chapter 104
MOON PIE RECKLESSLY bounced Jake’s truck through the rutted road. Rooster tails of mud flew from the tires as he mashed the gas pedal to the floor whenever the truck lost traction. Moon Pie couldn’t believe that Jake Crosby had just walked into his trailer and presented such a fine opportunity to make things right with Reese, Johnny Lee, and the universe.
As he approached the duck-pond levee, Moon Pie clicked the headlights on bright. Since the levee was higher ground, he had better traction and slowed down. He glanced back at Jake on the floor before looking out the passenger-side window for the drainpipe.
The pipe was right where Moon Pie remembered it, and he turned Jake’s truck at an angle so the headlights cast beams of light across the slough, fully illuminating the pipe.
“Honey, we’re home!” he yelled. Then he took another swig of Tennessee whiskey and laughed. He added, “Man, this is great. Looks like the beavers have been busy trying to clog it up. That looks to be ’bout six inches over the lip. Whoa, there’s gotta be several million gallons of water being held back by just some sticks and mud. Hot damn, this is gonna be fun!”
Jake tried to raise his head to see what Moon Pie was talking about, but he couldn’t see past the dash. He did manage to force the small flashlight down into his pants pocket and wished that he had any type of weapon. Being careful not to be seen, he checked his cell phone but had no service. Jesus, just like at the Dummy Line, he thought.
“Please don’t shock me again, and please listen to me,” Jake pleaded. “The past is past. We can’t do shit about it. I didn’t kill your friends in cold blood. They were gonna kill my little girl. Don’t ya get it?”
Moon Pie slammed on the brakes and put the truck into park before it quit moving. He turned to face Jake. “Let me ask you one question. Did you kill them?” Moon Pie was now slurring his words.
Jake didn’t want to answer. Moon Pie was drunk and irrational. Jake exhaled deeply and said a silent prayer. Jake assumed that Moon Pie was slurring from the liquor. He wasn’t aware that he’d been shot and was losing blood also.
“I said: Did. You. Kill. Them? It’s a pretty simple question. Answer me, or I swear to God I’ll shoot you in the face and then put your head in bed with your daughter! Do you hear me?”
Jake was determined to keep him talking. “You know I did. But it was purely self-defense. The cops said so, and so did the DA. Did you know that?”
“I’ll tell you what I do know…I know they’re dead and you’re responsible, a*shole.”
“Why is it so hard for you to understand that I was only protecting myself and my little girl?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re some kinda of hotshot, ain’t ya? The newspapers made you out to be a hero, and my friends, they were just low-life white trash…like they had it comin’ or sump’n. Hell, you even made national news. CNN! I can’t believe that shit!”
“I wasn’t a hero.”
“Oh, but they was white trash, huh?”
“I never said that.”
“I’m tired of this bullshit. It’s over. I’m gonna keep my word. At the end of the day, I just might be some sorry white trash myself…but I keep my promises. Say your prayers Mr. Jake Crosby,” he said and then opened the truck door and stepped out. When the dome light illuminated the inside of the cab, Jake frantically looked for anything he could use. Then he saw the truck keys.
Moon Pie stood at the door as if he had just remembered something, and he smiled when he saw Jake looking at the truck keys. He reached in, turned off the ignition, and took the keys. Holding the keys and shaking them in one hand and Jake’s pistol in the other, he said, “Just in case you got any bright ideas, I think I’ll keep these.”
Moon Pie then flipped the headlights back on and shut the door. The swamp was still, except for the fog floating slowly over the water through the lights.
Jake’s adrenaline was flowing, so he was finally able to pull himself off the floor and onto the seat. He struggled until he could see clearly out the front windshield. He could smell the unique scent of the Tombigbee River, so he knew it was close. He saw Moon Pie wading out to a big pipe that had tree limbs and mud piled all around it. Clearly it had been that way for a while, because there were remains of various plants that had been growing on top of it. When Moon Pie bent to look down into the pipe, Jake could see a large bloodstain on his right side. The side of his shirt was slick with it.
Jake figured that Moon Pie would open the small passenger-side door to pull him out. This would be his only chance. Jake lay back across the seat and kicked the dome light as hard as he could. He then pushed himself to that side of the truck and pulled his knees into his chest. His legs were cocked like a spring trap. As soon as Moon Pie opened the door, he was going to kick the crap out of him, preferably where he was bleeding. The force would knock Moon Pie down, giving Jake a chance to get out of the truck and try to break the zip ties on the trailer hitch. He couldn’t run, but he could drive if he could get the keys.
