Billy

by Donna Joy Usher

‘Won’t ride with him.’ The larger man laughed.

  I was beginning to think he might be a bit dim-witted.

  ‘Why’s that fatty. Is it because your farts stink?’ He nudged Bob’s shoulder with his foot. ‘Is it because you’re a fat, little stinky porker.

  He and his mate laughed again.

  Dim-witted and just plain rude.

  ‘What’d happen if we put some holes in your piggy skin? Would they be upset?’

  Awww, double shit. I’d been hoping they were just going to get the money and go away. But they were bullies.

  I hated bullies.

  Ever so gently, I lifted first one, then a second and third container of Pringles from the shelf.

  I was going to have to be fast if this was to work. I doubted Bob would be able to get up in time to help me, and from what I could see, the petrol-station attendant was hiding behind the counter. I was hoping he had hit some sort of silent alert or something like that.

  One… Two…

  I lobbed the first Pringle can in a high arc over the men’s heads. They didn’t see it, but they certainly heard it as it crashed into the glass front door.

  As they spun towards the door, I leapt out from behind the chips and sprinted towards them. I only had a few seconds before they realised I was behind them.

  Bob flailed on the floor like some sort of beached sea creature as I launched the second can. It hit further along the store, spraying chocolate bars onto the floor.

  The men spun towards the noise and the one with the gun squeezed off a round. The sound roared inside the tiny store.

  Oh great. He was untrained and trigger happy.

  He held the gun with his right hand, which put it on the far side of where I was. I was going to have to take him down to disarm him.

  Bob had managed to roll onto his side and was pulling his legs up underneath himself when I leapt. It was a move I had seen in karate movies and it did the trick.

  I jumped with one leg straight out in front of me, aiming low. I felt my foot crunch into the side of the big man’s knee. He let out a yelp and toppled towards me.

  I landed in a crouch and launched my final Pringles can at the second man. It made a clunk as it smacked him in the forehead. He screamed and fell to his knees with his hands clutched over his face.

  The big man might have had a broken knee, but he still also had a gun. I jumped over the top of him, coming down on his arm as he used it to try and halt his fall.

  The crack his forearm made preceded his scream by a second. The gun fell from his fingers and I kicked it over to Bob.

  I whipped my handcuffs off the back of my vest and cuffed the man’s good arm. Then I dragged him a metre to the nearest aisle and cuffed him to the bottom of the stand. It seemed cruel to attach a cuff to his broken arm.

  ‘Bloody hell.’ Sweat rolled down Bob’s face as he trained his gun on the smaller man.

  I held my hand out to him. ‘May I please borrow your cuffs?’

  ‘May I please borrow your cuffs?’ A grin formed on his pudgy face. ‘May I please borrow your cuffs?’ He started to laugh. ‘Oh, that’s too good.’

  I shook my head. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Honestly, sometimes I just didn’t understand men.

  He handed me his cuffs with his spare hand and I walked over to the man still clutching his face. ‘Do I have to hurt you?’ I asked.

  His eyes were wide through the balaclava openings as he stared up at me. He was really more a kid than a man. He shook his head and placed his hands behind his back, turning so I could cuff him.

  ‘We’re going to need the paramedics,’ I said to Bob.

  He nodded, holstered his gun and trotted out to the car.

  The petrol station attendant popped up from behind the counter. He stared at the two men with his mouth open.

  ‘Has Bob finished choosing his donuts?’ I asked.

  He shook his head.

  ‘Okay. Well just stick whatever you want in there. Oh, and I want a protein bar.’ I trotted back to the aisle and grabbed a peanut butter one. I had no idea how they managed to make peanut butter healthy, but the packaging said it was, so I was going with that.

  I handed the attendant thirty dollars and went to stand beside the big man. His groans were becoming hard to ignore.

  ‘Hang in there,’ I said. ‘The paramedics are on their way.’

  The little jangle announced Bob. I pulled a pair of disposable gloves out of my vest and took the plastic bag he held out to me.

  The gun went into that one. I labelled it and sat it to the side.

