Body on the Backlot

by Eva Monteleagre

  He did so, and Tommy scooted back to his corner and returned to his huddled position. I pressed the gun into Dewey’s neck.

  “What’s going on here, Dewey? What’s with all the spiritual preparations? Huh? You about to do a big ritual, sacrifice somebody?”

  “No comment.”

  “You’re not even going to brag about your fancy explosives?”

  Dewey stared at the wall for an answer.

  “Where’s the trigger? Tell me and I’ll say you cooperated.”

  Dewey laughed and shook his head.

  “Man, you touch dese explosives to defuse them? We all dead. They’ll blow, mon. The Barb got ‘em rigged real tight. Don’ even try. Ain’t nuthin’ goin’ ta stop da fireworks.”

  “Okay. Fine. Tommy, I need you to help me, okay?”

  Tommy lifted his head from between his knees where he was trying to hide.

  “Will you please go get me a sheet off one of the beds?”

  The kid just stared at me.

  “Please do it now, Tommy. It’s important.”

  He got up from the corner and went into the other room.

  “Relax, Dewey, this won’t hurt a bit.” I coldcocked him in the head with my gun. He slumped forward and slid down the wall to the floor.

  Tommy came back with a sheet and gave it to me. He stared at Dewey on the floor.

  I tore the sheet in two. “Here, Tommy, wrap this around your body.” The kid was anxious to cover himself.

  I used the other half to tie Dewey’s hands and feet together.

  We exited the room. I closed the door and Tommy put the bar in place.

  “Good job,” I said.

  “You have a gun, too.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  We went back into the room with all the young women lying in cots. I had to believe that wherever the trigger for the explosives was, it wasn’t the way Dewey had just come or the front door that Dewey had opened when he called out.

  Vernice grabbed my arm again. She, too, had torn a sheet and wrapped it around her body. The three of us went up the stairs to the cellar door. It opened easily since Dewey had left it unlocked. We moved quickly through the front room. I stopped only to pick up a set of keys from the coffee table. I noticed there was that same piping in the living room as in the basement leading up to the kitchen. I opened the front door, praying it wasn’t attached to the trip.

  Tommy and Vernice followed me outside where we saw Gus come from around the side of the house.

  “Tommy, Vernice, this is Gus, he’s going to help us.”

  “Hi, Tommy, Vernice.”

  I reported the situation inside to Gus.

  Tommy stared up at us, expectant. He looked around as if he might make a run for it.

  “I don’t think we can wait to get the girls out of there,” I said. “The Barb has the place rigged to blow.”

  Tommy looked back to the house as if considering it exploding.

  “Is it high-tech or homemade stuff?” asked Gus.

  “Homemade, but extensive. I think there’s a pipe that goes to every room.”

  “Coming from the basement?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then that means the trip is somewhere else in the house. It could be by hand. Or it could go off when you open a door. It might be a motion detector.”

  “Or even on a timer for all we know,” I added. “Since it didn’t go off when we went through the window, we know that it’s not that. You came out the front door so that’s safe, too.”

  Gus looked at Vernice. “How come you’re not knocked out like the others?” asked Gus.

  “I spit it out from the beginning. I pretended to be asleep.”

  “Smart girl. Are you going to be able to help us?”

  “I can help,” said Vernice.

  “I can’t ask her to go back in there, Gus.

  “We have to get them out,” said Gus.

  “I said I can help,” insisted Vernice.

  “Okay, you can help. Anyone else being held captive besides in the basement?” I asked.

  “There’s Paige,” said Vernice. “She was the first one, she’s in the well.”

  Of course, Paige, it was the first missing file, the pole vaulter. She had disappeared eight months ago, which made the full count of missing girls a total of ten.

  “You got here just in time,” Vernice continued. “They were going to sacrifice us at dawn, then blow the place.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I could hear them talking and planning, all three of them are totally wacked out.”

  “Where’s the keys to the well?” I asked.

