Brainstorm (12 page)

One more day until I spoke to Harley! I could barely contain
my excitement. But as the morning wore on, I thought about Jack and wondered if
maybe I should let him listen in on the conversation, after all. Who knew what
Harley was going to say? If she talked about Carl, she might unwittingly give
Jack a reason to arrest the creep and give me one less person to worry about.
Carl was nothing more than a thug, and with his history of abuse, he might also
be a petty thief, or into selling drugs. Jack could sit on the other side of
the computer so Harley wouldn’t know he was in the room.

I thought again about how much I’d enjoyed my vision of
pinning Carl to the wall of a building with my Jeep, and wondered if I would
really do it if I had the chance; I felt giddy at the thought.
Don’t mention it to Jack. You don’t want him
finding out what kind of thoughts run through your head
.

I tapped out a text asking Jack if he could meet me at my
apartment at 11 a.m. the next day, adding that it was important. Half an hour later
he answered that he would come, but he had pulled an extra shift, so he
wouldn’t see me until then. To keep busy, I wrote out bills, did some errands,
and then drove to the office to see what else I could do to get it ready for my
hiatus.

By noon, I’d packed up the remaining paperwork and office
supplies, cleaned the kitchenette and vacuumed the downstairs. I headed to the
second floor and stripped the two cots, packed up the sheets, blankets, towels,
and all of the things I’d brought for the time Harley and I had stayed up
there.

I folded up the first of the two cots and in doing so,
caught a wheel on the edge of the carpet and pulled it loose. Cursing, I pushed
the makeshift bed out of the way and stepped on the slightly frayed edge,
securing it back down under the molding. Just shoving the cot around made me
realize I wouldn’t be able to get it down the stairs by myself; I’d have to ask
Jack to do it for me. For an encore, I filled three garbage bags for the
dumpster, and packed my personal items into Nelly.

I thought again about Carl and wondered what it was about
him that had seemed familiar; it was something I’d noticed the day I’d watched
him walk back home from the store. I tried to capture the image in my mind;
maybe it was the way he walked, the stoop of his shoulders, or the shape of his
head. I tried to place him, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up
with where I might have seen him before, like the grocery store, the drug
store, or hell, maybe it wasn’t that at all. Maybe he resembled someone I knew.
Oh well, it would come to me eventually. Right now I was hungry and had a full
Nelly to unload. I headed home feeling like I’d accomplished something, and
enjoying the sense of calm I’d found in the busywork. It was a good feeling. I
turned on the radio and began to sing along, aware that I was smiling.

I slid onto a barstool at Krabby Kirk’s to order lunch.
“An iced tea and a bison burger please.”

“Sure, Audrey,” said Dick, as he wiped down the bar. “But
listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, knowing that nothing good ever
followed a sentence like that. “What’s up?”

“It’s your apartment,” he started.

“Does the incense bother you?”
It couldn’t be that after all these years
.

“Incense – no, it’s nothing like that. We’re going to
turn the upstairs into a billiards room, so we’re gonna have to give you notice
to find another place. I’m sorry. You’re a good tenant. We just need the space
for our customers.”

Well, that was about the last thing I had expected.
“Cancel the tea,” I said. “Bring me a beer.”

“Oh, hell, Audrey, I’m
really
sorry. It’s just business.” He put a frosty bottle on the
bar.

“How long have I got?” I asked, sounding like I’d just
been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

“A couple of weeks after Memorial Day.”

“That soon? Really?”

“That’s the downside of being on a month-to-month – but
it’s what we agreed on, remember?"

Of course I remembered. At least I’d get to enjoy one
more parade from my window. “This just sucks,” I told him.

“I know. I’m really sorry.”

I spent the rest of the day unloading Nelly, all the
while thinking that I would soon be loading her right back up with everything I
owned. Where would I go? Once I’d finished stacking the boxes in my apartment,
I gathered up the sheets, towels, and blankets from the office, and threw them
all into a giant front-loader at the Laundromat. Then I walked to the corner
newspaper box, dropped in four quarters, and removed a copy, thinking I should
start looking at what kinds of rentals were available these days. Soon my
wonderful little apartment would be full of beery men, shooting pool, passing
gas, and telling dirty jokes. I trudged up the stairs, mad, and determined to
make my mark on the place.

