Joe Lansdale - Lost Echoes

“The friendship was on the fringe, to tell the truth, and now we can kind of figure it isn’t going to get patched up.”

“Shit,” Kayla said again.

“It may seem inappropriate,” Tad said, coming into the laundry room where the freezer was stored, “but if you two are finished looking at the weasel, would either of you like something to drink?”

“That’s not very nice,” Kayla said.

“Dead or alive,” Tad said, “he was a fucking weasel. Drinks?”

In the living room, drinking diet colas, and in Tad’s case, coffee, Tad said, “I guess we could bury the motherfucker. Maybe take him out somewhere in the deep woods and plant his ass. That might work. You know, when the shuttle exploded over East Texas, over in Nacogdoches County, when they were looking for debris, the bodies of those poor astronauts, they found five or six bodies that weren’t the astronauts’. Barring another shuttle blowup, we might could lose that little fucker out there under some dirt and leaves from about now until forever.”

“Joey was a little shitty,” Harry said, “and I guess I’m so upset I don’t know I’m upset anymore…. I mean, I don’t know how to feel. But maybe you might not want to call the poor murdered guy a motherfucker or a weasel with him lying in there dead, getting frozen and all.”

“You say so, kid. He was your weasel, so have it your way. Besides, it isn’t like it’s hurting his feelings.”

“That is pretty cold, Tad,” Kayla said.

“Call ’em like I see ’em.”

“What do I do?” Harry said. “I’ve sort of got it in the wringer, you know?”

“What do you and I do?” Tad said. “Way I see it, it’s you and me, kid.”

“What do we do?” Kayla said. “We’re all in on it.”

“This is like a goddamn musketeer meeting,” Tad said.

“Thanks for coming over,” Harry said to Kayla.

“Guess I should say thanks for thinking of me,” Kayla said.

“We invited someone we trusted,” Harry said.

“In fact,” Tad said, “this exhausts the list. Us three. Problem here is that the cops, present company excluded, are in on it. They know the kid is having, like, TV spots in his head, running film on events. That puts Harry, as he said, with his tallywhacker in the wringer. This chief is a fucking murderer, and so is the scar-faced man. So what we gonna do?”

“I don’t know if it would work well to tell the police,” Kayla said. “Even if you got past the chief and the sergeant on the matter, there’s still that pesky sound business, Harry. It’s all in your head, the evidence. But the body, Tad, it’s in your freezer.”

“That is a drawback,” Tad said.

“Thing that’s confused me,” Kayla said, “is why and how does it connect with my father? But now…well, it’s not pleasant, and none of it works out real favorably, but I’m starting to put it together.”

“Enlighten us, would you?” Harry said. “I’m the one seeing this stuff in my head, and I don’t know any more about what’s going on than I do about college algebra, which I failed, by the way.”

“I snuck some research today,” Kayla said. “I get caught, I’m out on my ass. Maybe worse. Thing kills me is, the chief, he complains about my perfume like it’s a crime, but isn’t bothered by hanging some kid, killing my father, the kids in the car out at Humper’s Hill. Others.”

“You could back off on the perfume some, dear,” Tad said. “It’s making my eyes water.”

“I know. I mean to. It’s a habit. Growing up, we didn’t always have running water. Started using it to hide that fact. It’s like a security blanket.”

“And as thick as one,” Tad said.

“Shit, Tad,” Harry said, “lighten up.”

“Sorry, sweetie,” Tad said. “But to get back on the subject, think you got more to worry about than how much perfume you got on, or sneaking some shit from the cop shop. Thing that’s bigger is we got that weasel-dick in the freezer, and someone finds him, we got to explain that shit. Try and do that. See how that works out. What we gonna tell them? He got sick, tied himself up, crawled in the freezer, and fucking died?”

“Freezer was your idea,” Harry said.

“I take credit for it,” Tad said, “but the thing to do now is figure out what to do with his dead weasel ass.”

“You’re going to stay on the weasel stuff, aren’t you?” Harry said.

“I might as well be straight with you. I can’t let it go.”

“You want to hear this or not?” Kayla said.

“Lay it on us,” Harry said.

“I’ve been copying some of the files, ones that aren’t supposed to leave the office. Showed you some, Harry. Pretended to be digging in cold cases, which wasn’t all pretend. I was. But I didn’t want them to know which ones. I had permission to take certain ones out, but this one, I didn’t want them to know I was interested. Because it has to do with my dad. And with them. I didn’t know it then, but now I do. I got the stuff in the car. I’ll get it.”

Kayla went out and Tad said, “She’s a keeper, Harry.”

Harry said, “I’m fucked. I really am fucked. They don’t kill me, they’re gonna throw me in jail. I can’t believe I helped put Joey in the freezer.”

“Think it would have been better they found him at your place?”

“No. But they’ll see the apartment, the light fixture, the wire.”

“You had a party over there, you and me. We got drunk, you swung on the goddamn wire. Drunks will do things like that. I know. Once I tried to jump off the roof here.”

“Tried?”

“Never got the chance. I fell. Just jarred myself. I was lucky. Hit a pile of leaves. Well, actually, I landed on the Mexican raking them, then the leaves. But I was lucky. The rake broke and he got his hat crushed, but he was all right too. Bottom line, Harry: This way we got some room to fuck around, figure things out, though I got to throw away some meat and plastic containers of frozen chili. Without the freezer, that shit is gonna turn fast. No matter how stuff shakes out, I lose some frozen goods. And I’m not sure I’m gonna want to put shit back in there when he’s out of it. He kind of fucks it up for good, as far as storage is concerned. I’m starting to see it as a Goodwill item. Guess it’s just psychological, but you know, putting what you eat in there with a dead body that’s got shitty pants…It’s the thought.”

“You’ve put your neck on the block. I know that.”

“I’m not asking for any praise. Not saying I don’t like praise, just saying I’m not asking for any. It’s the freezer I’m talking about. It’s not even a year old.”

“You getting Kayla over here and all…helping me get Joey…Shit, poor guy. He was a shit, but he didn’t deserve to have his ass strung up to a goddamn light fixture.”

“Not everyone votes that way,” Tad said.

Kayla came back in the house, the files under her arm.

“You didn’t come over here in a cruiser, did you?” Harry asked.

“Harry, I’m not dumb. I’m in my car. It’s parked around back, the way Tad asked. I just haven’t had time to change.”

Harry shook his head. “I’m just fucked-up is all.”

“I got to tell you,” Kayla said, “I’m more shook than you are. Something I should have told you the other night, but I was hoping it wouldn’t matter. Wasn’t sure it was what it was, to tell the truth. Dad. He had been in trouble before. For rape.”

“When?” Harry asked.

“Just listen,” Kayla said. “Walking out to the car, I get a few more flashes, things that fit the facts I got here, things I know now. Parts are coming together better and better.”

She spread the files on the table. “Harry, I didn’t tell you everything. Why I was so upset when you told me what you told me yesterday.”