G'Day USA (24 page)

Cathy frowned. ‘Very bad idea. When did she tell you?

‘
Earlier this evening.’

‘
So you’ve been talking to her today. Excellent. I thought maybe she was hurt or her phone had died completely.’

Kent considered for a moment. ‘You know Ellie well?’

‘
Best girlfriend. Maybe not as long as you, but we split costs for a few months after Sweeney was arrested. And I had left my boyfriend.’

‘
She’s got a new phone number. You should probably have it too.’

‘
How did you get it’

‘
She - I have a friend who had it. Another one of her friends. Here.’ He displayed the number on his phone and showed it to Cathy who copied it to her contacts.

’
Thanks a lot. Do you want to look for her with me?’

Kent had other plans. ‘Sorry, Cathy. I’ve got to go. Other things I need to tend to right now. Sorry.’ He stuck his hands in his pockets and limped away from her.

‘
Weird.’ She continued walking down the beach, scanning faces, listening for a familiar voice. It was promising to be a very long, frustrating night.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ann woke me with a poke to my back. ‘You need to go.’

‘
Wha?’ I rolled away from the wall and looked through squinted eyes at my hostess who had an almost feral look.

‘
Best you go. Not good right now. Just get out.’ She had all of her coats on, her knit hat perched on her head and the remains of my dress wrapped around her neck.

I nodded. ‘Sure. Whatever you want, Ann. Thanks for letting me stay here.’

‘
Just go.’ She sighed and lay down, facing the wall. ‘Please.’

I collected my small amount of belongings and leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Thanks again. See you around the beach.’

She muttered and pulled her coats tighter.

I slipped out the door into the back alley. The early morning sun baked the sand dusting the street. There was no wind. I was sticky from one end to the other. Almost three days without a shower was unprecedented. For me, anyway. My stomach growled and I felt like I just slept on a bag of rocks.

I turned on my phone. I needed an answer from Marty. It was a reasonable request, as far as I was concerned. A couple of hundred grand in return for a much larger share of the earnings in the movie. And they’d be huge once DVD sales were factored in.

I came out on the beach south of the pier. I was in a large parking lot, closer to the Marina than I was to my apartment along side a couple of large RVs. Two bike cops pedaled by, paying me no notice. Really, if this was the best they could muster for a manhunt I had nothing to worry about.

My phone vibrated with four messages. Two missed calls and two text messages.

‘
What the fuck?’ One missed call was from a number I was pretty sure belonged to Cathy. I dialed it.

Cathy answered after half a ring. ‘Ellie? Where are you?’

I took the phone from my head. I could hear Cathy. Not just on the phone; for real. Couldn’t see her, but I could definitely hear her.

I lowered my voice. ‘Doesn’t matter, Cath. How in the hell did you get this number?’

‘
Ran into a friend of your. Aussie guy.’

‘
Tall and dark or short and blond?’

‘
Tall. Kent someone. Said he got it from another friend.’

‘
Jesus. I got this number to stay below the radar and now everyone has it. Where did you say you were?’

‘
I didn’t. I’m near the Venice Fish Pier, looking for you. Am I getting warm?’

Shit. I definitely didn’t want to see her. Well, I did, but I didn’t want her getting caught up in all this. ‘Cath, hon, go home. Don’t get dragged down in my mess. Please. And delete this number from your phone and stop calling it. The cops will eventually catch up with what’s going on.’ I walked closer to the pier, keeping covered, mostly, by the parked cars. I sidled along the edges of the public toilets until I was as close to the pier as I thought safe.

‘
Ellie? What are you doing? Where are you?’

‘
It doesn’t matter. As soon as I rustle up some cash I’m out of here. Nice knowing you. Where’d you park?’

‘
Behind a store. Why?’

I didn’t want her to come up here and find me. ‘Because you should probably move it before it gets towed. Have you been out all night?’

‘
Pretty much.’

I had a panic attack. ‘With Bernie?’ I looked around for 6’-6” Bernie.

‘
No. Left his sorry ass at home. Wouldn’t come with me. I hope he’s freaking out.’

Typical Cathy. ‘Go home and rest. You’re a great friend and I don’t want you to end up in a jail cell. Tell Kent, if you see him again, he’s a bell-end for giving you the number.’

‘
I probably won’t see him again. He was off in a hurry last night going somewhere. He’s not that big of a dick-head. He’s getting information from the police department for you.’

‘
It hasn’t helped much, but yeah. I guess.’ I closed my eyes and rubbed the back of my neck. ‘Ditch me, Cath. Forget you ever knew me.’

‘
Oh shut up, Ell. I can’t forget ever knowing you. You’ve been the biggest positive influence in my life since I was a kid. You’re innocent and there’s no reason for you to run.’

‘
Ah, if only it were that easy. I’m going to hang up. Don’t want you nabbed.’

I terminated the call. I had to forget about her. I stood by the showers and watched her walk back along the boardwalk toward the skate park and N. Venice Avenue.

The public shower was tempting. If I had a swimsuit on I wouldn’t stand out. But standing under one with all my clothes on would raw a bit of a crowd, even down here. Standing under it naked, an even bigger crowd.

I walked under the pier. It was evident someone had been hanging out here by the trash scattered across the ground. Maybe Ann.

But it was vacant now. I peeled off my jeans. My underwear was more conservative than most of the bikinis on the beach. I wasn’t wearing a bra - didn’t really need one - so I kept my golf shirt on. I folded the pants and lay my shoes and phone in the folds. Put the sunglasses and cap on top. The swim would be refreshing. I might even feel a bit cleaner after, saltwater not withstanding.

The swim was an echo of the one I took, what, only two days ago? Hard to believe. Felt like a life-time.

