Body Rides (69 page)

She started to turn away.

‘Wait,’ he said.

She faced him.

He removed a wallet from a back pocket of his jeans.

‘Hey, no,’ Sue said. ‘I ain’t lookin for no handout. Honest.’

He pulled out a bill and held it toward her. ‘I’m sure you can put this to good use. Please. I want you to take it.’

Sue shook her head. ‘I got more money than I know what to do with already,’ she told him.

‘I saw what you were doing in the garbage. Looking for scraps . . .’

‘Naw. Just . . .’ She snatched the bill from his fingers and said, ‘Thanks, mister.’

He waved a pudgy hand at her, then turned around and began slogging his way back to his car.

Sue hurried over to the night return slot. She popped his video in, then looked down at the money in her hand. Whistling softly, she shook her head. She glanced toward Neal, shook her head again, then turned toward the man. ‘Thanks a real lot,’ she called. ‘God bless you.’

His door thudded shut.

Neal turned to a window. Staring in at the shelves of video tapes, he waited for the stranger to drive away. While he waited, Sue walked over to him.

‘Look at this,’ she said. ‘The fella gave me a fifty. Ya believe it? Look.’ She thrust the bill at him. ‘Nobody
never
gave me no fifty before.’

‘Let’s get outa here,’ Neal said.

They started walking side by side. Sue held the fifty-dollar bill in front of her and gazed at it. ‘Never got me a tip this big when I was waitin tables at Sunny’s.’

‘He must’ve felt sorry for you,’ Neal said. ‘Saw you rooting through the garbage.’

‘Well . . .’

‘And how
skinny
you are.’

‘He sure was a nice guy. Too bad I didn’t run into someone like him back there in the days before I got rich.’ Reaching behind Neal, she patted his rump. ‘Thanks for runnin to my rescue.’

‘That might’ve been Vince, you know.’

‘Mighta been, but wasn’t. Anyhow, I didn’t find nothin in the trash can. Just some trash. So I reckon we got here first.’

They crossed the road and climbed into the Jeep.

‘Look what that fella gave me,’ Sue said, and held the fifty out for Marta to see.

Marta didn’t seem impressed. ‘You could’ve gotten yourself killed,’ she said.

‘Coulda, but didn’t.’

‘I don’t think it’s funny. There was no good reason to go
running over there like that. You were just showing off.’

‘Was not.’

‘It turned out okay,’ Neal said. ‘And at least we know that Vince hasn’t been here yet.’

‘He might’ve watched the whole episode,’ Marta pointed out. ‘He could be in one of those cars over there . . . anywhere. Just keeping an eye on things. The same goes for Glitt. Anybody with half a brain would show up good and early for this sort of a deal. And if they’re here, they know
we’re
here.’ She looked at Sue.

‘Sorry,’ Sue muttered, and shrugged. ‘Didn’t mean to cause trouble.’

‘It’s no big deal,’ Neal said. ‘If they got here this early to keep an eye on the situation, you can bet they probably watched us arrive.’

Marta was silent for a moment. Then she said, ‘That’s probably true.’

Sue turned sideways and said to Neal, ‘Why don’t ya try a bracelet trip? Take a run through them parked cars, and . . . Duck!’

As Neal dropped across the back seat, he heard an engine. The sound came from the rear.

Just behind them, a car seemed to be making a right turn onto their road from Venice.

Could be anyone, Neal told himself.

After all, they’d chosen a place that was directly across from the main entrance to Video City’s parking lot.

But how many people return tapes at this hour?

‘Coast is clear,’ Sue announced.

Neal lifted himself up. Looking across the road, he saw a Toyota pickup truck. It sped through the lot and veered toward the front of the store.

Marta and Sue were both sitting up, watching it. Marta held her camcorder just below her chin as if ready for action.

The pickup braked to a quick, skidding stop.

The passenger door flew open. A woman jumped out. She wore a red bathrobe. Her hair was up in curlers. Carrying a video tape in each hand, she trotted toward the deposit slot.

‘She dressed up for the occasion,’ Marta said.

‘Just like us,’ Neal pointed out.

‘I’d never go
anywhere
in curlers.’

Shaking her head, Sue commented, ‘She don’t look at
all
like Vince.’

They watched the woman hurry back to the pickup and climb aboard. As she swung her door shut, the truck backed up. Then it lurched forward and raced for the exit at the far end of the lot.

‘Why’re
they
in such a god-awful rush?’ Sue asked.

‘Probably afraid of being bushwhacked by gang-bangers,’ Neal said.

‘If they’re scared, they oughta stay home.’

Marta shook her head and lowered the camera. ‘What’s
with
all these people, returning their tapes at this hour?’

‘They probably stayed up late watching the things,’ Neal suggested. ‘I’ve done it myself.’

‘But this is after
closing
time. Why don’t they just wait till morning?’

‘Next one comes by,’ Sue said, ‘y’oughta hop in with the bracelet and find out why.’

‘Thanks anyway,’ Marta said. ‘Not me.’

‘
I’ll
do it,’ Sue volunteered. ‘Then I’ll let ya know what I find out.’ She smiled over her shoulder at Neal. ‘Here, let me have it.’

He shook his head. ‘Not till this is over. I have to use it on Glitt when he shows up.’

Sue sighed. ‘Have it yer way. Poop.’

Neal reached forward and gave her ponytail a quick tug.

‘Ow!’

‘Look over there! It’s him!’

As Marta raised the camcorder and pointed it across the road, Neal jerked his head to the left. The parking lot still looked empty except for the scattered cars that had been there all along.

‘Where?’ he whispered.

‘There,’ Sue said. ‘See him?’ She pointed past Marta’s face.

