chapter fifty four

Chapter 54

word count 475

Uncle Frank pulled his fedora down over his face and got out of the car, peering up and down the street. All looked quiet. Yellow tape draped around a nearby house, indicating the place was a crime scene. Regardless, he rushed up the sidewalk and tried the front door. Locked. Pulling a tool from his pocket, he jimmied it and popped the door to Bud Kramer's house wide open, then slipped in. Not a sound. With short, hurried steps he pushed his huge frame around the room to search the premises, gun cupped in his hands, ready for action. He was a big man, and the activity instigated deep wheezes in his chest. Apparently his people did a good job on that bastard, Ren. Now he just needed to get rid of Kramer, and he could move on and look for that jail guard and the whore.

The bathroom was a disaster of blood smears, like a whacked-out Rorschach Test on the walls. Whacked--ha--no pun intended...he smiled at his own brilliant humor. The body had been removed, of course. Frank nodded in satisfaction. Now where was that son of a bitch Kramer? Perhaps a clue lay around the place somewhere. The sooner he took him out the better.

Bud Kramer stepped into the hallway clutching a police revolver in his hands. His eyes were black marble, glinting with their own light. Without hesitation he lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. Uncle Frank never knew what hit him.

A new morning's sun peeked through the café window as Vic and Jessa drank their morning coffee. They didn't talk. He held the newspaper up in front of his face reading. She, wearing her usual dower expression, stared into space. Now and then she took a compact out to study her face. Pushing brown shell glasses up with one finger, she struck a pose and pursed her lips, now colored in simple pale pink rather than blazing red.

"Oh my Gawd!" Vic flipped the paper down and stared her way.

"What is it?" She asked wearily, studying her plain nails with disdain. This incognito thing of theirs was making her crazy. She felt ugly.

"Uncle Frank is dead!"

"WHAT?" Her mind churned like a clunky machine. "Does this mean we can go home?"

"I dunno. Wait a minute." He read further, his eyes darting down the page. "Holy Hell! They found him murdered at Bud Kramer's house. And Kramer has dropped out of sight." He sat back, stunned. "This is incredible...they're all gone. Maybe we can go back."

Jessa leaned forward, grabbing Vic's hand. "Yeah. I want to go back. I want to go back and break Jason out of jail. You were a guard; you know how. We can do it. We can break him out. It's about time we did something I want."