The Silver Lake Murder by Gregg Matthews (different ereaders txt) 📕

baseball as hard as he can, towards the mirror behind the bar. The mirror is thickly settled with top-shelf bottles of hard liquor.

One of the waitresses told him the top-shelf liquor bottles are for show; the liquor has been gone from the bottles for years. Colored water is used to replace the liquor. The waitresses are told to push the Jackal products to the customers. There is a stack of glasses in front of the mirror. The baseball he threw makes contact with the mirror, bottles, and glasses. Broken glass screams out into the empty night.

“What’s going on down there?” Luke shouts from up in The Devil’s Den.

Listening to the footsteps, he estimates Luke is halfway down the stairs. He waits a little longer and until Luke is at the bottom of the stairs. He winds up as hard as he can and takes a swing, guessing where Luke’s left knee is. The meat of the baseball bat makes solid contact with Luke’s left knee. Luke lets out a moan and has no idea what is going on. He falls to the floor in the dark.

Standing over Luke, he swings the baseball bat down as hard as he can, not sure what part of his body he is hitting. Luke moans every time the bat makes contact with his flesh and bone. He grabs Luke by the neck and drags him towards the back door.

“Who are you?” Luke cries out.

“Shut up,” Blake says.

Picking Luke up by the scruff of the neck and the seat of his pants, he throws him through the back door into the dusty alley. He sees Billy swinging the baseball bat down as hard as he can. The scuffling of their feet and Luke fighting for his life on the ground causes the dirt to rise into a cloud. He can barely see what is going on in the cloud of dust. He jumps in and is swinging the baseball bat down hard, making contact with more flesh and bone.

The spotlight is shining down the alley in the back of the building. He can see the Slugger label on Billy’s bat rising above the cloud of dust; the baseball bat is swung down hard and disappears into the cloud of dust. The two swinging baseball bats hitting flesh and bone cause Luke to moan and cry out in the night.

The two baseball bats take a break from swinging down into the flesh and bone of Luke. Billy and Blake are both coughing and winded from swinging the baseball bats. He and Billy have both been breathing in an abnormal amount of dust from the alley. He looks into the cloud of dust and sees a stream of light shining through the cloud enough for him to see Billy’s face show a deranged look in his eyes. He wonders if he pushed Billy too far. Flashes of red brake lights are coming down the alley. Lester stops the car right in front of them and pops the trunk open.

“Billy, hand me the tape.”

“Here, Blake,” Billy says, retrieving the tape from the trunk.

Placing a piece of tape over Luke’s mouth, Blake rolls Luke over on his stomach and puts one knee into his back. Luke lets out a painful moan. He tapes Luke’s two hands together in front of his body. He tapes both of Luke’s ankles together. He motions for Billy to take a break and catch his breath. He sees Billy looking at him with a frightened look in his eyes. He waves his hand towards Billy, stopping him from saying anything.

“It’s okay, Billy, we weren’t going to Heaven anyway,” Blake says, smiling.

“I know, Blake,” Billy says, smiling back at him.

Motioning for Billy to take an end. He and Billy shove Luke awkwardly on his back face up into the trunk of the car. Luke moans. There is an orange backpack full of drugs right next to Luke’s head. He points to the tape, baseball bats, scattered in the alley, and Billy gathers them up, throwing them into the trunk of the car.

“Stay with me, Billy. Everything is going to be all right.”

“Okay, Blake,” Billy says, gasping for air.

“We have to meet Kevin at Cripple Cove.”

“Okay, Blake.”

He and Billy get in the back seat, and Lester quietly applies pressure to the gas pedal easing them out from behind the building. Turning his head, looking out the rear window, he can see the large cloud of dust peeking out from behind the building.

CHAPTER 19

The car glides down the dirt road deeper into the woods and deeper into the night. Looking down at his smartphone Blake reads 12:00 a.m. Perfect.

The deep woods are on the left, and the lake water is on the right. The car eases its way down the dirt roads through the backwoods quietly.

“Keep driving, Lester,” Blake shouts from the backseat.

“Yes, Blake.”

“You okay, Billy?” Blake says, looking at Billy, who is sitting next to him.

“I’m okay,” Billy says with his whole body shaking.

The muffled thudding and moaning sounds coming from the trunk makes them all nervous. Lester makes eye contact with Blake in the rearview mirror.

“Forward,” Blake shouts, pointing straight ahead.

He and Billy are both covered in dirt, mixed with sweat. Reaching for a towel in the backseat, he wipes his face. He takes a minute to pull himself together.

“Cripple Cove, right Lester?”

“Yes, Blake, Cripple Cove.”

The large pine trees hang over the road provide the car with lots of cover.

“OK, Lester, we are close.”

“Yes, Blake.”

The car slows down to a crawl and slowly drives down Backside Lane. Looking straight ahead, there is more dirt road with large overhanging tree branches and the dark of night. The thump and muffled moan from the trunk cause all three of them to make eye contact.

“Stop the car, Lester.”

“OK, Blake.”

The car comes to a stop, and again they all make eye contact hearing the sounds coming from the trunk.

“One minute,” Blake says.

Quickly exiting the car, he waves for Lester to press the release button to open the trunk.