Zeke (19 page)

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, I really don’t want to go
into details, but I’ve had some trouble sleeping and some anxiety problems.
It’s not easy being a single woman on her own in this town. I went through a
rough spot.” She blushed and hurried to add, “It was a while back, but the prescriptions
were still in the medicine cabinet. That girl took them all.”

“Can you tell me what type of drugs
she took?” Will figured the drugs were Zeke’s idea, not Sue’s.

Doris blurted out the names and
Will noted them with a ripple of alarm.

“This has all been terrible for
you; it’s a loss for sure.” Will wondered if he should pat her on the arm or
something.

“It’s more than just a loss; it’s a
violation! I won’t feel completely safe in my own home ever again. My peace of
mind was stolen from me, right along with my possessions.” Doris wiped a tear
away. Then she lowered her voice. “I didn’t tell the police this part, but they
had sex on my bed. Can you imagine? A brother and sister! Sex!”

“They didn’t!” Will rearranged his
facial expression to reflect an appropriate level of outrage.

“They did! The bedspread was all
messed up and they left a big wet stain.” Her face turned red. “It even had a
little blood in it. That dirty girl was probably having her time of the month
and convinced Luther to take her anyway.” Doris would never tell anyone the
pair had used her vibrator. That was one secret she would take to her grave.

Will felt a surge of worry when Doris
mentioned blood. At least it was just a small amount. Maybe Doris was right and
it was menstrual. He would leave that detail out of his report to Sue’s parents
that night and focus on the positive. She was still alive, anyway. That was
something. That was the biggest something of all to a parent.

“Did you happen to see their
vehicle?” Will asked hopefully.

“No, I think they were on foot,”
she replied.

“Well, thank you, Miss. Bernard.
You’ve been very helpful. And, just to set your mind at ease a little, I need
to tell you they lied about being brother and sister.”

“Lied?” She blinked several times.

Will nodded.

“Well, not him,” she protested. “It
was her that said it. I’m telling you, she’s leading him down Hell’s highway.
Don’t you forget it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Will was
amazed that Doris would still defend the man purporting himself to be Zeke
Kyle, even after everything that had happened. Life can be imbalanced, like a
top-heavy cart, he thought philosophically.
How do these guys get that kind
of power over women, and the nice guys like me have to work so hard just to get
a second glance?

Once Doris got out of the car,
Falstaff drove to the convenience store up the street. He took out one of the
copies of Sue’s photographs and colored her hair with a pen until it was black
as night. Then he trudged inside.

The clerk didn’t recognize Sue.
Will sighed as he went back out and pulled around to the gas pumps. He
struggled internally with the notion of going to the authorities. Now that Sue
could be tied to a crime, Will could enlist the help of law enforcement. But,
it would mean a possible criminal record for his clients’ daughter. He didn’t
want that, not if it could be avoided. He struggled with his ethics on more
than one account. He had allowed Doris to believe he would pursue the couple
for purposes of prosecution. When she jumped to this erroneous conclusion, he
hadn’t bothered to correct her. “Damn conscience,” he muttered to himself. “But
at least I know I’m on the right road.”

After checking all other gas
stations near the highway in Assaria, talking to numerous shop owners, and
making several calls to Roxie, Falstaff realized it was getting late. He’d hit
the highway early the next morning and keep heading south, unless something
happened to change his course. There were also a couple of abandoned properties
on his route, but it would be the sheerest of luck if he caught up to them at
one of these places. Right time, right place sort of thing. They could have
veered off this road anywhere, gone any direction.

He didn’t see any way out of it; he
would have to get a room and resume his search the next morning. He was
suddenly very tired and looked forward to falling into bed. What he didn’t look
forward to was the call he had to make to his clients.

Incommunicado

Hours later, just on the other side
of Abbeville, West Virginia, Sue got up from her seat and crawled into the
back. She started rummaging through the sacks of food and trash and piles of
dirty clothes in the rear.

“What are you doing?” Zeke strained
to see her in the rearview mirror.

“Looking for my phone. I want to
call my parents.”

“Absolutely not,” Zeke said.

