Reel to Real

by Joyce Nance

  11 AM

  Nordaine Oliver finished his doctor’s appointment at the VA Hospital and headed north back to Cerrillos where he lived. But he hadn’t forgotten that vehicle he’d seen on State Road 14. He told his wife that if it was still there, he was going to stop and check it out because he knew the police were still looking for the white Buick.

  “There it is,” Mr. Oliver said. “I see it. It’s still there.”

  It was the same shiny white object he had seen earlier. He immediately turned around. Later, at trial, he described what happened next:

  “I slowed down and took a good look because I knew there was something white back there. And when I saw it, then I went ahead and took the little dirt road that cuts into the back of the trees until I could see the vehicle quite clearly.”

  Oliver estimated that he had gotten to within 13 feet of the car before he stopped to park his own vehicle. He noted it was a very junky looking area, with a lot of trash and debris. He looked at the tail end of the car and saw the same license plate number that had been repeatedly broadcast. Due to his previous training, he realized this was a problem area, a probable crime scene, so he did not exit his car.

  Once Mr. Oliver realized that this was the missing vehicle, he backed his car straight out the way he had come in and proceeded south towards the sheriff’s station. As he drove, he saw a group of officers congregated in the San Antonito Elementary School parking lot, so he pulled in behind them. He informed one of the sergeants in the parking lot about what he had discovered.

  “Okay,” the sergeant said, “I’ll contact the main office and have somebody come and pick you up.”

  ***

  Sergeant David Frazee, the day shift supervisor, was on duty at the Tijeras substation with Deputy Steve Rogers and dispatcher Deputy Betty Gallagher. Deputy Rogers received a radio broadcast that a citizen had called in a description of a white Buick found on North 14 that matched the description of the one they were searching for.

  “Let’s go up there,” Frazee said. “Betty, you pick up the gentleman that called in and we’ll meet you up there.”

  Sergeant Frazee and Deputy Rogers, took separate units and drove to the area at high speed, running full code.

  Shortly, Deputy Gallagher arrived at the San Antonito Elementary School parking lot. Mr. Oliver repeated his story about what he had seen behind the pinion and juniper trees.

  “Let’s go take a look,” she said to Mr. Oliver.

  At the location, Deputy Gallagher got out and asked Oliver to lead her to the Buick.

  Near the car and just to the east lay the dead bodies of George and Pauline McDougall. Mrs McDougall was lying on her side and Mr. McDougall was lying next to a barbed wire fence. George McDougall had his hands inside his coat pocket and his coat was snagged on the fence.

  11 AM

  For John, life in the motel room was, if not idyllic, then tolerable. The room was small, dingy and noisy, but Esther brought in food and hung out with him, so it was okay. Naturally, Esther was a little chattier than he preferred but he had grown used to it. He didn’t understand, why she suddenly seemed weirder than he remembered. For instance, why was she so fixated on the future?

  He personally didn’t think much about the future. He was a “live in the moment” kind of guy. He planned things, just not too far in advance. His plans were for, like, maybe later on that day. But Esther was the opposite, at least she was now. All she wanted to talk about was later. Later, later, later. Like, “Later when we run away together,” or “Later when we get married;” stuff like that.

  The other strange thing was that Esther seemed to be constantly watching the news. John had spent long periods of time with her before and, for the most part, when they watched TV, they almost exclusively watched movies. It was kind of their thing. In fact, that was part of the appeal of being at the motel; they got free HBO and could see some of the flicks they had missed. But now, Esther was into the news. And not just any news either. She seemed to be fixated on the recent video store murders. If one station stopped talking about it, she would switch to another.

  But on the other hand, John didn’t really care. She was paying for everything and he was enjoying the two bottles of Jim Beam she brought up to the room. She explained to him she was only interested in the video store thing because it had happened so close to her house.

  12 NOON

  While watching television, Pauline and George McDougall’s granddaughters, Heather and Holly, heard APD was going to hold a news conference later in the day. They paged Sandy Dietz from the Victim’s Impact Program to come over to their house. Ms. Dietz informed the sisters that police officers were on their way over.

  The officers arrived with a chaplain and informed the McDougall family members that the grandparents had been found deceased.

  4 PM

  Two beers and a plate of fries sat on a tiny table nearest the window. Esther and John passed the time in their fourth floor motel room eating, drinking, watching TV and chatting.

  “As soon as we get enough money to move somewhere else, we’re gonna get married, right?” Esther asked.

  “Right,” John said.

  “How we gonna get money?”

  “Well, I got a couple of ideas, but I gotta get my hands on some guns.”

  “Guns? What do you need guns for?”

  “I know a self-storage place in Santa Fe where a guy keeps a lot of cash. He doesn’t trust banks so he stashes his dough in a locker with about fifteen locks on it.”

  “How you gonna get in the locker?

  “I know a guy that’s got a key to the self-storage building and for a hundred bucks he’ll say he forgot to lock the back door.”

  “What about the fifteen locks?”

  “That’s no problem. I got a bolt cutter.”

  “Then why do you need guns?”

