The Devil's Dwelling (33 page)

“What about me do I stay in the bathroom?”  I’m already feeling clostrophobic.

“You stay put.  There may be gun fire.”

At precisely one minute before one o’clock the deputy drove my Honda up to the laundry mat and parked at the curb.  She got out of the Honda and went around to the side door and took me out of the rig. She held me by the back of my collar and walked me inside.  There she walked me back to the bathroom, put me in the bathroom and closed the door.  I noticed the lock on the bathroom was a push button lock.  I backed up to the door and started to lock it when in burst a man in a Bill Clinton mask.  He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out the door.  We headed for the back door. He pulled me through the door. I saw a flicker of steel.  It was his gun pointing at my head.

“Hold it right there.” I heard Randy yell.

“There aint suppose to be any cops here. I’ve been double crossed.” He put the gun to my head and cocked it. “Anybody make a move and I will drop Natasha like a hot potato.”  I knew he meant business the ‘I’m trapped in a corner’ psycho in him was coming out. A psychopath needs to be in control and this he wasn’t.

“Everyone hold your fire.”  Randy yelled.

Mona burst through the back door flying through the air.  She landed on psycho man knocked his gun from his hand and began beating the crap outta him. Her mouth was closed tight with gray tape. But she was still a scrapper.

I tried to get up but with my hands tied behind my back it was impossible.  I fell on psycho man. Nose to nose he looked at me. “You’re not Natasha. I’ve been had.  The cops are here and no Natasha.  This isn’t how it’s suppose to go.  It does’t happen like this in the movies.”  He blurted out shaking his head while Randy’s deputies handcuffed him and took him off to the psycho ward.

Mona ripped the tape from her mouth and gave me a hug. “You’re the best partner anyone one could have.”

I looked her in the eye.  “I’m lucky to know you, partner.  Now about Bailey….”

THIRTY-NINE

We staked out Marty for a couple of nights.  Each night he took a box to the same house.  Stayed inside for a few moments and was on his way.  We decided to stake out the bar during the day to see what kind of traffic went in and out of the bar. I parked down the street from the bar.  Marty as usual entered the bar from the alley.  In a short while he came of the bar empty handed.  Got in the maroon Chrysler and slowly drove our way.  His usual route was to back down the alley to a turnout. 

“He’s gonna see us parked her.”  Mona fastened her belt and started the engine of her Explorer.

Marty drove by giving us the finger and the chase was on.  Marty took the surface streets, looping back and fourth in a serpentine pattern. 

“The interstate is up ahead. He’ll take it and for sure loose us.”  I yelled to Mona while looking over the back of my seat.

“Set down before you get yourself  killed.”  Mona swerved around a car. “That was a close one.”

Marty threw something shiny from his car. “What’s that?”  I said as I heard the air spew from Mona’s tire. 

Mona pulled the Explorer to the side of the road. We got out to investigate the problem.

We could hear the spewing, two front tires were going flat. 

“I can’t change two flat tires.  Guess we’ll have to call Ace.”  Mona stood looking at the flat tires with her hands on her hips. 

I hit speed dial and Ace was on his way.  As for Marty he was long gone.  I’m sure laughing thinking we can’t catch him.

Ace arrived shortly and lifted the front end of the Explorer off the roadway.

“Where you want me to take her?”  He asked as he hopped in his truck.

“Can you take her to Conway Tires?”  Mona looked at me for approval.

“Best tire store and did I mention only tire store in town?” 

Ace looked out his side window.

“You ladies want to ride with me or are you gonna stand on the street?”

I pushed Mona ahead and we jumped in the truck.  Ace did some white knuckle driving trying to keep his eyes off Mona and on the road.  It was a short distance to the tire store. Ace backed into a stall and dropped the Explorer.  Mona and I crawled out of the truck.

“Thanks Ace.”  I waved at him.

Mona made her way to Ace’s side of the truck where he was writing out the bill.

“You gonna charge me for towing my rig.”  She smiled. “Just kidding. How much is the charge?”

Ace handed Mona the bill.  Mona took a look at it and took a couple bills from her bosom and handed it to Ace.

“Thanks ma’am.”  He jumped in his truck and was gone in an instant.

Mona does that to guys. They are either hitting on her or running scared.

The service attendant brought Mona’s keys up to the counter and looked toward the waiting room. 

“Red Ford Explorer is ready.”  He turned and headed back to the service department.

Mona walked up to the counter and checked over the bill.

“Looks good to me.”  She pulled out a wad of bills from her bosom and counted it out.  The lady behind the counter’s eyes bulged as more and more bills fell from Mona’s bosom.

“You might want to invest in a wallet.”  She smiled as she straightened the bills counting them as she pressed each one.

“Wallets are a bother.  My bosom can hold plenty.”  Mona pushed up on her ‘double ‘d’s’ and laughed.

“We’re outta here.”  Mona looked over at me jingling her keys.

We drove past Marty’s place.  It didn’t look like anyone had been there. Except for the gardener.  The lawn was freshly mowed.  It looked like the flower planter had been weeded.

“What do you say we call it a day?”  I said to Mona.

“Sounds good to me.  I have a date with Brad tonight.”  She looked toward me. “He’s a really great guy.” 

“Did you repo any cars on your last date?”  I asked with a grin trying to get her goat.

“As a matter of fact we did. We took in two cars.” 

“Oh, and you know the Ferrari he was driving on your date?”  She had a twinkle in her eye.

