by Patti Abbott
"You get any bright ideas, let me know, okay?"
Tammy sat quietly for a couple of minutes, going over what they'd been talking about, and that's when the idea came to her. There it was, as simple as could be. Russell might go for it, she thought, but she'd have to take it slow, wait for his questions, give him answers he'd like to hear.
"Well, I do have one idea," she said evenly, her voice real calm. "It just came to me."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" She could tell from his voice that he didn't expect this idea of hers to be worth much.
"You can go to the guys that Rico gets it from, and buy some from them."
"What the hell are you talking about? Nobody knows where Rico gets it, he won't say."
"Luanne knows, and she told me."
"Luanne told you? How does she know?"
"She went out there with him not long ago to make a buy. That's what she said."
"What do you mean, out there with him? Where?"
"Out in the country, a few miles west of town. Luanne says a couple of brothers have a lab out there where they do their cooking and they've got a grow operation besides. Whenever Rico starts to run low, she says he just drives out there and makes a buy. They give him a good price, that way he makes a nice profit when he sells here in town."
"When did she tell you this?
"A few weeks ago, maybe a month."
"And you just now decide to tell me?"
"I guess it didn't seem important at the time. Rico was coming by every Friday, and everything was just fine."
"What makes you think those guys would sell to me? I could be the law for all they know."
"Give them Rico's name, tell them he'll vouch for you. You know he would."
"He ought to, I've bought enough from him."
"Besides, you work the counter in the only auto parts store in town. If they've ever needed parts, they've come to Al's, and if they've come to Al's, they've seen you. They know you aren't the law, they have to."
"Maybe, but guys like this generally don't want visitors. Even if they know I'm not the law, could be trouble if I just show up."
"Why would there be trouble? If they don't want to do business with you, they'll just say they don't know what you're talking about. If that's what they say, you just turn around and come back home, and that's the end of it."
"That's how it ought to work, but I don't know these guys. They could be crazy."
"Could be, but I don't see Rico going back to them over and over again if they're crazy. Besides, you deal with all kinds of people every day, and you never have any trouble. You can handle a couple of farm boys who are just trying to make a few extra bucks."
Russell gazed into the distance, nodding slowly.
"Hey," she said, "people take one look at you, and they know they can't push you around. People still talk about the time you stood up to that big trucker who came into the Red Rooster, wanting everyone to know how tough he was. You got right in his face, and he shut up fast, remember that?" Her voice had become firm and steady.
"Yeah, I remember."
She saw him swell up a bit, and knew she was on the right track. A little more about how he could handle it, then move on to the money.
"Why would these guys risk getting hurt if all they have to do is say no thanks? You wouldn't push it, you'd just say nice meeting you, and come on home."
She waited until he gave a little nod, still gazing into the distance. "You could also tell those farm boys something that Luanne mentioned to me, something about Rico they might appreciate knowing." He was now looking directly at her, listening intently.
"She says Rico's been talking about moving out to California, out to the coast, better opportunities out there, he says. If Rico leaves, these guys will need someone new to pick up the slack, a steady customer."
"And you think that would be me, right?"
"Why not? You could be the one who sells to Brad and the other guys at the store. I could ask around at the Market, probably come up with a few more. Plus, once word gets around that Rico's gone, all of his regulars will start looking to you, they'll have to."
"Might happen."
"You could make an extra couple hundred a week, maybe more, enough to trade for a pickup, that nice Silverado you've been looking at. Might even make enough to get us out of here, move someplace where you can get ahead, maybe start your own business."
"Unless I end up behind bars first."
"You don't see Rico behind bars. Luanne says he keeps the chief in weed, that's all it takes."
"How far out of town is this place?"
"About fifteen miles is what Luanne says, take Route 30 most of the way, then some country roads.
"She give you directions?"
"She did. She told me about how to find this little dirt lane that goes up to their place. Told me where you're supposed to park and flash your headlights a few times to let them know you're there to do business."
Russell was silent for several moments, and then said, "All right, tell me what she said."
Now was the time to see if she could get him to take off right now, before he changed his mind. "You sure you want to go out there this evening, with this weather coming?" Tammy nodded toward the west where a bank of dark clouds sat low on the horizon, emitting faint flashes of heat lightning. "Could get real nasty later on."
She knew there was a chance he'd take the way out she'd given him, but it would be the same as admitting a weakness in front of her, like maybe he was worried about driving in a little rough weather. She was pretty sure Russell wouldn't want to do this.
"Just tell me how to get there, okay?"
*****
The two men split up when they reached the rear of Russell's Camaro. One of them walked along the driver's side until he was even with the door. Staring down at Russell through the open window, he said evenly, "You lost, bud?"
"Don't think so," said Russell. "No, I'm here to see if we can do some business."
"What kind of business would that be?" said the man.
"The kind of business you do with Rico."
"Rico, you say?"
"Yeah, Rico. We go back quite a ways, Rico and me."
"What's your name?"
"Russell's my name, Russell Myers. I work in Paxton at the auto parts store. Work the counter. You probably saw me if you've ever been in."
