Sassafras, Part 89

Rick

“No, you don’t understand. I can’t take your car. You’ve got to come with me. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift. I can’t. You have to come with me, please.”

Shit. I forgot all about that. Now what? I looked over at McDaniel's body. “Joan, I need you to do something for me. You’re going to have to take McDaniel’s truck. I need you to get his keys out of his pocket.”

She looked from me to him and back again, shaking her head. “No, no, I can’t do that. You have to come with me.”

“Joan, I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. You have to take his truck.” She just kept shaking her head. I would have gotten the keys myself, but I didn’t think I could make it to his body without collapsing, and I didn’t think Joan could take that. I could tell I was in trouble. It was getting harder to concentrate, and I was having trouble breathing. I started to reach over and brush my fingers against her cheek, but my hand was covered with blood. “You have to, Joan. For Billy. He’s out there, all alone. He needs you, Joan. You’ve got to go. When they realize you lied they’re going to come back here and they’re not going to be happy. They’ll make you tell them the truth. Then they’ll kill you and they’ll kill Billy. You’ve got to get his keys.”

“But he’s dead. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can, Joan. You have to. Just reach your hand in his pocket and pull out his keys. Get his wallet, too. You’re going to need all the money you can get.” I pulled my wallet out of my pocket while she twisted her fingers together, her eyes darting to the body on the floor “Come on, Babe, you’ve got to do it.”

He was lying face down in a pool of blood. She sat staring at him and shaking for a minute, then knelt down next to him and touched his leg before pulling her hand back and shaking her head again. “You can do it, Joan. You have to.” Finally she reached her hand in his front left pocket. She looked at me and shook her head when she pulled her hand out empty. “Okay, Babe, okay. Try the other pocket.”

At first I wasn’t sure if she heard me or not. She just sat and looked at me. “Come on, Joan. You’ve got to do it.” She whimpered a little then took a deep breath and moved back next to him, this time kneeling right in the puddle on his right side. She pulled her hand out with a key chain gripped in her fingers. “Get his wallet, too,” I reminded her.

She came back and put his keys and wallet on the table next to mine. I pulled the money out of both wallets and handed it to her, then pulled a couple of credit cards out of my wallet. "If you need gas or food pay cash as long as you can, then use my credit card, they'll be looking for yours. If you have to use plastic start covering your tracks, just in case they realize you have my card. Circle around, backtrack, change course. Don't let them anticipate where you're going. Don't stop until you get out of Missouri." She slipped the money and the keys into her coat pocket.

I picked up McDaniel's gun. "Do you know how to use this?"

"I've never even touched a BB gun. I don’t even like flyswatters.”

"It's easy. This is the safety. Make sure the safety is on unless you want to shoot it. When you want to shoot it, just push the safety in, point, and pull the trigger."

I handed her the gun and had her put the safety on and off, and showed her how to hold it before it joined the keys and money.

I unclipped my cell phone from my belt and held it out. "Take my phone with you, too. There's a number on there, Uncle John. He's my DEA contact. As soon as you're safe call him and tell him where you are, but don't call until you're safe. He'll take care of you."

"I don't want to leave you.”

"You've got to, Babe.” It was getting harder and harder for me to breathe. I was afraid the bullet might have hit my lung, or maybe there was just a lot of internal bleeding. Either way I had to get her out of there so I could get to the hospital. "Come on, Babe, I survived seven years in prison, I think I can survive a couple of days without you. You've got to go get Bill and get out of here before it's too late."

“No, I’m not going to leave you.” She threw her arms around my neck. “You’ve got to come with me. Please, Rick. I love you. Don’t make me go.” I slipped an arm around her waist and held her for a minute. I couldn’t feel any pain anymore. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “You’ve got to come with me, Rick. I can’t leave you here. Please, don’t make me go.”

“Yes you can, Joan. You have to.” She was crying and shaking. I stroked her back, trying to calm her down. “Please, Joan. You know you have to go. Billy’s out there and he needs you. You’re the only family he has. I love you, Joan, but Billy needs you right now. You’ve got to go.”

For a minute she just sat next to me, her forehead pressed against mine, then she kissed me. Her lips were trembling and I could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I love you, Rick,” she whispered before standing up and running out of the room.

After she left I didn’t wait long before I tried calling 911. I fell to my knees when I tried to get out of the chair. I would have fallen flat on my face if I hadn’t been holding onto the edge of the table. I started crawling and barely got to the door before my arms gave out. I don’t know how long I lay there. I was barely conscious when I heard voices, but I couldn't tell who it was. I didn't have enough breath or strength to say anything. I looked up and saw Sneider bending over me.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She got away. It was McDaniel." I had to stop and catch my breath. "He was letting her go. I tried to stop him, but he pulled his gun.”

I passed out before the ambulance got there. When I came to I was in a hospital. I could hear people talking and felt them moving me and cutting off my clothes. I tried to ask about Joan, but somebody held me down and told me to relax. That was never going to happen I thought right before everything went black.