"I hope so... It makes sense, right? If they were doing a big drug deal that went bad and the drugs are there wouldn't the money be there too," Billy said.
"Or," April said. "If it went bad maybe they were trying to rip the guy off... Maybe they had no money."
"Maybe," Billy agreed reluctantly. He sipped at the beer, got up and went back to the window. The guy was gone. He walked to the front door just in time to hear the door slam and the motor start on the car the guy was driving. He watched through the peephole until the car turned out of the driveway and headed down the road. He turned to April and shrugged.
"Try again?" he asked. She followed him back to the bedroom once more.
~
They decided on the blue duffel bag that Billy had pulled from the floorboard of the Ford. The bag was a mess, something he hadn't noticed at the time, and April made him take it to the shower and clean off the outside of the dark blue nylon first.
Ten bricks of the duct tape wrapped stuff that Billy assumed was cocaine, two more of the flat black hand guns. Several spare clips and boxes of 9 mm ammunition, and two thick wads of bills, rubber banded. They appeared to be all one hundred dollar bills. Billy handed them over to April to count, while he pulled out his pocket knife and dug into the side of one of the bricks. Brown instead of white.
"Heroin," he said as he showed April.
She raised her eyebrows.
"Worth more than coke anyway," Billy said. He dug into the remaining bricks. Two more were heroin and the remaining bricks were cocaine He closed the holes with pieces of the duct tape they were wrapped with.
"Jesus," April said. "There's almost eighty thousand dollars here."
Billy looked at her and licked his lips. He added the other four bricks he had grabbed from the trunk of the car. Two were cocaine, the other two heroin. "Six and Eight," Billy told her. "There has to be close to a quarter mil. here... At least... I don't really even know what something this big sells for."
April picked up the paper bag from the glove box. It felt like something was rolled up inside the bag. Solid... A brick shape, but smaller than the other bricks... More cash maybe, she thought. She unrolled the bag and shook it out. Two smaller bundles of cash, again all hundreds, and a wallet. She handed the wallet to Billy as she counted the cash.
"Ben Neo," Billy said aloud. He pulled a thick wad of cash from the wallet and handed it to April.
"Ben Neo?" she asked.
"The dude," Billy explained. "License, credit cards... That cash. A key," he said, holding up a brass key.
"Probably his house," April said. "Where's he live?"
"Rochester... Lake Avenue," Billy said, reading from his license.
April shrugged.
"Me either," Billy said. "Bet the key fits his door though. And it's not like he'll need it if he was the guy in the Ford."
"Yeah," April agreed. "Twenty thousand more. Ben Neo... That has to be a fake name," she looked down at the money again. "Billy, we got over a hundred thousand dollars here... We're rich."
Billy turned away and looked at the duffel bags and suitcases. "Eenie meenie miney moe," Billy said and picked up one of the black duffel bags from the Toyota.
Clean change of clothes, sneakers and a silenced chrome 45 caliber pistol. Another wallet, a razor and a deadly looking eight inch switchblade with a long, sharp two sided blade. Billy picked up the wallet. Driver's license, debit card, all in the name of Dan Gaynor. Thirty five hundred in cash, all hundreds.
"I think these guys must have made a deal. Something went wrong after the deal. They all have some of these hundreds. Well so far." He handed April the cash and snagged the other duffel bag. It was bulky, but not overly so, a little heavier than the other one had been.
Billy pulled the zipper and recoiled from the smell that came from the bag. April leaned close to see what was in the bag and then recoiled herself.
"What the hell?" she asked.
Billy opened the bag wider, but saw nothing except crumpled up newspapers. Tentatively he pushed aside the newspapers and a pair of dead, dusty eyes stared up at him through the newspapers. He flung the bag away from him, reacting simply on impulse. The bag hit the wall and the head, along with a pair of hands, rolled out onto the floor.
