Rusty Logic

by Robin Alexander

  Kirsten nodded. “Good.”

  Antoine moved to the back door and looked at it closely. He let out a yelp when Carla threw it open and held out a glass of lemonade. “I thought you might need this,” she said with a smile.

  “I’m a…allergic to lemons,” Antoine blurted out and quickly walked around the side of the house.

  Carla didn’t bother offering the refreshment to Kirsten and asked, “Find anything?”

  “Ten years’ worth of crud in your windowsills, but that’s about it. Remember what I said, Carla, keep everything locked up tight.” Kirsten rounded the corner of the house and grinned when she noticed that Antoine was already in his car.

  *******

  “Word is out, and people are already getting paranoid,” Kirsten said at the shift change meeting that evening. I know some of you are thinking that Carla’s making up stuff for attention, and it was really Noah at the Jessups’ place,” Kirsten said, looking directly at Mitch. “I’d rather err on the side of caution, though. Bryan, Mitch, which one of you wants to volunteer to surveil Carla Danner’s backyard?”

  Neither of them spoke up, and Bryan slowly raised his hand and said, “My momma told me not to touch that woman.”

  “Chief ain’t asking you to stroke her, boy,” Mitch said. “She’s asking you to stake out her backyard.”

  “The best vantage point would be from the woods behind her house accessible from Charter Street.” Kirsten smiled. “She wouldn’t have to see you, and you can bring the tent if you want.”

  Bryan nodded. “I call it, Chief.”

  “If you guys see anything tonight, let me know,” Kirsten said. “Dismissed.”

  Chapter Ten

  Since she was being cautious, Kirsten drove to Rusty’s house and found her in the garage with the unfinished bridge. Rusty had bought a couple of shop lamps and had one hanging over the workbench and the other from a rafter in the middle of the garage. The floor had been swept, the windows cleaned, and she’d hung her tools on a pegboard.

  “Who knew this thing had electricity?” Kirsten asked as she looked around.

  “Yeah, I found the outlets after I cleaned up. I spent most of my time doing that, but I’m about to tackle the bridge again.”

  “Where’re you gonna put it?”

  “I have no idea.” Rusty glanced over her shoulder.

  “Look, I wanted to talk to you about something, but I don’t want to scare you. We may have a peeping Tom problem. I’m not totally convinced that we do, but just to be safe, you shouldn’t go walking late at night, and I hope you won’t stay out here when it really gets dark, either.”

  “Thank you for the tip, but I grew up in one of the roughest areas of Baton Rouge, and a peeping Tom doesn’t sound that scary.” Rusty smiled. “So don’t worry about me.”

  Kirsten nodded. “Okay, I have a few more house calls to make, so I’ll leave you with your bridge. Good night.”

  “Night,” Rusty called after Kirsten.

  *******

  “You nearly shit your pants when you found Stella in your window, Ms. I Ain’t Scared,” Kirsten said softly as she crossed the street. When she knocked on Stella’s door, Mona opened it and smiled. “Oh, no, it’s never good when you two are together. Go home, Momma.”

  “What was that you used to say when you were younger?” Mona said, staring skyward. “Oh, yes, bite me.”

  “Where’s your car?”

  “It’s making a noise, so your father wanted to drive it around and see if he could hear it too. He claimed he could do that better alone.” Mona stepped out of the way and let Kirsten in.

  Stella’s living room looked like a command center. There was a really big map of Ancelet Bay pinned to one wall and two more pushpins in the map itself. Kirsten walked over to it and realized that the places that had been marked were the Jessups’ and Carla Danner’s streets.

  “Now I don’t want to hear any fussing,” Stella said. “This is a legitimate case, and surveillance is my game. We can help you catch this guy, Kirsten.”

  “Oh,” Kirsten said with a groan and rubbed her forehead. “This is so blown out of proportion already. Let me explain something. Yes, Carla’s flowerbed looked disturbed beneath a window, but y’all know her. If there’s something going on, she always has to be in the middle of it. Candace is dating Noah, and that’s probably who was outside her window. We don’t have any hard evidence to suggest there really is a peeping Tom.”

