All The Way Back

by David Kearns

  Chapter Thirteen

  The black SUV that had followed us was parked next to our car in the parking lot. Sandy took a thumb-sized can from her purse and sprayed red paint on the driver’s side of the windshield until it was opaque.

  “I don’t think either of those guys is going to be driving anytime soon,” I said. “Or walking, either.”

  “I know that,” she said. “I just created one more problem for them to deal with. They’ll have to tow it.”

  “Is there anything that purse doesn’t have in it?” I asked.

  “A love letter from Brad Pitt,” she said.

  “You were pretty quick with that,” I said. “Funny.”

  We got back into the Mustang. I started the engine but didn’t pull out. We were both keyed up from what had happened in the bar.

  “You rattled those guys, Sandy,” I said. “You had them off-balance and got the bartender and customers on our side. Nice work.”

  She seemed a little sad. “Yeah. It worked. Guys like staring at my skin. Doesn’t have much to do with what kind of person I am, and nothing to do with having a relationship with me.”

  “I think the guy with the eyebrows wanted a relationship,” I said.

  “I mean a constructive relationship,” Sandy said. “Not just animal lust.”

  “Some men may be too daunted by your presence to think clearly,” I said. “Particularly when you do your mind control trick.”

  I put it in gear, took a right, and we headed south towards Emily’s house.

  “You’re talking about men’s brains being in their pants?” Sandy asked.

  “It’s biology,” I said. “Ultimately, the goal for each of us is to procreate and keep the species going. When a guy sees a woman as attractive as you, he can’t help himself. All the higher level thinking goes out the door. He just isn’t in the right frame of mind to appreciate the specialness of your whole package.”

  “Uh huh. Sounds like you’re saying I’m too attractive for my own good. I should tone it down so the caveman can keep his wits about him.”

  “In a way. Some guys might also think you’re too selective to choose them because your looks give you that advantage. They might not even try to talk to you.”

  “Would you ever say that a guy is too attractive for his own good?”

  “No. I don’t think that I would.”

  “Even if it made him a magnet for every woman, however undesirable she might be?”

  “Even then. Most guys would consider that a plus. Biologically speaking, it’s like winning the lottery. A smorgasbord of opportunities to continue the genetic lineage.”

  “So it’s a double standard, then.”

  “Biologically speaking, procreation means different things for women and men. For the woman, she wants the healthiest and best provider she can find to help raise the child. For the man, the thinking can be much more short term.”

  “You’re telling me. The shorter the better for most of them.”

  “I’m just saying that the first thing a guy is going to think when he sees you is that you’re beautiful and obviously extremely fit. Maybe he’s intimidated, maybe not. But he can’t know what a special lady you are until he talks to you and finds out how smart and funny and brave you are.”

  “Are you sweet talking me now?”

  “And finds out that you have brass knuckles and a riot gun.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning nothing. Some guys would definitely find that a turn-on. Guys who wear camouflage pants and go to gun shows are likely prospects.”

  “Okay. Now you’re being a jerk.”

  “When you broke that guy’s pelvis with the brass knuckles, I’m going to have to admit, I was pretty aroused. Shocked, yes. But aroused at the same time.”

  Sandy held up a raised middle finger.

  “You’ve got skills, though,” I said. “Yelling that you were being groped worked quite well.”

  “I read the mind of the one with the eyebrows. Another five seconds and I think he would have tried to jump me.”

  “No doubt. Without even asking you about your hobbies first.”

  “You can be kind of an ass sometimes, you know that?”

  “I think that’s what Anthony Peck said on the phone. I’m detecting a recurring theme here.”

  I turned onto Stillwater Avenue and noticed that Sandy’s expression seemed sour.

  “Did I offend you?” I asked.

  “No,” Sandy said. “Not really. Which one’s hers?”

  “Down on the end. The grey and white one on the left.” Emily’s Buick was parked in the gravel driveway beside the house.

  I pulled to the curb on the opposite side of the street from Emily’s craftsman style home.

  “How long do you think it will be before Peck sends more troops out with butterfly nets to collect you?” Sandy asked. “Since you were crazy enough to beat one of his people with a bowl of party mix.”

