| |
Scooby
My phone buzzed with a call from an unknown number. I answered without looking at the screen in case it was Rowan calling. “Hello?”
“Is this Scooby?” an unfamiliar male voice asked.
“Depends on who you are.”
“I’d rather leave my name out of this, if that’s okay.”
“Fine by me,” I said. “I don’t need to know your name to hang up on you.”
“Wait, wait! Earl told me you were looking for someone named Li’L Frisco.”
The caller sounded like a middle-aged farmer type.
“That’s right,” I said, now giving him my full attention.
“Well, you see. I’ve got a cousin who runs a motel off highway 86, near Elizabeth. We got to talkin’ the other night and he told me that four or five Kings showed up at his place last week and just about scared the devil outta him.”
I cocked my head. “I’m listening.”
“At first he thought they were there to rob the place, but instead they rented a room.”
“What’s so fuckin’ scary about that?”
“Well, sir. They rented a single room for a kid calling himself Bennie and they were bein’ real cagey about the whole thing,” he said. “You know, not wanting to show ID, demanding to pay upfront in cash, insisting on picking the room.”
I knew from my research that Li’L Frisco’s real name was Benjamin Delgatto Jr., but that didn’t mean he was Frisco. “What makes you think this Bennie is the guy I’m looking for?”
“Because one of the guys slipped up one time and called him ‘Frisco.’ My cousin would have never noticed except just the night before he was drinking at Smiley’s and Earl told him to keep an eye out for this kid, Frisco. Told him that Scooby from the Howlers had a bounty on him.”
“Why didn’t your cousin call me himself?”
“He didn’t want to get directly involved with street gang stuff. You know how it is. He’s got his business and a family.”
“So, what?” I challenged. “You’re calling on his behalf?”
“My cousin’s a hard worker and an honest man, but his motel ain’t exactly bringing in the big bucks, ya know? And he’s got a daughter, my niece, who’s almost ready for college. Earl said you’d pay ten grand for this information, so I knew I had to call,” he said. “For my niece.”
“If the kid at the motel turns out to be Li’l Frisco and he’s still there when I show up, your niece won’t have to worry about tuition for the next four years.”
I jotted down the address and calculated the fastest route to the motel. It was eleven o’clock and my destination was only about thirty miles away so with any luck, Li’L Frisco would be dead by midnight.
* * *
The ride took almost forty minutes, but I barely remembered the trip. Memories of my brother came crashing down like waves pounding against the side of a cliff. One after another. Over and over again. Eroding away my sanity as I drove on through the night. I knew killing Li’L Frisco wouldn’t bring back my brother. I doubted spilling his blood would make me feel any better at all, but I knew it was something I had to do. Justice was the only thing I could give to my brother now.
The motel owner’s cousin didn’t know the actual number of the room where Li’L Frisco was holed up but was able to give me a general idea of where the room was located and after a few minutes of sneaking around the complex, I found him. The coward who killed my brother was in Room 136 of the Gold Creek Motel.
After making sure no one was guarding his room, I quietly passed the front door and peeked through the window. Through a gap in the curtains, I could clearly see Li’L Frisco reclining on his bed watching TV. He wore nothing but boxer shorts and socks and appeared to be alone. On the nightstand next to him was a pistol. Next to that was a large glass bong. The smell of weed permeated from under the door and Li’L Frisco seemed oblivious to his surroundings, laughing manically at whatever was on television.
“Laugh it up while you can, motherfucker. ’Cause the pain I’m about to put you through is gonna sober your ass right up. Then we’ll see who’s in the mood for jokes”
I watched and waited for Li’L Frisco to take another toke. I wanted both of his hands to be busy, and away from his gat when I kicked in his door.
It wasn’t long before I got my wish and Frisco rolled to his side, reaching for the bong, but just as he did, a loud boom resonated through the motel complex. I hit the ground and laid down underneath the window. I figured if the Kings were shooting at me, maybe they’d miss and take Li’L Frisco out for me.
After a few seconds I raised my head to see someone, probably the motel’s owner, my caller’s chickenshit cousin, taking out the trash. The loud bang had been caused by the dumpster’s heavy lid swinging open and crashing against its back side.
Li’L Frisco cracked his door open, and I seized the moment. Springing to my feet I forced myself through the door and grabbed Li’L Frisco by his skinny throat. He reached for his gun, now tucked into the waistband of his boxer shorts, but I was too fast. I swatted the gun to the floor before he could get a hold of it. I lifted him off the ground, his feet kicking wildly as I tightened my grip.
“Do you know who I am?” I rasped.
Li’L Frisco did his best to nod. The TV providing the only light in the otherwise darkened room.
“Good. Then you know why I’m here.” I squeezed harder still. “And that this is the last day of your life.”
I threw him to the ground, pulled out my gun, and put it against his head. “You snuck up on my brother and cut his throat.”
“I’m sorry, man. I—”
I rapped the side of his head with the butt of my pistol. “Don’t say a fucking word. Not one fucking sound. My brother didn’t have the chance to beg for his life. Neither will you. Now, sit down.” I said, directing him to the armchair in the opposite corner of the room.
In my jacket pocket were cable ties which I used to secure his ankles and wrists to the chair and duct tape for later.
I turned on the lamp directly over the armchair and it was only then that I could see how little Li’L Frisco was.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-two,” he said, trying to not to sound scared.
“Bullshit,” I said. “How fuckin’ old are you for real?”
“Eighteen,” he said.
“If you think that’s gonna make a fuckin’ difference to me, it ain’t,” I said, but now I was lying.
