After the Rain

by Philip Cox

  ‘She’s heading for the Interstate!’ Craig shouted, as they both dived back into the Fusion. While they were buckling up, Ben swung the car round in reverse, selected Drive, and out into the street. A truck was travelling left to right, and this vehicle sounded its horn and flashed its headlamps as Ben cut in front of it.

  ‘Shit!’ Ben exclaimed as the lights in front changed from green to amber. ‘We’re going to lose her.’ He pressed onto the gas pedal harder and the car rocketed past the now red light onto the Interstate ramp.

  ‘She’s taking the southbound,’ Craig said, as they could see the figure in the distance turning right.

  ‘Looks like we are too,’ countered Ben as he swung the steering wheel to the right. ‘We need to keep close to her. She could easily lose us on this road.’

  ‘No, not necessarily,’ said Craig. ‘She can go faster than us on that, definitely; but the speed limit here’s only sixty-five, and the traffic police are quite enthusiastic about everybody keeping to it. If you see what I mean.’

  ‘You been stopped, then?’ said Ben, as they joined the main carriageway.

  ‘Couple of years back. Got caught in a radar trap doing seventy-five. Hundred dollars fine.’

  Ben whistled. ‘There - still in the distance. Yeah, you’re right. She’s being careful about keeping to the speed limit, too.’

  The bike was able to keep in the outside lane, overtaking the slower moving vehicles, mainly cars and small trucks. Occasionally they saw it weave in and out of the traffic to get past something also in the outside lane. Ben was also able to stay in the outside lane, but suffered more horn blasts and flashing headlamps as he cut up a Wal-Mart Truck during overtaking a tour bus which insisted on staying on the outer lane.

  ‘She’s coming off there,’ Craig pointed out. ‘Looks like she’s heading for the 27.’

  ‘I see her,’ said Ben, concentrating hard on not losing her and not wrecking the car. It was easier for a bike to negotiate an intersection at sixty-five than a car.

  Sure enough, the little figure in the distance was now leaving the Interstate here and joining the southbound Highway 27.

  ‘Where the hell’s she going?’ Ben asked. ‘Seems a long way to go just to shake us off.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Craig. ‘It does. I wonder...’

  ‘Wonder what?’ Ben switched into the outside lane and sat upright, peering at the bike in the distance.

  ‘Did you see that sign back there?’ asked Craig.

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘The one that said Miami 170 miles.’

  ‘Yes, I saw it. You think she’s headed for Miami?’

  ‘Do you remember the last call from Adam’s phone that night? The one some hours after the previous call?’

  ‘Yes! It was from the Miami area, wasn’t it? I’d forgotten about that last call.’

  ‘So had I. I had almost assumed that someone had stolen his phone, and pressed redial by mistake.’

  ‘From Miami?’

  ‘That’s the only explanation I could think of. There was no reason I could come up with for Adam to go down to Miami. Not just like that, on his own.’

  ‘Yeah. Surely he would have told Steve if he was going down there for a few days.’

  Craig nodded in agreement. ‘Probably.’

  ‘Looks like I need to be careful here,’ Ben said, sitting bolt upright again. ‘I don’t like these gradients: she could easily disappear from view, and take a sharp turn off, and we don’t notice until we’ve sped past.’

  ‘No, and let’s hope there are no road works, either. There were last time I came down here. A bike could easily negotiate traffic queues; we can’t.’

  ‘There she is again. Could I risk seventy?’

  ‘Could do. There are warning signs when you enter radar controlled areas.’

  Ben gave the gas pedal a little more pressure, and the engine noise increased slightly. ‘Jesus, I’ve just had a thought: it was lucky we filled up the other day.’

  ‘Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Which could be to our advantage. How many mpg does a bike do? I’ve no idea. If she has to stop for gas, we’ve got her.’

  ‘That’s wishful thinking.’ He settled down in his seat, letting the cruise control take over. ‘On the subject of wishful thinking,’ he added, ‘spending all day in between the sheets: that’s impressive, despite what you say about your brother.’

  ‘Viagra,’ Craig muttered, staring out of his window.

  ‘Come again?’

  ‘Viagra,’ Craig repeated. ‘He must use Viagra.’