“But, I just want to let them know
I’m okay.” A whine crept into her voice.

Zeke raced the accelerator and then
pulled over onto the shoulder, hitting the brakes hard. Sue flew forward into
the back of the front seat. Zeke slammed the gearshift into park, and crawled
back to her. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly before tossing her
down on the mattress.

“We can’t call anyone,” he said
angrily. “We’re criminals. Don’t you understand? They’ll trace us on GPS or some
shit and we’ll go to jail. We left our fingerprints all over Doris’s house.”

Sue began to cry. “I miss my folks.
I know they’re worried about me. I just wanted to hear my mom’s voice, let her
know I’m alive.”

“Oh, baby.” He pulled her into his
arms and patted her comfortingly. “I know. I know. But you just can’t. You can
see that, can’t you?”

She cried softly against his
shoulder.

“Anyway, I threw away your phone
miles ago. It was too dangerous to hang onto.” He chuckled. “I’m just looking
out for you, Sue. You’re so naïve, I have to do your thinking for you
sometimes.”

A cold chill slid down inside her
and settled in the pit of her stomach. She froze. Now, she had no phone, no way
to call for help if she needed it. The thought had come unbidden to her mind
and left her wondering who she had to be frightened of. Zeke? She couldn’t
believe that and pushed the idea away.

“I don’t know why you’d want to
call your parents anyway, knowing the way they really feel about you. They’re
the last people on Earth you should want to talk to,” he said. “After all the
shit they put you through, I don’t want to give them another go at it.”

“They
weren’t
bad parents,”
Sue said defensively.

“Now that’s just not true, and you
know it,” Zeke protested softly. “Your dad had inappropriate feelings for you,
and your mom thought you were ugly. Plus, she let Eugene pick on you, didn’t
step in to protect you. Maybe they didn’t abuse you or anything, but they
weren’t looking out for you. They didn’t care about you, didn’t want you, never
had time for you. How painful is that? I resent what they did to you, bunny.
Look at all the deprogramming we’ve had to do. The fact is, you’re my girl. I
don’t want anybody mistreating my girl. It makes me sick.”

Sue cried in his arms. “I don’t
believe those things. My parents
do
care about me. It hurts me when you
say those things.”

“The truth usually does hurt,
bunny. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you’ll be free of the pain. I’m just
trying to help you.” He cuddled her close. “It’s okay, let it all out. I’m here
for you.”

Sue’s mind clouded with his words.
Words she didn’t want to believe, but that did hold some weight.

“Come on, now,” Zeke said. “Come up
front with me and we’ll find something to listen to on the radio. A spooky show
comes on late at night where people call in and talk about aliens and ghosts.
Grab a couple of beers out of the cooler and we’ll listen to the fruit loops.”

He went back up front and Sue
crawled up behind him and settled back into the passenger seat. She dried her
tears, dug beers from the ice chest, and tried to figure out what she should
do. It was so confusing. “Can’t we stay in a motel?” she asked. “I’m just tired
of always being in this van. I’m tired of canned food; I want a pizza or a
cheeseburger. I want a real room where I can soak in a hot bath and watch TV.”

“You have to have a credit card to
get a room, doofus,” Zeke answered lightly. “This is the best we can do for
now. I got some ideas lined up, though. Don’t weasel out on me now. It’s gonna
get better. I promise.”

Mollified, Sue nodded. She admitted
to herself that she was possibly being too hard on Zeke. Under the
circumstances, he was looking out for her pretty well.

Bumping Uglies

Will rose early, grabbed a quick
breakfast, and hit the highway. Just as he was finishing his coffee, his cell
phone rang. He pulled to the side of the road and answered.

“Hey, Will.” Melvin sounded chipper
as usual. “Where are you?”

“Just outside Assaria, heading
south.”

“Good. Got a report here you might
be interested in. Over in Nickel, New York there were some vending machines
broken into at a campground.”

“Really? Hold on.” Will dug out his
pencil and notebook. “Name of the place?” He wrote down the information as
Melvin spoke.

“There are also a couple of reports
involving juveniles, which don’t matter, and a fight between two guys over in
Sheneca, but they had priors and the police ID’d them already. Besides, there
was no woman involved.”