  “The keys to the well are hanging on a hook in the kitchen. But I would get those girls out before you step in the kitchen, I’m pretty sure its rigged. The Barb is completely obsessed with the explosive stuff and I’d bet good money the trip is somewhere in the kitchen.”

  That must have been Paige mewing like a cat, trying to get my attention.

  “Why is Paige in the well?” I asked. “Is she different somehow?”

  “She tried to escape and didn’t make it and so now, Autumn really hates her. Not that she loves any of us.”

  “Why does she have anything against any of you?”

  “Something to do with a singing competition.”

  “The pop star audition?”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Is Paige conscious like you?”

  “She was before she tried to escape. Now, I don’t know.”

  •••

  WE HAD ALL MOVED inside to discuss an exact plan to remove the girls up the basement steps and out the front door since we knew that was clear of trips. We were down in the basement about to make the first move when the sound of tires on the muddy road and headlights approaching thwarted our plans. The Barb and Zombita arrived in the limo, driven by Larry. I pulled Tommy close to me and watched out the basement window with growing apprehension as The Barb and Zombita appeared from the limo. I whispered to Tommy, reassuring him that we were going to be all right.

  Music blasted from the limo. Zombita and The Barb both wavered, stumbled around, and finally moved toward the house. I assumed they were high.

  “That was great, fuckin’-A great,” roared The Barb. His words were slurred. “Looks like we got a movie deal.”

  “We don’t have anything until we sign the contract,” said Zombita. “You have to call Glenn first thing in the morning and request a written contract. I’ll have my lawyer go over every detail. He can say anything. It’s the contract that makes the deal.”

  “Wull, of course. I know that. Don’t patronize me.”

  “I’m not. I’m just trying to make a point. You were excellent tonight. You were a real manager. But we have to finish up the details. We have to get it in writing.”

  She had my Raggedy Ann doll clasped in her hand.

  Zombita and The Barb came inside, their footsteps just over our heads. I watched the limo driver make a U-turn in the grass.

  “We need that limo,” said Gus.

  I slipped out the basement window and began running to cut Larry, the limo driver, off at the bend. As he came by me to pass, I leapt onto the sideboard on the driver’s side and grabbed the door handle, pulled my gun and pointed it at him. He stopped the car and rolled down the window.

  “What the fuck?” he said.

  “You and this limo have just been commandeered.”

  “There’s no pay for that, I take it.”

  “No. I need you to park here and be quiet. Don’t play the radio, don’t talk on the phone, keep all the lights off. Most importantly, don’t leave. Got it?”

  “What’s goin’ on?”

  “I don’t have time to explain. I have to go back and you better be here when I return or you’ll have hell to pay, I promise you.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here.”

  •••

  WHEN I CRAWLED BACK into the basement, I told Gus where the limo was and gave h
im the keys to the jeep. The usual thing would be to neutralize the suspects. Normally, we would apprehend and arrest our criminals, then evacuate the hostages, but since the place was rigged and we had no clue where or how, our choices were greatly limited. The main objective was to get the girls out. Then we’d move in and make our arrests. Then only our own lives would be at stake, and that’s not so uncommon in law enforcement.

  “What about Paige?” I said. Gus shook his head.

  “We have to get her out later.”

  I wanted to argue, but Gus was my supervisor and I knew he was right anyway. There was no way we could get Paige out of the well at that point without endangering the whole group. It was a major flaw in our plan.

  There were more hoots and hollers from upstairs as Zombita and The Barb bumped around. I moved closer to where they were located in the kitchen and listened to their conversation.

  “I’ll call Caroline in the morning,” said Autumn. “I’ll have her discuss the contract in detail with Addams. It’s more appropriate for the agent to do that anyway. You just concentrate on getting me more gigs.”

  “Sure, don’t worry.”

  “Don’t worry? Have you made contact with anyone at all in A&R? One person, even? A secretary?

  I tried to remember what A&R stood for. It had something to do with promoting musical artists or finding new talent.

  “I’m way past that, babe. I got a call into John Lanster. We’re having a fucking meeting next week. What do you think I am anyway, a bleedin’ idiot? Hey, where’s Dewey?”

