Tangled Read online

CHAPTER FIVE

  Jay paid the cab driver and strolled into Bluey’s, he

  figured a taxi would be the safest bet after the day he’d

  had. He had decided early on that a few drinks would be in

  order tonight. He tucked his wallet back into his pants

  and walked up to the bar.

  "Hey Jayy, long time no see," cried the barman and then

  extended his hand across the bar.

  "Glad to see someone missed me Tadpole," he replied

  slapping him on the shoulder as the two shook hands.

  Gary, A.K.A Tadpole, had been a firm friend of Jay’s ever

  since they had met seven years earlier. It was actually Jay

  who christened him Tadpole on account of the fact that

  Gary had six kids and his wife was pregnant again.

  "Gees mate," Jay had said, "Ain’t you got no T.V. in your

  house?"

  "Sure do, but the wife likes a little ro-mance now and

  again," Gary had replied.

  "Now and again… Gawd man, you’s must be at it now and

  again and again!"

  Gary had just laughed at Jay and said "It’s me genes

  mate, I’ve just got good tadpoles."

  From then on, Jay referred to him as Tadpole and the

  name stuck.

  Tadpole was one of the very few friends Jay had, and

  much to his surprise, he actually did enjoy his company.

  Most people who came into contact with Jay found his

  personality a little too strong and forthright for their taste,

  but not Tadpole. He seemed to accept Jay’s character

  flaws and propensity to be bolder than brass, that was

  just who he was. Even when Jay had told him that 'He

  couldn’t pull a beer for shit!' He didn’t get mad or

  offended, he simply walked to the opposite side of the bar

  and challenged Jay to do better. Jay admired the way

  Tadpole handled himself in general, he never allowed

  anyone to get the better of him.

  Jay pulled a cigarette from his pack and began to light

  up.

  "Not here, Jayy," Tadpole reminded him. "You gotta go to

  the smoker’s deck, okay?"

  As much as he despised the new laws on smoking in

  bars, Jay knew he was not exempt from them. Mind you,

  that never stopped him from trying to slip the odd one in

  from time to time. He stuffed the cigarette back into his

  pack and rolled his eyes, pouting like a two year old.

  "It’s bullshit, that’s what it is, a man don’t have a say in

  nothin’ anymore," Jay spat back.

  "That a boy," teased Tadpole. "My lungs are thanking you

  already."

  "Oh just quit bein’ a pussy and get me a beer," hissed

  Jay, unaccustomed to not getting is way.

  Tadpole pulled the lever on the keg and began to fill a

  frosted glass, ensuring the white, foamy head was neither

  too thick, nor too weak. Beer began to trickle down the

  side of the glass and over Tadpole’s fingers, with a quick

  flick of the lever he shut off the flow.

  "Here we are, get that into ya," cried Tadpole, smiling

  broadly as he set the beer down in front of Jay.

  In one foul swoop, Jay snatched up the glass, gulped

  the contents down in a few hearty chugs and slammed

  the empty vessel down on the bar. "That was a starter…

  Now, how’s about a real drink? Gimme a Jimmy, straight

  up."

  Tadpole stared at him for a moment and then said, "You

  got it, but no trouble tonight… Okay, Jay?"

  "Yo, Tadpole. Why you gotta ruffle my feathers all the

  time?"

  An impromptu laugh escaped Tadpole. "Ruffle? You?"

  "Yeah, yeah," began Jay. "Everyone loves a wise guy." He

  reached deep into his pocket and produced a twenty-

  dollar bill, his eyes still firmly fixed on Tadpole. With a

  thunderous slap, he smacked it down on the bar and

  repeated ‚ "Now how’s about that drink?"

  Tadpole had good reason to be concerned when Jay

  ordered his Jimmy’s. Last time he ventured down that

  road, the cops were called and two men ended up in

  hospital, one with a broken nose and one with about half

  a dozen teeth lodged somewhere down his throat! Even

  when the men were being escorted to the ambulance, it

  took a good three officers to hold Jay back from

  continuing the argument his fists were having with their

  faces.

  As it turned out, Jay overheard the two men talking

  about cops in a way that he decided was personally

  degrading, and no-one gets away with calling Jay a 'low

  life weenie boy'. How official assault charges were never

  filed, Tadpole could never fully understand. Perhaps it had

  something to do with a personal visit to the hospital and

  an apology from Jay… accompanied by the promise of

  'more to follow,' should the matter become official. Either

  way, the incident blew over and Tadpole began rationing

  the straight Jimmy’s a little slower from then on.

  "So what’s the occasion?" asked Tadpole, his eyebrows

  raised.

  "Occasion?" queried Jay.

