The man in the car eyed them suspiciously.
“Where are you headin?” he asked just so he could look at Anna for a little while longer.
“The plan was to get to Mexico,”
“Oh really?” the man was even more suspicious now. He eyed them up again and saw their lack of belongings and their exhausted demeanour. “Hmmmm…. How old are you?”
“19,” smiled Anna.
“And you?” the man pointed to Carl.
“32,”
And again the man behind the wheel grew even more suspicious.
“Well… I can’t say Jesus would approve of your public cavorting and your delinquent ways. But I’ll drop you a little closer – I’m not taking you to no damn Mexican town. Get yourselves in the back there,”
“Thank you so much!” Anna was delirious with joy.
As they climbed into the back of the car they instantly felt the pain being relieved from their limbs.
“Urgh… we’ve been walking for hours,”
“You weren’t planning on walking to Mexico were you?”
“Maybe,” Carl said dryly.
“Well I’m goin’ as far as Austin, Texas. I can drop you there,”
“That is so kind of you. Really, just so kind,” Anna gripped the man’s shoulder.
“Any chance to be a Good Samaritan,” the man smiled in the rear view mirror at Anna. “I’m Gerald by the way,”
“Please to meet you Gerald,” mumbled Carl before he leaned back and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 14
Detective Callahan felt the acid reflux rise within him as he sat at his desk. Reaching into the top drawer he pulled out an almost empty bottle of Pepto-Bismol and drank from it thirstily.
“Urgh….” he rested his head in his hands and sighed sadly.
This was the second time he had been asked to do dirty work for the mob and just like the first time it scared the hell out of him. He knew they were using him for the type of dirty work he was supposed to prevent, but what could he do? If he said no they’d kill him, but if he said yes and his chief found out he’d be fired and he’d probably lose his pension too. The thought of explaining that to his wife Cathy was painful and he could hear her nagging voice already. It made the acid reflux return and he finished off the bottle.
All he had on this Carl Reiner was what Jerry had told him. He was an ex-Navy Seal and he was in Chicago somewhere. He ran his name and saw that he had one conviction a couple years back, a DUI. It was his only offence and it was just after he’d been discharged. Since then it looked as though he’d been keeping his nose clean… well not really, if he was wanted by the Mob. The licence plate for the vehicle he was in at the time of arrest was in the file and he ran that too. A result popped up quicker than he thought. He grabbed his phone and called Jerry back.
“Hey. I got somethin’,” he was eager to finish this whole thing.
“Gimme it,”
“His SUV was found on the edge of St Louis two days ago,”
“St Louis? Was he there?”
“Nope it was just the vehicle. And it was burnt to a crisp. I mean destroyed,”
“I see….” Jerry was in deep thought. “And a girl?”
“There were no bodies in the vehicle. It was really just the husk left,”
“Can you gimme the exact location?”
“Yuh… Two seconds,” there was a ruffling noise on the line as Callahan searched through the file. “It was really in the ass end of nowhere pal. I mean two point five miles northwest of a town called Brunton on Gibson Rd. Nothin’ but fields everywhere,”
“Hmmmm….” Jerry’s mind went blank. “I wonder where the fuck they went,”
“Well if you don’t mind me havin’ a say. I have a brother in law in St Louis. Drove down there plenty of times. If he’s not hidin’ in a field, which I suppose he’s not, then he’s probably wondered into one of those quaint motels on the edge of town,”
“Are there many near where the car was found?” Jerry asked desperately, his excitement was palpable.
“Hang on,” frantic typing sounded. “Yuh… well four miles away. A little place called Evergreen Motel,”
“Thanks Callahan. I owe you one!” and Jerry hung up abruptly.
Suddenly a heavy feeling swept through the detective as he became riddled with guilt. Something told him this Carl was a good guy. A military boy that got himself in with the wrong crowd and he wished he’d never said anything. But what could he have done? He reached into the top drawer again and pulled out a hip flask. He sipped from it gingerly and felt the burn as the liquor washed down his gullet. As soon as the winter was up he was going on holiday.
~