No More Birthdays (Carol Ann Baker Crime)

by Pelzer,Lissa

  ‘Hey!’ she shouted. ‘Hey - Guy!’

  Nothing.

  Fuck.

  She reached out. His feet were somehow misshapen. His toes arched in the wrong places. She didn’t want to touch him, but she grabbed his foot and shook it anyway.

  ‘Hey. Wakey - wakey.’

  Nothing.

  Then she saw it, the empty glass on the cupboard. Maybe it was hers. She went over and sniffed it and smelt the treacly aroma of whiskey and coke. It wasn’t hers. Then she saw the empty water bottle too.

  ‘Fuck me,’ she said out loud.

  The guy groaned. He lifted his hand like a mummy in a horror film and then it dropped. Then he let out the longest, loudest fart. She saw his stomach deflate and his feet turn outwards. She waited, her heartbeat in her ears. But he was done.

  Lilly backed off into the bathroom, her shoulders up by her ears. She left the door open so she could keep an eye on him while she ran the water and sprayed herself out. Thank God he passed out. The Ambiens must have kicked in. He must have just tapped out right in the middle of trying to… But she was thinking too, why let him get away with that? Lilly approached him still dripping.

  Why should he be able to do that just because he was stronger, because he had the money and the room and she didn’t?

  Why shouldn’t she hurt him right now, because she was awake and he wasn’t?

  She picked up the heavy feather pillow. Its crisp white cover hadn’t been touched and a line ran down the middle from the laundry press.

  It would be so easy.

  She came up to his face, to where his breath was traveling in and out, invisibly giving him life as it had done since the day he was born. He was passed out. It would be over - just like that.

  Her elbows dropped. It should be enough to know she could. She wasn’t some psychopath. She was a lady. Bobby had told her, she was a lady. Ladies didn’t go around killing people, no matter what level of asshole they were. That’s what guy’s like Bobby were for. That’s what ex-hitmen did. If a lady was insulted, they took care of it. She threw the pillow down to the side and it landed with a satisfying plop.

  She went into his wardrobe and took out a shirt and shorts, took his key card from the side and headed out to grab her bag.

  Chapter 4

  The door to the elevator pinged open and Lilly thought for a moment she was on the wrong floor. The lobby was practically deserted, just a couple checking-in and a janitor pushing a floor buffer around. She took out her phone. It was two o’clock in the morning.

  How the hell was it two o’clock in the morning?

  She stood there, turning in place, trying to think what to do.

  ‘Good night!’ chirped the woman on reception. It was the same one from before but she didn’t seem to recognize her. She was just being a bitch because she thought this was a walk of shame.

  ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes, just need to get something out of the car.’ Lilly lifted a finger to her as a sort of salute, brought her hand back down on the brim of the hat. The woman lowered her face, but still watched her go past. She’d just get her bag from under the bench and get back in. She’d call Bobby’s room from this guy’s room once she got back in, tell him they’d gone to dinner or something. Bobby would be awake, or half awake. He was old. Old people didn’t sleep that deeply. And they’d work something out and somewhere to meet up tomorrow.

  Lilly stepped around the pillar, past a bank of couches that made a small sitting area and there she saw her. Davis was sitting there, her over-tanned, gnarled hands holding a newspaper up in front of her scrawny, old face as if it was four in the afternoon.

  ‘And where are you off to at this time of night, Carole Ann?’

  No intro, no explanation – just straight out with the questions, like they’d seen each other a few minutes ago, like the last time Lilly had seen Davis, the woman hadn’t tried to get her sent home.

  Lilly touched her face, felt the sting from where the guy had caught her with his shoulder and knew she needed to keep her distance. ‘I’m just off to get something out of the car.’

  ‘You’ve got a driver’s license now?’

  ‘A friend’s car.’

  Davis blinked. She was like one of those recording panels on a police interview room desk. Click! Recording. Taking everything in as fact. Friend’s car – Click!

  ‘And this is where you two have a room? It’s very nice. It looks expensive.’

