BODY COUNT: Killers (a novel): Chapter 44. Louisiana Blues

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It took Wayne and Tony two weeks to cover all of the shifts at the truck shops east of Baton Rouge on I-10. It was time-consuming work. They were able to cover only a few miles of interstate highway in a day, what with having to check three shifts at each of the truck stops. Then they had to backtrack to check the weekend crew. The frustrating thing about the slow progress was that outside of the one girl – Tammy – no one knew anything.
    After that they went all of the way to Sulfur, Louisiana, and began to work their way back to Baton Rouge. Tony was happier now that it was April. The rains still came but it was warm rain, and flowers were coming up everywhere. Tony estimated that at the rate they were going it would be into May before they would have hit all the shifts along the freeway.
    Peter reported that two more women had been murdered – one at the other end of I-10 and another a few miles from where they were now, the body having been dumped in Jennings, Louisiana.
    Wayne and Tony sat in the car debating whether to drive to Jennings. Tony was opposed to it. “I can’t see it will do any good. We’ve been to three dump spots and nothing was ever left that the cops hadn’t screwed up.”
    Wayne agreed but pointed out, “What if, by chance, there is something and we don’t go? This is the latest death. There could be something they missed.”
    In the end, they headed to Jennings. It had rained that morning, but the sun was burning off the few clouds that remained and the afternoon was going to be nice.
    Tony was looking at the clearing sky. “We need to take a couple of days off. We’ve been going seven days a week for weeks now. Hell, I never knew there were that many shifts at a restaurant.”
    “I’m with you,” said Wayne, who was driving. “I’m tired too. However, no one else is going to cover this shit but us, and I want to get it over with.”
    Tony was giving his head a good rub. “I see no progress! It’s as if we’re going in circles. We show the same pictures, ask the same questions, and get the same blank looks.”
    “That’s the only way to do it, Tony. You know that all we need is for one person to remember something we can use to break this case wide open. That person may be the next one we speak to, or the hundredth one, but I believe someone saw something and we’ll find that someone sooner or later.”
    Wayne turned off the freeway at the Jennings exit. He drove 5 miles down a farm road and was surprised to see a number of State Police cars still at the scene. “I wonder why they’re still here.”
    He pulled in behind one of the cars, and they got out and started to walk toward the yellow tape. Before reaching the tape, they were challenged by a patrolman, who let them enter the cordoned-off area after seeing their government badges.
    The next person to challenge them wasn’t as accommodating. Sergeant Jon Durham of the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation wasn’t about to have Feds on his crime scene. “This is a State matter. You have no authority to be here. Now get behind that yellow tape or I’ll have you in the back of one of these squad cars.”
    Wayne stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Sergeant Durham, but when one of these women was killed across the State Line in Mississippi it became a Federal matter.”
    Durham motioned to a couple of patrolmen to come over. “This murder has nothing to do with Mississippi until I say it does, and until that day comes, you are on my crime scene and I want you off. Now!” He addressed the patrolmen: “Escort these men back to the yellow tape.”
    Back in the car, Tony said, “That went well. What now, kemo sabe?”
    Wayne started the car, turned around, and headed back toward the freeway. Presently he hit the steering wheel with the palm of his right hand. “Call Blake and ask him what he wants us to do.”
    Tony took out his phone. “He’s not answering. I’ll try Peter and see if he can get ahold of him.”
    Peter came online.
    “Where’s Blake? We have a problem with a local cop here in Louisiana.”
    Peter wasn’t concerned about Tony’s urgent tone. He said, “Good to hear your voice. I was wondering if you were dead or alive.”
    “We’re very much alive! Now, where is Blake? I can’t get him on his cell phone.”
    “He’s at a luncheon with the Director and I would guess he has his phone turned off or on mute. Try sending him a text. But while I have you on the line – protocol says you check in with me every other day. It’s been two weeks and Blake keeps asking if I’ve heard from you. The protocol also says you call me, I don’t call you. So, damn it, call!”
    The phone went dead and Tony turned to Wayne and began to laugh. “Have you ever heard Peter use a cuss word?”
    Wayne hadn’t heard the conversation, so he was at a loss. “What are you talking about?”
    Tony was already composing a text to Blake. “One minute.” He hit send, and then told Wayne what Peter had said.
    Wayne shook his head. “I’m sure it was a lot funnier the first time. What’s Blake’s story, why no answer?”
    “He’s in a meeting and his phone’s off, so I sent him a text. I guess we go back to the motel and wait for an answer.”
    The traffic picked up as the 3 o’clock hour approached. Workers changing shifts and schools releasing their charges packed the streets and freeways each weekday. Wayne thought he would get used to it, but women with carloads of kids doing 60 in a 70-MPH speed zone still drove him crazy.
    At last they slid onto the off ramp and within a few minutes were walking into the lobby of the Holiday Express. Both of their cell phones beeped. It was a text from Blake: “Pack it in and come home.”
    Tony couldn’t believe what he was reading. “Wayne, did you get the same message I got?”
    Wayne put his phone back in his pocket. “Looks like we check out and head back to Memphis.”
    Tony wasn’t ready to let it go. “We’ve been here for weeks on end running our asses off and now we give up and walk away? That makes no sense to me.”
    Wayne punched the button for the elevator. “My guess is he’s turning it over to the FBI. He’s been gun shy ever since the Hometown Killer almost got us disbanded.”
    “This isn’t the same. We have the right to be on this case.”
    The elevator door closed behind them. “Tony, he’s your brother. If you want to have a word with him about this, that’s between the two of you. I follow orders and I have been ordered to pack it in, so that’s what I’m doing.”
    The drive back to Memphis was a quiet one. Tony was brooding and Wayne was happy to be able to drive without carrying on a conversation. A few miles out of Memphis their phones went off once more. Tony checked his. “It’s from Blake:

Take the next couple weeks off and go to the beach or something. We have nothing going right now and that will bring you back here in time for the June Killer. If I need you, I’ll call. Have fun, Blake”.

    Wayne was smiling from ear to ear. “Sounds like a road trip to Destin Beach, Florida, is in order.”
    Tony returned his phone to his shirt pocket. “Let’s crash at the apartment and take our time tomorrow. I feel like I’ve been rushing for months and going nowhere.”
    Wayne grew somber. “Nobody’s expecting us to be anyplace. This might be a good time to settle the debt owed by the five bums who killed Roy.”

The next morning over coffee they laid out a plan. Wayne proposed they spend the day tracking the moves of the five men. He wanted to be sure they were staying in Roy’s old hidey-hole at the Sterick Building. “Then we can make our move. We wait until early morning and then, right before daybreak, we take them out. Then we’ll be on our way to Florida.”
    Tony looked into Wayne’s eyes for a few moments before speaking. “Just so I know we’re on the same page…we’re not going to beat them up, we’re going to kill them?”
    “That’s what street justice calls for, isn’t it?”
    Tony took his and Wayne’s cups to the sink. Over his shoulder he said, “I don’t know what street justice calls for, but killing five people in cold blood seems a little extreme.”
    Wayne stood and picked up a Red Birds ball cap. “Extreme or not, are you going to help? If so, let’s get this ball rolling. These guys have been on this earth too long already.”
    They spent most of the morning watching the five men panhandle on Main Street, and then followed them to the Sterick Building. Once they saw the men move the blue dumpster, they knew where they would be spending the night.
    At 3:15 in the morning, Wayne parked under the I-40 overpass across from St. Jude’s. He and Tony were dressed like bums and stayed in the shadows as they made their way along 3rd Street to the Sterick Building.
    They removed the iron plate and slid into the basement and then up the stairs to the third floor. With penlights, they made their way down the hallway. Tony caught Wayne’s arm and whispered, “Are you sure about this? It’s not too late to turn around.”
    Wayne pulled away from Tony and stepped lightly into the room that he had shared with Roy. The smell was overpowering: unwashed bodies, urine, vomit. Wine bottles littered the floor, and the sound of drunken men’s snoring bounced off the walls. Wayne felt sick and had to fight to keep from throwing up.
    He turned and pushed Tony back down the hall. Almost in tears, he said, “I can’t do this. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
    “Thank God! It took you long enough. I was afraid we might have to actually kill somebody.”
    They crawled out into the alley and began to make their way back to the car. Wayne whispered, “Are you saying, you never planned to kill those men?”
    Tony didn’t know whether he felt like laughing or crying. “I had no intention of killing anyone. And I was pretty sure deep down that you would never do it. You’re a good man, Wayne. Good men don’t kill in cold blood, no matter how justified it might be.”
    Wayne stopped walking. “Then why did you go along with me? Was it some kind of sick game for you?”
    Tony stopped under a street light and looked Wayne in the eyes. “This wasn’t about me. This was about you getting this shit out of your system. You’ve been carrying hate for these men around inside you ever since you heard of Roy’s death. Now you can let it go. You looked the devil in the eye and walked away. Take a deep breath and taste your new freedom.”
    They began to walk on. “You know,” Wayne said, “I really wanted to kill them.”
    Tony smiled at his friend. “But you didn’t, and that’s the difference between you and them.”
    Back in the car, they headed south toward the beach in Florida. Somewhere outside Coldwater, Mississippi, they dumped the clothes they had worn and had a beer.
    It was eight more hours before they rolled the windows down and the salt air rushed in. It was going to be a grand two weeks.

Copyright © 2019, 2020 by Ed Rogers