  “A few days or less,” I said. “They could be on their way now, for all I know.”

  “You just upped the ante,” Sandy said. “After what happened in the bar, Peck’s going to want to take you off at the knees.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about getting even with him since I was twelve years old,” I said. “I’ve gotta start somewhere.”

  Sandy looked at me and said “Half measures would make Peck look bad to his people.”

  “I know. My guess is that he’ll send about a bigger crew, and he might come himself, too.”

  “What’s the strategy?”

  “Have you ever been to Newport?” I asked.

  “Where Peck’s building the casino?”

  “Right. Peck’s using other people’s money to build the casino. They wouldn’t like it if there were problems with the construction.”

  “What kind of problems?” Sandy asked.

  “The casino sits on a giant concrete pier. Electrical, water, sewage, gas, everything goes in and out of the casino on pipes on the underside of the pier. It wouldn’t take much of a problem for the Newport city council to reconsider the building permit. Anything environmental or structural would stop it in its tracks.”

  “And that would happen how?”

  “I haven’t worked it out yet. Maybe it doesn’t have to actually happen. Maybe it just needs to be leaked to the press or inspectors that there are problems with the design that Peck’s hiding. His people wouldn’t like that since everything related to the construction would stop while there’s an investigation. Just have a steady stream of issues with the casino that stall the building process, and his financial backers would go on the attack. They don’t get their money back unless the place opens and stays full of gamblers.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just blow the entire casino up?” Sandy asked. “Peck’s backers would be furious if that happened.”

  “True. It’s also four stories of concrete and steel, with a whole lot of people working on it around the clock. You’d need a mountain of explosives to take it down, and a lot of innocent people would get hurt in the process.”

  Sandy said “Do you really think that there’s time to put pressure on Peck through problems at the casino? I expect a knee-jerk reaction from him for what you said on the phone and what just happened in the bar. A few days, tops, he’s going to want to make a statement that shows his people that he can’t be jerked around by a nobody like you.”

  “You’re right. My best guess is that Peck will come after me as soon as he can organize a hunting party.”

  Sandy said “Suppose Peck disappeared?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Suppose we make it look like he did a bunk. Leave a note about the pressure of building the casino being too much, and take him for a swim tied to a hundred pound bag of sand.”

  “How do we pull that off?” I asked.

  “Don’t know. I like the idea, though.”

  “Keep thinking about it. It has some merit,” I said.r />
  We sat quietly in the car and looked at the neighborhood through the windshield. At that moment, I wished that I worked at the cheese factory with Emily and had never crossed paths with Peck’s henchman when I was twelve years old.

  “Do you want me to come inside with you?” Sandy asked.

  “Sure. Are you afraid of dogs?”

  “No.”

  “She has a Doberman that goes berserk when strangers come.”

  Sandy shrugged. “Some dogs just don’t like men,” she said. “The smarter breeds, anyway.” Then she pulled down her sun visor down and looked at herself in the vanity mirror. She carefully applied lipstick and adjusted her blouse slightly. “Okay,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  We got out of the car and walked across the street. I left my pistol in the glovebox. Sandy carried her purse.

  I rang the doorbell and heard the dog start to bark. Emily came to the living room window to see who was there. Then the sound of dog barking receded and was muffled. The front door opened.

  Emily was wearing a knee length blue skirt, a plaid green and blue sleeveless top, and had pulled her blond hair back with a red bandanna.

  “Hi,” Emily said.

  “This is Sandy,” I said. “She’s a friend of mine and also a friend of Marshal Fullmeyer’s.”

  Emily held out her hand, and she and Sandy shook hands.

  “I just wanted to check in with you to see how it’s going,” I said.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Emily said. “Come on in.”

  The sound of the dog barking increased from behind the kitchen door.

  “Sorry,” Emily said.

  “Del tells me you have a Doberman,” Sandy said.

  “I do. She’s very protective. Anytime someone comes to the door she goes nuts.”

  “Maybe it’s fear aggression,” Sandy said. “How about Del and I sit on the sofa? You let her out. She’ll see that we’re not a threat and will stop going crazy in the kitchen.”

