Bad Karma

by Dave Zeltserman

  As he drove back to the Boulderado he kept thinking of the messages Pauline Cousins had left him. There was something about the tone of her voice that bothered him, especially her last message. Calm, but resigned. It reminded him of a jumper he’d once tried to talk down while he was on the force. He pulled over to the side of the road and tried Pauline Cousins again at her motel. When he still got no answer, he got back on the road, swung a left at the next light and drove towards Baseline Reservoir. The moon was in a waxing crescent, and with the area mostly undeveloped with no streetlights, he almost missed the Chevy Impala parked a few hundred yards from True Light’s compound. He pulled over, took a slim jim from his trunk and made his way quickly back to the Chevy. Seconds later he had the door unlocked and was checking the glove compartment. He found paperwork there showing that Pauline Cousins had rented the car. Dropping the slim jim back in his trunk, he got a flashlight, and started towards True Light’s compound in as fast a run as his bruised ribs allowed.

  The flashlight caught her face about twenty feet from True Light’s main gate. She stared wide-eyed at Shannon, the muscles tight along her mouth and jaw. Shannon lowered the flashlight and saw the knuckles on her hand bone white as she gripped a handgun. From the size and shape of it, he guessed it was a .38 caliber snub nose; more than powerful enough to knock her over if she tried firing it.

  As calmly as he could, he asked her to give him the gun, and held his hand out to her, palm up. Indecision froze her, then she took a step away. “I’m getting Melissa out of there,” she said, her voice cracking, barely above a whisper.

  Shannon looked from her to the main gate. He knew what she was trying to work up the courage for: buzz the main gate until someone came out and then use the gun to force her way in. “You need to give me more time to do things my way,” he said.

  She didn’t bother to respond—just stared straight at him, her lips pressed hard enough together to make them as bloodless as her knuckles.

  “It won’t work. You’re only going to get yourself killed, maybe a couple of other people along the way.”

  “It will work,” she said. “It has to.” In the glow of his flashlight he saw her swallow hard, saw the tenseness in her face and shoulders. Her gun arm jerked in kind of a nervous twitch and the thought flashed through his mind of her accidentally pulling the trigger and blowing off one of her toes, maybe even one of his. His own voice tightened as he told her again to hand him the gun, that he would get to Melissa without having to do it this way.

  “How?” she asked. “They won’t even let the police see her. And look at you. They did that to you yesterday, didn’t they?”

  “They did,” he admitted. “You know as well as I do there’s something very wrong about this place. But I’m going to find a crack into it, and I’m going to speak to Melissa. I promise you that.”

  “How can you possibly promise me something like that? I tried calling you today and couldn’t even get a hold of you.”

  “I’m sorry about that, but I was out of state today working on another case.” He smiled good-naturedly at her. “I do have good instincts sometimes. I knew you were here, didn’t I?”

  The resolve bled out of her as she thought about that. Shannon saw the change in her eyes, stepped forward, and gently took the gun from her hand. He was right; it was a .38 snub nose. He cracked open the cylinder and dropped the bullets into his hand.

  “Where’d you get the gun?”

  “I asked around and found a pawnshop in Denver that was willing to sell it to me.”

  He grimly studied one of the bullets. It was a hollow point. She would’ve done a lot of damage if she had gotten in there. He dropped the bullets into his pants pocket.

  “Let’s get back to your car,” Shannon said as he lightly held onto her arm, both supporting and guiding her.

  “They could be doing anything to Melissa in there,” she said, half under her breath. “I can’t feel a connection to her anymore. I have no idea if she’s even still alive.”

  Something furry and thin, maybe a foot and a half long, darted past their feet. Shannon flashed his light on it as it scuttled away into some underbrush, and saw from its tail and the shape of its head that it was a weasel.

  “Let’s keep the faith that she’s okay,” he said to her. “And I have someone in the FBI helping me with this. We’re going to get to Melissa. Until then, maybe you should go back to Portland and be with your husband.”

