Holding his arm against his side, he twitched in place like a strumming guitar string. The man continually flicked a lighter down by his side while he waited for us to pass.
Austin took my hand and pulled me to the other side, placing himself between me and the guy leaning against the wall. I liked the way my hand fit into his, almost as If they were made for each other. A dry warmth radiated up my arm. Making me feel good about myself.
He stopped his stupid whistling and kept his head up and eyes forward. I could tell he was completely focused on the guy but not in a challenging way. Is that what you’re supposed to do? I wondered. Squeezing his hand I drew in close to him as we passed the man. Austin threw an occasional glance over his shoulder as we pulled further away.
Letting out a sigh of relief I started to let go of his hand but he pulled me in close and shook his head. The far end of the tunnel was approaching and the fresh sunlight illuminated a young woman walking towards us. She had to have been about twenty but her face looked like a crinkled piece of paper. Wrinkles spread from the corners of her eyes and mouth. They were way too deep for somebody so young. Her long brown hair hadn’t been washed since the beginning of last summer. My stomach lurched as I realized how low a girl could fall.
She smiled at Austin and cocked a hip a little more than she needed too but the whole effect was ruined by the absence of three front teeth.
“Hey Austin,” she said. The S in Austin whistling through the missing teeth.
“Hi Harlow, how you doing,” Austin answered as he swerved to move around her.
She glanced at me and gave me the quick once over before dismissing me and retuning her full attention to Austin. “Great, Great. Uh, om, You got anything man?” she said raising her eyebrows and smiling with her eyes in the international signal of a woman offering something for trade.
Had she just offered him sex for Drugs? Really? Drugs? My mouth dropped open like a fish on a scale. What kind of world had I fallen into? I’m not a total innocent I’d been around people stoned and drunk at parties. Seen kids spaced out on speed. But this was different.
It made me realize that I had absolutely no idea who this guy was, I mean I’d only met him a few minutes ago and I’m walking through a dark tunnel holding his hand like Hansel and Gretel.
“No, sorry, Harlow, you know that’s not my kind of thing,” Austin said over his shoulder as he pulled me towards the tunnel entrance.
“Yeah, I know, but a girl’s got to ask, you know?” she said as we walked out of the tunnel.
The sunlight hurt my eyes and I immediately pulled my hand out of his and stepped back. I glanced at him waiting for an explanation. Maybe I’d misread her meaning. It was bad enough offering herself like that, but she’d done it with me standing right there. As if I didn’t figure into the equation somehow. My blood boiled and it wasn’t being helped by the silly smirk on his face. Stomping my foot I turned and headed up the path. I needed to get away from this guy.
“Hey Casey, hold up,” he said. The way my name danced when he said it sent a shiver down my spine. Every part of me wanted to stop but my Irish temper wouldn’t let me. What was funny was I didn’t even know what I was mad about.
“Come on,” He said, gently pulling me to a halt. “You don’t know where you’re going. How are you going to find your friend?” The fact that he was right only irked more.
Jeanie, that’s right. That was why I was here I reminded myself, figuratively hitting myself up side of the head. Quit being an idiot Casey. Tearing my eyes away from my shoes I looked up at him waiting to see what he had to say.
He sighed and slumped a little when he realized I was willing to hear him out. Rubbing his hand across the back of his neck like a little boy. “Do you have any idea where to look?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in doubt. “No? I didn’t think so. Um well it looks to me like you could use some help. You want to find your friend and you have no idea where to look and no idea who to talk to. More importantly, no idea who not to talk to. So….”
“What’s in it for you?” I asked with my little girl snotty voice. The one I used when I forgot not too.
He laughed, “Well, you’ve got something I want, and you could use my help. It seems to me we should make a deal.”
My eyes bugged out of my head. Did he just hit on me? What kind of girl did he think I was? Or did he think all women were like that skank in the tunnel. I stammered for a moment and my mouth got ahead of my brain. I was trying to come up with some momentous put down but failing miserably. “If you think I’m going to sleep with…..”
