Carnies and Wildcats: Ulciscor

by Robert Spearman

  “That’s understandable. Tell Marie to email me the last profit and loss statement so I can look over the monthly expenses. I will cover everything for the next three months. The business can repay me once Handy Lumber settles their account.”

  The waitress came and took their food orders. Dwain entered the pub. Seiffert nodded and Dwain returned the greeting. Dwain went to the bar and talked to Patrick.

  “Any word from Allen Ridley?”

  Jimmy was curious, what did Seiffert have planned for Allen? He was sure removing Allen from the company was only the beginning.

  Seiffert stared at Jimmy.

  How much can I tell him?

  “Allen Ridley, have I heard from Allen Ridley? That’s an excellent question,” he said and chuckled. The he became serious. “Replacing Allen with you was the first step. He must pay for something he did to my family many years ago.” Seiffert lowered his voice. “Allen is in the basement of this building and he has started the painful steps of that journey.”

  “I want to see him,” Jimmy said.

  “It’s gruesome Jimmy, bloody—maybe another time.”

  Jimmy pushed the matter. “Ugly is fine with me. I don’t know your plans, but nothing is too cruel for that bastard. I’d like to spend a few minutes with him alone and let him see the satisfaction in my eyes. I spoke to him briefly at the office yesterday. Today I want time with him, without distractions.”

  Seiffert placed his napkin on the table. “Okay, if you insist. If this becomes discovered by the authorities, you are an accessory. It’s not your plan to rescue him, is it?”

  “Hell no! I don’t care what you are doing down there. If you give me a knife, I might take a jab or two at him myself.”

  They ate their lunch.

  Jimmy ate like he was running late for a plane.

  Seiffert ate slower. He was still thinking of his morning session with Allen. He could not shake the feeling he was missing something. Seiffert wanted to believe Allen was lying, but Allen was too convincing in declaring his innocence.

  Jimmy’s plate was empty.

  “Finished?” asked Seiffert.

  Jimmy nodded.

  “Follow me.” Seiffert signed the check and tucked it under the plate of his half-eaten lunch.

  Jimmy followed Seiffert to the elevator. Seiffert went through the routine of making the elevator descend to the basement.

  Seiffert stepped out with Jimmy following close. Jimmy surveyed the room and could tell that Seiffert prepared to make Allen’s life a living hell.

  Jimmy noticed the cage to the right and Allen sitting inside on the floor. He smiled.

  “Mr. Ridley,” announced Seiffert, “a visitor has come calling, someone who wants to wish you well on your journey. I shall leave you alone while you have a visit. Jimmy, whenever you are ready to go, press the button on the wall over there and someone will show you out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Jimmy watched the numbers over the elevator tick higher and higher as it ascended to the seventh floor. When the indicator stopped on SEVEN, he walked around the room. Jimmy examined a few things on the shelf along the wall, but his big concern was making sure he and Allen were alone.

  “Well Allen, it looks as if you’ve had a rough time of it since yesterday. Funny what twenty-four hours will do to a man,” Jimmy said, laughing. Allen stared up at Jimmy from the floor of his cage. He made no attempt to stand as Jimmy approached.

  Allen’s throat hurt from the crying and screaming. He attempted to clear his throat. Allen spoke, but his voice was weak and sounded like he was eating gravel. “The old man thinks I killed his little girl,” he said.

  Jimmy laughed. He stopped laughing and then started again, louder.

  “Yes, he does. But before we chat about that, I need to unload. I have played second fiddle to you my whole life. You tormented and tortured me throughout high school. I felt depressed most days and hated school because of the grief you caused to me. You treated me like your personal bitch and I was too weak, an outsider, so I had to take it. I sought ways to retaliate, to cause you as much pain as you caused me, but you were always faster and smarter.

  “And now here you sit, the high and mighty, Allen Ridley. Sitting in a cage like the animal you are, and I am happy, elated, ecstatic! There are no words to express my joy.