The knots worked out of my shoulders in the first five minutes. The water was a little bit rough, but not too bad. I swam past a couple of guys on boards waiting to catch a good one. They said something to me about seeing a mermaid or something, but I ignored them. Maybe another day.

I turned after my brain had told me I had swum for about thirty minutes. The swim back passed in a haze. I zoned out.

I body surfed in, slaloming around the pier’s piles. Not the safest of tricks, but not impossible for someone who had been swimming as long as I had.

I stood when the water was about waist deep and slowly waded to shore. I felt good. Muscles a little sore, breath a little short, I knew I had just had a work out.

The day wasn’t going to be all good, though. Some snot-nosed little punk was going through my stuff under the pier.

‘
Hey. Asshole. Hey. Get back here.’

He grabbed my mobile phones and ran.

Big mistake. I grabbed a beer bottle and ran after him.

I’d just spent close to eighteen months in an almost non-stop fitness program. Ratner had me doing as many of my own stunts as the insurance would allow. I was in better shape than I had ever been.

And I was a good foot taller than the punk running with my stuff. He didn’t have a chance.

I caught up to him after less than fifty steps. I grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head and yanked. His feet flew out in front of him and he landed on his ass.

I pushed the base of the beer bottle against his left eye. ‘Give them back or I’ll break this over your skull.’

‘
Give what? You’re assaulting me. Help. Police!’

‘
Shut up. The police come over here and you’ll be explaining to them why one of my phones is in your front pocket and the other one is in your hand.’ I kicked at his leg. ‘Unless you know the pin code to the iPhone, then I’ll apologize and walk away.’

‘
It’s a trick so you get to know my pin code.’

‘
Listen, shorty. Hand them over before I rearrange your skull.’ Two bike cops approached from about a hundred yards away. Shit-tastic.

I dropped the bottle and squatted. ‘Look, kid. I’m not going to press charges. You just give me my phones back and I won’t tell those cops over there anything.’

He twisted and looked over his shoulder. ‘Aw, shit.’ He dug my phone out of his pocket and hand me it and the pre-pay. ‘Take them. For fuck’s sake, put some pants on. You’re really distracting me. And Jesus, how do you run so fast?’

I inspected them for damage, found them okay and mentally dismissed him. I kept an eye on the cops as I walked back to the pier. They continued on toward the skate park. Crisis averted, as they say.

I re-dressed and went for a slow walk in the sun, drying my shirt. I looked at the pre-pay. There were two text messages I hadn’t opened yet.

“
Charlie here. You should stop phoning your old contacts. That’s how I got your number. I can still keep an eye on your location, but the cops haven’t caught on yet. They’re still looking for your old number. But if they wise up, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll have to give them your location.”

Trust Charlie to find me. He must have given my number to Kent who gave it to Cathy. God only knew who else had it.

The second message chilled me.

“
No, no, no. Changing your number won’t help. Changing your phone won’t help. I will find you. It doesn’t matter what you do. And I’m thinking a suicide in the LA River would be appropriate. Don’t make any plans for tonight.”

Sweet Jesus. My stalker still had a bead on me. I did have plans for tonight and they did include getting out of town.

Plans change. Enough is enough.

I dialed Marty’s number from memory. His wife, Lily, answered. ‘Hello? This is Marty’s phone. He’s kind of indisposed right now. May I help you?’

‘
Lily? This is Ellie. Is Marty around?’

‘
Oh, dear. Marty is, um, biologically indisposed, if you know what I mean. Too many burritos I think.’

‘
Ouch. Don’t tell him I called. I don’t want him getting into trouble. I’ll try him later.’

‘
Don’t hang up. He’s only going to be a few more minutes. I want to talk to you anyway. He mentioned something to me about money for you to disappear.’

‘
I wish he hadn’t.’

‘
He did. How many times have I fed you at my house? A couple of dozen over the last year and a bit?’

I sighed. She wasn’t going to shut up. ‘At least. Always excellent food, too. Why? What does that have to do with anything?’

‘
In all those times you broke bread with me, did you ever, even once, take me for an idiot?’

‘
Of course not. And I don’t think I’ve ever
called
you an idiot. Silly question. I thought we were best of pals.’

‘
I’ve got a pretty level head on my shoulders. You’re buried in this too deep. You’re not seeing the facts. Running is absolutely the wrong thing to do.’

I sighed. ‘I know.’

‘
What?’

‘
I’ve received a couple of text messages from someone who has claimed to have set up Sweeney’s death to look like a faked suicide and ultimately fingering me as the killer. He, or possibly she, has threatened to kill me now and make
that
look like a suicide, complete with a note expressing remorse for killing Bart. I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to find that asshole and drop him.’

Silence. For almost ten seconds, then Lily exhaled a deep breath. ‘My, but don’t you live an interesting life. You’re obviously going to the police with this.’

Ah, the $64,000 question. ‘Not yet.’

‘
Hang on, I’m putting you on speaker. Marty’s here.’

There was a click and the unmistakable sound of Marty huffing and puffing. ‘Who is it, Lil?’

‘
It’s me, Marty. Just telling your wife not to worry about the money. I’ve got bigger problems.’

Lilly interjected. ‘She just told me the person who killed Sweeney has contacted her, admitted to it and has threatened to kill
her
now.’

‘
Ellie, call the police right now. Hang up and call the police and tell them this.’

‘
No, not yet.’

‘
Why in hell not?’

I didn’t know if I could explain it correctly. I wasn’t sure myself. ‘The police aren’t going to believe me. I ran. That was stupid, but I did it. Then the evidence kept piling up making it look even worse for me. They aren’t going to believe me unless I can get some concrete evidence.’

‘
You’ve got the messages, don’t you?’

‘
Probably from a throw away phone like the one I’ve got. I could have got a second phone and sent myself the messages. I need to find this person and get them to admit something only the killer would know.’