Desert City Diva

by Corey Lynn Fayman

  ‘Well, everyone’s here now,’ said Gibbons. ‘All the liars and freaks and criminals, back together again. The Conjoinment, round two.’

  ‘Where’s Macy?’ said Rolly.

  ‘A stand-in for the old chief, of course,’ said Gibbons, nodding at Kinnie. ‘But his daughter will have to do.’

  ‘Where’s Macy?’ said Rolly again.

  ‘Down there,’ said Gibbons, pointing to a hole in the ground.

  ‘What did you do to her?’

  ‘She’s retrieving something valuable.’

  ‘He figured it out, Buddy,’ said Dotty. ‘What you did with the gold.’

  ‘Twenty years, Buddy,’ said Parnell. ‘I thought about you a lot. Weird little Buddy, with his puzzles and numbers, his anal-compulsive oddities.’

  ‘I want to see Macy,’ said Rolly. ‘Where is she?’

  A beam of light shot up from the hole in the ground between Dotty and Gibbons.

  ‘I’m coming up,’ said a voice from inside the hole.

  The flashlight beam bounced around the walls of the cave. Macy climbed out of the hole. She turned off the light that was strapped to her head, reached back down and hauled up a rope. A plastic crate appeared at the end of it. There was a metal box inside the crate.

  ‘Is that it?’ said Rolly. ‘Is that the Astral Vibrator?’

  ‘Hey, Waters,’ said Macy, ‘what’re you doing here?’

  ‘Trying to find you,’ Rolly said. ‘Among other things.’

  ‘Well, you found me. Sorry.’

  ‘I’m sorry too.’

  ‘Guess this’ll teach me to go chasing after old ladies.’

  ‘Shut up,’ said Gibbons. ‘Let me see it.’

  ‘Yes, boss,’ said Macy. She reached into the crate, lifted out the metal box and placed it on the floor. Gibbons leaned down and inspected the box.

  ‘The Waters must play it,’ said Buddy. He seemed to have come out of his spell.

  ‘The what?’ said Gibbons.

  ‘The Waters must play it,’ said Buddy. He sounded like a five-year-old kid, as if he’d start screaming or crying. ‘The Waters must play it.’

  ‘Screw that,’ Gibbons said. He grabbed the other end of the guitar cable and plugged it into the box.

  ‘No, no, the Waters,’ pleaded Buddy.

  ‘You heard him,’ said Macy. ‘Let Waters do it. Waters is the shit.’

  ‘Fuck Roland Waters,’ said Gibbons. ‘I spent twenty years waiting for this.’

  Gibbons sat down on a rock and placed the diddley bow on his knees. He pulled out a slide and played a sequence of notes similar to the ones Rolly had played. Nothing happened. Gibbons turned the volume knob all the way up and played the notes again with the same results. He jiggled the cable, made sure it was seated properly. He played the notes again. Again there was nothing.

  Buddy giggled. ‘The villain sucks,’ he said. ‘Teotwayki!’

  ‘Shut up,’ said Gibbons. He played the notes again, with still no result. ‘I know I’m playing it right.’

  ‘The Waters must play it,’ said Buddy.

  ‘Fuck you.’

  The diddley bow clattered to the ground as Gibbons jumped up from his seat. He pulled something out of his back pocket as he rushed towards Buddy. Rolly saw an arc of electricity and heard the woodpecker sound as Gibbons jabbed the prongs of his stungun into Buddy’s waist. Buddy yelled and jerked backwards. He fell to the ground.

  ‘Stop it,’ said Rolly.

  Gibbons turned on him. ‘You want some?’ he said.

  Rolly held his hands up in front of him. ‘No, thanks. I’ve had my share.’

  ‘What does he mean?’ Gibbons said. ‘Why does he want you to play it?’

  ‘I can open the box,’ Rolly said. ‘I’ve got one just like it in the RV. I opened it.’

  ‘Was there anything in it?’

  ‘A postcard.’

  ‘You’re a liar.’

  ‘I’m not lying.’

  ‘Where did you hide it?’

  ‘I didn’t hide it. You can come take a look if you want. I’ve got it with me, in the Tioga. There wasn’t any gold, just a postcard of Desert View Tower, no writing or anything.’

  Dotty walked over to Buddy, leaned down and stroked his hair with her free hand, the one without the gun. ‘Buddy,’ she said, ‘it’s almost time. What should we do?’