“Okay, we’ll put those on the back
burner for now. Probably not our people.” Will tossed his notebook into the
passenger seat. “I’m going to drive over to Nickel. I’ll call from there.
Where’s Roxie?”

“Spying.” Melvin’s voice held a
note of regret. “Wish I was.”

“You’re right where I need you,
Melvin. What you’re doing is damned important. Got that?”

“I know. It’s just not as
exciting.”

They disconnected and Will pulled
back on the road, fiddling with the radio as he did so. He couldn’t abide
modern music for the most part, and reception was sketchy at best. Finally he
turned it off and listened to the hum of his wheels on the asphalt. An hour
later, he pulled into a rest stop to use the facilities.

Returning to his car, he retrieved
his notes and cell phone. He placed a call and as it was ringing, he gazed at
the few vehicles around him. A group of sleepy people in business suits climbed
out of a Land Rover and trudged to the restrooms.
The tribulations of the
corporate life
.
Glad I’m not one of those poor bastards.

“Old Mill Valley, this is Jeff.”
The voice was laid back and friendly with a strong New England accent.

“I’d like to talk to the manager,
please,” Will said.

“Speaking.”

Will identified himself, explained
he was tracking a young couple on the run and had heard from police reports
about the vandalism of the campground vending machines. “I’d like to arrange a
time to come and talk to you about that. I don’t know if the folks I’m tailing
are the ones who tore up your place, but I have to check out every lead.”

“Well, I’d be happy to visit with
you; come on over. Things are kinda slow around here this time of year,
especially with the cold weather.”

Will looked at his watch. “It’ll
take me about three hours to get there.”

“No problem; I’m always around. You
know how to get here?”

Will looked at his map. “I think
so. You’re just south of Nickel, right?”

“Yep. Can’t miss us. We’ve got
twenty cabins in addition to the campsites.”

“The couple I’m looking for...” Will
paused. He wasn’t sure what they looked like at this point. “They’re both
young. I think they have black hair. Guy is slender, tall. Probably driving a
dark-colored van...”

“They were here,” Jeff interrupted
him. “And I got a story to tell you about those two.”

This time, Will drove straight
through. In fact, he barreled down the road, trying to shave every minute he
could off the trip. His skin buzzed with a combination of caffeine and the
thrill of the hunt.

Old Mill Valley snuggled up to the
foothills of the Adirondacks, surrounded by trees shedding their bright fall
foliage, and swathed in a damp fog. The cabins extended on either side of the
large building that housed the owners’ living quarters on one end, the courtesy
center on the other, with the office separating the two. Everything was painted
a crisp, clean white. Off to the side were a few scattered RVs, smaller
campers, and a couple of tents.

A bell on the door chimed as Will
pushed into the office. An athletic young man with a fading tan and
sun-streaked hair stepped to the counter with a smile that crinkled the corners
of his eyes. He was younger than he had sounded over the phone. “Help you?”

“I called. I’m Will Falstaff.”

“I’m Jeff, Will, the one you talked
to. You’ll be wanting to see the damage, I’d guess.” He walked out from behind
the counter. “Lucky you got here when you did, the repairman’s on his way,” he
said as he led Will to a door that opened into the courtesy center.

It was a large room with a picnic
table, a microwave, some coin-operated washers and dryers, and the vandalized
vending machines. There was another door in the opposite wall that led outside.

“Determined, weren’t they?” Will
mused aloud as he examined the deep grooves and scratches on the nearest
machine. He turned back to Jeff, and showed him the picture of Sue. “Is this
the girl?”

“I don’t know. I only talked to
him. She waited in the van. I just caught a glimpse of her through the window.
It was late when they got here and they woke me up to register. I was so tired,
I didn’t even notice until the next morning that he’d signed in as Mr. and Mrs.
Gypsy Rebels.” He laughed. “It’s weird about these machines, though. The guy
pulled a wad of cash from his pocket, and he paid for two nights. The fact that
they left the same night they got here makes me think they’re the ones that did
this. The only thing is, why pay for two nights; it’s a waste of money.”