The Silver Lake Murder

by Gregg Matthews

  Working his way through the receiving line of friends and family members, he can hardly hear what the young women in the line are saying to him, but is pretty sure they worked with Cindy. He works his way through the line quickly and gets to Mrs. Flynn.

  “Blake Rivers?” a small, frail version of Mrs. Flynn says with open arms, giving him a big hug.

  He notices some people in the room turn and look at him. He avoids making eye contact with anyone else.

  “Hi Mrs. Flynn,” Blake says, receiving the hug.

  “You see what those bastards did to my baby?”

  “Yes, it was the first thing I saw driving into town a few days ago.”

  “Well, are you and her brother going to do something about it?” Mrs. Flynn says angrily, pointing to Billy standing next to her.

  “Yes, Mrs. Flynn. I promise I will find out what happened.”

  “You better,” Mrs. Flynn says through tears.

  Billy moves his head to the left and motions for Blake to follow him. Before Blake follows him, he asks Mrs. Flynn one more question.

  “Mrs. Flynn, have you seen Rose?”

  “No, I haven’t seen her since you two left town,” Mrs. Flynn says with a worried look in her eyes.

  Blake watches as Billy shakes his head no as well.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Flynn.”

  Later in the evening, most of the crowd has faded. There is plenty of room in the parlor for them to talk now. Walking off to the side, he and Billy find room to talk. He notices Billy has a bad limp but doesn’t say anything.

  “Why were you looking in the coffin?”

  “I saw a tattoo. I have been seeing all over town.”

  “What was it?”

  “A crude outline drawing of a jackal.”

  “Oh, Luke’s brand.”

  “Who? His what?”

  “We can talk about the Jackal brand later.”

  He and Billy sit and talk at one of the larger couches. He is surprised at the way Billy looks. His skin is gray, and his hair is long. He is a young man but looks old. He wonders what Billy has been doing since he left town and how long he has been walking with a limp.

  “Cindy is gone, Blake,” Billy says from behind tears.

  “I know man, what the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t spend much time here. I live in Lowell, the next town over. I am trying to stay away from drugs and alcohol. I am one-year clean Blake,” Billy says proudly.

  “Great, Billy.”

  “Thanks, Blake.”

  “How are we going to figure out what happened to Cindy?”

  Blake slides over on the couch closer to him, and he listens while Billy tells him everything he knows.

  “There is a guy who owns most of the property in and around the lake. His name is Luke. He might have something to do with what happened to Cindy. I know a guy from the program, his name is Lester, he is close to Luke. He will be able to tell us more information,” Billy says.

  “Come by my new shop tomorrow.”

  “New shop?”

  “Yes, I have a new shop next to K-9 Academy, Sun Luck, and the Lake view Lounge.”

  “Jesus, Blake, Luke owns that building.”

  “Good, we will not have far to go,” Blake says without knowing what he is up against.

  Some more time passes by, and the workers of the funeral parlor do their best to move people along, and empty the room.

  Walking across the parking lot and down Route 38, he and Billy get to his car and jump in. He slowly drives his car to the next town, Lowell, turning right and left on Billy’s commands, until he reaches the destination. He looks at the sign in the parking lot and reads, Lowell House, Addiction Treatment and Recovery Center.

  “This it?”

  “For now,” Billy says with his head buried.

  “Hey, are you doing better today than you were yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are doing good, Billy. I’m going to need your help finding out what happened to Cindy.”

  “I know, Blake.”

  “Alright, let’s toughen up. Come by the shop tomorrow. I have some work for you.”

  “Okay, Blake, see you tomorrow.”

  Turning the car around and pointing it in the direction of Silver Lake again, he presses on the accelerator. After driving for twenty minutes or so, he sees the Funeral Parlor on his left and the cemetery on his right, up the road a way. Driving down Route 38, he cannot help himself. He wants to turn in to the Silver Lake Cemetery, and he does. He parks his car on the shoulder of Route 38 in front of the main entrance. He exits the car and walks into the cemetery’s main entrance. He walks under the arch with a sign spelling out Silver Lake Cemetery.

