1 Death of a Garden Hoe (2 page)

Bean swallowed hard. His eyes blurred his vision. His stomach flipped. He swallowed again, praying he didn't do a Pone and puke on his shoes. He wanted to run but didn't want to be a pansy. "Uh, okay Shroom I'm r-r-ready, let's go."

They stepped around the dumpster and stopped. Lying among the rotten food and other disgusting garbage was a girl. A dead girl by the looks of her. Bean never saw anything dead before other than a bird or cat. She was a sick sort of grey-blue. She didn't move. Her head was split open and her fingers and ears were chewed on. One unblinking eye stared at Bean. He thought he was going to faint.

Shroom flipped a piece of paper covering her knee off with his toe. Maggots by the hundreds bubbled out and wiggled in a huge open wound. Bean didn't think, he didn't move. He just bent over and threw up on his shoes. The only thing that kept him from total disgrace was he heard Pone still puking behind him.

Shroom sighed and said, "There goes dessert."

Spaz almost smiled. She turned back to the girl. Oh God, she knew that face.

Stomach empty and sweating like a mother, Bean stood focused on a shoe hanging off the dead girl's foot. He breathed through his mouth and tried to be cool. If he looked anywhere else, he'd lose it again.

Shroom was the only one able to form words. "I wonder who she is."

They all stared at the dead girl. She was sprawled on the ground, her legs at an odd angle. There was a gash on her forehead like someone hit her with an ax. A tight little mini skirt was hitched high above her hips. Her underwear was around one leg. She wore a pink halter-top, but the straps meant to tie behind her neck were wrapped around her throat. What was left of her face was heavily made up. One high heel was teetering off the toes of her left foot, and the other one was missing.

Bean felt the bile rise in his throat–again. He swallowed against the urge to puke all over himself–again.
That would be the last nail in my coffin with these guys. Oh, Bean, that is so not funny. Buck up and breathe, two, three Slow down and breathe, two, three, breathe. Wow, that crap they taught me in group really works!

Looking through blurry eyes, Bean saw Shroom stomp out of the alley. He heard him say, "Did I tell you people not to come in here? Did I not say there was something dead in here? Did anyone listen to me?
Nooo
! No one listens to the Mexican! That's why I'm Shroom. You keep me in the dark, feed me
sh
–crap and ignore me the rest of the time!" He punched the brick wall and paced the alley. "Now what are we gonna do? The cops are gonna arrest me and Pone. They're gonna throw us in jail and let us rot," he turned on Spaz. "All cuz
you
had to be big and bad and find us a dead ho."

Bean stumbled out of the alley. He gulped in fresh air. Wiping his sweaty face on his T-shirt, he looked confused. "What hoe? Like dig up weeds hoe?"

Shroom stopped in front of Bean. He shook his head like he couldn't believe Bean was so stupid. "Are you kidding me, man? I said
ho
. As in skeezer, skank, hooker, turn the trick, prostitute yourself,
ho
!"

Pone had recovered enough to push himself between the two. "Man, Shroom, you are in his face! He can't help it he's stupid! Lay off and step away."

Shroom looked again at Bean, who was green and still sick.

Pone put his hands up by Shroom's chest, but did not touch him. "Step back before I set you down. We gotta figure out what we're gonna do about Dead Chick over there. Not fight over why the white boy don't know a garden hoe from a skank ho."

Pone slipped from between Bean and Shroom. "By the way, yo, why they gonna arrest only me and you? Cuz we're the minorities? Is that more of your racist crap?"

Shroom nodded his head and Pone went off. "Geez, when were you born, man? And you're mama is Swedish, Bi-atch. Get over yourself, man. Not everyone in the world is a racist."

Shroom opened his mouth, but Pone stomped away a couple more steps. He turned back. "I'm calling my dad. Maybe you two morons would like to see what's up with Spaz instead of fighting over stupid stuff that don't matter."

