by Philip Cox
She had stopped crying now. ‘If you switch on the engine the air-conditioning will soon dry us,’ she said quietly.
He looked over to her. She was shivering. ‘Listen, if you think I’m going to sit here for hours ringing wet waiting for the ac to dry me out, you’re mistaken. And look at you: you’re shivering.’
‘I’ll be okay.’
‘Yeah, once you’ve shaken off the pneumonia. I’m taking you back to our place so you can dry out properly.’
‘My bike -’
‘Is already wet. Don’t worry about that. Let’s get you sorted first. One of us can drop you back for your bike later. Or in the morning. When it’s stopped raining anyway. How can you ride your bike in this?’
She nodded, sniffing, and pushed her wet hair back. She was wet through as well: her white top, now diaphanous so he could make out every inch of what he was feeling only a short while ago. His mind came back to the present. ‘Let’s get back to the apartment,’ he said as he started the engine. ‘My friend Craig and I are staying at an apartment complex his father owns,’ he explained. ‘Craig will probably be asleep, but you’ll be able to get dry there. And I’ve a feeling there are some things we need to talk about.’
She looked over at him, but said nothing.
Ben pulled away, but stopped the car after only a few seconds.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
‘Going to have to wait until it eases up. I can’t drive in this.’ Even with the wipers on full speed, the rain was so hard they could barely see the car hood, let alone the road ahead.
‘Keep the engine running,’ she said, ‘and we’ll soon dry out.’
‘No way. We all need to talk. And you want to too, I think. First question though: what’s with the Stacey – Corinne thing?’
‘That’s quite simple. Corinne is my real name; my first name, that is. My middle name is Stacey, and that’s the name I’ve always preferred over Corinne. Since I was tiny everybody’s always called me Stacey, even my mother and grandmother.’
‘But your name badge at the bar?’
‘Even though everyone calls me Stacey, Corinne is still my real first name, see? When I started work at the bar a while back all the official paperwork -’
‘Paperwork?’
‘From the IRS and stuff. It all had me as Corinne Garcia. So when they got the name badge done, they got it done as Corinne.’
‘Why don’t you change it?’
‘I keep saying to them, but Harry can’t get off his ass to do anything about it. He says he’ll get round to it, but never does. I guess I’ve gotten used to it now; all the customers - the regular customers - know me as Stacey, even though my name badge says something different.’
‘But earlier tonight, when we were talking outside the bar, I asked you about Stacey, and you spoke as if she was somebody else.’
She stared out of the window. ‘Things have gotten complex.’
‘Too right they have. At least I can see where we’re going now.’ Ben eased the car into Drive, and slowly drove it out of the lot.
He paused before driving onto the street. ‘Just answer me one thing. All this bullshit, all this complex stuff, as you put it: does it have anything to do with Craig’s brother. With Adam?’
Fighting back the tears, she nodded.
‘Well, all three of us had better sit down and talk,’ Ben said. ‘Craig’s going to want to be in on this.’
Craig was awake when he heard the Fusion pull up outside the building. He peered out of the window and saw Ben and Stacey walking up to the door. He frowned: there was something about their body language that said they had not come back here for a one night stand. Stifling a yawn, he walked to the apartment door, opened it and leaned in the doorway listening for them coming up the stairs. He could hear footsteps, but no conversation.
He chuckled when he saw the two dripping wet figures appear. ‘Hold on,’ he said. ‘Will just get my phone. I must get a picture of this.’
‘Don’t bother,’ said Ben, pushing Craig out of the way. ‘Stacey, this is Craig; Craig, this is Stacey.’
‘Stacey?’ said Craig. ‘But isn’t this -?’
‘Long, long story,’ Ben said, pulling off his wet shirt. ‘Tell you when we’re dry. It’s to do with Adam.’
Now looking serious, Craig looked at Stacey for confirmation; she nodded and looked to the ground.
‘Stacey,’ Ben said, now pulling off his wet trousers. ‘Go in there and take a hot shower. There’s plenty of towels in there, aren’t there. Craig?’
‘Sure, yeah; help yourself.’
