The Devil's Copper by Jamie Crothall (ink ebook reader .txt) 📕

“Why are you asking so many questions?”

I sipped the last of my drink.  “ ‘Cause I’m drunk, and I’m bored, and everyone else in here is boring.”

“You sure about that?”

Okay.  Don’t panic, Billie.  “Do they have condoms in the bathroom?”

His hand relented slightly.  “I’m good, don’t worry.  I’m carrying.”

I put my hand on top of his.  “Oh honey, you’re gonna need more than one.”

I patted his hand and he took the insistence.  He downed the last of his beer and stood.  “Don’t go anywhere.  I gotta piss anyway.”

I held in my shudder until he was around the corner. It was good to get it out of my system.  I took one last sip from my drink, wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and tossed the twenty on the counter.

“This cover him as well?” the bartender asked.

“God no,” I muttered as I quickly made my way out of the bar.

***

I nearly threw myself into Riley’s car, and locked the door as soon as I closed it.

“How’d it go?” Riley asked.  “I nearly came in.”

“He’s a creep,” I said.

“I already knew that.  I need more info than that for twenty bucks.”

“Jack always spoke highly of him.”

“Billie, focus.”

“I didn’t get a name, but he was paid to mess the place up only.  I think they tried to sell him out by calling the cops on him, but he’s dumb enough to think that was part of the plan.  Sorry, I didn’t get more than that.  I asked too much too quick.”

“Where is he now?”

“Buying condoms from a machine in the bathroom.  Can we leave?”

I looked over my shoulder at the door to see if he was coming out to look for me.

What I saw was far more frightening.  Shay.  I don’t know where he came from, but he was heading toward the door to the bar.

“We need to leave.  Right now!”

“What?  Why?”

I ducked down out of sight. “Just drive, please!”

Riley held off any further questions and quickly backed out of the parking lot.

Once we were on our way, I explained.  “That was the one who was holding me in the apartment!”

“The guy with the sunglasses?”

“Yeah.  They call him Shay.  Do you know anything about him?”

She shook her head.  “Can’t say it’s familiar.”

Riley’s walkie-talkie crackled to life.  It was difficult to understand what was being said.

“There’s a shooting,” she explained.

“Where?”

“Guess.” She picked up the walkie-talkie.  “Dispatch, this is 519.  Do you have a responder?”

“Copy, 519,” the radio crackled.  “530 is en route.”

“Huh,” said Riley. “530 is Murray and Jones.  Rather quick response, wouldn’t you say?”

“Are you going back there?”

“No.  That would look suspicious as well.  I need to get you out of here.”

“Where the hell am I going to go?”

“You can stay at my place tonight.  I’m sure you haven’t had a good night’s sleep for a while.”

She wasn’t wrong.  At least I would feel somewhat secure for once.

“Thank you,” I said.  “I mean it.  You’re really sticking your neck out for me.”

“Hey, solidarity right?  Us girls gotta stick together.”

She had no idea how much that meant to me.

EIGHT

It took a lot of convincing to get Riley to allow me to go to work the next morning.  And let's face it; I didn’t have that many good arguments to my name.  I reminded her I did not necessarily ‘escape’ Shay; he simply fled, leaving me behind.  By disappearing altogether, I could end up endangering Walter.  Also, we had no reason to think they knew about my rendez-vous with Mike before they…did whatever they ended up doing to him.  Merely ‘appearing’ at work like all is well, especially when Frankie is known to visit, would be a sign of good faith.  Don’t get me wrong; I thought the idea was insane too.  But until Walter and Jack were safe, I had to do what I could.  I just needed Riley’s blessing, to feel like I wasn’t losing my mind.

I also needed a ride, because I was broke, and my car was at Walter’s place.

“Don’t leave the office,” she insisted.  “You’re most likely to be safe if you stay somewhere you can be accounted for.”

I nodded.  “What are you doing today?”

She shrugged.  “I’m going to check in and pretend everything’s normal until I hear anything to the contrary.  You let me know the moment you get any kind of contact from anyone.  You have my number still?”  I nodded.  “Call me.  Leave a message.  If I’m not at my desk, I’ll be checking in all day.”

“One more thing,” I said.

“I’m not giving you your gun back.”

“No, not that.  I need a ride.”

“You need a change of clothes, too. I’ll get you some.”

***

“Where were you yesterday?” was the first thing I was assaulted with when I entered the office.

Fortunately, it was from Pat.  But his urgency meant that question had been circulating a while.  I was late as well.

“Is that Billie?” a booming voice demanded.  For once, Joey wasn’t the most intimidating person in my life. Yet his bluster was still not something I wanted to deal with.

“I’m here,” I called out.

Joey emerged from his office, fists on hips and dog in jacket.  His scowl was more severe than usual.

I invested in a few wild assumptions.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said. “And I’m sorry about yesterday, I would have called but…”

He reached into his jacket and held out his bichon frise.  “Take her.”

“…what?”

“You’re on dog duty today.  I have an important meeting at the lodge.”

This was hardly in my job description, but if it got me off the hook, I was okay with that.  I awkwardly took the