A Shadow of Death in The Woods (27 page)

Chapter 46

Woody II

Woody had been asleep when the phone rang. It had panicked him at first. He never got good phone calls at ten o’clock in the morning. He usually didn’t get up until close to noon. He shook himself awake and answered the phone. He was surprised. It was Jack. He hadn’t heard from Jack since he left town.

Woody had been following the disappearance of Jack’s son. It was enough to break your heart and it didn’t sound as if the police were on top of it at all. It had been several days and people from all over the city were looking for the boy but no clues so far. At least none that were made public. Woody owed Jack and was anxious to help but he hadn’t figured out a good way to do it. He couldn’t contact the family. They wouldn’t recognize his existence. Woody lived on the wrong side of the tracks so to speak.

Jack was in town with some of his friends from West Virginia where Jack had started a new life after his dimwit wife divorced him. Just thinking about that made Woody’s blood boil. His wife cut Jack off from his kids and forced him out of town. How could a woman do that to a guy like Jack? It was tragic. Woody knew Jack quite well and he knew for a fact that Jack never cheated on his wife in spite of the continual opportunities presented to him. He was a great looking guy and women went after him like bees after flowers.

Wide awake he listened to Jack. Jack briefed him on their efforts of last night. Amazingly they had come up with a witness who could describe a car with two suspicious guys in it a few days before Jack’s son disappeared. It was going to take a lot more than that to find Will but it might be a good start.

Jack told Woody that they had a sketch artist drawing pictures of the two guys sitting in the car. They were thinking of the next steps. They didn’t want to spook these two creeps so they wanted to be careful. They were looking for a quiet way to find them. Woody could help on that. A prospect that excited Woody to no end. Woody’s mind was going a mile a minute, thinking of possibilities.

Woody got on the horn and called his bar. First, he talked with Kid. Kid was a kid who worked in the bar, doing odd jobs and running errands. Woody told him to go to the grocery store and buy fresh greens for a salad and buy special hamburger meat. While at the grocery store he told him to pick up some olives (black and green), some celery and fresh carrots to put on the table. Woody had hamburger meat at the bar but he wanted a special, lean meat. It was expensive but this was for Jack. At the last minute he remembered to have Kid pick up a bag of fresh potatoes.

Next he talked with Sally, a waitress. He told her to stay after lunch. She usually left after the lunch crowd died down. She worked just the lunch hour and then at night, waiting tables. He gave her instructions to get a table cloth and then told her how to clean off a table in his office and put the tablecloth on it and to get five chairs. Woody would be busy running around but he wanted a chair for the discussions. He told her to get out good “silverware” and napkins. She wanted to know what the occasion was. Did somebody get born, married or died? He told her to get her butt moving or she might be the one dying. She laughed. She knew Woody and didn’t take him seriously. She was looking forward to the extra hours because she could use the money. And if these guys coming to lunch were so special, maybe the tips would be good.

After that he talked with the cook and gave him instructions on setting up to cook American fries or French fries, if he wanted. Woody didn’t care as long as the fries were freshly peeled potatoes cut in any shape that the cook wanted. They were going to deep fry them in fresh oil just the way Jack liked them. Woody wouldn’t do this for anyone else because it was a pain in the neck and cost money. Other people got the standard frozen French fries made in some damn factory. Maybe they were made in China with everything else. Woody wasn’t sure.

With all that under control, he called the bakery to see what he could get for dessert. He wanted something special. The baker was an acquaintance but not a good enough friend to get a favor. Woody was going to have to bribe her. She said she could get him a nice cake but it would cost extra to get it shortly after noon
.
He said no problem and put the cake on order.

He thought he had thought of everything. Time to have some breakfast and then head to the bar and see if anything had gotten done the way he specified. His people were good employees but it was always hard to communicate instructions. First, you had to word the instructions just right and then someone had to hear and understand the instructions. It usually didn’t go well although it was hard to imagine how someone could misinterpret hamburgers and fresh fries.

Woody always ate a good breakfast because sometimes it was his last meal before getting home late at night, depending on how busy the bar was and how much trouble there was. He ate slowly, thinking.

He was making a mental list of guys to contact with the sketches. He knew five guys right off the bat who would be good to talk to. He would take care of a couple personally. He knew how to approach the guys without giving them an opportunity to say no. Some of them Jack and his guys could talk to if they wanted. Woody understood that time was of the essence. They had to move fast and to do that they needed to split the work up. Tracking down some of these characters would take time.