Stacey opened her mouth to argue.
‘No arguments. You’ll catch something. Go on: you’ll be quite safe here with us. I won’t jump you in the shower or try anything on with you, and Craig certainly won’t.’
‘What about you?’ she asked, pointing at the puddle he was leaving on the floor.
He leaned down, starting to pull off his shorts. ‘I’ll take a shower when you’re done.’
‘Okay, thanks,’ she said quietly, and went into the bathroom. They both heard the bathroom door being locked. Ben finished taking off his wet clothes and walked naked into his bedroom. Craig followed him.
‘So what’s all this about?’ Craig asked. ‘So she is Stacey after all?’
‘That’s right,’ Ben said, wrapping a sheet around himself.
‘So what did she tell you?’
‘Not much yet. She seems a bit hysterical. I arranged to meet up with her when she finished work. She had me drive to some little shopping mall the other side of town.’
‘Probably the old Bonaventure Center,’ said Craig. ‘I’ve been there a couple of times. A bit run down now, a bit seedy too.
‘Could be. Everywhere was closed, and there were only a couple of other cars in the parking lot.’
‘Sounds like it. Go on.’
Ben listened out to make sure Stacey was still in the shower, and spoke quietly. ‘When we got there, we sat in the car -’
‘Making out?’
‘Sort of. Didn’t get very far, though. In fact we just got to first base, when she got a text message from someone. Then she freaked out, got out of the car, and tried to run off.’
‘Run where? That place is in the middle of nowhere.’
‘Precisely. I chased after her. By now it was really pissing down big time. She fell over and sat there in the rain saying how it was all too late now it was raining.’
‘Too late? What’s the rain got to do with it?’ Craig looked puzzled.
‘Ask her.’ Ben indicated over to the doorway. She was standing in the hallway, a huge white towel wrapped around her. Her hair, now wet from the shower, was pulled back behind her head. She was devoid of make-up.
‘Shower’s free,’ she said.
‘Thanks, see you two in a bit.’ Ben dropped the sheet, and walked past them into the bathroom. Stacey gave no reaction to his nakedness; instead she was looking at Craig.
‘What should I do with these?’ she asked, holding out her wet clothes. ‘They’ve dried off a bit.’
Craig noticed she was staring at him. ‘Give them to me,’ he smiled. ‘I’ll hang them on the balcony. Now the rain’s stopped, it’s still quite warm outside. They’ll soon dry out.’
She handed him the clothes. He walked over to the other side of the lounge and opened the balcony door. ‘Do you want a coffee while Ben’s in the shower?’ he called out.
‘Yes please,’ she called back. ‘Shall I make it?’
Craig’s head peered back around the curtain. ‘I was forgetting: you’ve been here before, haven’t you?’
She nodded slightly, looking a little guilty. ‘We spent some times here, yes,’ she said quietly.
‘Don’t worry,’ Craig said, walking back. ‘It’s okay. I know what my brother’s like. To be honest, you probably weren’t the only one. Sorry to disillusion you.’
‘No, I think it was just me,’ she said, reaching up to a cupbo
ard.
‘Sure,’ said Craig. ‘Can you make three while you’re there? I’m sure Ben will want one too. He takes his black one sugar; I’m no sugar, with cream.’
She laughed, and then stopped herself. ‘Just like –’
‘Yeah, just like Adam. Any other similarities? Physical, I mean. I take it he told you how we are different.’
She filled the kettle with water, and then turned around to look at him. ‘He told me you’re gay, if that’s what you mean. But he didn’t really say much about you. Physically: he’s a bit taller than you, a bit bigger built.’
Craig grunted. ‘He works out a lot.’
‘Yeah, he said he did.’
‘What do I call you?’ Craig asked. ‘Corinne or Stacey?’
‘Stacey.’
She was in the middle of explaining why her name badge said Corinne when she was called Stacey when Ben appeared. Freshly showered, he was wearing a clean shirt and shorts. ‘Great. Coffee,’ he said, collapsing on the sofa.
‘Corinne – sorry, Stacey – was telling me how much I don’t look like Adam,’ Craig said.
