Uncle Dust

by Rob Pierce

She sat on one of the bar stools at the counter. “And you know this how?”

  “I was at his school when he got out. I wanted to talk to him.”

  “You were spying. You thought Davis would be there.”

  I shook my head. “No. I didn’t think of it. But he left school alone. I didn’t want to embarrass him so I let him.”

  Theresa walked to the fridge and grabbed herself a beer. She wore tight jeans that slayed me. I drank and she sat back down. “He leaves school alone once and you think he’s not popular.”

  “He told me his friends are older and go to other schools.”

  She froze. This was so fucking wrong. Never in my life had I wanted to be in a conversation like this.

  “You,” she said, “what are you talking to him about?”

  I finished my bottle and stood. “I don’t fucking know.” I walked past her to the fridge, and she turned her head to watch me but it was like I was still mid-sentence, she didn’t interrupt. So I opened my beer in the kitchen and she turned on the stool to look at me. “He says he’s hanging out with twelve and thirteen year olds. He never gets home before six o’clock. I don’t know what he does with them. I don’t even know if that’s who he’s with. I assumed if I asked he’d lie.”

  Theresa gave me a dirty look. “That’s a hell of an assumption.”

  I looked straight back at her. “You don’t know your son well enough to trust him.”

  Theresa scowled and stood, walked around to the kitchen side of the bar and poured herself a tall scotch. I looked straight at her, but part of her was hidden.

  She turned and glared at me. “You trust the people you love. That’s part of how you know them.”

  “It doesn’t get the truth from them. I’ll follow him tomorrow.”

  I could see in her face that Theresa didn’t like that, but she also wanted to know about her boy and I was the one who’d do this part of the dirty work. She had all the emotional stuff.

  I drank my beer deep and she drained her scotch. I joined her at the bar, poured her next drink, grabbed myself another beer and put my arm around her.

  ***

  It was Tuesday morning and it felt like I’d been through a week. I usually looked forward to seeing Rico, but this morning he was just another thing I had to get through. It was late afternoon that worried me, what I’d find out about Jeremy, but as soon as I found out I could deal with it. Until then I could only worry about what it might be.

  I got my coffee and joined Rico at our usual table.

  He raised his cup to me as I sat down. “You look tired. Always happens when you got time off comin.”

  “And there’s a lotta work real quick before that time off. And Tenny’s gonna want me back after the Super Bowl to collect on everyone who welshed on it.”

  Rico smiled. “At least you know how it works.”

  “If the money’s out there, someone has to collect it. But that ain’t what’s wearin me out.”

  “Do I wanna hear your personal problems?”

  “Only if they get you laid, and this ain’t that.” I raised my coffee, took a long drink from the hot cup. I set it down, looked hard at Rico. “It’s the kid, and maybe it’s not serious. He’s doin somethin after school and he ain’t sayin what. I’m findin out tonight.”

  Rico nodded. “Like you said, maybe it’s nothin. We did lots of shit after school we didn’t talk about.”

  I laughed. I didn’t go to school with Rico, but… “I did shit instead of school I didn’t talk about.”

  “And this kid’s at least goin to school, right?”

  “Yeah, but after that I don’t know what. He leaves school alone and doesn’t come straight home.”

  “He’s how old?”

  “Ten.”

  “Well,” Rico leaned across the table and cupped my jaw in one massive hand, “you let me know if you need help with that, okay?”

  He sprawled back in his seat, laughing, and I laughed with him but it wasn’t funny.

  ***

  Tailing a ten year old should have been easy, but I was an adult male lurking near an elementary school. I assumed Jeremy would go the same way as yesterday, so I parked a block in that direction but around a corner, where he wasn’t likely to see my car, and I watched my rearview mirror. I unfolded a local map and held it in my lap in case Neighborhood Watch got concerned.

  He passed on the sidewalk behind me. I folded the map quickly and slid it into its slot in the door. If I followed on foot and Jeremy was meeting someone with a car, I’d never catch him. If he didn’t get a ride, I’d have to drive damned slow and I might look suspicious, but I’d be alright so long as I could pull over a few times without losing sight of him.

