Billy

by Donna Joy Usher

  Nick jumped off the couch and raced to the door.

  ‘Got your wallet,’ I asked.

  He patted his back pocket. ‘Affirmative.’ He looked over his shoulder as he opened the door. ‘Don’t wait up.’ He threw me a cheeky grin as he pulled the door shut.

  I looked down at Cocoa. ‘I’m thinking we see if there’s any cagefighting on.’

  He looked up at me as his tail thumped onto the couch a couple of times. It was good to have a flat mate that approved of everything you did.

  ***

  Nick was asleep on the couch when I came down the next morning. He lay on his back with one arm above his head. Cocoa had wedged himself between the small man’s legs, cocooned on his back with all four paws in the air.

  I tiptoed over to the counter where my phone was charging and took a couple of shots from different angles. You never knew when you were going to need blackmail material.

  He woke while I was getting the coffee mugs out of the cupboard. He stretched both arms above his head and Cocoa let out an annoyed grunt at being disturbed.

  ‘What the? Oi.’ He pushed at Cocoa with both hands. ‘Chanel, tell your mutt I am not a dog bed.’

  ‘You say you’re not,’ I spooned coffee into the mugs, ‘but the evidence is contrary.’

  He swung his leg over Cocoa and wriggled off the couch.

  ‘How was last night?’

  ‘You were right.’ He smiled at me. ‘She is amazing.’

  ‘Oh eeeeewww. I don’t need to know things like that.’

  ‘Don’t be crude. Nobody got their ‘O’ faces on. We just talked.’ The smile was back. ‘Did you know she’s got a Masters in Social Studies?’

  I stopped in the act of pouring water into the cups and stared at him. I didn’t even know what Social Studies was.

  ‘Yeah. She’s real clever.’ He pulled the bathroom door shut and I heard the shower turn on a few seconds later.

  I took a sip of my coffee before taking the bacon and eggs out of the fridge. I really needed to go food shopping.

  Singing started up in the bathroom. I could just make out the words to The Cure’s Love Song.

  Cocoa crossed to the door and sat, looking back over his shoulder at me. I grabbed his lead and some plastic bags and we trotted down the stairs for his morning toilet break. By the time we got back, Nick was out of the shower and cutting the rind off the bacon. The singing had changed to a hum.

  ‘You’re on toast duty,’ he said.

  ‘We’re out of bread.’

  ‘Huh. Got any cheese?’

  I pulled open the fridge door and reached into the dairy drawer. A tiny lump of cheese sat in a Ziploc plastic bag. I held it up for him to see.

  ‘It’ll do. Can you grate it?’

  It only took a minute to grate the cheese. I took a seat and watched while he whisked eggs and chopped bacon.

  ‘Voila,’ he said as he deposited an omelette in front of me.

  ‘Thanks.’ I hadn’t realised how hungry I was till the smell of cooking bacon had smacked into me. I snarfed half of it before I spoke again. ‘Got any plans for today?’

  ‘Yeah.’ He put his fork down for a minute while he chewed. ‘Bi and I are going sightseeing.’

  ‘Oh.’ I had been hoping he would come grocery shopping with me. It was no fun by yourself.

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘Gym. Grocery shopping. Getting some sleep before night shift.’

  ‘Oh yeah.’ He nodded. ‘Escape plan still good?’

  ‘Yeah. You can sleep in.’

  He looked at his watch. ‘I got to be out of here in fifteen minutes. Leave these dishes for me.’ He nodded his head towards the dirty frying pan.

  I looked him up and down. ‘Who are you and what did you do with my friend?’ I smiled. ‘Don’t be silly. You go. I think I can do some dishes. I mean you did cook.’

  ‘Thanks.’ He disappeared back into the bathroom and Love Song started up again a few seconds later. I guessed that was one of the benefits of having a denture. You could still sing while you cleaned your teeth.

  The rest of the day passed quickly. I met Bruce and Lancelot at the little park, grabbed enough food to see us through the week, and did a work out at the gym. Then I managed a couple of hours sleep before I had to go to work, even though my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Billy. Where was he staying? What was he doing at that very moment? Was he thinking of me?