  “He’s probably with one of the girls,” said Autumn.

  That must have seemed likely to The Barb because he didn’t pursue it.

  “Did you hear what I said about setting up more gigs?” she asked.

  “Sure, of course, whatever you say. I’ll do it. But we’re plugging into the machine, babe. We don’t have to do that. The Merchants of Cool are going to create a huge market explosion named Zombita and you’re going to be the center of the universe, just like we planned.”

  Then he made grunting sounds like maybe they were having sex. A real Romeo, that guy. I walked back to Gus.

  “What are they doing up there?” asked Gus.

  “Coition,” I whispered.

  Gus gave me a double take.

  “We have to make sure the girls are safe before we make an arrest,” he said.

  “Right. I know. That’s not exactly an easy task.”

  “No kidding. If it’s a hand trip and they discover us, or if we make the wrong move, we’re fajitas.”

  “Why’d you have to say that? I’m never going to be able to eat those now.”

  “I’m thinking this is our window of opportunity,” Gus said, and then he walked over to Tommy and put his hand on the kid’s shoulder, bent over to give him instructions.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  OUR ONLY REASONABLE CHOICE was to quietly move the girls out through the same basement window. I picked Jennifer, the tall one, first. Vernice and I were on basement duty. It wasn’t easy. Jennifer’s legs and arms dangled lifelessly and there is a good reason why they use that term “dead weight.” A person who is unconscious is heavy and not at all cooperative. Finally, we coordinated our efforts. Vernice stood on a cot we pulled over to the window, while from outside Tommy reached through the window and guided her body to Gus, who lifted and pulled her through the window. Though it was not necessarily a smooth operation, we got her long body through that window and out of the basement. Gus carried her to the limo. Then I lifted Marissa, from her cot, then Judy, then Brenda. I lifted each girl, carried her to the window, and then Vernice and I, together, hefted each of them up and, carefully, so as not to bruise or scrape their soft flesh, through the window and out to Tommy and Gus. I was relieved that Zombita and The Barb were loaded out of their minds and busy having sex, as it would make them less perceptive to any slight noise we might make.

  I kept my ears open for any sound at the basement door.

  I’m not what you’d call a religious woman, but I have a direct line to God through my heart. Past rats and wet, sweating walls, I moved and I prayed for God’s blessing. We had trouble with the last girl, Katrice. She was completely limp; her body was like a jellyfish, but somehow we got her out to Gus. Vernice scooted out the window like a pro. Finally, I pulled myself out of the basement, gulping the fresh air into my lungs, and was moving with Vernice and Tommy toward the limo when we heard sirens in the distance.

  Gus set Katrice into a seat and Vernice belted her in.

  Katrice’s body slumped to one side like a rag doll. I felt something nudge me from behind. A nose in between my butt cheeks. It was Pancho, Tommy’s dog. “Where’d he come from?” I asked Gus.

  “He showed up right after we started pulling out the girls,” said Gus.

  Dawn was beginning to break. I looked at my watch. It was four forty-five in the morning.

  “What about Zombita?” asked Larry.

  “She’s not the one who needs saving, pal,” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I made the same mistake, don’t feel bad. Listen, Larry. I want you to go as fast as you can to the nearest hospital. Are we clear on that?”

  “Clear.”

  “I want you to know that if these girls don’t make it to the hospital for any reason, I’m going to hunt you down and kill you myself.”

  “Will you please stop threatening me? We’re going to the hospital. I’m on your side. Don’t worry.”

  “Okay, thanks Larry.” I patted him hard on the back.

  Vernice looked at me with serious eyes and said, “Paige.”

  “We’ll get her. I promise.” And I hoped it was true. Tommy held onto Pancho for dear life. “Thanks for your help, guys,” I said. Tommy smiled.

  “Thank you, lady,” said Vernice.

  I heard loud shouts coming from the house. It was The Barb’s voice and then Dewey’s. The Barb must have discovered Dewey in the kiln room and released him. I slammed the door of the limo shut.

