The Tangerine Killer

by Claire Svendsen

  He actually looked a little sad. If he knew Lisa’s death had been a murder, he wasn’t letting on.

  “Why do you think she killed herself?” I asked gently.

  “I don’t know. She was my little sister. I didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing. How was I supposed to know if she was depressed? I hardly ever saw her.”

  “You couldn’t have known.”

  I placed my hand on top of his in a friendly gesture, hoping to encourage him with kindness and compassion. I bit back all the things I really wanted to say to him.

  “I feel bad about it though,” he said.

  “Yeah. Me too.”

  “Well, you didn’t find her in time did you?”

  “That’s nice Harvey. Thanks a lot.”

  I pulled my hand back roughly, angry I’d shown him the least bit of mercy.

  “I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

  “Well it seems that if I’d had all the information in the first place then maybe I could have done a better job.”

  “What information?”

  “Oh I don’t know. Like this maybe?”

  I shoved the photograph under his nose. He didn’t even flinch.

  “So what?”

  “The baby Harvey, what happened to the baby?”

  “She died. They woke up one morning and she was dead in her crib.”

  “Shit.”

  “Lisa took it hard but she got over it in time. Look, I don’t think it had anything to do with her death.”

  “So you don’t think losing a child played any part in her mental decline?”

  “She could have just had more,” he shrugged.

  That was a man for you. Just pop out another one to replace the gaping hole the first one left behind. I didn’t get the drive to have children and I certainly had no inclination of having one of my own but even I knew it didn’t work that way.

  “You know that wouldn‘t replace the one she lost.”

  “I know,” he shook his head. “But life goes on. In the end they’re all the same aren’t they?”

  I resisted the urge to slam his fat face into his plate of greasy sauce.

  “Another drink?” the waitress asked.

  “Yes,” I said quickly.

  I couldn’t take another minute of Harvey’s company without being at least marginally inebriated. If I couldn’t get anything worthwhile out of him soon, I was going to ditch him. I had better things to do with my time.

  SIXTEEN

  “Do you want to get some fresh air?” Harvey asked.

  “Sure,” I nodded.

  I needed to clear my head and think. The restaurant had become crowded and claustrophobic. Harvey’s chair kept inching closer to mine. It was only a matter of time before he put a hand on me and I couldn’t very well break his fingers in a restaurant full of witnesses.

  Outside the sidewalk was filled with people taking advantage of the beautiful weather, hardly the place for a quiet conversation. When I spotted a little park across the street, I pointed it out.

  “Let’s go in,” I said.

  We walked down the winding path until we reached a wooden bench, shaded by a canopy of leaves. The scent of blossom hung heavy on the air. Harvey rubbed his eyes.

  “Allergies,” he mumbled. “I hate the outdoors.”

  A small play area had been cut out of the grass. There were slides and climbing frames all painted in bright yellows and blues. Two little blonde girls whooshed back and forth on the swing set, squealing in delight as they flew higher and higher.

  “Do you remember how we spent hours on the swings in your back yard?”

  “Not really,” Harvey said.

  “Lisa and I were convinced that if we just tried hard enough then we could get the swing to go all the way around and make a complete circle.”

  “Impossible,” he said.

  “We didn’t think so.”

  “You guys always did have such vivid imaginations.”

  Childhood memories flooded back. The things my nightmares were made of. I pushed them away. I didn’t have time for pity and self-loathing.

  “Well we didn’t imagine everything,” I changed my tone. “For instance, all the times you beat the shit out of us.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  He laughed and pushed up against me playfully but I knew he had to remember all the awful things he and his friends had done to us. It was true, we were all just kids but they were bigger and stronger than us. They should have been out terrorizing the neighborhood, not picking on little girls who were too small to defend themselves against a gang of teenage boys.

  “You broke my leg,” I said.

  “What?”

  “You pushed me out of the tree house.”

  “I never did. You jumped out as I recall.”

  “No. You pushed me.”

  “Fine. Whatever. Who cares? You can’t live in the past Sam.”

  “I don’t.”

  I had done everything I could to forget my past and move on. I didn’t need Harvey telling me I couldn’t live in the past when he obviously still did.

  “But don’t you ever feel guilty about the horrible things you’ve done?” I asked softly.

  “I haven’t done anything horrible.”

  He placed his hand on my thigh. It felt like a leaden weight pressing me down. He was getting close to pushing me over the edge now. One inch in the wrong direction and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from hurting him. I was supposed to be wooing information out of him but he was acting like we were on some kind of perverse date.

  “I’m in a relationship Harvey.”

  “You are not.”

  “I am.”

  Technically I wasn’t but all he had to do was ask around. I’m sure some of his buddies had seen me at the bar last night with Joe.

  “I don’t care.”

  He moved his hand closer to my crotch, his breath ragged. The two little girls were still swinging away merrily with their backs to us but they were too young to be there by themselves. Someone must have brought them to the park, a mother or babysitter who could appear at any moment. If it had been any other man I would have probably allowed his advances to continue, used the situation to milk more information from my suspect. I’d done it before. In fact I’d done a lot more. But right now all I wanted to do was smash Harvey’s fat, balding face in. I just couldn’t go through with it.