  ‘Hey Chanel, you’re early.’ Lucille looked at the clock on the waiting room wall.

  ‘Don’t get used to it.’ I grinned at her as I walked past. I normally turned up to work smack bang on time.

  The door to Trent’s office was ajar and I could hear a woman talking to him.

  ‘So who is this mysterious person you’ve managed to insert under cover?’

  I froze as Trent let out a laugh. ‘Gloria, you know I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘So really, only two of you know?’

  ‘Only myself and the Super.’

  Gloria let out a low whistle. ‘But he hasn’t been able to find out the identity of The Crystal.’ She spat the name as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.

  ‘They don’t trust him enough yet. All he’s been able to find out is that a big shipment is coming in soon.’

  ‘Will he be there?’

  ‘Who? Our plant?’

  ‘No, The Crystal. Will he be there?’

  ‘My guy seems to think so.’

  I inched nervously towards the offices as her voice came closer to the door. ‘We need to stop that shipment. This drug is already everywhere. Too many people are dying.’ A sound (her fist smacking into her open palm?) accompanied the word dying.

  ‘I know Luv, I know.’

  Another sound – kissing? – and then Gloria said, ‘I’ve got to go. Get them to ask for me if they bring in any dealers tonight.’

  ‘I will do.’

  I hurried away from Trent’s office and made it through the door to the back offices before she exited. They were probably sharing a passionate moment.

  Daniel looked up and smiled as I entered. I was still getting used to seeing his eyes a normal size.

  ‘Your mysterious C has been at it again.’ He pointed at my desk.

  This time it wasn’t a single red rose, it was a bunch of red roses. I tugged the envelope off the packaging and ripped it open.

  Till I see you again, C.

  I picked up the bunch of roses and dumped them into the waste paper bin next to my desk. Their long stems made it look like I had put them in an over-sized vase.

  I pulled my scissors out of my drawer, yanked the roses back out of the bin, and hacked their heads off. Then I shoved the stems into the bin on top of them.

  ‘Easy Tiger.’ Bob stared down at my flower arrangement. ‘Shame. I could have given them to Sasha.’

  ‘You’d take roses bought for another woman home and pass them off as yours?’

  Bob backed away, eyeing the scissors in my hand nervously. ‘Of course not. I’d tell her where they came from.’

  ‘Bzzzzzzz. Wrong answer. Sorry Bob, the tribe has spoken. You’ve been evicted from the Love Boat.’

  ‘So…not a good idea?’

  ‘No woman wants to receive somebody else’s flowers. I mean what does that say? Somebody else was special enough to be bought flowers, but you’re not.’

  ‘But, I’d be giving her flowers.’

  ‘Yeah. That you got for free.’ I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Daniel was taking notes. ‘Look, if you were to take them home….’

  ‘Which I can’t, cause you mutilated them.’

  I rolled my eyes. ‘If you were to take them, the only way you would possibly get away with it was to say that you couldn’t bear to see such beauty destroyed, so you brought them home so the two of you could enjoy them. And even then, a small part of her is going to wonder if the real story is that somebody else gave them to you.’

  I could almost hear the cogs in Bo
b’s brain processing that. ‘Right. So not a good idea at all,’ he finally said. ‘What do you want to do tonight?’

  ‘Let’s catch some more drug dealers.’ If we could catch them, perhaps Gloria could get something out of them that would mean Billy got to come home.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Really? No argument. No, it’s too dangerous, Chanel?’

  ‘You’re not talking about going to The Nasty Crow?’

  ‘No.’ Although I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt we would find the strange blue drugs there.

  ‘Do you think we could head to the service station first?’

  ‘You going to take advantage of Stan and get free donuts?’

  ‘That was the plan.’

  ‘You don’t even know if he’ll be on. And besides, it kind of feels like stealing from the owner.’

  He sucked in his lower lip and looked sideways. ‘Actually, I happened to fill up with fuel there the other day and he gave me his roster. He works till eight during the week. Oh, and it’s his franchise.’

  Hmmm. That changed things.

