Getting Sassy (36 page)

I’d slept in my clothes and felt rumpled and grubby as I lowered my feet to the floor. My back screamed from a short night spent in a lumpy bed, but that would pass. It was time to tend to the livestock.

The clanging sound had been Sassy’s horns banging up against the side of his crate.

“You’d like to go out, wouldn’t you?” I kept my voice down. Bix raised a sleepy head, and then lowered it again. His little body was thrust up against my mother’s back, and she was snoring.

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of goat dung, and was relieved to find small, dark pellets that I was able to clean up with toilet paper and flush. I wished I’d thought to bring air freshener.

My watch said it was going on six. If Sassy needed some outdoor time, this was our opportunity. I decided to let my mother sleep, hoping she wouldn’t wake to find me gone and panic.

I took Sassy out behind the motel again. The morning was cool, but the air heavy, as though the clouds were storing up the rain for some major downfall. While Sassy munched, I thought about what I’d do with him now. I didn’t want to sneak him out of the motel in broad daylight, which was when I’d have to move him. I could take my mother back to Dryden—clearly she was no worse off there than with me—and Bix could go home. So it’d just be Sassy and me driving around in a white van, waiting. And then I still had to pick up the money. I’d have to leave him at the motel, because Mick was right about moving Sassy back to the farm. Too big a coincidence. I’d give him a double dose of Bix’s downers, since the one I’d given him yesterday had little effect. I hoped that Mick, having some time to cool off, would not leave me hanging. However, as I replayed our conversation in my head, nothing that he said made me think that a change of heart was coming any time soon.

When we returned to the room, my mother was awake and eating a slice of leftover pizza. It had spent the night on top of the air conditioner, so I hoped it wouldn’t hurt her.

“Robyn, when are you going to tell me why that goat is here?”

“It’s a really long story, Mother.” I sat on the edge of the bed I’d slept in.

“Well, we would appear to have some time.” She gave me a look. “Unless, of course, you want to leave early so I can see that long-lost relative of mine.”

“Mom, the less you know, the better off you’ll be. But I’m doing this for us. I’m just asking you to trust me.”

“Well, then why can’t I ask you to trust me?”

I sighed. “When this is over, I’ll explain.” Maybe by then I’d have time to think of something that didn’t involve kidnapping and extortion.

Her expression didn’t soften, and so I said, “How about I get us some coffee?”

She gave me a look that implied she knew what I was doing, but then she said, “Coffee would be nice. Perhaps a donut.”

“Good idea.”

But then when I looked for my handbag, it wasn’t on top of the dresser. Had I moved it? I stood in the middle of the room and did a three-sixty, scanning the furniture, the floor. I checked in the bathroom.

“Did you see my purse, Mom?”

“Why, no,” she said, tucking her brow. “Was it on that dresser?”

“Yes.” I didn’t know where this was going yet, but already I didn’t care for the direction.

“Well, that man last night—what was his name?”

“Jack.”

“Yes, him. He took something off the dresser.”

My purse.

“Oh, shit,” I said, crumpling to the floor.

“Oh, Robyn, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Until just now.” Her voice tightened.

“It’s not your fault, Mom.”

“What was in it?”

“Everything,” I managed. “Everything.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Why do I foul everything up?”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, straining to keep my voice even.

I pushed myself up from the floor and took stock. My keys weren’t in my purse, so I had them. I had my own cell phone. But the “extortion phone” and the voice changer were in my purse. Along with my money and credit cards. Perfect.

“Do you have any money, Mom?” I knew the “sofa money” was a myth, but figured she probably did have a stash.

“Well,” she said, drawing it out. “I do have a few dollars.”

It turned out to be almost fifty dollars. I had no idea how she’d gotten it, and I didn’t want to know.

As I thrust it into my pocket, she was giving me her look.

“Mom, I have no money. No credit cards.” But it wasn’t until I said, “I promise I’ll pay you back,” that she relented.

I took the van and found a convenience store where I bought some yoghurt and donuts and a bag of chips. I also bought three large cups of coffee. As luck would have it, there was a public phone at the gas station next door. It wasn’t my extortion phone, but it wasn’t my personal phone either.

Before I drove back to the motel, I tried calling Mick from my cell phone. His answering machine kicked in on the fourth ring. “Mick, it’s Robyn. Call me. Please.”

