by Rob Pierce
I grinned and shook my head. “I’m smarter drunk than you think I am sober. Jeremy, go to your room.”
Theresa stepped toward me like she was going to say something, but Jeremy was already on his way and she stopped. She waited until he shut his bedroom door behind him. “What was that about?”
“You wanted him to hear this?”
“I don’t even know what this is.”
There was a large pillow behind me. I adjusted it and leaned farther back. “You got the boy clothes. All you had to do was ask.”
“I don’t need to ask to take care of my son.”
“You just take?”
“From you? You think I’m stealing from you? Get the fuck out of here, I don’t need this.”
I sat up straight as I could on the couch. My eyes were a little bleary, but I did my best to stare her down. “You don’t need two hundred dollars? So, you wanna give it back?”
She stepped forward, leaned down and stuck her face in mine. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The suitcase. Two hundred dollars. You think I don’t know a short stack when I see one?”
Theresa stood straight. Her voice went soft. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
I set my bottle on the floor, pushed myself up from the couch and looked down at her. I spoke quietly. “You don’t know?”
“I don’t even know what I don’t know.”
“The suitcase,” I said. “You been in it?”
“I got my grocery money. What do I need the suitcase for?”
“Let’s see the kid’s clothes. And the receipts.”
“You’re fucking kidding.” She glanced down. “You drinkin Olde English? How much?”
“I know my budget. Twenty bucks. Two slices of pizza is six bucks. That left fourteen for beer, which is five bottles and change.”
“And what bottle is that?”
“I was sober when I counted the money.” I glared at her.
“Maybe you counted it wrong when you put it in the suitcase.”
“I wasn’t the only one who counted it. The count was right.” I gave her a little push. She staggered back a couple steps and I sat down, lifted my beer from the floor. “You know, this beer reminds me of you.” I took a long drink, put the bottle back on the floor. “It’s thin and it’s nasty and it gets the job done.”
“Fuck you. You don’t trust me, take your suitcase and get the fuck outa here.” Her eyes were wide, she did the righteous thing well.
I raised the bottle again and leaned back. “All I’m saying is someone besides me took money from that case. If it wasn’t you, it’s the boy.” I reached out one arm, waved her toward me. “Want a drink?”
Theresa stared at me a few seconds, a bullshit check, then her face changed and she lurched at the bottle, grabbed it with both hands and took a slug. She coughed and sat beside me. She didn’t hand the bottle back.
***
I was still drunk and the alarm rang from a distance. I sat up fast and so did Theresa and our heads hit hard. I was so weak I could barely swear. We were on the couch, kind of sitting, kind of lying. My neck hurt and the alarm was nowhere I could reach. I tried to get up but Theresa pushed herself off me, one hand off my jeans and the other off my shirt and that’s when I knew I was fully dressed. I tried to move but she stood and I fell back onto the couch. In a minute the alarm stopped, and I lay there with a haze around my head and a pain inside it. Water and aspirin was what I needed. I got my neck off the cushion, turned my body and stuck a pillow so it was under my head when I dropped. Agony could wait until the next time I woke.
I heard them hustle around me but that was only background, I had dreams to get to. I didn’t care what they were, they were a break from everything else. Theresa and Jeremy and maybe Davis. Eventually the next job, the next woman and whatever baggage she brought with her, but I didn’t want to plan that far ahead.
Somehow I slept; when I woke whatever dreams I’d had were gone. I didn’t want dreams anymore, I wanted banks. This didn’t seem like a life that lasted long. I needed the rush of working a well-planned robbery.
I don’t know what the action means for her. If she sees me soon enough after a robbery, she’s part of the score. Everything’s part of the score. Maybe it’s good to be around me when my adrenaline’s racing like that. Not like now, when there’s nothing but worrying and letting the tension build. If the kid took the money for himself, it doesn’t even matter. There’s probably a hundred ninety-five bucks stashed in his room somewhere. But if he took it for someone else—I worried about Davis, a man I’d never met.
