Karma

by Maximino Vega

  “Boss you there?” Billy asked when Clarence took a pause.

  “Yeah, I’m here. I’ll talk to you later when I get back to the station.”

  “Boss there’s still more.”

  “What is it?”

  “Fitzpatrick says the fire was on purpose.”

  “Did he explain?” Clarence asked.

  “According to Fitzpatrick a lantern was used to start the fire. It’s still laying on what’s left of the mattress.”

  “Okay, anything else?”

  “As matter of fact, there is.”

  “Well, let’s hear it.” Clarence was frustrated at this point.

  “Johnny came upon Susie’s car on Orange County Road. Key is in the ignition and we haven’t been able to locate her. She doesn’t answer at the bait shop or at her residence. We took a ride to her house. No one answers the door.”

  “That much I know.” Clarence furrowed his brow. “I’ll be at the station soon.”

  “See you then boss.” Billy hung up.

  Clarence had the thought that retirement was going to see him go out with a bang.

  ****

  Edgewater Park, Bronx New York, Ten Months Later.

  ****

  Luis Concepcion is sitting at the kitchen table in his home.

  The house sits alone on the last bend before the main road on First Avenue. Edgewater Park is a quiet seaside town in the Bronx.

  The back of Luis’s house faces the shoreline of Eastchester Bay. The nearest neighboring house is a hundred feet away.

  The door that leads to the deck is open. Luis is nursing a cup of coffee while he alternates between looking at the ocean from his kitchen table and the morning news on the small television sitting on the countertop near the sink.

  His home is the only house on the ocean side of Edgewater Park that has its own wooden boat dock.

  The other houses along First Avenue have to use the communal concrete docks, found every few hundred feet. That is, for the few people that have a boat.

  Even though Luis’s house has its own dock it wasn’t attractive to buyers because it sits further out nearer the water than the other houses in the area.

  After Hurricane Irene hit; flooding the house, the previous owner stopped paying the mortgage. The damage was mostly cosmetic, but, the owner thought any amount of water damage was too much. He moved out after saving a few months’ worth of mortgage payments.

  The three bedroom home with two bathrooms was in foreclosure when Luis bought it. He snatched it up for sixty thousand dollars.

  The house was sound when it came to its plumbing, structural integrity and electrical wiring. Cosmetically, it had some water damage from Hurricane Irene, but, Luis wasn’t concerned about this.

  The interior of the two floor single family home got scraped, plastered and painted. Luis did the work himself.

  The furnishings he bought second hand at the nearest goodwill store.

  The price wasn’t the only thing that attracted Luis to the house. It was the fact that the basement was windowless. Perfect for what he intended to do with the space.

  The basement is where Luis invested his money, making it sound and escape proof.

  The first thing Luis did was change the flimsy door that gave access to the single staircase that led to the basement. He installed a top of the line recording studio door to keep sound in. Next he enclosed the staircase with walls, adding another studio grade door at the bottom of the steps.

  He soundproofed the basement with three layers of soundproofing material.

  Luis divided the 1500 square foot basement right down the middle with a wall. Both rooms were set up in the same fashion.

  He built a door frame at the end of the wall nearest the enclosed staircase.

  He installed a shower stall in the corner to the left of the doorframe. Followed by a washbasin-toilet combo and a wall mounted metal bed frame with a rubber mattress.

  A small metal table with one chair was bolted to the floor in the middle of the room.

  The last and most important piece of each room is a steel wire rope. One end has a padded ankle cuff. The other end is attached to a retractable pulley bolted to the wall near the head of the bed frame.

  The wire rope stretches enough to allow the wearer of the cuff to move about the room freely and as far as the edge of the door frame, without the benefit of being able to look into the other room.

  Cuffed to the end of each steel rope, in their separate rooms are Megan and Ian. Every day they walk to the edge of the door frame and hold hands as they talk. That’s all they can do. They haven’t looked upon each other’s face in the last ten months.

