by Matt Drabble
“Courtney?” Ally called to the slouching waitress as she paid too much attention to a table full of tall and broad farmhands. She watched as the girl theatrically rolled her eyes for the boys delight and wandered over.
“Yeah?” Courtney sighed.
“First of all it is yes, not yeah,” Ally said straining to hold her temper. “Secondly there are dirty tables that need cleaning,” she pointed.
“That’s Susie’s job,” Courtney whined.
“Well now it’s yours,” Ally stated firmly. “Along with any other happy crappy jobs that I want to give you, understood?”
Courtney only stared defiantly.
“There’s the door young lady, you’re welcome to leave any time you like.”
“Alright, alright,” Courtney said as she slouched away.
“I don’t know why you keep that girl around,” Daisy said from behind as she wiped the counter.
“I guess I see a little of myself in her,” Ally replied.
“A very little I hope,” Daisy chuckled as she grabbed a soda from the fridge.
“Maybe she’ll turn out ok. After all look at me,” Ally said, finding her grin again.
“Look at your what?” Susie said joining the gathering.
“Nothing sweetie,” Ally laughed. “How’s your mum doing Susie?”
“Ah you know, good days and bad,” Susie said softly dropping her eyes.
“You know you only have to ask if you ever need anything Susie,” Ally offered.
“She knows,” Daisy said wrapping a protective arm around Susie’s skinny shoulders. “She knows that she only has to ask either of us.”
“Is it true what they’re saying around town that the cops have found three people murdered in the last few days?” Susie said quickly and deftly changing the subject.
Ally could only stand there helpless as both Susie and Daisy turned to her for answers.
“That’s what my Freddie says,” Courtney said as she joined them. “He says that Arnold Trotter is back from the dead and is running around town chopping the heads off of anyone naughty,” she cackled.
Ally watched as Susie’s face turned pale.
“Is that right?” Susie asked with wide eyes.
“No it’s not sugar, and even if it was, then you would be the safest girl in town,” Daisy said firmly.
“Ha little Miss virgin here wouldn’t even register on his radar,” Courtney laughed cruelly.
“Well now someone has just bought themselves toilet cleaning duties for the week,” Ally snapped.
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Courtney whined. “I was only joking.”
“Want to make it a month?” Ally answered with eyebrows raised.
She watched as the young woman stomped away grumpily.
“The sooner you fire her stroppy ass the better,” Daisy barked, before raising her hands in mock surrender. “I know, I know, she’s just like you at that age and there’s a heart of gold buried somewhere deep inside her.”
“Real deep,” Susie said in a low tone.
Ally watched as Daisy led Susie back into the kitchen for the final clean up and turning off procedures. She wished that she could do more to ease some of the burden on the poor girl’s slender shoulders, but everyone had their own cross to bear.
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Courtney dragged the black bin liners out to the bins at the back of the diner. She looked down at her expensively manicured nails and cursed Susie and her hangdog face. It seemed that Ally and Daisy permanently sided with the young girl and just because her mom had gone a bit gaga. It wasn’t like her own life was any bed of roses. At the rate they were going she and Freddie were going to be married in a barn sometime around their mid 40’s. She knew that Freddie didn’t share her enthusiasm for the wedding, only the wedding night. She had stopped sleeping with him for the last few months in order to put him in a more motivated state of mind. It was time for him to get off his ass and get enough money together for them to do the wedding right. Of course their two versions of “right” seemed to be very different. Freddie would be happy with a quick ceremony and beers at the Catfish Bar, whereas she wanted the sort of wedding that she greedily devoured in all of the magazines. She wanted to be the star and the centre of all attention. She wanted the dress, the doves, the lace, the cake, the flashbulbs, and everything else that she deserved. She was bigger than this pokey town and it was about time that everyone realised it.
She dragged the heavy bags to the bin and hoisted them angrily up and in. She stared down in horror to find that bin juice had leaked all down her front. She was wiping it away furiously when a car pulled up.
“Need any help with that sweetheart?” Freddie Burns leaned out of the police car window with a wolfish gleam in his eyes.
For once she was glad to see him. As far as Courtney was concerned Freddie existed solely for her purpose as were most men. She had glided through school life on her looks and figure. The job at the diner had provided her with enough tips to allow her to make more money than any other job in town. But now the tips were dwindling and the job was becoming more trouble than it was worth. She had informed Freddie that as soon as they were married she would be quitting and he would be taking care of her. As usual Freddie had sulked and complained but a swift and soft hand in his pants had changed his mind. She might not be allowing him access to the full range of her services at present, but hey, she wasn’t a monster.
She watched his eager eyes roam over her body and she slowed her hands from brushing to stroking. She relished her power over him enjoying the ease with which she could take what she wanted.
“Hey Freddie?” She husked.
“Yeah?” He answered distractedly as he watched her hands that were now rubbing her chest.
“I was thinking that Susie’s mom would be so much better off in a home don’t you think?”
“Huh?”
