Reconciliation

Wes...seethed.

+

Kelly wasn't abducted, she was a runaway. It was easy enough to see from the signs. Some of her clothing was gone, the envelope in the Bible probably was her cash stash, and he hadn't seen a cell charger in her room.

He planned to find her, but his motives were a bit muddled in his mind. For the most part, it was more of an 'I'll show them attitude', doing what they couldn't do and throwing it in their faces. How dare they accuse him of doing going after one of his friends wom...en... He grimaced. That was, in fact, exactly what he HAD done. He supposed he had to show them that he was no longer that way...that he no longer wanted to be SEEN as being that way. That he no longer wanted to see HIMSELF as that way.

So whatever his motivations, Reg needed to find out where she was. Because most girls her age who ran away came back in a few days. And her friends covered for her. In fact, he knew exactly who to go to for the straight skinny, the blonde who covered her meeting with that piece of shit boyfriend from a couple of months ago, Pauline French.

It was the work of a few phone calls and conversations to locate her address. It was a couple hours to see her show up. And it wasn't much pressure at all to get her to spill her guts. DISTRESSINGLY little pressure. Because when teens ran away, their friends generally needed to be put on a rack to get them to talk

But Pauline wanted to talk.

It was with heavier heart that Reg finished his interview with Pauline, his original motives lost in the shuffle. Kelly had run away...but Pauline was not sure she wanted to stay away. In fact, Pauline was scared to death! Reg was stuck with making a number of decisions. And the one which was best for her was, of course, worst for him.

So with great trepidation, he pulled out the second manila envelope that Mr. Turner had given him: the distressingly thin file on Curtis and Andrea.

+

This was the third bar Reg had hit tonight and there was still no luck! He was starting to get very skittish and was thinking of calling the cops. But he wasn't quite there yet. He wanted to fix this without ruining Kelly.

The waitress came up to him. "Whatcha want?" the same question asked a hundred times a night was almost slurred together. Her name tag said Daisy.

Reg slid a twenty to the girl, who looked askance at it. "No...nothing like that. I'm looking for a friend of mine. She's a blonde girl. She wears a weird bracelet with a blinking light on it. She travels with a guy...tall...maybe in a leather jacket?"

"If she's your friend, why do you need to pay people to find her?" the waitress asked suspiciously.

"Friend may be a strong term. I didn't get their numbers last time and I need to get in touch with them badly. Time is of the essence if you get my drift." Reg said, trying all his charm.

"Well...they were in here last week." She seemed very unsure on how to continue. "There isn't going to be any trouble, is there?"

"No! Look...I get it. I'm this stranger walking up to you cold and asking about a girl. I get that. Here." He slid a business card and showed her his driver's license. "If you know anything, if you see them or can get in touch with them, I'd appreciate it if they gave me a call. SOON, okay?" He passed her the card and the twenty, which she slid in her apron.

He got up to try the next bar.

The waitress watched his back as he left. "Jenny...could you watch my station for five? I need to grab a smoke." Walking outside after grabbing her purse, she pulled out her cell and a different business card with only a single printed phone number on it.

+

Up

Down

Andrea moved in a rhythmic fashion, her cool breasts pressed against his warm flesh.

Up

This was her favorite thing in the world, their flesh pressed together, gathering his heat into herself.

Down

Curtis always burned very hot. She bit her lower lip and reached, pinching his nipples with her nails.

U...

"Do you mind?" he asked. "I'm trying to concentrate here."

"Not at all." She dug her nails in a bit harder. "I could do this all day...Am I distracting you?" she asked puckishly and bit his shoulder hard enough to leave a mark.

...p

"No." he growled, focused.

Ring

She rolled off his back to allow him to finish his push-ups and languorously drifted over to the wall, grabbing her blouse off a chair. A small cabinet was mounted on the wall. She opened the doors and the interior was divided into small compartments, each holding a single cell phone.

Ring.

She picked up the one which was glowing and flipped it over, reading the three names on the paper label on the back. She pulled out the Cell Phone Personal Organizer from a desk drawer.