  Luis’s coffee always goes cold before he drinks it. He likes to sip his coffee and takes his time doing so. Besides, he likes to pay attention to Channel 12 where he watches the Hudson Valley News. He’s been watching Channel 12 ever since he left the four dead bodies at the bottom of Sparrow Lake.

  Every day he sits down to his coffee waiting for the news broadcast that will show the metal box being lifted out of the water as the reporter speaks of the horrifying find at Sparrow Lake. He never misses the Hudson Valley News report because he knows it could easily come to light the day he misses the broadcast or decides not to watch it.

  Luis microwaves the cold coffee. Thirty seconds on high warms it up just right. He takes his cup of coffee out to the deck. He drinks it down faster than normal as he looks out onto Baychester Bay.

  He takes in a deep breath inhaling the salinity of the ocean.

  Luis turns from the view of the water and walks into his kitchen closing the door behind him.

  He puts the empty coffee cup on one of the kitchen counters and starts working on breakfast for his guests. Even though they’re being held prisoner he considers them his guests. He’s come to look at them like family. He looks forward to seeing them every day. So much so that he sometimes doubts his ability to follow through with his plan.

  In less than twenty minutes Luis has breakfast ready; scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon and a side of toast for Megan and a stack of pancakes for Ian.

  In the beginning Megan wouldn’t eat. She swore she would starve before she ate anything that Luis cooked. She stuck to her word until she became pregnant. Her maternal instincts kicked in and so did the hunger pangs. She couldn’t help eat.

  Ian on the other hand never gave Luis any issues when it came to eating. Ian had a problem with being cuffed to a steel wire and not being able to see his mother. In the beginning, he tried to fight Luis at every turn, but, he was no match for Luis who an advantage in size, strength and fighting experience. It would take Ian a month of constant battling before he gave up.

  Luis grabs the plastic tray with the breakfast for Megan and Ian. He holds it by his shoulder much like a waiter would in a restaurant.

  He grabs the keychain hanging from one of the belt loops on his pants. He opens the first door that leads to the basement. Luis flicks on the light. He walks down the stairs to the bottom and looks at the monitor by the door to make sure Ian is not in a fighting mood; the basement is set up with a panoramic camera in each room.

  Luis opens the door and quickly closes it behind him using a foot.

  “Good morning Ian.”

  “Good morning.” Ian answers the strain in his voice obvious. Although, he doesn’t want to talk to the man he considers an awful excuse for a human being, he’s been trying to be civil in the hopes to get some kind of privilege like television at the very least. Without any windows to look at the cycle of day and night he has no idea how long he’s been in the basement.

  Luis sets down a plastic plate of pancakes on the table, along with a plastic cup filled with milk.

  Ian walks over to the table wearing hospital scrubs. The basement is so well insulated that it’s always warm.

  He smiles as he sits down; the plastic spoon is cheap. Luis used to buy the good kind; the ones that weren’t flimsy and didn’t bend. That was until Ian tried to
stab Luis with one.

  Ian picks up the cheap spoon. He’s learned to finesse it so he can eat the pancakes before they get cold. The plastic is so cheap the spoon bends at the slightest contact with even the softest food.

  Ian tightens his grip on the handle of the spoon. It’s hard enough to inflict damage. It’s not soft like the head of the spoon. Ian thinks about using the handle like a knife.

  Ian entertains the thought much like he’s done many times in the past. He always feels like he has what it takes to kill Luis when he’s alone with his thoughts. However, when Luis is in front of him, he wonders if he truly has what it takes to kill the man that’s held him and his mother captive.

  Ian puts the matter out of his mind and continues to eat his pancakes.

  Luis enters Megan’s room. He smiles at her as he sets the plate with her breakfast on the metal table.

  Megan looks at Luis with neutral eyes. Her dirty blond hair is slicked back. She’s been taking a bath every morning since she got pregnant. She thinks the child she’s carrying will love water.

