"we'll need to go back for some
things sidney, let's eat at the concession stand, ok?"
"yeah, let's do, i'd like
that." the zoo was comfortable, all one's problems disappeared in
this wonderful environment, the sky was perfect, and the clouds were
like cotton candy. things would work out right, i just knew it. back
at the funny farm, there wasn't a soul in sight. the pig mobile was
empty, and the door to the paddock was locked. i saw neither sysco's
nor pork's cars. i held sidney's hand as we knocked on the door.
"nobody home miss," a
voice said. it was roy, the guy that worked for pork.
"roy, do you remember me? "i'm
carlee."
"oh yeah, andy's babe,
sure, i remember, you do something to your hair?"
"it grew roy, and maybe
it's a little lighter."
"and a whole lot prettier,"
he said.
"where's pork pie?"
"don't know," he
answered.
"we're staying here for a
few days roy, we really do need to get in."
"sure," he said, as
he unlocked the door.
lissell's house was perfectly
lovely from the outside, nestled between two more an acre apart, on
the east side of town. she greeted us at the door. gosh she looked
great, barefoot, wearing only a pair of tan shorts and a white tee
shirt that said "it's all up to you...." she held me tight
and kiss me on the lips.
"god, it's great to see
you carlee, and you too sid. please come in."
"hmmm, movin' up in the
world detective," i said. lissell smiled.
"hopefully," she
answered. she had us sit down on a huge sectional couch. she sat in a
green recliner across from us. "both of you look beautiful,"
she said. "can i get you something to drink?"
"scotch is fine with me,
and a coke for my friend."
"do you have a television,
miss stacey?" sidney asked.
"sure sport, big screen
though, you may not like it."
"i'd love it," he
answered. "do you get the power rangers?"
"sure do, it's almost time
for them." lissell led him to the back and returned with our
drinks. she had a noticable limp, i was staring. "still left from
the stab wound honey, gets worse if I dream about leroy and that
night."
"i'm sorry lissell, and i
didn't mean to stare."
"stare all you want baby,
if it weren't for you i wouldn't even be here." i took a slurp of
my drink, she was right. "now before you say anything else
carlee, even how nice it would be to sleep with me, tell me about this
new crisis, i went out on a limb getting that information for you."
"i know that lissell, and
don't think i didn't appreciate it." lissell smiled. "sidney's
dad, terry works for sysco bolin."
"oh my god," she
said.
"she rents trucks from my
friend laverne anderson, you know, the horse guy?"
"i know pork pie, sure."
i told her about sidney's living conditions, about terry's girl friend
and about my suspects of abuse. i went on with the story of pork's
truck being found empty on the side of the road and terry's
disapperance.
"carlee, carlee!"
sidney shouted.
"what baby?"
"come and see this tv!"
"excuse me lissell, i'll
be right back."
"look carlee, it's high
definition, 52 inches."
"gosh, sidney, how
perfectly neat, a new dimension to the power rangers."
"can we stay here, huh,
here with miss lissell, for the rest of our lives?" i had to
smile.
"for tonight anyway baby."
sidney was so excited. "now you enjoy, is there anything i can
get you?"
"popcorn and a coke would
be nice," he answered.
"comin' up," i said. "lissell,
do you have any popcorn?"
"sure, microwave, or the
real stuff, from down on the farm?"
"you shuck it yourself?"
i asked.
"certainly," she
answered.
"naa, microwave will be
fine."
"fresh is no problem,"
she said.
so, lissell and i shucked ears
of corn with our hands while a pan of real cow's butter simmered on
her stove. "this shit's hard on your hands lissell," i said.
"i enjoy it though,"
she said. we finished three ears, and she said that was probably
enough. i agreed. "sysco bolin is bad news carlee, we don't have
much jurisdiction over her, she's mainly federal, oh not that we don't
have stuff on her, she's a bad girl."
"i know that lissell,"
i said. lissell put the three ears of shucked corn in a pan, added
cooking oil, and put a lid on it. she shook it, and her own backside
shook with it. i loved that. lissell had lost about ten pounds, and
she was far more the better for it. pop, the first grain was ready.
then more, much more. i remembered my mom popping corn for me, she had
a nice butt also, black hair and a slim figure, i missed her.
"fit for a prince,"
she said, as she poured the melted butter over it in a green glass
bowl.
"we'd spoil him to death,
if we had him," i said. lissell smiled.
"and i'd spoil you also
baby." that made me smile. i took a handful of pop corn, then
finished my drink. "another coming up," she said.
sidney was engrossed in the
power rangers, he acknowledged the popcorn and ate a big handful. set
his coke on a coaster on the nightstand. "she looks nice in
shorts," he said.