Neal heard the buzz of the camcorder zooming in.

And then he saw the man.

Vince Conrad, all right. Though he was still a good distance away, Neal recognized him immediately. He was striding along the walkway in front of Video City with a quick step. He looked fit and somewhat jaunty. Dressed in a dark warmup suit, he might’ve been someone out for a night of exercise.

Except for the bag he carried.

A large brown grocery sack was clutched to his chest.

‘Where’d he come from?’ Neal whispered.

‘Over by Burger Boy?’ Marta suggested, her eye to the camcorder’s viewfinder.

‘You getting him?’ Neal asked.

‘Yep.’

‘I wonder what he’s got in the bag,’ Sue said.

Raising her voice slightly, Marta said for the benefit of the tape, ‘What we’re seeing here is Vince Conrad, husband of Elise Waters, on his way to drop off a bag of cash for the man he hired to murder Elise. The killer, Leslie Glitt, also known as the Beast of Belvedere, is supposed to come along at about two o’clock this morning to pick it up.’

Off in the distance, Vince walked briskly up to the trash container. Without any hesitation at all, he dropped the sack through the hole in the lid, turned around, and walked the other way.

‘There he goes,’ Sue whispered.

Reaching out, Neal clamped a hand on her shoulder.

‘Hey, hey, take it easy. I ain’t goin nowhere.’

‘We sit tight and see what happens.’

‘I know. I know.’

He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, then let go.

Marta lowered the camera. ‘If nothing else,’ she said, ‘at least we’ve got evidence of Vince’s involvement.’

‘We won’t need any evidence,’ Neal said. ‘When Glitt finds out he got stiffed, he’ll probably kill the bastard. And if he doesn’t, I will.’

‘What if the bag’s got half a million smackeroos in it?’ Sue asked.

‘Vince could
not
have come up with that much money,’ Marta insisted. She sounded slightly annoyed, as if she might be getting tired of repeating herself on the matter.

‘Couldn’t hurt to take a look,’ Sue said.

Neal clamped her shoulder again. ‘It could hurt plenty. Stay put.’

For a while, nobody spoke. Neal kept his hand on Sue’s shoulder, and they all studied the parking lot. Then Sue said, ‘If the bag’s full of money, we oughta grab it ’fore Glitt shows up.’

‘It’s not full of money,’ Marta insisted.

‘Ya never know.’

‘I know.’

‘No, ya don’t. Just let me run on over there for a sec.’

Neal shook his head. ‘That might be exactly the “sec” when Glitt shows up. If he catches you . . .’

‘If he catches me, shoot him. That’s what ya wanta do anyhow, isn’t it?’

‘No. What I want . . . I want Glitt to go after Vince. That’s the whole idea. I mean, this is not a guy you want to cheat out of half a million bucks. What he’ll probably do is head straight over to Vince’s place and take him apart.
That’s
what I want. I want him to work on Vince the way he worked on Elise . . . the way he’d
like
to work on all of us. And I’d like to be inside him while he’s doing it, so I won’t miss a thing.’

‘Well, if that sack’s full of money, ol’ Glitt’ll go off happy.’

‘I’ll ride him, anyway. Whatever happens, we need to know where he goes. Once I find out, I’ll come back and we’ll go take care of him.’

‘Whatever might be in the bag,’ Marta said, ‘we can take it then.’

Sue frowned over her shoulder at Neal. ‘Don’t ya
want
Glitt to take apart Vince?’

‘I’d love it. Nobody could ever hurt him the way Glitt could. And it’d be so . . . appropriate. He can’t cough up the dough to pay Glitt for butchering Elise, so Glitt butchers
him. That’s
justice.’

‘If he butchers Vince,’ Marta said, ‘he’ll
never
get the money.’

‘He’ll
at least
torture the bastard.’

‘He might not do
anything
.’

‘Oh, I think he’ll do plenty. I have loads of faith in my beast.’

Sue chuckled softly, then said, ‘Ya want Glitt doin the dirty work, then we’d darn sure better find out what’s in the bag. And take it, if there’s money.’

‘I guess you’re right,’ Neal admitted. He pressed down firmly on Sue’s shoulder. ‘
You
stay here. I’ll take care of it.’

‘Hurry,’ Marta urged him as he left the Jeep.

Neal shook his head, quickened his pace slightly, but didn’t break into a run. If he ran, it might draw attention to him.

Inside the pocket of his shorts, his right hand clutched his pistol.

Shouldn’t worry about Glitt, he told himself. It’s way too early.

Neal felt awfully vulnerable, though, as he walked along in front of Video City. It was so brightly lighted. He was out in the open, in plain sight, nothing between him and the traffic on Venice Boulevard. People in passing cars could see him. He felt as if people
everywhere
could see him.

It didn’t help, being half-naked.

Nobody would know, by looking, that he wore nothing under his shorts. But
he
knew. He could feel the air in there, the pleasant sensation of swinging free. It felt good, but it made him feel exposed.

Mostly, he wished he was wearing a shirt.

Guys were
allowed
to go shirtless in public, but you didn’t see it very often. Not unless you were at the beach, or maybe a construction sight.

Who’s gonna care? he asked himself. Who’ll even notice? It’s the middle of the night. It was a really hot day . . .

I didn’t have my shirt on the night I came here with Elise
.

He’d given it to her because she had no clothes of her own.

He remembered how she’d looked in it, her legs long and bare.

Then he pictured her dead in the tub.

Think about something else!

Think about the money. What if there’s another half a million?

Fat chance
.

He walked past the front doors of Video City, past the night deposit slot, and stopped at the garbage barrel. Leaning forward, he peered into the lid’s opening. The grocery bag was a dim shape in the shadows, about halfway down.