  “She’s so protective that I honestly think she might bite you both,” Emily said. “Let me move her to the bedroom and we can talk in the kitchen. I’m making dinner.”

  Emily got the leash and relocated the dog to the bedroom. Then the three of us went into the kitchen. Emily asked if we wanted a glass of wine. We said that we did, and she poured some chardonnay into inexpensive glasses. She had a take-and-bake pizza wrapper on the counter. The smell of baking pizza dough filled the small kitchen.

  My wrist joint on my right hand ached from what had happened in the bar, so I asked Emily if she had a plastic bag that I could fill with ice. I told her that I’d twisted my wrist.

  Emily found an empty bread sack and emptied an ice tray into it. She handed the bread sack to me and asked if I wanted an aspirin. I said that the ice was enough for the time being.

  I took my wine glass and the bag of ice out onto the back porch. I wanted the chance to clear my head, and while I was outside I used the opportunity to look at the back yard again. On the back porch there was a folding aluminum chair covered with yellow canvas fabric, a pair of stainless steel dog bowls for food and water, and a stylish foldable table barely big enough to put a paperback book on. The yard was about twenty feet deep, square-shaped, and enclosed by a wooden fence six feet tall. I walked around the perimeter of the yard and didn’t see any new evidence of grass flattened by someone jumping the fence. There was a gate on the east side of the house that allowed access between the back yard and the front. The latch on the gate looked intact, but there was enough of a gap between the wooden slats on the gate that someone could use a screwdriver or knife to lift the latch from the street side of the gate. Putting a lock on the latch would make it more complicated to get between the front and back yard, but would make the back yard a little safer. Given the circumstances, a lock on the gate seemed worthwhile. I’d have to remember to talk to Emily about that.

 

  I tightened the ice bag against my wrist, walked over to the back porch, and sat on the steps. Dusk settled over the neighborhood. Emily and Sandy’s voices carried through the screen door that opened onto the porch, and they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. Then Sandy said something in a low voice and I heard them both erupt with laughter. It felt good to hear them laugh. High point of the day, in fact.

  Emily opened the screen door and said “Dinner will be ready in a minute. I hope your hand’s okay.”

  “No worries,” I said. When I came into the kitchen, I emptied the bag of ice into the sink and put the bag in the trash can. We all sat down at the kitchen table.

  “Something kind of strange happened today,” Emily said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Remember how you said I should listen to my inner voice when it tells me I’m in danger?”

  “Right.”

  “When I went out to my car this morning, I had that feeling of being watched again. But I looked up and down the block and didn’t see anything. By the time I got to work I felt okay again, like I’d just imagined it. Work was okay, but when I walked out to my car in the parking lot, I had the feeling I was being watched again. For sure.”

  Sandy said. “Seriously? But I thought Del said you’d been feeling safe.”

  I said “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Emily. Did you feel like you were followed home?”

  “No. I actually felt okay once I left the parking lot. I didn’t see anyone following me in traffic, and everything was all right when I got home. The dog seemed fine, too.”

  The timer on the oven buzzed, and she used a pair of fabric oven mitts to get the pizza plate out of the oven. The pizza was Hawaiian style, with Canadian bacon and pineapple. She used a pizza cutter to cut slices onto plates for each of us.

  “Do you have a gun?” I asked.

  “I do, but I can’t take it onto the property at work. I could lose my job.”

  “But you have it when you’re at home,” Sandy said.

  Emily nodded.

  I was sitting across the table from Sandy and Emily, and I was struck by how similar they were in appearance to each other. They were nearly the same height and had similar figures. Sandy was more muscular and her hair was shorter, but from a distance you might not be able to tell them apart.

  “I have an idea,” I said.

  “Always a dangerous thing in your case,” Sandy said.

  I looked at Emily. “Do you have to go to work this weekend?”

  “No. It’s just Monday through Friday.”

  “Sandy, would you be willing to switch places with Emily for a day or two? You’re a trained observer. I think you two could pass for each other if someone didn’t look too closely. If Emily’s right and she’s being followed, maybe you’d spot something she couldn’t.”

