Reel to Real

by Joyce Nance

  ***

  “Are you gonna wire John his share today?” Esther asked, dropping back down on the Shane’s couch.

  “Yeah,” Shane replied. He returned from the kitchen holding a glass of water.

  “Okay,” she said. “I just wanna make sure after all this that he gets his money.”

  “I’m going to go do it in like an hour,” Shane said.

  “Fine. I’m going home then.”

  Esther picked up her jacket to leave but Shane grabbed her by the shoulders, blocking her exit.

  “Don’t tell anyone,” he said, eyes hard as steel.

  Esther held her breath.

  “You hear me? Nobody. Don’t fucking tell nobody nothing.” His stared at her with the full force of his contempt. “You need to act normal, too. Do what you always do; say what you always say. After today, go to work. Go to work every day you’re supposed to go to work. But most important, don’t say nothing.” He grabbed a clump of her hair and pulled. “If I find out you said something, to anybody —and I will find out — I will waste you on the spot.” He stared at her for a couple of seconds. “You know I’ll do it, too.”

  Fear pounded in Esther’s chest. In her mind, he had already tried to kill her once. She had no one to turn to, at least not now. She told herself she would make a plan to get away. She would find a way to leave town.

  “I won’t say anything,” she said, and rushed out the door.

  Chapter 16

  "Every choice you make has an end result."

  ZIG ZIGLAR

  6 AM

  The sun was just starting to peek through the Sandia Mountains as Esther drove to her apartment. Her complex was made up of two white two-story buildings that were connected by a pitted cement walkway and edged with under-watered shrubs. In the center of the property, a balding circle of a lawn served as a repository for cigarette butts and dog poop.

  Dead tired and feeling like someone had run her over with a backhoe, Esther collapsed onto her bed. She did not know how she was going to make it through the day. Her mind was stuffed with atrocious images that she could not wish away.

  Horrendous scenes played and then replayed in her mind. She would never forget the innocent faces of the kids as she left them in the store, or the flash-boom of the shotgun as Shane shot the grandparents over and over. Everything was just too utterly, utterly unbearable.

  She felt the desperate need to smoke or snort or shoot up something … and soon. That was her time-tested way of muting the voices in her head.

  Right now, though, there was plainly nothing else to do but cry. Her face was balled into a tight red clump, and her eyes dripped fat pathetic tears from her chin to her chest.

  What was she going to do now that her dreams of any kind of a good life were gone? Permanently. She was either going to be forever on the run or sent to jail. She might even get the death penalty. Or Shane might just go ahead and shoot her like he said he would. With each new miserable thought, the tears got fatter.

  Unless? Unless, she somehow got away with it. That didn’t seem likely. It didn’t seem right to even try, but what choice did she have?

  She padded over to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer, and glugged down the whole thing in practically one swallow. Feeling a little better, she grabbed another.

  Pueblo, Colorado 7:43 AM

  Crystal's neighbor drove her to work at Furr's Cafeteria. The assistant manager was there when she clocked in. John slept in.

  Albuquerque, New Mexico 8:30 AM

  Pauline McDougall’s sister, Lori, had been trying to get a hold of Pauline all morning. She wanted to talk to her about Donna, Pauline and George’s daughter. But every time Lori called Pauline, she got no answer.

  Donna told Lori not to worry, she would call Pauline’s neighbors to see what they knew. If the neighbors didn’t know anything, she would ask them to go next door to check on them. Donna made the call and the neighbors said they would go take a look and call back.

  Ten minutes later, the neighbors called back. “We tried knocking on the door and ringing the bell but no one answered,” the neighbor woman said. “The newspaper is still on the porch.”

  At that point, everyone — Donna, and the McDougall’s granddaughters Heather and Holly — got dressed and drove to the McDougall’s house. Donna had a key, and as soon as they got inside they split up and looked in different rooms. No one was home.

  They did find a full pot of coffee sitting in the automatic coffee maker, and two unused cups nearby. They also found the grandparents’ pajamas lying on top of their turned-down bed. Holly pointed out that someone had recently slept in the bed. Meanwhile, Heather went from room to room trying to figure out what was going on. The alarm clock was set for 1:45 AM.

  Donna checked the garage and found Pauline’s Buick Skylark missing. It was common knowledge within the family that George had poor night vision and did not drive after sunset.

  After finding nothing in the home to tell them where the grandparents were, they sat down at the kitchen table and called everyone they could think of. They called the hospitals, the police department, and known acquaintances, with no luck. Finally, they decided to call Hollywood Video. Holly found the number in the phone book and Heather punched it in. The phone rang and rang. No one answered, which was odd because it was 9:30 in the morning and Heather believed that someone should be there.

  She hung up and called again. This time the line was busy.

  “There must be something wrong with the phones,” Heather said.

  She told her mom she would drive to the video store and talk to Zachary. He would know where her grandparents were.

  9:15 AM

  It was a nice day out, and since Sheila lived only a few blocks away, she in-line skated to her job at the Hollywood Video store. She found this a refreshing way to start her day. But when she got there, no one else was there, so she sat cross-legged on the sidewalk and waited for the manager to show up.