  "For the Jimmy’s? I haven’t seen you drink these since

  Fred’s retirement last month," replied Tadpole as he lifted

  the bill from the bar and slid the shot toward Jay.

  "What do I look like, a bloody Hallmark Card?" he spat

  back disgusted that someone was able to invade his

  personality enough to know that he usually only drank

  straights when things weren’t going too sweet with a case

  he was working.

  "Settle down big fella," cried Tadpole. "I was just opening

  the door for a friendly ear."

  "Well you can keep your friendly ear and the ugly mug it’s

  attached to!"

  For whatever reason, the comment sent Tadpole off into a

  hysterical fit of laughter, so much so that tears began

  streaming down his face.

  "You are one strange space cadet Tad-pole, you know

  that?"

  Unable to answer, he just kept laughing and waved his

  arm dismissively at Jay. The entire scene annoyed Jay.

  He rose from his bar stool, grabbed his drink and change

  then with the middle finger of his left hand, saluted

  Tadpole farewell and hissed, "I’ll be on the smokers deck."

  With that, he turned and stormed off.

  Upon reaching the deck, Jay withdrew a cigarette and lit

  it, sucking the foul, grey smoke so deeply that he felt his

  chest was about to explode. He savoured the nicotine

  ingestion for a moment before blowing the excess

  putrefied poison into the night air, creating a ghostlike

  cloud against the blackness of the sky. He then raised the

  Jimmy to his lips, tilted his head back slightly and

  downed the shot in one swallow. "Aaargh," he choked out

  as he shook his head violently from side to side.

  "That good eh?" came a voice from behind him. Jay spun

  around to see Ben standing next to the railing, his arms

  folded and a wry smile on his face.

  "Good?" replied Jay, still wincing. "Damn motor oil,

  that’s what it is!"

  Ben walked over and slapped him on the back then sat

  down at the nearest table. "So why drink it the
n?"

  "I suppose that’s a fair question coming from a man who

  didn’t spend the afternoon in an autopsy suite, carving up

  what was left of Jane Doe!"

  "What are you saying, Jayy?"

  "What I am saying, Ben my man, is that we have a Tessa

  Hunt The Second, lying on that slab down there, and I

  ain't too damn cosy with it."

  Ben sighed heavily, bit his lip and stared at a piece of

  rotted wood beneath the railing. Words evading him.

  "My thoughts exactly, old boy," said Jay as he continued

  to draw back on his cigarette. "So how was your day, you

  found us a killer yet?"

  Ben raised his arm and motioned to a waitress inside the

  bar. How she managed to notice him through the hordes

  of drunken patrons, amazed him. He then turned his gaze

  to Jay. "Tessa Hunt possibly, spent the last hours of her

  life at Shelby’s Coffee House. From what Joanna says…"

  "Joanna, who’s Joanna?" Jay interrupted.

  "She’s the owner."

  The waitress side stepped through the crowd, around the

  pool table and approached Ben, "What can I get you love?"

  She asked, her tone just loud enough to be heard above

  the jukebox inside.

  "A lemon, lime and bitters please," said Ben. He looked

  over at Jay before adding, "And another motor oil for

  him thanks."

  The waitress’s blank expression amused the pair.

  Jay flipped his shot glass into the air, caught it and

  placed it squarely in the centre of her tray. "Jimmy, straight

  up."

  A knowing smile flashed across her pretty face. "Sure

  thing." She replied and then shot a playful wink at Jay

  before making her way back into the rowdy bar.

  "Now Joanna says," Ben picked up where he left off, "That

  Tessa used the payphone once or twice, waited for almost

  an hour and then left about 7.30 pm… alone. Apart from

  being a well mannered, sweetheart and a good tipper,

  there was nothing more Joanna could tell me."

  "So no-one turned up to meet her?" asked Jay.

  "Well not that Joanna saw, that doesn’t mean she didn’t

  meet with them after she left." His head nodding in

  agreement, Jay’s eyes darted wildly from side to side,

  the way they always did when he set his mind to think

  mode.

  "What about the calls she made?"

  "I already have the office rats tracking down the call history

  of the payphone," said Ben. "With the reasonably certain

  time frame Joanna gave me, shouldn’t be difficult to pin-

  point her calls."

  "Here we are fella’s." The waitress re-turned with their

  drinks. She handed Ben his and said "Lemon, lime and

  bitters for you," she then sauntered over to Jay. "And a

  motor oil for you!"

  Jay smiled seductively, his eyes wan-dering all over her

  body before coming to rest on her ample cleavage.

  Throwing his head back, he downed the Jimmy and

  slammed the empty glass back on the waitress’s tray.