  “No.”

  I pushed his hand away roughly and his face dropped in disbelief. He pushed his hand back and this time I dug my nails deep into his flesh leaving angry red half-moons on his skin. He grabbed my throat with his other hand and squeezed tight enough to mean it.

  “You owe me,” he whispered in my ear, his breath hot and repugnant.

  “For what?”

  “For all those times you led me on and then left me with nothing. And for what you did to Lisa.”

  “I didn’t do anything to Lisa,” I choked, stretching my left hand down in an attempt to reach my gun.

  “Just keep telling yourself that,” he grunted. “One of these days I’m going to give you what you’ve been asking for all these years. Everyone in town already knows you’re a dirty whore.”

  He licked my cheek like a dog, his tongue wet and hot. I wanted to punch his lights out but was afraid of scaring the girls who were still oblivious to what was going on behind them. If I could just snag my gun then I’d be able to threaten him away without resorting to violence.

  “Girls, time to go.”

  A woman pushing a stroller appeared from down the pathway and the girls jumped off the swings in unison.

  Harvey scuttled away to the other end of the bench like a crab, leaving me to rub my neck where he had squeezed it. The girls ran off after the woman and they all disappeared from the park. I half expected Harvey to storm off after them, leaving me to think about his proposition. Or maybe he expected me to start crying and pleading with him, saying I would give him whatever he wa
nted if he just kept quiet. All I really wanted to do was pull out my gun and slam it against his head. Beat him into a bloody, faceless pulp and then pull the trigger with a satisfying pop and watch his life fade into oblivion. Of course I did neither and that seemed to confuse him.

  When I finally managed to speak, my voice was hoarse but steady.

  “Stay the fuck away from me Harvey.”

  I got up and walked away, resisting every urge in my body to shoot him where he sat. Too many people had seen us together at lunch. The mother in the park could probably give a pretty accurate description of me. It wasn’t worth the risk and certainly wasn’t the way I worked. I wasn’t going to start leaving the rules I lived by on the sidelines just so I could have the satisfaction of seeing someone I loathed pay with their miserable life. Even if I desperately wanted to.

  SEVENTEEN

  The Golden Sun Motel had become my oasis in a desert of crazy people. I collapsed onto the faded orange bedspread with relief that at least I had a room to call my own. All I needed to restore my sanity was a well-earned soak in the bath.

  Unfortunately the tub was chipped and the water less than hot but I poured the whole tiny bottle of bubbles into the water anyway and slipped in with a sigh. I was furious with myself for getting involved in the petty lives of so many ridiculous people. I should have let the dead rest in peace. I couldn’t bring Lisa back and yet for some reason I couldn’t let her go. I closed my eyes and let the warm water soothe the tension in my neck and back. I was just starting to relax when I heard a curt knock at my door.

  “No one is home,” I mumbled.

  I shoved my fingers in my ears. I was trying to relax. Center myself. Get my shit together. If I just ignored them they’d go away. But despite my optimism, the knocks continued.

  “Piss off,” I yelled.

  They didn’t. The knocking just got louder. So much for relaxation. Life just wasn’t fair. I dragged myself out of the tub, threw on my robe and stomped to the door. Whoever was out there, they were going to pay for wrecking my peace.

  “What the fuck is it?”

  I cracked the door open, the gun hidden from sight in my other hand. But for once it wasn’t someone I didn’t want to see. Instead it was the very person I had been searching for. From the black hair to the dollar store makeup, I knew who was standing at my door. It was Jill Hatchel.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I need your help.”

  She needed my help all right. She looked like she’d gone a few rounds with someone twice her size. I took in her badly concealed black eye and split lip.

  “You have money?” I asked.

  “No. But I can get some.”

  I wasn’t going to take her money but I needed to know how serious she was.

  “How will you get the money?”

  She glanced around nervously. “I’d rather not say.”

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out the way Jill got her money was from prostitution. She had that look. The one they all got after they’d been on the street too long. That glazed over stare that said she’d detached herself from her physical body and no matter what a man did to her, he couldn’t hurt her anymore. The scary thing was that I’d once seen that same look on myself.

  “Fine. Come in.”

  She looked anorexic. In a fight I was pretty sure I could take her out. Just because she said she needed my help, didn’t mean I had to trust her. She sat huddled on my bed. Dark circles hung under her eyes, silhouetted against the pasty white of her face.

  I wanted to get dressed. I felt naked standing there in my bathrobe. The gun was stuffed into the oversized pocket which barely hid that fact that it was there. Not that I cared. I’d rather Jill see the gun, let her know I meant business. I had no idea what angle she was playing, showing up on my doorstep of all places. But I was prepared for any bullshit she was going to toss my way. I crossed my arms and adopted the most ferocious pose I could muster.

  “Someone is trying to frame me,” she whimpered. “You believe me don’t you?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Why would I risk coming here otherwise?”