  She really didn’t want to be having this conversation within earshot of the receptionist. Maybe she hadn’t recognized her yet, but if they kept on like this then she definitely would. Lilly came round to the side of the couch, sat herself down on the arm as if it was the easiest thing in the world, with Davis there, less than a foot away from her. ‘It is nice isn’t it?’ she said quietly.

  But Davis was in no mood to be subtle. ‘Are you staying with Bobby Alvin?’ The name rang out across the marble floors.

  ‘No… I’m staying with a friend. We have a room. Like I said.’

  ‘No connection to Bobby Alvin?’

  Lilly picked at the hair that had dried on the back of her neck. ‘No. None. What’s it to you?’

  Davis shook out her newspaper, made a big show of turning the page as if this conversation was only half of what she had going on at that very moment. Probably it was. How long had she been sitting there waiting for Bobby to show up? And just what did she expect him to do while she did sit there? He wouldn’t do any deals in the bar anyways. It was just contacts in public, everything else would be arranged over the phone.

  ‘I’m just being curious,’ Davis said. ‘You’re practically an adult now. You can do whatever you like.’

  So she remembered her date of birth off the top of her head or at least the Miami-Dade police had on record for her.

  ‘And when are you leaving here?’ Davis asked.

  ‘Leaving to go where?’

  ‘Home.’

  ‘Home, Kentucky or home, Miami?’

  ‘Either one would do me. I’d just like to know.’

  ‘I’ve got things here I need to take care of and then…’

  ‘Here, in The Colorado District during Flickerama? Are you thinking of going into show business?’

  ‘Why not?’

  Davis lowered her paper. She fixed Lilly with a stare that she’d seen plenty of times over the opposite side of that table. Usually accompanied by the threat that Davis didn’t like to be played with, that if she wanted to play games she could play them with the cops back in Kentucky.

  But this time she said, ‘I’d like to talk to you.’

  ‘What for? I haven’t done anything.’

  ‘Not like that, just talk, catch up…Things have changed, haven’t they? I’m interested in what you’re up to here. I’m just looking out for you, that’s all.’

  Lilly could have laughed. ‘I’m kind of busy right now.’ Everyone was just looking out for you. That’s the reason they wanted to be near you, just to be nice. That guy wanted to give her somewhere to drink a beer. Davis wanted to play Mom. ‘Thanks but no thanks.’

  ‘Come on now. We go back a ways. Doesn’t that count for anything? I’ve known you since you were fourteen.’

  Lilly smirked. Fifteen.

  ‘But perhaps I’ll catch you again sometime.’

  Was that a joke? She forced herself to stand up. She felt the wrench of damaged tissue pressing inside her and put her hand to her stomach. ‘Yeah,’ she said coolly. ‘See you around.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll still be here when you get back,’ Davis said and went back to her reading.

  Out on the street, they were cleaning up, too. Guys with big trashcans were shoveling up the broken plastic with brooms three feet across. Someone was hosing down the sidewalk and Lilly rushed down, as much as she could, towards the park. If they’d hosed the park down, all her stuff would be trashed. She cut past the stage, dark now with all the lights off and looming like a dinosaur’s skeleton over the street and
down the side street. She looked under the wrong bench the first time and half freaked before she saw Bobby’s rental car further down. Her bag was fine. She dug her hand right down to check everything was still there.

  ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ A fat security guard shone his flashlight on her and she took off running.

  Davis was true to her word. She was still there on the couch but didn’t look up. When the woman on reception stared at her, Lilly just turned away. But as she got to the elevator a big guy in a gray uniform stepped out. She’d seen him before, serious, despite the thin, red and gold ropes on his cuffs and collar and the brassy buttons down his front.

  He spoke quietly. ‘Miss, are you a guest at this hotel?’ It was a gentle tone you only ever hear out of really big men.

  ‘Of course I am.’ She took out her card, showed it, but didn’t offer it to him. ‘Room 207.’ She reached for the button, felt the slight inward curve of its surface and half expected him to slap her hand away, but he didn’t.

  ‘Miss, you’ll have to come with me to register at reception.’

