The Devil's Dwelling

by Jean Avery Brown

  “Maybe because we are usually on their tail.” I said to Mona while I swigged my hot coffee.

  We heard some movement in Peewee’s office. Mona put her ear to the door and looked back at me. “Shhhhhhh…I think Linda’s in there with Peewee and it sounds like they are doing the monkey dance.“

  “I’ve never seen a monkey bonk a string bean. Crack the door open.”

  Mona quickly jumped from the door. Linda walked out of the office. Her hair and clothes were disheveled. She had a startled look on her face.

  “You ladies are early today.” She began fidgeting straightening papers on her desk.

  “I think you might want to hit the bathroom and tidy up.” Mona giggled. “Tell me, how’s it feel to do the monkey dance with a dwarf?”

  Linda ran to the bathroom and slammed the door.

  “Guess maybe it wasn’t so good.” Mona wiped her mouth and threw her napkin in the trash can under Linda’s desk.

  With coffee and donut in hand I pushed Peewee’s office door open with my butt. Peewee quickly turned his back to us and finished zipping up.

  “You got it all stuffed back in?” I kicked the chair around straddled it and set down. Mona paced around the office.

  “What’s up? I heard we are suppose to be here first thing this morning. Guess we weren’t first thing…but here we are.”

  “Tiffany, you’re such a ass.” Peewee pushed the chair from the desk and set down and twirled around. “We’ve got to get on all these ‘no shows’. You two are putting too much time in looking for Marty.”

  “What do you have?”

  Peewee tapped his pen on a stack of files. I picked up the files. “This is a shit load of ‘no shows’. Why so many?”

  “Don’t know. Seems we have a lot more than usual.”

  “We’re on it.” I picked up the stack of files and motioned for Mona to follow me over to the table in the corner. We looked through the files most were ‘no shows’ for shop lifting, DUI, soliciting, and so forth. “Here’s one with a big bounty. Jasper, armed robbery. I flipped through the file, put it under my arm and headed for the door with Mona on my heels.

  On our way out Mona took a look at Linda. “Nice, Linda you look nice and satisfied.”

  “Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way out.” Linda said sarcastically.

  Bailey was jumping from the back of the Blazer to the front seat.

  “Bailey, settled down.” I yelled to no avail. “What’s bothering you?”

  I unlatched and raised the rear door above my head. There set a box taped shut with grey tape.

  “Mona, get out of the rig.”

  “What?”

  “Get out of the rig. I think we might have a bomb back here.”

  Mona bailed out of the rig and ran to the back of the rig.

  “Get Bailey out of the rig.” Mona ran to the front of the rig grabbed the leash and hooked Bailey up. Bailey was glad to be out of the Blazer. He knew something wasn’t right.

  “Call, the sheriff. We’ve got to get a bomb squad out here.”

  I flipped my phone open and hit number one on speed dial.

  “Sheriff Reagan, can I help you?”

  “Randy, I think someone left a bomb in the back of my Blazer.”

  “Why do you think it’s a bomb?” He asked.

  “Cause, cause it’s in the rear of my Blazer.”

  “What’s in the rear of your Blazer?”

  “A ‘freakin’ box with gray tape wrapped around it.”

  “What’s your location?”

  “I’m at Peewee’s office.”

  People noticed the commotion Mona was making and a crowd had gathered on the sidewalk. Randy hung up and within in seconds his SUV was speeding up the road. Randy jumped from his vehicle and began pushing people back. He took his bullhorn from the trunk of his SUV squad car and began giving orders.

  “Back away. There may be a bomb in this vehicle. Back off or you will be arrested.”

  Some slowly started backing away. Other’s wouldn’t move. “This is the last warning.”

  Randy took a roll of yellow crime tape from the trunk and strung it around a thirty foot perimeter of the area to keep the crowd back.

  The bomb squad arrived on the scene. Men dressed in protective clothing with ‘bomb squad’ printed on the back of their uniforms took a look at the box.

  “Call in the robot.” A young man wearing protective gear told the Sheriff.