  Megan gets up from the bed. She walks over to the table and sits down. Luis follows her every step. Her naturally voluptuous body is more so ever since she’s been with child. The hospital gown she’s wearing traces the curves of her body. The material covering her swollen breast is wet with her milk; it flows on its own. Luis undresses her with his eyes then proceeds to ravish her in his mind. Megan is disgusted, but, she doesn’t show it.

  She thinks it’s a good thing it’s time for breakfast otherwise he would take her physically like he’s done in the past.

  The delight he’s taken in drinking the milk that belongs to her unborn child makes her cringe.

  Luis bids her a good morning after ravaging her with his eyes. She doesn’t answer. Megan stopped talking to him months ago for this is the one thing he can’t control.

  Megan doesn’t look at him as she eats. She can feel his eyes on her. After a while she looks up at him momentarily. Megan looks back to her plate. She wonders how he can go from devouring her with his eyes to looking at her with such tenderness.

  Megan can’t help think he’s a very sick man.

  ****

  Clarence feels his stomach rumbling. It’s the chili with beans and white toast he’s had every night for dinner. Three cans for two bucks at the local market. Every week it’s one canned food or another. Clarence takes advantage of whatever is on sale at the local supermarket. He has no choice since the house he’s rented takes a big chunk of his pension check.

  Clarence has shed thirty pounds subsisting on a diet of two small meals a day. He’s never felt lighter on his feet. Not to mention he’d never thought he could look down the length of his body and see his cowboy boots without having to bend forward at the waist.

  Clarence sips his coffee as he stands by one of the living room windows. He’s been watching the house of Luis Concepcion through a high powered telescope that sits on a tripod. Ten months have passed and he hasn’t seen anything he can act on.

  Earlier this morning Clarence watched Luis walk onto his deck like he does every day with a cup of something hot. And like every day he looked back and forth between the water and his home. Clarence was left wondering who or what he was paying attention to.

  Clarence hasn’t been able to have a closer look at Luis's house because he barely leaves. He has everything delivered right down to his groceries.

  The only time he leaves his house for any length of time is when he works on the small tugboat tied to his boat dock.

  Clarence knows Luis is up to something. He’s always home; never opting to venture farther than the tugboat, all the curtains are drawn covering the windows of the house and the bottom part that makes up the cellar is windowless. He knows it’s only a matter of time until he gets a break. Clarence turns from the telescope to get more coffee.

  ****

  “Mom are you okay.” Ian asks as he stands near the door frame.

  “I’m all right honey.” Megan’s voice comes in labored breaths.

  “Tell me the truth Mom. I know you’re pregnant, I.” Ian swallows. “I’ve heard everything that’s been happening to you since we got here.”

  Megan’s eyes tear up at the thought that her son has heard everything that’s gone on between her and their captor. The memory of Luis coming into her room to rape her repeatedly scolds her soul.

  “I’m fine honey, really.”

  “Are you having the baby now?” Ian asks.

  “No, but, I’ll be having it soon.”

  Megan buries her face in her pillow as she gives free reign to her pain. She stifles her voice so her son won’t hear her crying.

  “Mom, I love you.” Ian says with all the maturity of a man.

  “I love you too honey.” Megan does her best to stifle her pain, but, fails miserably. She can’t help it anymore. She lets the river of emotions swell from her being.

  Ian cries silently upon hearing his mother cry.

  ****

  Luis got on the computer the moment he heard the conversation between Ian and his mother. The cameras in each room are equipped with mics. He listens to everything they speak about using a wireless Earbud he keeps in his left ear throughout the day.

  Luis has a saved order with Ameritech Surgical Supply. He clicks on the overnight delivery option and proceeds to the checkout tab. Luis notices he’s perspiring as he clicks on the checkout button. The thought of delivering a baby is more daunting to him than killing four people before loading them into a metal box that now sits at the bottom of Sparrow Lake.

  Luis found himself preoccupied with the fact that Megan would soon be giving birth. He had to get his mind right for the imminent birth of his child. Work was the one thing to get his mind focused.

