The Hooker: A Reprehensible Acts Story Read Online Free PDF

 
    “Come
on.”   I hooked an arm under Lance’s
shoulder and tried to move him.   In the
distance, police sirens wailed.
    Lance
shook me off.   “I’m not going.”
    “Come
on,” I growled.
    He
waved me away.   “You go, I’ll stay.”
    I
stared at Lance, trying to pierce the cloud between the two of us.   Resignation made it through the gloom, back
to me.   I shook my head and rifled
Lance’s pockets for his car keys.   “Have
it your own way,” I said and raced back to the Cherokee.
    “I’ll
tell them everything.”   Lance’s words
chased and caught me.
    I
came to a shuddering halt, then stormed back.   The siren wails were getting louder, minutes
away at most.
    “What
do you mean?”
    “I’ll
tell them the truth.”
    My
anger and fear became fused and took over.   I jerked out the .32 and jammed it in Lance’s face.   “You’d sell me out?”
    “Running
isn’t going to save us.   Honesty is.   Look where lies and deception have gotten
us.”
    “I
can’t believe you want to blow it all, when we’re this close to getting away
with it.”
    Lance
laughed.   “We were never close to getting
away with it.   And unless we stop, we’ll
never be at peace.”
    “You
shit.”
    “Mark,
you have no idea what it was like when you were in Hawaii.   Every day I was searching the papers to see
if they were onto us and I started believe we had gotten away with it, until
Blade called.   Then I thought if Blade
was dead, my problems would be gone.”   Lance shook his head.   “But
killing him only starts things all over again.   This will never end, unless we end it.”
    I
ground the automatic tighter against Lance’s cheekbone.   “I won’t let you do this to me.”
    “I
have to.   I’m a friend and I’m doing what
only a friend would do.”
    He
wasn’t being a friend.   He was being
chicken.   He’d given in.   He was scared to go down alone and he wanted
to take someone else along for the ride.   Well, I wasn’t coming.
    “Please
stay.   You know I’m right.”
    Lance
was right.   If I killed him, I would be
running again with more lies to cover up.   And in that briefest of moments, it all made sense.   I knew what had to be done.   I nodded and lowered the gun.
    “You’re
right,” I said.
    Lance
smiled.   “I knew you’d understand.”
    “I
do understand,” I said, smiling back.   “But I can’t.   I don’t have a
choice.”  
    I
jammed the gun under Lance’s jaw.   He
guessed what I was going to do.   There
was sadness and regret in his eyes the second before I pulled the trigger,
blowing the top of his head off.  
    The
cops were moments away, but I knew exactly what to do.   And, I had to be fast.   Using my shirt, I rubbed my prints off the
gun and stuck it in Lance’s right hand.   I did the same with Blade’s gun.   I took a second to examine the scene I’d created.   There were more than a thousand words to
describe this picture.   The explanation
was obvious.   Lance slumped to his right,
gore spilling from the hole in his head.
    I
jammed Lance’s car keys back in his pocket, and bolted for the creek that ran
through the park.   As I piled down the
bank, the cops arrived.   The creek was
dry, as it is for eight months of the year, and I raced along it before the
cops had a chance to cordon off the area.   I disappeared through a box culvert and when I emerged, I was on the
streets.
    I
found a bus stop and waited innocently.   It wasn’t until the bus arrived that I caught
my reflection in the windows lit from the inside.   Lance’s blood speckled my face and Blade’s
stained my hands.   I waved the bus away
without the driver seeing my condition and when the bus was out of sight, I
walked the streets, keeping in the shadows.   Eventually, I found a standpipe outside an abandoned duplex and washed
my hands and face.  
    I
caught another bus and was home before Jane became too inquisitive.   I bundled my blood-speckled