  I drove halfway up the block before I turned around, then took my time hitting the corner. Jeremy hadn’t gotten far. There was no one behind me, so I sat at the corner. I got out my map again, tried to look as lost as I could and turned on my flashers. If I had to move and the kid still hadn’t gotten off the block, I’d swing a U and do my crawling up and down the street again. Jeremy was near the end of the block. As soon as he was off it, I’d make my turn, look for parking. He only had to be in view, I didn’t want him close.

  I saw the squad car behind me too late, God knows where he came from. He turned on the flashing lights and I turned off my engine. He parked right behind me, took his time getting out of the car, stretched his back when he did but with one hand next to his gun until he pulled out his ticket book, looked at the back of my car and started writing.

  I rolled down my window as he approached.

  The cop glanced down at the map on my lap. “Whatcha lookin for?”

  “Everett and Madison.”

  The cop looked at me like he might tell me how to get there, but I could tell by the way he breathed there was something about me he didn’t like. “Whatcha doin at Everett and Madison?”

  “Goin to a sports bar. Place called Luke’s.”

  The cop nodded. “Get the map off your lap.”

  I set it on the passenger seat.

  “Now, license and registration.”

  I gave him both and he walked back to his car. I’d never been to Luke’s, but I knew where it was and I knew there was a Bulls Celtics game at 4 o’clock our time, less than an hour from now. I hadn’t said I was meeting anyone because I might get asked who. My driving record was clean, my tags were up to date. If Jeremy stayed on the same street and the cop didn’t write me up for illegal parking, he was helping me drop back so I wouldn’t be seen. I sat there and threw an occasional glance to the passenger seat. In case the cop was looking at me, I was still looking at the map.

  The cop came back, handed me my papers. I put my license back in my wallet.

  “Your driving record’s clean, but you have a little bit of a sheet, don’tcha, Dustin?”

  I set my wallet down. “That was a few years back, officer. I been clean since I got out.”

  “I see that. And I appreciate it. So I’m not writing you up. But next time, read your map before you get in your car. I’m making a note of this. I don’t wanna find you sitting double-parked in any of my neighborhoods. You got it?”

  “Yes, sir.” Someone else might have said thank you, but I was done with parole and there wasn’t a parking violation in the world that fucked with that.

  He gave me a look. I picked my map back up.

  “Make a right here,” he said. “About three miles down, you’ll be close. Then you can park and check your map.”

  “Thanks.” I moved the map aside and started my engine.

  ***

  I turned right and didn’t see Jeremy so I kept going. It had been fifteen minutes with the cop, but if the kid stayed on this street I’d catch him soon enough. I had no reason to drive fast.

  I kept driving slowly, glanced in both directions at every corner. It was a residential area, but it was California residential: people didn’t walk much. I saw a small shape in the distance and got my hopes up.
I didn’t rush—if it was him, I was better off taking my time.

  My foot stayed barely on the gas. It’s hard to drive twenty-five when you’re not going uphill. But I’d already seen my cop for the day, hell, for the year if I was lucky. I gained on the child, and he continued to possibly be Jeremy, and I looked briefly up and down each side street in case someone else was definitely him.

  I was still a few blocks back. I glanced up and down a side street, looked straight ahead and there were three boys now. The new boys were a little taller than the first. This fit in with Jeremy’s story. I slowed down, didn’t want to gain on them. It was a nice enough neighborhood and my car was clean, I might look like I was checking out houses for sale. Anyway, I wouldn’t get pulled over for driving slow.

  I gained on them no matter how slow I went. They walked close together, and the neighborhood was still residential. There was probably a middle school up one of these streets. The taller kids could have come down from there. Twelve or thirteen, like Jeremy said.

