Locomotive to the Past by George Schultz (iphone ebook reader .TXT) 📕

“Holy shit!” exclaimed one of the uniformed cops. “You . . . you’re Buck Mahoney’s old lady?”

“Yes.” She was back to her slow, deliberate, soft, monotone. “Holy shit… is right.” Her unlikely exclamation—was totally without emotion. “Larry,” she continued, “my son, Larry… he requires a lot of attention. Attention, which… let me tell you… costs a lot of money!”

“I can imagine,” muttered Phipps. “Or, hell… maybe I can’t!”

“The cost,” responded Ella, “is substantial! Most substantial! And… without the financial support, of the wondrous Buck Mahoney… it’s been a bit, of a rough go, for us. Just to try… and make ends meet. And to keep up… with all the needed medical costs, for my little boy. The medical… and the psychological . . . needs.”

“I can sure understand that.” Phipps was trying to walk back his earlier statement—having to do with understanding. “That is perfectly . . . perfectly understandable!”

“I’ve always thought,” volunteered the same uniformed cop, “always figured Buck Mahoney to be a… to be a phony son of a bitch!”

“That’s a pretty accurate description, Officer,” observed Ella. “In any case… to continue… with the restaurant, going out of business…”

“You mean,” interrupted the lieutenant, “Mrs. Shoreman… she couldn’t sell the place? I’d always been of the opinion… that the joint had always been pretty successful!”

“Not really. Oh, we’d always had a lot of people . . . that we’d served. Many regulars. But, you see? Mister Shoreman… well, he’d always insisted, on serving really generous portions! Of quality food. Mrs. Shoreman simply couldn’t pull that off! And, apparently, the people, who were looking to buy the place… there were three or four of them, eventually… they, apparently, figured they couldn’t either! Or else, they just simply didn’t want to bother trying! So… the restaurant… it simply went out of business!”

She’d begun, once again, showing some emotion. It was obvious that she’d been totally wrapped up, in her children. Most especially, her autistic son. She, obviously, had also been more than slightly involved—with the fortunes, of the eatery. The cafe—which had employed her, for such a long period of time. And—to a point—the mention, of Buck Mahoney’s name, had also brought forth, a bountiful amount of emotion!

“Well, my heart goes out to you, Mrs. Mahoney,” assured Lt. Phipps. “But, we do have to get back, to the… ah… unpleasantness, of tonight. With Mister Foster, you know.”

“Yes,” Ella sighed. She was back to muttering, in monotones, once more. “Yes… we do. Well… as I’d told you… the dead man, he’d invited me over. Over here… to his palatial apartment. For a job interview. A job interview… so called! With a more-or-less promise . . . of employment. At his coffee shop. Much further, you see, from home. And, let me say, that the pay situation… would’ve left much, to be desired! Did leave much to be desired! But… you see? I needed a job! Needed it badly!”

“Speaking of ‘badly’,” observed Phipps, “I assume that the job interview… it went badly?”

“Very badly,” she acknowledged—with an almost-imperceptible nod. “Mister Foster… well, he sort of demanded a… well, a… a favor!”

“A sexual favor?”

“Yes, Lieutenant. I don’t know… don’t know quite how to put it. But, I did need a job! Like I said . . . needed one, badly! Very badly! And so? And so… I acceded! Acceded… to his demands!”

“Mrs. Mahoney!” The detective was—obviously—completely caught up, in Ella’s situation! Personally caught up in it! “Ella!” Obviously—he was personally caught up in it! “Ella!” he repeated. “Ella… listen! You coulda gone, on unemployment! It couldn’t be much less, than what that… you should excuse the expression… that dead ball-buster was offering! Supposedly offering!”

“Of course, you’re right! That’s what I should’ve done! Actually, what Mister Foster appeared to be offering, was less . . . substantially less… than what the unemployment stipend would’ve been, as I understand it! Well maybe, not substantially less! But, it was still less! But… you see, Lieutenant? There’s something about it! Something that’s been with me… within me… since I was a little girl. Something, that abhors the thought, of being ‘on the dole’ . . . as my father used to call it.”

“Yeah,” muttered Phipps. “I can see that. See that… for sure!”

“So, if you’ll go ahead, and excuse the expression, I let him… let him… let him go ahead! Go ahead… and screw me!”

“Ella,” rasped the highly-troubled lieutenant. “Listen! “You don’t hafta…”

“There’s no way to gloss it over, Lieutenant! I let him screw me! Period! He screwed me! But, I think the most troubling thing about it… the thing that most set me off . . . was not that he’d reneged! Reneged… on the promise! The promise… so called . . . to hire me! It wasn’t even the fact that… that I’d given in, to him! No! It was the fact, that… when he was done with me… then, he threw me out! Physically! Physically… ejected me! From his stinking apartment! And… when I’d wound up, out in the hall… he threw my panties out! My panties! Threw them! Threw them… right at me! Threw them… right, in my face! The ultimate indignity! Hit me… right in the face . . . with ’em! With my own underpants! The final disgrace!”

“That was… was too much?”

“Yes, Lieutenant! That was what pushed me… sent me, right over the edge! I drove home! Methodically! The whole thing was… was purely methodical! Got out… Buck’s old gun! I don’t even think he even remembers having the thing! He got it… I don’t know… twelve, or maybe fifteen, years ago! The way things have been going lately… even in my neighborhood… I’d had the gun completely refurbished! Took a course, you know! A course… in how to shoot the weapon! How to handle it! And, of course, all the gun safety things!”

“Yeah,” nodded the lieutenant. “I can sure understand that.”

“In any case,” Ella continued, “I went home… and got Buck’s old gun! And then, I came back! Came back… over here!” She made a sweeping gesture—over her right shoulder! “And now,” she resumed, “may I present? Present… the