Ting-A-Ling (22 page)

“Renee, will you please stop? Get to your feet, Dev,” Danielle said. I heard her voice fading slightly. She seemed to be moving down the hallway toward the bedroom.

“I’m not sure I can, you’ve got my hands tied up behind my damn…”

She was suddenly there, stomping up next to me. She pulled the hammer back on the revolver with an audible click, then pressed the barrel against the back of my head. Her voice had suddenly gone several octaves higher and she sounded like she was ready to snap. “I swear to God, I’m going to shoot the both of you if you don’t start cooperating. Do you hear me? Well?” she half shrieked.

“Yes,” I said, familiar with women snapping and going off the deep end.

“Renee, do you hear me? I’m not kidding,” she screamed and then pushed the gun barrel harder into the back of my head for added emphasis. I guess she was threatening Renee with having to clean up the mess if she blew my brains out.

“Okay, calm down, Danielle. What do you need?” Paris said.

“Help me get him up.”

Renee hobbled over and the two of them pulled me to my feet, then half-walked, half-dragged me down the hallway toward the master bedroom. I could smell the alcohol coming off Paris as he hobbled along, bouncing back and forth between the wall and me, groaning with every other step.

“Wow, this is really kinky. Are you going to make him watch the two of us, Danielle? Or were you thinking a three-way, because…”

“Shut up, Dev,” she said, then pulled me into the bathroom. She tore the shower curtain back and turned the water on.

“Get in there,” she commanded.

I gave her a questioning look.

“Oh, God,” she said, and placed her hand in the shower spray to check the temperature. She adjusted the control slightly. “There, now get in and stay put. Renee, help him in so he doesn’t fall and make a noise.”

They guided me into the shower, then stood and watched as the wool sweater and my trousers soaked up the water. The sweater gradually began to grow heavier and soon it felt like it was hanging down around my knees. As the sleeves soaked up the water they seemed to stretch and gather around my wrists. My wool stockings and the low cut ski boots were soaked and one of the stockings dropped down around my ankle.

“Just stay there for a while, Dev. Enjoy it,” Danielle said, sounding like she didn’t mean a word. “Renee, we’re going to take him down to the lobby. Then I want you to get my car and pick us up out front.”

Paris suddenly got a large smile across his face. “Turn the hot water on.”

“No, we don’t need him screaming and waking the neighbors. We’ll get him nice and wet, and then let him cool down outside.” She half laughed.

“Maybe I’d better grab one of those softball bats from the office closet,” Paris said, warming to the idea.

Danielle nodded. “Excellent idea, we’ll let him soak a while longer before we go. Nice and warm for you, Dev?” she asked, then smiled, but kept the revolver pointed at me. I had no doubt she’d squeeze the trigger a lot faster than it would take me to step out of the shower and head butt her.

Ten minutes later Danielle reached in and turned off the shower. I was absolutely soaked and could feel the weight of the wet wool. Even tied behind my back I could sense that the skin on my hands had gone pruny from all the warm water.

“Help me get him out of here, Renee,” she said. Then they guided me out of the tub and back into the hallway, my feet sloshed with every step. We waited by the front door to the condo. Danielle draped a bath towel over my shoulders, covering the wrists tied behind my back. I could hear the water dripping off of me and onto the carpet. Paris came back around the corner holding onto a softball bat and using the thing as a cane.

“Now we’re going to go downstairs. One false move, one blink in the wrong direction and you’ll disappoint a lot of women. Understand?” she said, then pressed the revolver into my crotch and smiled.

I nodded. “Yeah, completely.”

“Good, let’s get going.”

Chapter Forty-Seven

We were waiting by
the front door of the lobby. I was already shivering and we were still inside staring out into the darkness of the winter night. The wind was gusting audibly and waves of snow blew across the frozen garden outside. I noticed my skis stacked in a corner against the brick wall.