  “If I went back home now I’d kill him. I can’t believe I let him bully me for six months not to do anything. No, I’m staying in Boulder until I see Melissa.”

  They arrived back to her car. Shannon watched as she got into the driver’s seat. “You going to be okay driving back?” he asked. She nodded, her face bloodless and frail. “I’ll hold onto the gun for now,” Shannon told her.

  He went back to his car, reloaded the .38 and hid it under his spare tire, then followed Pauline Cousins down Baseline until she turned onto 28th Street. Satisfied that she’d make it to her motel in one piece, he headed back to the Boulderado Hotel. He checked the dashboard clock, and saw that somehow he was going to be on time.

  Susan was waiting for him in their room. The tee shirt and cutoff jeans she wore accentuated all the wonderful curves of her small, slender body. She flashed him a dazzling smile as she gave him a hard embrace and even harder kiss. Stepping back, she placed her palms lightly on his face and studied him. “Your swelling’s gone down,” she said, her smile more of a playful kind. “You almost look presentable. Have an eventful day?”

  “Thanks, and yeah, I did,” he said laughing. “Damn, it’s good to see you.” He picked her up, spun her around in the air several times, kissing her again on the mouth, then on the neck and earlobe. Dropping her to the floor, he leaned back in and sniffed her hair.

  “You haven’t been smoking pot, have you?” he asked.

  Her smile changed from playful to something wry. “Of course not, my darling. Since when in all the years you’ve known me have I ever smoked pot?”

  He made a hmmm noise, his brow furrowed deeply. “I was thinking we could eat at the hotel tonight,” he muttered, still distracted by Susan’s thin Cheshire-cat grin and the odor he picked up from her hair.

  “We could do that. I was kind of in the mood for pizza, though.”

  “Pizza it is, then,” Shannon said.

  They were out of the room and walking down the hallway when it hit him what that odor was. Their eyes met as he turned to her, Susan still grinning her Cheshire-cat grin.

  “You went to the Vishna yoga studio,” he said.

  “That’s right, hon. I was going to surprise you about it later–”

  “Damn it, Susan, what the hell were you thinking?” He stopped himself and swallowed back the rest of what he wanted to say. “What’s done is done, but you’re not going back there,” he said in a more controlled voice.

  Susan stared at him with what could’ve been mistaken for amusement if he overlooked the intensity burning in her dark brown eyes. “Hon,” she asked, “how long have we known each other?”

  “A long time,” he admitted.

  “Since I was eighteen. Over sixteen years.”

  He nodded.

  “Do you think now’s the time to start ordering me around?”

  “Sue, these people are dangerous. This is not something you should be fooling around with.”

  “Hon, I think I can make my own decisions. Besides, all I’m doing is going to a yoga studio on the Hill. If by doing that I can help you, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “Sue, please–”

  She took hold of his hand, gave it a squeeze. “Darling,” she said, “I can take care of myself. You should know that by now.”

  He nodded. What he knew was that there was no point trying to talk her out of it. He couldn’t help feeling a sick twisting in his stomach at the idea of her going there. “Just promise me going to that yoga studio is all you’ll do,” he said.
“If they invite you to True Light’s compound–”

  She got up on her toes and kissed him lightly on his nose, stopping him. “I promise you, hon, that’s all. Nothing else. So stop worrying, okay?” She shook her head, laughing. “I can’t believe that smell’s still in my hair. When I got back today I washed my hair for twenty minutes trying to get it out.”

  “What is that smell? Are they smoking pot down there?”

  She opened her eyes wide in mock surprise. “Oh, now you want my information?”

  “Susie, my darling, quit being coy. You already put me through the wringer, remember?”

  “I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry about that. I know you’re just worried, and maybe a bit overprotective. Which is sweet. To answer your question, they’re burning incense.”

  “That’s all it is?”

  “That’s all, but boy is it powerful. They have it burning all over the room fogging it up. The stuff gave me a headache the whole time I was there. Why don’t we wait ’til dinner and I’ll tell you more about it.”