“I worry about that poor girl having to look after her loopy mother and all,” Courtney said as she walked over to the car. She popped a couple of buttons open on her uniform that was already a little too tight. “I mean it would be for her own good after all.” She leaned forward and allowed her breasts to make an appearance as Freddie devoured the sight and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “All you’d have to do is make a little report that her mom’s conditions were unfit.”
“Wait a minute,” Freddie snapped finally cottoning on. “You want me to have some poor girl’s mom sectioned because she’s pissed you off in some way?”
Courtney popped another button and leaned into the car pushing her elbows together. “You know I’ve been thinking about this whole no sex until we’re married thing. You have been such a good boy after all,” she said brushing the hair from his sweaty brow with one hand and slipping the other into his crotch. “A good boy and such a BIG boy,” she whispered into his ear.
“I…,I…, I suppose I could make a phone call or two,” he stammered as his breath grew thick and heavy under her steady strokes.
“Good boy,” Courtney murmured as though speaking to a desperate to please puppy. “Good boy.”
She released him much to his chagrin and slipped into the car alongside him. It didn’t take long for Freddie to have exploded in his pants with all the sexual lasting power of an inexperienced teenager. Courtney couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of sex life awaited her after marriage. Freddie had all the lovemaking skill of a blind octopus. He was all grasping hands and coarse fingers. Foreplay seemed to be about the time it took him to take his pants off before thrusting himself on top of her roughly. She had wondered on more than one occasion if she had picked the wrong deputy. Henry Trinder might have been the better choice. She smiled internally at the thought of seducing Henry after the marriage. The idea of pitting the two deputies and best friends against each other may well pass the time during boring days.
“Man, I gotta take a leak,” Freddie said as Courtney winced at his uncouthness.
She watched as the
deputy ducked behind the large metallic dumpster. “Jesus Freddie, can’t you go inside and use the bathroom like a civilized human being?” She snapped irritably.
She hated her job more and more every day but she still wanted the pleasure of telling the rest of them exactly what she thought of them during the busy lunch rush hour before storming out.
Freddie’s head ducked from sight and she sat and waited wishing that she had a wet wipe to cleanse her hand. With everything that was going on around town currently, she couldn’t believe her luck. Denver Mills was normally such a dull turd of a town, but bodies dropping left, right, and centre had certainly livened things up. She was eager for Freddie to spill more juicy details before Ally started yelling at her to get back to work.
“Come on Freddie,” she whined.
There was no response and she wrenched the car door open and slammed it hard shut behind her. Her patience was wearing very thin and she was not used to being deprived of what she wanted.
“Dammit Freddie, I don’t have time for your pissing about.”
She stomped behind the dumpster with rage in her heart at the world not revolving around her wishes. She meant to give Freddie a swift kick up the ass and watch him spill his piss all over his pants as a lesson about ignoring her. Only Freddie wasn’t there. She walked all the way around the dumpster in increasing disbelief. Freddie wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She stared down at the insects that scuttled around her feet eager to gain access to the culinary delights of the dumpster. She flicked a thick looking cockroach off of her pristine white tennis shoe in disgust.
“FREDDIE!” She shouted, stamping her foot down hard in a fit of immaturity.
She ran around the dumpster and back to the parked car unable to see just where he had disappeared to. She stood in confusion with her forehead wrinkled and eyes twitching. A sparkle of light caught her eye glinting out from underneath the dumpster and she walked back to it. With distaste swelling in her mouth she knelt down slowly and gingerly. She reached out an arm that trembled with the effort as she stretched under the metallic canister. Her fingers hooked, slipped, and then grasped the keys with sweating fingers. She pulled them out and turned them over in her hand. Freddie’s keychain was unmistakable and she couldn’t think of a reason why it would be lying there if he wasn’t.
She began to stand when the dumpster lid flew open, blocking the sun with a dark eclipse. Strong hands thrust towards her and then she was in the air and dragged into the filth before she could scream. The lid slammed shut as something cold and sharp bit into her throat and she was bound forever to sleep alongside her fiancé.
17.
IN THE BROWN AND STICKY STUFF
The Catfish Bar was closing. Tommy’s vision was blurred and he was long past caring about the daggers that the waitress (PJ’s new girlfriend) was staring at him. Right about now he cared about nothing other than drowning his own liver. The world around him was a drug infused warm blur. Inside this bubble he had little room for fear and responsibility.
PJ was rolling around in his chair laughing riotously at some joke that Tommy couldn’t even remember. PJ’s eyes were blood red and his face was frozen in a fixed grin. The waitress, Delores, had seemingly given up on trying to make PJ slow down. Tommy knew deep down that he might have burned whatever bridge the woman had for him. PJ was a barely functioning alcoholic and Tommy was buying the rounds. It seemed all too crystal clear now that he was responsible not only for destroying Arnold Trotter’s life, but also for the subsequent deaths that had followed in his wake. The simple fact was if he hadn’t played his part, then none of this would have ever happened.
The bar was emptying fast and only the most desperate to avoid reality remained. Broken veined faces and swollen noses maintained their vigilance at bar stools. Gin soaked sentries guarding against the coming of the new day stocked with hangovers and regrets.