That reminded Woody he needed to get his bartender to come in early so he could take over while Woody hit the bricks running these guys down. Woody made a quick call and arranged for the bartender to come in early.

Woody figured that Jack would have some ideas on people to contact, too. They would have to make a list right after lunch. Woody had pencils and paper in his office to make the lists. For occasions like this you didn’t use a pad of paper. You used sheets of paper on a hard surface so you didn’t leave an imprint behind. It was just a precaution.

Woody had an extra coffee and chatted with his wife briefly. He didn’t have much time but he wanted her to know what he was doing. He was going to be contacting some tough characters and it would be good for her to have a general idea of what was going on. At the same time he didn’t want to worry her. Once these guys found out that they were looking for a lost boy, they would fall all over themselves to help. It would take a person without a soul not to want to help. But some of the guys Woody was going to talk to may not have souls. He wasn’t sure.

Woody got in his car. It was a short drive to his bar but he had to stop at the bakery to pick up the cake after paying a king’s ransom. He probably could have gotten the cake free if he had told the baker what he was doing with the cake but he didn’t want to spread the word about Jack’s being in town. Jack had told him this was on the q.t. Bad enough he was going to have to tell a bunch of unsavory characters that Jack was in town looking for two guys sketched in a car. Word was going to spread but what can you do? You have to get the word out and hope these two guys don’t go to ground where no one can find them.

Woody picked the cake up without incident and drove to his bar. He went to the kitchen to check on the food and to his surprise everything was going great. He went into his office and the table was set and looked ready. It was a little crowded in his office but they could make do. Woody wanted them to be able to talk privately. The bar wouldn’t be crowded this time of day but the stuff they were going to be talking about was extremely sensitive.

Woody went out to the bar to talk with the bartender who had come in early. He gave him instructions although the guy didn’t need them. He just needed to know the hours. Woody usually didn’t drink this early but he decided this was a big occasion and his nerves were jumping like water on a hot griddle. He got out a shot of bourbon, which made him think of Jack. Jack usually drank bourbon or Manhattans made with Maker’s Mark bourbon but in Woody’s place he drank beer, Beck’s.

Woody was nursing his large shot when Jack and his pals came in. Woody was thrilled to see Jack and for the chance to help in the search for Jack’s son.

Jack made the introductions.

Woody took a good look at the three guys with Jack. The one called Bob looked like a guy used to being in charge. He would bet that Bob had a military background of some kind. The short guy, built like a bulldozer, could look very friendly or menacing, depending on whether he smiled or not. Woody would bet a lot of money that the short guy was a killer. He had that look about him. The third guy, Paul, was tall and quiet. Woody pegged him for a thinker and planner. It was an interesting and impressive group of men. Woody suddenly was very glad that he wasn’t one of the guys they were hunting down. It gave him the shivers thinking about it and Woody was no pansy.

Woody and Jack had a lot of catching up to do but that was going to have to wait for another day. Right now they had to get lunch and then get on with the hunt for the two guys in the car. Woody took them into his office for a private lunch.

Lunch went well. Woody thought that the food was good. It was better than anything that he usually served but his place was a bar first and a restaurant second. Sally and the cook outdid themselves. Woody would have to reward them later.

After lunch Jack got out the sketches. Woody studied them but decided he had never seen the two men before. The sketches were good. You couldn’t see the driver so well but that was not the fault of the sketches. The driver just never looked at the witness.

He got out a sheet of paper and started making a list of people to contact. Jack said he wanted to talk with Dragon. That was all right with Woody. Woody never liked Dragon much. To tell the truth Woody was a little afraid of Dragon. He hated to admit it but it was the truth. Dragon was a guy you just didn’t mess around with. Dragon was a good contact though. Dragon was connected to what underworld there was here and he could keep his mouth shut. Jack had ridden a lot with Dragon so they could talk.

Woody took five names and Jack took The Dragon and a few others. It would take them all afternoon and that evening and maybe more to run everybody down.

Jack suggested that Bob, Mike and Paul could go back to West Virginia. Bob nixed this idea. He said that they would wait in the bar for a while and then go back to the motel. Woody had his car and we had two rental cars so this plan would work. We would regroup that night, probably late at night. Woody drove Jack to the motel to pick up the other car.

Jack was off to see Dragon. Some people said The Dragon.

