Brian Freeman - Spilled Blood

Chris remembered standing outside Kirk Watson’s window. ‘I almost did.’

‘God doesn’t punish us for things we almost do.’

‘I still have your gun,’ Chris said. ‘Would you like it back?’

‘My gun? I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Marco winked and whispered, ‘You keep it, Mr. Hawk. You never know when it will come in handy.’

‘Thanks.’

Chris left the motel owner sitting under the umbrella with his beer and the last bites of his capicola sandwich. He walked past the line of red doors toward his car. Most of the motel rooms were empty, but he heard a loud television blaring in one room and an even louder couple making love in another room. Everyone had different ways of escaping the rain.

Before he climbed inside his Lexus, he saw that he’d failed to latch the door on his own room. The wood was warped; the lock didn’t always catch. The door hung six inches ajar. He crossed through the curtain of water off the roof and reached for the knob to yank the door shut. As he did, he saw the weak glow of a lamp on the end table.

He was certain he’d turned it off as he left.

Chris pushed at the door with the toe of his shoe. The rusting hinges groaned in protest as it swung open. Cautiously, he stepped through the opening, smelling dampness and something else.

Perfume. He recognized the aroma. He’d smelled the same sweet cloud once before, on the steps of a box home on the streets of Barron.

Chris went inside. The forty-watt bulb under the lampshade left the room semi-dark with the curtains closed. Someone was waiting for him in the shadows. Tanya Swenson sat on the end of the motel bed.

35

‘How did you get here?’ Chris asked her.

Tanya was soaked to the bone in a blue T-shirt and jeans. Her arms hugged her chest. ‘There’s a place in the woods where you can pull off the highway and park. Johan showed it to me.’

Chris switched on the motel-room heater. The fan had a loud rattle. ‘You look cold. Pull the blanket around you.’

‘I’m okay.’

He checked the corridor to make sure they were alone, but he left the door open. ‘So you visit Johan when he’s working here?’

‘Sometimes. It’s boring making beds, you know, so I keep him company.’

‘What do you talk about?’

‘I don’t know. Stupid stuff. Like how much I want to get the hell out of this place after school.’

‘You don’t like it here in Barron?’ Chris asked.

‘Duh. No.’

‘Why is that?’

‘You want a list? There’s nothing to do. The boys are all jerks. The girls treat me like shit.’

Chris sat down, leaving as much space between them as he could. ‘Johan isn’t a jerk,’ he said.

‘No, he’s great.’

He watched her face. ‘You like him, don’t you?’

‘Why do you care?’ Tanya asked defensively.

‘I was just wondering. I can hear it in your voice.’

‘It’s dumb. It’s a crush. It’s not like he’d ever look at me that way anyway. He says with Kimberly gone, I’m like his little sister’

‘That’s sweet.’

Tanya rolled her eyes. ‘It sucks. I don’t need a brother, I need a boyfriend.’

‘Yeah, I get it.’ He added, ‘How’d you feel about him dating Olivia?’

‘I didn’t care.’

‘You weren’t jealous?’

‘So what if I was? It didn’t change anything.’

‘Did he tell you when he broke up with her?’

‘Yeah. He was afraid I’d be pissed because we were friends.’

‘Were you?’

Tanya shook her head. ‘I knew she wasn’t his type.’

‘Who was? Ashlynn?’

‘I guess. BPs stick together.’ She frowned. ‘That was mean. Ashlynn wasn’t the typical rich blond bitch. I liked her.’

‘Did you know that Johan and Ashlynn started dating after he split with Olivia?’

‘No.’

‘You never saw them together? Johan said she came to the motel to see him.’

‘They kept it a big secret,’ she insisted. ‘I only found out when everyone in town started talking about it.’

‘Why didn’t Johan tell you?’

‘I’m sure he figured I’d tell Olivia, but I guess she found out anyway. I told you there was something going on between her and Ashlynn.’

‘Friends keep a lot of secrets around here,’ he said.

Tanya squeezed the comforter of the bed under her fingers. ‘It’s a small town. If you want to keep something hidden, you don’t tell anybody. Johan dating Ashlynn? People would have been all over that.’

‘Did you hear that Johan went to the ghost town that night? Olivia went to see him after you called her.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Do you think Johan could have killed Ashlynn?’

‘No way.’

‘You sound pretty sure.’

‘He’d never do anything bad to a girl.’

‘Sometimes people do bad things in the heat of the moment.’

‘He wouldn’t hurt her. Not Johan.’

Chris glanced around the motel room at the faded wallpaper. Rain splattered over the threshold onto the beige shag carpet. ‘He’s missing, Tanya.’

‘That’s why I’m here.’

‘Do you know where he is?’

‘No.’

He heard the crack in her voice. ‘Are you sure?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said again.

‘Has he been in contact with you?’

The girl hesitated.

‘Tanya, you came here for a reason. Do you know what Johan is doing?’

‘He – he called me a little while ago.’

‘What did he want?’

‘If I tell you, you’ll tell the police. I don’t want him getting in trouble.’

‘You don’t want him to get hurt, either. What did he want?’

Tanya kicked at the carpet with her sneaker. ‘He wanted to know if my dad kept any guns in the house.’

Chris closed his eyes. ‘Damn it.’

‘He said he needed to find one fast.’

‘What did you tell him?’

‘I told him no,’ she said. ‘I told him not to be an idiot.’

‘Did he say what he was planning to do?’

‘It’s not hard to figure out. Sooner or later, he’s going to show up at Kirk Watson’s house.’

Chris got up from the end of the bed. ‘I need to call Michael Altman about this.’

Tanya grabbed his arm. ‘Wait.’

‘We can’t wait, Tanya. We have to stop him.’

‘There’s more.’

‘What is it?’

The girl clamped her mouth shut. Her face was white, as if she were about to jump from a bridge. Chris sat down next to her again. He put a hand softly on her shoulder, not wanting to spook her. ‘Does your father know you’re here?’ he asked.

‘No. He said I shouldn’t talk to you.’

‘Did you tell him about Johan looking for a gun?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because he wouldn’t do anything. He’s terrified something will happen to me. He doesn’t want me involved in any of this, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. If Johan goes after Kirk, Johan’s the one who will get killed.’

‘Why is your father afraid something will happen to you?’

‘Kirk already went after me. That was the warning.’

‘Warning?’ Chris asked.

‘Not to say anything.’

‘About what?’

Tanya hesitated. ‘About Ashlynn.’

‘What about her? Please, Tanya, you need to tell me what’s going on.’

‘Dad says it’s nothing. He still thinks Olivia killed her.’

‘You don’t?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘At first, that was the only thing that made sense. Now I’m not sure.’

‘So who do you think it was?’

‘I have no idea,’ she insisted. ‘How would I know?’

‘Was it Kirk? Did he know what was going on between Ashlynn and Johan?’

Tanya shook her head. ‘No, no, it doesn’t have anything to do with that.’