  ‘Do you mind if I do that tomorrow…Only it’s kind of late.’

  ‘I’ll have to insist.’

  ‘I’ll come down tomorrow.’

  He took a hold of her arm. It was a strong grip, but as gentle as if he was holding a pet mouse. ‘We better get this straightened out.’ He looked at her like he knew she wouldn’t protest, like he knew she wasn’t the type of girl to be so petty as to demand he stop touching her.

  ‘Fine. Come on.’ She kept her voice down too. She didn’t want Davis to turn around and get a free show.

  The woman at reception was playing it dumb. ‘If I could just take a copy of your state ID.’

  ‘Come on. You know already that I don’t have it. What’s the game?’

  ‘You see - the problem is we can’t allow unregistered guests here at The Colorado Palace.’

  Lilly let her bag drop down to the floor. This was like a bad case of déjà-vu. ‘So what are you going to do about it?’

  ‘If you would just like to call up to your room and ask your friend to come down and sign you in…’ The woman placed the phone on the counter. ‘We can leave it then till the morning.’ She dialed the number and passed the phone to her.

  Lilly took it, put it to her ear and let it ring for four beats just like at school when they would make her call her mother to come and pick her up. ‘No answer,’ she mouthed, but the woman kept looking at her.

  She put the phone down.

  The receptionist rolled her bottom lip up over her teeth. Why didn’t she just let her go?

  The big guy spoke. ‘I could go upstairs with her, ascertain that she has permission to be in the room.’

  The woman shook her head. ‘He’ll still need to come down and sign her in, and I have a strong suspicion he’d be too afraid to do that.’

  A look passed between them.

  ‘Don’t you have any ID?’

  ‘I told the lady already, I lost my other purse.’

  ‘Jeez…’ The big guy put his hand to his chin. ‘Where’s home, Honey?’

  ‘Miami Beach!’ She smiled at him. It was the place most mid-westerners dreamed of. When she told people she lived in Miami Beach, they usually started treating her with a little more respect.

  But he didn’t seem too impressed. ‘So, no chance you will just go home tonight? You don’t know anyone else in town that you could stay with?’

  ‘I do, but the point is, I’m staying here.’

  ‘Where are you parents? Are they in town?’

  ‘My parents? No,’ she said. ‘They’re not here right now. And what the hell do they have to do with anything? Are your parents in town?’

  The big guy let out a big sigh. ‘Search me,’ he said to the woman. ‘You want to call the police?’

  ‘The police! What have I done?’

  ‘You haven’t done anything honey, but you’re out in the city at two in the morning, with what seems like no place to stay. We can’t just kick you out. Anything could happen to you.’

  ‘Then let me in my room. I have a key! Don’t act like you care what happens to me, if you did, you would just let me go upstairs and go to bed.’

  The woman behind the desk was looking at this big guy. He nodded and she picked up the phone.

  ‘Maybe I can help with this.’ Davis stepped forward from wherever she’d been hiding. Her shirt glistened under the downward lights of the reception, but her face had given up trying.

  ‘I’m sorry for the disturbance ma’am,’ the big guy said. ‘It’s really nothing to concern yourself with.’

  ‘Only, I know this young lady… I’m also from the Miami-Dade vicinity.’

  Why did she have to say it like that? She was always making it so clear that she was a cop. Nobody ever said they were from Miami-Dade. They were from Miami Beach, or Coral Gables or Homestead. Both of them were looking at Davis now, waiting for her to explain herself.

  ‘I’m willing to take responsibility for her. There’s no need to involve the local authorities. I have accommodation at The Plan 8 Hotel, so she’ll be looked after.’

  The woman didn’t really know what to say, there was Davis crashing in on her game, her chance to fuck with Lilly to get back at some pretty, bitchy girl from her past, but the big guy was the type who could talk to anyone.

  ‘Ma’am, I hope you’re not getting involved because you’re worried that some harm will come to her. If we had the police come down here, it would only be to make sure she got home safe.’