Ring

"Hello? Who is this? Daisy? HI! How are you?" She flipped to the 'D's and read the biography and checked which name she had used there. "How is your boy Blake? Oh...He was? Tall, sandy brown hair? Said his name was Reg? No...there won't be any trouble. No...I just want to be able to avoid him. I figured he'd look for me again. I mean he's just a total stalker. I KNOW! He didn't seem the type when I started dating him either. I don't think I'm the first he's stalked. Probably lots of angry people looking for him..." She opened the laptop and put in the password to get through the encryption and booted up the GPS tracker. "Thank you SO MUCH. I mean...who wants the drama? Uh huh. Thanks again. Yes. We'll take care of you as promised. Buy Blake something nice. Bye..."

"Trouble?" Curtis toweled himself off.

"When isn't it?" she responded. "He's still trying to find us."

He walked over to the pantry and pressed his hands on either side of a line of cookbooks on the shelf and lifted them in one unit and put them on the counter. He took a heavy magnet off the refrigerator and pushed it against the wall behind the books. Pulling on the magnet, the whole panel of drywall came out, revealing a stack of several labelled aluminum attaché cases in the hidden compartment.

"I think I've been more than fair. This is three warnings he's ignored." He pulled one of the cases out. It was heavy.

+

Reg sighed. This was the tenth place he had been to which was on his detectives' list as possible hang outs for them. It was almost like they rotated around to stay hidden. That boded poorly. It was a long shot, but it was the only shot he had. He reviewed his options in his mind, very close to just calling the cops with his information. He didn't quite want to go there yet. Sliding into his car, he shut the door.

A muffled voice came through the window. "Hey, Mr. Perry. I know where those people are."

Outside the window was a blue low cut dress with a pair of pale hemispheres tantalizingly half revealed and hefted, Reg noted with a professional eye, by a push up bra. Her cleavage was framed by black locks which draped enticingly on her cleavage. Reg pressed down on the window button and scrunched over to get a look at the woman's face. A cool hand reached in and he saw a flash of a face as she stuck her head in the opening, kissing him firmly. Her left hand which held a clutch with her thumb came in as well.

She dropped the purse into his lap, revealing the stungun hidden behind it. The darts stuck him straight in the chest and the amps started coursing through his system. His scream was muffled behind her widely opened lips, pressing against his mouth, her right hand keeping him from pulling his head away.

Thirty seconds later, the cycle of the stun gun was finished and he collapsed exhausted, the blood sugar in his system used up by the twitching of his major muscle groups. It hurt like hell and Reg wanted to sleep for a week. He noted with horror that it was Andrea with a wig.

Humming contentedly, she opened the zipper of her clutch, leaning in and giving him a fair view of her cleavage. She pulled out a syringe and removed the guard with her teeth. "Start counting backwards from zero until you get to your number." she cooed as she pushed the needle into his neck.

+

"I don't get it." Curtis said, "I mean...you stick two people in Paradise, tell them they are the Lords of Creation and all they need to do is to NOT eat one...ONE tree." He held up a finger in emphasis. "Ten thousand other things to eat. It isn't even something they need to DO, just something they SHOULDN'T. I wonder if He had even finished talking before they had juice dribbling down their chins. It's a flaw in the species. Why do people mistake patience for weakness?"

"Honey, you're monologuing. And the phrase is 'mistaking kindness for weakness.'"

Curtis smirked. "I'm allowed. I'm a bad guy. And I'm pretty sure that kindness is not one of my flaws."

"Are you asking me, or are you asking him?" Andrea asked and gestured with her head as she changed into a simple blouse with black leggings and boots. Her dress and heels were unceremoniously shoved into a carry all.

'Him' in this case was Reggie. He was kowtowing woozily on the ground, his hams resting on his heels and his forehead on the ground as his feet were zip tied together and padded handcuffs surrounded his wrists behind his back. An Ace bandage was wrapped around his head and mouth. Slowly he started to straighten up from where he was curled up on the ground as the short term general anesthetic lost its grip on him. He was lying a dozen yards from the chasm of an abandoned quarry, the moonlight rippling blue off the water at the bottom.

"I'm pretty sure he's biased." Curtis observed.

"So am I." She said with a smile, but then she paused with a light frown of thoughtfulness and he waited. "Things aren't so simple. He was looking for us and he wasn't armed."

Curtis stuck out his lower lip in thought and considered this. "I fail to see how that didn't simplify things. The fact he looked for us without arming himself seems to pretty much verify everything I've said about human intelligence and the huge flaws in the Pollyanna American educational system. Is this some 'morals' thing about killing an unarmed man?" She shrugged. "Well, now I'm curious."