  ‘The Waters must play it,’ said Buddy. ‘Teotwayki!’

  ‘It’s a trick,’ Gibbons said.

  ‘For God’s sake,’ Dotty said, turning on Gibbons. ‘Just let him play the damn thing.’

  The look on Parnell’s face turned to pure loathing, as if he remembered every day he’d spent in prison, every hour he’d spent planning his triumphal moment. He hadn’t expected to argue with half-a-dozen people about it. He waved the stungun at Rolly.

  ‘No tricks,’ he said. ‘I’ll fry your ass like bacon if this is a trick.’

  ‘Understood,’ said Rolly. He picked up the diddley bow, reached into his pocket and pulled out his slide, then sat down on the rock. He laid the diddley bow on his lap and rehearsed the sequence of notes in his head. He stopped and looked at the slide on his finger. It wasn’t right. He put it back in his pocket. ‘Macy?’ he said, looking over at her.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Give me the key.’

  Macy looked blank for a moment before recognition came into her eyes. She undid her necklace, slipped the gold tube off the end and handed it to Rolly.

  ‘Rock my world, Waters,’ she said. ‘I don’t want your ass getting fried.’

  ‘Yeah. Thanks,’ said Rolly. He closed his eyes and visualized the positions on the diddley bow’s neck. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath, locked in and played the notes. The bolts popped on the front panel of the box.

  ‘You did it,’ said Macy. ‘Right?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Rolly.

  ‘Let me see,’ said Gibbons, shoving Rolly out of the way. He picked up the box, reached inside and pulled something out. It looked like a Barbie doll, a blonde Barbie doll covered in gold paint.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ he said.

  ‘Teotwayki!’ cried Buddy.

  No one else said anything because the lights had gone out.

  THIRTY-ONE

  The Conjoinment

  The stungun spit out an electrical arc. Rolly saw Gibbons’ face in a halo of light, cramped and contorted in a rictus of pain. The arc light went out. Pure blackness covered their eyes again. Rolly smelled ozone. Someone moved in the darkness. There had been someone behind Gibbons, a cave monster hidden in shadow. Rolly held his breath, listened to the soft rustling sounds. Someone groaned.

  ‘Who’s there?’ he said.

  A flashlight beam danced on the walls. Macy had turned on her headlight. The beam settled on Gibbons. He lay prostrate on the ground, his hands tied behind him. They could see a man’s boots next to him. Macy swiveled the light up the other man’s body. He turned away from the light.

  Gibbons screamed, ‘Shoot him!’

  Macy’s light went out. A deafening explosion burst from the darkness. Rolly ducked into a fetal position, hugging the rocky floor. The gun went off again, three more shots. Bullets pinged through the cavern. The room went silent. He lifted his head. There was a loud smack, like a slap. Something metallic clattered onto the rocks. Someone began crying. The cave was still dark.

  ‘Macy?’ said Rolly.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Yeah. What happened?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Where’s your flashlight?’

  ‘It fell off when I ducked.’

  Someone groaned in the darkness.

  ‘Here it is,’ said Macy. She turned on the light and blasted it in Rolly’s face.

  ‘Not on me,’ he said, squinting his eyes. ‘Over there.’

  Macy turned the light towards the center of the room. Gibbons lay face down on the floor, trussed up like a hog.

>   Dotty lay near him, flat on her back. She was sobbing. ‘I am blameless,’ she said. Someone grunted, off to the right. Macy swung the light over and found Kinnie.

  Rolly stood up and walked over to Kinnie. He leaned down and pulled the gag from her mouth.

  ‘Find my gun,’ she said. ‘That was my gun.’

  Macy turned the light and walked to the middle of the room. Rolly followed her. They looked down at Gibbons and Dotty.

  ‘Where’d he go?’ said Macy.

  ‘I don’t know. We need to find Kinnie’s gun.’

  ‘Shit,’ Macy said. ‘Is that blood?’

  Rolly saw it as soon as Macy did: a wet red puddle.

  Kinnie called over to them. ‘Turn on the lights.’

  ‘Where are they?’ said Rolly.

  ‘By the ladder. Watch for the hole.’

  Macy swiveled her headlight around the room and found the hole in the floor. She tilted the light up to the wall.

  ‘There,’ Rolly said.

  Macy walked to the wall and flipped the switch. The lights came back on. ‘Shit,’ she said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘There’s more blood here. On the ladder. Hey, lady!’