  And then Davis did it. In case anyone was in any doubt about it, she pulled out her badge and slapped it on the counter. The thing sparkled and both their eyes got big like it was made out of solid silver. For a second Lilly was proud, them thinking they were calling the shots and now this wrinkled, prune of a woman, who looked like a divorcee at a family Christmas party had stopped their mouths. The badge said ‘Detective’ and people didn’t expect someone who looked like Davis looked right now, to be a detective.

  ‘If you’re happy to let this thing go, I’m happy to see she gets somewhere to sleep and gets home alright,’ Davis said.

  ‘I’d still like to call our local department.’ The receptionist spoke out of the side of her face.

  ‘By all means.’

  ‘Your call,’ the big guy said. ‘But, I’m thinking, she could just walk out right, it’s not like we could stop her. She hasn’t done anything.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Lilly put in and she tried her luck with him. ‘Will you walk me upstairs? I left some things in the room.’ Thinking, once the door was shut, what were they going to do about it?

  The big guy was considering it, but Davis shook her head.

  ‘We’ll come by for them in the morning.’

  That’s how she was, kind of okay but not really.

  ‘I hope John doesn’t mind, I’ve stolen his clothes,’ she said coming down the steps. ‘Because that’s pretty much what I’ve done, but I guess I could tell him that a cop made me do it.’

  Davis was already walking away.

  ‘They look pretty expensive too. I think this shirt is Lacoste.’

  Davis walked down the street like a child wearing her mother’s high heel shoes. ‘Is that his name?’ she asked over her shoulder, ‘John?’

  It could be.

  ‘I’ll have to go back there in the morning and see him. He has my Republic shorts. That’ll be awkward. It would have been much easier if I’d just gone up while he was sleeping.’

  Davis stopped in the middle of the road. ‘Is that how you got up here Carol Ann, with that guy?’

  ‘Is that how you know someone’s a friend?’

  Davis bent over and pulled at the heel of one of her shoes. ‘Damn it,’ she said. Maybe she’d broken it, maybe it just hurt. ‘I wish you had come up here with him. I wish he drove you up here in a nice convertible…’

  Lilly shook her head. She’d never understand these people. There
was no point trying. ‘I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I’ll just say thanks and have a nice evening.’

  Davis straightened up. ‘And where do you think you’re going?’

  ‘What, you weren’t serious?’ She looked her over. It was two o’clock on Saturday morning. In Davis’s eyes, she turned eighteen tomorrow. Even Davis wouldn’t consider taking her in for the sake of one day. ‘You don’t expect me to go back to your hotel, to sleep in your room with you, do you?’

  ‘I’ve got two beds. Doesn’t it sound good to you, to lie down in a proper bed, turn the A/C on, wrap yourself up in a blanket, get a good night’s sleep? I know it sounds good to me.’

  Lilly stopped.

  It might have been perfect. It would keep Davis off Bobby’s back for the night. He’d have to appreciate that, but somehow she doubted Davis was going to stand by tomorrow while she got dressed up to go out and see him. And what about that bed and some sleep? She knew what would happen, she’d start on her again, once she was half asleep, like guys do when they know your defenses are down, poking you in the back so you’ll do anything to get some rest.

  ‘I’m not tired,’ Lilly said.

  ‘It’s the middle of the night.’

  ‘So what? I slept on the way into town, I slept all the way from Atlanta,’ she lied.

  ‘What were you doing in Atlanta…?’

  ‘We stopped for gas in Atlanta.’

  Davis rubbed her forehead. The wrinkles on her head suddenly deepened. She must have been more tired than Lilly had thought.

  ‘You took the bus…’ she said slowly like it meant something.

  Lilly ignored her. What did it matter how she got here?

  ‘Either you did or you didn’t, but it’s a long trip. So you must be hungry, you want to eat instead?’

  She did want to eat, but that wasn’t justification enough. At least it would keep Davis out of the hotel lobby and away from Bobby

  ‘Sure,’ Lilly said. ‘I could go for a salad.’ And she looked at her waiting on Davis to suggest somewhere to go but it had to be Denny’s.

  Denny’s was the only place open at two in the morning.

  Chapter 5