  ‘I see. Point made.’

  ‘Listen, everything about my brother’s artificial. His relationships, always transitory. You’ve seen photos of him. Okay, he’s tall – can’t change that – and he works out, three, maybe four times a week. But the tan’s either a sun lamp or spray on; he gets his teeth whitened a couple of times a year. And then there’s the Viagra. That’s just the way he is.’

  Ben said nothing.

  Stacey continued further and further down Highway 27, with Ben and Craig around a hundred yards behind in pursuit.

  ‘She’s staying in this lane,’ said Ben. ‘Wonder if that means she doesn’t intend to get off soon.’

  ‘Possibly. Let’s hope so. On that bike she can easily switch lanes and exit the Highway in seconds. Not so easy for us.’

  Nevertheless, Stacey still showed no signs of doing anything but follow the highway further south. They had already passed the intersection with Route 60; now over Route 70 and onwards as the road started to bear south east as the signs indicated proximity to Lake Okeechobee.

  A sharp left, and the road passed by the small town of Clewiston; from then on the road ran parallel, half a mile or so from, with the shores of the lake. It was just after midday now, and the sun was high in the sky, reflecting off the shimmering surface of the lake. The sky was a deep blue, with only a few clouds in the southern horizon. Driving along, they had a panoramic view of the lake. Its surface looked calm and friendly, scattered with the small boats of bass fishermen.

  ‘Looks beautiful, doesn’t it?’ said Craig, staring out over the water.

  ‘It does,’ Ben replied cautiously, ‘but what about all that stuff Stacey was saying about it being best to bury things after it rains? That lake’s pretty big.’

  ‘Yeah, but she said swamps. Specifically swamps. I’m thinking swamps, Miami, Everglades.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Stacey turned right at the small town of South Bay, on the intersection with Route 80. Still following the 27, she sped south east, now running parallel with the North New River Canal. Momentarily, Ben got delayed by a reversing truck just outside South Bay, so decided to take a gamble and was hitting eighty as he began to track the canal. Two or three minutes later, Stacey was in the distance and Ben was able to narrow the gap back to a hundred yards, and then dropped his speed back to seventy.

  ‘Whew, that was close,’ he breathed.

  They continued south east down the 27. The traffic was building up now, as they were getting closer and closer to Miami, and they could see the form of the skyscrapers of the city in the distance.

  ‘Hey, look at that,’ said Ben. Just after the intersection with Route 821, he noticed Stacey’s brake light come on, and the gap between them appeared to narrow. He slowed down a little himself, as she switched to the inside lane. Just past a sign for Hialeah Race Track, Stacey steered the bike to the right, and took a small exit road. Now fifty, maybe sixty yards behind, Ben did the same. This exit road bore round to the right, and came to a junction with minor road which went underneath the 27. There was no sign of her. Swearing, Ben pulled up at the junction and he and Craig looked either way.

  ‘That way!’ said Craig, pointing in his direction. Ben swung the steering wheel to the left, and, brakes protesting, they sped along this unsigned road. A speed limit sign said twenty-five, but Ben estimated Stacey was doing at least thirty over that; he found it hard keeping up and co
ntrolling the car. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Craig holding onto the door handle.

  There was a sharp bend to the right. Just as Stacey inclined the bike twenty or so degrees to the right to take this bend, a truck appeared from around the corner. The truck’s horn sounded, and the vehicle swerved to the left slightly, righted itself and carried on, the horn still blowing. She swerved to compensate, but miscalculated. Still travelling at least fifty, the bike toppled over and skidded across her lane and into the side of the road. There were a few bushes on the side of the road, but nothing strong enough to stop a motorcycle travelling at fifty miles per hour. It pushed its way through the bushes and careered out of sight.

  When they had reached the bend, Ben steered the car to the verge and stopped. He and Craig leapt out of the car and ran through the bushes. Beyond the bushes there was not flat land, but a grassy slope leading to a small ravine ten or twelve feet below.

  ‘Christ, that was lucky,’ Craig said as they clambered down.

  She appeared conscious, if not unhurt. The leather clad figure was still on the seat, one leg above the bike, the other underneath.