  As he looks out over the lake water, he can see a few hundred headstones in the foreground. There is a long, winding, hilly dirt walkway throughout the cemetery’s grounds. He walks slowly, taking his time. He thinks about Rose and how badly he wantsto find her. He wonders where she is.

  Walking around the small cemetery where a lot of people from his past are buried is making his mind wander. He looks out over the lake. The moon is hanging low, reflecting in the water. The lake is quiet; he can see Little Rock Island, and in the middle of the island, the glowing bonfire must have several people standing around it. He cannot see the people from this distance. There are several old wooden rowboats docked on the island, and more rowboats approaching.

  He wonders what the people standing around the bonfire know about what happened to Cindy. Will they talk about it, if they know something? He knows the people who live in Silver Lake are tight-lipped about everything happening in and around the lake. They have no choice; if someone identifies you as a talker, you will not live here for long. But maybe there is someone who hates the person who did this and doesn’t care what happens to them if they talk. Maybe.

  Walking towards the center and right of the cemetery, he takes in the view of the lake while keeping a close eye on the headstones. He is a little creeped out but keeps walking. He suddenly stops when he comes across a newly dug grave. He turns the flashlight on his smartphone on, and moves the light over the top of the grave. The grave looks to be about six feet deep. There are a few different fresh piles of dirt around the grave with shovels on top of the dirt. He thinks they must have dug it by hand. He looks at the small sign about the size of a piece of notebook paper stapled to a piece of wood. He moves the light closer to the sign and reads the name, Cindy Flynn.

  This is where Cindy will be put to rest in a few days. Chills run up and down his spine at the thought of Cindy being put in the grave. His emotions are all over the place, and he is frustrated trying to absorb the events of the last few days; he is too tired to react. He is angry. He is emotionally drained from the trip back, opening the shop, losing Rose, and the murder of Cindy. He needs to get some rest; he slowly walks back to the car and drives back to Shady Lane. He goes inside the shop and lays down in the temporary bed in the back of the shop and quickly falls asleep.

  CHAPTER 6

  The next day he is working early, with a backlog of customers. The buzzing noise of the tattoo needle stops. Blake wipes the blood and ink off the shoulder of the young man.

  “We’re finished,” Blake says.

  “Great!” The man says excitedly.

  Holding the hand mirror so the man can see the new ink, he still enjoys seeing the excitement in his customers' eyes when they receive their new tattoo. Wrapping the fresh tattooed shoulder with a gauze and tape, he seals the tattoo. He hands the man a piece of paper with instructions on how to take care of his new tattoo. He and the man walk over to the register at the front of the store, quickly settling the bill.

  “Thanks, awesome, man.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Another young man enters the shop as the customer is leaving. He makes eye contact with him. Billy is in the back of the tattoo shop, painting the walls.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey, I am su
pposed to meet Billy here,” the man says with a slight stutter.

  “Hey Billy,” Blake turns and yells to the back of the shop.

  Looking at the man in front of him, Blake can tell something is wrong. The man cannot look Blake in the eyes, he’s looking straight to the floor. The man is shaken and quiet. He has the same disheveled look in his eyes but is physically bigger and stronger than Billy. He can hear Billy shuffling around in the back of the shop, trying to get to the front. He looks at the man again and wonders if he is OK.

  “Lester,” Billy shouts.

  “Billy,” Lester whispers.

  “Blake, this is my friend Lester. He’s in the program. He also works for Luke.”

  “Hey, Lester,” Blake says.

  “Hey, Blake.”

  He, Billy, and Lester are standing in the doorway. Blake hopes Billy has told Lester he wants him to show Blake around and try to help him understand what’s going on here in Silver Lake.

  “Let’s take a walk. I will show you around,” Lester says quietly.

  “Great!” Blake says.

  He, Billy, and Lester step out the front door of Rivers Tattoo shop. Blake flips the sign on the back of the door from Open to Closed, and locks the door. The three men walk across the crushed stone parking lot.

