Peter Leonard - Trust Me

Karen reached in her shoulder bag and gripped the. 357 and stepped toward him. "I've been holding this for you too."

Ricky glanced up at her with a nervous look on his face.

"Jesus, be careful," Ricky said. He looked down at his gun.

Karen said, "Don't even think about it. I don't want to shoot you but I will if I have to."

Ricky dropped his gun on the asphalt, got up and stepped back. Karen picked up the gun and said, "Put the money back in my car."

"Give it to me," Ricky said. "I'll let you go."

"You'll let me go?" Karen said. "I'd worry about myself if I were you."

Ricky picked up the bag of money and put it in her trunk and closed the lid.

"You're making a big mistake," Ricky said. "I don't care where you go… no place is safe, you take this money." He stood there looking cocky and self-confident.

"Open your trunk," Karen said, pointing the. 357 at him.

"What the hell for?"

"Because I told you to," Karen said. "And I've got the gun." She kept the Airweight trained on him.

"Don't do anything dumb," Ricky said, realizing it was all Karen now.

"I was going to say the same thing to you, but you can't help yourself," Karen said, "can you?"

He moved behind the white Ford Focus that was parked next to her Audi. She came up behind him and jabbed his shoulder with the barrel of her gun. He reached in the pocket of his warm-up pants, took out his key and pushed a button on the keypad and the trunk popped open.

"Get in," Karen said.

Ricky looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm not getting in there."

Karen swung her arm and hit Ricky on the back of his head with the butt of the Mag.

"Jesus, what're you doing?" He bent over, making a face, holding his head, rubbing it with his fingertips.

"You don't have a choice," Karen said. "Get in."

He lifted his leg up, put a foot in the trunk, and then pulled himself up and in. He fit with no trouble. There was enough room left for a bag of golf clubs.

"I'll give you a piece of the action," Ricky said.

Karen could see he was nervous now. "Just give me the keys."

He tossed them to her.

"I'll split it with you," Ricky said.

Karen said, "You don't have anything to split."

"What do you want?" Ricky said.

"I've got what I want," Karen said.

Ricky said, "You think it's going to end here? You're out of your fucking mind. I don't care where you go, I'll find you-"

She slammed the trunk closed. She could hear him kicking the sheet metal inside.

"Get me out of here." Panic in his voice now. "Help!"

Most new cars had a release button in the trunk in case you fell in by mistake, but Ricky didn't seem to know it. Karen tapped her knuckles on the trunk lid and said, "Hey, keep it down in there." She got in Ricky's car, started it, backed up and drove to the edge of the cornfield behind the station. She had her foot on the brake, holding the car back. She could hear Ricky yelling and banging inside the trunk. She shifted into drive and opened the door, took her foot off the brake and jumped out. The Ford rolled into the field, knocking down stalks and then disappeared in the high corn.

Karen drove straight to Providence Hospital and went up to the third floor and found her sister's room. O'Clair was already there, sitting in a chair next to Virginia's bed, holding her hand.

O'Clair glanced at her and said, "What took you so long?"

Trying to be funny, showing a side of him she'd never seen before.

Virginia fixed her tired eyes on Karen and said, "You look vaguely familiar. Do I know you?"

Karen said, "How're you doing? Are you all right?" She looked terrible.

"I'm hanging in there," Virginia said.

"You mind if I have a word with my sister?" Karen said to O'Clair.

O'Clair glanced at Virginia and said, "I'm going to get something to eat. Can I bring you anything?"

Virginia shook her head. O'Clair got up and moved past Karen and walked out of the room. Karen sat in O'Clair's chair next to the bed. Virginia had a bandage under her lower lip, and her right forearm was in a cast. Karen held her hand.

Virginia said, "Why'd you come back?"

"I was worried about you," Karen said. "Why do you think?"

"I'm okay," Virginia said in a quiet voice.

She didn't look okay. She had two black eyes and her face was bruised and swollen. "I'm sorry you got involved in this," Karen said.

Virginia said, "Then I never would've met Oak."

"Oak, huh?" Karen said. "What's the story with you lovebirds?"

"He's going to take care of me," Virginia said. "Nurse me back to health."

It was difficult for Karen to think of O'Clair as a caregiver. "You don't even know him."

Virginia said, "I know enough."

Karen was going to say, you thought you knew Fly and look what happened. But then she thought she knew Samir and Lou. There was no guarantee. You could never be sure.

"He's nice to me," Virginia said. "He likes me and I like him. We're talking about moving to Florida together. He's going to buy a motel on the beach. Doesn't it sound great?"

She sounded excited and Karen wasn't going to spoil it.

"You should come and visit."

Karen tried to picture herself on a beach with O'Clair, and couldn't.

"I'm serious." Virginia tried to smile. She looked like she was in pain. "Don't worry about me, I've got Oak."

"I'm happy for you," Karen said.

"What about you?" Virginia looked at her with affection. "What're you going to do?"

"Get my passport, try to explain things to Mother, and take off."

"He told me what happened in Chicago. Aren't you worried about Ricky and Samir and all those freaks looking for you?"

"No," Karen said. Johnny was dead. Samir was in the hospital, barely hanging on, and Ricky was in the trunk of a car, and even if he got out he was so inept she wasn't concerned.

"Come on," Virginia said, "I don't want anything to happen to you."

Don't worry," Karen said.

"You sure?"

"Trust me."