The Water

by Nancy Jackson

  “Lenny did you know you had a dead dog over on the east side of your building?” asked Randy.

  The man stopped before sitting and shook his head at Randy. “Nope. Could be my old Jonas. I ain’t seen him in a day or two. I called and put out food, but I don’t get around so good anymore, so I didn’t go out looking for him.” The old man’s eyes grew sad, and he pulled out the chair to sit. He was studying the edge of the table lost in thought somewhere else.

  Carrie thought he could have just woken up. His feathery gray hair was tousled on his balding head. He had on a pair of faded overalls with only one strap up on his shoulder over a thin white undershirt, and no shoes.

  Lenny sat for a moment staring at his clasped hands laying on the table before him. Both Randy and Carrie wondered about the dog. Was it a long-time companion or a stray? Should they offer to help dispose of the remains? Then Lenny seemed to recover and looked up at Randy.

  Almost as if he was reading their minds he spoke, “He was an old stray that came by several months ago. I didn’t want to take him in, but he kept hanging around. After a few days I noticed how thin he was, so I put out scraps for him. That’s all. I’d put out scraps and water each evening and he would eat and go lay back in the back of the lot under the tree.”

  “Do you want us to help you dispose of him?” Randy asked half hoping Lenny would say no.

  Lenny shook his head, “No. I got an old boy that helps me out around here. I’ll have him do it.” Then as if realizing for the first time he had two OSBI agents sitting in his bar, he looked up at Randy and asked, “What brings you by here?”

  “We found a young girl, think she may be a working girl, under the overpass by the river. I thought she may have passed by here.” Randy pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture of the dead girl’s face. He put the phone over where Lenny could look.

  For the second time in less than ten minutes, Carrie saw the old man’s face grow sad. He nodded. “That's Cami.”

  Randy pulled the phone back and got out his pad to take notes. He wrote the name Cami and then looked up at Lenny. “How do you know her?”

  “Well, you know that a lot of the girls who work this area come by here from time to time. I used to do what I could to help them out if they needed something, or were scared.

  “I’m older now and the ones who really knew me have mostly died or gone from the life. But they have passed my name down. If you need help, go to Lenny.”

  “What can you tell us about her?” asked Carrie.

  Lenny’s face was far away as he pulled thoughts of Cami to the forefront of his memory. “She was a pretty one. Most are, but she was a real beauty. She could have been a model or a movie star. Young too. I don’t think she had been around here more than a year, maybe two.” Lenny looked up at Randy.

  “Do you know who she hung out with? Was she under someone’s protection?”

  “Yeah, she came by here with another girl named Jenny. I think they are both with Gus.” The disgust on Lenny’s face was palpable. He rubbed his hands together as his mouth twisted.

  “Do you know where we might find Jenny?” asked Carrie.

  Lenny took a minute to think then nodded, “I think they are staying over with a lady called Pride.”

  “Pride?” asked Carrie. She thought she had surely heard him wrong.

  “Yeah, Pride. Long story on that one. She's had that nickname since she started walking. Rumor is that even doing what she had to do, she still kept her pride. She's too old to be out now, but likes to help the girls when she can. Gus is okay with it as long as she doesn’t try to pull ‘em out."

  “Where can we find Pride?” asked Randy.

  Lenny gave him an address close to his bar and Randy jotted it down in his pad. “Anything else Lenny that you can tell us? Do you know of anyone who would want to kill Cami? Anyone who would want to hurt her?”

  As Lenny shook his head he said, “Nah. No one I can think of. If I do, I’ll call ya.”

  Randy scooted his card across the table to Lenny and stood up. The chair screeched and skittered across the woodend floor, and in the room's quiet the noise seemed to put an edge to the air.

  Carrie’s eyes had adjusted to the dark and as she stood she took in the surroundings. An old window unit worked hard on one wall to push cold air into the room. Old metal signs and posters completely covered the walls, some so old and faded it was difficult to tell what they had once said.

