Chapter 2

After the roads were clear, and the weather was better, Laura asked me if I could take her to the bus station. I objected and told her that I wanted her to stay with me, but she insisted that Eddie's friends and family would soon be looking for him, and once they found out he was dead, they would be looking for her as well.

"It's just better this way." She said, so matter of factly that my head spun, and it made my heart ache when I heard it. It was almost as if I didn't matter to her at all, and the past week had been more of convenience than anything else.

With a heavy heart, I drove her to the bus station in town. She wouldn't tell me where she was going, but simply said that she'd be safe, and she'd be in touch when things cooled off. I kissed her gently, watched her get on the bus, and then watched it drive away into a darkening sky, with a cloud of uncertainty filling the air behind it.

Almost two weeks had passed, and I hadn't heard anything from her. I went back to work, hoping that getting back to a routine would clear my head of her. "I barely knew her," I kept telling myself, but I couldn't get the memory of her from my mind. The pillow that she slept on still smelled like her, and I gazed out the window each time I passed, hoping to see headlights of the car that would bring her back to me.

On my drive home from work, I saw the place that I picked her up, and I couldn't help but wish that I'd find her again, and then I saw the place where the cops had found Eddie. There wasn't a trace of either him or the car left on that patch of empty road, but the place still held an ominous air.

I pulled my truck onto the gravel driveway that lead to my house and got the feeling that something wasn't quite right. Usually Bear would be sitting on the porch waiting for me to come home and feed him, but tonight he wasn't there, and the cabin looked darker than usual. It just looked like there was something wrong. I got out of the truck, my guard up, and the hair on the back of my neck at attention. I walked cautiously to the front porch.

"Hello friend." I heard a voice say from the dark shadow in the corner of the porch.

I stepped back at the sound of his voice and reactively stood in a defensive position, and ready to block whatever he was going to throw at me.

"Hold on friend," he said with his gloved hands open, his palms towards me showing me that there was nothing in his hands. "We just want to ask you a few questions."

"We?" I asked as I heard heavy footsteps walking up behind me. I turned slightly to see the looming shadow of a large man step up within arms reach of me. I could see that I was outmatched at the very least, and by the looks of the bulges in their jackets I could tell that I was out gunned as well. I let my arms fall to my sides, "ask questions about what?"

The smaller man stepped out of the shadows. "About a week ago, during the big snow storm."

I peaked at the larger man still stationed behind me. "Yea, what about it." I tried to sound assertive, but not aggressive.

"A very good friend of mine, and the brother of my associate here was found dead on the road, not far from here." He clasped his hands and looked out over the driveway towards the road. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" He looked back in my direction and cocked his head to one side, a faint smile on his face revealed two gold teeth.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, bringing the big man behind me, more to the side of me, and scratched my chin. "The sheriff came out one night," I began "Yea, the same night as the national guard was out here too."

"And" the big man behind me finally spoke his first word.

I turned sideways slightly to look at him. The resemblance to Eddie was amazing. They could have been twins, but he looked a few years older. "And, they told me that they had found a guy on the road." I looked out towards the road. "Down there a little ways is where I saw the lights." I pointed down the road in the general direction of where I dumped Eddie's body that night. "He said it looked like an animal attack of some kind."

The smaller man folded his arms across his chest. "Don't tell me, you were watching TV, all night, alone, right?"

"Actually I was asleep when the National Guard showed up." I backed up slightly. "The power was out." I hesitated. "No TV." I said, a little disdain showing through.

"So you didn't see or hear nothing huh?" The big man leaned in as he asked the question.

"Just like I told the sheriff, I was asleep until the soldiers got here." I explained again.

The smaller man reached into his jacket with his right hand and all of my muscles tensed, ready to spring. He pulled out a picture and held it up inches from my face. "He was out here looking for her. Ever see her before?"

I had to back away from the picture to get it into focus. "No," I said, "But I'd be looking for her too." I smiled a toothy, perverted grin. "What a knockout." I continued.

Big man leaned closer to me. "That's my brothers wife."