  A devious grin reached her lips and she whispered to

  Jay, "I get off at twelve."

  Considering this for a moment, he then leaned in towards

  her and said, "I just bet you do."

  The smile left her face, a scowl replacing it. "Asshole," she

  cussed at him before spin-ning on her heel and stomping

  off.

  Jay erupted into laughter, and then produced another

  cigarette from his pack.

  "What was that all about?" Ben asked his eyebrows raised.

  "Just a little drunken mishap we had after Fred’s

  retirement party last month."

  "Who? You and the waitress?"

  "Yeah… one thing led to another and wham, bam, thank

  you ma’am, we ended up back at my place slammin’ back

  some shooters and rollin’ in the hay!" Jay informed him.

  "Let me guess? She wants another piece of you huh?"

  Jay laughed heartily, "And what decent woman

  wouldn’t?"

  "Well with the response you just gave her, I hope you

  aren’t looking for another drink or anything else, anytime

  soon," Ben chortled.

  "So what else did you find out?" Jay carried on.

  "The wellness clinic is actually a termina-tion clinic and the

  secretary there is odd," Ben answered.

  "Odd, how?" asked Jay.

  "Oh, just strange… I found her to be cold, bitter even." He

  thought for a second and then added, "There’s just

  something not right with her, I can’t explain it."

  "Did you make any headway?" Jay en-quired.

  "I spoke to Dr. Rose-Marie Sugars, the head honcho over

  there. She knew Tessa, she said she was scheduled for a

  termination but called her the Friday night asking for

  more time to rethink her other options."

  "So she was one of the phone calls from Shelby’s," Jay

  confirmed.

  "It seems so, Rose said the call came in at around seven-

  ish." After a quick taste of his lemon, lime and bitters, he

  continued. "Apparently Tessa was pregnant to an un-

  named, married man. That’s pretty much all Rose had to

  say."

  Jay looked at Ben "So why do I get the feelin’ you ain’t

  satisfied with your visit?"

  Ben shifted in his seat and then answered, "Let’s just say

  that I have a gut feeling that the good Doctor and her

  secretary may need further investigating.

  Something is definitely weird in that clinic and I need to

  work out what it is."

  "To do with the Hunt case?" asked Jay.

  "To tell the truth, I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not," said

  Ben. "I have a meeting tomor-row with the accountancy

  firm from the business card in Tessa’s bag. I’m not

  hanging out for any case breaking news though." Ben

  took another sip of his drink, his eyes squinting as the

  bitters danced over his tongue. "What about you, how did

  Jane Doe’s autopsy come out?"

  Jay rolled his cigarette between his fin-gers, lifted it to

  his lips and drew back hard.

  "We got one cracked unit out there Ben," he quietly said,

  his expression solemn. "The vic was beat about the head

  and…" he stopped and puffed on his cigarette again.

  "And?" asked Ben.

  "And just like the Hunt case, her breasts were removed

  and so was her foetus."

  "Oh God," cried Ben. "Could it be a copy-cat killer?" he

  asked Jay.

  "I don’t see how, only the killer and a few cops know the

  full details of Tessa’s murder. The stolen foetus hasn’t

  been released to the public Ben."

  Ben retreated into his own private thoughts, trying to

  convince himself that the two murders are purely

  coincidental and that there isn’t some lunatic running

  around preying on pregnant women.

  Someone inside yelling, 'Eight ball, cor-ner pocket!'

  penetrated the silence between them. The clacking of

  billiard balls knocking against each other echoed through

  the air.

  Ben exhaled loudly and then asked, "So has your Jane Doe

  been identified yet?"

  Like shook his head. "Nah, not yet. Augie is gon
na

  messenger me a copy of the report when it’s done

  though. Maybe when she’s all cleaned up we can get a

  better picture of her eh?"

  "Maybe," said Ben.

  "Might be a good excuse to get back to the termination

  clinic though, see if Jane Doe was a client too."

  "That could work," Ben agreed, then added, "Hey, why

  don’t you take a run at them Jayy? See what you make of

  the set up down there."

  Jay appeared to be thinking about Ben’s proposal,

  "Yeah… yeah, I just might take you up on that offer Benny

  boy." His eyes lit up, and smiling he added, "Besides, I

  can’t wait to meet this secretary. What’s her name?"

  "Marla," answered Ben.

  "Right, Marla. I like the sound of her, she could be the

  woman of my dreams!"

  With a shake of his head, Ben picked up his drink and

  said, "You are one sick puppy Jayy, you know that?"

  Jay just smiled at Ben. "Speaking of women, how’s

  things with you and Anna? You two still working it out or

  is the divorce a pretty sealed deal?"

