Three Sides of the Tracks (21 page)

She finished with the groceries and lay down next to Brandy on the couch.
They wrapped their arms around each other and fell into a troubled sleep.

Caroline jerked awake. Whitey pinned her arms while Smurf held her legs.
Slink bound her with ski rope then gagged her with a torn T-shirt. He and Smurf
carried an already bound and gagged Brandy from the living room. Caroline
screamed but only a muffled sound escaped. Whitey clamped a filthy hand over
her mouth. A few moments later, the two men came back, and it was her turn to
be picked up.

They carried her through the large living room facing the ocean onto the
sandy, grass-mottled yard. Three-feet-high sand dunes covered with sea oats hid
the yard from the beach. As they carried her across the yard, two dark patches near
the dunes caught her attention. A few steps closer she saw a covered plywood
box in one pit and knew the empty one was for her. Horror at being buried alive
ripped through her mind. She screamed her throat raw as they lowered her into
the plywood-lined hole and nailed the lid shut. She was still screaming as sand
covered the coffin.

Slink bent over the air pipe and spoke in low voice. “Don’t worry,
Sweetness, we’ll bring you some supper. Can’t have you in the house if somebody
comes snoopin’ around, now can we? Remember what I said. You had your chance.”

Caroline calmed herself to hear what Slink said, hoping he might say
something she could use to talk him into letting her out. Disappointed, at
least she knew he wasn’t going to leave her here, and she might have a chance
to escape when they brought the food, if he wasn’t lying. Comforted by the dim
light that came through the air pipe, Caroline pushed down her fear and turned
her thoughts to everything that happened in the last couple days.

33

Finding Caroline

Nearby voices woke Danny. He’d parked in the last spot in front of the
convenience store just before dawn and didn’t bother asking permission before
crawling into the back seat and falling into a deep sleep. He reached for the
bottled water on the floorboard, sat up and rubbed his eyes, wishing he’d been
able to continue driving instead of having to sleep.

He went inside to the bathroom and washed his face then bought a pack of
doughnuts, a large coffee, and two bottles of energy drink, thankful when he
saw it was only nine o’clock but not thankful enough to overcome the guilty
feeling of stopping to sleep. Caroline probably didn’t have that choice.

Picturing her face woke him more than the coffee or energy drink. He
drove back onto the interstate and didn’t stop pressing the gas pedal until the
speedometer read 80. Daytona exits flashed by, and goose bumps rose on his
forearms as he imagined what he would do when he arrived at Slink’s. His
stomach rolled at the image of him bursting into the house with a shotgun in
his hand. “Hell, I can’t do that,” he muttered.

An hour passed while he planned how to act, what to do. The closer to Canaveral
Beach he came, the illusion of him being able to overwhelm Slink and his
friends dwindled and reality set in.

Rest stops provided opportunity for a little privacy, so Danny turned into
the next one and parked away from the other vehicles. He opened the trunk and
pulled up the worn lining until he could fit the shotgun under the angle where
it rose over the wheel well. Surveying his work, the shotgun didn’t look much
different than a tire iron might look under the lining, or so he hoped. His
plan called for being able to get to it easy enough without drawing suspicion,
if it came down to that.

The big pistol would be a dead giveaway he wasn’t there for a friendly
visit, and there was nowhere on his body to hide it without a tale-tell bulge.
Danny wiggled under the steering wheel and snuggled the .357 into the springs
under the front seat. He spent five minutes arranging the pistol so that only the
barrel was embedded in the springs and he could jerk the pistol out ready to
fire. Danny snapped open the .45-caliber derringer to check the two bullets and
make sure he knew exactly how to use it. The way Bernard described the hollow-point
bullets, each one would take a man out, and, as Danny snuggled it into his
waistband with the butt hidden behind the snap, that thought settled his nerves
considerably. At least he’d have something if things went wrong. He jammed the
blackjack into his back pocket, mostly as a last resort.

He laid the maps on the seat after looking them over for the Canaveral
Beach exit. The dread of what might happen made time seem to go faster, and all
to soon the road sign for his exit indicated he only had one more mile. The
goose bumps returned and the increasingly heavy rain that made driving more
difficult became far less important. “I’ve got to calm down,” he admonished
himself and tried taking long slow breaths.

He crossed two bridges and stopped at a red light and knew he was in the
beach town when he saw the garishly lit building of Wave Rider Surf Shop, which
he’d seen on numerous billboards on the way down. As soon as he turned right,
his stomach felt like someone had dumped a wheelbarrow of rocks down his
throat. He looked at the map one final time for Bernard’s scrawled handwriting
that marked which driveway to turn onto.

An angry horn blared when Danny cut across traffic into the driveway. He
drove slowly up the winding driveway past unfamiliar trees, caught a glimpse of
the house and stopped. He cut the lights and edged closer. The trembling had
stopped but now he felt rigid, mechanical. The planning and visualizing were over.

