“Hello, my name is Brent and how may I serve you tonight?” Brent the clerk pleasantly said, while greeting the couple.
“Hi Brent . . . we would like a room for two with a view please. Oh and just how much is a room with a double bed, for one night?” The mysterious driver inquired.
“Just two persons in a standard room, let’s see that would be eighty nine dollars ninety nine cents including the state tax. So how will you be paying sir, cash or charge?” Brent replied.
“I will be paying with this credit card Brent…” The driver told him as the woman was casing the office out. Brent did not call the credit in to see if it was stolen as to not want to make his only customers feel like they were suspects. Jackie would have done it especially after seeing his out of state driver’s license and their vehicles Oregon plates. Brent didn’t ask the woman for any identification either, but only what her first name was.
“Okay then . . . Danny and Pauline, I’ll just grab your key to the downstairs room number five, so just follow me over to get you into your room. So, where are you two from in Oregon?” Brent inquired as he locked up the office door then led then towards their room.
“Ah . . . well you see we are from Portland.” Danny replied while not offering any additional information.
“Oh my goodness Danny . . . it’s a small world isn’t it… I graduated from the University of Oregon and I lived right downtown for four years. Where exactly do you two live?” Brent queried them.
“Oh a Brent I don’t think you would know it, not too many people have heard of that little boring suburb lying just west of the city.” Danny replied whilst he and Pauline stared at each other for a few seconds and at the same time the smile almost magically disappeared from Brent’s face.
“Okay then folks . . . I will be in the office all night if you need anything so please don’t hesitate to wake me later if you need anything or have a problem with something. Goodnight . . . oh yeah I almost forgot to inform you that the ice machine is down around the corner next to the soft drink machine and check out time is at twelve noon.” Brent told his rather odd acting guests.
Pauline jumped in the shower first while Danny scoped out the bar fridge’s interior but decided to go out to the van first. When he arrived, he could hear the faint sound of rock music playing so he rushed over to the driver’s side door and opened it then went inside.
“Hey . . . do you think you can make any more noise shit for brains?” Danny told their third companion who was stretched out on the rear bed in the camper van.
“So what Danny, I have a right to live don’t I? Just because you two are posing as a couple doesn’t mean I have to be degraded and abused…” Jacko, the third member with a white and red colored Mohawk haircut, said while he drank a tall can of, Old English 800 stout beer, which is known by him as simply, “Liquid Seconal.”
“Then Jacko listen up clearly and get this through that thick skull of yours, stay put here in the back of the camper and do not make any more noise. I will come back later for you when the dumb bell doofus who is working at the front desk has retired for the night. I reckon that should be around eleven thirty or twelve midnight, now do we understand each other Jackov?” Danny said telling him sternly.
“Yeah, we understand one another crystal clear Danny Boy and hey, “The pipe’s and pipe’s are calling you . . . to go back home where you belong!” Jacko sang in response.
Danny gently shut the driver’s side door then sauntered on back over to his room. Brent was standing intently behind the front desk and saluted Danny as he passed be the big front window, while Danny simply gave him a not so friendly nod in return. He opened the door and was pleased to see that Pauline was still in the shower, so he immediately disrobed then entered the steamy bathroom and opened the fogged up glass shower door unannounced. Pauline wasn’t too surprised to see him as she knew they were friends with benefits anyways. Danny just wanted to knock off a piece before Jacko would enter the scene, later on that evening.
The night sky was clear and just a bit chilly with an onshore ocean breeze cooling things down. Danny returned from the ice machine with a bucket full of ice plus two Coca Cola’s to mix with the bottle of rum he had brought back from the van. As he strolled by he saw the lights on in room number seven and he wondered who that was, then he figured it out that it must be the owners of that nice expensive white BMW, parked out in the parking lot. His demented brain started going into overdrive as he continued on to his room thinking that his plan may take an opportune turn for the better.
Pauline poured them each a tall glass full of rum and coke then as she handed Danny his full glass, he told her about his new plan to include the only other guests staying at the Inn as well.
“This will be a night to remember my dear Jezebel… Are you ready to do this act of taking candy from a baby?” Danny queried his partner in crime as he cackled away like a maniac…
“As ready as I will ever be Danny Boy, do you want some “go fast” before you go do your magic?” Pauline asked as she did a bump of the biker toot.
“Okay, give me some ‘cause we need to stay alert at all times tonight.” Danny replied.
They two of them took the nearly full bottle of Cuban rum with them as they headed down to visit the inhabitants staying in room number seven. Pauline rapped on the wooden front door as Justin yelled out to Jan Marie to answer the front door, telling her it was probably the new night clerk. When she pulled the door open she was surprised to see Danny and Pauline were inexplicably standing there with a bottle of rum plus four glasses filled with ice cubes in their hands…
Chapter Four
“Hi neighbor . . . I’m Danny and this is my lovely wife Pauline, we thought we would come over to have a drink with you guys but I now see you won’t be joining us.” He said politely.
“Who is it dear?” Justin inquired.
“Well they say they are our neighbors and they brought something for us to drink with them.” Jan Marie replied as Justin jumped out of the Jacuzzi and came into the room from the patio to check the situation out in person.