  Ben wriggled about in his seat, the very mention of Anna’s

  name having instantly made him uncomfortable. "You

  expect me to talk about Anna with only a lemon, lime and

  bitters on the table?" he asked Jay, attempting to deflect

  his uneasiness with humour.

  "You’re right, how indecent of me," Jay chuckled, "I’ll get

  us a man’s drink eh? Then we’ll talk." With that Jay

  strode back into the bar to order some drinks. A few

  minutes later he returned with a full bottle of Jimmy and

  two fresh glasses, he sat them down on the table with a

  clunk and flopped into a chair opposite Ben.

  "How on earth did you manage this?" asked Ben. "A full

  bottle, it must have cost a fortune."

  Jay grinned mischievously and said, "Not when your

  best mate just happens to be the bar man!"

  "Oh, so it’s mates rates eh?" Ben joked.

  Jay poured them each a drink and handed one to Ben.

  They clicked their glasses together in a toast, and said "To

  mates rates."

  The two men sat and enjoyed their drinks in silence for a

  short while before Jay brought Anna up once more. "So,

  about you and Anna?" Jay pressed Ben.

  "Me and Anna… Well there is no me and Anna," Ben

  blurted out. "It is now just me and Anna is just Anna."

  Jay couldn’t understand why Ben was still holding a

  candle for Anna; she’d done nothing but put the man

  through the emotional wringer and spat him out

  crumpled and deflated on the other side. It seemed to

  Jay, that Ben and Anna’s marriage had always been

  about Anna, what she wanted and what she needed. The

  damn woman demanded so much from Ben and the poor

  bastard nearly turned himself inside out trying to please

  her. But Ben loved her and although Jay respected very

  little in regards to most other people, he did respect Ben.

  "Oh hell Ben, I’m sorry mate. So she’s filing for the divorce

  then?"

  "Sure is, she filed two months ago actu-ally," he replied.

  "So what are your plans from here then?"

  "Well there’s nothing more I can do to make her change

  her mind," Ben said as he poured them both another

  drink. "Best thing I can do is hope she has a change of

  heart."

  "Change of heart," scoffed Jay. "That means she has to

  actually have a heart to change!" He looked over at Ben

  and saw his face drop. "Gees man, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t

  have said that. I just hate seeing you like this, it pisses

  me off."

  Jay found it extremely hard to keep his opinions in

  check when it came to Anna. He was always more inclined

  to blurt out something stupid, which only caused Ben

  more grief. It often turned out that he would stop talking

  just long enough to take one foot out of his mouth, only

  to replace it immediately with the other one. What Jay

  really wanted to tell Ben was to let Anna go. Good riddens

  to bad rubbish. He was certain that Ben could do much

  better, find a decent chick. One who would give as much

  as she got. But as he looked at the used up man before

  him, he knew that the timing wasn’t right.

  Ben’s eyes rose to meet Jay’s. "That’s okay, I know what

  you’re getting at and deep down I know you’re right."

  "But?" Jay encouraged him to continue.

  "Well I just feel sorry for her, y’know?"

  Confused, Jay replied, "Feel sorry for Anna, why?"

  "Oh, it’s a long story. You don’t want to hear all this stuff."

  Jay looked at his watch then turned back to Ben. "It’s

  ten-thirty, we have a nearly full bottle to drown our

  sorrows with and no-one special to hurry home to." He

  skulled another shot and poured a refill. "So I say, let’s get

  this party started!"

  Ben let out a laugh, raised his glass and said, "You really

  are a glutton for punishment Jayy." He then tilted his

  head back and allowed the shot to slide down his throat.

  "So tell me Jayy," Ben began, "have you ever worked a

  case that you get so involved in, that you couldn’t back off

  because even after it had been solved, you felt it was never

  truly understood?"

  "I’m not sure I know what you mean Ben."

  "You know, like when a child is murdered and you find the

  twisted peanut who did it, but for years afterwards, you’re

  still trying to understand why they did it in the first place?"

  "Hell yeah, we’ve all had one or two of those," Jay replied,

  still not one hundred percent certain where this

  conversation was going, or what it had to do with feeling

  sorry for Anna.

  "And in those cases, do you ever think that if you

  understood the act or the mind of the killer, that you

  could recognise those same traits in other people and

  maybe stop them from heading down the path of

  destruction?"

  Jay rubbed his forehead and hunched over in his chair,

  resting his elbows on his knees. "I gotta tell ya mate, I

  dunno if you’ve had one too many snorts tonight or what,

  but philosophy and intervention wasn’t on my class

  schedule at college. What are ya getting’ at Ben?"