"I, uh, didn't mean any disrespect." I feigned a little fear. "She's a good looking woman, your brother is a lucky man, uh, was I mean." I smiled sheepishly. "No, I ain't seen her," I added, looking away from the picture.

"Come on Mikey, were wasting our time here." The smaller man stepped in front of me and down the steps of the porch.

The big man grunted, and pushed past me with his shoulder as he too, stepped off of the porch, turning around at the bottom of the stairs. "We'll be in town for a few days, if you happen to remember anything." He smiled a counterfeit smile, and then they both walked down the driveway towards the road.

I stuck my key in the door and entered the house. "Everything looks ok." I said out loud to only me, and went into the kitchen to get a beer. Out side of the kitchen window I saw an older, sky blue Cadillac speeding past. They were gone for the time being.

I opened my beer, and sat in my old comfortable chair staring at the blank screen of the lifeless TV. Maybe Laura was right, and it really was better this way. I couldn't help the feeling of relief that she hadn't been here, like I wanted her to be, when those goons showed up. She'd be dead right now, and me too perhaps. I still missed her though, and I would have fought those two guys to the death to spend one more night with her. Still though, she was safe, and I was in one piece. Maybe I'd see her again anyway.

The annoying sound of the telephone jolted me from my self-induced trance like state. I got up to answer, "Hello." I said matter of factly, peeling the drapes back on the living room window.

"Hey Jeff, Mark here." It was unusual for my boss to be calling me at home as a matter of fact I couldn't remember a time when he ever did call.

"Hey boss, what 'cha need?" I looked out the window, peeking through the curtains

"I hate to bother you at home bud, but you left your brush bag at the job sight this afternoon."

I suddenly remembered that I'd forgotten to put it in my truck. "Ok boss, I appreciate the call."

My boss explained that he wasn't going to be at the job sight next week, and he picked up my bag and took it home with him. "So, I thought I'd call and see if you wanted to meet me someplace to get it. The wife and I have to run some errands and we'll be out anyway."

I didn't want to go out again, but if I didn't have my tools, I couldn't work next week. "Sure boss, where's a good place to meet you?" I finally gave in.

We agreed to meet at the local super market in the parking lot. He explained that they would be driving his wife's car and what it looked like, and that they'd be there in about forty-five minutes. I heard a familiar scratching noise on the back door. Opening it, I saw that Bear had returned home. "Your timing is impeccable." I sarcastically said to the dog. His only answer was a wagging tail, and a "Feed me, I'm hungry." Look on his panting face. I opened a can of dog food, dumped its contents into Bear's bowel and made sure that his water was full.

I backed out of the driveway and started to make the half-hour drive into a purple sky that was dark with ominous apprehension. I'd been driving this road to the freeway from my house everyday for at least five years, and could probably count how many times I'd passed a car, or seen headlights behind me on one hand, yet, behind me, came a pair of headlights that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I could be one of the few of farmers that lived beyond my house, and this was sheer coincidence. I hated feeling paranoid and tried my best to think the best, but usually my gut was right, and I'd learned to trust it over the years.

I pulled onto the onramp to the freeway, and in the lone streetlight that existed for a million miles I saw the outline of a large sedan that was inconsistent with my thinking that it was one of the farmers. I couldn't make out the color, but I was betting that it was sky blue. The car stayed a good distance behind me, but since there were no other cars on the road, it still could be a coincidence that we both seemed to be going the same direction.

I reached my exit, and left the freeway. The traffic light at the end of the off ramp turned yellow before I reached the intersection, but I decided that I could make it, and sped my pick up through the intersection taking the left turn faster than I should have, and probably would have gotten a ticket had a cop been watching, yet, the large sedan, a good fifty feet behind me, risked a ticket or a collision, running the now red light to stay behind me. That clinched it for me, I was being followed, and I had a pretty good Idea who it was in the Cadillac.