"Oh, God," April said. "Put it back in the bag, Billy, put it back in the bag and get it out of here!" She jumped off the other side of the bed and pressed into the wall as far away from the bag and she could get. Billy looked at her and then grabbed one of the shirts that had been in the other duffel bag; he lunged forward quickly, picked up the head so he wouldn't have to think about it too long and tried to jam it back into the bag. It wouldn't go. The shirt, or the head, or both kept catching the side of the bag and collapsing it. He finally laid the bag on its side and managed to hold it open as he scooped the head back inside of it: Once it was in he quickly zipped up the bag. He stood quickly and started to walk from the room.
"Billy, where are you going?" April asked.
He stopped. He had been heading for the door, but he had no idea where he would go from there.
"Billy... The hands... Billy," she pointed.
Billy looked back by the wall where the two hands lay. The fingers curled slightly. It looked like they used to be pretty good hands, Billy thought. One had a small narrow gold ring on the pinky finger. Billy grabbed another one of the shirts, carefully picked up the hands, bought them to the duffel bag and dropped them in. He calmed down a little, taking the time to pick up the crumpled pieces of newspaper that lay on the floor and stuff them back into the bag too. He had a hard time picking the bag up, but finally managed.
"I can... I can dig a hole in the backyard and bury it," he told April.
"Not now, in the middle of the morning... Besides, we can take them and drop them in the river. They should sink to the bottom. Problem over... Was there anything else in the bag?" she asked.
"I... I didn't see anything else," Billy said.
"We'll have to check. Make sure you didn't accidentally include something of your own from the floor. There's one sock there," she pointed to where the head and hands had fallen. “Were there two?" she asked.
Billy looked sick as he nodded.
"Well then you got to open it back up... Make sure. Make sure there's nothing else in the bag, Billy," April said.
“All I wanna do is throw this into the river like you said," Billy said.
"I know. I know. But what if it did float up? What if they did find something to track it back to us... What then, huh? And what if there's something else in the bag? You see?" she asked.
"I see fifty-fifty. It's your turn, April. Not trying to be an asshole, but really it's your turn," Billy said.
She stared at him. "I got a weak stomach. I'll puke," she said.
"So what!" Billy protested. "So will I!"
"Please, Billy... Don't make me do it," April shot back.
"Fair's fair," Billy said.
She glared at him. "Oh for Christ's sake!" she scrambled off the bed, dragged the duffel bag over to a clean area of the rug, laid out another t-shirt from the other duffel bag, and then unzipped the bag. She took one more t-shirt and used it to fish out the hands and then the head. One by one she pulled the wadded up newspapers out of the bag and laid them on the floor. She peeked into the bag once more. "There's something... I... Oh, Jesus, Billy," she covered her mouth and scrambled back away from the bag.
"What... What?" Billy asked. She said nothing, but pointed at the bag.
Billy got off the bed and walked over to the bag. He turned his head one way then the other as he stared into the bag. "Is that what I think it is?” he asked.
April came back over and looked once more. "You should know," she said. He looked at her.
"Not looking like that I shouldn't. I hope the hell I never do anyway..." He looked up. "Fuck... Did you find the sock?"
She shook her head.
He stared back down to the bag. "Oh, man... It's... It's in ther
e next to it... My fuckin' sock," Billy said.
"Well you'll have to get it," April said. "You'll have to."
"Fifty, fifty!" Billy said. His eyes were insistent.
"I did my fifty. The ball's back in your court,” April told him.
"Well how about I just throw the other sock in there," Billy said suddenly. "That would solve it."
"Sure," April agreed. "You'll give them two samples of your DNA."
Billy frowned, reached down, grabbed a piece of the crumpled up newspaper and fished his sock out of the bag. A fat, white maggot clung to the sock and Billy nearly threw up as it dropped off and fell back into the bag. He carefully piled everything else back into the bag and zipped it back up. He rolled his socks up and took them out and dropped them into the garbage. He took the duffel bag outside and stuck it into the back of his pickup truck and covered it with a tarp. He went back in, waited for April to come out of the bathroom and then went in and washed his hands and face. He met her back in the bedroom.
