Moon Underfoot (11 page)

M
OON PIE WAS
driving as he and Levi headed south from Columbus. They were listening to a CD of Hank Williams Jr.’s greatest hits.

Levi knew something was going to happen tonight. Moon Pie always used Hank to get himself worked up for a job, like an athlete pumping up before a game. Levi searched for something to talk about. He saw an envelope on the dash and grabbed it.

“See that FedEx logo?” Levi asked.

“Yeah, I’m not blind.”

“But do you see the arrow in the logo?”

“The what?”

Levi held up the envelope so Moon Pie could see it better, “In the second
E
. The arrow that’s pointing to the right?”

“Huh? Yeah, I see it.”

“Pretty creative, ain’t it?”

“You notice some weird shit, man.”

Levi wanted to ask where they were meeting the drug drop but decided to keep quiet for a while. He was just happy to be around Moon Pie and even happier to be out of jail. Full of nervous energy, he checked the glove box and console for pistols. He found several and worked the actions of the different
semiautomatics, admiring their precision. One had laser grips, which fascinated him. When he held it in firing position, the red laser turned on, reflecting off the windshield.

“Those are sweet, huh?” Moon Pie offered as more of a comment than a question.

“Hell yeah. I’m guessin’ that anybody that’s got that red dot on their chest gets an immediate attitude adjustment.”

“If they’re looking at you, they immediately know the deal. But if you’re at a distance and it’s daylight and they don’t know you’re there…they may not see the dot. That’s frustrating,” Moon Pie stated flatly, with firsthand knowledge.

“If you ever saw it, though, it’d scare the shit outta ya!”

“That’s what I thought. Once while I was hid in the woods where the guy that killed Reese lives, I saw him messing around with some duck decoys in the back of his truck. Anyway, I was about seventy-five yards out, and I lasered him in the chest, hoping he’d see it and freak out…but he never did.”

“Maybe he’s color-blind?”

“Could be. I think he just didn’t notice it. I wanna kill him bad, but I gotta wait. I’ve been screwin’ with him off and on for a while, but some things I think he notices and others I don’t know.”

“Like what?”

“Just subtle shit that would mess with his mind. I’ve rubbed streaks of blood on his truck windows a couple times.”

“He had to see that.”

“Ya’d think. I mailed him an article about that night from the newspaper, and I burned the edges.”

“Is it gettin’ to be time to keep your promise to Reese?”

“Maybe. Patience pays, Grasshoppar. Besides, I want that sumbitch to suffer—mentally, you know?” Moon Pie’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead. “I’m not in a rush. I haven’t decided just how I’m gonna do it. Kill him…kill his wife…take the kid…kill him and the kid and then take his hot wife for a while? I ain’t
done anything just yet because I know I’ll be the first on the cops’ short list of suspects. I ain’t as stupid as
you
look.”

“Low under the radar’s good,” Levi commented as he watched some headlights behind them. They’d been back there for a while, and paranoia was creeping in. They were driving on a desolate two-lane road that went down the west side of the Tombigbee River toward Aliceville, Alabama.

“We got company,” Moon Pie said. “Don’t turn around. Use the side mirror. They’ve been followin’ us since Columbus.”

Moon Pie’s heavily modified black Toyota FJ Cruiser had every accessory Toyota offered, plus a Warn winch, KC HiLites, and Buckshot radial mudders. It was quiet, almost impossible to get stuck in the mud, and very easy to maneuver—an outlaw’s dream machine. In the rear, hanging under the trailer hitch, was a set of red Truck Nutz that looked like giant bull testicles. Moon Pie smiled every time he saw them.

“Who you think it is?” Levi asked.

“That’s a stupid question. It’s the law. Gotta be. We don’t need ’em—not tonight with this drop and especially not tomorrow.”

“Whatcha gonna do?”

“Text Smitty and tell him tonight’s meet’s off. Tell him we got company.”

Levi’s thumbs went into action. He could text faster than he could talk.

“We’ll head to Aliceville and figure out if it’s the law actually followin’ us.”

“Then what?”

Moon Pie was growing aggravated with the questions. “That’ll depend on them,” Moon Pie said, jerking his thumb toward the car behind them.

W
HEN THE TELEPHONE
rang, Jake, completely startled, sat up in bed. His thoughts were murky as he looked at the alarm clock. It glowed 3:55. The phone rang again and snapped him out of it.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Jake Crosby?”

Jake cleared his throat and answered, “Yes, yes it is.”

Morgan rolled over to listen.

“This is Rosco Blue with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Yes, sir?” Jake sat up in the bed.

“I’m sorry to call you so early, but I got some bad news.”

“What? What is it?” Jake asked, now wide-awake.

“Yo’ camp house down here on Pumpkin Creek has burned down.”

“What!”

“I just left there. It’s a total loss. The volunteer fire department couldn’t do much. It went off like fat wood.”

“Burned? I…what happened?” Jake was trying to get his mind around what he was hearing.

“What’s wrong?” Morgan asked with a feeling of déjà vu. Jake held up his hand.