“No, no not that,” he said throwing his arms into the air and taking a step back. “Although… now that you mention it.” I took a step to get around him. “I’m kidding, come on Casey, you set me up. Lighten up. I’m talking money. You could hire me to help.”
I stopped, was he serious, was this some kind of trick? “How much?”
“I don’t know, how much you got?”
“A little over two hundred dollars,” I said.
“On you?” he asked, his voice rising in shock as he quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard me.
“No, of course not. In savings. I’ve got about forty on me, two twenties.”
We paused for a moment each studying the other. “You’d really pay two hundred dollars to find your friend?”
“In a heartbeat, but nothing if we don’t find her. That’s the deal take it or leave it.”
Chapter Four
Casey
Austin reached out his hand and held it there waiting for mine. I stared into his eyes trying to figure out if this was smart or not. Come on Casey, so much of what you are doing today is not smart but it’s the only chance you’re going to get. Whatever it takes to find Jeanie. I shook his hand. It was rough and enveloped mine in a warm electrical buzz.
He smiled and said, “Come on, I’ve got some ideas where we can start.”
Before I knew it we were headed down the path.
“What’s your friend’s name?” he asked.
“Jeanie,” I answered sneaking a look at him from under my brow. He walked fast and I had to hurry to keep up.
“Why’d she run away?”
I hesitated a moment. How much should I tell him? This was still Jeanie we were talking about. She’d be pissed if she found out I’d been sharing her secrets with some strange boy. “I don’t know why. We had a big fight about a week ago, but that couldn’t have been it. Something happened and because of our fight she couldn’t tell me.”
He glanced back at me and I could tell he knew I was holding out on him. Shrugging his shoulders he accepted it. He definitely looked like a boy who understood about secrets.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked as we stepped out of the park and onto the sidewalk. A yellow cab honked its horn and somebody yelled an obscenity.
“About three years,” Austin answered as he scanned the neighborhood. His eyes checked each nook and cranny. Lingered on certain people, assessing, weighing them before moving on to the next dark shadow. “Nope, I hoped she might be down here,” he said then pulled me into traffic. The nearest crosswalk must have been a hundred feet away and he stepped into the street like he was walking into a store. My heart jumped and I pulled back but he gripped it tighter. “Don’t stop or you’ll get hit for sure,” he said throwing me a silly grin over his shoulder.
Cars slowed at let us weave our way through. Angry stares and an occasional honk pushed us along our way. I could feel everyone looking at us, wondering why we were breaking the rules. It really wasn’t necessary, like I said; a hundred feet away and we could have used the crosswalk like anyone else.
Austin stepped up onto the far sidewalk and looked both ways as if deciding which way to go. I wondered if he knew what he was doing and realized that I was getting farther and farther away from the museum and Mrs. Tompas.
“Let me have your phone.” He said holding out his hand.
“Why?” I deman
ded.
“Casey, not everything has to be a fight.” He said studying me for a moment. “I want to show the picture to some people. Come on, we need to hurry if we’re going to get you back in time.”
I started to give him my phone then pulled it back and locked the picture of Jeanie as the back ground. I didn’t need him searching through my other pictures. He nodded then immediately stepped into a small produce store. The kind of place with wooden crates of yellow crook neck squash and tangerines outside. I watched him walk up to an old Asian guy behind the counter and show him the picture. The old man studied it for a moment then shook his head. Austin thanked him and came back to me.
We started down the street with Austin occasionally popping into a business to ask if they had seen Jeanie. Several times he stopped people on the sidewalk, people he obviously knew. Each time they shook their head my heart sunk a little lower in my chest. We had to find her and I had to get back to the Museum before I was found missing.