  They decided to go to a pizza place on Pearl Street. The night air had gotten cooler and Susan hung close to Shannon, keeping an arm around his waist. As they walked, her hip brushed against his with almost every step. Shannon expected to see more people on the outdoor mall for a Thursday night, but at that hour it was quiet, mostly just college kids gathered around and a few transients bumming for money. When they were half a block from the restaurant, he spotted Eddie sitting alone under a streetlamp studying a chess position. Given his rapt attention to the chess board and the way the lamp illuminated his heavily-lined face, he could’ve been mistaken for an antique wooden carving that had been dressed up in jeans, work boots and an army jacket. Shannon pointed him out to Susan and told her that he knew the guy and needed to talk to him, but that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Susan was fine with it, and joined Shannon as he walked over to Eddie.

  Shannon stood quietly for a minute or two studying the position, then told Eddie that white could force a bishop advantage in five moves. The older man looked up, a bit startled, then chuckled softly as he recognized Shannon.

  “Caught me by surprise,” he said. “I guess in your line of work you get good at sneaking up on folk.” He noticed Susan, quickly tested his upper plate with his thumb to make sure it was in place, then nodded solemnly as if he were tipping a hat. “Ma’am,” he said.

  Susan laughed good-naturedly. “Ma’am?” she said. “I guess there’s a first time for everything. Just call me Susan.”

  “My ex-wife,” Shannon explained with a wink. “Eddie, I thought you were taking up shop at the student center?”

  “I have. Completely dead there tonight so I thought I’d catch some of this cool night air. Mostly dead here also. Reeled in a couple of guppies earlier, neither of which were worth the bother of filleting.” He breathed in noisily through his nose. “I love the smell of this mountain air. One of the reasons I moved back to Boulder.” He gave Shannon a quick one-eyed look. “If this lovely woman’s your ex-wife, then I gave you far too much credit for being bright last time we met.”

  “We’re in the process of reconciling,” Shannon explained. “Any luck finding that girl?”

  “Don’t you think I would’ve called you if I had?” he said, his tone turning cantankerous.

  “I guess that was a stupid question.”

  “Won’t argue with you there.”

  “Then let me quit while I’m ahead. How about I stop by the student center Saturday for the rematch I promised. Think you’ll be there in the afternoon?”

  Eddie said that he would, then grudgingly asked Shannon to show him the sequence of moves forcing a bishop advantage. Shannon played them out quickly.

  “Why in the world am I bothering with a rematch?” Eddie groaned as he rolled his eyes upward. “I should just put a sign on my back and ask people to kick me.” He continued to stare skyward, as if searching for divine intervention, then mumbled something to himself about being the world’s dumbest mud-sucking bottom-dwelling fish. He remembered Susan standing there, apologized for his salty language and nodded again towards her, once more giving the impression of tipping an imaginary hat. “Pleasure meeting you, ma’am,” he said. With that he locked his stare back onto his chessboard as if that was all that existed in the universe.

  As they walked away, Shannon explained that Eddie was one of his many minions doing his dirty work. “He’s looking for an ex-member of True Light that he ran across a week ago. I’m paying his fee in chess games –”

  Susan interrupted him by slapping him in the stomach. “Ex-wife?” she exclaimed.

  “Factually correct.”

  “You could’ve introduced me as your friend! And what’s with this reconciling business? We’ve been back together almost four years!”

  “I’m not introducing you as my friend,” he said. “That would be a joke with what you mean to me.” He paused, then added. “And you know that anytime you want to get the ex removed from my introductions, I’m more than happy to accommodate you.”

  “I know that.” Susan touched his arm. “But it would just be a piece of paper, hon. It wouldn’t change that you already have my heart and soul, and that nothing’s keeping me from spending the rest of my life with you.”