  “Let’s go down to the water,” Lester says.

  “Okay,” Blake says.

  The three men walk closer to the water’s edge.

  Lester begins to explain, pointing his right index finger to the lake.

  “Across the back of the lake by Cripple Cove, there is a place called the Starlight Trailer Park. You can get there by taking Backside Lane, a dirt road. The Starlight Trailer Park is Luke’s compound. There are several mobile homes on the property, but the park is not open to the public. Luke bought the trailer park years ago and runs his business from there. There are guard dogs roaming the grounds. There is a large doghouse in the middle of the grounds, the rumor is, he keeps his money under the doghouse. Who knows if it’s true or not?” Lester says.

  Blake looks at Billy and nods his head; Billy looks the other way. Lester continues to explain.

  “The park is surrounded and enclosed by chain link fencing. He has people who work for him during the day. Some of the people who work for him are locals and live there in the trailers. Some of the men who work there are cheap Chinese labor, supplied by Lu Xu, the owner of Sun Luck. There is a van delivering and picking up the men a couple of times a day. He also has several Chinese women he hires from Lu. The women are there to cook and clean the trailers. There is a van delivering the women a few hours before supper time every night. The women have to cook enough food to feed the men working in the trailer park. The cooking is part of the deal. There has been a lot of talk about the women being prostitutes, but I am not sure.”

  On the perimeter of the lake, Lester points out several cottages to the right and several more to the left.

  “Luke owns most of the cottages and rents them out to people who work for him at the Lakeview Lounge. I live in the one over there,” he points to one of the older run-down cottages on the water’s edge.

  “Let’s go over to the commercial building,” Lester says pointing to Rivers Tattoo shop, K-9 Academy, Sun Luck, and Lakeview Lounge.

  “The building, housing the storefronts, is owned by Luke. The large building sort of behind and to the right of the commercial building is also Luke’s. I am the maintenance man. I work for Luke. I have access to all the buildings. Let’s go a little deeper into the operation over by the storefronts and the other building.” Lester says.

  The three men walk over to the storefronts.

  “There is your new shop, Rivers Tattoo, next to K-9 Academy, which is owned by Kevin. Sun Luck is owned by Lu Xu. Lakeview Lounge is owned by Luke. The second floor of the Lakeview Lounge storefront is called The Devil’s Den. The Devil’s Den is where Luke has a lot of meetings and functions. Most people who live around the lake with dogs go to Kevin for training. Most people who live around the lake go to Sun Luck and Lakeview Lounge for food and drinks. Now they will go to Rivers Tattoo shop for ink.”

  The three men walk down the dirt road over to the building in the back.

  “The building next to the storefronts in the back, off to the side, is owned by Luke as well. It is a big old barn. Inside the barn downstairs is called The Punchbowl. Luke has a few different operations running. There is Moonshine and a Microbrewery for beer. And there are the drug operations: cocaine, crystal meth, marijuana, and pharmaceutical pills. Everything gets the stamp of the Jackal. He hires the cheap labor from Lu Xu to run this operation as well.” Lester says.

  The three men stand off to the side and watch the barn operate for a while. There are several older pickup trucks, green with white lettering. The trucks are parked in front of the barn. He reads the writing on the driver’s side door, Lakeview Lounge Delivery. Blake notices below the writing there is the symbol again, the crude outline drawing of a Jackal. The back of the pickup trucks all have canvas tarps; the tarps are tied down, covering the goods being delivered.

  “The incoming pickup trucks pull into the barn one at a time. The trucks are loaded with the moonshine, beer, and whatever else the customer ordered. The driver pulls a tarp over the back before he goes out for delivery. The trucks idle in place, waiting for the local police to change shifts. Luke is friends with certain policemen and pays them not to pull the trucks over. The trucks are pulling in and out of the barn all day and into the night.” Lester says.

  The three men watch as a van full of Chinese men pulls up to the side of the barn. Ten to fifteen men get out of the van. The men all light cigarettes at the same time and stand off to the side, waiting for their work shift to start. The van picks up the same amount of Chinese men on the other side of the barn and quickly drives off.