"We'll have to get rid of that today," Billy said.
"We should do it right now. Right down the road and onto the main highway. Drop it off the bridge," April said
"It's still morning. Too early, you just said that yourself. We'll have to wait until tonight," Billy said. "What next?" he asked.
April dragged one of the big plastic bags over, borrowed Billy's knife and burrowed a hole through the heavy, black plastic.
"Pot," she said. "Packed tight... That's a lot of pot, Billy."
"Maybe we should try it. Make sure it's good," Billy said.
"So you can get all messed up and screw something up? Forget to get rid of the head?" April said.
"I didn't think about that," Billy agreed.
"Later, Billy. Later tonight," April said. "Okay, your turn," she finished nodding at the unopened bags.
Billy dragged the black suitcase from the trunk of the Ford over. He took a deep breath and pushed the latches back. They were locked. He used his pocketknife to Jimmy them and then slowly lifted the lid.
"Clothes," he said. "All clothes... Wait, another stack of hundred dollar bills." He took everything out and searched more carefully. A man's watch and diamond ring were hidden inside a sock and that was it.
"Thirty thousand in cash," April said. "Over a hundred and thirty five thousand dollars," She looked at the brown suitcase. "That's from the Toyota, right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Billy agreed. "It's heavy... Maybe the body that goes to the head and hands... Maybe money... More drugs?"
April was nodding. "I had to do the last body parts," she said.
"Yeah, but it might not be body parts," Billy said.
"Good. You'll get over then, but either way it's yours," April said.
"I just opened the black one, it could've been a body too, but I did it. It's your turn," Billy said.
"No, it's a body. I can feel it, if it's a body that's not my turn it's yours. I already opened a package of body parts. It's your turn and that's final, Billy." April said. She locked her eyes on his. Blue gray, Billy noticed. Long lashes. She had beautiful eyes. He nodded.
Billy leaned close to the brown suitcase he had pulled from the Toyota and sniffed, but all he could smell was the burned vinyl that covered the case. A sharp chemical smell he smelled every time he burned plastic in his own burning barrel. He pulled the case over, stood to one side to open it and that was when the sound of dogs snarling and fighting came through the thin walls of the trailer. The sounds of claws scrambling on metal.
"Oh fuck," Billy said and jumped up.
"What, what?" April asked.
"The head... The duffel bag," Billy spluttered. He bolted out of the bedroom through the front door and around the end of the trailer. He was too late. Fifty feet away going into the tree line a rottweiler he recognized from down the road was dragging the duffel bag backwards into the woods. A scrawny yellow dog was running alongside beside the bag, biting at it as it bumped over the ground. A second later they were both gone.
Billy walked over and looked into the back of his truck. At least they hadn't made a mess... Now what, he wondered. He turned and went back inside, listening to the two dogs still fighting over the bag somewhere off in the woods. He walked back into the bedroom.
"Gone," Billy said.
"Gone?" April echoed.
"Gone. Two dogs. A big rottweiler from down the road?"
She nodded.
"And some stray... A yellow dog... Never seen it before. They took it. Dragged the whole bag off into the woods where they're fighting over who gets what... It sounds like that anyway." Billy said
"What do we do now?" April asked.
"Nothing," Billy said. "There's nothing we can do."
"Somebody will find it," April said.
"Probably... Eventually... Whatever is left," Billy said.
"Don't say that," April said.
"Well, April, they're dogs. Sort of like wolves only better manners... Sometimes anyway." Billy said.
They both looked down at the other suitcase. "If that's another part or parts or whatever, maybe we can leave it for the dogs," Billy said.
"That's not funny, Billy," April said.
"Okay," Billy agreed. He wrestled the suitcase closer, popped the top, it wasn't locked and begin to raise the lid. "Here goes," he said.
"Oh God," April gasped as the lid opened.
The Cops
Municipal Garage
Detective Don Wright pushed his thick knot of black hair out of his eyes and leaned in closer to look at the key which was still in the ignition of the Ford.