  Rolly turned back to the room. Parnell lay trussed up on the floor, but Dotty had risen. She stood at the edge of the tunnel with Kinnie’s gun in her hand.

  ‘Put the gun down, Dotty,’ said Rolly. ‘You can’t get away.’

  ‘I did before,’ she said. ‘I can do it again. I am blameless.’

  Gibbons laughed. ‘Stupid bitch,’ he said. ‘You’re not blameless. All of this is your fault.’

  ‘Shut up, Parnell,’ she said. ‘I had to testify against you. I had to protect myself and my work. You ruined me.’

  ‘Those people got what they wanted. They did it for you.’

  ‘That’s a lie. You were unfaithful to me.’

  ‘I’m more faithful than anyone.’

  ‘Stop it. Stop your lies.’

  ‘What do you think would have happened if the Conjoinment had passed and nothing changed, everyone sitting around waiting for something to happen? You made it so easy, you and your stupid rituals. Everyone synchronized, like the music, taking a drink at the same time. That’s how it worked. Once the poison was in the pot, they were all done for.’

  ‘You put the poison in there.’

  ‘That stupid girl did it. She made the soup.’

  ‘You gave the poison to her. You told her to do it.’

  ‘You don’t have any proof of that. No one does.’

  ‘They were believers,’ said Dotty. ‘They were my disciples.’

  ‘They knew exactly where you were leading them. They wanted to die.’

  ‘You treated them like vermin. I made them gods.’

  ‘They were cattle. Stupid, dumb sheep. They wouldn’t have died without you taking them in, leading them on.’

  Dotty moved towards Gibbons. Her voice shook. ‘You left me with nothing, Parnell. I had to sell my house. I had to leave town. I had to change my name and scrape along, reading auras in Sedona. Then Randy found me. He knew my work. He believed in the universal vibrations. He seduced me. But it was you, all along, leading him on. You fed him stories. You gave him ideas. And then you killed him.’

  ‘That was an accident,’ said Gibbons. ‘The little shit tried to cheat me. I knew what he was up to. Looking for Buddy, so he could get here first.’

  ‘Can’t you see, Parnell? It’s not here. Buddy used it all up. It’s gone.’

  Rolly looked around the room. Buddy was missing.

  ‘It’s here,’ Parnell replied. ‘I know it is.’

  ‘You lie to yourself, like you lied to Randy, like you lied to me.’ Dotty’s hand quivered. She pointed the gun at Parnell.

  ‘Don’t do it, Dotty,’ said Rolly. ‘He’s not worth it.’

  She looked over at Rolly and dropped the gun to her side. ‘I have to go,’ she said.

  ‘There’s a posse out there,’ said Rolly. ‘Friends of mine from Slab City. They’ve got guns. They won’t let you leave.’

  Dotty stared at Rolly a moment. ‘All men are liars,’ she said, and ran out the tunnel.

  ‘Holy shit, Waters,’ said Macy. ‘That was screwed up.’

  ‘Now that you both screwed things up,’ said Kinnie, ‘you think you could find the key to my handcuffs and set me loose?’

  ‘Where are they?’ said Rolly.

  ‘Check his pockets.’

  Rolly walked over to Gibbons, knelt down and began searching him.

  ‘Think you won again, don’t you, Waters,’ said Gibbons.

  ‘I don’t care about winning,’ said Rolly.

  ‘You used to.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘The jam contests. At McP’s on Sundays. You remember when you won?’

  ‘I won a lot of those things,’ said Rolly.

  Gibbons snickered. ‘Asshole. I mean the first time. When you were in high school.’

  Rolly found the key in Gibbons front pocket. He grabbed it and stood up. ‘Sure, I remember,’ he said. ‘Some guy made me give back the prize money. He said I was too young because I used a fake ID to get in.’

  ‘I was that guy,’ said Gibbons.

  ‘That was you, huh?’

  Rolly walked over to Kinnie and unlocked her handcuffs. Kinnie sat up and rubbed her wrists.

  ‘Where’s Buddy?’ said Rolly.

  Gibbons laughed. ‘The bitch shot him,’ she said.

  Kinnie stood up, walked over to Gibbons and slapped her handcuffs on him to make sure he didn’t slip out of his knots.

  ‘Somebody tied you up pretty good, didn’t they?’ she said. ‘Who was it?’

  ‘You know who it was,’ said Gibbons. ‘He’s part of this too.’

  ‘Hey, Waters,’ said Macy, ‘the blood. I think the bird guy went down the ladder.’