  “And guess what? It’s only beginning. The old man has shit planned for you I can’t even imagine. And that tool collection. Wow! There’s some wicked stuff over there.

  “Ain’t it funny? I have it all now Allen! A-L-L! Your old man’s company and your ass in a cage, an excellent way to start the year. I hope your host will let me sit in on a few of your sessions. Who knows? Maybe he will allow me to take a piece of you, a souvenir. By the looks of your hand, someone has already started.”

  “I’m sorry Jimmy. I never meant to hurt you. It was all in fun,” Allen said.

  “Fun? Fun? The humiliation? The physical pain? Not fun. You were a bully. You still are. You fired people from their jobs, hard-working people. Then you fired me. You hated me because your dad trusted me and loved me. You were jealous of me. I now have the last laugh and I will be laughing for years to come.”

  “Did you set all this up?” asked Allen.

  “Oh man, I couldn’t come up with this in my wildest dreams. I tried once before to get even with your sorry ass and failed. It’s perfect. He believes you murdered his daughter.”

  “But I didn’t do it,” Allen said.

  “Of course you didn’t. But I know who did.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Seiffert sat in his office monitoring Allen and Jimmy’s conversation.

  When Jimmy said, “but I know who did” he turned up the volume and leaned closer to the speaker.

  Seiffert looked at the photos on his desk. These were photos from the football program thirty-six years ago. He gazed at Allen and Jimmy on the screen, then back at the pictures.

  Seiffert ran over to the bookshelf and pulled out a yearbook from the same year. He flipped through the pages as he sped back to his desk to listen and watch.

  Seiffert searched the yearbook for a picture and located it seconds before Jimmy spoke again.

  How could I have been so stupid?

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  “I killed her,” Jimmy said. “I sliced her lovely, little, twelve-year-old neck.

  “My old man discovered it and covered my ass. He knew you killed your sister so convinced your dad you killed the carny girl too.

  “It all worked out pretty sweet. Harvey gave me a job and the girl’s father a basket load of money. The old man upstairs is called Seiffert, but his real name is Paul Pritchard. It took him a few years to discover your dad sent the hush-money. But once he did, he came gunning for you.

  “And now, here you sit, taking the rap for me. Sweet, huh?”

  “But how, why?” asked Allen.

  “Oh, who gives a rat’s ass about the how and why?”

  “I do,” said Allen. “If I die because of this I want to hear the whole story.” Allen stole a glance at the ceiling and the smoke detector. Allen prayed someone was there, watching and listening.

  “I don’t think you will die. But, before he’s finished with you, you will wish you were dead. The whole story? Sure. It’s not like you are going anywhere and I am the president of the company now so who cares if I’m late coming back from lunch.” Jimmy laughed.

  “Remember the week before the Lowndes game when someone vandalized the Valdosta High locker room and stole the football jerseys? Well, Allen, that was me.

  “You guys worried that you wouldn’t have anything to wear for the big game. Anyway, my old man discovered the truth. He found the jerseys hidden in my closet.

  “He loved searching my room because he was always sure he would find drugs or something. He was a ball-buster and I got my share of ass beatings, but he loved me. I’m certain of this now.”

  Seiffert listened to every word. He was
angry at himself for not realizing this sooner. Seiffert picked up the phone and called Martha. He told her to find Patrick and Dwain. He wanted them in his office immediately.

  “Dad returned the jerseys. No one but him and his partner knew I was the culprit. They lied to the Valdosta school officials and told them some kid from Lowndes High did it.

  “What my dad didn’t realize, until much later, was one jersey was still missing. It belonged to you, Allen. I’m not sure how you ended up with a jersey for the game the next week, but I had a number-seventeen Ridley-jersey, all my own.

  “My old man gave me a beating for that prank. He wanted to sock me in the face, but my mom stopped him. Dad had never hit my face before, but he was furious, the angriest I’d ever seen him. He grounded me for three months except to go to school. I was angry too, pissed at the old man for beating me. Upset because I was a prisoner in my own house.