  Bob had started searching the kid, so I leaned over the big one. He let out a high-pitched squeal as I reached toward him. ‘Don’t let her touch me,’ he begged. It sounded like he might actually be crying.

  I stood up and backed away. ‘Perhaps you should do this one as well.’

  Bob gave me a grin as he dumped the contents of the kid’s pockets into another plastic bag. He handed it to me and I labelled it as he went through the big man’s pockets.

  ‘Bingo.’ He stood and turned to face me. In his hand he held a bag which housed multiple smaller bags full of crystals. ‘You said you wanted to take down a dealer.’

  I took the bag from him. ‘What is it?’ The crystals were blue, and a little stone, the colour of a sapphire, was glued to the corner of the bag.

  ‘If it weren’t for the colour I’d say crystal meth.’ He took it back from me and slipped it into a larger bag with the rest of the man’s things.

  Flashing lights drew my attention to the ambulance pulling into the petrol station. Another patrol car followed it.

  A team was going to have to go to the hospital with the man, while we took the kid back for questioning.

  Dave came in ahead of the paramedics. I could see Daniel out near the pumps, waving his arms at a car that had just pulled in.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Dave said. ‘What happened here?’

  ‘They tried to rob the petrol station,’ I said. ‘Bob and I stopped them. This one,’ I nudged the bigger one with my foot, ‘has a couple of broken limbs. You’ll need to go with the paramedics.’

  Dave let out a groan. It meant a long boring wait at the hospital. ‘You’re sure they’re broken?’

  ‘Pretty sure.’ I grimaced. ‘Okay, well, we’re going to take this one back to process.’ I crossed to the counter to retrieve the donut boxes. My thirty dollars sat on top, pinned down by my protein bar. ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘no, here.’ I pulled the money out and handed it back to the attendant.

  ‘Take them,’ he said. ‘And you can have free donuts and protein bars anytime you want them.’ He turned to Dave. ‘You should have seen her. It was incredible.’

  I pocketed the money and the protein bar, grabbed the boxes and rushed for the front door. ‘Just doing my job,’ I called over my shoulder.

  I hated how when a man did it, it was normal, but when a girl did it, it was incredible. Like we couldn’t do things as well as men.

  Bob followed me out to the car. He held the kid’s cuffs in one hand and the evidence bags in the other.

  ‘Oh wait.’ I popped a box of donuts on top of the patrol car and took the other one back inside.

  Dave had uncuffed the man and the paramedics were in the process of examining him.

  ‘Here.’ I held the second box of donuts out to Dave. ‘You might need these.’

  ‘And then she flew through the air. It was like something out of a karate movie.’ The attendant was talking to no one in particular.

  I blushed and fled back out the door.

  Bob had the kid in the back of the car and was sitting behind the wheel. Daniel hovered by the passenger door.

  ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Left some donuts for you with Dave.’

  ‘Thanks.’ His right hand twitched towards his nose and then stopped.

  ‘Oh, wow.’ I reached out and touched his face. ‘No glasses. Looks great.’

  ‘Thanks.’ He looked down at his feet as he smile
d. ‘So what happened in there? Bob said you whipped their arses into shape.’

  I let out a laugh. ‘Bob’s funny. They tried to rob the joint. We stopped them.’

  He looked back up at me and said, ‘I doubt it was that easy.’ His pale blue eyes crinkled at the corners. They no longer looked disproportional to the rest of his face.

  ‘You’ve got pretty eyes,’ I said. I’d never noticed that before.

  He ducked his head and pulled the door open for me. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Have fun at the hospital.’ I climbed into the car and he shut the door for me.

  ‘I don’t know nothin’ about them drugs,’ the kid in the back said.

  I pivoted and stared back at him and he cringed into the far corner of the car. Bob had removed the balaclava and there was a red mark in the middle of his forehead. It was already starting to bruise.

  ‘What drugs?’ I said.

  ‘Those ones that Dick had. I know nothin’ about them.’

  I looked at Bob and smiled. We had ourselves a right old chatty cat. This was going to be fun.

  ‘What’s your name?’ I looked back over my shoulder.