He shielded his eyes from the rain and trotted toward the front porch,
knocked and waited. A half minute later he knocked again. A shadow passed
behind the drawn window curtains then the door abruptly opened. Strong hands
jerked him inside before he could speak.

“What’n the hell you doin’ here, Hair Lip?” the huge man said.

Danny’s temper displaced his anxiety, and he jerked his arm loose. “Bernard
sent me to find Slink.”

“Uh huh.” Smurf pushed Danny toward the living room then down on a couch.

Danny nodded to the other man he’d seen, the one with red eyes and white
hair, but he just stared back, sleepy red eyes appraising him indifferently.

Danny sat on the edge of the couch and casually surveyed the room as he
heard the big man tapping on a door off the hallway. The door opened and Danny
heard hushed voices.

Slink stepped into the living room.

Danny’s heart beat faster because of the glaring distrust in Slink’s
eyes. He forced a smile, stood up, and held out a hand.

Slink’s black eyes pierced Danny’s façade, and he only hoped the guilt he
felt didn’t show on his face, though he doubted it because every muscle in his
body tightened.

Danny’s hand was still extended when Slink shoved him to the couch and
sat in an armchair facing him, ivory grip of his pistol showing above his belt
line. “Bernard’s done it this time. What’n the hell he send you down here for?”

Danny struggled to keep eye contact. “Bernard thought you might come
here, so he figured you might need to swap cars. He asked me to bring you your
mother’s car. Those people at the church said I was with y’all. . . . and the
cops, they came to my house in the middle of the night and tore it apart, so I
think Bernard wanted to get me outta town too.”

“Damn, kid, Danny ain’t it? That’s a helluva mouth full there.”

Danny gulped and nodded.

“I see somebody worked you over pretty good. Cops did all that?”

“Yep.”

“How come they let you go? That’s quick work. Them bustin’ into your
house and kickin’ your butt then letting you go.”

“My mom called a friend of hers, then the newspaper lady came and took
pictures . . . and—”

“Scared the bastards, huh?” Amusement dissipated some of the suspicion in
Slink’s glare.
“Enough for them to turn me loose.”

“They roughed you up once before, didn’t they?”

Confusion crossed Danny’s face as he tried to decipher Slink’s remark.

“When they had the SWAT team at Unc’s house? Weren’t you there?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah, I’d climbed in the back window
and got the gun away from Bernard so they wouldn’t come in and kill him. Then
they busted in and beat on me just to have someone to beat on, I guess.” Danny
felt a surge of relief hoping that Slink bringing that up indicated he trusted him.

“So you and the cops ain’t exactly on speaking terms, huh?”

“Not hardly. Say, what happened to Caroline and the other girl?”

“Aw hell, we turned ‘em loose soon as we made sure nobody was chasing us.
Too gabby for me. Threatening what her daddy was going to do to us and all that
crap.”

Danny’s mind raced. He would have known if Slink had turned Caroline
loose like he said, but he didn’t hear any noises from the rest of the house.
Where
were
Caroline and Brandy? He’d have to stall and hope Slink
slipped up. “She wasn’t wrong about that. Her daddy is a crazy son of a gun.”
“So you know them?”

“Acquainted with one of them. Caroline. Not big buddies or nothing. Just
to say hi when I’d see her at school. That kind of thing.”

“How you know her daddy then?”

“Reputation.”

“He rich like she says?”

“I guess so. He owns a bunch of pawn shops, bail bond companies. I don’t
know what all. You never heard of Jessie Whitaker?”

“Rings a bell. Never got to know the gal’s last name.”

Slink looked at Smurf and motioned with his eyes to Danny.

Smurf’s substantial bulk moved quicker than Danny could react. His giant arms
wrapped around Danny and yanked him up.

“Hey, what the heck are you doing?”

“Checking you for ordinance,” Slink said.

Danny put on the most innocent and affronted expression he could muster.
“You got to be kidding me. After I take a chance in bringing you another car
and you—”

“Cut the bullshit, kid. You remember the last time I saw you? Bernard
didn’t want you to even hang out with me. Now, you come down here with a cock
and bull story that Bernard’s willing to get you involved in all this. Shit, my
grandma could make up a story better’n that one. As soon as I saw you and
remembered your name, I knew why you’re here. See, your girlfriend, Caroline,
had a let’s say ‘moment of weakness’ the other day and went to hollering your
name, so, when I saw you, I knew you were the Danny she was making a fuss over.
Then you said ‘
Caroline
and the other girl,’ and I knew I was right.
Small world, ain’t it? Main question is, what’n the hell did you have planned
once you got here?”

Smurf snatched the blackjack from Danny’s pocket and tossed it to Slink,
threw Danny’s phone on the coffee table and shoved him back down. “He’s clean
‘cept for that.”