Tommy tried to stand and found his legs wobbling dangerously beneath his weight. The neon surroundings spun and he lost his centre, in all senses of the word.
“Easy guy,” PJ slurred next to him as he reached out a steadying hand.
“Man I’m wasted,” Tommy grinned in reply.
“Let’s get you home,” PJ said making for the door.
“Don’t you even think about driving Peter Joffre!” Delores yelled from across the room, her concern outweighing her volume control.
“Hey I’m fine,” PJ said as he staggered towards the door.
“Not a chance Sundance, and I lifted your friend’s car keys earlier on as well,” Delores barked angrily.
Not even a “Tommy”, Tommy thought, now I’m just a nameless friend. He checked his pockets and found that his car key was missing from the bunch. Delores certainly had a deft touch about her.
“Its fine, we’ll walk,” he slurred, thinking that the night breeze would suit him just fine.
They walked out into the warm night air. The sky was lit with infinite stars that pinpricked the black sky. Tommy marveled at the clarity rarely seen in the city and deeply breathed in a lungful of non-toxic air.
They wandered along Main Street, illuminated by store front glows and pretty streetlamps. Tommy’s mind was buzzing with confusion. He had originally intended to return to town under the cover of anonymity. He had his father’s estate papers to sign and then he would be on his way and back to his life, such as it was. Then there had been a reunion of sorts. It was undoubtedly pleasant to see his old friends again, but his hopes of a shallow meet and greet had been ruined by the ghost of their past. It had been naïve of him to think that they could merely hoist a few beers without the specter of Arnold Trotter looming large. But now the magician may well be on the loose, making his list and taking scalps. Over the years he had kept copious records on Arnold Trotter but he had never found an answer to the man. He had always held on grimly to the hope that the actions of a few 12 year olds could not possibly have been so crucial. But the more he’d looked, the more it seemed so.
They turned down through the side street that led out though the commercial district and towards the residential areas. There were mainly warehouses along this way and it was a shortcut home.
“Have you thought about staying in town?” PJ asked suddenly.
Tommy tried to think through the beer haze. “I don’t know PJ,” he managed. “Maybe at first, maybe because of…” he trailed off.
“Ally?”
“Yeah, Ally,” Tommy conceded.
“I think that you guys would be great together. I know that she likes you Tommy, she always did,” PJ said sweetly.
“Jesus PJ,” Tommy snapped. “This isn’t high school anymore this is real life. People are messy and complicated and invariably real life sucks.”
“It doesn’t have to,” PJ replied. “Look at me. Last week I had nothing, now I’ve got my best friend back and I’ve got a girl,” he grinned. “Life can be pretty good.”
“Really? You’ve hooked up with some slutty waitress and you think that we’re best friends?” Tommy laughed cruelly.
“Your problem is that you think too much,” PJ said quietly.
“And your problem is that you don’t think enough!” Tommy snapped.
He wandered away into the shadows to take a leak. His head was bursting with too many thoughts. He didn’t want to be harsh to PJ, but something about the man’s blind optimism was pissing him off. It wasn’t PJ that he was mad at; if his friend had found a corner of happiness then good luck to him. He was a lucky man.
He relieved himself in a steaming stream against a wooden warehouse wall deep into the shadows.
“PJ?” He called, “I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean that.”
There was no reply. PJ had apparently stormed off in a sulk. He zipped himself up and wandered back onto the pathway. There were large warehouses on either side. The buildings loomed high into the night sky blocking some of the natural light.
“PJ?” He called again louder.
His distress at upsett
ing his friend unnecessarily morphed into concern as he found himself suddenly alone.
“PJ? Come on man this isn’t funny, I’m sorry ok? I didn’t mean anything.”
He started to head further along the shortcut hoping to catch up with his friend. PJ lived in this general direction so it made sense to try and find the man further up along the path.
Suddenly he heard a muffled scream off to the side and he quickly followed the noise. His feet crunched noisily across the parking area gravel as he ran towards the warehouse. As he grew closer he could see that one of the large bay doors was swinging open on the breeze. Every instinct screamed in his brain to turn and run; to find help and return with reinforcements. He had seen enough movies in his life to know that running into a dark building following a scream would have had the audience shouting in disbelief at the screen. And yet he ran anyway. This was a house of falling cards that had been built by his own bloodstained hand and now there was another neck in the noose.
He charged through the open door. The warehouse seemed deserted. The interior was a black hole that allowed no light to permeate. He moved closer to one of the windows at shoulder height. On closer inspection he could see that the glass had been blacked against the sun and prying eyes. The centre of the floor was stacked with crates and a sickly sweet odour filled the air. The aroma was familiar from his college days and he thrust his hand into the nearest crate. His hand came out with a large clear plastic sack that was full of dry green leaves.
Something metallic fell to the floor somewhere in front of him and he moved slowly towards the sound. As he grew closer he could now make out a long silhouette on a raised platform. Suddenly the blackness exploded into light as a powerful flashlight beam hit his face.