by Tyler Wolfe
My eyes widened in a mix of disbelief and anger as I saw a single white envelope sitting in the box, again with the words “Blue Truck” scribbled on the front in the same handwriting. I let out a sigh of discontent. No time to examine it now. I grabbed the letter from the mailbox and stuffed it in my back pocket.
Deep breaths. Deep breaths. If you go over there looking freaked out you will for sure get bombarded with questions.
I quickly closed the front panel, locked the mailbox, and jogged back over to Phyllis. She watched me with a grin widening on her face; it confused me for a moment. Then I braced myself to hear her say something snide about my mishap with the letter. Too many years of that.
What happened, Carter? Did you get beat up again? Did you just take it, Carter? How come you never fight back, Carter? You too scared?
“I had no idea you could run so fast! I wish I was young again.” She fanned herself, looking impressed.
The disconnect between what she said and what I had been bracing myself for was so wide that it stunned me for a moment. I blinked at her, then found my smile. “Ha ha, thanks. I’ve been running for years.”
“Did you get what you needed?” Phyllis asked, holding her hand out for the key.
“Yes, thanks. I needed that to go out today or I would be in trouble.” I left the lie as un-detailed as possible as I put the key in her hand.
“Well, you two better get back to work now.” I joked and smiled stiffly at Phyllis and Cindy as I turned to leave. It took all my self-control to walk to my house instead of running.
“You too Carter, have a good day!” Phyllis called after me. Then she turned smoothly back to her lemonade and gossip with Mrs. Adams.
I managed to make it across the property, up my porch steps, and into the house with unprecedented self-control. As I entered the kitchen I yanked the envelope from my back pocket, wondering what could be inside this time.
The envelope was unsealed again. I yanked the piece of paper from it and unfolded it, preparing myself again for the worst.
And there it was; another photo of my truck driving quickly past. This one with the trussed-up oblong of the boy’s body clear as day in the truck bed. Below the picture, the same handwriting scrawled the ultimatum that I had been half expecting.
Bring $10,000 in a bag to the small palm on the empty lot at the end of Fernery at 10 pm Monday or I call the police.
I stood there staring at the note. The reality of the whole situation was really setting in. I was being extorted for money by the fat slob I had seen get out of his car not twenty minutes ago. It wasn’t revenge for a lost loved one that drove that man. It was plain, old, ugly, opportunistic greed.
“FUCK!” I yelled as I threw the note and envelope to the floor. I yelled so hard it hurt my ears. I hoped no one outside had heard me.
I crouched down in the middle of the floor, putting my pounding head in my hands. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. This was too ugly a reality for me to deal with.
But either I handle this now, by myself, or I would have to explain to Zoe why the hell I was in a knot on our kitchen floor. I dragged in a breath and unwound, my mind raced as I searched for a way to deal with the situation.
I could pay him off. But...ten thousand dollars? “Christ, that’s almost all our savings,” I muttered as I thought of our joint savings account—we had almost $12,000 in it. I handled the account, so it’s not like Zoe would get an alert if I made a withdrawal. But she’d eventually check the account and see the transactions—there’s no way to disguise those. And, who knows how long it’d take me to put all the money back.
Dammit. There was no way in hell that I could cover for so much missing money. There just weren’t any justifiable excuses and telling Zoe the truth was not an option.
“Fuuuck!” I grumbled as I clenched my hands into tight fists and slammed them down on the tabletop. The table shook, and pain jolted up my arms, shocking me into calming a little.
Without the anger, I felt myself sliding into despair almost instantly. There’s just no way that I can hide this. I’m gonna have to tell her everything. I spent all of two seconds imagining Zoe’s reaction to the terrible story of what I did, and what we will have to do now. The look on her face. Her tears.
No. There’s no way. I have to find a way to deal with this without her ever finding out.
But how?
Suddenly I remembered that I was supposed to meet with Bob before four thirty today. I looked down at my watch. It was now 12:45 pm.