  “Seriously?” Emily asked. “You mean you want Sandy to live here this weekend? What am I supposed to do?”

  “You’d stay with me over at Oceanside, like Sandy’s doing now.”

  “What about the dog?” Emily said. “She’s going to notice the difference.”

  “Emily, if you can introduce Sandy to the dog, and she sees that Sandy’s no threat, maybe she’ll be okay with having Sandy here for a couple days. Sandy could drive your car, walk the dog, go to the grocery store, do all the things you usually do. If she doesn’t see anything this weekend, it’s probably nothing. If something comes up, she can handle it.”

  Sandy told Emily “I’m game if you are.”

  Emily nodded thoughtfully.

  “It’s a plan,” I said.

  The three of us had a pleasant dinner at the small table in the small kitchen. Emily talked about what she liked about living in Tillamook, having her own house, and working a job where she talked to people all day. She told us that prior to her entry into the witness protection program, her boyfriend had kept her a near-prisoner in their home. Sandy talked about her experiences as a police officer in Alamogordo, and her part time job as a security consultant and problem solver fo
r Eric Fullmeyer.

  “And you, Delorean, what do you do when you’re not helping Eric deal with nervous people?”

  “A little of this and a little of that,” I said. “I’m underemployed at the moment.”

  “It seems to work for you,” Emily said. “You live in a beach house and drive a convertible. I drive a Buick and have a backyard the size of a postage stamp. By the way, have you noticed that sometimes Tillamook smells like a cattle drive?”

  I smiled. “Yes, I have,” I said. “It goes with the scenery.”

  “It isn’t all glamour and beach bunnies for Delorean,” Sandy said. “A little ‘down time’ is probably in order for him after the last couple of years.”

  “Oh. Do you want to talk about that, Delorean?” Emily asked.

  “I feel like I’m on a daytime talk show. No, I don’t want to spoil our evening talking about it. I’m happy to sit here and enjoy the company of you two remarkable women.”

  “That means he thinks we’re hot,” Sandy said.

  “Well, we really kind of are,” Emily laughed. I wondered if she’d been drinking before we arrived and was a little drunk.

  “Maybe I should go check on the dog,” I said.

  “Don’t run off, Del. Just having a little girl talk here. You can stay, if you behave,” Sandy said. She gave me a theatrical wink.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Are you two a couple?” Emily asked. “You seem so comfortable around each other.”

  Sandy laughed loudly.

  “No, honey. We’re not a couple. We just know each other very, very well. That’s different.”

  “I hope I didn’t pry by asking,” Emily said.

  “Not at all,” Sandy said. She looked at me dreamily and said “He is pretty attractive, though. It’s not like I haven’t thought about it, believe me.”

  At that point I stood from the table. Sandy took my hand in hers. “Bet you’ve thought about it, too, haven’t you Del? Come on. Sit down. Don’t be so sensitive. We’re all grown ups here. You’re a guy. It’s natural to consider such things.”

  I sat.

  Sandy said. “Del, she asked if we were a couple because she’s interested in you herself, can’t you tell?”

  “What … the … hell?” I said.

  “In terms of looks, he’s definitely a step up from most of the guys who come through the ice cream line,” Emily said. “Not sure he’s marriage material, though. Unemployed and all. I’m more interested in someone who’d be the healthiest and best provider I can find to help me raise our love child. It’s my biological imperative.”

  I felt my blood pressure rising. “You put her up to this, didn’t you, Sandy?” I asked. “Payback for what I said in the car?”

  “Still, he did win the genetic lottery with those looks of his,” Emily said. “Every woman, undesirable or not, is going to want his seed.”

  Sandy and Emily both laughed uproariously.

  “I may never speak to either of you again,” I said.

  “Oh, I think you will,” Sandy said. “You love the attention.”

  “You two are like evil twin sisters,” I said.

  Sandy stuck her tongue out at me.

  At that point I quit talking. Emily and Sandy drank more wine and told stories about terrible dates they’d had.

  Eventually it became completely dark outside, and I said it was time for Emily and me to leave.