Jake smiled at the thought of turning the tables on Moon Pie and drowning that evil son of a bitch. He had to kill Moon Pie—right now. Jake took a quick look to see what he was doing and saw him struggling in the deep mud surrounding the pipe. Then it occurred to him that Moon Pie’s plan was to stuff him into that drain. Jake said a silent prayer for himself and for Morgan, Katy, and his baby on the way.
Moon Pie was climbing the levee bank when an air-force jet passed overhead much lower than normal. Planes were such a common occurrence in the area that he barely glanced up to see it. He leaned forward to grab the brush guard on the front of the truck for purchase. Moon Pie’s wound burned, and he was beginning to feel a little weak. That son of a bitch shootin’ me’s reason enough to kill him…very slowly.
Moon Pie yelled, “Hey, pretty boy, did you know you shot me?”
Jake heard what Moon Pie said, but he didn’t remember it. All that he could recall was being attacked from behind and hit over the head.
“There’s my very own personal reason for killin’ you right there. So quit your bitchin’ and moanin’ about shit and beggin’ for your life. You’re as good as dead!”
When Moon Pie stood at the front of the truck, Jake could see the vapor of his labored breath in the cold night air. It was a brief moment of satisfaction, knowing that he had inflicted some pain on the psychopath.
“I’m glad I shot you…you worthless piece of shit!” Jake screamed back at him. “I only wish I’da killed ya!”
Moon Pie blew out a deep breath and forced a smile. “Oh, you’re gonna wish you’d killed me when you see what kind of slow death I got planned for you!” Reenergized with desire for personal vengeance, Moon Pie flung open the passenger door and then the small half door of the extended cab.
Instantly, Jake kicked Moon Pie with all his might. His boots hit Moon Pie square in the chest, knocking him back to the water’s edge, where he landed on his right side.
Struggling to get out of the truck, Jake wiggled quickly to the edge of the seat and tried to stand up. He had no balance, and when his feet wouldn’t move, his forward motion propelled him face-first down onto the levee. The steep sides caused him to roll to the bottom. He stopped with his face only a few inches from the cold water. Jake lay still, trying to catch his breath and cussing the zip ties that bound him so tightly.
Moon Pie fought to get up. Jake’s kick had knocked the breath out of him, and he had landed on his injured side. The pain was almost unbearable. When he finally got to his knees, he almost blacked out.
Jake tried using his arms to push himself into a seated position, but his muscles still weren’t as responsive as his mind. He was struggling to get out of an awkward position when suddenly Moon Pie grabbed his head and started screaming. Moon Pie dragged Jake by the hair two feet and dropped his head into the cold water. Jake’s mind raced, trying to find an out, but all he could do was hold what little was left of his breath. Moon Pie’s knees were in his back, pinning him to the muddy bottom. He was under the control of a merciless man.
After about forty seconds, Moon Pie slid off of Jake, grabbed him by the hair again, and pulled him out of the water. Jake gasped for air. His lungs burned, and he threw up cold swamp water.
“Not yet,” Moon Pie said, struggling also to breathe. “It ain’t gonna be that easy or that fast.”
Jake couldn’t speak. He lay there, struggling just to breathe. Moon Pie pulled the stun gun from his back pocket and zapped Jake’s exposed back for about three seconds. Jake flopped briefly and then passed out. That oughta give me enough time to stuff him in the pipe, Moon Pie thought.
When Moon Pie realized that he was wet from the waist down, he began to get cold. He grabbed Jake under the shoulders and started dragging him to the drainpipe. The deep mud made it very difficult to get Jake to the pipe. When Moon Pie finally got Jake on top of the circular beaver dam, he stopped to rest and lit a cigarette, inhaling a long drag. The nicotine calmed him a bit.
Moon Pie lit some thatch from the dam and dropped it into the pipe. It was relatively clean deep down to just about where it made its bend. He held the cigarette in his lips as he stuffed Jake’s feet into the pipe. He then grabbed him under the arms and strained to lift him to the edge of the metal pipe.
Moon Pie, his side burning from the strain, held Jake above the narrow abyss and in a singsong voice said, “One is for Johnny Lee, two is for Reese, and three is for me…a*shole!” Then he let go.
The grotesque sound Jake made when he hit the mud and debris at the bottom made Moon Pie double over laughing. He then started pulling mud and sticks from around the pipe, allowing water to start flowing in. The more he tore out, the more the water helped as the cold swamp sought to level itself through the pipe. Moon Pie stopped to watch the water flowing and realized that he was hurt much worse than he had originally thought. As badly as Moon Pie wanted to stay to hear Jake’s dying screams, he realized that he needed medical attention or he was going to die too.
Moon Pie leaned over the pipe and yelled, “See ya in hell, Jake Crosby.”
He chuckled as he sloshed toward the truck.