  “We need to find out if Luke is the one responsible for killing your sister.” Blake says.

  “I know, Blake,” Billy says to the ground.

  Blake’s mind is running wild with the possibilities of what may happen. How he is going to have to turn Silver Lake and Luke’s operation upside-down to find out who killed Cindy. He knows he has to dig deeper.

  He is going to have to go to Little Rock Island. The need to find the truth is overwhelming. The locals standing around the bonfire on Little Rock Island know

  everything happening in and around Silver Lake. He needs a little more help from Lester.

  “Lester, can you help me tomorrow?” Blake asks.

  “Depends on what you need help with,” Lester says smartly.

  “Me, Billy, and you are going on a little trip tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.,” Blake says.

  “Yes, I’m in. I want to find out who killed Cindy as bad as you guys. She was a friend of mine for a long time here. I will do whatever I can to help,” Lester says.

  “OK, I have to get back to the shop now. Thanks for your help, see you tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. sharp. Come on, Billy, let’s get back to work.”

  “Where are we going tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Blake?” Billy whines.

  “Little Rock Island!” Blake says intently.

  Watching Lester walk deeper into the barn, he and Billy fade back to Rivers Tattoo Shop. He quickly sets up his workstation and gets ready to work on his next customer. Blake is hoping for a good day tomorrow. Going to the island where the local’s hangout will hopefully shed some light on what happened to Cindy. Also, maybe someone has seen Rose.

  CHAPTER 7

  The next day, Blake looks up from his drawing table inside the tattoo shop. He heard the bell over the front door ring. He watches as a young woman walks in the front door and looks towards him. She is his first customer of the day. She is wearing tan work boots, cutoff jeans, a wide black belt, a green T-shirt with white letters spelling out Lakeview Lounge. She has a long sleeve flannel shirt tied around her waist. She flips her sunglasses to the top of her head. He wonders if she is here for more than a tattoo. He pulls his hair back i
nto a ponytail, hoping she is going to need him to do some work. He walks over to her and introduces himself.

  “Blake,” Blake says, extending his right hand.

  “Tracy,” Tracy says, shaking his hand.

  “What can I do for you, Tracy?”

  “I want this memorial tattoo; it’s for my friend who recently passed away.”

  He reads the piece of paper and sees the name Cindy Flynn in the middle of the page. The memorial tattoo is a heart with angel wings on the sides. Cindy Flynn’s name is in the middle of the heart. Silver Lake Forever is written under the heart. He is taken back by the memorial tattoo. His emotions are being set off one at a time. He doesn’t want to lose his temper and scare Tracy off, so he keeps it together. He takes the drawing from Tracy and goes over to the drawing table to create the stencil to be used to apply the tattoo. He directs Tracy over to the massage table. Watching her as she walks over to the table to wait for him to finish the stencil.

  “Are you from the Silver Lake area, Tracy?”

  “No, I’ve been here a couple of years. I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. I have a job at the Lakeview Lounge, and I rent a room in one of the cottages down by the lake. How about you, Blake?”

  “I grew up here. I grew up in one of the cottages down by the Lake. I’ve been gone a long time, though. I moved to New Orleans. I lost my tattoo shop and my girlfriend, Rose, in Hurricane Katrina.”

  “Blake, I am so sorry.”

  “I came back here to see if Rose came back. I have been asking people who know her but no one has seen her,” Blake says, pointing to Rose’s picture on the wall.

  “Oh, Blake, she is beautiful. I haven’t seen her here. Sorry.”

  “Thanks, Tracy.”

  In his mind, he imagines Rose standing behind the counter taking care of the business end of Rivers Tattoo shop. He can picture her greeting the customers making sure everyone is taken care of. His eyes well up, and he closes them tight a couple of times. He pulls himself together, stands, taking the stencil walking over to Tracy. He notices Tracy has the same crude outline drawing of a Jackal tattooed between her thumb and index finger, like the one he saw on Cindy. He points to the tattoo.