  Sheriff Reagan made a call and within moments a box truck pulled up. The driver pulled a ramp from the back of the truck and rolled a robot on wheels down the ramp. One man with a remote control skillfully maneuvered the robot. The robot picked up the box and took it to the middle of the road and lay it in a big steel box and carefully disassembled the box. Mr. Robot untied two wires and stepped back.

  “All clear, the remote operator announced.

  Sheriff Reagan and the bomb squad took a look. Picked up the mess and put it in the box truck. Mr. Robot rolled back in the box truck and the bomb squad headed out.

  “What was it?” I asked Randy wringing my hands.

  “A bomb.” He casually said while rolling up the yellow tape put up to keep the crowd back.

  “A bomb! Oh my Gawd, a bomb!” I jumped up and down putting my face in my hands.

  I heard Mona shouting. “A freakin’ bomb. Who put a bomb in the Blazer?”

  “We’ll try to get finger prints off the box but it’s probably not going happen.

  When was the bomb put in the Blazer?” Sheriff Reagan had his note pad in hand writing down info on the scene.

  “It could have been put in there last night. I didn’t lock it, so it was easy access. We were in the office for about twenty minutes.” My fingers were red from the ringing my hands and sweat was popping up on my brow and trickling down my nose from the hot sun.

  “Let’s get out of this hot sun. I’m gonna melt.” Mona said as she walked under the awning hanging over the office window.

  Randy finished up with his investigation, jumped in his SUV, stuck his head out the side window. “Tiffany, keep an eye out and check the Blazer before you hop in her.”

  He was down the road before I could give an affirmative answer.

  We hopped in the Blazer and headed for Jasper’s place. Jasper lives in a rundown building on the not so desirable side of the tracks. Slum Lord Reynolds rents out these apartments to people down on their luck.

  We found Jasper’s last known address a four story old hotel. Probably a high class hotel in the twenties. Today, a building needing to be demolished. Each room has a balcony with an iron fence around it. Most balconies were strung with laundry, makeshift barbeque pits and garbage cans.

  I put my Glock in the waist of my jeans. Mona followed my lead and we headed into the lobby. Trash was strung over the floor, a man laid on a bench covered with newspaper. An empty bottle of Thunderbird lay at his side. A sign hung on the elevator ‘OUT OF ORDER’.

  “Did I hear right? Jasper’s on the third floor?” Mona said looking up the long stair way.

  “Looks like our exercise for the day.” I took a big breath and headed up the stairs. We hit the second floor without too much effort.

  “One more to go.” I said to Mona.

  Mona grinned and took the lead. We got to the third floor. Music was blaring from the apartment next to Jasper’s.

  I took my gun from my waist. Mona’s 38 was in her hand when she left the Blazer. I put my finger on the peep hole and knocked. “Bounty Hunter, Jasper open up.” We didn’t hear any movement. Mona knocked on the apartment next door where the music was blaring. No one answered. She kicked the door in. A couple of guys were strung out on the sofa.

  “Tiffany, these guys are wasted lets kick the door in. If he tries to skip out through the balcony I can get him from this apartment.

  “Last chance Jasper, open up.”

  I heard the balcony door open. We kicked the door in. Jasper was heading out the ba
lcony door. He hopped on the fire escape and was half way down to the street. Mona took the stairs down and I chased him down the fire escape. He got to the last step and the fire escape wouldn’t drop to the ground. Jasper jumped and I jumped right behind him. He landed on he feet and I landed on my ass. Mona was panting as she came around the corner. Jasper was high tailing it down the street. He looked back and gave me the finger just as Mona cleared the corner she jumped him knocking him to the ground. Mona had his hands in cuffs by the time I got myself to my feet. She picked him up by the collar and was leading him to the car.

  “My cat, can you let him out of the apartment? He’ll starve if left in there.”

  “You sure you’re not messing with me? If you are you’ll be sorry.”

  Mona walked Jasper up the stairs and into the apartment.

  “Could you put the bag of food on the floor and fill her water bowl and lift the toilet lid? She can drink from the toilet too. She’s a good cat.”