  Mona was standing behind Stella and gesturing. She held up her fingers to make an okay sign, then pressed her forefinger to her lips. Kirsten had no idea what she was trying to convey.

  “Then you have no reason to worry about us,” Stella said with a smile.

  Kirsten shook her head. “But I really don’t want y’all wandering around at night in case my hunch is wrong. That’s what I came here to tell you.”

  Stella looked happy as a kid on Christmas morning. “We’re not going to. We’ve got bait across the street, and all Mona and I have to do is watch her.”

  “What do you mean by bait?” Kirsten asked as her brow furrowed.

  “Achmed likes to jog in skimpy clothes, and there’s a good chance the perp has noticed her, so all we have to do—”

  “Her name is not Achmed!”

  Stella held up a hand. “I know, but it’s stuck in my head, so excuse me. As I was saying, she will lure the perp in, we will capture him on film and with our eyes, then we will call in you and your people. And I don’t even have to leave my living room.”

  Mona put her hands together as though she was praying, then acted like she was locking her lips.

  “Okay, fine,” Kirsten said slowly. “I’m going home now and soak my head in a tub of ice.”

  Mona patted Stella on the shoulder. “I’ll walk her out,” then she whispered loudly, “and I’m gonna tune her up.”

  Kirsten walked out to her car with Mona trailing behind. “Baby, listen to me because this is all going to sound perfectly sensible in a moment.”

  “I doubt it, but go ahead.” Kirsten folded her arms and leaned against her car.

  “I called to check on Stella earlier today, and she was upset. June called her not long before I did and told her that she and Patty had decided to withdraw their membership from the DOD. According to Stella, June was uncommonly nice and just said that she and Patty felt they were too old to be conducting missions, but we could all still play cards and visit. That broke Stella’s heart, and after the commotion this morning and the talk you had with her, she was devastated.”

  “Mom, I was nice and very gentle.”

  “I’m sure,” Mona said with a smile. “I asked your dad to drop me off here, so I could console her. When I arrived, she was all excited, and she had that map up. After Stella and I talked on the phone earlier, she went grocery shopping, and a group of women at the market told her about the peeper. Her plan is solid. Rusty’s new to town and attractive, so it stands that a pervert might be interested in her. You know Stella will watch her like a hawk. Rusty will be safe, and Stella will remain on her perch and will be out of your hair. Did you follow all of that? I know I’m talking fast and it’s jumbled, but I wanted to explain it all before your dad comes back.”

  Kirsten nodded. “What’s really sad is it does sound like a great plan.”

  *******

  Rusty had become unaccustomed to physical labor. Her days had been spent in a temperature-controlled office, so the heat took a lot out of her. She went in just after sunset, ate, scoured the Web for new building projects, and went to bed. Sleep seemed to come as soon as her head hit the pillow.

  Sometime after hours of deep restful slumber, her mind drifted into dreamland, and she returned to the burned-out forest and the skeletal frame of the house. Unlike in the past when she’d had the dream, she was aware that she’d been there before and stared into the swirling fog expectantly, waiting for her mother to appear.

  “When will you change it?” Justine’s voice was
all around Rusty as her figure slowly manifested.

  “Change what?”

  “The world you created.” Justine waved a hand. “This place.”

  “Are you saying I set off a bomb?”

  Justine didn’t answer and continued to stare at Rusty.

  “I hate when you do that. I ask you a question I genuinely need an answer to, and you look at me like I’m stupid. I would’ve done so much better in school if you would’ve just helped me like other parents did. What is this place, and why do you want me to build things in it?”

  “Sweetie, you hold all the answers.”

  “And you never used terms of endearments. You’ve always called me Rusty, child, girl, or damn it.” Rusty grew agitated. “I want out of here. This is scaring me, it’s wrong.” She shook her head as she looked around. “No, this isn’t right. I want out. I want out now!”

