“Okay.” Jim opened the passenger door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He stepped out of the car and was just about to close the door when Julie called out to him. “I hope we don’t have to go through this again, Jim. If you pull another stunt, I’ll go to a higher power. Do you understand?”
Jim nodded. A power higher than her. The Grand Chingon? The leader of the Children of the Night? “Yes,” he said. “I do. And it won’t happen again. I swear to God.”
“Good.” Julie nodded at him and Jim shut the door to her car. She pulled away, leaving him standing alone in the parking lot.
Jim stood by his car for a moment, half expecting to be conked on the head again and dragged away by Ricardo and the rest of Julie’s goons. He looked around the parking lot, rubbed his bruised face, disengaged the alarm on the Datsun and got in the car.
He started the car, and as he waited for it to warm up, he took a peak inside the envelope. There were a bundle of hundred dollar bills inside. It was hard to tell how much money she’d given him, but as he flipped through them he realized it was more than a thousand bucks. In fact, it appeared to be several thousand dollars. A drop in the bucket to the final payout, but this appeared to be a tidy sum. It would be enough to take care of some of their immediate financial problems.
He slipped the money back in the envelope and stuck it inside the inner pocket of his jacket. When he got home he would find a safe place for it.
He drove home, his mind already formulating what he was going to tell Nancy if she was up waiting for him.
*
Tuesday,4:00 AM.
When he got home he saw that all the lights were off. Unless Nancy was up sitting on the sofa in the darkened living waiting for him, everybody was asleep.
He let himself in quietly, being careful to close the door softly behind him and lock it. He slowly and carefully walked through the living room to the kitchen and turned on the light over the stove. He paused, listening for any sounds in the house.
It was silent.
As far as he could tell, Nancy was in bed fast asleep, as was Sarah.
At least they should be.
He felt a trickle of fear weave through him as he made his way through the house toward the bedrooms, being careful not to make too much noise. An ugly thought was rising to the surface, one that told him Ricardo and his posse had ignored Julie’s orders and come straight to his house after leaving the warehouse. They’d come straight here and grabbed Nancy and Sarah, spiriting them away. They were holed up somewhere, being tortured, being hurt terribly, and they knew Jim would call the police once he realized they were kidnapped because that would justify their actions to Julie. Then she’d be forced to carry out the rest of her plans and have his entire family wiped out and that’s what they really hungered for. It was the reason they were in her employment, to hurt other people. They liked it; it’s what they did. And right now they were somewhere waiting for the phone call that would give them the final word and then–
Jim stepped into the hall and peeked into Sarah’s open bedroom and released the breath he was holding as he saw his daughter’s sleeping form under the blankets, her head resting on the pillow. Jim stepped back and leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling the pain from the various blows his body had taken. Thank God Sarah is all right, he thought. Thank God.
He took a quick few steps toward the master bedroom and was relieved when he heard Nancy’s snoring. Satisfied, he stepped back down the hall toward the bathroom, closed the door and turned on the light.
A stranger stared out at him from the bathroom mirror. His hair was dirty and mussed. A large purple bruise had sprouted up along his left cheek and that side of his face was puffy. The bruising extended to his temple. He winced as he removed his coat, being careful not to let the envelope containing the cash spill out on the floor. He removed his shirt carefully and hissed in pain as he looked over the bruising along his abdomen. His body bore bruises across chest and back. There was no bruising on his stomach but it felt tender and painful when he pressed his fingers to it. It actually wasn’t as bad as he feared it would look.
He picked up his jacket and pulled out the envelope hidden in the inner pocket. He looked around the bathroom, debating where to stash it temporarily. He looked at the bathroom sink and the cabinets beneath and then, crouching down with a wince, he stashed the envelope in the back of the cabinet, directly behind a box of cleanser where it was dry. He closed the cabinet door and stood up. Tomorrow he would find a more permanent space for it. On second thought, tomorrow he would go to the bank and deposit the money. Depending on the exact dollar amount, he might have to open a second account at another bank if he had more than ten thousand dollars. He didn’t want to answer to the IRS for that much money suddenly appearing in his bank account.
Leaving the bathroom, he turned the light off and stepped carefully into the hall and stood for a moment looking in at his sleeping daughter again. He looked in at his wife; she was in a deep sleep. The sadness overwhelmed him suddenly. His throat burned. He stumbled to the living room, the images of his wife and daughter so peaceful in sleep burned in his mind. He sat down on the sofa in the darkened living room, trying to calm himself down. He could not let anything happen to them.
When he felt better he rose to his feet and quietly went to the bedroom where he skimmed down to his underwear and slid under the thin white sheet beside Nancy. He lay in bed for a while, his thoughts racing over what he’d done and how he was going to save his family, and then before he knew it his fatigue took over and he was asleep.
*
Tuesday, 11:30 PM.
“Jim! What are we going to do about Citibank?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’? They’ve just filed suit against us and you’re saying you don’t know?”
Jim sighed. It was eleven-thirty the evening following his abduction. Sarah had been put to bed two hours before and Jim and Nancy had been silently watching TV, not really paying attention to the programming. Their minds were on other things. That morning a county clerk from the Pasadena Courthouse woke him up at six-thirty with a summons to court for a lawsuit being levied against them by Sears. Ten minutes later, a similar summons had arrived from Citibank.