“Hi I’m Danny and this is my lovely wife Pauline, would you like to have a drink with us.” He queried.
“Sure okay come on out into the patio and sit down, I see that you came to visit well equipped with ice and glasses, you must have been a Boy Scout.” Justin said as he scrambled around looking for everything.
“Indeed I was Justin . . . an Eagle Scout as a matter of fact.” Danny replied.
Jan Marie came out to the patio and stretched out on the comfortable lounge chair. Justin got back into the steaming Jacuzzi as Danny handed him a rum and coke. They four of them began chatting and talking about Portland. Justin had noticed Danny’s tattoo’s across his wide knuckles.
“So what do you guys do back in Oregon? I hear it rains a lot up there in Portland…” Justin inquired.
“Well I’m a bartender at a college bar and Pauline is a waitress at the very same establishment, and so how’s about you two?” Danny queried.
“My beautiful wife Jan Marie is a corporate lawyer and me . . . well I have a construction company along with my brother, who is my partner down south in the La Jolla area, near San Diego” Justin replied.
“So you guys are contractors? That’s cool. I’ve done some construction labor jobs before, and I will say I slept good each night after working nine hours straight.” Danny divulged about his past while the gals chatted softly.
“Who is ready for a refill?” Pauline inquired then collected Justin’s empty glass while proceeding to make three new cocktails for the three of them. The ever thoughtful Pauline brought Jan Marie over a virgin coke on the rocks.
“Hey you know this rum is really good and smooth, where did you buy it?” Justin inquired.
“Oh yeah . . . well actually I’ll be honest with you, I stole it from the bar on my last night of working there…” Danny replied without showing any sign of guilt or remorse.
Fo
llowing that remark made by him Jan Marie said it was getting late and time for them to turn in, as they had a full schedule planned for the next day. Justin told her to relax and that it was still early. She just gave him that silent pissed off treatment where she would scrunch her face up as she nodded her head in the direction of the front door, so he would catch her drift. Sometimes she wondered why she was with such a slow thinking plus unaware beach boy, but then she remembered about his six pack abs…
“Sorry to rush you guys off but we need our rest. We will try to see you tomorrow, and what time are you leaving or are you staying for more than one night?” Jan Marie queried.
“As far as I know we will be heading out on down that dusty highway, bright and early tomorrow morning but I’m sure we will run into each other sooner or later anyway, goodnight!” Danny said while they walked out of the doorway and over to their room.
“I frickin’’ hate lawyers . . . and I don’t give a damn what kind they are, they are all the same pieces of shit to me…” Danny said as he poured himself another strong drink.
“Hey Danny Boy, what do you need when you come across three lawyers buried up to their neck’s in the sand at the beach?” Pauline asked then answered quickly before Danny had a chance to think about it, “More sand!”
“Ha Ha, that’s a good one paully! Well just sit back and relax, mix yourself another drink and we will wait about another hour then go set the beast free.
“What do you thing he’s doing in the van all of this time?” Pauline queried.
“He had best be behaving or I will put some new lumps on his ugly head…” Danny replied.
“Now why would you want to go do something like that, he’s already running on only two cylinders.” Pauline stated.
“It’s more like he’s a twelve pack short of a case!” Danny replied.
Justin showered then joined Jan Marie in the warm bed. She had a worried look on her face as she began asking Justin what he thought about Danny and Pauline.
“Yeah, what a couple of kook’s and did you see his prison tats on his knuckles?” Justin queried.
“As a matter of fact yes I did and I also have the feeling that his “wife” Pauline has done time as well, she has that look about and did you hear the way she was speaking? They give me the creeps and she was high on something and it wasn’t life either!”
They both had become suddenly groggy, then passed out cold with the television still on. They had been tuned in to CNN news with the volume set at moderate. Danny abruptly bent over as he went by the office window just in case Brent had not gone to bed yet. He hurried on over to the van to get his partner in crime. He opened the van door only to see Jacko just lying there on the bed and staring up at the camper’s roof.
“Come on . . . the games on and its show time Jackov, now make me proud, Lad!” Danny exclaimed then they both fixed their eyes on the shiny new BMW of Jan Marie’s that would be their next easy pickings.
Danny went over the plan several times with Jacko while still in the parking lot rehearsing their next act. Danny walked a few steps ahead of his tormented friend and knocked a few times on the office door. After a minute went by, Brent arrived to open dressed only with his pants on and also wearing a wife beater tee shirt.
“Hi Mr. Smith . . . what do you need?” The trusting night clerk naively replied.
“That was Jacko’s cue to push the door open then enter the office as he tackled the unsuspecting Brent, who was caught off guard and got body slammed down to the floor.
“Now you handle this guy Jackov and get the money out of the safe too!” Danny told his partner in crime as he went back down to his apartment to get Pauline to stand watch before he entered room seven. He had a thin metal device he used to unlock sliding glass doors, but to his delight Justin had inadvertently forgotten to latch the door. He gently slid it back open then boldly walked in going right for Jan Marie’s purse then dumping it out on the carpet in front of the flat screen television. He gathered up all of her credit cards, cash plus her key ring full of assorted keys. He next went through Justin’s wallet and scored in finding $ two grand in large bills plus his ATM bank debit card...