While my mother was munching on a donut, I went to the office where I found Matt stretched out in one of the chairs with his notebook computer on his lap.

He sat up when I walked in. “Hey, Cindy. How’s it going?”

“Good.” I handed him one of the coffees I’d bought. “Sorry for the commotion. Thought you might need this.”

“Thanks.” He set his computer on a low table. “Sleep okay? I mean after that guy left.”

“Yeah.” I gave a half shrug. “An old boyfriend.”

Matt nodded. “That’s what I figured.” He removed the coffee’s lid and blew the steam off the top before taking a sip.

I sat in the other chair, holding my cup between by hands. With a yawn, I said, “My mom is a little tired from the commotion. I think we’re going to stay another night.”

“Sure,” he said, “not like we’re booked.”

“I’ll need to run out in a little while for a couple of hours. But my mom really needs her rest. If I put up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign, can I count on the cleaning people not bothering her?”

“No problem,” he said. “I’ll talk to Anita.”

“If you need to get in touch with me, here’s my cell number.” I scribbled it on a slip of paper. “I’m sure you won’t need it, but just in case.”

“Sure,” he said, taking the paper.

“I appreciate it.” I gave him a smile I hoped would remind him of Queen What’s-Her-Name and make him feel inclined toward chivalry.

Before I returned to our room, I called my home voicemail and found a couple of messages. One was from Detective Hedges, before he tried my cell phone. The other was from Erika asking me to call her. It was important. I had planned to talk to her, but that wouldn’t be possible this morning. Not that it mattered. I’d given up on the stamp. If it was going to be recovered, Hedges would have to do it. Erika could wait.

When I got back to the room I turned on the TV and my mother watched the
Today Show
and smoked while I fed Bix and changed the straw in the bottom of Sassy’s cage. He nuzzled my ear as I bent to the task. I gave him a hug. Were all goats this sweet?

As I stuffed the soiled straw in the plastic bag I’d brought, I thought about calling Mick again. As much as he’d like to leave me hanging out to dry, he wouldn’t. Or, rather, he couldn’t. I was the one picking up the money, but he’d have to let me know who was delivering it. I wished I’d thought to ask him about that last night.

I left for the convenience store just before ten and placed the call at about five after. Without my magical voice changer, I would have to invoke my “Arnold” voice. I punched in Bull’s phone number and settled back into my throat. As the phone rang, I went over the instructions in my head. Bull picked up on the third ring, and I said, “Have you got the money?”

“Not yet. I—I’ve made arrangements.”

“One o’clock this afternoon.”

“Listen—”

I had to wing it without my note cards. “No, you listen. At one p.m. bring the money to Phinny’s Tap in Fowler at Seventh and Main. Put it in the wastebasket in the men’s room and then leave. If all the
money is there, I will call you within the hour to tell you where you’ll find your goat.”

“How do I know it’s alive?”

“It is.”

“Look, whoever you—”

“One p.m. Phinny’s Tap. Don’t be late.”

I disconnected and let my throat relax. Less said the better. I didn’t blame him for wanting to know if Sassy was okay, but there was literally no way to do that short of posing the goat with this morning’s
Tribune.

When I returned to the room, my mother hit the remote button that turned off the television. “I’d like some answers, Robyn.”

I shook my head. “I told you I’d explain this all later.”

“You’re not supposed to have that creature, are you?”

I didn’t respond.

“Did you steal it?”

“Steal a goat?” I tried to convey a mix of disbelief and amusement.

“You don’t keep a goat in a bedroom if you’re not trying to hide it. I may be somewhat senile, but I’m not stupid.”

I just looked at her.

“Don’t treat me like I am.”

I nodded. “It’s really complicated. And I think the less you know, the better.”

Now she looked hurt. “You’re afraid I’ll run off at the mouth.”

I shrugged. “You wouldn’t do it on purpose.”

She sighed deeply and took another cigarette out of the pack. “I hate this.” It was as though she were speaking to herself. Then she said to me, “How long do we have to stay here?”

“We’ll be gone before the end of the day,” I said, grateful to have something I could tell her. “I’m going to have to leave you here with Bix and Sassy for a while. But when I get back, we’ll leave.”