‘I said he was a bit bigger than you, but there is a facial resemblance,’ she said, staring at Craig.
Ben jumped up. ‘I’ll finish the coffees. I take it Stacey has told you why she’s Stacey, not Corinne,’ he called out from the sink. He handed out the three mugs and sat down again. ‘Now,’ he said, leaning over and looking at Stacey. ‘You said things were complex. We’re not going anywhere.’
She took a deep breath, a gulp of coffee, and started to talk. ‘You know when we talked outside the bar this evening, and you asked about Stacey -’
‘Hold on, hold on,’ interrupted Craig. ‘Before you go through everything, just tell me one thing. Do you know where Adam is?’
She put her coffee down and wiped both eyes. She shook her head, and half spoke, half sobbed. ‘Adam’s dead. And it’s all my fault.’
Chapter Forty-One
BEN’S EYES FLASHED over to Craig to see how his friend was reacting. Craig sat there, expressionless. Ben waited a couple of seconds for him to say something, and then spoke himself.
‘Adam’s dead, you say. You seem certain of this - how do you know?’
‘And how is it all your fault?’ cut in Craig.
‘I thought he might be okay,’ Stacey said, staring into space. ‘But not now. Not now it’s started to rain.’
‘What the fuck’s the rain -’ Craig started, only to stop as Ben held out his hand.
‘Look,’ Ben said to Stacey slowly and calmly. ‘Just start at the beginning. No rush. In your own words.’
Stacey picked up her cup, drank some coffee and started to talk, cradling the cup in both hands. Ben noticed that her hair was almost dry.
‘I first met Adam in a supermarket. I was picking up some groceries for my grandmother, and he was behind me at the checkout. I noticed him behind me, but we said nothing. A little later he came up and spoke to me outside, as I was loading the groceries onto my bike.’
‘You ride a bike?’ Craig asked.
‘Have done for a three or four years.’
‘That would explain the black leather gear,’ Craig said to Ben. ‘You know, on that CCTV.’
Ben nodded at Craig, and then turned back to Stacey. ‘Go on.’
‘He told me he thought he had seen me before
and it appears he had, on a previous night, at Shots. We chatted a bit more, and he suggested we met up for lunch the next time I was free. I had nothing on the next day, so we arranged to meet then.’
‘Where did you meet up?’ Ben asked. ‘Would it be a diner along the Seminole County Road?’
She looked at him, surprised that he would know about this diner. ‘No, we went there another time. It was not so far away - just ten or twelve miles, near Lakeland.
‘We had a nice lunch, and it was mid afternoon when we finished. As neither of us had anything on for the rest of the day, and Adam’s friend - Steve?’
‘Steve Gibbs,’ Craig said, looking at Ben.
‘Steve,’ she carried on. ‘He was away on business.’
‘Away on business?’ Craig queried.
‘Adam said he worked in IT or something, and had to go to some convention or something in Dallas, Texas, so he would be on his own for the next couple of days. So as I was saying, as we both had the rest of the day free, did I want to go back here with him for a bottle of wine, and maybe some Chinese food?’
‘So you both came back here. I take it you ended up staying over?’
She nodded. ‘I left the next morning, but we both had each other’s cell numbers and agreed we would meet up again.’
‘Which was when?’ asked Ben.
‘We kind of left it open at first, but the next night, when I was at work, Adam showed up.’
‘At Shots?’
‘Yeah.’
‘For a drink, or for something to eat, or just to take you home at the end of a shift?’
‘He said it was for a drink, but I’m sure it was because, or partly because, he wanted to meet some friends of mine. I’d had a call from one of them the night before.’
‘These friends of yours – they wouldn’t include one Billy Loomis, would they?’ asked Craig.
‘Or Jared,’ Ben paused as he recalled the surname. ‘Stevens?’
‘Yes, Billy and Jared are two of them,’ she said.
‘Are there two others?’ asked Ben.
‘Yes, Scott Maxwell. They call him Cowboy on account of those huge Stetson hats he tends to wear. Then there’s Bobby Chin.’