  Mona takes instructions well. She poured the cat food on the floor, filled the water bowl and lifted the toilet lid. I heard a scream and a bang coming from the toilet. “Aint no cat gonna drink from that toilet. Shit man don’t you ever flush?”

  We took Jasper downtown, turned him in, got the required signatures and headed back to the office.

  We walked past Linda who’s face didn’t look to welcoming. Walked into Peewee’s office and tossed the file on his desk.

  “One down. We dropped Jasper off at the jail.”

  “Good work ladies. Grab a couple more files. I need to put some more of these ‘no show’ behind bars.

  Mona and I grabbed a few files. Pushed the door open and looked back at Peewee smiling and rolling his stogy between his gapped teeth.

  I pulled in the drive through at ‘Finger Lickin’ Chicken’. “Cluck you for stopping by.”

  Mona unfastened her seat belt and crawled across the steering wheel. “What did you say?”

  The kid in the chicken outfit looked like he was about to crap his pants. “The boss makes me say, Cluck you for stopping by.”

  “I thought that’s what you said. Cluck you too.” Mona set back down laughing.

  I ordered a bucket of chicken and two beverages. Sped to the next window, handed the chicken the money, took the bag from the chicken and headed out the drive. Mona popped the straws in the drinks, flipped the lid on the chicken, took out a leg and handed it to me.

  “I don’t like legs, all I eat is the breast.”

  “I’m a breast woman too.” She scrambled through the bucket and brought out a nice breast.

  “Crap, there’s only one breast in this bucket.” She handed me the breast.

  I torn a piece off and handed Mona the rest. “This will do for me. Next time we will order breast only.”

  I turned the Blazer toward Russellville. I thought it was time to find out why the black sedan is keeping an eye on us. Mona tossed the bucket of chicken to the back for Bailey to devour. I could hear crunching and snapping of bones. I looked back in time to see Bailey’s head stuck in the bucket. He was banging his head against the side of the Blazer, turning his head up and trying to loose the bucket.

  I pulled over at the rest stop. Bailey needs a hike and poop break. Mona jumped from the Blazer. “I gotta go girl.” She yelled as she ran to the bathroom. The closed for cleaning sign was across the door. She ran to the men’s toilet and didn’t hesitate to run in. I heard guys laughing. I heard Mona say, “Keep it in your pants if you don’t want me to shoot it off.”

  I was unhooking and putting Bailey in the rig when Mona bolted from the men’s toilet with gun in hand.

  I got behind the wheel, started the engine, and slowly back out of the parking space giving Mona enough time to hop in shotgun.

  “The sonnabitches had the women’s bathroom door locked.”

  I looked up the highway to on coming traffic and saw the black sedan heading for Conway.

  “We’re in luck. There goes the black sedan heading south. We might be able to check out the McGuire address.”

  As luck would have it dusk was upon us. We sat across the street for some time waiting for any movement coming from the house.

  “Let’s knock on the door and check if anyone‘s home.” I put my Glock in my waist and flashlight in my back pocket and we made our way across and down the street to the McGuire house. I gave a hardy knock. The place was quiet. Mona made her way to the back door with her 38 in hand. She knocked on the door…dead silence. I came around to the back door and gave a heave ho and kicked the door in. We scrambled into the house and shut the door. We walked through the house shining the flashing mostly at the floor. Crocheted dollies dressed the end table with a statue of an angel. A crocheted table cloth was on the dining table with a silk centerpiece. Newspapers clippings of the Maxine’s murder and the obituary was strewn on the table. We searched the house thoroughly and didn‘t find any clues putting them with the Martins. With the exception of the newspaper clippings. Why would Maxine Martin’s death interest the McGuire‘s

  EIGHTEEN

  I parked in the guest parking slot and made my way to Hayden Store All. The building has secured underground parking for the employees. Hayden built the eight story storage up from the one story storage yard his father started in the fifties. The climate control building covers half a city block. The first floor consist of the office and houses surveillance equipment which is monitored twenty-four seven. The storage is used for archive documents, master paintings, antiques dating back to the thirteenth century. Hayden has a staff of about fifty. At the top floor sets the penthouse where Hayden Harris resides, a full gym, sauna, spa and lap pool covered with a retractable doom. A helicopter pad is situated at the corner of the roof top with a big black bird waiting to take flight.