I watched him as he interacted with the people in the neighborhood. Everyone knew him, most greeted him with a smile. The girl at the candy store slipped him a piece of fudge then critically examined me as if I was an entry at the county fair. An older woman at the convenience store came from behind the counter to give him a quick hug before examining the phone. But again, like all the others, she shook her head. Flashing him a frown that said how much she hated disappointing him.
“Why did you skip that place?” I asked as we passed an art gallery.
“They wouldn’t have remembered her if they’d seen her.”
I began to worry. Hadn’t anyone seen Jeanie, Had Stephany seen her? Was this all some kind of stupid waste of time?
He took my hand and pulled me towards a solid red door. The familiar electric tingle radiated up my arm and my feet followed before I could think about it. As he pulled the door a strong push of alcohol and stale air rolled over us. A tinny jukebox was blaring some kind of classic rock song that my parents would have thought was old school. “We can’t go in there,” I said as I pulled back on his hand.
“It’s okay,” he said with a smile. “Come on trust me.”
Who was this guy I wondered as he positioned me inside the door and to the side. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
Small wooden tables with rickety chairs were strategically placed on a hard wood floor that looked like it had been built before my grandmother was born. Two old men sat at the bar, both of them in rough work cloths, their hands clasping glasses with ice and a warm brown liquid. Their unshaven faces stared at us as if we were alien invaders from another world.
The bartender stepped out of the back room with a couple of bottles. His face broke into a big smile when he spotted Austin. “Hey boy, how you doing? I don’t need any help right now, maybe later.” He said. Was there anyone who didn’t know him? The bartender saw me at the door and his eyebrows rose in surprise. He stared at Austin obviously waiting for an explanation.
“Thanks Sam, that’s okay. I was wondering if you’d seen this girl?” Austin said showing him Jeanie’s picture. Sam studied the picture for a moment then shook his head. He handed it to one of the old men at the bar.
“Jason, you seen her around?” he asked. My skin shivered. I wondered how I would ever get my phone clean again. There was no telling how many germs it had picked up.
The old man with the scratchy unshaven face studied the screen for a moment then nodded. “Sure, saw her yesterday, over by the Pizza place on 3rd. You know the one that sells it by the slice.” My heart leapt into my throat. Jeanie was here. Steph had seen her. It wasn’t all a waste of time.
“Couldn’t miss that hair, as red as a fire engine, you know?” The man continued then handed the phone back to Austin.
I immediately left my assigned spot and hurried over “When, what time of day. Was she with anyone? Did she look alright?” I asked, the words burbling out of my mouth before I could think.
Austin placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and pulled me back a little. Enough to remind me to slow down. “Thanks Mr. Miller. We appreciate it. Can you tell us anything else? Was she with anyone else?” He said to the old man. Even I was impressed with his charm and soothing calm voice. How could anyone not give him whatever he wanted? The guy could talk the birds out of the trees with that voice.
Mr. Miller pondered the question for a moment then smiled. “Yep, she was with someone. That Charlie guy. The new guy, came into town a few weeks ago.”
“What Charlie guy? What’s he look like?” Austin asked his face falling into a deep frown.
“You know, one of those chicken hawks, usually working over by the bus station. Shiny brown jacket, gold tooth. He’s been nosing around for a couple of weeks, setting up business.”
My heart dropped out of my throat and into my back pocket. Gold tooth, was it the same man from the park. Had Jeanie gotten mixed up with that creep? I grabbed Austin by the shoulder. “We have got to find her.”
Austin shot the bartender a knowing look. Something was bothering him. Sighing to himself he leaned towards me and whispered “Give one of your twenty.”
I stepped back. Surprised at his request I reached into my jacket pocket and gave him the bill. He turned and laid it on the top of the bar. His fingers trembled a little as he slid it over to the man. “Thanks Mr. Miller. We appreciate it. Thanks Sam,” Austin said with a smile and slight nod of his head. Taking my upper arm he half pulled, half pushed me out of the door.