“We got a call ’bout midnight from a tugboat captain, and by the time we got a fire truck down there, the structure was totally consumed. I’m sorry.”

“Good grief,” Jake said in disbelief.

“At least no one was injured.”

“How’d it start?”

“We don’t know. It’s been drizzlin’ rain here all night.”

“Lightnin’ maybe?” Jake offered, trying to make sense of the news.

“I doubt it, but NOAA weather can let us know if there was any strikes associated with that band of rain. I’m really sorry to call so early, but I figured that iffin it was mine, I’d want to know.” Sheriff Blue tried to sound empathic, but his true motivation was to establish if Jake was home at the time of the fire and to gauge his reaction to the news. He suspected arson, but he didn’t want to mention this just yet. He continued, “We’ll check into it later this mornin’. The fire marshal will look it over. It’s all standard procedure.”

Jake was still stunned. “I don’t know what to say. What do I…what do you need me to do?”

“Can you come down this mornin’ and fill out some paperwork?”

“Yeah, sure. Absolutely.”

“You’re in West Point, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, don’t leave now. Just be down here midmornin’ if you can. My office is in downtown Aliceville. Just ask anybody. I’m the sheriff.”

“Yes, sir. Okay, I’ll be there.” Jake didn’t know whether to thank him or just hang up. He hung up the telephone, and Morgan rapid-fired questions at him. He stared straight ahead. After a moment, Jake said, “That was the Pickens County sheriff. The camp house caught fire and burned down tonight. The sheriff said it’s a total loss.”

Morgan rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and started fresh with more unanswerable questions. Jake finally held up his hand and asked her to stop so he could ask one very important question.

“Please tell me you paid the insurance on the camp house.”

T
HE GERIATRIC GANGSTERS
were eating breakfast at the local Mennonite bakery, and no one was counting calories. Now that the group had access to other people’s money, they were eating out at every opportunity. They weren’t spending big bucks, but they weren’t eating canned soup and oatmeal as regularly as before. Today they were all a bit jumpy in anticipation of the Gold Mine burglary.

“Bailey just called and said the magnets need to be off-white,” Walter remarked to Bernard.

“I’m on it,” Bernard replied.

“She also said that she’s gonna be able to get a copy of the key today.”

“Now we just gotta find out the rest of the safe combination,” Sebastian said confidently.

“That’s easier said than done,” Lucille remarked.

Walter glanced around to make certain no one was eavesdropping. “Guys, I’m starting to get some heat. I got a call early this morning requesting I come down to the store at ten so corporate security can ask me some more questions. They’re very good. I’m not sure where we messed up to allow them to connect the dots to me. I really thought they would snoop around, fire
that piece-of-shit manager, and move on. It’s been almost two weeks, and they haven’t let up a bit…I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“What can we do?” Lucille asked.

“I don’t know. I swear, I’ll never give you guys up if something happens.”

“And us either; it goes both ways,” Sebastian said immediately.

They all nodded as they looked around the table at each other.

“There’s no
I
in team. We’re a team,” Sebastian said.

Walter smiled. He really liked Sebastian. He had a level head, and he loved to fight for the underdog.

“I’ll know more later today, but to be honest, I’m nervous.”

“Just keep quiet and play dumb, and we’ll all back you up,” Sebastian calmly instructed.

“Act like you got Alzheimer’s,” Bernard said with a chuckle.

Walter appreciated their spirit and knew he could trust them. He hated that his plan had potentially gotten everyone into trouble. They didn’t deserve the humiliation that would follow the public scrutiny. He had to devise a means of deflecting the attention. Walter had an awful lot on his mind.

“Guys, I think we should slow down the formation of the foundation for a bit. If Kroger’s security brings in the police and they find out we started a foundation shortly after the money went missing, it could lead to more questions that we don’t want to answer.”

“He’s right,” Sebastian said as he sipped his coffee.

“So, are we going to”—Lucille looked around the room nervously—“you know, rob the Gold Mine?”

Walter was drinking a Code Red Mountain Dew for its maximum caffeine effect. “I think so. It’s too good an opportunity to pass up.”

They all nodded their agreement, and Lucille began to tear up, thinking of how this was going to help Bailey.

Through sniffles, Lucille said, “Walter…what if we get in the Gold Mine safe and there’s two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in there? Why can’t we give Kroger back their money? We’d be back to square one. Even Steven. All Bailey needs is enough to disappear and get her business started; twenty thousand would do it.”

Everyone agreed that it seemed like a good, workable idea.

Walter slowly looked around the group. He knew it was a good idea and nodded his agreement. How to return the money was going to take some thought.

“Walter, you’ve had some great ideas, and I agree that we should delay the foundation until things settle down with Kroger,” Lucille pleaded. “Have our attorney hold up the paperwork and give us a month at least.”

“Yeah, and since we’ve paid her a retainer, have her go with you to the meeting at Kroger today,” Sebastian added.

“Yeah, lawyer up, like they do on tee vee,” Bernard added.