***
I opened the door to Jeremy’s room. It would be easier if he turned the money over, but I couldn’t wait all day. I opened dresser drawers but I knew there were no false bottoms, I looked under clothes and was done in a couple of minutes. I moved to the bed, removed both pillow cases, found nothing and threw the mattress on the floor. There was nothing under the mattress so I stripped the sheet—nothing there either. It only took a second to look under the bed. I put the sheet back on the mattress and the cases on the pillows and put the bed back together.
There wasn’t much else to the room: a computer desk and a small closet. I opened the closet door. A few jackets hung but the kid was ten, there were only a few. I searched every pocket, checked for holes in the lining, found nothing. There were three-ring binders on the floor. I opened every one and found nothing but cards for geek kid games, Yu-gi-oh and Magic, in plastic protector sheets, nothing worth a damn.
I closed everything up, put it back where it had been. If Jeremy took the money, he’d either spent it or stashed it somewhere else in the apartment.
Theresa brought Jeremy home from school and fed him. I’d already eaten. I waited, sober and anxious. I sat on the living room couch and watched Jeremy eat the tacos Theresa made. If I had any appetite they’d have looked good. He sat at the dining room table, eyes focused on his food. She stood at the stove with her back to him, but there was nothing left to cook. Jeremy got up from the table and I straightened on the couch. He said something I couldn’t hear and walked past his mom to the fridge.
He poured a glass of milk at the kitchen counter, drank it where he stood, poured himself another and took it to the table. He returned to his tacos. I dropped my head forward and rubbed my eyes with thumb and index finger. I pushed my hair back with my palm and stood.
“Theresa, it’s time to talk. You too, Jeremy.”
Jeremy shoved a hunk of taco into his mouth and looked up. “Me?” He pointed his thumb at himself and I nodded.
“It’s about you, Jeremy. Let’s go to your room.”
He swallowed and stood, took a gulp of milk. Theresa turned and stood right behind him, laid her hands on his shoulders.
“Am I in trouble?”
“Let’s go to your room.” I turned in that direction and let them follow. I held Jeremy’s bedroom door open for them and they walked inside. I waved them to Jeremy’s bed and they both sat on it, a slight distance between them. I shut the door and leaned against it, five feet between me and the bed.
“Where’s the money, Jeremy?”
The boy looked scared, looked at his mom then back at me, still looked scared.
“Look,” I said, “I know how much you took. I need to know what you did with it.”
Theresa gave me a look but she didn’t say anything. Jeremy shook his head. That was as far as his denial got.
I tipped my head back and exhaled. “We’re gonna talk, Jeremy. First tell me where my money is. There’s two hundred dollars missing from my suitcase and your mom says you took it.”
Jeremy glared at Theresa and Theresa glared at me. I took a step toward her, leaned down so our faces almost touched, and smiled. “No take-backs on ratting out your son.”
She swung at me open-handed. I pulled back so she missed and I grabbed her wrist on its way down. I let go and she glanced at her wrist, glared at me. “It wasn’t like
that.”
“Two hundred bucks,” I hissed at Jeremy. His mouth hung open, about to say “Mom.” I didn’t want to hear it. “You took the money from the suitcase, right?”
He turned away from Theresa and his lips closed. He wiped his greasy mouth with an equally greasy hand. “I didn’t know what was in there. It was in the closet. It was open.”
“But you knew it was my money when you took it.”
Jeremy nodded. “I didn’t think you’d notice. I didn’t take that much.”
“It might not seem like much next to what you left. But two hundred dollars is a lot of money. What did you do with it?”
“No, I only took twenty dollars.” The kid was almost in tears.
I looked at Theresa. Her eyes showed nothing. I tried to sound relaxed. “What did you do with the twenty?”
“I went to McDonalds. I met some kids from school on the way. I bought them lunch.”
“Friends?”