“Those are my skis there,” I said. You could hear a chattering in my voice and I couldn’t stop my body from shaking. My clothes were still dripping water and there was a puddle collecting around my feet.

“I don’t think you’ll be needing them any time soon,” Danielle said. A pair of headlights suddenly stabbed through the darkness, and turned into the circular drive. As Paris pulled up to the front of the building gusts of snow seemed to flee before the headlights.

Danielle shoved the barrel of the revolver into the base of my spine. “Looks like your ride is here, let’s go.”

She stepped behind me and I had to shoulder the door open. The cold air hit me and I felt my lungs actually seize up for a moment. The wind ripped the bath towel off my shoulders and blew it into a snow drift. Danielle shoved the revolver harder into my back and we kept moving toward the car. I was having trouble walking.

“Jesus Christ,” she groaned, then pushed the revolver into the base of my spine again. “Get moving.”

Both our heads were down in a vain attempt to shield our face from the wind. We made it to the car and Danielle opened the rear door. I was shivering uncontrollably.

“Crawl in there on the floor,” she directed.

I had trouble climbing in the car with my hands tied behind my back. I hoisted myself up on the seat and attempted to slide across. I was shivering so badly I couldn’t control my movements.

“Come on, it’s cold out here, damn it. Renee, give him a hand,” she said and then leveled the revolver at me.

Paris reached over the seat, groaned, grabbed me by the collar and pulled me back along the seat then he half twisted me down toward the floor. I could hear water being squeezed onto the floor when he twisted my collar. Danielle jumped in and bounced her feet on top of me. She slammed the door closed and said, “God, turn up the heat and then head out toward Afton.”

I couldn’t stop shaking. I was so cold I was having trouble thinking. Afton. The St. Croix River Valley. The border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Just a couple of small communities with lots of open farmland and not too many people around. I focused on my shivering.

“Wow, Dev, it’s like having a vibrator on my feet. You must really be cold.” She giggled.

“I’m, I’m freezing down here.” I gasped. I couldn’t stop shaking. My feet were numb and I could feel the muscles in my thighs beginning to knot up from the cold.

“Good, but take your time or you’ll ruin all our fun,” Danielle said.

We drove for about a half hour, the last ten minutes or so we were off the interstate and traveling somewhere on a county road. I’d say the road was bumpy, maybe. That might have meant it was gravel, but I was shaking so badly I really couldn’t tell.

“Right here looks perfect,” Danielle said after a bit and Paris stopped the car. “Get out and give me a hand.”

“What?” Paris said from the front seat.

“Renee, damn it, come on. He’s shaking so bad he’s half dead as it is.”

“God damn it,” Paris cursed and then continued complaining as he hobbled around the back of the car and opened the door. “God, my ankle’s killing me, I’m going to have to go into urgent care tomorrow and get it checked out.”

Danielle climbed out and said, “For God’s sake, Renee. Just pull him out, will you? Here, give me the keys. I’ll drive us back into town and take you to the emergency room. We’ll get you checked out.”

I felt someone grabbing my ankles, but I was so cold I couldn’t tell if I was moving or not. “No, no, wait, please.” I was shivering so badly I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

My teeth were chattering. I couldn’t stop my head from shaking. I was suddenly aware I was upright. My legs refused to work so the two of them dragged me out in front of the car and into the glare of the headlights. I was vaguely aware of the wind howling. Snow gusted and skittered across the country road, then disappeared off into the darkness and the flat, empty landscape. With my hands tied behind my back my fingers could just make out the sodden wool already turning to ice.

Suddenly I was pushed from behind and tumbled head over heels into the snow. Deep snow and cold. Oh, so damn cold. I floundered, tried to get up, but couldn’t and fell forward, head first, plowing deeper into the snow.

“Get up, Dev, come on, there’s a warm house. See, just over there. Come on, it’s only a couple of miles.” Danielle laughed from somewhere far behind me. Then her voice seemed to grow distant and there was another sound, like the roar of an engine.

