Mr. Softee (24 page)

Dog lingered over his beer for fifteen minutes, a long linger for him.

“Come on, let’s get going, you drive,” he said tossing me the keys. “I want to get a good look as we go past.”

It was dark as we drove down
Summit Avenue past Softee’s house.

“
Jesus, and only one dude lives in that place? Joint is huge, man. Keep going a couple of blocks then take a left and park,” Dog instructed.

When I pulled over he
said,

“Pop th
e trunk, you just sit here until I’m back. Okay?”

I nodded.

He closed the trunk, walked up to my window carrying a trash bag.

“I shou
ldn’t be more than thirty minutes. Stay put, got it?”

“
What’s in the …”

His glare cut me off.

“Okay, I’ll be here.”

He
returned about forty-five minutes later.

“I’ll tell you this, they got the join
t more or less buttoned up.”

“T
hose damn dogs out?”

“Things work
right I don’t think they’ll be much of a problem,” he said then looked over at me and smiled.

“If you shot those
dogs Lola’s likely to snap. She’ll hurt Jill, maybe even kill her.”

“Relax, I just brou
ght the puppies a little treat.”

“What
was in the trash bag? You didn’t poison those things did you?”

“Not to worry, they’ll be fine, just out of the way for the next thirty-six hours or so.”

“What was in the trash bag?”

“A raccoon
I shot earlier, mixed with some shit Noleen left behind.”

I shot a glance in his direction.

“Relax, they’ll just be a little psychotic for twenty-four hours. Look, by the time they get it all analyzed, if they even bother, we’re out of there or dead. Either way it don’t much matter now does it?”

I guess it didn’t.

Chapter
Sixty-Two

Dog was still asleep
when I phoned Lola the following morning.

“What?” she answered.

“Lola, Dev Haskell, I…”

“I can see
that, I’m expecting a call back from my vet, so make it fast.”

“Look, I’m coming up with a couple of things but I need a little more time, can’t you just…”

“No, were you listening yesterday? I’m, I mean you’re out of time, do you hear? Now have that money here tonight or you can just forget about your little bedtime friend, got it?”

“Okay, okay
. But I want to know she’s safe, and I’ll want to see her tonight, before I give you anything, is that clear?”

“You just be sure…
oh, here’s my other call, bye,” she screamed and hung up.

“That your sweetheart?” Dog
called from the bathroom.

“Yeah, and none too sweet.”

“Good, that just tells us she’s feeling the pressure.”

“God
, I wish this shit was over,” I said.

“It will be,” he said
, then I heard the toilet flush and he walked into the kitchen scratching himself.

“By the way, you sound a hell of a lot better, like that nose is beginning to heal up,” he said.

I suddenly realized I was able to breathe through my nose again.

The day crawled by at a snail
’s pace until eventually around eight that night Dog came out of his room carrying a pile of tan padding.

“Here
man, slip this shit on.”

“What th
e hell is this?”

“A vest, what’s it look like?”

“A vest?”

“MTV’s” he said
. “You know, bullet-proof vest. Put it on, then put your shirt on over it.”

“They’ll see it, for Christ sake.”

“Let’s hope so. They’re also gonna see the pistol you’re carrying. I want the bastards paying attention to you, not looking closely at the cash, and not looking around for me.”

“T
hey aren’t going to let me in the door carrying a gun. I was planning to exchange the cash for Jill in the open, out in the front yard.”

“
They ain’t gonna let you in for long, I’ll take care of that. Look, if it was you, wouldn’t you worry if some guy rang your doorbell with a box of cash and just expected to get his girlfriend back. Who in the hell is that stupid?”

Me for one I guessed, then nodded,
“I see your point, sort of.”

“Trust me, the good-guy shit do
n’t work. Look, you’re gonna be there at ten. Call that bitch and tell her you want to see your darling in the window as you drive by so you know she’s at least in the place.”

“What if they say
no?”

“They won’t.”

I phoned Lola, she answered on the first ring.

“Are you
on your way?”

“I
’ll be there by ten o’clock, I…”

“You’ll have the money, right?”

“Yeah, I should have it, I want to make sure Jill is there and she’s okay.”

“She will be, as long as you bring the money
.”

“I
’m going to call you around ten. I want to see her in the window when I pull up. If I don’t see her, the deal is off.”

“And if she’s not here?”

“Like I said, no deal. She better be there and she better not be harmed.”

“Listen
, you just make damn sure…”

This time it was my turn to hang up.

Chapter
Sixty-Three

I dropped Dog off
a couple blocks away, then waited ten minutes before I pulled in front and phoned.

Lola answered on the first ring.

“Haskell.”

“I’m in front,
let me see Jill.”

“You have my money?”

“I want to see Jill.”

She
mumbled something, and suddenly a light went on in an upstairs room. Jill was at the window, one of the thugs stood next to her.

“
There, see her?” Lola asked.

“Have her wave.”

Another mumble and Jill gave a tentative wave just before the light went out.

“There, satisfied? N
ow get the hell in here.”

