Chatters on the Tide

by Robert Mitchell, Jr

  ***

  They were right not to like it too, Tonya thought, coming back to the here and now, reclining on the sofa drinking an RC Cola with Jack Daniels. Too late now, she thought. The rings are cash. It’s in the past.

  The cards were on the end table wrapped in a chiffon scarf of teal and aqua. She stared at them. There had been a time when she believed the cards didn’t lie, when she was a teenager and read for fun. She wondered at exactly what point she had changed her mind. Probably somewhere between the thousands of readings she had done, maybe at a flea market, or at a bar room booth sticky with beer, maybe in a crappy trailer like this one. For sure it was long before the reading at the old lady’s house with the little firebox full of cash hidden by a green glass collection.

  And then that reading at Lucas’ place had to come along, it just had to be true, as dead on as a reading gets. It made her feel like a teenager staying up half the night sneaking cigarettes and playing with an Ouija board at church camp. She told herself to stick to the plan, to ignore that one freaky reading. That’s why she had joined the club in the first place. As soon as she heard about the Legion of Kronos she had known it was a garden full of suckers ripe for the picking, and she had been right. Don’t cool off now, keep that fire burning. Brenda’s coming, time to flip the last card.

  She heard the bike pull up out front, and she starting getting ready.

  When Brenda came in, she redirected her eyes from the deck. It was an expression Brenda hadn't seen before. Normally Tonya’s eyes were gray paving stones broken by chunks of brown, reminding her of aggregate rock or concrete. As Brenda approached and knelt on her knees in front of Tonya, they seemed more like washers of rusted steel, and they were leaking lubricant.

  "What's up?"

  "Aw honey," she said, putting her fingers in Brenda's hair, "the police were here earlier. They were asking about the rings.."

  "You gotta be shittin' me," Brenda said. "That’s too damn fast. I can’t believe those idiot bikers called the cops. You know damned well they didn’t come by those rings legal.”

  “I don’t know who called them, but they came,” Tonya said.

  “What do they think they know?" Brenda asked.

  "I don't know honey, but they have your name."

  "What...what did they say? What did they want to know?"

  "Well, “Tonya said, “They wanted to know where you were, and I told them that you were working a temp job in town and you'd be there until tomorrow afternoon. I said you were staying with friends there because it was such a long drive and all."

  "What'd they say?"

  "They asked for a phone number," Tonya said, "and when I told them I didn't have one for you, they said they were going to come by tomorrow. What are we gonna do?"

  "I don't know what we're gonna do yet. I need to know more. What else did they say?"

  "Hold on, let me think," she said. "I'm so nervous, it's not like me, but I'm shaking..."

  Brenda took her hand and said, "Chill out. If they knew everything they would've come by with a warrant. Relax. Think."

  Tonya finished her drink and sat up straight on the sofa. "They wanted to know where you were that night, and I said you were here with me. Of course they got my name and everything. They asked me what hours I work, where I work, a ton of questions about me that made me a wreck. Lots of questions about us, like how long I've known you, how long I've been living here, our relationship, crap like that..."

  "Perfect," Brenda said. "They were fishing. They don't have anything. Some C.I. dropped a little verbal vomit and they're picking through it, that's all. But we gotta take precautions."

  "Like what?" she asked.

  "Well, I can't disappear, that'll just fire 'em up," Brenda said. "I'm sorry sweet thing, but you're going to have to go away for awhile, but not until after tomorrow..."

  "What?"

  "Just listen. When they come by, tell them you lied about my alibi, I was a no show and you're sick of it, and you're leaving me. When they hear that, they are going to stake out this place, maybe even get a search warrant. I will get all of the attention, and you'll be out of it."

  "What about you?" she asked. "I know I'm a bitch most of the time, but I don't want to be away from you..."

  "Hold on, hold on," Brenda said. "You leave and take the money. They'll figure if you had been involved you wouldn’t have stayed. If they come back with a warrant they won't find squat, because you have all the cash."

  "That'll work?" Tonya asked.

  "Look," she said, "you're a tough cookie and all, but I been in this place lots of times. No big deal to me. Go stay with Linda. I'll call you there."

  "Aw crap!" Tonya said. "What if they're watching the place right now?"

  "Naw, that's you watching too much Cagney & Lacy. They got case loads, rapists and killers to catch. It's just a theft, not a piece of work, you know? They won't stake nothing out until they’re sure. But just in case, I'm going to leave so they'll think you were honest with 'em about where I was."

  "I know I'm hard on you sometimes,” Tonya said, reaching out and touching Brenda's face, "but times like these I wish I wasn't. You make me feel so safe."

  Brenda tensed, turned her cheek away from the caress, conscious of the birthmark there and not wanting to be. She looked down, and Tonya pulled her face into her breast bone, combing her hair with long, natural nails. Brenda relaxed finally, enjoying the hug, the warmth, and the taste of Tonya's perfume.

  The hug gave birth to a kiss, and the kiss begat touches and more kisses. This was not like Tonya. She was the most controlling person Brenda had ever met, and even though Tonya had never seen the inside of a prison, her skills would have made Brenda's most hardened bunkmates shiver. Second guesses and doubts contrasted with honest love, shadows of guilt sewn to the feet of her feelings.

  "I love you," Brenda said, and it was so quiet she wasn't sure she had been heard until Tonya echoed it back. Brenda had been here before, had made partners of all kinds, in bed, in business, in backrooms and basements, and sooner or later they all disappeared when the sun moved its course. Even though she wanted to see Tonya's face, she kissed her over and over with her eyes shut so that she couldn't see the reflection of her own face in Tonya's eyes. With lids clamped down, Brenda could imagine that her face carried no mark, that the sun would stand straight overhead and stay there, casting no shadows.