  “In case there’s trouble.”

  Esther nodded.

  The flickering sign in the window that came from the Giant gas station next door was irritating Esther. She told John it was giving her a headache.

  “I want to change rooms,” she said abruptly.

  “Why?” John asked, rolling his eyes. “This one’s fine. It’s gotta bed, it’s gotta TV. What else do we need?”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t like the view. I want to be able to look out this way,” she said pointing east. “I want to be able to see the Waffle House when I look out.”

  John stared at her for a couple of seconds to see if she was joking and when it appeared she wasn’t, he said, “That’s cool, baby. Let’s change rooms. I don’t care where we are.”

  The door squeaked shut as Esther left to talk to the manager.

  6 PM

  Before they had even settled into their new room, Esther switched on the TV. She clicked the remote until she found the news. John shook his head and grabbed the remote from her, changing the channel to a movie. “I’m sick of watching the fucking news,” he said.

  Chapter 21

  “Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.”

  HESIOD

  Tuesday, March 5

  As police searched for the killers, the greater Albuquerque area was on edge. Nearly one hundred and fifty APD officers were assigned to work the case as part of a massive manhunt to apprehend the person or persons responsible for the deaths of five people. The department alerted not only all law enforcement within the state of New Mexico, but the entire southwest quadrant as well. In fact, information regarding the possible suspects had gone national.

  Albuquerque had never before seen this degree of barbarous violence nor this big a body count. It was the worst mass murder in the city’s history. Even seasoned first responders were taken aback by the grisliness of the two crime scenes.

  "I’ve been a cop for over twenty years and I’ve never seen anything like this; this level of cold-blooded killing," an unidentified police detective who had visited both crime scenes said.

  Th
e Albuquerque Police Department asked for the public’s help in identifying anything that seemed unusual or out of place at the Hollywood Video store prior to the shooting.

  "The smallest detail that may not seem important to a lay person may be the one detail we need to bring someone to justice," investigators said in a statement released to the public.

  Citizens were asked to contact the Albuquerque Crime Stoppers with any information they might have regarding the murders.

  ***

  Shane purchased a newspaper from a news rack near his apartment. The composite drawings of the possible Hollywood Video store killers were prominently displayed on the front page of the paper. He scrutinized the drawings.

  One minute he told himself the composite looked nothing like him, and the next minute, he admitted to himself that, it looked pretty close. He became concerned enough to take the newspaper into the bathroom and hold the composite up to the mirror, next to his face.

  There were similarities, he concluded. What if someone put two and two together? What if someone who knew him really well, someone that was aware of his history, saw that composite in the newspaper? What if that person said to themselves — or even worse, said to others — that it just might be Shane Harrison?

  He decided he needed to be proactive and he needed to do it right away. He decided to call his father.

  He sat on his ratty couch in his unlit, starkly furnished living room and punched in his parents’ phone number, randomly wiping sweat from his forehead while it rang.

  “Hello?”

  “How’s it going Dad?” Shane asked. His voice was steady but his mind was racing.

  “It’s going.”

  Shane thought he heard suspicion in his dad’s tone.

  “Dad?”

  “Yes, son.”

  “I don’t want you to be upset, that’s why I’m calling. I don’t want you to worry if you happen to see someone in the newspaper that looks kind of like me.”

  His dad’s voice deepened. “What are you talking about?”

  Shane laughed a nervous laugh. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m not talking about nothing. I just don’t want you to worry, that’s all. I just wanted to let you know that it might look like me, but it’s not.”

  Shane heard only breathing.

  “Dad?”

  Silence

  “Dad?”

  “Yes?” his dad said with resign.

  “It’s not me.”

  ***

  It was overcast. The sun was nowhere in sight. Even the crows that normally peck at cast-off food wrappers in the motel stairwell were missing.

  John was asleep on the bed, snoring away. Esther, used the mirror on her compact to fix her lipstick.

  “I look tired,” she said. Her eyes were circled and lines she hadn’t noticed before ran deep across her forehead. She badly wanted to lay down in John’s arms but she had to work her shift at Denny’s or risk getting fired. Plus, Shane had told her in no uncertain terms to act normal. If she got fired, that might trigger a call from her parole officer, which might trigger questions.

  Which she didn’t want.

  The previous evening, she and John had ended up moving back to her apartment. At first, John resisted because he felt it ill-considered to be seen anywhere near Esther’s residence. She told him they had no choice. She was out of money and she couldn’t afford to pay for the motel any longer.

  “This shithole costs too fucking much,” Esther said, showing John her empty wallet. “We gotta go back to my apartment.”

  “That’s impossible,” John argued. “I can’t stay there. If my P.O. or the cops go by your place, I’m screwed.” He added length to the word ’screwed.’

  “Look,” Esther said. “I’m sorry but you’re just gonna have to be in the closet for a little while, until I get some money. I get more money every day ... you know, from my tips.”

  John had to admit that was true. Every day she came home with a wad of ones and fives. He told himself that if he could just lie low for a few days, Esther could afford to pay for that motel again, maybe even give him some more money.