  Gus and I tore back to the house and the limo lurched away and down the road around the mountain. Just then, a high shriek came from my left. It sounded like some kind of demon. It was joined by another, and then another. Coyotes. Their voices lifted up in a terrifying chorus. Gus and I looked at each other and stood still as stone for a moment. I thought their eerie cries would never stop. We continued toward the house. The Barb was moving around inside and I could see him through the side window as we passed. He had a shotgun.

  •••

  “WE HAVE TO GET Paige,” I said.

  “Right,” said Gus.

  The WHACK, WHACK, WHACK of a helicopter burst over the mountain.

  “You get the keys to the well, hanging on that hook in the kitchen,” said Gus.

  “Sure, give me the easy stuff, why don’cha?”

  “You’re the agile one with all those fancy karate moves. Don’t worry, got your back.”

  He shot out ahead of me and kicked in the front door. I followed right behind and we rushed in. Shots came from the hallway. I moved toward the kitchen, took a dive to avoid gunfire, did a forward roll, came up on my feet, and entered the kitchen running. The keys were hanging on a big hook attached to a roughly carved board that said “keys” on it. Wires went across the room and ceiling like some kind of mad rainbow spider web. I saw no trip connected to the key holder so I grabbed the keys. I jangled the keys so Gus could hear them. Footsteps pounded up the basement stairs and I could see a gigantic shadow of Dewey coming up the wall with a strange-looking gun in his hand. Gus ushered me out and I made for the door and out toward the well.

  It was easy to pick out the right key for the lock as it was old and huge. I put the key in and with one loud click, the lock was loose. I pulled the rusty bars off and then the wooden cover to reveal Paige, naked, standing in water up to her waist. When she saw me, she cowered. Gunshots hit the side of the well and flew over my head and she winced.


  “Come on, Paige. We’re getting out of here. Now is the time.”

  I reached down to her and she stretched out to clasp my hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong. She grabbed my upper arm with her other hand, put her feet on the side of the well, and used her legs to make her way up. I leaned back, creating more weight, recalled her pole-vaulting career, and thanked God. She was out of that well in no time.

  There were insect bites all over her upper body. Several more gunshots were exchanged and for a moment I thought Paige might jump back into the well. I spotted a small hill. It would work for temporary protection.

  I grabbed Paige’s hand and pulled her as I ran for the hill, counting on Gus to protect us. He was holding The Barb and Dewey back with return gunfire. We ran away from the house over toward the hill. Once we got started running good, I didn’t have to pull Paige. She was out in front of me and we made it to the hill in no time.

  I heard a swoosh sound. A searing pain burst in my right temple and my right hip. I knocked Paige to the ground when one of the windows exploded from the house and a burst of gunfire followed and we tumbled down behind the hill, safe from the gunfire for now. I reached to my temple and felt a small dart embedded in my skin. I pulled it out. I checked my hip and pulled out another dart.

  “Joan, are you okay?” Gus shouted.

  “I’m okay,” I lied.

  Colors began to swirl before my eyes and I realized I had been drugged. I fought to maintain.

  “Look out for darts, Gus.”

  “What?!”

  “Darts! Drug darts!”

  Another swoosh and a dart buzzed by overhead. Gus shot back. I reached for my gun.

  When I looked at Paige again, the face of my mother gave me a look of warning and my heart leapt to my throat. I told myself it was the drug. I heard running footsteps as The Barb ran to a back room, probably to get more ammo. I heard my father cursing, his fist pounding on the kitchen table. It frightened me to realize I was losing control of my mind and the drug was taking hold. I felt my legs turn to liquid but I willed them to move.

  I got up and pulled Paige toward the jeep. She picked up the destination quickly and was out ahead of me again. I heard the pump of the shotgun and then gunfire from Gus. For a moment I recalled my first time shooting a shotgun and the next, I was running through the Ozark hills with my mother. Finally, Paige and I made it from the small hill to the jeep. She jumped in and hid on the floor.