“Not much, I’d say. Not with this. So what were you going to do? Scope
out the situation then leave and call the cops?”

“Slink, I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about. Call Bernard if
you don’t believe me.”

“Kid, I was conning people before I was twelve years old, so forget it.
But I’m gonna do you a favor since you’re so worried ‘bout Caroline. Tie his
ass up, Smurf.”

Danny swung at Smurf’s giant head, but Smurf just grinned as he easily
blocked the punch with a forearm and grabbed Danny in a stifling bear hug.
Whitey jerked his hands together, wrapped rope around his wrists and tied it
tight.

“Slink, don’t do—”

“Shut up. Don’t wanna hear no more BS. Y’all go outside and scrape the
sand off that first one and put him in there with her. Maybe she’ll like his
company more than ours.”

 “But it’s still daylight and raining, Slink,” Smurf said.

 “It ain’t that light, not with all the clouds, and the rain’s slacked
off. Shouldn’t take you both more’n ten minutes to get it done.”

 Smurf pushed Danny forward. “You gonna walk, or you want me to knock
your ass out and carry you?”

Danny looked at Slink with a pleading expression.

Slink leaned back in the armchair and didn’t bother meeting Danny’s eyes.
“Should’a just been straight with me, kid. Would’ve had a better chance. Get
him outta here.”

Danny walked as slow as he dared, hoping for a miracle. Smurf held him
firmly by one arm while a disgruntled Whitey retrieved the shovels and shoveled
the few inches of sand off Caroline’s box and began prying the lid loose.

“You’d better not have Caroline in that.”

“Oh yeah. What you aim to do about it, big shot?” Whitey said as he bent
to raise the lid.

The plywood lid suddenly flew up and smacked Whitey flush in the face.

Danny leaned into Smurf and stomped his foot. “Run, Caroline. Run.”

Caroline clawed out of the box but couldn’t run because her ankles were
tied.

Whitey dove across the pit, grabbed Caroline by the collar and punched
her in the stomach.

She fell to her knees retching.

“I’ll get you for that, you son of a bitch,” Danny screamed.

Whitey punched him too.

Danny staggered backwards but Smurf tightened his grip. Whitey gagged him
and slung him into the pit, into the bottom of the box, then punched Danny
again.

“That’s enough. Somebody might see us,” Smurf said, then pushed Caroline into
the box on top of Danny. “Cover their ass back up, and let’s get inside before
Slink starts raising hell. And make sure those nails are tight.”

 Whitey slammed the lid back on and hammered the nails in with the flat
of the shovel, then stuck the plastic pipe through the breathing hole. He
leaned down and spoke into the air pipe. “What you gonna do now, smart ass?” Whitey
made sure to chuckle loud enough for Danny to hear as he shoveled sand over the
box.  

“Feisty little bitch, ain’t she?” Smurf said.

Whitey rubbed his knuckles. “I’d sure like to poke some of that feisty outta
her, I know that. Pisses me off that Slink won’t let us have none of that.
Can’t figure it out.”

“Don’t go tryin’ to figure out what’s in Slink’s mind. He’s got shit in
there even he don’t know about.”

** *

 Danny pulled the gag from his mouth then Caroline’s. “Dumbass Whitey
didn’t think to tie my hands behind my back. Sorry it took me so long.”

 “Don’t say that. I knew you would come. You always do. Hurry. Untie
mine.” Caroline turned on her side so they were face to face. As soon as she
felt the knots loosen, she jerked her hands free, wove her fingers through his
hair and placed her cheek against his. “I told those guys my daddy would come
after them but, in my heart, I knew you would find me.”

Danny chuckled. “Can’t say I did much good.”

“We’ll get out of this. Everything always turns out okay when you rescue
me from whatever mess I’ve gotten myself into. And you always do. Always. As
far back as I can remember.”

“Can’t blame yourself for this one.”

“Danny, a lot has happened—No, nothing bad,” she said quickly when she
felt him stiffen. “Just things that made me think. I’ve changed during all
this, but I really didn’t know how much until I heard your voice. When I did, I
felt a . . .a . . . Oh, I can’t explain it.” Caroline held his face in her
hands and kissed him with parted lips, softly, slowly. Only a second passed
before Danny responded with the tenderness she hoped he would.

“Caroline . . . what—”

Caroline put a finger to his lips. “I feel different. When I heard your
voice, it was like a window opening. Do you . . . do you feel any different?
Toward me, I mean. Oh, Danny, please tell me you do. I feel like such an idiot.”

Danny wrapped her in his arms. Hungry mouths moved over each other’s
lips, face, neck. Danny whispered between kisses. “Yes, Caroline, it happened
to me too. I should’ve had the guts to tell you so a long time ago.”