  She noticed Jowanda’s car still parked in the parking lot. That’s weird, she thought. But then she remembered that Jowanda occasionally had trouble getting her car started. That was probably what had happened.

  Lauren, the day manager, arrived just before 9:30 and right away asked Sheila what was up with Jowanda’s car.

  Sheila shrugged. “I guess it must be broke down,” she said.

  “Probably. I’m not going to worry about it,” Lauren said. “Can you go get that video stuff from the back seat of my car, please? I need to try to grab that phone before it stops ringing. It might be the district manager.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Sheila said. She pulled a VCR and monitor from Lauren's car just as a customer showed up with a handful of movie rentals. Sheila shook her head and had the guy drop the tapes on top of the monitor.

  Meanwhile, Lauren rushed to unlock the door. She usually had to lean on the glass to get it open but today it opened easily. By the time she got to the phone, it had stopped ringing.

  “Darn it,” she said and went back outside.

  Lugging the small TV, VCR and tapes, Sheila slowly shuffled in. The TV almost teetered to the floor as she struggled to keep it balanced. Once inside, she plopped everything down on the counter and exhaled.

  That was when she had a clear view of the front counter area. That was when she noticed something wasn’t right. A shiver ran down her back. Why was last night's Japanimation movie still playing? Everything was supposed to be shut down when the store is closed.

  “Huh?” she said involuntarily.

  Then she saw the open safe and the cash drawers stacked one on top of the other on the floor. She stared at the drawers and rubbed her eyes. Except for some coins, the drawers were empty.

  “Huh?” she said again, her heart beating faster.

  Looking to her left, she saw that the night deposit bags were also on the floor. In contrast to the drawers, the night deposit bags were full of cash.

  “Oh my God. Oh my God. Someone’s been here.” Shei
la dug her fingertips into the side of her head. “We’ve been robbed,” she said, softly at first. Then she shouted, “We’ve been robbed!”

  Now back inside, Lauren placed the paper bag she held in her hands onto the counter.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Look at all this stuff on the floor,” Sheila said.

  Lauren’s mouth dropped open.

  “Someone broke into the cash register,” Sheila continued. “Someone robbed us.”

  “Oh, no,” Lauren said. Then, composing herself, she asked, “Who was working last night?”

  “Zach, Jowanda, Mylinh and me. But I left early. No one called me. I didn’t hear about anything going on.” Sheila grabbed the sheet of paper listing the employee names and phone numbers and called Zach.

  It was busy. She called a few more times. Busy.

  Then she called Jowanda and Mylinh. No answer.

  “I can’t get through,” Sheila said.

  Lauren, was on the other line with the police. She covered the receiver with one hand and said, “Call Jack then. Tell him we’ve been robbed. He needs to know.”

  ***

  After informing Jack, the area manager, about the theft, Sheila walked to the back of the store to turn on the overhead fluorescents.

  The back room was dark but she could plainly see someone lying face down on the floor. This person was wearing the same Hollywood Video uniform she wore. White shirt, black pants.

  The person's legs were crossed and the arms and hands were pulled behind his or her back. She though that the person might be Jowanda. She saw another person wearing the same uniform, lying in front of the first person, but she couldn’t identify the second person at all. They were both face down. She didn’t touch anything. In fact, everything was so weird, she turned and ran back to the front to tell Lauren.

  “I think they’re asleep,” she said, out of breath.

  Lauren, still on the phone with the police, leaned away and said, “Who’s asleep?”

  “Jowanda and them. The ones that worked last night.”

  Lauren scrunched her face and then relayed the information to the dispatcher.

  While Lauren was busy on the phone, Sheila slipped away again to the back office — to wake everybody up. She tried shaking the person closest to the door, but that person didn’t move.

  “Zach?” she said. “Mylinh? Jowanda?”

  No one responded. Finally, she crouched down to take a closer look and saw blood – lots of it. There was blood covering the head and shoulders of this person. She finally realized everyone was dead. She screamed.

  Still screaming, she ran back to Lauren, imploring her to call 911.

  “There’s blood. Blood everywhere. They’re all dead. Tell them they’re all dead,” Sheila sobbed.

  The police arrived within minutes. One of the officers had Sheila walk him to the back room to show him the location of the bodies. She cried the entire time.

  After briefly explaining to the police what they knew, the employees were directed outside to give their statements to a different officer. As they waited to be interviewed, Sheila noticed something in the ashtray in front of the store.

  It was the ashtray Zach and Mylinh had been using when she left the night before. In the ashtray sand, she saw two cigarette butts and a smiley face.

  9:40 AM

  Duffy Ryan, a patrol officer and acting sergeant, worked out of Albuquerque's Southeast Area Command. A radio alert jarred him as he sat in his patrol car near Central Avenue. The tone indicated that a violent felony was in progress. Officer Ryan was dispatched to 333 San Mateo Boulevard, Southeast, the Hollywood Video Store.

  The dispatcher advised him that an armed robbery was in progress. Officer Ryan engaged his emergency equipment and ran full code to the scene. En route, he tried to obtain more information from the dispatcher, because she had said the call came in from store employees. They reported that they had found coworkers tied up in the back of the store.

