then one to me. I liked that. Ann looked like every caricature of a bag lady you’ve ever seen, and by giving her the food first she was telling her she considered her an equal to me. I’d never doubt her again.

‘
What’s going on?’

‘
Your old friend Sampson is out there, with his pooch. Doing a door to door search for you.’

‘
The cops are here looking for us? Shit. That’s too early.’

’
No, he’s not identifying himself as police. Just a concerned friend. You’ve got a lot of them.’

I took her by the arm. ‘Em, he is a friend, but he’s also a cop. He’ll do what he has to do as a cop if he finds us, so please don’t let him know. Which way is he traveling?’

‘
Your secret’s safe with me. He’s going south, toward the pier. How long is this going to go on?’

‘
It’ll be finished tonight, one way or another.’

‘
I certainly don’t like the sound of that.’

‘
It’ll be good. Ann here’s going to help me out.’ I hefted the bag of food. ‘And you’ve helped also. Immensely. We’ve got to go so you don’t get into any trouble. And if the insurance people take too long, I’m serious, I’ll pay for the window.’

I reached for the back door and she intercepted me. ‘Let me check first.’ She poked her nose out and looked both ways before opening the door all the way. ‘It’s clear. Come back when all this shit is settled, will you? Henry’s come up with this fantastic warm chicken salad with rocket, avocado and balsamic vinegar that is to die for.’

I smiled. ‘We will. It’s a date. The both of us will be back, a little less worse for wear.’ I stepped out and closed the door behind us.

‘
Dig in Ann, they make good stuff there.’

I looked over and she was finishing her first roll and digging out a banana. She smiled and nodded. ‘Very good.’

So part ‘A’ was accomplished. We had enough food to last us the day. Emily had been very generous. We walked slowly north up the alley until we reached a cross street, about half a mile away from the cafe. Safe enough to get back out on the main thoroughfare. Ann was dragging her heels, a few yards behind me when I turned the corner.

I stopped and backtracked. ‘Stay here.’

‘
What?’

‘
Stay here. He’s just around the corner. You don’t want him to see you.’

‘
Is he coming this way?’

I shook my head. ‘Sitting on a bench. I’ll just be a minute. I’ll come back for you.’ I saw the look in her eyes. She’d been lied to non-stop for the last two years. ‘Honest. Here, you hang on to my food.’ I handed her the bag and walked around the corner like it was any other day of my life.

Kent was sitting on a bench, facing away from the beach, looking at skaters and boarders pass in front of him. I slipped through the foot traffic and sat beside him. I don’t think he saw me coming. He started and stared at me.

‘
Hey, mate. What are you doing down here?’ I was shaking. I wanted to drop him right there, but there were too many people around now, and I still didn’t have enough proof to back up my claims.

‘
I thought you were on the run.’ He sniffed and shivered. ‘Where you been hanging out?’

‘
Here and there.’ I leaned in close. He stunk worse than either Ann or I. And he was radiating heat. I rested a hand on his arm. ‘You’re burning up. You should see a doctor.’

His hand started moving toward his face and he stopped. The cut on his cheek looked inflamed. It was harsh red a good half-inch either side of the cut and it looked like there was pus in it.

‘
That looks nasty. You really should see a doctor. How did it happen?’ This would be good. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to throttle me, but he couldn’t.

‘
My bike. Stupid fucking piece of shit bike.’ His voice rose in a crescendo, spittle building up in the corners of his mouth. He leaned forward and grabbed my wrist. ‘I’m going to find that fucking bike and I’m going to dismantle it until it’s in its smallest component parts, then I’m going to throw it, one piece at a time, into the ocean. I’m really going to enjoy doing that.’

His grip tightened to the point of being painful. I tried to wrench it free and he squeezed tighter, pulling my hand toward him. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’

I twisted my arm free and stood. ‘You don’t like your bike? You don’t like all bikes? You’re fucking bat shit crazy? I don’t know. Listen, do me a favor and don’t tell any of the cops I’m around, okay? The place is swarming with them.’

He scowled and rubbed his arms. The fever was getting to him.

‘
And look, be a mate, I might need some help later today. If I text you where I am, can you come and help out? I’ve got some stuff to do. Nothing definite. Might not need it, just would like to know it’s there if I do.’

‘
Tell me know where you’re going to be and when you want me there. I’ll be sure I’m there.’

‘
I thought you had a bike to kill.’ I laughed and shook my head. ‘Not sure where it’s going to be yet, and not sure if I’m going to need your assistance. Your number is the same, right?’

He nodded. ‘What’s your number? I tried calling you earlier and it went to voice mail.’

‘
Any message you left is in the hands of the coppers now.’ I laughed at the expression on his face. ‘Oh, relax. They’re looking for me, not you. And they haven’t found me so far. Just keep your phone on, in case, okay?’

‘
Want I go with?’

‘
Oh, no, mate. I don’t want you messed up in the middle of this.’ As if. ‘Just stay in the shadows, okay? Cops are hot on my tail.’

I winked and ran back the way I came. Ann was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. ‘Let’s go, princess. Got to get a few blocks between us and him, just in case he comes looking.’

‘
Do you think he knows you know?’

I shrugged as I picked up the pace. ‘Hard to say and it really doesn’t matter now, does it?’

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kent stood from the park bench too fast. The head rush disoriented him, keeping him from following Ellie immediately. By the time he regained his equilibrium she was nowhere to be seen.

‘
Fuck. Fuck, fuckity fuck. Does she realize how lucky she is?’ He rubbed his scalp, the hair matted with sand and salt water. ‘I feel like crap.’

He swayed a bit. His eyes watered and his nose ran. An instinctive sniff brought more tears to his eyes. ‘Ah, shit.’ He carefully wiped his eyes, flinching as he brushed his hand across his split cheek.