Chapter 47

The Dragon

The Dragon was in his garage doing what he liked to do best. Nothing. He sat in an old chair smoking a fatty. His feet were on an upended case of beer. The Dragon had all of his necessities in life: a place to crash, a fatty, beer and food. He had an old lady and she did the cooking. Yeah, she did the cooking.

The Dragon had an extensive vocabulary. Lots of adjectives. Unfortunately (for society) most of his adjectives were four-letter words. The one starting with an “f” was the most used. Sometimes four or five times in a sentence. The Dragon didn’t care. The Dragon was prepared to tell society where they could stick their version of the American language. Who were they to dictate what adjectives The Dragon could or could not use? He didn’t give a tinker’s damn. Yeah, a tinker’s damn.

His garage faced the street with big doors to bring in vehicles and an office with a small door. Not much work went on in the office. Well, actually, not much work went on in the garage either. The garage was full of old motorcycle engines, motorcycle frames, wheels, tires and all kinds of parts. There was even most of a car in the garage. Life was too short for work. The Dragon worked just enough to supply himself with a place to live, food and the basics of life like joints and beer and, of course, his bike.

The bike didn’t cost much because he built it himself. A lot of the parts had been “donated.” Yeah, donated.

The Dragon was enjoying his wacky weed when he heard someone come in the front. He slunk down behind a pile of stuff so the guy couldn’t see him. The Dragon took a good look at the intruder, wondering if he should shoot the guy or just beat the crap out of him. Then The Dragon recognized the guy. It was Jack. He couldn’t believe it. He thought Jack had left town forever and ever. Must be “ever” was shorter than it used to be. The Dragon had a hazy memory of Jack coming in the spring to pick up his motorcycle and take it to West Virginia. The wacky weed smoke made a lot of things hazy in the garage.

Jack was easy to spot. He was a giant. The Dragon liked Jack. He had helped Jack build a motorcycle to fit his long legs and long arms.

The Dragon raised himself up and said hi. He called Jack over to where he was sitting. He offered Jack some wacky weed but Jack always turned him down. He had never known Jack to smoke wild stuff or take illegal drugs. Jack was a borderline citizen. He walked both sides of the street. The trouble with guys who walked both sides of the street was that you never were sure which side they were on. They were mostly in the middle of the street. It was hard to survive in the middle of the street. Not many people could survive that but Jack did well at it. Still, The Dragon knew that Jack was neither accepted as a solid citizen nor as a solid hardcore biker. Poor guy was in no man’s land. The Dragon liked and trusted Jack. And that was unusual. The Dragon didn’t trust many people outside the hardcore biker world. Yeah, the biker world.

The Dragon offered him a beer but Jack said he had to keep sober because he had things to do.

The Dragon wondered what Jack was up to so he asked him, “Dude, what’s up?” That was the way The Dragon handled things. Right to the point. Yeah, right to the point. He took another toke on his weed. Yeah, toke on his weed.

Jack told him about his missing son. The Dragon knew about that. He didn’t read the papers or watch the news on the TV because it was all BS but he kept up with the word on the streets. The Dragon had heard about the missing boy and he had also heard other rumors but nothing definite. The world was going to Hell if a little boy couldn’t walk safely home from school without disappearing.

Most people didn’t know it but bikers were family people; they just were part of a different socioeconomic system. They stuck to their families and they stuck with their biker friends. It was a tight group. Everyone The Dragon knew was upset about the missing boy. The rumor was that it was a kidnapping. Before it was suspected a kidnapping, most of the bikers had participated in the search for the boy. Within hours rumors were going around in the biker circles it was a kidnapping. As usual the police were the last to get onto this idea. Yeah, onto this idea.

The Dragon had been getting high but all this talk about the missing boy was bringing him down. That was the problem with the world. Some jerk kidnaps a little boy and ruins The Dragon’s smoke. The Dragon took another toke but it wasn’t helping. It made The Dragon mad. If The Dragon got hold of the creep who kidnapped the boy, he would beat him to death. Yeah, beat him to death. The Dragon’s pleasure, no charge. The Dragon would waive his usual fee. Yeah, waive his usual fee.

He listened to Jack. Normally, The Dragon wouldn’t get involved with what he knew Jack wanted. In spite of similar interests and their riding together, they were really of different worlds. It was best if their worlds were separate. You didn’t want the two worlds colliding. Nothing good ever came of such a collision. Bang. Crash. Lots of damage. Yeah, lots of damage.

