Sassafras, Part 85

Rick


It was a circus. I could see smoke from blocks away. It didn’t take long to realize it was coming from Jenny’s house. I had to pull over down the block because two fire trucks were blocking the road. Men in stiff muddy colored fire suits were running around hooking up hoses to a hydrant on the corner. Flames were shooting out of the vents in the gables, smoke pouring out of every crack and crevice. I could hear things inside popping and falling as they burned.

A crowd had already gathered in the street, just barely out of the firemen’s way. I recognized Mrs. Kennedy and hurried over to her. “Have you seen Joan? Is she okay?”

“Oh, Rick! I haven’t seen Joan all day! I hope she wasn’t home. It would be awful if anything happened to her or Bill. When I saw her car over there I thought maybe they were out somewhere with you. Maybe you took them out to lunch or something. Oh, dear God, this is awful.”

‘Yeah, you don’t the half of it,’ I thought. “Are you sure you don’t know where they are?” I asked, hoping Joan was at her house. Maybe she told Mrs. Kennedy not to tell me anything. “If you know where they are you need to tell me, Mrs. Kennedy. Please, just tell me if they’re all right.”

“Rick, I don’t know where they are. I told you, I thought they were with you.” I could see by the look in her eyes that she was as worried about Joan as I was.

I pulled out my phone and tried calling again, but again I just got her voice mail. Then I spotted Thompson over by the fire truck. Maybe he knew something, and he was stupid enough to let anything he knew slip. Time to start acting. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, to look like I was mildly interested instead of going out of mind with worry. I strolled over to him and waved in the general direction of the flaming house. “So, what’s up?” I asked.

He just grinned. “Fire.” God, I thought. He must be half retarded. No shit, fire. I never did like Thompson. He was just too much of a weasel. Like a little Sneider Junior.

“Yeah, I see that. What happened?”

“You’re in deep shit.”

“What did I do?”

He leaned closer to me. “Sneider told you to keep a leash on Jenny’s sister. He’s pissed off at you something fierce. She called Hollywood. You know Hollywood, don’t you?” I nodded and he continued. “He came to town and pitched a major bitch. She was supposed to meet him, but never showed up, so Hollywood torched her house. I helped.” He sounded pleased with himself, then leaned even closer. “He kept saying something about pictures. Do you think Jenny had naked pictures of him?”

“God, if she did I don’t want to see them.” It was all I could do to stand there and act like my entire world wasn’t crumbling apart. Thompson might be a moron, but I had to find out if he knew anything. Where was Joan? Did they have any clues or were they just stumbling around in the dark?

He laughed and nodded his head. “I’d like to see naked pictures of Jenny though. She sure had a sweet ass, didn’t she? What’s her sister like?”

Time to hit full dog mode. Gain his confidence and then pump him for information. “Hot as a firecracker. She does things in bed you wouldn’t believe. She must do yoga or something because she has moves I’d never even considered. And I thought I’d considered them all.”

He had a faraway, wistful look on his face. “Yeah, I bet. I wish Sneider gave her to me instead of you.” Don’t punch him. Don’t punch him. I had to force my hands to stay in my pockets. I tried to imagine him with Joan, but it just made me want to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze. Just for a couple of minutes. Just until he passed out. Or maybe quit breathing.

I looked around the crowd. “Where’s Hollywood now, anyway?”

“Oh, he took off back to Stoneypoint. Sneider’s in charge. You should see him, too. Hollywood gave him a black eye. I’ve known Sneider since I was a kid and I’ve never seen him this mad. Whatever he’s looking for I hope he finds it quick. If I was you I’d lay low until this all blows over.”

“Yeah, thanks for the warning.” So Sneider was pissed off. That wasn’t good news, but at least Stapleton wasn’t around. “Shit, I leave town for a couple of hours to see my parole officer and all hell breaks lose. Does anybody know where Joan is?”

“Nobody knows. That’s why I’m stuck here in this blizzard. I’m waiting for her to come back, then I’m supposed to take her to the station so we can ‘get her statement’.” He giggled a little as he made air quotes. Her statement, right. That would probably be nothing more than screaming and begging for mercy. And he was giggling about it. I had to get out of there before I gave into the urge to choke the life out of him right then and there.

“Okay, well, if I find her I’ll bring her to the station.” When hell freezes over, I mentally added as I hurried back to my car. Jesus H Christ. For starting out so nice this day was easily turning out to be the worst day of my life.