  I pushed the intercom button. A husky male voice came over the intercom, it was Larry, Hayden’s Super in the surveillance department. “Tiffany, what’s the pleasure of your visit?”

  “Is Hayden available for a visit?” Hayden usually had time for me.

  “Come on in.”

  I heard a buzz and the door opened and immediately closed behind me. Marble covered the floor. The walls were painted black with brushed steel trimming it out. Each surveillance office was behind glass walls. Monitors were in every office with someone monitoring them. Camera’s are every where inside and outside the building. The elevator opened and I stepped in. The elevator is made of brushed steel. Invisible camera’s are set up in the elevator. A voice came over the intercom. You will be going to the penthouse. The buttons on the elevator were in code. My elevator ride was swift and to the top floor.

  I stepped out of the elevator to be greeted by Hayden. A handsome guy with muscles nearly busting the buttons off his shirt. His black jeans were snug and Hayden Store All was embroidered on his shirt pocket. Hayden took me in his arms and gave me a kiss with tongue reaching my tonsils. Hayden knows how to get my libido raging. He pushed me back holding my arms to the side looking me over from red curly hair tangled all over my head to my high heels. My feet were saying please release me.

  “What do I attribute this visit? You are being followed and are looking for Marty Martin.”

  “Yeah, did you hear about the murder of Maxine Martin?” I’m not sure why I asked except to get the conversation going since Hayden knows everything going on in town.

  “I found a bomb in my Blazer yesterday.”

  “I heard it on the scanner. Tiffany, I don’t know how safe you are with this Bounty Hunter job. You should come to work for me. “

  “Then you might think you could have your way with me. If I stay at a distance you like me more.” I said smiling and twirling my red locks through my fingers.

  “Anyway, Sheriff Randy watches after me.”

  “Not like I could take care of you.”

  “I’ll have chef Lee fix us a nice dinner and you spend the night with me.” His smile turned me into a marshmallow.

  “What�
��s for dinner?”

  A streak of sunlight shined across the marble floor. I set up in bed and looked at the clock. It was eight o’clock. I needed to get home. Mona would be wondering about me. That’s the bad thing about room mates. If you don’t come home they start to worry. Hayden’s side of the bed was empty. I pulled his large tee shirt over my head and jumped in the shower. Hayden’s shower is larger than my bedroom with shower heads around the sides and one big one shower head in the middle spraying straight down. I have trouble deciding on which shower head to turn on.

  I stepped out of the shower. Hayden was standing in the doorway. I gasped.

  “You startled me.”

  “My my just like I remember from last night. Smooth and sexy.”

  I wrapped the oversized towel around my body tucking it in at my breasts. I let the towel soak up the moisture on my body and looked for my clothes. “Where are my clothes” I yelled from the bedroom.

  “Olga will have them ready for you by the time you finish breakfast. Slip on my robe. Lee will have your breakfast ready in a moment.”

  Lee brought a plate of fruit and eggs with wheat toast from the kitchen and set it on the table.

  “I remember from before what you like.” She said in her Asian accent.

  Olga delivered my freshly laundered clothes before I finished with breakfast. I dressed and Hayden showed me to the elevator.

  “We’ll be in touch.” He said as the elevator door slowly closed.

  When I got home Mona was reading the newspaper. “I’m looking for an apartment.”

  “You don’t have to move out.” Did I do or say something to make you feel you have to move out?”

  “No, no. This one sounds good.” She continued to read. “You want to ride over with me?” She said folding the paper to the ad section.

  “Did you hear me? You don’t have to move. You don‘t even have a car.”

  “Yes, I do. I went by Hood’s Used Car Lot and Mr. Hood sold me the Explorer on payments.”