“Why are we leaving, maybe he knows more.”
Austin quickly scanned the street then turned back to me. “He doesn’t know more. He saw your friend Jeanie yesterday. She could be anywhere by now.”
“What do we do now, where is this Pizza place?” I asked as we stepped outside.
Austin ignored me as he studied the street and its people. Coming to some kind of internal decision he turned and smiled. “It’s up on third, back towards the museum. But like I said, that was yesterday.”
My heart turned over when I remembered the whole field trip thing. If Mrs. Tompas discovered me missing she was going to skewer me to a lamp post. That was nothing to what my parents would do. I’d be twenty six before they let me out of the house again. And a grandmother before I got my driver’s license.
“Come on,” Austin said as he tried to pull me into traffic.
“Hold everything,” I said. I didn’t like the way he was always tugging me as if I couldn’t keep up unless he was in charge. Well that was going to stop right now. “There’s a crosswalk right over there, let’s use it like normal people.” Austin glanced at me then over at the crosswalk not more that forty feet away. Then back at me as if trying to figure out what I was talking about. He shrugged his shoulders stepped back up on the sidewalk next to me. I swear I heard him mumble something about idiot civilians. But I chose to ignore it; at least I would get across the street in one piece.
We started up the hill back towards 3rd street. Who was this boy next to me? Besides being rather hot, like the sun on a July day at high noon type hot. Everyone knew him. He fit into this environment very easily but there was something that didn’t make sense. He didn’t come across as some ignorant lowlife with no understanding of the world. And he definitely didn’t give off those creepy vibes. What was it about him that made him different?
Bent over at the waste we walked uphill. The neighborhood was all the same. Red brick building put up sometime in the middle of the last century. The kind of place that was full of small shops and rundown apartment buildings. Old warehouses and artist lofts.
I kept thinking about Austin. About where he came from and why he lived here? I knew that he was only helping me because of the money. But still, I never would have gotten confirmation that Jeanie was living here now without him. Never would have known for sure. It was only a matter of time until we found her and I was able to make things right again.
The fresh aroma of roasted coffee hit me like a hammer. My stomach gurgle
d and I realized how long it had been since my last caffeine fix. “Hey let’s get some coffee,” I said as I pulled him into the shop we’d just passed. Austin looked up at the sign and blanched for a second. At first I thought he was going to refuse but he seemed to relax and followed me into the shop.
I knew instantly that this had not been a wise move. The Barista froze in mid-pour and stared at Austin like he was the long lost treasure of Eldorado. I mean the girl looked like someone had punched her in the stomach. Austin hesitated for a moment, smiled and nodded towards her. “Hi Maggie,” he said.
She gathered herself and nodded back before returning to focus on what she was doing. I noticed though that she kept glancing our way as we stood and studied the chalk board with its dozen different versions of caffeine bliss.
“I’m not really all that thirsty,” Austin said.
“I’m buying,” I said. What an idiot I could be. He probably didn’t have any money and here I am pulling him into a coffee shop occupied by what was obviously an ex-girlfriend.
“Hello Austin,” the girl said as we made our way to the register. She had long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. Soulful dark eyes and a flawless caramel complexion. She glanced my way and offered me a weak smile.
“Hi Maggie, can I get a Venti, hazelnut mocha and Casey what are you going to get?” he looked expectantly at me.
That sounded good actually. “I’ll have the same.” The young barista nodded and turned to start making our drinks.
“Wow,” I whispered to him, “There must be some heavy history between you two.”
He continued to stare off into the distance, nodded and said “You might say that.”
After I paid we took our drinks to a stand up table as far from the register as we could get.
“So, tell me, what is it between you two? Or should I say what was it?” A little part of me was burning up with jealousy. An emotion I had no right to feel. But it was there all the same and I didn’t like it. We were going to find Jeanie and I would never see this boy again. To say we came from different worlds was putting it mildly.
Unwritten Rules Page 3