Settling Old Scores: BWWM Second Chance Romance (24 page)

He
was off down the alley that formed the back border of the lot. He
made a sharp left turn into the bisecting alley about half a block
down, betting that the following car hadn't turned around and
followed yet. Two buildings down, there was a narrow space between
buildings that Kevin knew from his paperboy days. You could just make
it between the two buildings, with the bike. It was a short cut Kevin
had used more than a 1000 times over the years. It seemed to be a
tighter fit than it had been in those days but he was through it in a
matter of seconds. He came back out by the old, now abandoned
appliance store. He left the bike lying on the sidewalk by the curb.

Kevin
doubled back on foot to the front of the liquor store. He walked into
the liquor store and loitered there for about five minutes. He slowly
worked his way through the aisles past the coolers in the back. Then,
he slipped into the back room of the store and out the back door to
the back parking area. Kevin took cover to watch his truck from
behind a parked delivery van in the back. It appeared that his tail
was off looking for him. Kevin waited and debated. He had just about
decided to go to his truck and head off when the tail car suddenly
showed up in the lot again.

The
driver pulled up next to the pickup. His front end was about even
with Kevin's driver side door. He hopped out of the car leaving it
idling. He had a slim jim in his hand and went to work opening up
Kevin's door. Kevin figured it was time to make his move. He pulled
the hat into its mask configuration and ran rapidly up to the man
working the slim jim. Kevin whipped a roundhouse swing with the
thumper onto the man’s locked knee. Kevin knew to never let up
after one blow. He was on his man with the thumper until he went
down. Kevin thumped him some more as he covered his head to protect
himself from the reign of blows coming down on him. Kevin suddenly
dropped onto the man and put the thumper crosswise across his neck
and started to choke the man. He ordered the man not to move.

The
man froze with a look of horror. Kevin looked him in the eye, his
eyes black with rage. He held the position for about two seconds.
Then he slowly got off the man, cocked back his arm with the thumper
in it and demanded the man's wallet. Kevin took the wallet without
even looking at it and tossed it in on the seat of his truck through
the now opened driver's side door. He took the screwdriver out and
punched holes in the idling car's radiator. Then he got in the truck
and drove off rapidly.

Kevin
drove to a quiet residential area, pulled over for a second and went
through the wallet. The wallet belonged to Andre McCann, age 21.
Kevin figured him to be one of Sam or Donny's kids. They sent a boy
to do a man's job, Kevin smiled to himself as he looked through the
rest of the wallet. Kevin tossed the wallet back on the seat of his
pickup.

He
drove back downtown to the county hospital, parked and sauntered down
to the entrance to the emergency ward. This time, he left the thumper
and screwdriver in the truck and packed his unloaded .357. When an
ambulance came in, Kevin skipped across the street and followed the
gurney in from a short distance. The emergency area was such a
chaotic place that nobody paid much attention to Kevin. He took a
seat in a waiting area and noted which set of curtains Andre was
positioned behind.

After
about five minutes, the ER doctor and a nurse went in to look at him.
They came out shortly after that. Kevin heard them talking about
getting him some X-rays. Figuring that he had a little time, Kevin
waited until nobody seemed to be paying attention and slipped back
behind the curtained exam space where Andre was. He pulled down his
mask. Then he loomed over Andre and stuck the gun in his mouth. He
cocked it onto an empty chamber. "I came to return the wallet
you lost,” he said with an evil grin. Andre's face was puffy
and he had bruises all over. A wild eyed look of terror came over the
young man.

"If
I ever see you again, you are in deep shit. I know where you live, I
know who you are, and I know where you work. Don't go to the cops.
Stay out of your dad or uncle's business, or I will find you. Then
Kevin pulled the trigger on the gun. It made a big click. Kevin swore
then backed away from the gurney. He stuffed the gun in his waistband
and pulled his mask up into the stocking hat position. With that
parting admonition, Kevin was gone. Andre never noticed the gun
wasn't loaded.

Kevin
went back up to the liquor store. He cruised in with an alley
approach. The car was still sitting there. In the interest of total
intimidation, he stopped and quickly broke all the windows of the
car. Then, he drove to the address on Andre's wallet and quickly
doused the garage in the back with gasoline and set it afire.

Kevin
thought of it as giving Sam or Donny a little taste of street
justice. He slowly idled down the alley away from the garage which
would soon be flaming wildly. When he got further away, he donated
the empty gas can to a Salvation Army drop box. Then, he drove to
Pat's house and put the bike in her garage and drove home.

Kevin
hadn't been back in his the apartment long before the phone rang. It
was Perkins. Kevin just played stupid. He didn't know anything about
anything. He had been sitting in the apartment studying since he got
home from seeing Perkins, he said. Perkins asked him if he knew Andre
McCann. Kevin said he never heard of him. Then, Perkins told him he
had been assaulted in a liquor store parking lot in the old
neighborhood and brought in by ambulance to the county hospital. He
had been treated for a broken collarbone, broke in two places. He had
soiled himself at some point and wasn't cooperating with the police.

His
car had been towed to the impound lot and was totaled out. Someone
had punched holes in the radiator while it was running and the engine
had overheated and seized up. Then Perkins told Kevin that someone
had set fire to Donny McCann's garage.

Kevin
told Perkins he didn't know anything about any of it. He pointed out
that these guys had plenty of enemies and now that it looked like
they were going away for a long time, their enemies were probably
coming out of the woodwork. By the time Kevin got done talking to
Perkins, he had him pointed in several different directions. Perkins
as much as admitted that he did not have a witness and had no
description of anyone they could finger for the crimes committed.
After Kevin hung up, he reflected on what he had done.

