J. Konrath - Bloody Mary

The phone rang once more. I finally picked it up and shut the damn thing off. I was crying, again, and I didn’t want to talk to anybody.

Before I could begin another apology to Mom, the room phone rang.

I let it ring. And ring. And ring. It eventually stopped. Then it started again. Couldn’t whoever it was take a hint?

“What?” I answered.

“Hi, Jack.”

I almost dropped the phone in surprise. Fuller.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to pick up. That wouldn’t have been good for your friend here. Say hello, Herb.”

A male voice screamed.

“Herb’s not doing so well. And if you don’t follow my directions, he’s going to be doing even worse. Here’s what I want you to do.”

In the background Herb yelled, “It’s a trap, Jack! Don’t-”

Followed by another scream, even louder than before.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry.

“What do you want, Fuller?”

“Turn your cell phone back on and call me on my cell. When you’re ready, I’ll give you the number.”

I powered up my cell phone and punched in what he told me. It rang once, and he picked up.

“Good. Now hang up the hospital phone. Here’s the deal. I want you to come over and join our party. We’re having fun, right, Herb?”

Another scream.

“I’ll be right over.” I clenched the phone so tightly it shook. “Want me to stop for beer and pretzels?”

“Funny. What I want you to do is lose the police escort.”

“How?”

“Tell them you got a call from me, and I’m in the parking lot. Be convincing. If you try to give them any signals…”

Benedict screamed again.

“Stop hurting him.”

“Hurting him? You mean like this?”

I shut my eyes while poor Herb wailed in agony.

“I’ll do what you say, Barry.”

“Good girl. Remember – I’m listening. Ready… go!”

I went into the hallway and yelled at the two cops on duty.

“Fuller just called me! He’s in the parking garage!”

They drew weapons and took off down the hall.

“Are they gone?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s nearby?”

“No one. A nurse.”

“Give the nurse the phone.”

“Why?”

Mistake. A part of me died inside when I heard Herb’s scream.

“Nurse!” I hurried to her. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

She gave me a quizzical look. “Who?”

“Just tell him whatever he wants to know.”

The nurse took the phone. “No… Nope… Nobody.” Then she handed it back. “He wanted to know if there were any men outside the door to room 514.”

I growled into the cell. “Satisfied?”

“Not yet. But I will be. Get in your car and go north on Lasalle. I want to hear your voice the whole time.”

“What if the cell signal goes out?”

Herb screamed again.

“You’d better make sure it doesn’t, Jack. Now keep talking. Start with the ABC’s.”

I recited the alphabet while I hurried through the corridor. Elevator or stairs? Which was better for cell transmission? I picked the stairs, moving as fast as I could. When I made it down to the parking garage, I saw one of the cops ordered to guard me, his gun drawn, creeping around a corner. I threw my back against a wall so he didn’t see me.

“Jack? You there?”

“… Q… R… S… T… U…”

I paused for a moment, and then made a beeline for my car, stepping lightly so my footsteps didn’t echo on the asphalt.

My cell reception became staticky.

“It sounds like I’m losing you, Jack. I hope not, for Herb’s sake. Frankly, I don’t know how much more he can take.”

I made it to my car and fumbled with the keys, beginning the alphabet for the third time. When I opened the door, one of my cops saw me.

“Lieutenant! We can’t find him!”

“Uh-oh, Jack,” Fuller purred into the phone. “You’d better hurry.”

I hopped in the driver’s seat, my cell signal getting even weaker. I was yelling the alphabet now, hoping my louder voice got through. Both cops converged on my car. I jammed it into gear and hit the gas.

The exit was up a concrete ramp.

“Jack?” Barry was yelling. “I can’t hear you, Jack. Jack-”

The phone went dead.

Fuller scowls at the dial tone. He hits Redial. Daniels picks up immediately.

“I lost the signal on the exit ramp. I didn’t do anything stupid.” She sounds anxious, breathless.

“How can I believe you, Jack?”

“Don’t hurt him again.”

Fuller lifts his foot, ready to stomp on Benedict’s dislocated elbow. Herb stares up at him, hate in his eyes.

“We had a deal, Jack.”

“If I hear him scream once more, I swear to God, I’m hanging up and throwing my phone out the window.”

“How do I know the cops aren’t with you?”

“I’m alone. I ditched them in the parking garage.”

“Maybe you called for backup, on your radio.”

“I didn’t have time. If my radio was on, you’d hear it.”

Fuller walks away from Herb, takes the Sig out of his belt. He fires a round, up the stairs.

“What did you just do, Barry? Let me talk to Herb.”

“That was a warning. If I think you’re lying to me, if I think you’re bringing more cops, I end Herb Benedict’s life. Understand?”

“Let me talk to Herb.”

Fuller rolls his eyes. He holds out the phone. “Herb, say something.”

Benedict looks away, lips pressed shut.

“Hold on a second, Jack. He’s being stoic.”

Fuller plays pull’n’ bend with Herb’s swollen arm until the guy sings like a choir boy.

“Tell her you’re okay.”

“Jack!” Benedict screams. “Don’t come!”

“There, Jack? Satisfied he’s still with us?”

“When I get there, Barry…”

“Stop it, Jack. You’re scaring me. Where are you?”

“Going north on Lasalle.”

“When you get to Division Street, take a left. And let’s hear that alphabet.”

Jack begins the ABC’s again, and Fuller goes back upstairs. His head thumps like someone’s bouncing a bat off of it, and his eye does its best to compete for the gold medal in the Pain Olympics.

The syringe calls to him from the kitchen table.

One little shot, and the pain will go away.

But Daniels will be here soon. That will also make the pain go away.

The head pain. Not the eye pain. Take the shot.

She’s coming armed. It’s important to stay alert.

You can handle her. Take the shot.

Fuller lifts the needle. His arms are weight-lifter arms, the veins pushed to the surface by all the muscle. He doesn’t need to tie off.

Good.

Fuller shoots up, waiting for the warm rush of heroin to flood through him.

The rush doesn’t come.

“What the hell?”

“Barry? Did you say something?”

Fuller grits his teeth, staring at the empty syringe. That little Mexican bastard. What the hell did I just shoot up? Baking soda?

“Barry, I’m going west on Division. Barry?”

“Go right on Clybourn,” Barry growls. He raises the syringe to throw it across the room. But then…

Something happens.

It’s a subtle change at first. The kitchen seems to come into sharper focus. Barry stares at his hand, and his stare magnifies his fist until it’s the size of a baked ham.

Barry looks at his feet, and they also seem to grow. He’s ten, fifteen, twenty feet tall. How can he fit in this tiny room? A-ha! The kitchen is growing with him, walls getting longer, wider, stretching out and out.

And as he’s growing, the pain in his head is shrinking. Until it’s a tiny spot – a speck of minor irritation – in the middle of his swollen eye.