  Rusty awoke, breathing heavily, and she looked around the room for fog and charred trees. She blew out a heavy breath and threw an arm over her eyes. When she was in her regular daily life, she was able to easily shake off the disturbing feelings the dream elicited, but without computer data and office issues in her face, the images she saw in her sleep had begun to haunt her.

  It began not long after Rusty’s heart attack. The first time she had it, she told Neil about it, and they had a good laugh about the pies and Justine hanging out with Elvis and the Kennedys. She didn’t tell Neil that the dream had begun to recur, though, or that it left her feeling disconcerted. Rusty was convinced that her psyche was trying to tell her something, and she didn’t want Neil analyzing her subconscious before she did.

  As she got up and began her morning routine, Rusty decided it was time to truly delve into the meaning of the dream. While her coffee brewed and she stuffed nicotine gum into her mouth, she thought about the charred landscape. It looked like war zones she’d seen in movies. She theorized it represented her health, but she couldn’t make any sense of the house frame.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Noah did it,” Tal announced as soon as Kirsten strode into her parents’ kitchen that morning.

  A pot of coffee had been brewed, but there was no breakfast being cooked, and Mona wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Where’s Mom?” Kirsten asked as she went to the coffeepot.

  “Still sleeping. Stella talked her into staying the night, so I told her I’d pick her up when I got up at five. She sat up all night on patrol with that crazy old woman. Your momma’s heart is too big for her own good, and unfortunately, you inherited that trait from her. You need to put some real pressure on Noah and force him to come clean. This peeper business is gonna bite you in the ass if you don’t. Everyone in town is already overreacting, and soon, the mayor is gonna be in your face.”

  Tal was right. Kirsten had already been assailed by Ben Hoskins that morning after her shift change meeting. The mayor often boasted that he alone was the reason that Ancelet Bay had such a low crime rate. He’d echoed everything Tal had said—Noah was the problem that needed to be solved and quickly. Ben didn’t want any drama in his town before an election year.

  Bryan had spent the night behind Carla Danner’s place and saw nothing but a possum. Mitch reported that he’d combed the streets and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He did report Noah and a few of his friends working on Noah’s rat heap of a car until the early hours of morning, but they’d all dispersed and went home around three. Mitch said he sat outside of Noah’s house for the remainder of the shift and didn’t see him go back out.

  “Dad, what I have on Noah is circumstantial. I have no definitive proof that he was at the Jessups’. If everybody would just shut their running mouths, he’d make another move, and I’d have him,” Kirsten said as she took a seat.

  Tal reached beneath the table and pulled out a box of doughnuts. “Don’t tell your mother about this. I eat all the healthy stuff she makes, but sometimes, I feel like I deserve a treat for good behavior. Help me eat the evidence.”

  “Gladly,” Kirsten said with a smile as she took one of the doughnuts. “Do you recall any peeping Tom cases before you retired?”

  “That was a year ago, you’re asking a lot. Besides, you were on the force then.”

  “I was, but I wasn’t always privy to everything. I’ve got Ellen running some reports for me, but I just wanted to pick your brain.”

  Tal dipped his doughnut into his coffee and thought for a moment. “One incident does stick out in my mind because it happened two doors down at the Talleys’. Jen caught me one morning before I went to the station because she found something troubling on her patio. Someone had set one of her chairs in front of a window. She thought maybe a kid had stood on it to get in. The screen was still in place, and it didn’t make sense to me that someone would need a chair to get in that particular window because it was low. Her husband had been out of town on a business trip, and Jen has no control over her kids as you well know. After we talked for a while, we figured it was one of her brats that moved the chair. I do remember thinking that an adult sitting there would easily be able to see into her living room. I didn’t write it up, though, because like I said, we figured it was one of her kids that did it. She also admitted that her own nervousness with Jake being gone made her a little paranoid.”

  “Was there ash around the chair?”