"It was taken out," the tech said. "See?" He pointed out a disruption in the spray patterns of blood, brain and bone around the sides of the ignition switch. "Probably a thumb and a forefinger," the tech said. "Should be able to get good prints."
"Got to be the kid," his partner Sammy Simons said. He pushed his own hand across his forehead to catch the sweat that threatened to roll out of his blond hair and into his eyes.
Don nodded. "Couldn't be anyone else... But why? And why not tell us?" he asked.
"Also," the tech said. "There's another intrusion into the glove box. Two actually. What is probably a perfect thumbprint, and then the palm print. Perfectly outlined in the fine spray of blood." Don and Sammy walked over to the passenger side of the car and looked at the glove box. It was clear as day. It hadn't been so clear in the half light of morning, but here with all the light trained on it, it was easy to see.
"Kid must've been looking for something. Might have even found something," Sammy said.
"He probably did... How long until you ID those prints?" Don asked.
"Tomorrow... Late afternoon at the soonest...” He blinked and then shook his head. “Nope, tomorrow is Saturday. Monday afternoon at the soonest," the tech amended.
"Well what do we do until then?" Sammy asked. He was younger, less seniority and the case was Don's anyway.
"Nothing without proof. We can't prove that anything is missing. Or what his intent was. Or even that it is him, yet. I guess we wait until Monday afternoon, maybe between now and then we'll get something solid." Don said.
"Go out and talk to him?" Sammy asked.
"We could, but I don't want to until I have something concrete," Don said. He gestured toward the tech as he began to walk away. "Maybe they'll come up with something else. Something concrete," Don said. He made his way over to the other side of the garage where the Toyota set with its own techs going over it. It smelled like burnt, roasted meat. He pushed the smell out of his mind and watched the techs work.
Lott Road
Billy Jingo
April stared into the suitcase.
"Has to be... I don't even know," she breathed.
"A couple a million dollars" Billy finished.
"I was gonna say that," April agreed. "Except it's all hundreds again. It's packed full... Might be more." She sounded breathless.
"It's a lot of money," Billy said. "So
mebody's gonna be coming back for this money... It's too much."
"How can it be too much?" April asked. She looked up again.
Billy shook his head. "Nobody turns loose of that much money and doesn't come back for it... Those guys had to be flunkies... Just dudes doing their job. Somebody higher up is gonna miss all of this. And if this was payment for all of that," he gestured at the bricks and bags, "Someone will probably be coming for that too." Billy said.
Billy fell silent for a few minutes.
"Well it's ours," April said finally.
"Is it worth dying for?" Billy asked her?
Her lower lip quivered.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you," Billy said. He seemed thoughtful for a moment. "The cops might be back too. If it's big, someone will snitch, tell the cops what was here and is now missing. They'll be back, I know it."
"But what can they do? They need warrants to search, right? It's not like they have fingerprints, right. They need all that shit. I watch TV. They need that stuff," April said.
"That's television, April. This is the real world, they search first and cover their asses later... And maybe there are prints. I touched the car... I took the key from the ignition... I wasn't thinking about prints. Stupid, stupid, stupid," he said as he pounded one fist against the floor.
"You left fingerprints?" April asked.
He nodded.
"Well I spoke to them. They'll know I lied," she said.
"Sorry," Billy said. He looked up quickly. "We have to get out of here," he finished. His eyes widened. "But we have all the money in the world. We can get lost, right now. Today, right?" he asked.
She just stared for a moment and then she looked at the suitcase. "Yeah," she said finally. "We could."
"You said you don't have anybody, well neither do I," Billy said. "Who would miss us? Who would we miss?" he asked.
"Nobody," April said, seeming to warm to the idea. "Where would we go though, Billy? They'll look for us, right? They'll know your truck... We'll have to be careful," she finished.
"We can be though. We'll have to be too. They'll know. The cops will know, maybe already do. And if the cops know the guys who own the drugs and money will know too. They'll read our names in the paper and come after us" Billy said.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 147