The two stood and checked out the environs of the abandoned quarry. No one was in evidence.

A blade appeared in his fist and slashed at the bandage. Reg spat out a wad of gauze. "What do you want, Reginald Perry?"

"I'm not armed! I didn't go to the cops! I didn't go to anyone! I don't even WANT to see you! I don't want to get even with you. You two are the LAST people I want to see." He stopped and watched them observing him, waiting. He licked his lips nervously. "But...I want to hire you for a job."

There was a short pause. Slowly, Curtis said 'A job?', his tone intrigued.

"You ASSHOLE!" Andrea yelled at Reg. "I FINALLY get him calmed down," she gestured at Curtis "His job isn't causing us too much anxiety... I even got invited to an Avon party I have a house...I have neighbors...I. HAVE. A. LIFE! And now you want to drag us back into some nonsense so we can assault or kill some hapless husband 'cause he pissed you off? I haven't had to draw a gun in anger since...since...yooou!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Honey...could you go to the store down the road and get me a Coke?"

"A Coke?" Curtis smiled. "I want to hear this proposal. Do you promise not to shoot him while I'm gone?"

"I promise not to shoot him."

Curtis cocked his head. "Do you promise not to kill him while I'm gone?"

"I promise not to shoot him." She repeated. He laughed, a disconcertingly merry sound to Regs' ears.

Reggy quickly started shaking his head. "This isn't about some husband! It's about a girl! A little girl...okay...a teen. She...she's gotten involved with some bad company. DANGEROUS company. These three brothers... they are meth dealers. Maybe manufacturers. She ran off with one of them and her friend isn't sure what's going on with her. It's the only reason she would talk to me. They didn't know the history of these guys before this girl 'fell in love' with him. She might even be held unwillingly. I'm...I'm not good with violence. I don't even own a gun! You are the only people I know who are...uh...good at this sort of thing." He looked at them, probing for a reaction. She was frowning silently, giving glances at her man. He sat there with a perfectly bland expression. He could see the interest leak out of him and transfer to her.

"And what do I get out of this? I find myself..." a shadow of puzzlement passed Curtis' face, "content. I have a place to stay. I have money. I have her. You have nothing you can offer me."

"I can help you find a different job." Reggie tried.

"Oh really?" Curtis laughed. "I doubt your co-workers would thank you when the people who come looking for me found me on your showroom floor. 'Walking away' just isn't an option for me."

"Walking away isn't an option for US." Andrea corrected. She reached over and put her arms around his shoulders and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I hate your fucking job."

Curtis shook his head at Reg. "Whatever you think I am or what I do, I am not about to kill someone much less three simply for wanting to date a 16 year old girl. That is why you make laws against it. She made her choices and she's almost an adult."

"Al-most" Andrea articulated quite distinctly from where she was leaning against him. Curtis turned and looked at her and tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows raising, his look questioning. She sighed and looked away, taking a few steps away from him and squatting down to watch the two of them.

"I promised to not hurt any children on purpose or in an easily foreseeable way as long as self-defense wasn't involved. I don't recall that I swore to become Amnesty International." Curtis defined.

"I know." She said resignedly.

Reg looked at them. "You can't be okay with this! You have to help her!" he appealed at Andrea.

She gave him a look of disgust. "I CAN'T! Two minutes ago, I was willing to kill you so you couldn't threaten our lives. Nothing's changed. The only thing that's changed is the target. If anything, you want us to get involved in something MORE dangerous than roughing up some poor idiot. I hold him in much higher esteem than some...some...stranger." However, her expression showed a great deal of self loathing.

"But killing some husband is a BAD thing. Helping this girl is a GOOD thing."

"YOU. AREN'T. HELPING." Andrea glared at him and her eyes quickly flicked back to Curtis. She wrapped her arms around herself and tucked her head down, her hair curtaining her face. "Why are you bothering us with this stuff instead of going to the police? Where are her parents?" she asked the ground.

"I...I don't want to get them involved if I don't have to. She's...she's very young. I don't want to ruin her reputation. Besides, I want to handle it myself."

"But you aren't handling it yourself. You are asking US to handle it for you." Curtis said from behind him. Reg was incredibly cognizant of how vulnerable he was. From everything he knew about them, pushing them was downright suicidal, but he tried anyway.