Jeremy shook his head. I kicked at the floor but there was nothing to kick, only carpet. “Fuck, Jeremy, you don’t have to impress those assholes. And that wouldn’t impress them anyway. So you only took twenty?”
He nodded.
“That leaves me down one eighty. You and me,” I said to Theresa, “we gotta talk.” I looked at Jeremy. “You stay here.”
Jeremy nodded. I grabbed Theresa by the arm and she got up from the bed. I opened the door for her, shut it behind us, walked her to our bedroom and did the whole chivalry with the door crap again.
She stopped right in front of me as soon as the door closed. She looked up, stepped back and spoke. “You believe him?”
“That he took some of my money? Yeah.”
“You believe me?”
“Can you tell me where the one eighty is?”
Theresa shook her head. There wasn’t a lot of fear in her eyes, but she was good at showing nothing.
“Then someone else has been here.”
“I didn’t let nobody in.”
“Who would Jeremy let in?”
Her eyes changed, at least I thought they did, went a little dim. She shook her head again.
“Davis,” I whispered. She took a step back and I took one side of her face in my hand, softly. “Davis?”
Her eyes shut. Her chin dropped and came back up. I took it as a nod.
“You were here and Jeremy let him in.”
“I didn’t want to see him. Jeremy let him in anyway. I told him as soon as I saw him.”
“And he turned and walked out and that was it.”
“No. Of course not. Nothing’s that easy, he wouldn’t shut up.”
I felt too aggressive standing up, walked past her so I didn’t hit her, sat on the bed, turned and looked up. I wanted Davis to be the only one guilty, the only one I’d have to punish. “What is he to you now? What was he before?”
“This is bullshit.”
“How long since you fucked him?”
She turned her head. “What?”
“A hundred eighty bucks? A total stranger who wants to take you from me? Why would he settle for that?” I undid my belt buckle, left the belt dangling and unsnapped the top button of my pants. “Lock the door. I need to know you love me.”
Theresa blinked.
“Get up and lock the goddamned door.”
She stood and turned. She locked the door. I got up from the bed, my pants dropped a little, and I leapt at her. Her back was to me. My right forearm locked around her neck. She faced the wooden door and I banged her head against it, hard enough to get her attention.
“I need to meet Davis. I need my money back. I thought I wanted to take care of you and Jeremy. Maybe I was wrong. Tell me about Davis.”
The choke wasn’t tight but her arms were pinned, she couldn’t free herself. I released my arm from her neck so she could breathe better, but I kept her chest pressed against the door.
She wriggled her head a little to the right, grabbed one free breath. “He didn’t take your money. He’s a good man. I told him we’re through.”
“You told him who’s through?”
“Me and him.” She cried. Her tears bugged me more than the money but I had to keep track of the money.
“So he walked away. He says he loves you and he walked away. He’ll come back.” I let her go enough to turn around and face me.
She turned slow, blinked fast. “I told him never to come back.”
“Look at yourself.”
Her head dropped down. Her whole body was there. This was about as haggard as she got.
“You at your worst.” I shook my head. “Still worth killing for.”
“What, now you’re gonna start talkin nice?”
“Talkin truth. A man looks at that and there’s nothing you can say. He’s coming back.”
She smiled at me. “Thank you.”
“Yeah. I ain’t leaving either. So tell me about Davis.”
“No,” she said.
“No?”
She stood skinny, backed against a door, but my words had made her full of herself again. “He looked at me and he couldn’t talk. That’s how it was. I thought he was an idiot. The usual man, full of lust and empty-headed.”
“So there’s nothing to say about him.”
“Except not for those reasons. He had something to say, but we couldn’t follow his words.”
“We?”
“Jeremy was in the room.”
I stepped back, clenched my fists at my sides. “You’re making decisions with your kid there.”
Theresa shook her head fast. “It wasn’t a decision. I’m with you. But he kept talking, I couldn’t stop him.”
“So what did he say?”
