17
PHONE CALL
Herculeah remained in a state of shock. The hand was still across her mouth as the conversation in the hall continued.
“Yeah, the closet. It was the nearest hiding place. So I get through the class somehow and I come back here and I open the closet. Man, the body’s gone. I mean, ‘I ain’t got nobody!’” He burst into song. “‘How lucky can you get?’” Another song.
Then he got serious. “I figure whoever killed the guy came back and removed the body or maybe I dreamed it or maybe—hey, it’s April Fool.
“Then thirty minutes ago I go out to the Dumpster and—yeah, somebody had moved the body, but not far enough. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Herculeah waited, trembling, until the men’s voices disappeared down the steps and out into the alley. In a burst of fright and energy, she thrust open the door.
She swerved to face—
Meat. Meat!
“You? You! What were you doing in there?” she asked.
“Same as you—hiding. I was looking around—same as you—and Mike came out to use the phone. I hid, and I was just getting enough nerve to come out when you came in.”
“Do you realize how you scared me?”
“I was a bit scared myself.”
“I mean, I had just realized the dead body was in the closet with me!”
“The body’s out in the alley.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
Herculeah gave one last glance of apprehension over her shoulder at the closet door.
“Why would anybody go to the trouble of dragging a body out into the alley?”
“I don’t know.”
Meat’s tone of voice said he didn’t know and didn’t particularly care.
“Are the men out there?”
Meat glanced through the glass in the door.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the phone? Where’s the phone you were talking about?”
Listlessly Meat nodded toward the pay phone at the end of the hall.
“Money! Money!”
Meat reached in his pocket and held out a handful of change.
Herculeah made her selection.
Meat didn’t ask who she was going to call. It didn’t matter. Nothing did.
She told him anyway. “I’m calling my dad. I’ve got to get him before those clowns move the body. I’ve got his car phone number for emergencies.”
She put in a coin and dialed.
‘Dad, hi, it’s me. I’m at Funny Bonz. How far away are you?“
There was a silence.
“That’s good. That’s perfect! Anyway, hurry. I’ve got a surprise for you. You remember the dead body Meat found in the bathroom?”
Another silence.
“Yes! Yes, you got it!”
She turned her delighted face to Meat. “Yes, Dad guessed it! The dead body is the surprise!” She glanced again at the door. “Now let’s get back in the closet.”