  ‘Show me,’ said Kinnie. She pulled a flashlight from her belt and walked back towards Macy. She pointed the light at the top of the ladder.

  ‘That’s fresh blood, all right,’ she said. ‘What’s the guy’s name?’

  ‘Buddy Meeks,’ said Rolly.

  Kinnie leaned down into the hole. ‘Mr Meeks! Buddy Meeks! Are you down there?’

  No one answered.

  ‘Let me go down,’ said Macy.

  ‘You don’t know what he’s got down there,’ said Kinnie. ‘It could be dangerous.’

  ‘You gotta go down, then.’

  Kinnie squatted down by the hole. She sighed. ‘Shit,’ she said. ‘I’m off the rez. That lady’s got my gun. I shouldn’t even be here.’

  ‘I can do it,’ said Macy. ‘I went down there before.’

  ‘How’d you find this place, Kinnie?’ said Rolly. ‘The message I left just said we were going to the tower. How’d you end up here?’

  ‘We can talk about that later, Mr Waters,’ said Kinnie. ‘I better call in support, get the sheriff on this. They can helicopter the guy out of here.’

  ‘It’s too bad about your gun, Chief Harper,’ said Gibbons.

  ‘Shut up, asshole. You’re getting kicked back to the big house for a long time.’ Kinnie stood up. ‘My radio won’t work in here,’ she said. ‘I’m going outside to call in support.’

  ‘What about him?’ Rolly said.

  Kinnie kicked Parnell’s boot. ‘This asshole ain’t going anywhere,’ she said. ‘Macy, you do whatever you want. I warned you. If you find that Meeks guy down there, if he’s bleeding serious, apply pressure,’ she said. ‘Stuff your shirt in his wound or something, whatever you got. Try not to let him bleed out. I’ll get the paramedics in here as soon as I can.’

  Kinnie stomped away down the tunnel.

  ‘Waters, I’m going in,’ said Macy. She adjusted her headlight, climbed onto the ladder and stepped halfway down into the hole.

  ‘Macy?’ said Rolly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Be careful.’

  ‘Don’t believe in careful. H
ey, Waters?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘In case something happens, just so you know.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Best date ever! Awesome!’ Macy disappeared into the hole.

  Rolly turned back to Parnell. ‘Got anything you want to tell me?’ he said. ‘You know, just between us.’

  ‘Suck my dick,’ said Gibbons.

  ‘Oh, come on now. You know I like girls,’ Rolly said. He looked back at the ladder. ‘Crazy girls.’

  ‘I was framed,’ said Gibbons. ‘I didn’t kill them.’

  ‘Who did then?’

  ‘That girl. The stupid one. Stupid bitch put that stuff in the soup. Thought it was salt or something. All Buddy’s fault, leaving it out on the counter.’

  ‘You’re telling me it was an accident?’

  ‘It looks just like salt, you know. Buddy Meeks, smarter than shit but no brains at all, left that shit on the counter.’

  ‘You bought the stuff. Your name was on the receipt.’

  ‘Buddy asked for it. We were looking for gold. We found some here, in the mine.’

  ‘What happened to the girl?’

  ‘Big chief. He took her. Lied on the witness stand. Who’s the jury gonna believe, me or some noble Indian chief bullshit?’

  ‘It was Betty, the girl, wasn’t it? Her name was Beatrice Ozzie?’

  ‘Black girl. Nice piece of ass. Stupid girl had a baby.’

  ‘Maybe somebody else was stupid, too.’

  Gibbons chuckled. ‘Yeah. Maybe.’

  ‘Is she your daughter? Is Macy your daughter? You and Betty?’

  ‘Ungrateful bitches, all of ’em.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s weird how women get like that. All you did was poison everyone and take their money.’

  ‘Fuck you, Waters. All that tired blues stuff you play. It sucks.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That’s how you won. All those cliched licks. That’s how you won all those contests.’

  ‘Yeah, well, play what you know.’

  ‘You don’t know shit.’

  Rolly decided to lay off for awhile. Gibbons might get chatty later and tell him more.

  ‘Hey, Waters!’

  It was Macy, popping up out of the hole like a gopher. She was naked to the waist.

  ‘Where’s your shirt?’ he said.

  ‘Shit, Waters. It’s not like you haven’t seen ’em before. I stuffed my shirt in the guy’s wound just like Kinnie said I should. There’s a lot of blood. He asked for you.’