Jim was able to keep the news of the summonses from Nancy for most of the day; she’d been in the shower when the County Clerks arrived bearing the bad news and he’d signed them wordlessly. He wanted to tell her it was taken care of. Shortly after nine a.m., well after Nancy left for work that morning, he and Sarah went to the bank. Jim had counted the money in the envelope while Sarah was in the bathroom and saw that it was, indeed, ten thousand dollars. Nancy had asked him what happened to his face that morning and the lie slipped out easily. “A couple of drunks got into it near my station and I got caught in the middle of it. I’m okay.” Nancy had been concerned, asked if he’d seen a doctor and he’d brushed it aside. “I’m fine, really.” She’d let the matter drop and left for work and that’s when Jim sprang into action.
Once at the bank he’d quickly deposited five thousand dollars into his personal checking account (he and Nancy always maintained the same checking accounts they’d held from before their marriage), then went to another bank—First Union on Lake Street—where Sarah played with a teddy bear while Jim filled out the appropriate paperwork to open a safe deposit box. He deposited the remaining five thousand dollars inside an envelope, placed it into the box. Then they went home.
While Sarah ate lunch—tuna salad sandwich and carrots with ranch dressing—Jim called Sears and Citibank and tried to convince them to accept payments of two thousand dollars to dismiss the lawsuits. He was met by refusal. In fact, both of them demanded that the only way to avoid going to court was to immediately remit the full balance of their accounts, which was $14,874 for Citibank and $5,687 for Sears. No amount of pleading with them to accept $2,000 each would placate them. Not even $2,000 with the swift pro
mise that the remainder would be paid off in full within a week. No, they wanted the full amounts now. Jim lost his temper, told the representatives from both companies to fuck themselves, and hung up on them.
But even that wasn’t the worst of it...
That morning, Sarah had been complaining of stomach pains. This happened occasionally due to the medication she was taking. Today, however, she seemed more cranky than usual. Her skin was pale, her face looked more fatigued than normal. Then, right before lunch, she’d thrown up unexpectedly and then cried that the pain in her belly was really bad!
The pain had been so bad, he wound up taking Sarah to the closest emergency room. He’d called Nancy on the way, trying to stay calm on the drive over. Nancy had met him at the hospital, and after filling out reams of paperwork and waiting two hours in the waiting room, they’d finally seen an ER physician who, upon learning of Sarah’s medical history, immediately ordered a CT scan.
It wasn’t until their ordeal was drawing to a close that he realized he’d left both court summonses on the kitchen table where Nancy would see them. Not wanting to have her come across them when she got home without some sort of explanation, he mentioned them to her when they were getting Sarah’s prescription filled. “And you didn’t tell me?” She’d said, surprised and angry.
“I didn’t want to upset you before you left for work,” Jim said, the excuse sounding lame.
“So it’s okay to upset me now?”
“I didn’t want you to walk in and—”
“I can’t believe you would—”
“Listen, I’ll take care of it,” Jim said quickly. “I have a job coming up this weekend. The money I earn from it will be used to settle this. Everything will be okay.”
It was the first attempt at telling her about this job. He’d been debating on what to reveal, what kind of excuse to give her for an absence this weekend, and he’d been working something up in his mind off and on all day. The mention of more work didn’t register with her. “Forget it. We’ll talk about it later.”
He wound up arriving late for work, catering to Sarah’s condition, which, in his mind, had turned for the worse. The ER doctor who’d treated Sarah told them he would call tomorrow morning with the results of the CT scan. The vibe Jim had picked up from him was evident: the sudden pain in her abdomen, the vomiting, the pale skin, all pointed to one thing: the cancerous tumor in Sarah’s belly that had been shrinking had suddenly started growing again.
Julie Montenelli showed up around five, sat at the bar casually and ordered a martini. When Jim brought it to her she slipped him a ten and said, “Jack says everything is taken care of.”
Jim nodded. “Great.”
Julie offered him a smile and sipped her martini as Jim continued on with work.
When he arrived home shortly before eight-thirty Sarah was still up, watching TV in her pajamas. Nancy shot him a venomous glare as he walked in, which he ignored. His attention was riveted on Sarah, who definitely looked worse than she did yesterday. Jim managed to give Sarah a smile as he entered the house and he headed for the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat. Nancy pounced on him the minute he entered the kitchen.
Their argument scared Sarah, who started crying and ran into her bedroom. Jim stopped arguing with Nancy, who didn’t want to let the matter rest. Jim ignored her as he went into their daughter’s room and attempted to soothe her. Nancy said, “Fine, keep ignoring me, you fucking bastard!”
She went into the bathroom where he could hear her begin to lose control. He held Sarah, who cried for a while. When he was sure his daughter was calmed down, he kissed her and went back into the living room where he sat on the LA-ZY Boy. A moment later he heard the shower running. Jim settled back in the chair, wishing for a drink. When the stress became unbearable, Nancy took showers and volunteered for more overtime at the restaurant; with Jim, he wished for a drink and he volunteered overtime at the Polo Club.