  I stared at him while I calculated how many calories I had burned on the running machine. Then there was my guilt over accepting free food from the smitten man. In the end I decided that the grief he had caused me with that stupid newspaper article outweighed my guilt. Stan owed me some free food, damn it. ‘Well, we’d better get going.’

  Bob’s face split into a wide grin as he rubbed his hands together.

  ‘Oh, but Bob, I’m staying in the car.’

  ‘Sorry.’ He looked at the floor as he scuffed a shoe back and forth. ‘I promised him you’d come in.’

  I thought about the donuts. I thought about the long hours ahead of us till the morning shift took over. ‘Oh fine,’ I said. ‘But you’re driving.’

  ***

  It was worse than I had anticipated. Stan’s eyes followed me like Cocoa’s would a piece of bacon. He didn’t even look at Bob while he packed up the donuts, placing a couple of peanut butter protein bars on top of the box when he was done. ‘I grabbed a couple earlier just in case you came in,’ he said.

  ‘Thanks.’ I squirmed in my shoes. I didn’t care if he did owe me free food, this was far too awkward to be worth it.

  Bob didn’t seem to be finding it at all uncomfortable as he high-fived the man and picked up our loot. ‘Thanks Stan my man,’ he said.

  I looked over my shoulder as the door jangled. A man stopped in the act of entering. It set off all my alarms. A mouse frozen in the gaze of a cat.

  He backed away as I walked towards him. Bob, oblivious to the man, was still making pleasant conversation with Stan.

  ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Can I help you?’

  He turned and bolted across the car park. I was after him a split second later. He had longer legs than me, but he wasn’t a runner. He also lacked some coordination, drugs or alcohol I was assuming.

  A car pulled off the road into the service station narrowly missing the man and heading for me. It came to a shuddering halt as I placed my palm on the bonnet and leapt, sliding across the corner. I hit the concrete still running but it had allowed him to widen the distance between us.

  I grabbed a roll of paper towel from next to the water jug as I sprinted past it and threw it at the man’s head. I may not have been able to shoot somebody if my life depended on it, but I had played an awful lot of softball at school.

  The paper towel smacked into the back of his head. He let out a squawk and fell to the ground.

  ‘I’m shot,’ he yelled. ‘Gahhhhhh. I’m dying. Help. Help. She shot me.’

  ‘Oh good grief.’ I nudged him with my foot. ‘Get up.’

  He gripped his head with both hands and rocked from side to side. ‘Promise me you’ll look after Elsie.’

  ‘What happened?’ Bob held a donut with a bite taken out of it in one hand.

  ‘You didn’t see it?’ Stan had followed us out. ‘She chased him across the car park, jumped over that car, and then hit him square in the back of the head with that roll of paper. It was amazing.’

  I let out a little groan.

  ‘Come on.’ I nudged the man again. ‘You’re not dying.’

  ‘I’m not?’ He took his hands away from his head and peered up at me.

  I bent and retrieved the paper. ‘I hit you with this.’

  He sat up. ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘Why did you run?’

  He looked down at the ground. ‘I just panicked when I saw you. You know, you’ve got a bit of a rep.’

  Bob spluttered around his donut and icing sugar puffed out from his mouth like a snow machine. I whacked him on the back while he coughed.

  ‘A rep?’ I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  ‘You always get your man. No matter what. Crims avoid this area when they know you’re on shift. Well, the petty ones do.’

  Stan had his chest puffed out. ‘Damn right they should too.’ He really wasn’t helping.

  ‘I have two questions for you,’ I said to the man. ’Firstly, how do they know when I’m on duty, and secondly, how many of these crims do you know?’

  ‘Right to the heart of the matter,’ Stan said.

  ‘Right.’ I hauled the man up by his arm. ‘Let’s get you down to the station.’

  ‘Am I under arrest?’

  ‘Have you done anything I should know about?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well then no, you are not under arrest. You are merely coming in to be questioned.’

  He looked over at Bob. ‘Do I get a donut?’

  Bob hugged the donut box more closely to his chest.

  I sighed. ‘You can have one of mine.’

  ‘And a cup of coffee. They ran out at the soup kitchen a few weeks ago and haven’t had any more donated.’