“Oh, great. Wonderful,” I muttered as I realized that I had been on lunch way too long. I need to get back to the office before someone asks where I’ve been.
I stuffed the paper back inside the envelope, and shoved it deep into my back pocket, putting my wallet back in place on top of it. It felt like something had broken loose and was rolling around inside of me. All I could think about as I headed out to my truck again was I have to make sure that this guy doesn’t win. I have to find a way.
And I was starting to care very little about how I got it done.
CHAPTER 12
Saying Too Much
“What do you mean, Bob left?” I stared at Bob’s secretary, Susan, who smiled back at me tightly and tossed her white-blonde hair back over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. Mr. Ackerman got a phone call and had to leave. It was a family emergency, I’m afraid.” She gave me a knowing look. Bob had “family emergencies” at least three times a week; it was code for his leaving to go play golf. I didn’t know if he actually cared about anyone in his life enough to take time out for them; he just didn’t seem the type.
I looked back at her, puzzled, but then sighed through my nose and nodded. “I get it. It’s just strange because he asked to see me before four thirty today. Why would he suddenly change his mind and take off? Is he avoiding the meeting? Why?
“Oh that.” She checked her tablet. “He left me instructions for you. He needs the quarterly report paperwork done and a write-up of all your clients on his desk by nine tomorrow morning.”
“...Oh.” As if I didn’t already have enough to do. But that was still very strange. Why was he so reluctant to give me something as common as a new assignment himself? Especially after arranging a meeting with me in person?
“Sure…no problem.” I said with undisguised agitation before turning away to head to my desk.
Great. Just what I need. My boss is now sidestepping me for some reason, but still somehow managing to be an even bigger pain in my ass. I had to work to keep my back teeth unclenched as I headed back to my cubicle.
My desk chair creaked as I settled into it. I had been putting on some muscle from all that extra work in the gym and my clothes were getting tight across the thighs, shoulders and upper arms. Pretty soon I would need a new wardrobe.
If anyone else decides to attack me again, they’re in for a hell of a surprise.
I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and smoothed it out before opening it and unfolding the note. Blackmail. It was both incredibly banal and incredibly—in its own twisted up way—understandable. The guy has gotta be from one of the houses that has an eviction notice posted. I would probably be able to find him just by that if there weren’t so many.
Just then, Luis, a co-worker from the adjacent cubicle, rolled his chair over. Luis was short and stocky, a Puerto Rican guy with bright dark eyes that danced with amusement. “Where you been, buddy? Old pig-face was looking for you.” He raised an eyebrow at me, wearing a smart smirk on his face.
Luis was one of the few people in the office that I actually considered a friend. He was our IT guy and indispensable. Even Bob knew that. As a result, Luis didn’t give a single crap about mouthing off to or about him. His sarcastic running commentary about Bob’s habit of public firings was probably one of the things that kept me from losing my temper at those damn staff meetings.
“Yeah, I had to run home for a sec,” I said to him mildly as I subtly slid the note a
nd envelope under my keyboard. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this to work.
“Oh man, you went and rubbed one out didn’t you,” Luis joked as he waggled his fist over his crotch and winked at me.
Oh God. He must be really bored today. “Ha, yeah, not so much,” I smirked, blowing off his ridiculous candor. “Wednesday is one of Zoe’s days off.”
“Oh yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about. Just wish Imelda wasn’t running the daycare out of our house, or I’d be visiting her every day for lunch.” His tone was raunchy, but I saw the wistful look on his face and had to smile a little. That was Luis: from crude banter to how much he missed his wife—sexually and otherwise—in ten seconds flat.
“Anyway, you know it was just some bullshit new assignments he could have put into an e-mail. He went off golfing before he could even do that. That guy has to be on the sauce or something.” Or he’s terrified of me. Which is just weird. He acts nervous around me, but what has he seen to make him nervous? Nobody else acts that way at all. Just him. Why?