  They bounced as they walked. Two blocks behind them I knew it was Jeremy. I somehow slowed down. Like the cop said, it was three miles from where I’d stopped to Everett and Madison. And that was right about where the street turned commercial and I’d have to speed up. I saw a spot where I could parallel park and I took it. I’d sit here ten minutes and I’d leave again. Those goddamn kids. I wondered how Jeremy walked out this far and got anything done before he turned back and made it home by six.

  ***

  The boys looked back my way and suddenly they ran. Oh shit, they couldn’t have seen me. I started my engine, backed up a little to angle out of my parking place. I waited: a bus was coming, a row of cars behind it, moving slowly. I glanced down the sidewalk. The boys still ran.

  At last I pulled into traffic, a block behind the bus. It was a two-lane street, no lane to change into and pass unless I could move around the whole row at once. The cars ahead of me were just the right distance apart to keep me from passing. Up ahead, the bus pulled over. I sighed with relief. If traffic sped up enough we’d all be past the bus and moving at a normal speed.

  The first car behind the bus stopped. I hit my brakes along with every driver in front of me. No one came in the opposite direction, so we sat and waited for the bus to load and unload. A horn blasted, and another. I hated sitting still, I was going to lose the boys. I tried to check the sidewalk, but I couldn’t see beyond the bus.

  Shit. Idiot. The boys didn’t run from me, they ran for the bus. They were boarding the damn thing. Now I’d have to follow it, which maybe wasn’t so bad, except for the dozen moron-driven vehicles between us. I’d better be close enough to see Jeremy when he got off.

  ***

  Every couple of blocks the bus pulled over. Jeremy and his friends didn’t get out, and the number of cars between mine and the bus didn’t diminish. It looked like we were all headed downtown, at least the suburban version.

  I tried to find something quiet I could stand on the radio, rat-tat-tatted my fingers on the wheel. Block by block we’d all get there, and the whole string of us would try to park at the same time, while those kids got off at their stop and went wherever they were going.

  The bus stopped at a light. We were on the verge of a cute little commercial district. This was the kind of area Jeremy’s usual game store was on, maybe there was another one here. He had to get off soon: it was already four o’clock.

  The boys got off at the first stop past the light. I was a block behind them. The cars between us, as expected, slowed down, like parking spaces would appear. The boys walked fast, away from me, and turned the first corner. The bus sat there, more passengers unloading. All the cars in front of me sat behind it.

  I looked into the oncoming lane. No one was coming. I spun my wheel and hit the gas hard, passed car after car and swung halfway back into the lane to get next to the bus. A car made a left from the street I approached. I hit my horn hard and they stopped fast, almost hit me. They hit their horn back at me. I didn’t bother to glare, just swung in front of the bus and made my turn.

  The boys were gone. There was nowhere to go. I took that popular street slow as I could, looked like another idiot trying to park. No one bothered to honk. But I didn’t try to park, there were no spaces on the block. I looked at storefronts, tried to find one that would have attracted Jeremy.

  I saw it: a narrow glass door, with “EVIL” flashing off and on in neon. It barely looked like a business at all. It was wedged between a pair of wide windows, one advertising “Burritos—Fish Tacos” and the other “Pizza By The Slice.”

  There were two lanes going either way. There weren’t any cops around so I threw my car into the left lane and swung a sudden U in the middle of the block. I got to the street I’d turned off of and made a left at the light, drove two blocks until I found an opening and parked. If Jeremy was in a game, I had some time. I’d have to wait outside anyway; whatever went on inside I’d have to find out later. For now I didn’t want to lose him.

  I walked fast until I was on the right block, then casually crossed the street and bought a coffee to go. This was a great neighborhood for window shopping. The problem was Evil didn’t have a window. All I could do was kill time outside without looking suspicious, which was so easy here it was dull. Look in a window, sip at my coffee, glance at my phone. I could stand anywhere on the sidewalk and push random buttons and look like I was texting.

  It was over an hour before Jeremy and his friends came out. I wondered how he’d get home by six, but I supposed I never paid close attention to the time. If he was home before his mom was, six or seven was the same to me.