‘Bobby Chin?’ said Ben. ‘Only come across him once, I think. But Cowboy?’ he looked over at Craig.
‘Tall guy?’ he asked Stacey. ‘Goes in for gay honey traps?’
She seemed puzzled. ‘I don’t know what...’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Ben. ‘Tell us a bit more about these guys. Are you a girlfriend to any of them?’
‘That’s what Adam asked me. No, I’m not; well maybe now and then, off and on.’
‘Billy,’ said Ben. ‘As far as we know, he works in the car mechanics on the corner of Main Street and somewhere. Thin, same height as us, long hair, normally in a ponytail. Head case?’
‘Yeah, that’s him.’
‘And Jared Stevens. Looks – at any rate – a bit more normal. Works in a bank. That him?’
‘You’ve met them then?’
‘Actually we’ve met all four, but only those three close up. Tell us about Bobby Chin. Chinese I take it?’
‘We couldn’t make out his features in the dark,’ Craig said.
‘I think his grandparents are. He’s quieter than the rest of them. Always playing games on his computer. Or writing programs, he says.’
‘So he’s quite a computer wiz?’
She guessed his meaning. ‘He seems so.’
‘Would he have the expertise to hack into somebody else’s computer, or email?’ asked Ben.
Stacey shrugged. ‘Possibly. I’m not sure. I don’t know much about computers.’
‘So what do all these have to do with my brother?’ asked Craig.
‘The night he came to the bar, the guys couldn’t help but notice him talking to me. They wandered over, and started talking.’
‘Friendly, like?’
‘Don’t know. I got the impression that Adam and Billy were getting into some kind of pissing contest. Anyway, they all finished up on the pool table.’
‘Playing pool?’
‘That’s right. They must have had four or five games – Billy and Adam I mean. Billy won them all.’
‘Adam wouldn’t have liked that,’ Craig remarked. ‘Were you watching, then?’
‘No, I was working, but I guess they must have had a bet on each game as I kept seeing Adam giving Billy money now and again.’
‘And when the bar closed? Where did you all go?’
‘Adam left about eleven. We arranged to see each other during the next day. That’s the p
roblem with working in a bar: not much of a social life.’
‘And the others?’ Craig asked.
‘They stayed on a bit longer, say eleven thirty. Before they left though, they said to me, Billy that is, how much they liked Adam. They knew he was only here for a few more days, and if I wanted him to hang out with us, they were cool with that.’
‘Then they left.’
‘Right.’
‘And you saw Adam the next day?’
‘Yes. He sent me a text about one that day saying meet him here as he didn’t know where I lived and we could go out for the day.’
‘So, where did you go?’
She looked a little embarrassed. ‘Nowhere. We spent the day in bed. Adam was so – so insatiable.’ She looked down blushing, realizing that this might have been too much information.
‘Did he meet up with the others - Billy and co?’ Ben asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
‘Just Billy one more night,’ she said. ‘Same as before, they spent the evening on the pool table. Adam actually won one game, apparently,’ she added, smiling gently.
‘What about the last night Adam was seen?’ asked Craig. ‘We’ve seen the CCTV footage from that night. I assume that’s you with them; we can’t see your face.’
‘That was Billy’s idea,’ she said. ‘He had asked me before where the cameras were. I told him; no secret, they’re not exactly discreet. And before we all met up, he told me to make sure I wasn’t picked up on camera.’
‘Did he tell you why? Did you ask him why?’
‘Billy told me to. You don’t question Billy.’
‘Why the hell not?’ Ben exclaimed.
‘Not unless you want something nasty to happen,’ she said. ‘Not straight away, but a day or so later.’
‘So that last night,’ Ben went on. ‘What happened?’
‘I had seen Adam that day,’ she said. ‘Not here, Steve was back.’
‘Don’t tell me my brother spent some time standing up!’ Craig said.
Stacey, uncertain whether to laugh at this or not, just continued. ‘We spent the day at EPCOT. I brought a second helmet, so we went on the bike. We had all arranged, Steve included, to meet up for something to eat, then head on to Shots. It was my night off.’