"lissell?"
"yeah."
"she does, doesn't she,
how about her hair?"
"i liked it long, but the
short hair makes her look different."
"enjoy your show sidney,"
i said.
lissell was sitting on the
couch with her feet up under her, eating pop corn and drinking. she
handed me a drink, and i sat down beside her.
"you're not mixed up with
sysco bolin are you baby?" she asked.
"only because of sid,
lissell, if they don't find his dad real soon i don't know what is
going to happen."
"carlee, let me tell you a
little about what happened, at least what i know about these
situations." my ears perked up. "sidney's dad's truck
probably was not highjacked, if it were, then he would have notified
someone. of course they could have killed him and stowed him
somewhere, likely in the back of the truck. according to the gasoline
ledgers, he likely never headed for ohio, unless he filled up and paid
with cash, which is unlikely. most of the time these drivers tell
someone they have an expensive load and sell to them. they then meet
the buyers at a designated location, unload, and are either killed or
drive away. it's far more profitable for the buyers to dispose of the
driver and just take the goods."
"that makes sense lissell,
god, that makes very good sense, poor sidney."
"if he is dead, child
welfare will have to take sid into custody, there's no way around it
honey."
i felt bad about it, but i knew
lissell was telling me the truth. what to do, what to do. i would have
to think about that when the time came. i looked at lissell, she was
so pretty, the scar on her neck was barely noticable.
"can i stretch out beside
of you lissell?"
"sure baby," she
said, then stretched out. i laid down beside her, she hugged me. "i've
needed to be with you so bad carlee," she said, as her eyes lit
up.
"i'm yours lissell."
"can we take a bath,
together?" she asked.
"sure baby, let me check
on sidney, give him some instructions." lissell smiled at me and
headed to the bathroom. sidney was snoozing, so peacefully. i pulled
his pj's from our suit sack, which read "mcdonald's, billions
sold," shook him gently. my little power ranger, what on earth
will happen to you, i sadly thought.
"hell, i didn't mean to
hurt the bitch!" a voice on the tv said, a voice i knew too well."
"what did you hit her with
mr. anderson?" an attractive blonde anchor asked.
"a horse, no, a fuckin'
pony shoe, hell, i've hit my mother with those before, didn't hardly
feel it!" pork pie's blood pressure was out of sight, his face
was as red as a beet. my god in heaven. pork pie has killed sysco, now
what's going to happen?
"our apoligies for the
language," the pretty anchor lady announced. "mr. anderson
is apparantly overwrought." so, what else is new? i thought.
lissell's phone rang. i turned the tv down and answered it.
"hello?"
"detective stacey?"
"sorry, no, i'm her
friend, she's taking a bath."
"ah, is there a cordless?"
he asked.
"i've heard that's
dangerous," i replied.
"is there a large towel
then?"
i laughed. "you really
need to speak with her don't you?"
"yeah, really," he
answered.
"and who shall i say is
calling?"
"eddie, eddie from the
station, she knows me."
"hang on then, eddy."
"you spelled my name
wrong!"
"huh?"
"oh never mind."
i went into the bathroom,
lissell was naked to her panties and she looked fantastic. "eddie,
from the station."
"shit," she said. "baby,
there's a cordless on my night stand, do you mind?" i went to the
bed room, sidney was snoring. i brought lissell the phone. she pushed
a button.
"detective stacey."
"miss stacey, this is
eddie, captain zimmerman told me to call you and tell you that miss
bolin's in the hospital, in surgery actually, they don't expect her to
live."
"sysco bolin?"
"yessum, she got in a
fight with a man over an internet game they were playing and he threw
a horse shoe at her and hit her in the head."
"who was the guy eddie?"
"ah, laverne 'pok pie'
anderson," he answered.
"tell eddie he mispelled
pork's name," i said.
"is that suppose to upset
me eddie, or are you calling me out?"
"he didn't tell me to call
you out miss stacey, just to let you know."
"ask him if they've
arrested pork, lissell," i asked.
"no ma'am, he claims that
miss bolin came at him with a knife and he acted in self defense."
"the truth is, eddie, if
that awful sysco bolin dies in surgery, the world will be a better
place, i don't even know why captain zimmerman wanted you to call me."
"something about that girl
who killed leroy last year, he said."
"carlee?"
"yeah, i think so."
"thank you eddie, thanks
for calling." she hung up.
"what now lissell?" i
asked.
"a bubble bath, if you
don't mind scrubbing my back." the bath room smelled like
vanilla, bubbles stood two feet over the water. i undressed, lissell
watched carefully.
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