  Emily offered to introduce Sandy to her dog, and Sandy picked up a piece of Canadian bacon from the pizza to take with her as a peace offering. I waited at the kitchen table, expecting to hear fireworks when the dog saw Sandy. There were none.

  Fifteen minutes later, Emily and Sandy returned, laughing like they’d shared another private joke. The dog followed them into the kitchen. “Apparently this pup is fond of ladies,” Sandy said. “I gave her a treat and we’re best friends now.”

  I took a small piece of bacon off my plate and held it out for the dog. It backed away, growling quietly.

  “Smart dog,” Sandy said. “Some men aren’t to be trusted.”

  Emily laughed. “Should I be worried?” she asked. “I’m going away for the weekend with a stranger.”

  “Take heart,” Sandy said. “He won the genetic lottery.”

  At that point I spoke up. “I’m right here. You know I can hear all this.”

  Sandy patted the side of my face and pinched my cheek. “We know. Your delicate masculinity has been threatened. You’ll just have to buck up.”

  I sighed.

  “Oh, you know what?” Emily said. “I need to show you where my clothes are, and everything else.”

  Sandy and Emily left the kitchen and went back into Emily’s bedroom.

  The dog lay on the floor in front of the sink.

  “Looks like it’s just you and me,” I said.

  The dog watched me with soulful eyes.

  “Do you want a piece of bacon, or not?” I said. I held out a piece of pork out to the dog.

  The dog came over to sniff the bacon I held in my fingers. It took the bait from me before going back over to lie down in front of the sink.

  A few minutes later, Emily and Sandy came back into the kitchen. Emily had put her hair up in barrettes so that her hair appeared to be the same length as Sandy’s. The two of them had swapped clothing.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “That’s convenient,” Sandy said. “Everything fits.”

  Emily said “Sandy said I can wear the clothes she has at your house in Oceanside, Del. I guess this is going to be okay.”

  “Well, you and Emily should get going,” Sandy said.

  Sandy took her cell phone, brass knuckles, the spray paint, and a small can of mace from her purse. Emily came back into the kitchen with her sleeping pills, toothbrush, and a silver thirty-two caliber semi-automatic pistol.

  “I want you to have this,” Emily said, holding the pistol out towards Sandy. “I think you need it worse than I do.”

  “I can get the thirty-eight or the shotgun if you want it,” I said.

  “That’s all right,” Sandy said. “I don’t want to draw a lot of attention from the neighbors. I’ll make do with the mace and the brass knucks. A steak knife works, too.”

  Sandy handed Emily her purse. “You should take this,” she said. “Someone might be watching.”

  Emily slipped her pistol, the sleeping pills, and her toothbrush into Sandy’s purse.

  Emily said “I appreciate you taking this chance for me.”

  Sandy laughed and said “If you’re right about being followed, don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

  Sandy and Emily hugged like sisters being sent to different summer camps.

  Emily and I walked out the front door to the car. I had the prickling sensation in my neck that told me I was being watched, but I kept walking. I scanned the neighborhood casually when I got around to my side of the car before getting in, but I didn’t see anything unusual. I got behind the steering wheel, Emily climbed in on the passenger side, and I started the engine. As I drove out of the neighborhood, I kept checking Emily’s house in the rear view mirror until I couldn’t see it any more.

 

  “Can I ask you a question?” Emily said.

  “Of course.”

  “Did you feel anything when we were walking to the car? I had that creepy feeling when we left the house. Like I feel at work sometimes, or when I’m in my car.”

  “Yeah, I actually did,” I said. “I think something bad is going to happen.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think that someone is watching your house, and if he bothers Sandy this weekend they might never find his body.”

  “Seriously?”

  “It depends on how mad he makes her.”

  I called Sandy’s number on my cell phone.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Watch yourself this weekend,” I said. “When we were leaving the house, Emily and I both had the fe
eling that someone was watching us.”

  “Anything specific?” Sandy asked.

  “I didn’t see anything. It’s just a strong feeling.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” she said. “You take care of my new best friend, okay?”

  “You got it.”