  Wood booths lined two walls with round tables in the middle. The bar spanned the back wall and was like almost any old bar in any old joint in town. She personally knew this for a fact.

  They shook Lenny’s hand and walked out into the light. The smell reminded them that the dog was still around the corner and was still dead. They both hurried to get in the car.

  As a matter of habit Carrie cranked up the AC as soon as the engine turned over and Randy just shook his head. He could remind her yet again that until the engine cooled a bit, the AC air would be hot, doing no good to turn it up, but he didn’t. She always did that, and he always said that. It was time for a change.

  “So how do you know Lenny?” asked Carrie.

  “When I was at the OKCPD, we became very familiar. He was younger and his place was much more active back then. He kept his nose clean, but the bar attracted a lot of people up to no good. Lenny always had a heart to help them out. He didn’t condone what they did, but he cared about them. Rare if you ask me.”

  “The bar looks like it is about to fall down,” said Carrie.

  “Yeah, it never was a place to go because of its looks. The people who've always gone there are those who are up to no good. They go there knowing they are so far out of the way that they are safe. There are a few neighborhood people too, that stop in after work for a drink, or ten.

  “Through the years though, as Lenny has aged, he doesn’t have the strength, energy, or money, I would assume, to keep the place going. Also, the younger crowd have other places they frequent. I wasn’t sure he would know this girl, but I thought I'd take a chance.”

  “He seems like a sweet old man,” said Carrie. “They all need someone to care.”

  Jenny sat on the back porch step of Pride’s old run-down house and fiddled with a thread of tobacco. It had stuck to her lip from her cigarette and rather than toss it; she had rolled it between her fingers. She was on edge and fidgety.

  Dropping the bit of tobacco, she lifted the cigarette to her mouth and took another long draw. A tear ran down her cheek. She knew something bad had happened to Cami, and she was terrified.

  The back door creaked as Pride’s large frame stepped through and onto the porch. She lumbered over to the rickety chair and squeezed herself in.

  Once Pride had had a natural reason to feel pride. She had once been a stunning beauty, but that was a long time ago. Age had not treated her well, or maybe it had been her lifestyle, or maybe both.

  The woman who looked back at her in the mirror now had a face lined with wrinkles and hair that was so thin it was almost non-existent.

  Someone had told her once that pride comes before a fall. She had only laughed then, thinking them a religious fanatic, or just crazy. Well, if that saying was ever true, it was true now. Not one thread of her former beauty remained.

  “Have you heard from Cami yet?” Pride asked Jenny.

  Jenny looked up at Pride, winced, then looked away. “Nah.”

  There was a sensation down in Pride’s gut that told her something bad was afoot and that Cami had stepped right into it.

  “Have you talked to Gus?” asked Pride.

  Jenny just shook her head.

  “He won’t like it that she hasn’t come home. He’ll think she ran away.” Pride looked into the ragged backyard and wished it were pretty and tranquil.

  “I know something bad happened to her,” said Jenny. “I know it sounds crazy, but I feel it.”

  “Me too,” agreed Pride.

  “Should we go to the cops?” a
sked Jenny.

  “No. They’ll come to us. If we call them to hunt for her, they won’t. They never go looking for people like us. If she turns up, we will know when they show up at our doorstep.”

  Jenny nodded and stamped out the butt of her cigarette on the porch step, then tossed it into the backyard. She thought about going back in. It was August and even though it was before noon it was almost 95 degrees. No doubt it would be well over 100 again today.

  Pride stood. “I’m going in. Too hot out here for me.”

  The door once again creaked and Jenny stood as well. The little house felt too confining most of the time, but it was too hot to be outside.

  As she stepped onto the cracked and yellowed linoleum of the tiny kitchen, Jenny heard Pride at the front door talking with someone.

  She hung back just enough to stay hidden, but still hear. She could hear Pride’s heavy footsteps walking toward her favorite chair. Jenny could hear other footsteps following her and then growing quiet.

  “Jenny, you might as well come on in here, girl. I know you are listening, but you need to talk to these people too.”

