Joe Victim: A Thriller

“Then why are you here?”


I don’t answer him. I walk past him and Melissa points the gun at him and he doesn’t say anything, and then she smiles at him and hits him on the head about the same place she hit The Sally on her head. He goes down about the same way, and makes the same kind of pile on the floor, only his pile doesn’t take up as much room as Sally’s pile.

Then my mom comes back into the church before we can go out after her. The door closes behind her. She sees the priest on the floor first, and she says “Oh my,” before she sees Melissa and then me. “Joe,” she says, and she steps over the priest and embraces me. “I’m so glad you came! But you’re late,” she says, and she pulls back from me and gives me a slap on the face, nothing too hard, but enough to show her disappointment. “And who is this?” she asks.

“This is my girlfriend.”

“No, no,” she says, “this isn’t your girlfriend. I’ve met your girlfriend. What’s going on here, Joe?”

“Joe’s here to get the money given to him last night,” Melissa says, and her voice is cold, her voice has a Don’t fuck with me quality that my mom doesn’t seem to hear.

My mom gives a small laugh, and a small nod. “That was so wonderful,” she says, “and I can’t believe you did that for us.”

“Did what?” I ask, but I’m afraid I already know.

“The money,” she says. “It’s a wonderful wedding present. I never, ever thought I’d fly first class anywhere. I could never have afforded it. And I never thought I’d go to Paris! Paris!” she says, then shakes her head. “All because of you. It’s going to be a wonderful trip,” she says, but I don’t see how it can be, not with her in a body bag and Walt in a body bag too, because that’s how they’re going to be making their next trip.

“You spent it all?” I ask.

“No, no, of course not,” she says. “Don’t be so stupid. What’s wrong with him?” she asks, looking down at the priest.

“He’s tired,” Melissa says.

“He looks it,” Mom says. “No, no, we still have a few thousand dollars left for spending money.”

“So you spent most of it,” I say.

“Most of it, yes. It was so generous of you. Will you come to the airport to see us off? Or do you have to go back to jail now?”

“So you spent most of it,” I say, and I realize I’ve just said it, but then I say it again. “So you spent most of it.”

“What’s wrong with you, Joe? You’re like a broken record. I already told you we have some left.”

“We need to go,” Melissa says.

“Who are you again?” my mom asks. “Have we met?”

“Come on, Joe,” Melissa says, and she tugs at my sleeve. “We should never have come here.”

We step around the unconscious priest and my mom stares at us with an angry look on her face, as if spending all of my money has really annoyed her. “Good-bye, Mom,” I say, knowing this will be the last time I will ever see her. I should feel relieved by that, but strangely I don’t. No matter what, I’m going to miss her.

We step outside. Walt is out there talking to a couple the same age as him, and then he spots me and starts to come in my direction, but whatever he has to say I don’t really want to hear. We’re halfway down the stairs when Detective Inspector Schroder pulls into the parking lot.





Chapter Eighty


Driving is a bitch, but thankfully the car is an automatic, which makes it possible. Hutton isn’t taking his calls. When Schroder calls him, it rings a few times and then switches over to voicemail. He’s not sure whether the detective is busy, or whether he’s deliberately dodging him. He has a pretty good idea which it is.

He knows Hutton’s number from memory, but not any of the others, and because the screen on his cell phone is busted he can’t look anybody else up. He could call the police emergency number and ask to be put through to Stevens, but he knows Stevens would yell at him and hang up without hearing what he has to say. He drives to the church, not expecting to find Joe there, but ready to call the emergency number if he does. If it leads nowhere, then he’ll drive to the hospital.

He’s not expecting to see Joe standing on the steps of the church when he pulls into the parking lot. In fact he has to do a double take, and even then he’s not sure because Joe is wearing a hat, but the woman behind him is definitely the same woman from the prison, the same woman who shot Jack, the same woman who blew up Raphael and tried to blow him up too.