35.
Donny Dies

Once
Kevin got into his role, he couldn't easily shake it. He wondered if
he had done enough and decided he hadn't. He made some more plans.
That evening, Kevin did a little shopping. Later, he parked a few
blocks away and walked to McCann's strip joint
Somewhere
Else.
He
had his .357 with him and a backpack full of some tools and goodies.
The building was a big old stand-alone surrounded by parking in all
directions. He hid behind a dumpster next to the building and watched
the
girls
leave. The closer was with them carrying the money bags from the
night's earnings. He made sure the girls got to their cars okay and
then drove off himself.
Right
after it closed, Kevin opened the back entrance door to the place
with a screwdriver and pry bar. He marveled that it wasn't alarmed
even though they followed the time honored tradition of emptying the
till every night.

Once
inside, he moved to the basement and disconnected the gas line to the
furnace. The gas started to pour out and fill the basement. Then,
Kevin went to the main floor and lit a couple of small propane
plumber's torches he had brought with him in the backpack. He headed
out after that and closed the door behind him. The next morning,
Kevin awoke and turned on the news to see that the place had suffered
a gas explosion and fire had gutted the building. They knew it was
caused by a gas leak. Nobody was saying anything about arson, yet.

The
story detailed who the owners were and that they were currently being
held in the county jail. The story ran with the opening line of "More
bad news for two local businessmen currently being held in the county
jail." Kevin liked the idea of them waking up to hear that their
business was a total loss. In the course of two days, so much had
happened to these two that they must have been going crazy trying to
figure out who was after them. The trouble was that they had crossed
so many people over the years. The list of people seeking retribution
was simply too big to easily sift through. Then there were the people
they had crossed that they didn't even know they had crossed, Kevin
included.

Kevin
spent most of the day brutally going through his belongings and
throwing things out. He loaded the pickup several times with
furniture and stuff that he carted to the local thrift shop that took
donations. By the end of the day, he had emptied out the apartment
except for the few things he would take with him to store someplace
down in Hilton Head.

Finally,
Pat called at about 3pm. "Hi Kevin, this went great down here. I
played the best I ever did. I can't believe it!" she said
excitedly. They had not finished all the auditions yet, but she knew
she had definitely impressed the reviewers. They talked some more.
Pat was on an adrenaline high. Kevin couldn't help but catch the
fever from her.

"Maybe
that little call on Sunday helped kick loose the element you needed
to play to your full potential," he said. Pat agreed that
something had happened to loosen her spirit. She said her virtuosity
just seemed to amp up out of nowhere when she needed it for the
pieces she was playing.

Kevin
listened to her talk about the audition process and some of the
questions she had been asked. Kevin didn't know it, but Pat's violin
teacher was very highly regarded. They were impressed by her
recommendation and by the fact she had trained Pat for the last
several years. Things were really looking good for her. He decided
not to say anything about what had transpired at home the last
several days. Pat gave Kevin her flight information and Kevin said he
would pick her up at the prescribed time.

Kevin
finished his work and cleaned up. He was looking forward to being
with Pat. He drove to the airport and cruised through the baggage
claim lane looking for Pat. After cruising through several times, he
saw her come out with her bag. Kevin was on it in two seconds time.
He pulled to the curb beside her, hopped out, grabbed her bag and put
it in the bed of the truck. He opened the door for her and ran around
to the other side to climb back in the truck. After that was
accomplished, he slid over to Pat and gave her a long kiss. "Welcome
back. I cried every night for you, baby," he said with a grin.
Pat loved it. "I missed you too darling," she said.

As
Kevin pulled out, he turned on the radio. The 6pm news was just
coming on. Kevin was shocked by what was being reported as the lead
local story. Donny McCann had been shot to death while trying to
escape from the jail. They were moving him to a more secure holding
area the county had and he had tried to overpower the deputies
transporting him and grab one of their guns. Kevin and Pat looked at
each other in shock. They were both thinking Willie was the jailer.

"Maybe,
we better go to Sheila right now. She must be worried sick," Pat
said. Kevin came up the ramp to the freeway and started to fly in the
direction of Willie's house. As they drove, Kevin updated her a
little on what else had happened. He told her he thought he had been
followed from Perkin's office. Then, he told her how he assaulted
Andre McCann using his tire thumper. He told her that Perkins called
him shortly after that to ask if he knew Andre.

"What
did you tell him?” Pat asked.

"I
told him I never heard of the guy before," Kevin said. "Then
Perkins told me his collarbone was broken in two places and he had
soiled himself."

Pat
looked concerned. "Did you really have to hurt him that much?"
she asked.

"Probably
not. It ain't like I beat someone with a tire thumper every day and
know just the right amount of force to use. I wanted to intimidate
the shit out of him. I guess I literally did that. I wanted to make
the point that I just might be crazier than him and he better leave
me the fuck alone," Kevin said emphatically. Then, he went on to
say that Donnie's garage had been burned down and that
Somewhere
Else
had
burned to the ground.

Kevin
then said to Pat, "The McCanns had so many enemies that the list
of suspects could have been a mile long."

"I
was born at night, but it wasn't last night. Did you and Willie hatch
this plan together?" she asked.

"No
we didn't. We never planned any of it. You can ask Willie yourself if
you want," Kevin said.