G'Day USA (20 page)

‘
We’re getting nowhere. I’ve got to go. I’ve talked too long and stayed in the same place too long. I appreciate your friendship, but wish you believed in me a bit more. Good-bye Jacob.’

I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I was hungry and thirsty. I needed to go out in the open again, something I really didn’t want to do. The sun beat on the small section of wall warming me up. My eyes were heavy. I had almost no sleep last night and it was catching up to me. So was the stress.

The 10% battery life warning popped up on my screen. Kent called back as I was turning it off.

‘
Did you get the witness’s name?’

‘
Which one? There are two now. A second person has come forward saying they saw you there.’

Oh, crap. ‘I wasn’t. Seriously. Unless I’m sleep walking and driving and killing, and that’s unprecedented.’

‘
Good defense, though.’

‘
Jesus, Kent. I didn’t do it. I did not do it. Don’t tell me you believe the cops too?’

‘
Well, Charlie and I were talking and you’ve got a perfect motive for it. God knows there are enough people who hated the guy, but yours was a special kind of hate.’

‘
I didn’t hate him. I despised him. I loathed him. And maybe I felt a tiny bit sorry for him being such a loser, but hate is a word I don’t use often.’

‘
I hated him. That broken foot trick really fucked me up, so I completely understand if you did it. And if there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know.’

‘
I gotta go, Kent. You’re pissing me off right now, sorry. Can’t talk anymore. They’re going to find me.’

‘“
They”? Who?’

‘
I’m being triangulated. Talked to Charlie a few minutes ago and he said the cops have a warrant to triangulate me. Could be happening right now, so I’ve got to shut off my phone. Battery is almost dead anyway.’

‘
Get one of those battery life extenders. Takes AAA batteries and plugs into the charging socket on the bottom. Works a treat. And Charlie can do that?’

‘
The techs at his company can. Don’t know how he does it. And I don’t care. I have to hang up.’

And I did.

The battery extender was a good idea. And I needed to find a place where I could get a pre-pay phone.

And my phone rang again.

‘
Jesus, Kent. What now?’

‘
You didn’t give me a chance to finish. There’s more evidence. Against you.’

‘
What? What possible evidence could be worse than what they have now?’

‘
Stevie tells me there was evidence under Sweeney’s fingernails. Skin tissue matching yours under his nails.’

‘
Oh now that’s completely impossible. I haven’t seen him in over a year.’

‘
Hey, I’m just telling you what Stevie told me, and she’s reading it from the case file.’

I shook my head and stood. ‘That makes absolutely no sense. Now I really do have to go. Don’t call me again, okay? I’ll call you if I need anything.’

And I hung up and turned off the phone before it rang again.

When I was a kid, playing hide-and-seek with my friends, I almost always won by doubling back and hiding in places they already looked. It would probably work again. They triangulated me to the beach and I wasn’t there when they looked, so I’d head back there. There were a dozen different mobile phone shops along the beach, too. One of them would have this battery life extender Kent talked about, surely.

I walked down 24th toward the beach with a combination of confidence and caution. Not an easy trick.

But I think I pulled it off. I wasn’t catching any untoward attention. The smell of sausages and sauerkraut started an autonomous stomach growl and salivation. I had to eat, right?

‘
Could I get a Polish sausage with mustard and hot sauce? And a diet cola.’ I gave the guy a twenty, took the change and my food and made my way to the wall to sit. Again.

And I had a visitor in less than one bite.

Danny leaned in and whispered. ‘Ellie. What in the fuck are you doing here? Are you crazy?’

‘
Like a fox. The cops have been by here, right?’

‘
Yeah.’ He laughed. ‘I told them my name was Gerald Fitzpatrick. And you were in Oxnard. I don’t think they believed me.’

‘
You certainly look like a Fitzpatrick.’

‘
I don’t think they believed you went to Oxnard.’

I smiled and leaned in close. ‘So maybe that’s where I should go.’

He nodded and cocked an eyebrow. ‘Hang on here a sec.’

He ran back to the juggling set up and grabbed something out of his kit bag and ran back. He dropped the something - a small Black Lab puppy - in my lap. ‘Say hi to Damien.’

The dog stood on my lap with his back legs and tried to crawl up my front as I held the bunned sausage out of his reach. ‘Hi Damien. Piss off. Danny, get this mutt off my lap. I’m trying to eat here.’

He scooped the puppy and held him in his lap, scratching him behind his left ear. ‘Mutt? Hell no. No mutt. This is a beautiful purebred dog. Aren’t you, Damien?’

‘
Fine. I’ll admit he’s a beautiful dog. Just keep him away from my food or his life is in danger.’

‘
You just came back for the sausage? It’s not that good.’

‘
I need a couple of things for my phone. And maybe you can help me out.’

‘
Anything I can do, you know that.’

I gave him $100. ‘Can you get me one of those battery extender things for an iPhone, and enough batteries to fill it? And I need a pre-pay phone.’

He pocketed the money and handed me Damien. ‘Deal.’

He strode off with purpose while Damien fought for my food. ‘I say you’re a mutt with poor manners and no finesse.’ I leaned down as I scolded him and he licked the end of my nose. ‘Great. A cute, lovable mutt. Don’t get any ideas. This is mine.’ It didn’t take long before I relented, sharing a piece with him and tearing off a piece for me.

I was down to a nubbin and a piece of bun when Danny came back with a smile and a plastic bag. ‘You made friends?’

‘
Damien and I are best of buddies, as long as I have food to share with him. He’s going to be way too big for your act, he keeps eating this way.’

‘
Oh, what have you fed the poor pup? He’s going to be farting all day.’

I laughed. A nice change of pace. ‘Any luck?’