  Luis turned off the computer in his bedroom on the second floor and walked down to the first floor.

  He walked into the bedroom that doubles as his workshop. Lying against one wall were the six metals sides to another death box.

  It was time to get busy putting the three quarter inch sheets of metal together.

  ****

  Clarence was on his second cup of coffee. He had brought one of the stools from the kitchen to the living room. He sat watching Luis’s house.

  The moment had finally come and Clarence knew it would only get harder from here on in. Doubt creeped into his body and settled in his bones. He knew for certain that Luis was responsible for Tom’s disappearance. However, he didn’t know if Megan and Ian had fallen with the same bad luck. He had to be careful in his search for clues that they were still among the living since he was no longer in Law Enforcement. He was basically a civilian spying on another civilian.

  He had to remain steadfast for he had a debt with Tom’s father that no amount of watching, waiting or restrictions of diet could repay.

  Clarence went back to that day. He was fresh out of the Police Academy, riding shotgun with Jimmy Norton, a veteran of 15 years. They got a call about a motorcycle gang disturbing the peace at Paddy’s Tavern.

  Clarence got to the tavern following behind Jimmy; everything happened fast. The members of the motorcycle gang were toasting to something or other. Overzealous clinking of beer mugs got somebody wet and all hell broke loose. Fists, tables and chairs started flying.

  Paddy jumped from behind the bar with a chunk of wood for some good old head bashing on behalf of the good guys.

  When the melee was over those that weren’t cuffed sat cross-legged on the floor with their fingers interlaced behind their heads.

  Clarence kept his eyes on one man in particular. Tom Devlin senior sat against the bar; blood seeping through the spaces in between his fingers.

  Tom had never been the fighting kind so when the mass of bodies came together to do battle he put his back against the bar to try and keep himself away from the wave of combat.

  Tom saw when one of the bikers went into his back pocket; brought out a folding knife and flicked it open. The biker
lunged at Clarence who was unaware of what was about to happen. Acting on pure instinct Tom lunged forward his hands outstretched. He tried to grab the biker by the wrist, but, misjudged his timing. The sharp knife made it passed his hands.

  Tom let out a grunt as the biker plunged the knife into his torso puncturing his liver.

  Tom pushed away from the biker who was about to knife him again when a flying chair hit him on the head upsetting his balance. Tom put his back against the bar. He slumped down to the floor holding his hands over the knife wound.

  Clarence was pushing and pulling bodies trying to break up the fighting. He turned just in time to see the biker coming at him with a knife. Clarence went for his gun when someone came in-between him and the biker. It was Tom senior. Clarence watched his friend take a stab wound before he pushed away.

  Clarence wasted no time handcuffing the biker after he was thrown off balance by a flying chair. Clarence used his radio to call for an ambulance.

  After everything was under control Clarence stayed with Tom senior until the ambulance arrived.

  Looking through the telescope Clarence was clear in his mind about one thing. He had to help the descendants of Tom Devlin senior at all costs.

  Clarence was about to take a break when Luis walked onto his deck. He was pushing a hand truck. The load wasn’t big. Clarence adjusted the lens on the telescope. He got up from his stool. Could it be that he was looking at black sheets of metal. He watched as Luis took the wooden stairs that led to the dock one step at a time. He continued to watch as Luis took the small load all the way to the boat.

  One by one he carried the sheets of metal into the bowels of the boat. From where he looked, Clarence was sure he was looking at something familiar.

  When Luis took one of the longer pieces into the boat he saw that it was covered in holes about the size of a dime. Clarence continued to watch the boat.

  Luis would not come out having taken the last of the metal sheets into the boat.

  Clarence felt a sense of elation knowing he would soon have answers.

  ****

  Luis looked at the metal sheets lying on the floor of the half cabin tugboat. This time he counted on not having any mishaps. Luis would push the box into the ocean himself. He wanted to be sure no one would intervene. The idea that he needed his own boat came to him while he thought about how to do things differently the second time around.