"Why don't you get out of your car, Russell, and we can talk some more, okay? Hard carrying on a conversation with you in there and me out here." His voice was relaxed and reassuring, almost friendly in its tone.
He backed away from the Camaro as Russell slowly opened the door and slid out of the seat.
"Come on over here, Russell, we can talk while Bob gets in and has a look around. You don't mind if Bob has a look around, do you Russell?"
"No problem," said Russell. "Bob can look all he wants."
"Now, why don't you open up your shirt and show me your chest?" He spoke softly, smiling at Russell.
Russell opened up his shirt and pulled it back, showing his bare chest. "Not wired, if that's what you're worried about."
"Not worried about anything, Russell. How's it look, Bob?"
"Nothing I can see, Roy," said Bob. "Other than a Smith in the glove box, it looks clean."
"Let's get back to Rico," said Roy. "He send you out here, did he?"
"Can't say that he did, not exactly, but he can vouch for me."
"You say not exactly. What's that mean?"
"Well, you see, he sells to me, comes by the store every Friday with some stuff, but today he didn't show up. What I heard was, he took off out of town. Even heard he was thinking about moving away, maybe out to the coast."
"He's out of town, you say?"
"That's what I was told, and I know for a fact he didn't come by today like he always does, so I figured with Rico gone, maybe I could interest you in doing some business with me."
*****
Tammy sat trembling for several minutes after Russell left, and t
hen went into the kitchen where she trimmed the steaks and got the corn ready. Just in case Russell came back home, she wanted to be able to start cooking right away so he wouldn't get annoyed.
Working at the kitchen counter, Tammy went over what she'd told Russell. She was sure she had given him the right directions—or at least she was sure she had given him the directions Luanne had given to her. She'd hung on every word when Luanne told her what happened when she went out there with Rico.
Sitting in Tammy's car in the parking lot outside the Country Market, Luanne told her, sobbing, about these two big guys who drove up after Rico gave the signal with his lights. They dragged Rico out of the car and knocked him down, hit him real hard, she said. Then, when he was flat on his back, they stuck the barrel of a shotgun in his mouth, saying they were going blow his head off for bringing someone out there. Finally they let him up, saying they were going to let him live only because maybe they hadn't been clear enough before now. "Giving you a pass this time," one of them said, "but if you ever bring anyone out here again, or send anyone out here, that person's dead and so are you."
Luanne said she thought that was the end of it, but then one of them came around and opened the car door on her side and dragged her out by the hair and threw her on the ground. Before she could even say a word, this man sat on top of her and pulled out a big hunting knife, biggest one she'd ever seen, and stuck it right up under her chin.
"The same goes for your little whore, you get that?" the one with the knife says to Rico, and then he put his face right up close to hers and says real softly, "You ever tell anyone where we're at, and I'll come and get you. I'll put this blade between your legs and split you up the middle. Won't stop till the blade reaches right here."
That's when he stuck the tip of the knife into her skin under her chin. "Just enough to draw blood," Luanne said, raising her chin to show the fresh scab from where the tip of the knife had broken her skin.
As scared as she was, Luanne went ahead and told Tammy how to find the place. If something ever happened to her, she said, like if they ever found her stabbed to death, she wanted Tammy to tell the cops these guys did it and how to find them. But unless something like this happened, Tammy had to promise not to tell anyone, not even Russell.
Tammy hadn't told Russell, but not just because of her promise to Luanne. She remembered thinking there was something valuable here, something she might be able to use someday. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a feeling Russell figured in.
Tammy had thought about something bad happening to Russell plenty of times after the last beating—the one that sent her to the emergency room in Junction City four months ago. The doctor said he'd never seen a woman run into a door so hard. Several teeth had been loosened, her lip was split so badly it needed stitches, and the socket around her right eye was fractured. Lucky for her, the doctor said, the fracture would heal without surgery. Tammy could tell from the look in the doctor's eyes that he knew what really happened, but with Russell sitting there, she figured he wouldn't say anything, and he didn't.
While they were working on her at the hospital, she'd thought about making a run for it as soon as she had a chance. The beatings were getting worse, and next time he might kill her. She would have left long ago, but Russell had told her more than once she belonged to him, and he'd see her dead before he'd let her go. He'd come after her, she was sure.
She'd given up trying to understand why Russell was always so mean to her. She'd done everything he wanted, even started using crystal which she'd never done before. But then, after they'd been together a year or so, it was like he began to turn against her. When she tried to talk to him about it, he ignored her and once, when she pushed it, he slapped her hard across the mouth.
She knew he felt stuck here in Paxton, this shithole of a town as he called it. He hated the idea of spending the rest of his life here, working in an auto parts store taking orders from someone like Al. "Might as well die right now," he'd said.
She understood how he felt, but she didn't see how he could blame her. If he wanted to move away, she'd been ready to go with him. Not anymore though. Not after he turned mean.