  “The big game came and went. I didn’t get to see it. Dad said I couldn’t leave the house and he meant it, but I remember you guys handed it to Lowndes right and proper.

  “A week later the carnival came to town and I had an idea—run away and join them and leave all this behind me. A great, new, magnificent world was waiting, full of adventure, excitement. I was sure the carnival would want a guy like me—someone willing to abandon it all and follow his dreams.

  “I put on your jersey and walked to the fairgrounds. I was not running away, but becoming a new person and that person was you, Allen Ridley. I found the carnival’s management trailer and met with the owner—the same man that’s got you caged. I asked him for a job, to let me join his carnival. He laughed and gave me some lame excuse and told me no.

  “He made me livid. This man had crushed my dreams, my plans to leave Valdosta behind and begin my new life in the real world.

  “I left the carnival and as I walked out, I spotted a young girl in one of the concession areas. She was a real cutie and younger than me, pretty little thing with blond hair and budding breasts. She sat at a table reading a book.

  “I watched her for a few minutes. Then the same guy that told me no came and gave her a big hug. He told her to come home and help her mom with dinner.

  “I grew angrier by the day. I waited for the carnival’s last night and slipped out of the house again. I stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. I found socks in the clothes dryer on the way out, wrapped the knife in the socks, and put everything inside my winter coat.

  “Tom, our next door neighbor was a cool guy. He was younger than my dad and he always had booze to share with me and my friends. He owned a beat up old car and would take me anywhere. We lived over two miles from the fairgrounds, but I didn’t feel like walking. I went next door and asked Tom to drive me there.

  “I went straight to the concession area. And there she sat, at the same table, reading a book. I ordered fries from the food wagon and sat a few tables away. We must’ve sat there for an hour.

  “She got up and I followed her. She walked toward the back of the carnival grounds near the motor homes and living quarters. I caught up with her in a dark spot and grabbed her from behind.

  “My knife was already out and I reached up and slit her throat. She jerked and opened her mouth to scream but gurgling blood spewed out instead. I held her until she quit moving.

  “She was light as a pillow. I dragged her in the darkness to near the admissions booth at the rear of the carnival. The carnival was closing. Most folks had left or were walking to their cars. The rides had stopped. It was a ghost town.

  “I dragged her to right in front of the ticket booth and then grabbed the sign from inside the booth. It was blank on the reverse side. I dipped my finger in her blood and wrote the sign—’I hate Carnies and Wildcats.’

  “I hid in the darkness and waited. I wanted someone to find her body and see their terror. I wanted to see her father and witness his grief—watch him pay for not giving me a chance.

  “A few minutes passed. Some folks exited through the back gate. They didn’t notice her body, but one of their group turned and went back through the gate. She spotted the body and screamed.

  “Her scream brought people running. The police showed up, city cops, sheriff’s deputies, my dad, and his partner.

  “The girl’s dad came running through the crowd and cradled her body. I left the darkness, happy. Everything was unfolding in front of me. My dad never knew I was there, but Seiffert saw me, his eyes burned right through me. I ran and hid again.

  “I was fortunate. Faces change with time, numbers don’t. And lucky for me this face of mine has changed a lot.

  “Anyway, that’s the story. My dad figured it all out and he covered for me. He convinced Harvey you murdered her, and your old man believed it. So he tried to protect you too. I guess that what dads do, huh?

  “Harvey sent money to Seiffert anonymously. Years later, Seiffert found out who sent it. It was his final, concrete proof you did it. The jersey number, your dad’s money, they all pointed to you as the murderer.

  “Now don’t go trying to tell Seiffert any different, he wouldn’t believe you. The evidence against you, Allen my boy, is just overwhelming.

  “So, screw you, Allen Ridley and enjoy your cage, little bird! Live in your own personal hell I helped create!”

  Jimmy walked over to the wall and pressed the button.

  Tears fell on Seiffert’s desk.His whole body was trembling. Patrick and Dwain had been in the room for several minutes and they had listened too—neither of them had a dry eye. Seiffert wiped his eyes and motioned for his nephews to follow him.