  “I can think of a million reasons why you would want to talk your way into my room and try to gain my confidence. I can tell you right now that it won’t work.”

  “No. I see that.”

  I had to admit she looked pretty rough. Her hair had twisted itself into little dreadlocks and the oversized t-shirt that topped her creased jeans looked like she had swiped it from a rather large, dirty man. She may have had a tough time but we all had and I wasn’t about to cut her any slack just because she looked pathetic.

  “How can I make you believe me?”

  “You can’t.”

  “But they are after me now. Someone has been following me.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She started to cry and buried her face in her hands.

  “For God’s sake get a grip.”

  Her weakness irritated the hell out of me. I wanted to grab hold of her and shake some sense into her tiny body. Snap her out of the self-pity. She wasn’t the only one standing in a big pile of steaming shit. At least she was still alive.

  “You’re right. I should be stronger,” she finally gulped.

  I waited until she wiped the last of her tears away on her shirt.

  “What made you come here to me?”

  “I thought you could help me.”

  The tears had subsided but now she just looked scared. Her eyes flicked nervously to the door.

  “Why would I help you? You were fooling around with Frank behind Lisa’s back weren’t you? You ruined their lives and now they’re both dead. Do you think you deserve to be helped?”

  She looked down at the bedspread and scowled.

  “Frank didn’t love Lisa. She tricked him into marrying her. He loved me.”

  “How touching.”

  “I miss him so much,” she began to sob again.

  “Save it for someone who gives a damn, Jill. I don’t care about your love life. Tell me why you came here.”

  “I told you, someone’s been following me.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. A man. He’s everywhere I go. Watching me.”

  The half-forgotten dream popped into my head. The man in the shadows who waited for me. Perhaps not just a nightmare after all.

  “Why don’t you go to the police?”

  “I have a record. Why would they believe me?”

  “And why should I?”

  “Because he’s been following you too.”

  “Bullshit,” I cried. “You think I wouldn’t notice someone following me? It’s my job to notice things like that.”

  Jill jumped up and made for the door but I beat her to it. I pressed my back flat against it and gripped the handle firmly with my hand.

  “Sit down. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Let me out of here.”

  She tried to push me out of the way but I was considerably stronger. Her efforts did nothing to budge me from the stand I had taken. Nothing else had panned out the way I hoped it would. This time I wanted answers and I wasn’t going to let Jill go until she gave me some.

  “It’s not that simple. You came to me, remember? You walked in here of your own free will.”

  “It wasn’t free will. I had no choice.”

  “Look, I didn’t force you to come here and now that you are, I think it’s only fair that you elaborate on what the hell is going on.”

  “What makes you think I know?”

  “Come on Jill. Why are you really here?”

  “Because I thought you could protect me.”

  I laughed out loud at her stupid presumption.

  “Why should I protect you? And what makes you think that I could or would?”

  She picked at a purple fingernail but I saw her gaze flit to the pocket of my robe where the gun was nestled in folds of toweling. I had
no doubt that she knew I would use it if I had to.

  “Why won’t you help me?”

  “I’m not in the business of helping people like you.”

  “What if I told you I know who killed Lisa?”

  “Lisa killed herself.”

  No one but Detective Olin and I knew about the note or the suspicious nature of the suicides in Tangerine. Yet Faye had her doubts and from the look on Jill’s face it appeared that she did too.

  “Yeah right. She just threw herself off a bridge? Lisa would never have done that, not when she was about to get her daughter back.”

  “Her daughter is dead.”

  I reached for the yellow photograph in the pocket of the jeans I’d left crumpled in a heap on the floor. I flashed the image at her but as she reached for it, I pulled it back.

  “Who told you her daughter was dead?” she asked.

  “Harvey.”

  “He’s lying.”

  “Well where is she? Where is the child now?”

  “I don‘t know.

  EIGHTEEN

  Stakeouts have bonuses. That’s the first time he sees Jill. While Lisa sleeps, he watches as Frank slips out into the darkness. He follows him down the street at a brisk pace. Frank glances behind nervously but never carefully enough to see he is being followed. He slips into a car parked on a lonely side street. Vacant lots have been staked out with little sticks and orange tape. One day people will live here but not today.

  Hidden behind a pile of lumber he sees the dark haired woman greet him with a kiss but soon they begin to argue. He watches with mild curiosity as she slaps his face and hears the inaudible muffles of rage as he hits her back.

  At one point she leaves the car, as if she has some place else to go. He goes after her, trying to placate and please her and finally he succeeds. They kiss and then he pulls her skirt up. Frank takes her right there in the darkness. Her bottom squeaks against the hood of the car as he fucks her in the moonlight.

  Crouched behind the rotting wood he finds himself getting hard. It usually only happens in anticipation of the kill but since the opportunity presents itself, he takes care of business. He matches his own strokes to the adulterers, surprised to find the pace quite satisfying. The cries of the woman spread on the car like a whore are more exciting than he expects. He comes quickly but they finish soon after. Then pull their clothes back into place and go their separate ways.