  Shannon nodded and squeezed her hand resting on his arm. Up until then he had resisted mentioning the idea of them getting remarried, sensing Susan’s reluctance to upset what they had. He understood her reason: that they were happier now than they’d ever been during their ten year marriage, but a big part of it was that they no longer had the specter of Charlie Winters hanging over them. As he looked at her, he also saw the thought flicker across her eyes—that if they were married again, it might bring back memories of Winters that she’d so far been able to block out.

  He reached down and kissed the tip of her nose. “Maybe I’ll just start introducing you as my better half.”

  “Are you okay with that?” she asked, her eyes searching deep into his. He nodded. She returned the kiss, catching him hard on the mouth. “Let’s get some pizza then. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

  After they got seated at the restaurant, they ordered a deep dish pie, half broccoli for Susan, half garlic and olive for Shannon. When he ordered his half, she raised an eyebrow and commented on how he better be damn good in bed if he expected to get lucky that night.

  “I’m planning on my irresistible animal magnetism to do the trick,” he said. She got a laugh out of that. As they waited for their pizza, he told her about Linda Gibson. “That poor girl,” she said when he had finished. The empathy in her eyes brought a lump to his throat. At that moment, she was probably never more beautiful. “You don’t think her parents could be responsible for her death?”

  “I’m sure in some way they’re responsible,” Shannon said. “Maybe not in actually killing her, but in screwing her up enough for her to end up with a guy like Taylor Carver. Maybe I’m prejudging him, but from what I’ve heard so far he was a piece of work.”

  “But do you think they could’ve actually killed her themselves? Or hired someone?”

  “I don’t know. It would take someone pretty monstrous to do that, but then again it would take someone pretty monstrous to abuse their own daughter, and probably no less monstrous to turn a blind eye to it for years and let it happen. It’s possible they’re directly responsible. I’m sure they were worried about Linda telling more people about what they did to her. Anyway, if the police dig deeper, they’ll know one way or another if they’re involved.”

  “And if Gibson abused his other daughter?”

  “Then at least they’ll be able to prosecute him. Unfortunately, the mother will get off scot-free in any case.”

  The waitress brought over their pizza. Shannon was starting his first slice when he caught Susan eyeing his half of the pizza. Somewhat sheepishly she asked about trading slices. “Only because I don’t want you feeling self-consciou
s later about your garlic breath,” she explained with a straight face. Shannon sighed, took one of her slices in exchange even though he hated broccoli.

  “You were going to tell me about that yoga studio?”

  She finished a bite of the garlic and olive pizza, wiped tomato sauce from the side of her mouth with her finger and licked it. Shannon loved watching her eat. There was so much enjoyment there. It also amazed him how someone as small and slender as Susan could pack away so much.

  “Emily and I were talking this morning and we both thought it would be a good idea,” she said.

  “It figures.”

  “Now don’t start up! You want to hear what I have to say or don’t you?”

  Shannon sighed, nodding.

  “Okay, then.” She stopped to take another bite of her slice. After she chewed it and brushed some crumbs from her mouth, she went on, “Emily tried joining first, but they wouldn’t let her. I figured that was because she came across as her normal, self-confident, blustery self. They told her that they couldn’t help her and insisted that she leave. When I tried joining, I made myself into a victim. I have no one, my life is falling apart, I don’t know what else to try, oh poor me. I even cried a few crocodile tears. You would’ve fallen over in your seat if you could’ve seen my performance.”

  “How about another performance later tonight? Cheerleader and the tough guy detective? I’ll see if I can score you some pom-poms.”

  “Dream on, hon. Anyway, for seventy-nine dollars a month they welcomed me into the fold. What a bargain, huh?”

  “Hmmm,” Shannon said.

  “That’s the second time tonight you’ve done that! What’s this hmmm about?”

  “I’m not so sure that it was strictly your act that got you accepted and Emily the heave ho.”

  “Heave ho, huh?” Susan remarked, smiling. “I think you’ve been watching too many Three Stooges shorts, buster!”

  “Alright. Rejected, bounced, booted out the door, sayonara sister. I think you got in and Emily didn’t because you physically fit the mold of what they’re looking for, Emily doesn’t.”