By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The sun was up and it was getting hot fast. Charlie turned off the highway going to Jaco and shot up the hill, taking his new shortcut this time. He stopped at the top, looked back onto the highway and waited to see if he had been followed. He waited five minutes but only a tourist van came by with people on their way to resorts along the beaches. One other benefit of the shortcut was that he could see miles of the highway going back to Puntarenas and on to Jaco.
Charlie smiled as he started the motorbike and made his way down the hillside on the other side, across the gravel road, and back up the other mountainside. Once in the wooded area he stopped, got off the bike, and inched it around the trees to the spot close to the cliff behind the house.
The trees offered some shade but they also blocked a lot of the breeze. Charlie made three trips from the trees to the cliff’s edge carrying the items he would need there, first the battery, then the winch, and last the chain and rope. He was dripping wet with sweat. He took a few minutes under a tree to have a bottle of water before opening the tool bag.
Wanting to be sure that everything worked properly, Charlie had planned to have a dry run then go for broke tomorrow night, but after hearing Araya’s news of a hearing and maybe an arrest warrant for Morales, he knew that there would be no time for a dry run now — he would have to go in tonight.
He attached the chain to the winch, bolting an end onto each side, and laid it close to the edge of the cliff. He then tied the rope to the chain and ran it back to a large tree. He tied off the rope, cut the extra off, and repeated the action. Now, with two strong ropes holding the winch, he was ready to see if it all worked.
Charlie had attached a remote-control between the battery and the winch, which all lay close together next to the cliff. He removed the clicker from his pocket and pressed the down button. A low whine came immediately from the winch as it played out its spool of cable. Charlie let it run down the face of the cliff only a few feet before he stopped it. He pressed the up button for the winch to re-spool the cable and then disconnected the battery. Finally, he covered everything with broken branches from the ceder trees.
He had enough water but he had ignored food when he was planning not to stay, so he had none. He thought about running into Jaco and grabbing something to eat, but the risk of being seen by someone who might later say they saw him was greater than his hunger. So he settled down with his back against a tree to wait for nightfall.
Charlie unwrapped the yellow rag from around the 45-caliber Glock. It had cost him a pretty penny, but guns were hard to come by in Costa Rica. He checked the magazine and reinserted it into the gun, and then pulled the top back to load a bullet into the chamber. He made sure the safety was set before taking the silencer out and screwing it onto the gun. He re-wrapped the rag around it and put it back in the tool bag.
A breeze moved through the trees and dried his sweat-soaked shirt. It was truly a welcome relief from the hot sun. He was dressed in black, which would be beneficial for night work but did nothing to cool him off in the heat of the day. Charlie pulled his shirt over his head and made a pillow out of it. With the shirt behind his head, he drifted in and out of sleep the rest of the day.
Inspector Araya had left the soda with Charlie and parked alongside one other car with two patrolmen outside Margot’s gate. He was waiting to hear from the alarm company that they had shut off the alarm going to the house. He had a warrant to search the house and had been on his way to do just that when he spotted Charlie downtown. He had started to serve Charlie with it at the soda, but decided that things would be easier with Charlie gone from the house.
His cell phone rang –the alarm company. He clicked off and stepped from his car, hollering to one of the patrolmen to climb the gate and release the lock.
Once in the house, they began to comb the inside, starting in the kitchen. They pulled the drawers all of the way out, checking their bottoms to see whether anything was taped to them. They opened the vents. They went through the refrigerator. They missed nothing, and they found nothing.
They moved to the living room. They would check the couch first, and one of the officers pulled out his knife but Araya stopped him. “We’re not going to destroy the house. If it’s not in plain sight don’t worry about it.”
Araya found a photo album and took his time going through it. They all looked so carefree and happy before all the shit hit the fan. He wondered what hell they had gotten themselves involved in.
He laid the album back on the table and followed his men into the bedroom. One look at the bathtub and he was in love. The three of them stood around the tub with stupid smiles on their faces, each in a different fancy.
Araya shook his head to clear it and said, “Okay, let’s see what we can find.”
They unmade the bed, turned the mattress over, checked under the bed, and then remade it. Araya went through the drawers but found mostly women’s clothes. There wasn’t a sign of Charlie’s living there. Then it occurred to him that maybe Charlie didn’t live there and they were wasting their time. But other than the rental he had moved out of, there was no record of Charlie Blankenship’s living anywhere else.
“Sir, we haven’t found anything. There is a bag here with men’s clothes, but nothing else. In fact, there aren’t even any bills or normal papers lying around.”
“I guess he was living out of that damn bag. Okay, you go back to the station. I’m going to look around outside, and then I’ll lock up.”
The patrolman said, “Yes sir!” and he and the other man took off.
Araya walked into the living room and over to the sliding door, which he unlocked and then walked out onto the shaded porch. Three reclining sun chairs, one upright chair, and a fire pit made up everything in the backyard. In the fire pit was a pile of ashes. He picked up a stick and moved them around, but there was nothing to see. Charlie had done a good job of covering his tracks.
Araya called the alarm company and had the alarm reset. As he backed up to leave, he said out loud, “I’m missing something. I know damn well that asshole is working with the D.E.A.”
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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