I heard Paris screaming her name. “Danielle, wait, don’t. What do you think you’re doing? Dan…”

In my dream Jimmy White was standing next to me. We were both staring at the ground, I had a slingshot in my hand and Mr. Graham was saying he was only going to ask us one more time. I was cold. God, I was so cold I was almost beginning to feel warm. “I, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t.”

Then I heard Jimmy’s voice. “It’s okay.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

It was the warm
fleece blanket being draped over me that caused my eyes to flutter open. There was a gentle glow coming from the small light on the table next to the bed. The walls of the room looked to be a soft gray or maybe light blue. I couldn’t really tell.

All I knew was, I wasn’t in my bedroom and I sensed it wasn’t a hospital room either. Well, unless the nurses had taken to wearing long sleeve flannel night gowns during their shift.

“Oh, sorry if I woke you. You’re coming around. How are we feeling?”

“The blanket feels good, nice and warm,” I said.

“I’ve got another one heating up in the dryer. Been keeping you warm for the past couple of hours.” Her red hair was pulled back in a loose bun and she laid a hand on my forehead for a moment. Then she placed her fingers along the side of my neck checking my pulse.

“You cut it close, but I think you’re gonna make it.” She smiled. “Probably take it easy the next few days. How ‘bout something warm? Maybe some homemade soup?”

“Ahhh, yeah, sure, that sounds good. Sue, how the hell did I get here?”

She turned at the sound of rustling just behind her. I caught the shadow of a figure getting up from a rocking chair. He stretched briefly, then put his arm around her shoulder and leaned into the light.

“You dumb shit,” Jimmy White said and then smiled at me.

The look on my face must have said it all.

“Don’t go passing out on me again, Dev. Christ almighty, I wasn’t sure you were going to make it and you’re a major pain in the ass to carry.”

“Jimmy?”

“Yeah. Surprise, surprise,” he said and shrugged.

“I thought you…Sue told me. Hell, I read your obituary in the paper, online. You’re dead.”

“Yeah, well, there you go, don’t believe everything you read.”

“What the…” I was speechless.

“Honey, maybe you should dish up that soup you mentioned. I’ll get old ‘Nanook of the North’ here brought up to speed.”

Sue nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Jimmy watched her go, then pulled the rocker a little closer to the bed and sat down. “Well, where to begin?”

“I know a little bit about it. I mean the collapse of the economy. From what I read it sounded like you got caught up in the real estate musical chairs and you just ended up hanging out there when all the music stopped.”

“Partially correct. Except we found out later that Paris and Hedstrom had the thing wired from the get go. More of a ponzi scheme than anything else. Still, it was partially my fault for not doing more due diligence and really checking them out.”

“But, the jumping off the bridge thing, your suicide. What the hell was that?”

“They cheated me and they cheated Sue along with a lot of other people. And then the bastards got away with it. I understood it was a risky business, but I played by the rules. Hell, most people do. But when you’ve got a guy who breaks the rules or makes up his own and then hangs you with the debt, that’s just not right and it sure as hell shouldn’t be legal. Did you read about their prosecution? Let me save you the time, there wasn’t one. They weren’t charged. Hell, they weren’t even investigated.”

“I get Paris, but how does Richard Hedstrom fit into all this?”

“That guy, Christ the two of them made a real pair. What one didn’t think of the other did. They finally had a falling out over this last deal. That’s why Paris set that fire.”

“The fire at Casey’s? You know about that?”

“I know about a lot of stuff, Dev. Even where some of the bodies are buried. I’ve been following your ass around for weeks. After you came over and talked to Sue she called me and I flew back here. You and I may not have kept in touch these last fifteen years, but I knew you’d keep poking around. I knew you went to Casey’s and met with Paris. I watched you go there and I watched you leave. You were working for the Roxbury girl, right? The one with that big old house.”