  Allen did not speak, his eyes looked at the smoke detector and he prayed.

  Jimmy paced. He pressed the button again.

  Dwain, Patrick and Lewis Seiffert came down in the service elevator. They reached the basement. The doors opened and they sprinted to Jimmy.

  Dwain and Patrick pinned him against the wall the same way they pinned Allen the night before. Lewis Seiffert snapped the handcuffs on Jimmy’s hands and Dwain threw him to the ground. Seiffert put his foot on Jimmy Miller’s neck.

  Allen Ridley looked up at the green and red lights on the smoke detector and said, “Amen.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Seiffert continued to hold his foot against Jimmy’s neck. Jimmy offered no resistance. Seiffert’s eyes told Jimmy that he knew everything.

  “Well, this old fox has been chasing the wrong rabbit,” Seiffert said. “Jimmy, I hope you got a good look at this room, it was to serve a two-fold purpose for your friend Allen. The first was to compel him into admitting his guilt, the second was for punishment. We are past the first phase with you Jimmy and it’s time for phase two.”

  “Get him up and strap him down,” he said to Dwain and Patrick.

  Seiffert walked to the cage where Allen was sitting. “You shouldn’t be here for what’s about to happen, but I’m not sure I can let you go either.”

  “Just let me out of here, please. I promise I won’t say anything.”

  “What about Dottie? Shouldn’t you pay for what happened to her? You can rest here until we can agree on things. I will try and make your stay much more comfortable.”

  Allen started to answer, but Seiffert turned away and went to the table. Jimmy was lying face down on the table, his hands still handcuffed behind him. Three wide nylon straps secured him to the table, one over his upper back, another across his buttocks, the last secured the calves of his legs.

  Seiffert picked up a pair of surgical scissors from the bench. He handed them to Dwain. “Cut off his clothes. Strip him.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Seiffert called Shorty to bring a new cage from Tampa and Jimmy became Allen’s next door neighbor. Allen witnessed Seiffert’s daily punishment of Jimmy.

  Daily, Dwain and Patrick dragged Jimmy from the cage and strapped him to the table. Jimmy would always try to fight, but they were much stronger than him.

  Seiffert started with the little finge
r on the right hand, he used the same surgical shears he had used on Allen. He clipped off the finger at the joint nearest the hand. He then cleaned and stitched the wound. Seiffert amazed Allen at how well he used a needle and thread.

  He kept Jimmy pumped full of antibiotics. A few days passed and Seiffert repeated the procedure on the other hand. Jimmy screamed in pain, but he never spoke. Allen guessed he had nothing to say, no need to maintain his innocence.

  Seiffert treated Allen well. Seiffert brought a cot for Allen while Jimmy slept on the stainless steel floor of the cage. Allen had meals from Ashley’s Pub upstairs—Seiffert told him he could order anything on the menu and he did.

  Jimmy ate something resembling vomit—Allen suspected it was uneaten food from the restaurant’s garbage bin.

  Two weeks, Jimmy’s four fingers, and a tongue later, Seiffert released Allen. They went to Seiffert’s office, had drinks and chatted. Seiffert would allow Allen to return to his father’s company, but Seiffert would maintain ownership and control. They both agreed on a story to tell about Jimmy’s disappearance and Allen’s return.

  Seiffert disclosed to Allen that Marie was his niece and he insisted that she remain at the company to protect his interests. Allen promised to keep quiet about everything that had happened. As a precaution, Seiffert warned Allen if he spoke of it to anyone he would join Jimmy again downstairs.

  Seiffert made his point by sliding a jar containing Jimmy’s tongue across the desk to Allen. “This happens if you talk,” he said.

  Allen was true to his word for a few weeks. He kept his mouth shut and worked hard, but he couldn’t accept that someone else now owned the company. He was not sure how Seiffert had conned his mother into everything but the more he thought of it, the angrier he became.