She started crying. I suppose she wanted me to hold her and offer comfort but I needed answers. I stood where I was and she cried. I waited for her to talk. Fucking tears kept falling.
“What did he say?”
“He loved me. Besides that, it was hard to understand him.”
“And you and him are through.”
“Yeah.”
“You hate this motherfucker’s guts.”
She braced herself against the door, leaned back as much as she could. I stayed where I was, kept her in easy reach, but my hands opened and hung at my sides.
“No,” she said. “It’s not like that.”
“You used to fuck, you don’t anymore, and you don’t hate him. That’s what you’re telling me. Hell, you still like him.”
“As a person.”
“He’s not a person. He’s a motherfucker getting between you and me. And you’re letting him.”
I stepped so my face was almost against hers. She’d have backed through the door if she could. “You make Davis sound innocent and that’s bullshit.”
She didn’t answer and I already knew she wouldn’t give him away.
“You and me,” I said. “You, me, and Jeremy. And my hundred eighty bucks. We’re all together or we’re not.”
“You and me isn’t a problem. Jeremy isn’t a problem. You’re making up problems from what isn’t here.”
“My hundred eighty bucks isn’t here. Davis isn’t here but he was. You’re mine. Jeremy’s mine. And I’ll kill for what’s mine. You, Jeremy, the money. You understand that?”
“You say everything like it’s a threat.”
“If you mean I’d rather kill for you than die for you, you got that right.”
She stopped pushing her body so hard into the door, relaxed it toward mine, leaned against me. I straightened and she rested one hand on my chest. She’d already changed the subject away from Davis, now she was changing it farther. I was okay with that, I’d said what I had to say, we could go in this direction for a while. When we were done, I’d tear this place apart until I found my hundred eighty bucks.
***
Theresa sat up in bed and sipped at a glass of red wine. The bottle was on the table beside her.
“You’re not having a drink?” she said.
I shook my head and turned away, put on a t-shirt to go with my jeans.
“What are you getting dressed for?”
“I was going to search the apartment. Thought I should wear clothes in case the kid saw me.”
“You say you love him and you still call him the kid.”
“That’s what he is, right?”
“I bet you call me something else too.”
I opened a drawer, pulled out some socks, sat next to her on the bed and put them on. “Fuck it, I’m going out, maybe the money shows up while I’m gone.”
“It won’t. We didn’t take it.”
“Then I’ll find who did.”
I got off the bed and walked out the door, found my shoes and left the apartment. I tried not to hear the words she shouted at my back.
***
I drove in wider circles until I found a space four blocks from Davis’s apartment. It was in a district filled with bars and restaurants, and there were a lot of people on the sidewalk. The crowd thinned as I got closer. Lucky me, I’d found a space near the restaurants, while most of the people going out to eat had to park on residential streets.
I stood on the sidewalk and flipped open my phone, saw all the calls I’d missed from Theresa, leaned against Davis’s building and went online, checked the baseball scores. Couples walked past, on their way to late dinners or drinks. In my black leather jacket I looked hipster enough to pass. It was time to go out, not time to go home, but I waited. Nothing better to do.
It was only half an hour before some couple came back from their late dinner and walked up the stairs to the front door. I kept my phone open as I walked up behind them, let them open the door, and stared at my blank screen as they walked inside and I stuck my foot in behind the shutting door. They were too enthralled with each other to notice.
Davis lived on the fourth floor out of five. Balcony view, but it was chilly tonight, and even if he’d been on it I’d leaned against the building, he couldn’t have seen me. Unless he’d been watching the sidewalk, if Theresa called him too. Stupid if she loved me, but she didn’t want him hurt, she was capable of stupid. I smiled as the elevator door opened. This was what it came to, figuring out enemies and lovers. I was alone and the hall was empty. I stepped to the left, read the first apartment number I saw, walked enough down the hall to see the numbers going the wrong way, turned and walked in the opposite direction.