I pulled a paring knife from one of my two kitchen
drawers, and walked into my bedroom, where I proceeded to carve my initials
into the molding around the door where I didn’t think anyone would notice. I
lived
here, damn it. It was my home
.
My
tiny space.
It was where I felt most in control.

I would look for another little apartment; a place where
I could see every room by taking a few steps in one direction or another. I’d
preferred to live in tiny spaces for as long as I could remember, certainly
since the age of six.
Hurry up Audrey!
Run!
Those words had echoed in my mind almost every day of my life.

Outside my mother’s
room, the hospital had seemed as big and as busy as a city. I’d been sitting in
a plastic chair in the corner of the room, next to a metal table that rolled on
little wheels. I’d pushed the table out and back with my foot, over and over,
as my grandmother and my aunt stood beside my mother’s bed, blocking her from
my view. I didn’t mind because the tubes, the blinking lights, and the needle
stuck into the back of my mother’s hand frightened me. I heard my grandmother
say, “How many times did I tell her not to smoke in bed?” and remember how my
aunt had hushed her and told her that my mother might be able to hear what they
were saying.

At some point, I’d
fallen asleep in the chair, and woke to my grandmother yelling my name.
“Audrey! Run and get a nurse! Hurry up! Audrey! Run!” Half-awake, I’d struggled
off the chair and stumbled into the long hallway, looking frantically up and
down, but I didn’t see a nurse. In my picture book at home, they’d all worn
little white hats, but none of the women I saw that day had one on.

I’d stood there in
the hallway and wet my pants, as the light over the door to my mother’s room
blinked on and off. Fearing repercussions for not “holding it” at my big girl
age of six, I’d taken off the soggy pink panties and kicked them as far away
from me as I could. I’d heard my
grandmother
and my aunt cry out and several people ran into the room as I stood outside the
door, terrified of what it all might mean.

My grandmother had
finally come looking for me. She said my mother had died, and I could tell she
thought it was my fault, because I hadn’t been able to find the one person – a
nurse – who could have saved her. Through the door I saw a woman cover my
mother’s face with a sheet. My grandmother took me by the hand and we’d left
the hospital, and with me went the knowledge that I, at the age of six, had
killed my mother.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, then took a
deep breath and sent Jack a text, telling him that I’d just been booted from my
apartment. I was starting to lose track of the problems that had piled up in my
life and I couldn’t imagine how annoying it must be for him to listen to me go
on about them; and now I was adding a new one to the heap. When would he say it
was enough – as in,
enough already
!
When would he dump me like the others had and leave me to fend for myself?

I grabbed a bag of M&Ms, headed to the couch with my
newspaper, and turned to the rental section. The available apartments were
double what I’d been paying and seemed too big. The ones I could afford, and
were in decent neighborhoods, were in two-family homes, where I would have to
put up with people living above or below me; that wasn’t going to work. I
needed a place where no one would complain about my burning Frankincense, and
where I wouldn’t be bothered by other people banging around, noisy kids, or
late-night domestic fights. I didn’t think that made me picky. So my place
smelled like barbeque most of the time. So what? That never bothered me. And
what little noise that came from downstairs had never been anything more than
the pleasant sounds of people enjoying themselves.

I reminded myself that I had the lease on my office
building until the end of the year, so if worse came to worse, I could lug
everything back there until I found something. It would be my last choice, but
it was better than being homeless, and cheaper than any of the places listed in
the paper. After all, I was officially out of work and my savings weren’t going
to last forever.

I decided that the sooner I went to bed, the sooner
tomorrow would come. I showered and jammied up, brushed my teeth, and picked up
my bottle of sleeping pills. Nope. No more pills. I didn’t need them now that I
had Jack. Not the happy pills either. I would call Dr. Steele and tell her I
was stopping both of them, right after I spoke to Harley.

Jack was at my apartment door precisely at 11 o’clock, and I
knew it was him by his knock.

“Hi,” I smiled, as he walked in. “I’m glad you’re here.”

He gave me a quick kiss, as he took off his hat and put
it on the table. “So what’s this all about? You’re lease here is up?”

“I’ve been on a month-to-month all these years. They need
the space for a friggin’ billiards room.”

He pointed to my laptop on the kitchen table. “Looking
for apartments?”