“Yeah, what about it?”  I said waiting for her to tell me it was a repo car.

“It belongs to Brad.  He not only repo’s cars he owns the repo company.  The only time he goes out on a repo is when his employees are backed up.” 

“Really, what about the yellow Corvette?”  I quizzed her.

“That was a repo he had just picked up and didn’t have time to drop it off at the lot.” 

“He took me to his condo.  It’s really nice.”  Mona seemed to like Brad or is it the stuff she likes?  I wondered.

Mona dropped me off at the office. I stopped at the market and picked up last weeks apartment rental magazine and took a look at the apartments for rent. I knew I needed to get my own place.  I marked the address on an apartment and took a drive by.  It was so me with the red brick and white trim, I couldn’t resist checking it out. I pushed the buzzer at the side of the door. I could hear it loud and clear.

A frail small lady leaning on a  cane with white hair on top her head in a little bun with silver combs holding the sides from stringing down answered the door. “Ms. Wilson?” I asked.

“Yes, but who are you?” She questioned looking over her reading glasses.

“Tiffany .”  I told her. “Do you remember me from third grade?”

“Tiffany,  I hear you are a bounty hunter.”  She looked me over.  “You here to see the apartment?

“Yes, I saw your ad and it looked so beautiful I thought it might be a good place for me.”  I looked around the foyer and saw an elevator at the end of the foyer.

“Could I see the apartment?”

“Well, of course.  My building is pretty quiet.  There are quite a few retired teachers living here.  It‘s a quiet apartment building.  Guess that‘s because we don‘t have any young blood living here.”

She pushed the elevator button.  We stepped in and she hit number 4. 

“The available apartment is on the fourth floor?”  I questioned.

“Yes, I have another one available but this one is special and I won’t rent it to just anyone. You don‘t bring your work home, do you?”  She didn’t give me time to answer her inquiring questions.

We entered the apartment and I fell in love with it.

“Ms. Wilson, this is beautiful. But I don‘t have a lot of funds and it‘s probably more than I can afford.  I’m sure the other apartment must be less. Maybe you should show me the other one.”

“You might be surprised.”  She winked and we walked around the apartment.  “Gordy and I lived up here when he was alive but I prefer living on the first floor.”

“I have one problem.  I have a dog. He’s a German Shepherd mix.”

“Is he house trained?”  She asked looking up at me over her glasses.

“Yes, I take him out in the morning and again at night.  I noticed there’s a park just down the road.  That would be perfect for us.”

“What about barking?”

“You won’t hear Bailey barking unless there’s an intruder or something wrong with me.”

“Bailey sounds like a good dog.  Gordy had a dog when we were living on the fourth floor.  He liked running around on the roof during the day.  Your Bailey will be fine.”

She gave me the same monthly charge for the fourth floor as she charged for the other apartments.  I wrote her a check for the security deposit and the rent for two months and signed the one year lease.

“Ms. Wilson, this is very nice of you.”  I shook her hand and she held on to my hand.  Tiffany, I know you will be a good tenant.  The money doesn’t matter.”

My heart was overwhelmed with emotion. I walked out of the apartment feeling like a new woman.  Finally, a place of my own.

I got in the Honda and headed home, well, that is to Hayden‘s place. I noticed the black sedan in my rear view mirror.  I wondered what they were doing following me.  I hit speed dial and called Randy.

“Hello.”

“Randy I’m traveling down Main Street going  to Hayden’s and the black sedan is following me.”

“I’m probably five blocks behind you.  Drive slow and I’ll pull them over. You drive on a couple blocks and pull around the corner and wait for me.” 

I heard the blaring of Randy’s siren and saw the flashing red lights.  The black sedan pulled over. I continued to drive on and parked around the corner and waited for Randy.  A few minutes passed and Randy pulled in behind me.  I rolled my window down as I saw Randy walking up to my rig. He put his hands above the window and leaned in.

“The McGuire boys wanted to talk to you and apologize for harassing you.  They said they thought you were Gayle Perkins. Seems they think Gayle Perkins did away with their sister.”

“I hope this takes care of them following me.”

“I told them I would apologize for them and to stay away from you.”  Randy stood tall and spoke with authority.

“Thanks Randy. I hope  I’ve seen the last of that black sedan.”

“I’m off duty in a half hour.  How about dinner at my place?”

“That sounds good to me. Can I bring something?”

“No, I’ll pick up something on my way home. You hungry for anything special?” 

“No, surprise me.“

He took his house key off his key ring and handed it to me. Call me when you get to the gate. I can buzz you in from my cell phone. Go on in and make yourself at home. The alarm code is….”

I took the key and placed it in my bosom. Randy smiled and shook his head back and forth.

“You’re such a tease.” 

I drove up to the gate and called Randy.  The gate opened and I drove in.  The yards in the neighborhood are manicured to perfection.  No big wheels, bicycles out front and no basketball hoops over the garage doors.  The garage doors are all down.  This is not a kid friendly neighborhood.  Most of the residence have lived here for many years. They raised their kids here and the kids have moved on. Randy’s grandparents owned the house for years.  His grandmother died shortly after his grandfather passed on and she left the home to Randy.  Randy sold all the furniture and refurnished it with his furniture and a few new pieces.

I inserted the key in the door and the door unlocked. I pushed it open and wondered what it would be like to live here.  Some days I would like to commit and other days I don’t want to loose my freedom.  I’m sure Randy feels the same.  We haven’t been able to commit to each other since high school.