  Jeremy and his two friends stopped on the sidewalk. Two taller boys came out of the store and joined them. No way these last two kids were twelve or thirteen. They were close to six foot and stood straight, not gawky—they’d had some time to get used to their height. They were lean and long-haired, in their late teens, maybe out of high school. The tall boys stepped to a car parked in front of Evil, one driving and the other shotgun, and Jeremy and his friends got in the back. Shit, I’d never catch them if they drove from here.

  I stepped back against a wall, tipped my head down and looked at my phone, and watched them drive away. I dropped my coffee on the sidewalk, watched the lid pop off and the liquid burst, and crossed the street to check out Evil.

  ***

  It was an old door handle you had to push down then forward, but it opened easy enough. The only lights were electric candles in sconces along the walls. I took a couple steps in and let the door shut behind me. The fake candles kept the room pretty dark. I took a step to my left and banged into something.

  I swore under my breath. It was a glass counter, and my eyes hadn’t adjusted enough to see what was inside.

  “Whaddaya want?”

  The voice sounded unnaturally high, like it had been played back through a synthesizer. I blinked, looking for its source. I saw no one.

  “Are you new?” the voice said. “All the beat guys know me. It’s like I told em a thousand times, we’re a game store.”

  I looked lower, where the voice came from, found the dwarf’s eyes. “I’m no cop.”

  “Good, cuz I’m no crook. You a player?”

  “Not me.” I still couldn’t make out the guy’s face. The counter was thigh high; I leaned my hands on it. “I got a kid plays Yugioh.”

  The dwarf laughed. “We don’t play that here.” He shook his head. “Nothing against it. How’d you find us?”

  I shrugged like he could see it. It was so damned dark in here I didn’t know how anyone could see anything. “Saw the door. Saw some kids come out. Looked like gamers.”

  His tone went hard again. “I told the other cops this too. When I say we play adult games, it doesn’t mean they’re dirty. There’s no age limits, anyone can come in. The usual crowd’s a little older, that’s all. Some kids are mature enough, others ain’t.”

  “What decides if they’re mature enough?�
��

  “If. They. Like it. There’s nothing illegal here, nothing about sex. It’s just dark magic. The games are too complicated for some people, no matter how old they are. A lot of adults would rather stick with D and D. And they should.”

  That sounded like snobbery about something I knew nothing about. I didn’t know what D and D was—drunk and disorderly?

  I could see a bit by now and I turned toward the back. The store was narrow, and I couldn’t see where it ended. I could see a few customers back there, though, and that was enough to change how I played this.

  I smiled wide. The room was dim and my teeth were yellowed but I was sure he could see them. “That no sex thing better be true. Cuz I got a boy who comes in here, and I got a felony record that don’t touch all the shit I done. Anyone touches young dick in here, I’m gonna cut yours off. You got that?”

  The dwarf gulped.

  “I’m comin back when you’re alone. See ya.” I walked out the door, strolled around the corner like I had the world by the balls, made it down two blocks to my car and sat inside and shook.

  ***

  I could tell by the unlocked door and the hoody flung across the back of the couch that Jeremy was already home. The hoody was on my usual side of the couch. I sat on the other side, beer in hand. “Jeremy!”

  “Yeah!” he hollered back.

  “C’mere!”

  After a minute the boy ambled out.

  I gestured with my non-drinking hand. “Put that where it goes.”

  He picked up the hoody, turned without a word.

  “So,” I said, “you just got home?”

  “Mm hm.”

  “Playing with your friends? Cards?”

  He looked back at me like he knew I knew. “Not exactly. An RPG.”

  “RPG?”

  “Yeah, you know. Like D and D.”

  That one again. And he had a look on his face like he’d cleared up everything. It was all random letters to me. “What’s D and D?”

  His barely visible eyebrows went up. “You really don’t know?” He laughed a little, in what looked like disbelief. “Dungeons and Dragons!”

  I nodded. I’d heard of that one. Didn’t know a damned thing about it, but maybe I didn’t need to. “And what’s the other one? RPG?”