  ‘Hold on, Stacey, don’t move!’ Ben called out as they rushed over to her. Each taking a grip under her arms they carefully moved the figure from underneath the bike. Its engine was still running; Ben leaned over and turned the key off. He sniffed: fortunately there was no smell of gasoline. They looked down at the figure: the only injury appeared to be to the right leg, which was lying at an unnatural angle.

  ‘It's okay, Stacey, we’ve got you,’ Ben said, crouching down to help take off the crash helmet.

  He stood up again when the helmet came off. Expecting to see Stacey’s shoulder length dark hair cascade down, he saw a man, early twenties, short dark hair. The face and eyes indicated Asian extraction.

  Craig sat down on the grass. He stared at the rider. ‘Well, well; Bobby Chin, I believe.’

  Chapter Forty-Four

  ‘WELL?’ REPEATED BEN. ‘Is that right? Bobby Chin?’

  The slight Asian figure in the black leather outfit just glared at them, saying nothing. Blood was beginning to trickle over his eyebrow from a cut on his forehead.

  Ben looked over at Craig. ‘I think in the absence of a denial, we’ll take it as a yes.’ He crouched down. ‘So, Bobby, where’s Stacey?’

  Bobby Chin spoke this time. ‘Go fuck yourself.’

  Ben stood up. ‘I see.’ He looked down at Bobby, his gaze ending on Bobby’s right leg, which was still lying at an awkward angle. ‘How’s the leg, Bobby? It looks painful. Is it?’

  By way of a reflex, Bobby reached down and rested his hand on his injured leg. He stared up at Ben, with a defiant glare on his face.

  ‘So, just tell me exactly where it hurts,’ said Ben raising his right foot and keeping it hovering over Bobby’s upper leg. Craig stepped back a couple of paces and watched, arms folded.

  ‘I told you, go fuck yourself,’ Bobby spat at Ben.

  Ben rested his foot on Bobby’s leg. ‘Here?’ he asked. There was no reaction, just a satisfied smirk. Ben moved his foot further down, to just above the knee. ‘How about here?’ he rested his foot gently on the leg. Bobby flinched slightly.

  ‘I’ll ask you again, where’s Stacey?’

  Bobby said nothing, just fixed his gaze up at Ben, except for the fraction of a second when his eyes darted to his leg and back.

  Ben applied a little more pressure on the leg. This time Bobby let out a small yelp, but still said nothing else. Ben pressed down harder, and Bobby shrieked and tried to grab Ben’s foot with both hands.

  Ben lifted his foot. Bobby lay back on the ground, breathing heavily.

  ‘Well,’ said Ben. ‘Are you going to answer now?’

  Still no answer. Ben lifted his foot again.

  ‘No!’ Bobby cried out, trying to sit up and stop Ben’s foot.

  Ben sat down next to him. Craig stepped forward a couple of paces, now resting his foot on the prone motorcycle.

  ‘So,’ Ben said quietly. ‘Where’s Stacey?’

  ‘She’s not here.’

  ‘I know she’s not here. Where is she?’

  ‘She – she’s down here right now.’

  ‘You just said she’s not here. Then she’s here. I’m getting confused, Bobby. Where is she?’ He put his hands on the ground as if he were getting up.

  ‘No, wait. I mean she’s not actually here. With us, now.’

  Ben stood up and raised his foot again.

  ‘No, wait – please! What I mean is, she’s down here, in Miami.’

  ‘She’s down here? How can she be? She was at my place last night.’ said Craig.

  Bobby swallowed and felt his leg. ‘My leg. I think it’s broken. I need to go to hospital.’

  ‘All in good time,’ Ben said. ‘Give us the information we’re asking for, and we’ll get you to a hospital. Mind you, how quickly you give us this information will determine how badly broken your leg is.’ He reached over and patted Bobby’s leg, causing him to flinch.

  ‘She called a cab from your place early this morning. Right?’

  ‘Correct. Go on.’

  ‘She got the cab over to Billy’s.’

  ‘But Billy’s disappeared.’

  Bobby snorted. ‘If Billy doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. He was around - for those he wants to see.’