Jan Marie moaned as Danny suddenly froze near the bathroom door. He bent over hunkering down as he made his way past the television on the way back to the sliding door, that he went back through making his way back outside to the patio. He next carefully stepped over the waist high privacy wall, that was dividing their patio from the other units then he casually walked back to his room. Pauline had been down on the corner watching out for any new customers pulling in, but as their luck of the Irish would have it nobody else drove in, making it a perfect score for the three of them.
Once back inside the room Danny took off his yellow doctor’s surgical gloves, then flushed then down the toilet first. Next he got out his sharp knife then cut up Jan Marie’s small white designer purse into small bits the flushed them down in two flushes as well as with the entire remainder of its traceable contents…
As he left he carefully wiped down all of their prints with a small wash cloth soaked in a special solvent then flushed that by depressing the lever while using the toe of his left shoe.
He pulled a stocking hat on down to his eyebrows then walked on over to see how Jacko and Pauline were making out…
When he entered the office he was overjoyed to see that his partner had everything under control. Brent was hogtied and gagged lying face down on his bed. Jacko made him drink a glass of water containing the same ingredient that Pauline had discreetly slipped into Justin’s and Jan Marie’s drinks earlier on that evening…
“He should be out until noon I gave this fool a high dosage!” Jacko said proudly.
“I hope you haven’t killed him smarty pants . . . I didn’t sign on to get a murder one conviction!” Pauline replied.
Danny checked his take and it was alright the till had three hundred dollars in cash plus twelve hundred dollars in the safe. Pauline found a trash bag then emptied out the office fridge to take with them…
“Okay Jacko . . . now what about the security camera?” Danny inquired as Jacko simply held up a tape then handed it over to Danny who threw it into the trash bag along with the food and drinks.
“Okay are we forgetting anything? No, then jacko wipe down behind you and Paully you lock up behind as you’re still wearing gloves, I’ll have the van running… and Jezebel you ride with me in the van and jacko you get to take the Beemer because you did a superb job tonight and you look like you need to have some fun, but if you get pulled over you are on your own, got it…” Danny told his associates proudly yet sternly.
Jacko left the office momentarily after Danny had exited through the door as Pauline quietly shut then locked the front door while bringing the keys to the Inn along with them, just in case there was a fingerprint on one of them.
“Jacko . . . here’s the keys man, now in case we get separated you do remember where to meet up in Fresno right?” Danny queried his partner.
“Yeah Danny Boy and that would be at Biker Billy’s pad right?” Jacko replied.
“Right - oh! Let’s move lady’s . . . time’s a wasting I want to arrive at Billy’s at breakfast time…” Danny replied.
Jacko started up the six cylindered BMW then over revved the motor to its red line, next he quickly backed it up, turned the wheels then sped out of the parking lot as he burned rubber encountering a patch of sand on the highway. Danny and Pauline were exuberant and singing along to “Do you like me now” that was pumping out of the distorted rear stereo speakers. They pulled alongside of the white BMW as Pauline yelled over to Jacko, “Nice ride Cutie!”
He just howled while flipping them off as he floored the powerful motor then took off speeding away and putting some distance between them. “See you loser’s in Fresno!”
Jackie left Santa Cruz at seven thirty in the morning to return home. She was pleasantly surprised from her writer friend’s performance and he even put
a smile on her face. When she turned into the Inn’s parking lot everything seemed normal until she opened the office door and saw that Brent wasn’t at the front desk. She found him still face down on the bed wearing only his white jockey’s and barely breathing. After cutting off the duct tape that had bound his legs and arms plus silenced him from screaming, she splashed some cold water on his face to bring him around. He was in a dazed and confused state but could now speak so he immediately told her about his traumatic ordeal. She called nine, one, one, then asked about Justin and Jan Marie…
“Oh my God Brent . . . are those kids down in room seven okay?” Jackie asked while in full panic mode.
“I have no idea because after being ambushed from behind, well I can’t remember a thing!” Brent replied as Jackie looked around for the spare keys for the rooms then took off running with Brent lagging behind. She yelled for them then pounded and got no response so she put the key into the deadbolt lock but to her surprise the door was already unlocked. Jackie knew this couldn’t be good… When she turned the doorknob then pushed it fully open she encountered only Justin still knocked out from the potent sleeping pills they were drugged with.
“Justin . . . please can you wake up! Brent go get me a glass of water from the bathroom and hurry.” Jackie yelled as she began slapping his face until he came around.
“Wh . . . what happened? Where am I and where is Jan Marie?” Justin screamed out loud.
“I don’t know! Brent honey, go look around for her and please wait for the police!” Jackie ordered as she looked around in the bathroom but there was no trace of her or any clues as to what had happened to her. Justin was now sitting in a chair trying to get control back of his shattered mind…
“Drink this water to help flush the drug out of your system Justin and I’ll bring you some more…” Jackie said in advising him.
“Oh my God . . . where is she? Where can she be Jackie?” Justin kept repeating over and over while holding his aching head with both of his hands…
The Edgewater Stargate Page 4