He pulled a box out of the bag with some flourish. ‘Battery extender. Adds about ten hours to the life of your phone. Batteries are in the bag.’

‘
Excellent.’ I rubbed my hands on my pant legs. ‘Pre-pay?’

He smiled and pulled a small box out of the bag. ‘Pre-loaded with about $40 credit. Am I good, or what?’

‘
Double-excellent. You were great, Danny. I’ll be seeing you later.’

‘
Next time I’m in Oxnard I’ll look you up.’

I grinned and pecked him on the cheek. ‘Take your fucking dog off my lap, Danny, before I steal it.’

He scooped Damien. ‘Make sure the battery thing works, okay? Hate for you to be out in the wild and find out when you go to use it it’s a piece of shit.’

‘
Good point.’ I took the cigarette pack sized battery pack out of the box and populated it with the AAA batteries. I plugged the cable in the base of my iPhone and turned it on. The battery showed it was charging and the display on the battery pack read 99%.

‘
Looks good, Danny. Thanks.’ A text message came through from a three digit number. I showed the phone to Danny. ‘You ever see a message from a number like this?’

‘
I haven’t had a phone in three years. I’ve got no idea what it is.’

I opened the message and read:

“
You need to turn yourself in now. You may be in danger yourself. If you’ve got a shred of sense, go to your nearest police station and turn yourself in.”

Chapter Eighteen

Cathy pushed her empty plate back. ‘As usual. Delicious. You’re trying to fatten me up.’

Bernie, her long time boyfriend, smiled and looked up from the paper. ‘Got to get you ready to be a mommy.’

‘
Not for a while yet. And when it happens I’ll be getting fat enough all on my own. What are you reading?’

‘
There’s a thing here about the Sweeney case. The prosecution are laying out all their evidence. I don’t know what their deal is, but it looks bad for your friend.’

‘
Let me see.’ Cathy grabbed the paper and pulled it across the table. ‘What are they saying about my Ellie?’

She read for a couple of minutes, then swore.

‘
What did I tell you?’ Bernie sipped at his glass of white. ‘Not good.’

T
he Killer giggled. He had her on the ropes. And he knew how to find her when he needed to. ‘You can run, but you can’t hide. I am the cat and you are the mouse.’ He looked at his watch. He was a little bit behind schedule.

The sun was low on the Pacific. He remembered days when he played in the ocean, when the only concern in his life was whether or not the waves would be good. He grit his teeth and inhaled through his nose. But it would be right again. He had to get the problems out of his life. That’s what he was told. Remove the problems from his life and his life would return to whole. That’s what he was told.

Sweeney, by far the largest problem. The shit Sweeney did to him was beyond bad. It made his stomach turn, thinking of that conflict.

And he just took it.

No more.

Ellie was complicit and she had to be next. The fun and games were just starting with her. They started with her years ago, but he just realized it in the last day or so.

He rubbed his eyes. He’d lost count of the hours he’d gone without sleep. ‘But it doesn’t fucking matter.’ He popped a pill and chewed down hard, crushing it between molars. He worked up some saliva and swallowed the paste.

He looked at the Altoids case from whence that pill came. There were enough left.

He blinked hard and scrubbed his face and looked out over the Pacific. The sun was low on the horizon, bathing the beach-goers in a golden suffused light. ‘The magic hour. My ass.’ He looked around at the skaters and skateboarders, the muscle-heads and the buskers. All of them sunny and sweaty and happy. ‘Fuck them. Fuck them all.’

A skater rolled past in a ponytail and white bikini top and cut-off jeans and yelled back, ‘Lighten up, man.’

His nostrils flared and he started to stand then checked himself. ‘Priorities. Happy, happy. Joy-fucking-joy.’

The same shabby, over-dressed homeless slag approached him. ‘Are you all right?’

‘
Of course not. Why, do I look all right? Fuck off and leave me alone.’

She looked at him, narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak.

‘
I said fuck off so fuck yourself right off before I add you to the list you scabby piece of shit.’

She shook head and muttered something under her breath and went back to patrolling the beach for bottles and lost valuables.

A few skaters passing him at the time turned and watched the interaction.

‘
You all can fuck off.’ He stood and stared after them and forced himself to remember what he was doing on the beach. He took a deep breath and shook his head. ‘Ah, fuck.’ He looked around. She wasn’t there. Not obviously anyway. He knew for a fact she was around here not long ago. He needed to flush her out.

C
athy closed the paper. ‘No way. She didn’t do it.’

‘
Admittedly, you’re biased.’

‘
No, this isn’t just a feeling. I know she didn’t do it. No possible way.’

Bernie pointed at the paper with his glass of wine. ‘You can read, right? Her gun, her hair, a witness placing her at the scene.’

Cathy nodded. ‘And the earring, described as a - oh where is it.’ She opened the paper and scanned for the paragraph. ‘Here it is.
“...a large hoop earring with feathers hanging from the bottom of the hoop.”
’ She looked up at her boyfriend and smiled. ‘Let’s hope her phone is turned on.’

Ellie picked up on the first ring. ‘Cathy? I can’t really talk. I’m on a bus to Oxnard.’

Cathy laughed. ‘I can hear gulls behind you. I can prove you didn’t do it.’

‘
How?’

‘
The earring they found at the scene of the crime. Did you ever hear which one was planted there?’ Cathy was leaning forward, elbows on her knees, talking low.

‘
Just that it was one of mine.’

‘
The big hoop with the dangly feathers.’

‘
Really?’

‘
The ones you hate.’

‘
Oh, Cathy, I wouldn’t say I
hated
them.’

‘
You hated them. You wore them the day I gave them to you and you never wore them again. A girl notices things like that.’

‘
I’m not sure how much it can help, but thanks.’