  I looked at him more closely. His clothing was old, but it appeared clean. His hair was another matter entirely.

  ‘What’s your name?’ I asked.

  ‘Evan.’

  ‘Yes, Evan. You can have as many cups of coffee as you want. And if you want,’ I was guessing, ‘we can organise a shower.’

  His face lit up like I had told him it would be Christmas every day for the next week. It made me want to cry.

  ‘I need to get Elsie.’ He trotted over to a shrub growing at the edge of the petrol station and bent down. A tiny white dog rushed out, her tail wagging as she jumped up and down on her hind legs in front of Evan. He bent and scooped her up, cradling her in one arm as he came back.

  Those damned tears were back. More persistent this time and I turned away so nobody could see me wipe my arm across my eyes.

  He followed me back to the car and clambered into the back.

  ‘See you Stan.’ I waved an arm in the air and hopped in the passenger side, waiting for Bob to juggle the boxes, his unfinished donut and the car keys.

  Lester was on duty when we arrived back at the station. He was more interested in the donut boxes than in Evan and Elsie as he said, ‘Interview room two is free.’

  ‘How do you take your coffee?’ I asked Evan.

  ‘White with two sugars if you have some,’ he said.

  ‘They don’t always have sugar at the soup station?’

  ‘They sometimes run out.’

  ‘Bob,’ I said, ‘I’ll make the coffee. You stay here with Evan.’ I didn’t want to lock him in when we’d said we just wanted to chat. I had a feeling he might not like that.

  Daniel and Mark looked up when I pushed through to the back office.

  ‘A girl after my own heart,’ Dave rubbed his hands together as he viewed the donut boxes.

  ‘Leave some for Bob,’ I said, ‘or there will be hell to pay.’

  ‘He’d have to catch me first,’ Dave said.

  ‘Anyone want coffee while I’m making?’ I looked over at Daniel. ‘Or tea?’

  ‘I’m good thanks.’ He leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands behind his head. His biceps bulged, stretching the sleeves of h
is shirt.

  ‘Somebody’s been working out.’ I nodded at him. ‘Looking good, Daniel.’

  Dave chuckled as Daniel’s face flushed. He jammed his hands back down into his lap and stared at his computer screen.

  I put some donuts onto a plate and took them back to the interview room with Evan’s coffee.

  ‘Check this out,’ Bob said.

  Elsie was standing on her back legs, her front paws clasped around one of Evan’s hands. She waltzed back and forth in time with the tune he hummed her.

  ‘She’s my little Dancing Queen,’ he said as he scooped her up. ‘She’s my best friend in the world.’

  I cleared my throat as I fought with those tears. It was going to totally ruin my ‘rep’ if word got out on the street that I’d cried watching a dog dance.

  I slid the coffee and the plate of donuts across the table to Evan. Bob reached out a hand for a donut but I smacked it away. ‘Yours are out the back.’

  Evan picked up the coffee mug, took a sip and let out a moan.

  ‘Evan,’ I said, ‘how do the criminals know my roster?’ It changed from week to week and sometimes I filled in extra shifts.

  He leaned back in his chair and scratched at his hair with his free hand. A sprinkling of dandruff cascaded down onto his shoulder. ‘Well, as I remember it, Little Joe knows Big Bertha, who’s cousins with Scott Samuels, who knows Randy Adams who is engaged to Flora, and Flora is best friends with Stacey who works in rostering at the Head Office.’

  I had a fleeting second of pity for poor Stacey who would be looking for a new job next week. That sort of behaviour was taboo. It explained, though, how Carlos knew when to send me roses.

  ‘So, do you know many of these petty criminals you were talking about?’

  ‘Don’t know a lot of them personally,’ he said. ‘But you hear a lot of things when you live on the streets. And see things.’ He paused and stared off into space.

  I pushed the plate of donuts towards him and cleared my throat again. ‘Have a donut.’

  He blinked and his eyes came back to the present. He looked down at the plate and then gingerly lifted a donut to his mouth. ‘Krispy Kremes,’ he said. ‘They sure know how to make a donut.’