  ‘All right,’ Ben said. ‘Carry on.’

  ‘She told Billy what had happened and he thought that you two were getting too close to what had been going on. So he decided she needed to be out of the picture.’

  ‘So what’s he done with her?’ Ben asked, concerned.

  ‘Relax, guy, relax. Not what you’re thinking. Billy has use of a place down here. So he and Stacey drove down this morning, about an hour or two before us.’

  ‘What were you doing, then?’

  ‘Billy called me on his way down and asked me to get Stacey’s bike from the bar and ride down with it. Then he planned we’d all lie low for a while.’

  ‘Who’s we all?’ asked Craig.

  Bobby rubbed his leg and looked up at him. ‘You know who I mean. Billy and Stacey, me, Scott and Jared.’

  ‘So, all five of you are going to lie low down here. How long for?’

  ‘Till you two assholes have left. You can’t stay around forever.’

  ‘Just watch us, you little -’ Craig leapt forward.

  Ben restrained him. ‘But even if we did go home empty handed,’ he said to Bobby, ‘there’s still a police investigation going on. His brother’s disappearance won’t go away.’

  Bobby gave a short laugh. ‘The police won’t be a problem.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Craig, looming over him.

  ‘Just something Billy says.’ Bobby lay back on the grass.

  ‘Right. Next question.’

  ‘I’m not telling you anymore. So fuck off.’

  Ben shot up and put his foot on Bobby’s injured leg again, with more pressure than before. Bobby screamed and clutched his leg. ‘Next question,’ he repeated.

  ‘All right, all right,’ Bobby half spoke, half sobbed. Ben released his leg and Bobby stared to talk again, still clutching his leg. ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘What happened to my brother? Is he down here too?’ shouted Craig.

  ‘What’s left of him, maybe,’ said Bobby dismissively.

  ‘Why, you -’ Craig leapt onto Bobby and started shaking him by the leather collar. Ben grabbed Craig around his chest and pulled him off. Bobby was screaming with pain from his leg.

  ‘No, not here, not like that,’ Ben yelled at Craig. ‘Just wait.’

  Craig kicked some dust at Bobby, then turned and stalked away. He stopped after a few paces, then turned round again.

  Ben sat back down with Bobby. ‘I would suggest you tell us everything. I can’t guarantee I can pull him off next time.’

  Bobby glared at Craig one more time, and then looked at Ben. By now, Craig was w
andering back, calmer.

  ‘We first came across your brother in the bar,’ he said. ‘He was flashing his money about, and acting all superior. Billy was really pissed off that Stacey seemed to be interested in him. And that he was screwing her already.’

  ‘We guessed that much. Go on.’

  ‘Billy had an idea about teaching him a lesson. We arranged for him and the other guy he was staying with to come out with us all one night. We’d planned to give them both a lesson they’d never forget, but as it turned out things went our way.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The other guy used to enjoy playing pool. He was quite good at it, in fact. Not like your brother. So, that evening, we were all playing pool, and left Adam and Stacey together. Billy told Stacey to arrange with Adam to meet her outside for a screw behind the bar. We were going to grab him then and do what we did to you.’

  ‘The waterboarding?’ asked Ben

  ‘Yeah, that’s right. Billy said it wouldn’t leave any marks, but he wouldn’t forget it in a hurry.’

  ‘Too right. Go on.’

  ‘Upshot was, Stacey and Adam went back to her place, not behind the bar. So after the bar closed we all went over there. We knew Stacey’s mom and her old man were away so Billy said let’s get him at her place. But as we were arriving there, he was leaving.’

  ‘The one night he didn’t stay over,’ Craig reflected.

  ‘So we grabbed him, and took him where we took you,’ Bobby added, looking at Ben.

  ‘The Andersons’ barn?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s right. We gave him a session, like we did you. But he put up quite a fight, and his wallet fell out of his pocket. Billy took out the cash, and said he had an idea.’

  ‘Which was?’ Craig loomed closer, and sat down the other side of Bobby.

  ‘He said we should not leave your brother there, but take him to a place he could use down here. Said he must have money, lots of money he could get his hands on, so we’d keep him down here while we were clearing his bank account out.’