  He pressed his lips together and folded his arms.

  ‘What’s your name?’ I used my scary voice as I pivoted and raised myself up in my seat.

  ‘Dylan,’ he squeaked. ‘Dylan O’Connor.’

  Oh yes. This was going to be fun.

  ***

  Trent was waiting for us when we got back. It wasn’t that he was hovering in the hallway, but that he appeared as soon as we led Dylan into an interview room.

  ‘What ya got?’ he asked.

  ‘Armed robbery attempt,’ Bob said. ‘And we found this on the one that’s on his way to hospital.’ He held out the evidence bag with the drugs in it.

  Trent’s mouth pressed into a fine line as he squinted at the bag. Then, he nodded once and said, ‘Larry and Robert are going to take over from here.’

  ‘The detectives from The City Station?’ I asked.

  ‘They’re sharing their time between there and here till we get a detective of our own.’

  ‘Ah hah,’ I crowed. If we were getting another detective, it meant that Trent was staying right where he was. Ramy wasn’t coming back.

  Trent looked at me and rolled his eyes. ‘You are so transparent Probationary Constable Smith.’

  ‘You won’t get to call me that for much longer.’ Another few months and I could drop the Probationary off my title.

  ‘I know. So I intend to make the most of it while I can.’ He flashed me a quick smile and then turned and headed back towards his office. ‘Detectives Garrison and Winters won’t be too long.’

  ‘Better hide the donuts,’ I said to Bob. Detectives were notorious for assuming that all food was there to be shared.

  ‘I can’t believe we don’t get to interview him.’ Bob scuffed at a dirty mark on the floor with his shoe. ‘We did all the heavy lifting.’

  I shrugged. ‘Yeah. But think of the paperwork it’s saving us.’

  ‘Guess so.’ He locked the door to the interview room. ‘I was hoping to have a great story to tell Sasha. But I didn’t really do much.’

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ I fell into step next to him as we walked back to the office. ‘The way you distracted them was amazing.’

  ‘You think?’

  ‘You had a gun pointed at you and yet you were quick-witted enough to make them think you were alone.’

  ‘Yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?’ He reached out and pushed open the door. ‘Although I might leave out the bit about them saying I fart in the car.’

  ‘That might be a good idea,’ I said. ‘Nobody needs to think about farting this early in a relationship.’

  ***

  Harry pulled the door to the penthouse open and swept me into a one-armed hug. ‘How’s my hero?’ he asked.

  ‘Hero?’ I returned his hug and then bent and unhooked the lead from Cocoa’s collar. He let out a bark and raced off into the apartment.

  ‘I’m great,’ I lied. Yesterday’s antics had taken my mind off Billy for an hour or so, but my thoughts had returned with a vengeance later. And then last night, waiting for the sound of a key in the front door, had been the longest of my entire existence.

  I had lost count of the number of times I’d called his mobile and got the same annoying burbling sound. Each time had cranked my angst up another notch.

  Another running session at the gym and a long walk with Cocoa had not helped one iota.

  I followed him back into the kitchen where Mum was fussing over Cocoa. A leg of lamb she had been basting sat on the cooktop. It smelled delicious and reminded me that besides an apple I had found in the fridge that morning, I hadn’t eaten that day.

  ‘How’s my girl?’ Mum threw her arms open and rushed towards me.

  ‘Ummmm. Good.’ I accepted her hug suspiciously. It’s not that she was unaffectionate. It’s just the way she did it that had me on edge.

  ‘Everyone’s been ringing me to talk about it.’

  I pushed away from her. ‘Talk about what?’

  She grabbed my shoulders as she stared into my eyes. ‘You don’t know?’

  ‘No.’ I threw my arms in the air. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

  Cocoa let out a whine and clawed at the cupboard that housed the treats.

  She practically trotted to the massive, teak dining room table. ‘Here.’ She held a newspaper out to me, shaking it when I didn’t immediately accept it.

  I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to know what she was talking about, but I took the newspaper anyway. A quarter of the front page was taken up by a photo of me. Another quarter by the story.

  ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ Mum clasped her hands and smiled, a cat with the canary in its mouth.

  I groaned as I read the headline.

  Constable Smith To The Rescue.

  I was surprised they hadn’t photo-shopped a cape into the photo.

  I looked up at Mum. ‘It’s Probationary Constable.’

  She tutted and flicked her hands at me, urging me to read on.

  I sped read through the article. It seemed Stan, the fuel station attendant from the night before, had been busy after we left. He waxed lyrical about my prowess through the entire article and by the end, I could feel the heat of the flames on my cheeks.

  ‘You’re a hero, Darling.’ Mum clasped me to her bosom.

  ‘Hero schmero. I was just doing my job. It was either that or wait for them to pick us both off.’ I walked over to the table and put the paper back down.

  ‘Says the hero.’ Mum let out a little laugh. ‘That’s your copy.’ She walked back into the kitchen as she said, ‘Where’s Billy?’

  ‘Working.’ I threw the word out there as nonchalantly as I could but it must have come off sounding a bit odd.

  She paused in the act of reaching into Cocoa’s special treat jar and turned towards me. ‘Have you two kids had a fight?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘A fight. You know. An argument. A falling out.’

  ‘No. I mean why would you think that?’

  ‘Well. I know for a fact he’s not at work. Bruce told me he was sick.’

  Ahhhh shit. Caught in my own web of deceit.

  ‘Here, love.’ Harry handed me a glass of champagne.

  I took a sip and then met Mum’s eye which hadn’t moved from my face. ‘He is working.’ I shrugged. ‘Just not for Bruce.’

  She stared at me for a moment more and then nodded.

  ‘What?’ I said. ‘That’s it?’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’

  ‘You would normally subject me to your own form of Spanish inquisition. Maybe water board me.’

  She laughed and picked up the basting brush. ‘I’m not that bad.’ She painted lamb juice over the roast and then popped it back in the oven. ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘Werner mentioned Billy might do some work for him.’

  I could feel my blood pr
essure rising with my eyebrows. ‘He said what?’

  ‘Oops.’ Mum turned back to me. ‘It seems I’ve hit a raw nerve.’

  ‘Damned right you’ve hit a raw nerve. It seems everyone knew that my boyfriend was going to disappear except me.’

  ‘He just disappeared?’ Harry said. ‘That’s not like him.’

  I walked into the lounge and sat on the couch. I placed my glass on the coffee table and then put my head between my knees.

  All of a sudden, the pressure was too much. The pain too raw. The not knowing was unbearable. I wanted to scream, to punch, to break something.

  I felt the tears form and fall as I concentrated on my breathing.

  ‘Hey.’ Harry’s hand started to rub circles on my back. ‘He’ll be okay. I know my boy.’

  ‘What if he’s not?’ I whispered. I looked up at him. ‘What if he gets hurt, or…?’ I couldn’t finish that sentence. I couldn’t imagine a world in which Billy’s perfection did not exist.

  The couch shifted as Harry sank down beside me and pulled me into his arms. I resisted for a moment but it felt really good to have someone to confide in. And I knew that Harry was worried as well. I sagged against him and let the tears come.

  ‘I know my boy,’ Harry said again, ‘and I know one thing for sure. He will move heaven and earth to come home to you. When he looks at you, I can see that the way he feels about you, is the way I feel about your Mum.’

  I blinked up at him through tear-filled eyes. His words rained through my fear, crystallising into the answer to the question that had been doing loops inside my head.

  If the situation was reversed, Billy would not just be sitting there like some useless victim just hoping I came home. He would be moving heaven and earth to find me.

  That knowledge gave me the strength I needed. It swam through my veins, strengthening my resolve.

  I sat back up and picked up my glass. I didn’t care what Trent said. I didn’t care what Matt said. I would find Billy. I knew in my heart that he needed me, even if he didn’t know it.

  ‘Thanks Dad,’ I said. ‘It was just a bit of a shock that’s all.’

  ‘You’re welcome, Princess. Anytime you need to talk.’

  I did need to talk, but just not to him. If I was going to do this I was going to need help. It was time to round up the troops.