“Sit down, Jack.” I poured him a cup of coffee. “At noon,
Harley is going to contact me. I’m going to Skype with her.”

“No kidding,” he said. “What’s she want?”

“I don’t know. She sent me a key to a post office box.
There was a note inside saying she’d contact me at noon today. She also
believes I’ll be alone, but I thought it would be better if you were here.”

“Why?”

“I’m pretty sure she took off to hide from Carl,” I said.
“I thought that if she talked about him, she might say something you could use
to arrest him. I need him off the street; I don’t feel safe after he tried to
intimidate me on the road and with that phone call. I mean, what’s next?”

“Okay, but you’ll have to record the conversation in case
you need proof of something she tells you.”

I rummaged through my dresser until I found a
voice-activated cassette player. It had a tape in it, but a quick check told me
that there was nothing on it I needed. I erased it and set the recorder near
the laptop, where Harley would not be able to see it.

“You sit behind the monitor,” I said to Jack, feeling
guilty that I was betraying Harley by letting him listen. “Do you mind that I
want you to stay?”

“No, it’s okay,” he smiled. “But I need to eat. I’m going
downstairs to grab some food. I’ll bring lunch for us up here.”

“Well, keep an eye on the time. You can’t be coming in
while I’m on with her.”

“Don’t worry – I’ll be right back.”

The clock seemed to tick louder and louder. Would she
call before Jack got back? Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes until I knew
– just knew – that she would call early and hang up when she heard the door
open and close.
Come on, Jack!
I
turned on the laptop and clicked on the Skype icon. I was ready. Where the hell
was Jack? I found a sheet of paper and scribbled on it – DO NOT COME IN –
YOU’RE TOO LATE AND HARLEY WILL HEAR YOU.
Nice
work, Jack
. I found a piece of tape and was headed to the door when he
walked in. Feeling foolish, I wadded it up and threw it in the trash. I thought
about what Dr. Steele had said about overreacting, and tried to calm myself.

We ate quickly, and by five ‘til noon were seated at the
table, with Jack behind the monitor. Precisely at twelve, there was an alert on
my laptop that someone was trying to contact me. I clicked on the YES button
and suddenly, I was looking at Harley.

“Hi Audrey,” she said with a big smile, and the tape
began rotating in concert with her voice.

“Harley!” I said, “How are you?
Where
are you?”

“I’m fine, but I don’t want to say where I am. You
understand, don’t you?”

“I guess so,” I said, “but did Carl find you? Is that why
you left so suddenly?”

“I’m sorry I took off without telling you,” she said, “I
really am. But I don’t want to talk about that either.”

“Then what
do
you want to talk about? Why did you send me the message?”

“I sent it so you’d know exactly when I was going to
contact you, so you could make sure you were alone. You’re alone, right?”

Oh, God
. “Of
course.”

“Is Carl still living in the same house?”

“As far as I know. He called me the other night and
demanded to know where you were. I told him I didn’t know, but I doubt he
believed me.”

“I’m sorry he did that.” After a pause, she asked, “Are
you still staying at the office?”

“No, I moved back into my apartment.”

“How’s the agency doing?”

“I took your advice and closed.”

“It’s probably for the best,” she said. “What are you
doing about money? Did you take another job?”

“I’m living off my savings at the moment. I’ve just been
given notice that I have to be out of my apartment soon, so things here are
unsettled.”

“I saw that Danny Stearns was arrested,” she said. “You
must be happy about that.”

“Except that now I’ll have to testify against him.
Harley, we also learned that Ferdy may have been in on the robbery. He worked
at that bank as a teller.”

“I know,” she said.

“What do you mean you know? How could you know that?” I
felt Jack come awake.

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you, Audrey. You’ve been
so great to me, and now that I’m fairly safe, I want to help you.”

“How?” I asked, as a chill went through me.

“By telling you what I know about Danny Stearns.”

“
Danny Stearns!
What are you
talking
about? What
could you possibly know about him?”

“Something I’ve known for a long time.”

“Well, let’s have it,” I said. My heart thrummed like a
tuning fork.

“I can tie Danny to the robbery.”

“What? How?” I was flabbergasted, and on my way to irate.
I wanted to look at Jack, but didn’t dare.