She put the cigarette between her lips and pressed her thumb against the lighter’s wheel. As she exhaled a stream of smoke, she said to me, “Are you going to leave my cigarettes here?”

“I can’t.”

She nodded. “Then I won’t stay here.” Now she looked at me. “Take me with you.”

“I can’t. It’s—” I almost said “dangerous” then caught myself.

“Why not? Are you ashamed of me?”

“Of course not.”

“Robyn, I don’t know how I’ll manage with these animals. And I don’t know what you’re doing, but I want to help.” Then she added, as I knew she would, “You are using my money, aren’t you?”

I wanted to tell her she could help by staying right here. A second option would be to take her back to Dryden before I went to the Wired Lizard, but I was running out of time. I still had to stop at my place to switch cars. And then, to my shame, I thought of how, should Bull happen to look inside the Lizard, we’d look like a mother and daughter sharing coffee and scones and not like the pathetic mastermind behind an extortion plot and her somewhat addled mother.

“Okay, Mom.” I moved over to the bed to sit next to her. “But you’ve got to do what I tell you to do. We’ll just be going out for coffee, but I really can’t have you talking with people. I’ve got to be low-key about this.”

“Coffee?”

I nodded. “And a pastry.”

“All right.”

“And I’ll have to leave you alone for a few minutes. Just a few. Promise me you’ll be okay?”

“Yes, dear.”

This time I gave Sassy two of Bix’s pills stuffed into a glazed donut. He weighed three times Bix. Why was this goat so—well—Sassy? Then I poured a little more food into Bix’s dish, hung the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the outside of the door and walked my mother to the van.

My disguise was subtle this time. I wore my hair pulled up and tucked under a Cubs cap, and an oversized T-shirt with jeans. Typical coffee shop wear.

I stopped at my apartment, swapping the van for my Honda. The white van was way too obvious a vehicle. I also grabbed a tote bag and threw a few items into it so it wouldn’t look empty. Then I drove my mother over to the coffee shop. It was just before twelve when I pulled up in front. There were no parking spaces nearby, but I noticed one across the street a couple doors down from Phinny’s. If I was lucky it would still be there when I drove around the block. But it would be bit of a walk for my mom, so I dropped her and her cane off in front of the shop and told her to wait while I parked the car.

“Just what is it we’re doing here?” she asked for the umpteenth time.

“I have to meet someone. And, remember, if you’re going to sit here with me, you’ve got to be patient. We may be here a while.” And then I added before she could ask again, “And there’s no smoking here.”

She looked at me with her mouth pinched. “Of course, dear.” She unzipped her purse and felt around in it, then assumed a panicky look before saying, “My money! What happened to my money?”

I leveled a cool look at her and said, “You loaned it to me. Remember?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, zipping her purse, then looked at me and said, “Lucky for us I didn’t get my purse stolen.”

I could have reminded her that Jack would not have entered our lives had it not been for her past dalliances. But then, had it not been for those dalliances, I wouldn’t be here.

The spot was still there when I circled the block, but after I pulled in and got out, I saw that my mother wasn’t standing by the Lizard’s entrance. My gut clutched with panic, and I ran across the middle of the street, dodging traffic and praying that in a fit of either obstinacy or impatience, she had gone in without me. When I yanked open the door I felt a rush of relief when I saw her tousled white hair and the navy sweatsuit. But it was short lived when I realized she was sitting at a table with Erika Starwise.

Shit.

I glanced at my watch. Twelve twenty-eight. Surely she’d be gone in thirty minutes. Whatever she had to say to me and my mother couldn’t take that long. But when I approached the table and saw her chatting amiably with my recalcitrant mother, I had a bad feeling about the way the next hour would play out. I hadn’t told my mother that Jack was Erika’s brother, thinking she was already on information overload. But now I wished I had because she’d clearly taken to the woman. The fact that Erika Starwise was able to connect my mother with the love of her life no doubt had a lot to do with it.

When Erika saw me approaching the table, she rose and claimed an empty chair from another table, which she tucked under ours. Then she gestured for me to sit with them. As if I were the one intruding. I saw that both Erika and my mother had a cup of coffee and a scone, so I secured my usual—a large regular with no cream, steamed milk, sugar—no nothing.