After awhile Sarah came out of her bedroom. She played quietly on the floor. Despite her pale appearance, despite the fact that she looked sicker, she still wanted to play. Nancy came out of the shower. They took Sarah to bed, tucked her in, and she fell asleep. Jim took a shower, put on pajamas and entered the living room and sat on the sofa beside Nancy, who was silently watching TV.
Until eleven-thirty that night.
Now as Nancy’s words hung in the air between them like a heavy accusation, Jim struggled to come up with a solution that would satisfy her. Something, anything that would shut her up. Because he already knew what he was going to do to get them out of this mess but he couldn’t very well tell Nancy. Well, Nancy, to tell you the truth, I do have a way out of this. A very rich woman who is one of the patrons at the Polo Club gave me a job offer. It turns out she’s a devil worshipper, belongs to this big, powerful, secret Satanic organization that has ties with underground crime figures, serial killers, and other shady characters. She wants me to lead an innocent man to his murder as part of a black magic ritual. I don’t believe in the validity of their religious beliefs myself, but she’s serious about it and she’s serious about my participation. Claims it’s all part of the ritual. Anyway, get this...if I refuse to do it she claims to have power of the outcome of Sarah’s cancer, almost as if she could make it all go away if I do what she wants. Anyway, long story short, if I go through with it I’ll get three million bucks in cash. More than enough to get us out of this shithole we’re in and hire the best doctors to care for Sarah. If I don’t go through with it, Sarah gets sicker and we lose her. It's really a pretty easy gig if you think about it. I just have to lead this poor sucker somewhere and let the rest of the cult members take over. That’s it; I don’t even have to lay a hand on the guy. So what do you think? Pretty simple, right? I think it’s a no brainer. Sarah’s already taken a turn for the worse today, and I have to wonder if this is their doing. Sarah was doing well, the way this cancer came back seems like, oh, I don’t know...unholy intervention. I know I haven’t given much credence to God lately, that I’ve been in this struggle with my faith ever since all this bad shit started happening to us, but this lady...the powers she has...it’s made me a believer again. It’s taken the power of the devil, the power of black magic that has made our child sicker, to make me a believer again. How fucked up is that?
No. To do that wouldn’t work. It would make matters worse.
Instead, he just let the words tumble out of his mouth, anything to put her at temporary ease. “Listen, Nancy, we can fight this thing. We can—”
“How?” She was raising her voice. “How are we going to fight this? We haven’t received any kind of assistance or anything. They don’t care that Sarah’s got a medical condition! They don’t care that we’ve been throwing everything we make into her healthcare. They could not care less! They want their money, and that’s why they’re suing us for it!”
“We can see a lawyer—”
“Where are we going to get the money to see a lawyer?”
“Well,” He ran a hand through his hair. He’d made the suggestion automatically, thanks to the cash he’d just received from Julie. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell her about that yet. He fumbled for an answer. “There are programs out there to help people like us. Consumer Credit counseling, people like that—”
“Organizations like that don’t help you in legal matters, Jim.”
“Well, then we can file for bankruptcy.”
“Oh, sure, that sounds great!” She threw up her hands and rose from the couch. “And lose the house while we’re at it and destroy everything we’ve worked for. What a brilliant idea!”
Jim took a deep breath. She was being a smart ass now, not even bothering to consider his suggestions. To bring this up would be to initiate a fight, something he couldn’t have right now. He tried to steer around the subject. “Well, we have thirty days or so before we’re due in court. We can at least talk to a lawyer, one that specializes in cases like this.”
Nancy turned on him, face
flushed. “And where are we going to get the money to talk to one?”
“Some of them have free consultations,” Jim said. “One might be able to help us pro bono. I’ll find one tomorrow and make an appointment.”
Nancy threw her hands up in frustration. “Excuses, excuses. And meanwhile you work that shitty bartending job and – “
“You think I like slaving all night for a bunch of rich assholes?” Jim’s voice rose, his rising anger unexpected.
“You tell me! You haven’t done shit in trying to get anything that pays better.”
“Like hell, I haven’t! If all you care about is getting enough money to take care of our problems, I can have that taken care of. I just don’t want you asking me where I got it from.”
“I don’t give a fuck where you get the money. I don’t care what you have to do to get us out of this. Just do it!”
“Fine! I will.” Damn, but she was pushing his buttons.
As suddenly as Nancy’s fury overtook her, she started crying again. It broke Jim’s heart to see her like that; she looked so broken, so defeated. Far from the woman he’d met twelve years ago and fallen in love with. Now that woman was gone, leaving only a shell of the woman that stood in front of him crumbling before his eyes. Nancy covered her face in her hands and sobbed loudly, a soul-shattering cry that signified the death of her spirit.
“Nancy...” Jim dry swallowed a lump that had risen in his throat. He tried to move toward her, to take her in his arms. “Nancy...”
“No!” She cried, pulling away from him. “Just...get away from me, Jim. Just leave me alone!”
“But Nancy...” Jim could feel the heat of his own tears building up. His body felt hot and flush. “...everything’s going to be okay...”
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