  Officer Ryan, concerned about the plight of the coworkers who had been tied up, instructed the dispatcher to ask the employees to check on their condition. Dispatch then reported that the coworkers were possibly dead.

  When Officer Ryan arrived, he waited to enter the store until Officer Hanson got there. As soon as the two of them entered, two hysterical young women ran to him, screaming.

  Both were crying and one of them, later identified as Sheila Thompson, pointed and said, “There and there.”

  Officer Ryan asked, “Where?” and she pointed to a back office. Sheila then walked both officers to the back, where she again said, “There and there.”

  As Officer Hanson and Officer Ryan approached, Ryan shined his service flashlight on the door of the darkened office. It was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and illuminated the room.

  He saw a person face down on the carpet. He observed what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. Later, he learned that person was Zachary Blacklock. At that point, he told everyone to leave the building in order to preserve the crime scene.

  Outside, he radioed for the Albuquerque Fire Department to send paramedics to check the victims. He wasn’t quite sure of their condition. Then Officer Wade Aubuchon, a field investigator, met him at the front door. Ryan informed him about what he knew so far.

  The two returned to the back room. Ryan now saw two females lying next to the male. They were also face down on the floor and appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Officer Ryan saw blood on their hair, and pools of blood by each victim’s heads. There were also bullet shell casings in the vicinity. He did not touch anything other than the room's light switch. He saw no life signs, no movement, no breathing.

  He and Officer Aubuchon exited as quickly as they could to preserve the crime scene. Outside again, Officer Ryan advised dispatch to notify Violent Crimes, Criminalistics and Homicide.

  Two paramedics arrived. They came without stretchers or equipment. Officer Aubuchon escorted one of the medics to the back. The medic made the determination, just on a visual, that the three employees were deceased, then quickly backed out of the room without touching any of the bodies.

  While Officer Aubuchon and the paramedic were inside, Officer Ryan ordered the other officers who had arrived to start securing the scene. He had them tape off the entire parking lot with crime scene tape in case the lot contained evidence. The two vehicles in the parking lot were also secured. The officers wanted to ensure that no one entered or exited the scene. That included police officers, which was standard procedure in a homicide case.

  Once the perimeter had been set, Officer O’Cheeky, another field investigator, took pictures of the parking lot.

  Throughout the day, Hollywood Video customers arrived to return videos. They complained that they didn’t want to receive any late charges — yellow police tape or not. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. The police would not allow them to enter the area.

  Later that afternoon, a customer pulled up in a pickup truck, ducked under the crime scene tape and made a mad dash for the drop-off box. One of the on-scene officers rushed over and intercepted the subject.

  10:30 AM

  When Heather got to the video store, she saw police tape around the entire parking lot. Puzzled, she parked in the back. The yellow tape had attracted a large number of gawkers on the surrounding sidewalk and she had no choice but to join them.

  From behind the tape, she waved her arms and called out, attempting to summon a nearby officer to come over to speak with her. Eventually, one of the officers came over and she told him about her urgent problem. Her grandparents were missing, she said. And her cousin Zachary, who was also missing, was supposed to be working in the store. She needed to get inside to look for all three of them.

  The officer advised her to look around the parking lot to see if she could locate her relatives in the crowd. She agreed to try and walked up and down the sidewalk, searching, but did not find her grandparents or Zach.

  She
again stood at the yellow tape and waved her arms at the same officer. She repeated over and over again that she needed to find her grandparents; that she desperately needed to know what was going on.

  She asked the officer if there were two old people and one young person in the store, or if there were three young people inside? When she asked if her cousin Zachary Blacklock was inside, that question got the officer's attention. He suddenly seemed to take her seriously and although he didn't answer her questions, he did call over another officer and they both started taking notes.

  Heather gave the names and physical descriptions of her grandparents and their Buick Skylark. She asked the officer if she might borrow his cell phone to call her mom and sister to let them know what was going on. They said they would be there right away.

  Heather and her family waited in the mobile crime unit until about 5 PM. In the unit, her sister Holly pointed to a clipboard with a list of three names. Zachary’s name was one of them.

  That’s when they knew he was dead.

  Chapter 17

  “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

  ABRAHAM MASLOW

  9:30 AM

  The phone rang. Shane answered.

  “Hey! Where you been?” John asked.

  “Good news, buddy,” Shane said, ignoring the question. “I got us some money. I’m gonna be able to send you a hundred and fifty or so today. I’m gonna go down and wire it to Pueblo right now. I’m sending it to Crystal’s name like before, right? At Supers?”

  “Man, that is good timing,” John replied. “I’m so fucking broke you wouldn’t believe it. When you sendin’ it?”

  “I’m gonna go do it now. Give me an hour or so, then it should be good.”

  “That works.”

  “Hey, listen,” Shane said. “You know that guy Sal from the joint? The dude with the buck teeth and the big scar on his forehead? The guy who said he’d kill me if he ever got the chance?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, he showed up in Albuquerque and he’s been telling other people he wants to ghost me.”