Just as
I approached the front gate there was a buzz and then the audible click unlocking the thing. I stepped inside the yard. I held the Glock out on top of the ice-cream box. I planned to shoot the dogs if I even saw them. The front door opened as I approached and Benton stood in the darkened doorway. I could just make out the stupid grin on his face.

“Lo
se the gun right there.”

I stopped.

“I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell if I drop this gun. I got your money here, a hundred grand.” I held up the open box.

“Don’t look like no hundred grand
to me.”

“It
’s all hundreds, dumb shit. Twenty packets, five grand each. You any good at math or just blindsiding people?”

“All hundreds
! We didn’t have all hundreds, we…”

“You
said a hundred grand. That’s what I got here, a hundred grand. No one told me it had to be the exact same bills, asshole.”

Benton
paused, trying to think, maybe.

“It still do
n’t look…”

“
Benton, shut up, we don’t have time. Haskell, bring that in here, hold onto your gun if it makes you feel any better,” Lola’s voice called out from somewhere inside the darkened entry.

I moved forward
cautiously, waved Benton back from the doorway with the Glock and then stepped inside.

“Just set it dow
n on the floor,” Lola commanded. She was maybe ten feet behind Benton. I didn’t see the other two thugs.

“
Where’s Jill? That was the deal.”

“Bring her out,” Lola yelled.

Jill suddenly appeared from a room far down the hallway. The thug with the ponytail stood behind and pushed her forward with a hand on her shoulder. Her mouth was still taped, but her hands and feet appeared to be free. The swelling appeared to have gone down on her eye, but even in the dim hall it still looked awfully bruised.

“Take the tape off her mouth,” I said.

“Go ahead,” Lola said as they came up along side her.

Jill
made a small noise when Benton pulled the tape off her mouth then dropped it to the floor.

“Okay,
here’s your money.” I said setting the box on the floor. “We’re gonna just back out and leave,” I had the gun pointed in Lola’s direction and motioned Jill over toward me.

She glanced at Lola
, then quickly crossed over to me.

I felt a sudden breeze through the hallway, barely noticeable, the
lace curtain on the entry window fluttered ever so slightly.

Benton
began to reach for the box.

“Don’t,” I said pointing the Glock at his head.

I motioned to Jill, and she quickly went out the door.

“
You keep your ass right there. I wanna count this shit,” Benton said reaching for the box.

“Can you count that high?
”

He glared at me, then
began running his fingers across the stacks, counting them. He pulled two stacks out quickly from the middle of the box, checked the hundred dollar bills.

“This ain’t the same money as before.”

“I already told you, it’s a hundred grand. What the hell do you care as long as it’s cash?”

“Yeah
, I get that, but see, if it ain’t the same money that was stolen from us, how come it’s got our bands around it? That’s your writing on ‘em, see,” he turned for half a second to show Lola.

“Up, up, hands up, now,” I shouted.

Benton froze.

“Do like he said,” Dog stepped into the hallway, behind Lola and Ponytail.

“Guns on the ground, assholes.”

Benton
glared at me, but followed my command and placed his gun on the floor.

“Yo
u two, drop the guns,” Dog said, slowly, loudly.

Ponytail tossed
his weapon. It half bounced across the oak floor, then skidded to a stop against the radiator.

“You,” Dog said to Lola.

“I just have this cell phone.” She raised her hand with the phone.

“That’ll do,” Dog
said taking the phone.

“All of you on the floor, now
. Come on, move,” Dog yelled.

He punched in three numbers
on the phone, waited a brief moment, then said,

“Yeah, nine-one-one, concerned citizen here
. I’d like to report shots fired at …” Dog gave the address then ended the call.

Lola looked from Ponytail to
Benton then back at me.

Dog
said to Benton lying on the floor,

“
You, big guy, you do that kick the other day with your left or right foot?”

Benton
just glared.

“You ever play ball?” Dog asked
, sounding more casual as he kicked Benton’s pistol toward the front door.

“A little,”
Benton glared up not sure where this was going.

“
A little, well not anymore, fuckwit,” Dog said then casually pulled the trigger and shot Benton in the back of his right knee.

I jumped at the sound.

“Oh Jesus,” Ponytail screamed and began to cry.

“You two down on the floor,” Dog commanded.

Benton groaned loudly then seemed to swallow down the pain and gave a guttural groan.

“Lady, you got a bit of a mess to clean up here and the cops are on the way
. Oh yeah, before I forget, kind of a little problem out in the back. Looks like someone might have had an accident on your patio. Better get that taken care of,” he said then laid the cell phone on her back.

I picked up the guns
. Dog grabbed the box of cash and we backed out, closing the door as we left.

“You really call nine-one-one
?” I asked then heard a faint siren in the distance.

“
That answer your question?” Dog said.

Chapter Sixty-Four

I drove, Jill was
in the passenger seat. Dog was in the backseat. We made it back to the lake place in twenty minutes. On the way Jill told us how they had teased her about stuffing Softee’s body in the trunk of my car.