"I'm not a doctor either. If she was sick, I wouldn't try to treat her myself." Reg looked directly at Andrea who was squatting off his left side. While she seemed to have zero qualms with killing him, Kelly's circumstance seemed to resonate with her. He tried that. "Her name is Kelly DiVecchio. She reads Twilight books and works on banners for the home coming dance and she hated her braces. Her dog is named..." Andrea started to shiver.

Reg felt a foot hook underneath his bound legs from where he was kneeling and pull up sharply, taking him by surprise. With his hands bound, he couldn't arrest his fall and his sternum hit a sharp rock sticking out of the ground in front of him. He coughed and gasped, fighting for air.

Did they position him over the rock deliberately? It was, on reflection, a stupid question. A hand reached over the top of his head and gripped him under his eyebrow ridge and pulled the Lothario back up, sharp fingernails suggestively pressed against his quickly closed eyelids.

Curtis leaned over very close to his ear and spoke in low tones, his fingers grasping the scruff of Reg's neck. "That was a truly masterful piece of manipulation and guilt. Well done! She'll be suffering for days. Now while IN PRINCIPLE, I approve of that kind of thing, PRACTICALLY, well, you are pissing in my fireplace. I have to live with her after this. She's...a handful even when she isn't pinging. Since we're playing manipulative games, let me try one. If you cause her one more iota of emotional distress, I will put your head in a box, drive it south and put it on the front step of 1434 Cypress Boulevard, Boca Raton. I always did my homework Reginald Perry." Reggie's heart froze. That was his father's address at his retirement village. "He just had that stet put in. As a dutiful son, I would think you'd like to spare him emotional distress." Curtis paused and frowned, as if a new thought occurred to him. "Oops, let me check on something." Louder he said "Babe, do you want to go to Florida?"

In a small mournful voice, she asked "Can we go to Disney World? Daddy never let me go. He said it was too low brow and plebian."

"Of course. As many parks as you like. And your dad was an idiot." He said indulgently. Turning to Reg, his tone became more matter of fact. "So...do I need to get that box?" He raised his eyebrows meaningfully to Reg. Reg shook his head slightly

That point resolved, Curtis asked "Now, who is this girl that you are mindful of her?"

"She is my god daughter."

Curtis snickered. "You swore to teach her and defend her from evil and you came to ME for help? Aren't you going to appeal to my sense of right and wrong?" he asked in slightly mocking tones.

Reggie examined him, judging his reactions so far. "Nooo... that would be a waste of time. I am appealing to your boredom. You wouldn't have listened to me if you weren't interested at least a little bit. Plus it might make her happy." He wagged his head at Andrea.

Curtis barked laughter and Andrea looked up, smiling ruefully. "He's got you there. So...?" she asked hopefully.

Curtis gave her an amused smile. "Nice try. But you're missing the whole point, babe." He said, pointing at Reggie. "HE promised to help raise her and protect her from evil. So if there is ANY rescuing to be done, it's HIS promise, not mine. I'm not getting involved. The Choice is his." She sighed and squatted on her haunches, a slight frown crossing her face.

Curtis went to a large Whole Foods paper bag lying by a car and picked it up. He put on a pair of latex gloves and laid out a bottle of vodka, a gun and a knife from the bag. "So, speaking of choices Reginald Perry, do you want to be a drunk, a suicide or a revenge victim?"

"What?" Reg's mind was still ruminating on that last point when his concentration was jerked back to the quarry.

"Your death. You can be a drunk who walked off the side of a quarry. You can be the guy who committed suicide in his car...or if you make this difficult at all, you can be the guy who was caught by one of the many husbands you've offended and you'll be found shot with your cock in your mouth. Pre-mortem removal." At Reggie's look of shock, he quirked his head. "Are you forgetting the issue here? I told you to leave us alone. I made it abundantly clear what would happen if you kept trying to threaten us." He shot a glance at his wife. "I even generously gave you a warning with your driver's license at someone's request. So...what will it be?"

"Wait! Who is going to help Kelly? At least let me call her parents so they can do something!" Reg started to beg. Curtis' expression told him exactly the likelihood of that happening.

Andrea, still frowning and looking at the ground asked 'Did you PROMISE to kill him if he kept bothering us? And there is that PI he hired who might ask questions."