“Because Carl and Danny were friends.”

“What!” I felt lightheaded. “You knew how terrified I’ve
been that Danny would look for me – how could you not tell me this before? What
do you know?”

“They met in a bar years ago. They were a lot alike –
sick of having crap jobs and no money.”

“So let me guess – they decided to rob a bank?” This was
unbelievable. I wasn’t sure I could handle hearing any more.

“One night, Carl brought his cousin to the bar with him –
Ferdy.”

“Ferdy is Carl’s cousin?” I couldn’t believe what I was
hearing.
So that’s why Carl looked
familiar.

“Ferdy was just a kid and had just started a job as a
teller. Kind of a nerdy type, but he liked being one of the guys, and
eventually Danny and Carl were able to talk him into helping them. I was living
with Carl, so I used to hear the three of them talking about it at our place.”

“And you never called the police?”

“I was as afraid of Carl then as I am now. And Danny was
there too – are you kidding? You couldn’t have paid me enough to say anything.”

“So what happened?”

“They each had a job to do; Carl’s was to drive around a
few different cities and find a good place to hide the money, and a house to
live in. Ferdy was supposed to find out when a big amount of money was due at
the bank and develop some kind of software that would delay the alarm or
something. Danny’s job was to do the actual robbery. The plan was for Danny to
hand off the money to Carl, who was parked just outside, but the gun accidently
fired and hit one of the customers. I guess everything went to hell from
there.”

“
Carl
drove the
getaway car?”

“Yes. But as I said, things got hairy. Whatever Ferdy did
to the alarm, didn’t work, and it went off. Danny was supposed to get in the car
too, but the police showed up. Carl drove off with the money and Danny started
running.”

“Which was when he bumped into me.” Oh, my God. It was
surreal hearing the backstory of that day. And it was my dumb luck to have been
standing right there in Danny’s path. If I’d have met with Dr. Collins the day
before, or even stayed in her office ten minutes longer, I wouldn’t have been
there at all when he ran around that corner, and none of this would be
happening.

“They were going to keep the money hidden for a few years
before they split it up,” she said, “thinking that at some point the
investigation would lose steam. They were willing to wait it out.”

“How did Carl get three million dollars into the car by
himself?”

“They knew that one million, the way banks bundle money,
would weigh twenty-two pounds. So the whole thing only came to about sixty-six
pounds. Not a problem. Believe me, they planned and researched every aspect.
And if Ferdy’s alarm thing had worked, there wouldn’t have been any hitch in
the plan at all.”

“What else?”

“That’s all I’m prepared to say right now, Audrey. I just
felt I owed you this much.”

“So where’s the money? Does Carl have it?”

“I don’t know, either him or Ferdy. But hang onto the key
I sent to you. I may be able to contact you again, depending on where I end up.
I sent you the envelope from the last place I was, just before I got on a
plane. Believe me, Audrey, I don’t intend to be found. I’m not stupid enough to
testify and get myself killed.”

“Wait - what about Ferdy? He was at the bank. Why wasn’t
he caught?”

“I don’t know for sure, but Carl used to ride him about
wetting himself that day. He didn’t know Danny was going to bring a gun. When
he saw it – and then when the customer was shot – well, I guess the wet pants
made him look innocent.”

“So where is he?”

“I have no idea,” she said.

“I think it was Ferdy who put sleeping pills in Tony’s
coffee that morning. The manager of the café and Tony both did sketches of the
guy, and I’m sure it was Ferdy in disguise. I just don’t know why he’d do that.
Do you?”

“I’ve said enough. I have to go. Thanks again for being
so nice to me. I won’t forget you. Bye, Audrey.”

“Harley, wait!” I pleaded. But she was gone.

I shut off the laptop and the cassette player and looked
at Jack. “I can’t believe this. I’m so glad you were here – I never would have
thought to record it.”

He stood up and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Unbelievable.”

“I wish she’d known where Carl had put the money.
Wouldn’t that be something? It sounded like it’s probably still where he hid it
all those years ago. Do you think it’s in that awful house of his?”

“I don’t know, but the department will search the place
from top to bottom. Come on,” he said, “let’s get this to the station.”

“Should I meet you there?”

“Nope, you get to ride with me this time. You’re
officially in this up to your pretty little neck.”