I reached the parking lot of the super market, and pulled in. one of the few cars in the lot matched the description my boss had given me, and I pulled next to it. My boss, recognizing my truck, stepped out of the driver's side and headed towards the trunk and handed me the canvas bag that had my brushes and other tools in it. He explained briefly that his mother-in-law was ill, and they were both driving to New York to care for her. His words seemed to drone out as I watched a blue sedan, driving slowly, pass by a good distance away.

"So, I'll see you when I get back to town bud." My boss had his hand stuck out, waiting for a handshake.

"Uh, yea, thanks boss, I'll try to keep everyone straight while your gone." I shook his hand, still distracted by the sedan. "Have a safe trip." I waved to his wife, threw the tools into the cab of the truck, and decided that as long as I was here, I'd get some stuff that I needed. I walked into the grocery store, secretly hoping that I'd be followed inside and could recognize the goons from this afternoon. I gathered the stuff that I needed and even walked around a little longer than I actually needed to but there was no sign of them. I laughed at myself for being paranoid, and walked to the cash register to make my purchases.

The drive home was uneventful, I looked back several times but only saw empty highway. I suspected that the two goons followed me, hoping that I'd go see Laura, and when I didn't they figured I was a dead end for sure and gave up the hunt. Small time hoodlums following orders until things they hoped would happen didn't, and they gave up.

I opened the door to the cabin, Bear waiting patiently for his nightly trek in the wild, hunting and socializing. His urge for the wild had to be instinctive, the domesticated animal within buried deep by his father's bloodline. I scratched his head, and he sauntered out the door to join his pack.

I turned on the TV and went to the kitchen to retrieve a beer to continue the unwinding process that was interrupted earlier. I went to the bedroom and changed into my bathrobe, ready for an evening of mindless TV, perhaps a good book, and a good night of sleep. I sat in my old, comfortable recliner, grabbed the remote and flipped through channels until I found the local ten-o'clock news and was glued to the flashing pictures in front of me.

"Tonight, we have some breaking news to tell you about," the newscaster began. "Our team coverage is out with the story. Katrina, tell us what happened." The picture changed to the super market parking lot. "Well Bob, What we know is that at approximately eight-thirty this evening, gunshots rang out in this usually quiet supermarket parking lot." The camera flashed on a dark colored sedan with yellow tape around the car that stated, "DO NOT ENTER" "The couple owning this car was brutally gunned down in cold blood."

A close up of the window revealed a lifeless human figure sitting behind the steering wheel. I recognized the car immediately, and a ball of fear welled up into my throat. "No indication was given as to why this couple was gunned down, but police need your help. With more from the Parkersville Police Station, here's Mike. Mike, can you tell us what you know?" The camera flashed on the police chief standing behind several microphones. "If you know anything about this heinous crime in our fair city, please call this number."

I was shocked by what was unfolding before me. My boss and his wife were dead, and I felt somehow responsible. I'd led these goons right to them. Up until now I thought that this talk of Mobsters in Parkersville was hogwash. Simply the paranoid ramblings of a very scared woman with an abusive husband, in a difficult situation, but now, this brought things into painful focus and made me wonder whom exactly Laura was, and what could she have done that warranted all of this death that had followed her.

My mind reeled going through checklists of possible things to do. Going to the police and telling them what happened, and that I thought these folks were after me was never going to happen. If they contact me, and it's a possibility that they would, I'd have to cross that bridge when I came to it. It was obvious to me that the goons at least thought that I knew more than I did, if they didn't have absolute proof. Maybe Eddie called someone before he barged into my cabin and told someone where he'd found her. I hadn't thought of a cell phone.

The conclusion that I came to was that I couldn't sit still and do nothing because the goons were going to force my hand on that one. I didn't think that Laura would be any help even if I knew how to get in touch with her, but the conclusion, never the less, was that I needed help on this one.

I picked up the receiver of the home phone then a thought hit me. How long had Eddie's associates been here before I got home? Had they tapped the phone? Was I being paranoid? Well, he'd suspected paranoia earlier that day with fatal results, so he wasn't going to chance letting his macho, self-fulfilling attitude get him in any further trouble. He put the phone down and grabbed his keys.