A Fishy End

Chapter 51

"You don't think he bailed on us?" Kyle asked Caleb as the two watched Darren's house from down the street.

"Can't be that stupid," Caleb said.

"Maybe it . . . got to him." The sacrifices, they bothered Kyle sometimes. Maybe he wasn't the only one.

"It didn't," Caleb said, who gave no indication he was bothered by any of it. "You saw him the next day, strutting around like he was on top of the world."

Kyle nodded. They had seen Darren briefly that morning, after he'd gotten back from melting down and selling his gold. They'd received half of their money for letting him into the club. Since then he'd just disappeared. They were starting to worry that he was going to pull a runner and they'd not see him again. "Besides, it makes no sense," Kyle added. "We'll get another haul next month. Why bail now?"

The beautiful black woman that was his girlfriend, wife, or whatever, came out with bag over one shoulder. She started to put it in the back of a beat-up car.

The men exchanged a look, and Caleb moved forward. "Hey," he called. "Hey."

He stopped in front of her. She stared at the two of them, her eyes hard. She looked like she'd been crying. She unslung the bag, eyed Caleb for a second, and then started pelting him with it. "What the fuck did you bastards do to my husband?" she raged.

Caleb threw his hands up, trying to protect his face from her repeated blows. "What the hell?"

An older black man rushed out of the house and pulled her away. "Shawntae, girl," he scolded her, pulling her into a hug. "Chill."

"It was them," she shouted.

She pulled away from the man, but didn't attack Caleb again. Her face, though . . . Kyle suddenly understood the reality of that phrase "if looks could kill.

She continued her rant. "I don't know what the fuck you guys were doing, what you got him into, but I blame you." She jabbed a finger in their direction.

Caleb addressed the older man, who appeared to be her father. He was looking at the two of them suspiciously, but he seemed calmer. "We didn't do nothing," Caleb protested. "We worked with Darren, doing construction. Haven't seen him in days. Our . . . contractor, he's gonna get upset if Darren don't show up for work soon, you know."

"Shawntae, honey," the man said, pulling her away and taking the bag from her. "Go get the rest of your stuff." He all but pushed her toward the house.

She hesitated for a brief moment then stomped up the porch steps.

"I don't believe you were doing construction," the man said. "The way he was flashing cash, from what she says, anyway. But whatever you guys were up to, he ain't coming back."

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"He's dead."

Kyle reeled in shock. "Dead?"

"I knew he was a loser, the first day I saw him," the man growled. "But my baby girl loved him. What could I do? I knew he'd come to a bad end."

"What sort of a bad end?" Caleb asked.

"Drugs. Poor bastard. They aren't quite sure what he was on, some new psychedelic. Last person to see him alive was an old friend, James. Said he was babbling about the 'wrong statue' or some such shit. Ran off down the bike trail, fell in the river, and drowned."

"God, that's horrible," Kyle said. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," the man barked. "I'm just pissed he dragged my baby daughter down the same path, grandbaby too. Cops found them up at Union Park, Shawntae high as a kite. They took the baby."

Shawntae came out of the house with a box in her hands. An older woman, her mother possibly, was with her. "We got everything," the woman said to the man.

"We are taking our daughter to live with us," he said to Caleb and Kyle. "So she can clean up her act and get her daughter back. Whatever business you had with him is over. I strongly suggest you leave her the fuck alone." He gave them a hard look.

"I think we've been threatened," Caleb said as the car pulled away. He seemed amused by this fact. Then he shrugged. "Wrong statue? What do you make of that?"

Kyle snorted. "Didn't seem too bright. Guess we should tell Rick, see what he thinks."

They turned down the block toward Rick's house.