“I thought it was pills,” Luis mused.
“Well, he is from Polk county,” I pointed out, and we both laughed a little bitterly at Bob’s expense. I decided to put Bob’s erratic behavior out of my mind. I had much bigger concerns, anyway.
“Hey, Luis, let me ask you something,” I shifted the subject during the lull. “This is kind of a weird one, but I figured you’d think it was interesting.” Actually it was simply because I knew that Luis wouldn’t say a thing to anyone. He had...over-shared a few times to me at the bar after work, and he knew that he owed me discretion in return for my own.
His eyebrows went up as he peered at me. “Okay, that sounds less boring than this pile of password checks. Shoot.”
“…What would you do if someone tried to exhort money from you?” It took everything I had to ask it calmly.
For a few moments, he didn’t take it seriously. “So, you mean like my wife? Jesus, I don’t know what she even spends it all on.” Luis chuckled; he always had a funny quick-witted answer to everything.
Unfortunately, entertainment wasn’t what I needed right now. “No, dumbass, I mean seriously. I mean, not seriously, but I’m asking for a serious answer.”
His brows drew together. “Did something happen, dude? Because you know I’ve got your back if it did.”
Everything stopped inside of me for a moment as a wave of grief and gratitude threatened to swamp my judgment. I held on, doing my best to think logically. I wanted so badly to confide in Luis. I wanted so badly to get someone’s help. I was in over my head, and I damn well knew it. Last time I had tried to handle this mess by myself, it had ended in disaster.
But every single person that I dragged into my problems was one more person who could rat me out, or worse, get arrested as an accessory and forced to tell on me. Luis didn’t deserve to be put in that position. Snarky nerd or not, he was a good person, and I liked him. “No, no, this is hypothetical. It’s just been stuck in my head.”
“Okay good. So who, then?”
“I mean someone you don’t know, like a stranger.” Like a fat white guy who can barely get out of his shitty car. “What if a stranger tried to exhort money from you… what would you do?”
“Oh… a stranger huh.” Luis now looked somewhat serious, his dark eyes thoughtful. Then he flashed another grin. “Well, let’s see…hmm, yeah I’d beat their ass is what I’d do.” Luis pushed his chest out as he answered the question with full confidence.
“Look, people who try to take other people for money are stupid. And people who give in to it are stupid too. If you give someone money, they’re gonna just keep hitting you up because now they know you’re good for it. Know what I mean?
But if you don’t pay, if you kick their ass instead, what are they gonna do? Go to the police? And tell them what? That they got their ass kicked after trying to blackmail someone for money? You can just deny it and then say ‘uh, here’s where this person tried to blackmail me for a bunch of money,’ and show them proof. Shoot, they’re gonna go to jail a hell of a lot longer than you are.”
“...Huh.” That’s a good point. Especially that bit about how the bastard could just keep blackmailing me. “But what if they go to the police anyway?”
He chuckled a little laugh. “Then I go to jail for a little while for an assault that I’ll plead down, but that fucker goes away a lot longer than me. Blackmail is a serious felony. They’re gonna get put in with lifers and shit, and that’s after I already remodeled their face.”
I sat back, a little impressed by his answer. “Wow. That’s thorough.”
“Dude, you think I can keep this crazy, outdated system running smooth if I couldn’t think on my feet.” He winked. “Anyway, that’s what I’d do. There are two things no one should ever mess with; I man’s family and a man’s money”
“You know what I’m saying, Carter?”
“Yeah…” Luis was right. I could never survive prison, but if it came down to it, someone trying to blackmail me would be taking a far bigger risk than me kicking their ass for it.
But what Luis didn’t know was that the extorter in question had dirt on me that—if led to a real investigation—would put me away for the rest of a very hellish life, and that was the part I couldn’t tell him...or anyone. So when he asked me why I was curious, I hesitated a little before replying.