They all looked at Spaz. She stood ramrod straight, dry-eyed, and unsmiling. She bit her bottom lip. Her arms were bent and she stood like an opera singer, with her right hand turned up and her left hand over the top and turned down, her fingers clasped tightly in front of her body. She did not move, nor did she speak. Bean leaned over to Shroom and whispered, "Maybe she knew her."

Shroom took a steadying breath and prayed Bean would grow a brain. "Uh, brilliant, dumbass. Do ya
think
?"

Spaz stared down at the dead hooker. It surprised her she did not feel strong emotion about the dead girl. Amy was her name. Spaz knew her, saw her every night when she worked the streets in Milwaukee. One night Amy said she had a line on a great gig, but she disappeared after that. Spaz never saw her again–until now.

Spaz guessed Amy was as close to a friend as she ever had, but felt only a little tug of sadness at her death. It was as if she were reading the story in a newspaper about someone she had never met. That must mean something very bad. Her shrink would probably flip out if she knew.

Spaz sighed.
Must have been a great gig. Wow, that could have been me.

Now
that
was something to flip out about. She closed her eyes for a moment.

Bean made like he was going to walk over to her.

Shroom said, "Don't do it, man. Later for that. Leave her be, 'cuz she won't thank you for buttin' in."

Bean ignored him and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Spaz, must be tough. Was she a friend of yours?"

Worried that her inner freak was showing, Spaz knocked his hand away. "Back off of me, Bean."

Bean stood his ground. "I just want to help. Friends are supposed to be there for you."

Spaz squared off on him and stuck a finger in his face. "I said, back off Beaner. You don't know nothin'. She's dead. She ain't nothin' to me, and neither are you fools. I ain't your friend. Now outta my way."

Spaz spun and Bean stumbled backward. He tried to follow and Shroom grabbed him. "Not
now
, man, leave it. She's got to do this her way."

"What do you mean 'her way'?"

Shroom looked at the ground for several seconds. When he looked up, his light blue eyes looked like two pieces of chipped ice. "I mean like, she has to deal with this
her
way, and her way ain't your way. Maybe she don't feel stuff the way you do, but that don't mean she don't feel nothin'. Leave her be. She'll be okay. If she wants you, she'll rattle your cage, yo."

Bean looked at his pukie shoes.
Man, I really stink.

He sighed. "I guess you're right." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Still don't seem right, but you've know her longer than me, I guess."

"Hey, longer don't mean I know her better, man. No one really knows her. We just go with what she tells us, and that ain't much. I just know wherever she came from she came the hard way, so we just let her be. Don't ask questions. Stay out of her space. And stay out of her face."

Bean watched Shroom walk over to Pone, who was still on his cell phone. Bean took one more look in the direction Spaz went and sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll wait for her."

Pone glanced quickly at the body. "I wonder if Dead Chick had family."

Shroom shoved Pone forward, and yanked on Bean's arm, "Ain't our job to fine out, man. Pone already called Five-oh. Let the cops cry for her and find her family. We gotta get outta here, now. We're gonna be late for group and old Ollie will call my P.O."

Shroom half-dragged Pone and Bean a few yards down the sidewalk. "Let's grab a soda at the gas station over there."

Pone nodded. "Good idea. Come on Bean."

"Hey, Pone, Shroom, for real man, shouldn't we wait for the cops?"

Pone stopped and looked at both boys. "Uh, we'll come back. The cops are on their way, and we can be back before they get here."

Shroom turned and stated walking. "No we don't have to come back. They don't know who we are."

"Yes they do."

"How?"

Pone looked like he was going to puke again. "Cuz my dad's a cop. I told him the whole story."

Shroom blew up. "What? Your daddy is Five-oh? Aw man, you are lame! I suppose you gave him our names?"

"Yup."

Shroom took off down the street, mumbling to himself, He punched the air and waved his arms. Pone and Bean followed him.

Bean stopped after about a half a block and pulled his T-shirt up over his face to wipe his eyes. Can't let anyone know he cried for Dead Chick, whoever she was. He took a deep breath, wiped his nose, hitched his jeans, and trotted after Shroom.

