Tom Schreck - On the Ropes

Trina buzzed me to let me know that my twelve thirty was here. That was Sherrie, and I could feel the nervousness spread throughout my body as I hung up the phone. I went out to the lobby to greet her.

“Good afternoon, Sherrie.”

“Hi Duffy.”

Sherrie still carried the bruises but her head wasn’t buried under a hat, nor was she trying to hide. We went back to the conference room.

“Did you see the paper?” Sherrie asked.

“Yup-how are you doing with all of that?”

“I’m okay. I’m a little worried about him, but between jail and what we talked about yesterday, I think it may give me the chance I’ve been looking for.”

“How’s that?”

“Look, I wouldn’t have wished him to go to prison or to get hurt, but if that’s the way it’s going to be, then I can make the best of it. I have family in Brooklyn and I think I’m going to head down there.”

“And do what?”

“My Aunt Lena teaches at a business school,” she said. “You know, where you can learn to be a paralegal or something. She’s wanted me to go down there for a while, and she said I could stay with her.”

“That sounds like a decent plan,” I said.

“Duffy, can I ask you something?” She looked at me and smirked.

“Sure.”

“Maybe not, forget it.”

“You sure?” I said.

“Did I tell you that my cousin Rafael is a barback at Cinderella’s?” she said.

“No.”

“He used to be an amateur fighter.” She sat back in the chair and smiled. “He said he saw you there last night. Doesn’t seem to be your kind of hangout.”

It wasn’t really a question so I let it hang.

“Look, if it’s okay with you, I’m not going to waste any time moving to Brooklyn,” she leaned forward in her chair. “I guess that means I won’t be on your caseload.”

“No, we’ll transfer your case to the appropriate place in Brooklyn. I’ll take care of that.”

I hesitated to ask her something because it had nothing to do with her case or her treatment, but I had to know.

“Sherrie, let me ask you something. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want,” I said.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“When you were in jail, did you hear anything about what happened to Walanda?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I don’t trust those three from Forrest Point. I heard them laughing about her being dead. Sick shit like about her brains spilling out and stuff… it was awful,” she said.

“That’s all you know?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “Walanda was on my caseload for a long time and I feel bad.”

“Sorry, Duff.”

“Hey-that day in the group I noticed something. You don’t know what those three had tattooed on their hands, do you?”

“It was a spider’s web, a little tiny spider’s web.”

I felt a chill.

“Duff, you all right?” she asked. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“Nah, just got me thinking, that’s all.”

“Hey, I’m going to run,” she stood up. “Can I get a hug? I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

“We only had two sessions, Sherrie.” She hugged me and held on for a moment more than the customary clinical hug.

“Uh-huh, sure,” she said. “Just the same, you were a big help.”

“Well, thanks and good luck.”

“You too, and Duff?”

“Yeah?”

“You might want to ice that hand,” she said.

She winked, smiled, and headed out the door to Brooklyn and what I hoped was a new life.

I had some amends to make, and despite the fact that I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Kelley’s anger, I wanted to face him. I owed him an apology, so I headed to AJ’s right after work so I could be there when he arrived.

I also had an ulterior motive. Sherrie said that the tattoos the three from Forrest Point had were spiderwebs. That’s a pretty common jailhouse tattoo, though it’s one usually sported by bikers around their elbows. With that group, it signifies the fact that they had the distinction of having committed a murder, kind of like how Cub Scouts get merit badges. I was dying to know if Kelley knew anything about spiderweb tattoos and if they had any relation to Walanda’s “Webster.” Still, I was a bit nervous asking Kelley for any information tonight. When it came to favors, my account was in the credit column.

I was distracted from my anxiety by the Fearsome Foursome who were already in mid-evening form, even though it was barely six thirty. TC and Rocco were in a heated debate centered on wedding rice and birds.

“You can’t throw rice at weddings anymore because the ASPCA outlawed it,” said Rocco. “The rice gets eaten up by the birds and it expands when it warms up in their stomachs and they blow up.”

“That’s bullshit,” said TC. “You’re thinking about seagulls and Alka-Seltzer. If you give seagulls Alka-Seltzer, they explode in mid-air because of the fizziazation.”

“If you use Minute Rice at a wedding, do the birds blow up faster?” Jerry Number Two said, pausing to sip his Cosmo.

“God, Jerry, you did way too many drugs,” said Jerry Number One.

“You’re right, there,” Jerry Number Two said. “One time I was tripping and somebody gave me a bunch of those Pop Rocks and a Dr Pepper. I was in the emergency room for eight hours. I felt like a seagull at a wedding.”

I was three-quarters of the way through my first Schlitz when Kelley came in. Trying not to be obvious, I studied his face for how he felt. As usual, Kelley’s facial expression didn’t give anything away. He took his usual spot.

I motioned to AJ to set Kelley up with a beer. AJ is often a pain in the ass but he knew his trade. He sensed there was a tension between Kelley and me and he stayed out of it. Almost imperceptibly, he opened Kelley’s beer and slid it in front of him.

“Thanks, Duff,” he said.

“Kel, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry if-” Kelley interrupted and I didn’t get to finish.

“Oh, your little ‘Duffy for Hire’ deal?”

“Uh, well yeah.”

“Well, I know you private eyes kind of live on the edge a bit,” he said. “Shoot from the hip, live for the moment. I know, I’ve read the books,” he said.

I deserved Kelley’s sarcasm and I wasn’t going to argue with him. He wasn’t looking at me and he was trying to be nonchalant, but I could tell he wasn’t happy with me.

“Look, you were way out of line, and it could have cost me my job,” he spun around on his stool and looked me right in the eye. “If you want to get killed living out some vigilante fantasy, that’s your business. Next time leave me out of it.”

“I’m sorry, Kel,” I said.

“It’s fine. The guy’s going away for a long time so the end result is that another piece of scum is off the street. Besides, I got a special commendation from the chief for my actions… geez.”

“I’m glad you didn’t get into trouble over it.”

I was tempted to make a joke about the heroics but decided against it. Kelley was a man of principles and what mattered to him was that my irresponsible actions could’ve screwed him. The fact that the results were positive was incidental.

AJ set us up again, again on my tab. Kelley didn’t protest. I decided to chance asking Kelley about the tattoos.

“Kel, what do you know about jailhouse tattoos?” I asked.

“Oh, now we’re just making conversation?” he said.

“I did a group in the jail and these three tough-looking women from Forrest Point all had small spiderwebs tattooed between their thumb and forefinger.”

“Look, ‘Duffy for Hire,’ didn’t we just have a little talk about you retiring from the gumshoe life?”