He was old enough to kill Scrappy, but he was still a fucking kid. But I couldn’t let that cloud my judgement. So, what, he was young. He still had to die.
“Be straight with me and I’ll make this quick. Lie to me and I’ll beat you until you don’t know your name anymore. Then the real pain will start.”
Li’L Frisco’s knees knocked, uncontrollably.
“Is anyone guarding this place?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Any Kings supposed to check on you tonight?”
Tears streamed down his face, and he whimpered, shaking his head again.
“Killing my brother. Was that your initiation fee for becoming a member?” I asked.
He nodded.
Ever since Scrappy’s death, I’d carried a fiery ball of rage, deep down in the pit of my stomach. In fact, the only times I didn’t feel its presence was when I was blind drunk, or when I was alone with Rowan. But now that I had my brother’s killer in my grasp, I was sure I’d be able to quell the fire burning inside me by bringing him to justice.
“I hope the very short time spent living as a King was worth the life you took. Worth losing your own life.”
I unsheathed my twelve-inch Bowie knife. Li’L Frisco’s whimpers turned to moans as he struggled to free himself from his restraints.
“Shhh,” I said, locking the motel room door. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since I heard my brother had been murdered. I swore to him that I would find you, bleed you dry, and dump your corpse on the street in front of the Kings’ clubhouse.”
I grabbed the back of the chair and began dragging it and its occupant into the bathroom.
“I’d hate to get blood all over these carpets,” I said before tipping the chair forward.
Li’L Frisco’s head was now hanging over the edge of the bathtub, ready for me to slice open his jugular vein like a slaughterhouse animal when my phone buzzed.
It was Rowan.
Shit.
I considered letting it go to voicemail but felt compelled to answer.
“Don’t make a single sound,” I warned Li’L Frisco, before exiting the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
“Is everything okay?” I answered, slightly out of breath.
“I need you to listen to me,” Rowan said. “Please don’t say anything until I’ve finished. I’ve been working up my nerve for the past two hours, and I only have enough strength to say this one time.”
I said nothing.
“When you asked me if I was ‘all in,’ I thought I knew what you meant. I thought you were talking about you and me, but now I understand that ‘all in’ means much more. So much so, that I’m not sure you fully understood the question you were asking.”
From the other side of the bathroom door, I could hear Li’L Frisco cough and choke behind his duct tape gag, so I moved farther away, not wanting Rowan to hear what I was in the middle of doing.
“I understand now that being with you, means being a part of your club,” she continued. “Being a part of the lives of the people who are the most important to you. It means allowing myself to be open and vulnerable to the people you trust, because I trust you. It means having faith that you can handle whatever I’m going through no matter what.”
I remained silent.
“I understand all of that now, and I am more all in than ever before. I don’t just love you, Crew. I love the people who love you and want them in my life almost as much as I want you, but the problem isn’t me. I think it’s you that doesn’t know how to be ‘all in.’ You use your club life as an excuse to keep people at arm’s length. You’ve convinced yourself I couldn’t possibly understand your life while simultaneously keeping me at arm’s length.”
“I’m trying to protect you,” I bit out.
“Don’t speak, especially if you’re going to make excuses,” she snapped. “You’re not protecting me. You’re protecting yourself from losing me. All the while, you’re out there alone putting yourself in danger. I know you did what you did with Stanley to protect me, but I never asked you to do that. Had we been a real team, truly all in, you would have talked to me first and maybe I could have talked you out of it.”
She was right and the thought terrified me. Would I have wanted her to talk me down?
“I know you’re out looking for the man who killed Scrappy,” she continued. “And I know what you’ll do when you find him.”
I looked at the bathroom door.
“Please, Crew. I didn’t know your brother, but if he was anything like you, I know he wouldn’t want you to kill anyone in his name.”
“I miss him so much,” I said, my voice cracking. “And I’m so angry.”
“Go all in with me and I can help you heal. Your club can help you. Our baby can help you.”
“What?” I rasped.
“I’m pregnant with our baby. I’m going to be a mother, Crew. Now, you need to decide if you’re going to be a father or not. But I’m not doing this with you unless you’re all in. You have to choose what kind of man you want to be.”
“Stay right where you are,” I said and hung up the phone. Rowan’s words ringing through my head.
I thought about what Scrappy would do in the same situation. Rowan was right. He’d never be okay with clipping an eighteen-year-old kid. Not even if that kid had cut my throat.
I went back to the bathroom and dragged Li’L Frisco out to the center of the hotel room. I then cut him free from the chair and removed the tape from his mouth.
“Sit on the bed, keep your mouth shut, and listen to me carefully,” I said. “I wanted to make you pay for what you did to my brother more than anything else in this world, and I had no reason not to. Now I have two.”
“You’re letting me go free?”
“Nothing’s free,” I replied. “In fact, the Kings no longer own you, I do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Meaning, you’re gonna leave town tonight,” I said, pulling out my money roll and peeling off five hundred bucks. “Get on the first bus out of here and don’t stop until there’s at least three states between us. When you get to wherever you’re going, call me and I’ll wire you some more money.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m giving you money to get the hell out of town and away from the Kings. Once you find a place to make a life, you’ll have one week to find a job. I’m gonna check on you twice a month and if you haven’t made something better out of your life, I’ll find you and rescind this offer. Do you understand what I’m saying, now, Benjamin?”
“Yes. I understand.”
“Good, now get dressed and get the hell outta here.”
I gave him fifty-fifty odds of getting his shit together, but right now, I didn’t care. I needed to get back to Rowan as soon as possible. All that mattered now was my family. Not my pain or even my grief, and least of all vengeance disguised as justice.