  “No, I think I’d remember that,” Tal said as he ate the rest of his doughnut in one bite.

  “You taught me to explore all avenues, that’s what I’m doing. Do I think the culprit is Noah? Yes, but my mind is still open. If I take Noah out of the equation, that leaves me with someone who gets off on watching women and young girls. What happens when he gets tired of just looking?”

  “In my thirty years as chief here, I only know of a handful of sexual assaults. Just about all of them were tied to Sally’s bar when booze impaired good judgment. That’s not including the statutory cases, and a lot of those, you worked. I can recall about three legitimate rape cases. One of them occurred at a hotel that has since been closed. Another was a domestic violence thing, and the last one was at one of the camps when a group of visiting boys ganged up on a drunk girl they’d brought with them. Crimes perpetuated on women and children are something that stuck with me, but I try to purge them out of my mind. You should check the files on those for more detail.”

  “Thanks for the lead,” Kirsten said as she grabbed another doughnut.

  *******

  Rusty felt she was discovering the joy of working with her hands, even though it was slightly marred by a splinter and a scratch on her wrist. She’d never realized her mechanical inclinations. It was just before noon, and she’d already replaced a broken handle on the side door of the garage.

  She leaned against her workbench and gazed at one of the windows, trying to decide if she wanted to purchase a window air-conditioning unit. With the door closed, Rusty felt that the garage would cool relatively quickly. In her opinion, sweat was only sexy during sex. The heat in the garage was sometimes stifling, but she decided if she was going to toughen up, she should get used to it.

  Kirsten normally passed by at that time, and Rusty found herself glancing at the road with anticipation of seeing the police cruiser. She wasn’t one to confide in anyone but Neil, but the idea of sharing her dream with someone who really didn’t know her was appealing. Kirsten appeared to be intelligent and open-minded, and Rusty figured that she might shed some insight she hadn’t already considered.

  Kirsten did drive slowly by an hour later, and Rusty walked out of the garage and waved at her. The cruiser came to an abrupt halt and quickly backed up. Kirsten got out with a look of concern on her face. “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Rusty replied with a shrug. “I guess I’ve gotten used to you dropping by, and I waved when you didn’t stop.”

  “I was on my way home for lunch.” Kirsten smiled. “I was curious to see what all you’ve built, but I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself.”

  Rust
y jerked a thumb at the garage. “I lost a little confidence on the bridge, but I haven’t given up.”

  “Have you had lunch yet?”

  “Umm, no, but if you’d like to join me, I can whip up some sandwiches.” Rusty fidgeted. “I’d really like to run something by you and get your take on it.”

  “Sure, sounds great.” Kirsten followed Rusty into the house and sighed happily when cool air swept over her. “I am so ready for the fall.”

  “You mean that one week of mild temps before it suddenly turns cold and wet?” Rusty asked as they walked into the kitchen.

  “Yeah, that one,” Kirsten said with a laugh. “What can I help with?”

  “If you’d slice that tomato on the counter, I’d be grateful.”

  Kirsten stepped up to the kitchen sink, washed her hands, and cleaned the tomato. Rusty washed up, as well, then pulled a cutting board from a drawer and a knife. “So tell me what’s on your mind,” Kirsten said as she sliced.

  “Do you think dreams hold significance, or they’re just random byproducts of your brain while it defragments?” Rusty asked as she opened the fridge and gathered up the ingredients for the sandwiches.

  “I’d say both. I had a dream when I was a kid, and I can still remember it because it was so vivid and at the time terrifying. I was being chased by a giant pickle. There was significance because before I went to bed, Mom told me we were going to Grandma’s the next day. Grandma liked to make her own pickles, and every time we went to her house, she made us taste her creations. They were horrible! And Mom was always telling me to chew and swallow even if I didn’t like it so I wouldn’t hurt Grandma’s feelings.”

  Rusty set everything on the counter and nodded. “So your dream basically revealed that you were dreading having to eat the pickles. That makes sense.”