But you couldn’t ignore a man who was looking for his son. The Dragon took a copy of the sketches and studied them. He was sure it wasn’t anyone he knew personally but he had a suspicion who it might be. The questions though were did one of his friends know more and should he ask them? Normally this wasn’t done. But then normally a little boy wasn’t kidnapped.

The Dragon mulled it over and talked with Jack about bits of nothing. He got caught up on what Jack had been doing. It sounded like Jack was doing well as a citizen but he hadn’t been riding as much. That was a shame. Lots of good roads in West Virginia as long as you were alert for that damn gravel kicked in the road on right-hand turns. Coal truck wheels tended to drop off the pavement on the right and kick gravel into the right-hand drive lane. They didn’t kick gravel in on the left turns because the trucks cut to the inside of the turn and cut across the opposite lane. Of course that gave you the other problem; a coal truck might run over you. Life is uncertain. Yeah, life was uncertain.

The Dragon kept thinking on what to do. He finally decided that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t do all he could to help. He also calculated that all of the bikers would feel the same way. He also knew that time was important. This needed to be done right now. The Dragon was going to have to make some calls and some visits. So much for getting high. If he got hold of the guy responsible for wrecking his high, he was going to beat the crap out of him. Yeah, beat the crap him. The bastard. The Dragon applied several more adjectives but it didn’t help.

The Dragon turned to Jack and said, “Yeah, man I’ll look into it and get back to you.”

Jack visited his other contacts but it was a bust. Everyone wanted to help but they had nothing real to offer. It was all hanging on Woody and The Dragon.

He could depend on Woody but Jack wasn’t as sure about The Dragon. The Dragon danced to his own music but when it came to children everyone, including or maybe especially the bikers, would do anything to help. Jack thought that in this case he could trust The Dragon.

Plus Jack and The Dragon had a good background together. The Dragon had helped Jack build his motorcycle. It was a lot of fun and the only way for Jack to get a bike to fit his freakish body. The only problem was that The Dragon was often whacked out on wacky weed. You had to pick the times to work with The Dragon. If he was sober, he was a great mechanic. A very creative man, too.

Jack was sure that The Dragon would contact people but he would never disclose who his contacts were. That was okay. Jack didn’t want to get involved any deeper than The Dragon. Jack had ridden with a lot of The Dragon’s buds but that was different from dealing directly with them. Jack wouldn’t even know how to talk with the other bikers to get results. He had to depend on The Dragon.

Jack drove back to the motel. He wasn’t sure if they were making progress or not. He pulled into the parking lot. The lot was beginning to fill up for the night. Mostly business people this time of year.

Back in the room he found Bob, Mike and Paul, playing cards. Jack didn’t like the thought of sitting around waiting. The other guys felt more sanguine about it. Jack thought they had previous experiences in situations like this. Bob’s view was that in a situation like this the next twenty-four hours were critical. They would get a hit and more information or it would go dead. Meanwhile, without obsessing on it, they should think about what to do if they got no hit and what to do if they got a hit.

It sounded logical but Jack had no idea what to think. As far as Jack was concerned they had taken their best shot. If they got no hit, then they were stumped. If they got a hit, it would depend on the nature of the tip on what they would do. He thought they had to just wait. Jack thought that Bob thought the same thing and was only trying to give Jack something to do by telling him to think since Jack wasn’t playing cards.

While they played cards, they bandied ideas back and forth. Jack had nothing to contribute.

He flopped on a bed. A bed that was too short for him. Usually Jack got a king-sized bed and slept corner to corner. You could get two beds and put them together but then you had a crack in your bed. It wasn’t easy being a freak of nature. Jack wondered how really tall people managed.

It was still early. Plenty of time to worry. Jack knew how to do that. Everyone knew the importance of timing so they could get a call anytime of day. They used this as an opportunity to charge their phones and be ready.

Waiting was one of the hardest jobs in life; at least it was for Jack.

Jack thought about the irony of the situation. About nine months before his wife had divorced him and cut off all contact between Jack and the children. Now he was engaged in trying to find his kidnapped son. Legally Jack had to stay at least one hundred yards from his son.

Jack's ex-family knew nothing about their search efforts. The other Officers had been very clear with Jack. He was not to let his ex-family suspect what they were doing because their efforts might run outside the law.