  Jenny didn’t want to talk to cops, and who else would it be? Maybe if she stood super still, then Pride would think she wasn’t there after all.

  “Come on now. Git on in here.”

  With resignation Jenny smoothed down her wrinkled denim skirt. The cops would know what she did as soon as they saw her. The skirt was way too short, and she still had on her fancy hose from last night. In fact, she hadn’t changed at all from the night before.

  Jenny quietly slid around the edge of the doorframe and stood right on the other side. She could slip back around when no one was looking.

  “Come on in here and sit down,” said Pride. She knew what the girl was thinking, everything she was thinking.

  Jenny ducked her head, walked to the sofa, and sat on the end farthest away from the cops. She hadn’t looked at them yet. Would they haul her off to jail? The knot in her stomach said yes.

  “Hi Jenny, I’m Carrie Border and this is Randy Jeffries with the OSBI.” Carrie’s voice was gentle. She could see the fear in this girl’s demeanor.

  Jenny nodded her head, still looking down.

  Pride leaned over and rested her hand on Jenny’s knee. “It’s ok. They're not here to get you in any trouble. They want to talk to us about Cami.”

  Jenny looked up at Pride with tears in her eyes and Pride nodded her head. “Yes, they found her.”

  Huge sobs sucked the air from Jenny’s lungs and puddles of tears blurred her vision. “No!” She screamed. “No. No. No!” She shook her head hard from side to side, her limp hair with it. Her hands flew to cover her face. She couldn’t be gone.

  As the sickness rose up, she ran from the room. Once done retching, she continued to hold on to the toilet seat, sitting with her eyes clamped shut. Cami was gone, really gone. What would she do now without her?

  She jumped as a hand touched her shoulder. “Are you ok?” It was the lady cop. Her voice was nice, and Jenny thought she might be okay, but she knew she couldn’t trust a cop no matter how nice.

  Jenny nodded her head and moved to get up. The water from the faucet she splashed on her face was cold and it felt good. But something had broken inside her that the cool water could never fix.

  Her steps were robotic as she walked back into the living room. The lady cop was following her and sat down on the sofa with her, but thankfully a safe distance away.

  Silence dominated the room for a short time before Jenny had the courage to ask, “Where did you find her?”

  Carrie looked over at Randy. Should they tell her or let Pride tell her later? She seemed so fragile, but then living in this world, just how fragile could she be?

  “We found her under the overpass over by the Chesapeake Boat House.” Carrie watched as Jenny pressed her eyes tight together, a tear spilling out.

  “You and Cami were close, weren’t you?” Carrie asked. She kept her voice soft. She didn’t want to add any more pain to Jenny’s ordeal than she had to.

  Jenny nodded her head, eyes still shut tight. “I loved her. She was my friend.” Carrie thought her heart would break. “What will I do without her?”

  Carrie looked up at Pride. Grief covered her face as well as sympathy for young Jenny. How many times had this old woman seen this, or something like this, happen to these young girls?

  Randy sat back taking notes. He could see that with Jenny, Carrie would have a greater success. He did not want to scare her or cause her to feel intimidated.

  He had noticed that the room where they sat was small, but clean. The carpet was old and worn and the walls needed paint. But there were pictures of young girls placed about the room from better times. Wide smiles crossed their faces as they laughed for the cameras.

  “Jenny, I know this is hard, but you know that we have to ask some very hard questions of you so we can find out who hurt Cami.” Carrie wanted to be respectful of Jenny’s pain while coaxing her to talk to them.

  First a slight nod came, then open and clear eyes. “What do you need to know?” Jenny was ready.

  “When was the last time you saw Cami?”

  “Last night at about eight.” Sobs threatened her voice, but Jenny held firm.

  “And where was that?” asked Carrie. She knew Randy was taking notes, so she didn’t bother.

  “We were downtown. There was some kind of event at the arena and we were outside the Renaissance Hotel hanging out.” Jenny had never talked to the cops before, so she didn’t know just what she could say, or should say. She wanted to help them find out who hurt Cami, but she didn’t want to get herself in a mess either.