Chapter 3

Pone and Shroom grabbed a
Dew
at the gas station on the corner. Bean met them on the way back.

Pone tossed him a can. "I called Ollie and told her what happened. She ain't happy, but she's not calling Probation."

Bean popped the top. "Thanks." They walked back toward the alley.

By the time they got back to the alley, the cops had the street blocked off, and police officers stopped anyone from getting past the yellow tape draped across the entrance.

Pone pointed behind Cop Number One. "There's my dad. Let's go!"

Bean grabbed his arm right before Cop Number Two grabbed him. Number One said, "Whoa Kid. You can't go in there."

Pone looked at him. "But that's my dad over there. I was the one who called you guys."

Cop Number Two looked him over and curled his lip. "Oh, yeah. You must be Mikey Junior, the criminal. I heard about you." He pointed to Shroom and Bean. "These your slimeball friends, Junior?"

Pone gritted his teeth. Bean backed up and Shroom surged forward. Cop Number One stepped in front of him and Shroom slammed into him. He never saw the cop move. He looked up and up. The cop was staring straight ahead. He slowly looked down his nose at Bean and Shroom. He smiled. "Sorry, but you boys can't go past this point until I can get some clearance. But in the meantime," he winked at Shroom, "Try not to kill my partner, would you?

Bean could see Shroom come off his anger thing in stages. He watched Shroom weigh the odds and realize the three hundred pound cop would take him apart and reduce him to bite-size pieces. He realized Cop Number One wasn't being a dick; he was just doing his job.

Bean tugged on Shroom's T-shirt. "Hey man let's back off here. We don't need a cop calling your PO, or mine for that matter."

Shroom pointed to Cop Number Two. "Yeah, but that guy's got no call disrespecting me like that. I didn't do nothin' to him."

Bean faced Shroom and laid a shoulder against his. Talking quietly he said, "Look, the other guy was okay. Let's talk to him and ignore the butthead. Let me give it a try."

Shroom relaxed and looked up at Bean. "You got it goin' cool, White Boy. Go ahead and do your thing."

Bean smiled for the first time that day. "Watch and learn, Dawg."

Bean turned to the Cop Number One. "Excuse us Officer," he squinted and read his nametag. "Shmeeden, but we're the kids who found the body. Our friend's father is already in there. Detective Williams. Could you send someone in to tell him his son is here, please? If we can be of help, we will be sitting over there by the curb."

"Sure kid, will do."

Flashing a charming smile at the cop, Bean half shoved Shroom to the curb.

Shroom spun around. "Why you got to kiss that cop's butt? That's our Dead Chick in there. We got a right to be there."

Bean shook his head. "Did you hear my lips smacking? I didn't kiss anyone anywhere. That was called being polite. Our rights ended when the first cop showed up. That is their job, their dead chick, man. If they need us, they'll call us."

Shroom huffed. Bean grabbed his arm, He tried to explain. "Hey, this ain't our gig here. It is what it is, and we aren't going to change it. Polite manners don't cost us a cent, but got us into places we couldn't go a minute ago, Watch and learn, my brother."

Shroom yanked his arm away and plopped down on the curb. He took a swig of his
Dew.
He studied the pebbles and bits of rubber at his feet. Bean paced back and forth until Pone joined them. A large black man in a suit followed him over. He stuck out his hand to Bean. He jerked his head in Pone's direction. "Hi, I'm this one's father, Mike Williams. My friends and some of my enemies call me Big Mike."

Bean took his hand. "Mr. Williams, pleased to meet you."

They all looked down. Shroom looked up from the curb. "Yo." Bean shoved him with his foot and Shroom stood. He wiped his hand on his pants and gave Bean an evil look. Turning back to Mike Williams, he held out his hand. "Shroom."

"Shroom? That's it?"

"Yup."

Mike smiled. "Nice to meet you, Shroom. Could I ask you a couple of questions, please?"

"What kind of questions? I don't know nothin'."

"Well, that may be true, but could you spare me a couple minutes anyway?"