  Esther kissed John on the lips as he lay in her bed, then she left. Other than the times she had to go to work, they had been together almost continuously since he arrived. She didn’t know much, but there were two things she knew for certain: she loved being with John and hated not being with John.

  ***

  When Esther got home from work that afternoon she was in a bad mood. She told John she had a bad day at work.

  “They didn’t have enough girls again,” she said, stripping off her uniform and throwing it on the bed. “I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. It was too busy. I tried to keep up but it was ridiculous. The customers were bitching about everything. They said I took too long. They said they didn’t like the food. And then I brought a customer her wrong order and she went bitching straight to Eloy. Then she bitched to me and I fucking swear to God I almost quit right there.”

  John sat in a chair by the window, looking out, smoking a cigarette.

  “Well, you can’t quit,” he said. “Then we got no fucking money.”

  No one spoke for several minutes. Finally Esther said, “Well, I didn’t say I did quit, I just said I felt like it.”

  Again, John let the silence stretch out. “I probably need to head back to Colorado,” he said. “It’s not safe for me in this town.”

  Esther realized she had made a mistake. She should not have implied she might not have any money. She walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. He continued to gaze out of the window.

  “I was just kidding about quitting. I’m not gonna quit. I’ll get money. I’ll do whatever you want to make money. I’ll go wherever you want to go. I love you. I don’t want you going back to Colorado … to that other woman.”

  He glared at her. She realized she had just made another mistake.

  John refreshed her memory that the Albuquerque police were out to get him.

  “It’s your fucking fault I’m in this mess. I don’t know what the fuck I’m even doing here with you. As far as Crystal goes, she’s just helping out. She’s doing us both a favor by letting me stay with her. Otherwise, I’m either in jail or out on the streets.”

  Esther said she was sorry but she couldn’t help it, she was jealous and she would prefer it if they just ran away together. She said she was too insecure for him to live with Crystal.

  Her comments made him even madder.

  “Why can’t you just enjoy what you got right now? You worry too much about shit that might happen,” he yelled. Then he stormed out.

  ***

  Esther burst out crying. She had had a bad day at work and now John was mad at her. She brushed her hair, put on some lipstick and went out to look for him. She drove around her neighborhood and when she didn’t see him, she drove to Shane’s house.

  He didn’t answer his door but it was unlocked so she let herself in. Shane was home alone. He was sitting on his couch, doing nothing. His eyes were unfocused and he was muttering to himself. She felt like she had interrupted something.

  “Where’s John?” she asked.

  “How the fuck should I know,” he snapped.

  To her horror, Esther noticed that he was wearing the same bloody jeans he wore the night of the murders. Her eyes got big but she said nothing, choosing instead to leave and continue her search for her boyfriend.

  She eventually found John at a hamburger joint near her house. He was still mad but he had calmed down. She told him she was sorry. She said they should stop arguing and go back to her house and eat, maybe watch a movie.

  John, having no money and no other place to go, agreed.

  ***

  God, he hated Esther. That nosy little bitch! She knew she was not supposed to be in his personal space. Just because he forgot to lock his cock-sucking door didn’t mean she could fucking barge in anytime she wanted to. How dare she interrupt him like that?

/>   Shane took several deep breaths to calm himself, to put some distance between himself and his disrespectful intruder. Closing his eyes, he took his mind back, back into time, where it had been before he was so rudely interrupted. He was going to indulge himself for a few minutes, dammit.

  In his mind, no one deserved a little “me time” more than he did.

  ***

  On a whim, Shane and Jason went to the late show to watch the brutally violent movie Braveheart. Jason was excited to see one of the nominees for best picture, while Shane was excited to see some terrific beheadings and ultra-graphic killings.

  As luck would have it, Esther and John also went to see Braveheart at the same theatre and at the same showing. In a further coincidence, Esther and John sat right behind Shane and Jason.

  “Hey,” John said, tapping Shane on the shoulder. “What’s up, bro?”

  Shane turned around and looked from John to Esther and back to John. He frowned.

  “Excuse me a minute,” Shane said politely to Jason. Then he turned to John and asked him to step out into the lobby.

  John didn’t say anything. He just got up.

  Once in the lobby, Shane walked John to a small alcove just past the restroom. At first, Shane seemed unsure about what he was going to say, starting a word and then stopping, then shifting his stance. Finally, in a low voice, he asked John to do him a favor.

  “Yeah, what is it?” John said, annoyed.

  Shane again shifted and didn’t speak.

  “Dude, you’re making me miss the fucking movie.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry bro,” Shane said and leaned in, telling John he wanted him to tell Jason that he (John) had just robbed someone of a bunch of money and had given Shane $2,000.

  “Say what?” John said loudly. “Why in the fuck would I do that?”

  Shane put his hands out in front of him, indicating that he wanted John to lower his voice.

  “Cause I just helped a guy sell a hot car,” he whispered, “and Jason popped in my place and caught me counting the cash. He wanted to know where I got it, so I said I got it from you. I told him you robbed a guy and you gave me two grand.”