  Pride took Jenny’s chin in her hand and turned the young girls face to look at her. “It's okay Jenny. Tell them everything. They’re not here for you. Tell them the truth.” The look on Pride’s face told Jenny she could trust these cops, so she nodded at Pride.

  “We were working. We hung back because the cops would haul us in if we got too close to the arena where the event was. They are extra thick when they are having something there.

  “So we always hang back up Broadway in the dark. There are a few trees along the street where we hang at until afterwards. Then we come out.”

  “What time was the event over?” asked Carrie.

  “Well, I don’t know exactly. We had walked over to the Cox garage about eight. We knew the guy working the gate that night, and we went over to talk to him. Sometimes he let us in and we would hang out in there. So we were standing around talking to him, and this guy in the garage motions to us to come to him.

  “Cami said she would go see what he wanted.” Jenny squirmed in her seat; of course they knew what he wanted. “Then she looked back at me and nodded. I knew she was going with him.”

  “When the event ended I hung out just inside the garage and then went with a guy coming out from the arena. When I left him, it was about eleven. I didn’t see Cami the rest of the night.

  “I finished working about two-thirty and came home. Cami wasn’t here and Pride was asleep.” Her last words were soft as if she ran out of steam.

  Randy had gone to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water for Jenny. She thanked him and took the glass. The sour taste lingered in her mouth from being sick, and the water washed that away.

  Heaviness hung in the air. Jenny’s grief was strong, and they all felt it, but Carrie and Randy were here to do a job, and they could not let that stop them.

  They got the best description they felt Jenny could offer of the guy that Cami had gone with. It would be a long shot that he'd been her killer. He’d made himself too visible too early in the evening, but they had to check. It would hopefully lead them to Cami’s next move, if they could even find him.

  “Pride we need to talk to Gus,” Randy said.

  Both Jenny and Pride’s heads went up and over to look at Randy. Pride took a deep breath. He was right; they needed to talk to Gus, she just hated
to be the one to direct them his way.

  “I don’t know where he lives, but he will come by here about five to see Jenny.” He always makes his rounds to get the previous nights proceeds at about five each evening.

  They asked both Pride and Jenny several more questions about Cami, then about Gus. Where does he hang out? Who does he hang out with? How did he treat Jenny and Cami? Who were his other girls?

  Both Jenny and Pride answered all they could think of as honestly as they dared.

  Chapter 3

  The days right before school started were always strange. Summer was over and that was always sad, but there was excitement too. The hope of things to come in the new school year always reminded Sandy of why she kept on teaching.

  “Dang it!” Sandy exclaimed as she looked at the broken fingernail. She’d just ripped it to the quick trying to pick up the heavy box of classroom decorations.

  She shoved it in her mouth to stop the trickle of blood and went to locate her nail clippers. Nothing was where it should be yet. Over the summer, the rooms had all been repainted, so she had had to box up everything. Her nail clippers were in the box that held her desk supplies and she hadn’t located it yet.

  Seeing a pair of scissors, she grabbed them up and used them the best she could to clip the nail close to the skin. She hated that she’d lost the nail, but she wasn’t prissy like a few of the teachers she worked with. They would call to make an emergency trip to the nail salon.

  Standing behind her desk, she looked around the kindergarten room. Soon, this room would be filled with twenty tiny little faces with a variety of emotions. Some would be terrified, while some would be so excited that they wouldn’t even be able to sit in their chairs.

  There were no desks in the room, only tables and work areas. Everything was arranged, mostly, the way Sandy wanted it. She was trying to work on getting the walls done with cute decor and a host of visual learning opportunities.

  The desk chair let out a puff of dust when she plopped into it. She was pooped already, and it was only noon. After ten years of teaching, she thought she might be loosing steam. She hated that because these kids deserved someone who was firing on all cylinders. Maybe she was just tired because of all the drama over the summer between her and Randy.