“Eh, I just saw something on the news the other day in a local crime segment—some people trying to scam other people for money. It just made me wonder what I’d do. I wanted to see what you’d say.” I looked at Luis, shrugging my shoulders, pretending to be casual about it all while inside, my mind was whirling.
“Damn, another local scam? Man, I’ll have to check the news. Not for me, but my Grandma’s always trusting these guys on the phone. It’s phone scams again, right?” He looked at me expectantly while my stomach sank even more.
Um, uh, uh— “E-mail, actually. It’s a lending scheme.” I had never even thought that he might get curious and investigate my half made-up story.
“Oh.” He relaxed. “Don’t have to worry about that then, she doesn’t even know what e-mail is. Thanks for the warning though. I’ll keep an eye on my mine and what comes through the work server.”
Phew, thank God. “No problem. Well, I got to get these reports done.” I smiled and started to turn back around to my desk.
“Okay bud. You let me know if we need to beat someone’s ass, all right?” Luis joked as he wheeled back to his desk. I snickered and waved over my shoulder, but my mind was chewing over what he had said.
Talking to Luis about my current situation had shed some light on my options. I didn’t automatically need to go handing the bastard five-sixths of our savings. In fact, that would really be a bad idea.
There had to be another way. Some way to not only avoid being blackmailed but also punish the fat bastard for messing with me.
A sudden wave of confidence hit as if Luis’ cockiness had channeled me during our chat.
He’s right. If I give this guy the money, he’ll just want more. I won’t be able to hide anything for very long at all, especially if I actually give him any money. I’ll have to tell Zoe, and then it’ll all be over.
But...what if I do something else instead? What if I make him regret ever trying this bullshit on me?
The note said to bring the money on Monday night at ten, which would give me less than a week to get everything arranged. How would I even get the ten thousand out of the account? Could my bank even just hand me ten grand in cash, no questions asked? Not likely. They would probably alert Zoe about the withdrawal. After all, she was also on the account.
There were so many questions, and I didn’t even know how to answer the simplest ones.
Let’s say by some miracle I’m able to pay this guy without Zoe immediately finding out…I began running through possible scenarios. Like Luis said, there really is no guarantee he won’t keep hitting me up for money again...
or even still go to the police once I give him the ten grand. I’m sure I’d never see it again.
That meant all the trouble and risk of getting that money out of the joint account really would be for nothing.
But, what about a ringer? I can get fake money at a party store, bundle it with real cash on each end, and hand him $500 instead of ten thousand. The only problem there is, it might take a while to figure it out, but he eventually would, and then what? There’s no guarantee that he’ll be arrested trying to pass it at a bank, if he even used one. Damn it.
Nothing really added up to a good answer to the current predicament. But I sure as hell wasn’t giving ten grand to some stranger with absolutely no guarantee of his keeping his end. Then again, what other option did I have? Do nothing and he’ll go to the police, anyway. I have no idea exactly what he saw, what he photographed or how much dirt he has on me.
I dropped my face into my hands, quickly starting to feel overwhelmed again.
If I gave in to the blackmail to avoid prison, I was going to have to tell Zoe what was going on. Once she found out that I had killed someone and ditched their body, that would be it. We would be done. I loved my wife, and I didn’t want to lose her, but unless I came up with something creative as hell, and soon, I would lose her either way.
“That fucking bastard,” I muttered under my breath. I hated being at the mercy of the fat piece of trash I saw earlier. I dug my nails against the edge of my desk until their knuckles turned white. “What am I supposed to do?”
Suddenly Luis’ words came back to mind, shattering my panic like a wrecking ball smashing through a thick wall of glass. “I’d beat their ass is what I’d do.”
A warm wave of calm washed over me, taking my anxiety with it. As I pulled the paper back out and examined the writing on it, my lips twisted into a thin, hard smile. “I’d beat their ass is what I’d do.” It kept repeating in my head like a broken record. I chuckled a little. Perhaps that was the answer.