What she wanted now was to start over, to find a man who loved her as much as she loved him, a man who wouldn't beat on her. That's all she'd ever really wanted, just to be loved by a man she could call her own. Dreaming about the kind of life she wanted wouldn't help, though. She had to find a way to survive, a way to save herself from the man she had.
She couldn't see going to her folks for help. Her father had taken off years ago and only called on her birthday. She could tell her mother, but why bother? "These women who say they're abused bring it on themselves," she once told Tammy. "A woman's place is to submit to her husband, it's in the Scriptures, and when she won't, she can expect to be punished."
No point in going to the law either. There were only ten cops in Paxton, plus the chief. Russell knew all of them. Some of them even came by Al's every now and then so they could talk cars with Russell and the other guys. One of them, the new guy, had played football with Russell in high school, and acted like they were old buddies. None of them would help her. They might tell Russell to ease up a bit, but that's all.
No, she thought, if she was ever going to get away and start over, something real bad would have to happen to Russell. The problem was, she couldn't think of anything. Maybe he'd get drunk some night and hit someone head on, or run into a tree, but she could wait forever for this to happen.
But then it came to her, this idea of getting Russell to barge in on these two badass guys in the country. Once the idea came into her head, she knew she had a chance if she played it right. It had taken all of her self-control, talking to Russell the way she had, laying it all out without showing how desperately she wanted him to take the bait.
Thinking about what she'd just done reminded her of another time when she took a big chance. It was five years ago, on a hot summer night right after high school graduation. There'd been twenty or twenty-five people her age, some a few years older, everyone having a good time drinking beer and smoking, leaning up against their parked cars on the edge of the blacktop south of town. The highway here was flat and straight for a good two miles, so guys would come here to race their cars. Russell was there, getting ready to race his Camaro against a guy from Council Grove driving a Mustang.
She'd seen Russell around, of course, like you see everyone in Paxton, but he was three years ahead of her in high school, so they'd never really talked, except maybe to say "hi" a few times. She liked the way he looked, his sharp western shirts, his solid build with those big broad shoulders, his handsome face that reminded her of Robert Redford. It gave her goose bumps just thinking about sitting close to him in his Camaro, driving around town with music playing on the radio, letting everyone see that Russell was her man.
She knew she wasn't bad looking, with her pretty hair, clear skin, real good figure. She'd even made cheerleader her senior year. No reason why someone like Russell couldn't be interested in her, she'd thought. Problem was, he was going out with some girl from Wamego, a little bleach blonde who was there that night.
Tammy had been watching the little blonde, and had seen she was busy talking and not paying attention to Russell. That's when it came to her. She ran over to Russell's car, pulling a ribbon from her hair. When she reached the open window on the driver's side, she threw the ribbon inside, at the same time shouting over the revved-up engines, "I'm betting on you, Russell!" She barely had time to jump back before the two cars leaped forward and rocketed down the blacktop, engines screaming and tires smoking.
When Russell returned a few minutes later, smiling broadly, he idled his car up beside her and told her to get in. "You're Tammy, that right?" Her hair ribbon was hanging from his rearview mirror, along with a small gold-colored cross.
The little bleach blonde was history from then on. For a long time afterward, Tammy's friends, Luanne especially, would talk about t
hat night. "That was some gutsy move," Luanne would say.
Yes, it had been a gutsy move, she thought, and now she's made another one. She anxiously looked at the clock. Russell had been gone only an hour. Too soon to tell whether the move had paid off.
*****
"Did Rico tell you about us, about how to get here?" Roy's tone was still relaxed, though his eyes had narrowed slightly.
"In a way that's how it worked, but not exactly."
"You keep saying not exactly, Russell. Mind telling me what that means?"
"Don't mind at all, but it's sort of a long story."
"Got plenty of time, Russell."
"Okay, you see Rico's got this woman, name's Luanne, I think you've met her. Anyway, she works at this grocery store in Paxton, place called the Country Market, and it so happens my woman works there, too. They're friends you could say, and you know how women are, they talk."
"I didn't get your woman's name."
"Tammy's her name. So like I said, Tammy and Luanne talk, and one thing leads to another. Don't know how it came up, but Luanne tells Tammy how to get here and about the signal with the lights and all that, and then Tammy tells me. So you might say it all comes from Rico, but not directly from him, I guess that's the best way to put it."
"I think I got the picture. But Russell, how do I know you're who you say you are? Got any identification on you?"
"Got my driver's license in my wallet."
"Mind if I see it?"
Russell removed his wallet from his hip pocket, withdrew his driver's license and handed it to Roy.
"Says here you live in Paxton, 710 Elmwood Lane. That right?"
"That's where I live."
"Tammy live there, too?"
"Yep. Little woman's home right now, fixing dinner."
"She a blonde, like Rico's woman?"
"No, as a matter of fact she's got dark brown hair, almost black. Why you ask?"
"Just wondering, that's all."
Roy looked at the driver's license for a few seconds longer, and then extended it toward Russell, letting it drop a few inches from Russell's outstretched hand. "Sorry about that," he said.