Shred of Evidence

When the same car passed the house for the third time in an hour, I knew it was over. If there was any question at all, it was whether Tony would send the police or come for me himself.

Either way, I was dead.

“Who you waiting for?”

Letting the curtain drop, I turned to answer Mabel’s tired eyes. “I’m expecting a visit from my mother.”

“I thought your mother died when you were a kid.”

“She did. I said I was expecting a visit, not that I was looking forward to it.”

Mabel rubbed the sleep from her face. “Sometimes you say the strangest things.”

Grunting, I asked if she had any beer, waited for her to leave the room before I checked my gun. I wanted to spare her for as long as possible.

There was only one shot left. Returning the gun to my coat pocket, I consoled myself with the fact that even a full cylinder wouldn’t have made any difference.

The bank heist had been rolling out like a red carpet when, for no good reason, John’s friend shot the guard.

That’s when I knew my dreams of going straight were over before they even began. No matter how much I got from this job, the stake wouldn’t be enough to bring the bank guard back to life. The heat would never be off until I was behind bars or six feet under.

I could almost imagine Hoover himself printing up copies of my face. When John’s friend pulled the trigger, my chances of opening my own bar went up in smoke. I’d never be able to scramble out of this rat-hole of an existence.

I was doomed.

John’s friend was licking his lips, staring at the chest wound he’d created. I didn’t even know the guy’s name, only that John owed money and his participation was the kicker that kept my wheelman available for this job.

I had wondered why the bastard didn’t just demand John’s share rather than settling for a third. Now I knew. This guy was a nutcase.

Blanking my mind, I shot the fucker dead, sending him dancing into the next world.

When I turned back to the bank teller, I saw she was too scared to move, never mind fill the bag I’d given her. The customers might have been shrieking and scrambling for safety, but she was white granite. I decided to bail before the shots drew the cops.

John dropped me at Casey’s where I tried to sledgehammer my memories of the failed job into oblivion. That’s when I heard John’s friend was somebody’s kid brother, and that somebody was none other than Tony Mendoza. Tony would plug a guy for not showing enough respect, never mind killing his brother.

Mabel returned from the kitchen with my beer, and I traded her a sawbuck for the bottle. “Why don’t you go downtown, pick yourself up something nice.”

“You mean now?”

“Sure.”

Mabel hesitated, and I wondered how much she guessed. She wasn’t dumb, just trapped here like so many others, me included. “If that’s what you want.”

“That’s what I want.”

Crumbling the sawbuck, Mabel bit her lower lip. “I was kind of looking forward to meeting your dead mother.”

I looked away from her face. “You’ll see her soon enough.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Staring out the window until she left, I locked the door behind her and sat on the couch, the beer in one hand, my gun in the other. I just hoped they didn’t keep me waiting long.

No. Fuck that. I wasn’t going to make it easy for them. I wasn’t going down without a fight. Tony Mendoza could kiss my ass. If his brother hadn’t screwed up my job, he’d be home right now counting out his take.

Draining the beer, I jumped up to pace the room, tried to figure my options.

Tony wouldn’t send the cops. This was too personal. That meant there’d be three of them. One would come in the front, one would come in the back, and one would keep the engine running.

I had a single bullet, an empty beer bottle, and a history of losing every brawl I’d ever fought. The one thing I might have in my favor was the element of surprise. I just needed something to surprise them with.

Since I was probably dead no matter what happened today, I had nothing to lose. That should give me an edge.

Now I just needed a plan.

The empty beer bottle gave me an idea. Filling it with a mixture of hair tonics and aftershave, I jammed a rag in the neck and shook until the fabric absorbed the flammable liquid.

After hunting for matches, I checked the window to make sure Tony’s boys wasn’t circling around again, and ran across the street to hide behind a thick tree. Since each time they’d gone by east to west, I went three houses up the direction they’d come so I could approach them from behind.

I hadn’t been there ten minutes when I saw the car pass me. Lighting the rag, I ran towards the car and heaved my firebomb inside before hitting the ground.

There was a small whoosh of an explosion and then screams. I raised my head long enough to see one of the guys stumble from the car and raise his gun when the car exploded and sent a huge piece of metal through his chest.

Rolling away from the blaze I climbed to my feet, staggered backwards from the wreck which was hell hot and throwing off a suffocating smoke.

Eventually the screams stopped and I was alive for the moment, rich with the single bullet still left in my gun. “Surprise.”

Turning away from the scene, I ran flat out in the opposite direction from Mabel, hoping to keep her out of this mess.

I wasn’t so dumb either. Maybe I’d just bested Tony’s guys back there, but it was only a matter of time before he evened the score. All the bullets in the world wouldn’t change that.