  "Well, to me Anna is like one of those cases. You might be

  able to solve her problems when they arise but you can

  never understand her."

  "You listen to me Ben, if you’re sittin’ here tryin’ to tell me

  that you’re to blame for Anna’s leavin… You can save it."

  Ben stood up and walked over to the rail-ing of the deck.

  "You don’t understand Jayy, I failed her."

  "Failed her! No, she failed you. You twisted yourself inside

  out and upside down tryin’ to make that woman happy.

  She walked out on you Ben, remember?"

  "Yeah, I remember." Ben then stood silent before

  continuing. "Jay, did I ever tell you that Anna’s mother

  walked out on her when she was just four, leaving her to

  be dragged up by her alcoholic father?"

  "No, no you didn’t. But that doesn’
t prove you failed her."

  Ben pointed to the bottle on the table, he held his glass

  out to Jay and gestured for a top up. Although he was

  certain that Ben had, had his quota and against his better

  judgement, Jay filled his glass to the top and joined him

  by the railing.

  "For years, he abused her. He used her as a punching bag,

  he violated her in ways that no human has a right to…"

  Ben choked back his emotion. "And then when he was

  done with her, he’d pass her around to his friends and let

  them use her as a play thing."

  Jay sunk down against the railing, Ben’s words stirring

  anger and disgust in the pit of his stomach. "But she

  survived Ben," was all he could say.

  As soon as the words fell out of his mouth, Ben retorted.

  "Did she? How much of Anna survived Jay? How much of

  anyone could survive that?"

  "That doesn’t mean that her problems are your fault, you

  aren’t responsible for her life before you knew her Ben."

  Reaching over, Ben reefed a cigarette from Jay’s pack and

  fumbled for the lighter.

  "Since when do you smoke?" asked Jay.

  "Since I started drinking," Ben kidded, trying to lighten the

  mood somewhat.

  With the first stream of smoke he drew back, Ben

  coughed and spluttered, screwing his face up at the

  putrid habit. He looked at the cigarette and handed it

  back to Jay. "I think it’s time I quit."

  A jovial laugh leapt out of Jay as he ac-cepted the

  smoke. "I think you’re right.

  "So what happened to her father?" Jay gently probed for

  more details.

  Ben sipped on his drink and turned back to the railing.

  "Anna grew up, she wasn’t so easy to hand around

  anymore. She woke up one morning and her father was

  gone. The bastard just left her there to fend for herself."

  "How old was she?"

  "Thirteen. Child services took her in when she was

  admitted to hospital with internal bleeding and severe

  abdominal pain." Ben turned back to Jay. "She had an

  ectopic pregnancy Jay, a thirteen year old girl."

  "Christ Ben, I had no idea."

  Ben stared at his feet and began kicking at the railing.

  "Yeah, well… In short, when I married her I knew she had

  baggage, but I saw a chance to fix this girl. Make a

  difference in someone’s life, for the better. You know?"

  "You tried your best, what more could you do?"

  "I could have tried harder, I should have tried to

  understand her, not just fix everything for her. I let her

  down and now she’s out there on her own with no-one to

  fix things for her."

  "But Ben, she’s pulled herself together now," Jay

  reminded him. "She’s got her own practice, she helps

  other people now. You helped her achieve that, you’ve

  done more for her than you realise."

  Ben’s eye’s darted over to Jay. "You really think so?"

  "Hell yeah, who put her through college and attended

  personal therapy with her? You did Ben, you helped her

  heal herself enough to heal others." Jay stalled for a

  moment. "Some times marriage just doesn’t work my

  friend, people blame each other and say things they don’t

  always mean. You’ve done all you can for Anna, now you’ve

  just gotta let her go Ben, it’s time to move on." He

  thought for a while longer and then added. "Being

  divorced doesn’t always mean you can’t be friends. You

  two still talk right?"

  Ben nodded. "Sure, all the time."

  "There you go, maybe having Anna as a friend is better

  than not having Anna in your life at all."

  Ben held his glass to Jay and raised it in a toast. "You’re

  right. You aren’t so tough under that iron man façade are

  you?" he then let out a laugh.

  It had been a very long time since Jay had seen Ben

  laugh like that. He returned the toast before he leant in

  toward Ben and said, "If this little chat goes beyond you

  and me, my hard ass reputation is history… if that

  happens, so are you!"

  The men shook hands and sealed their secrets, safely

  within the fold. They returned to the table and sat down,

  strangely Jay felt more at ease. The brutality of their case

  seemed so far away and for that very second, life was

  peaceful.

  Jay broke the peace first, "So where to from here? We

  need to break this case and soon, Ben. This peanut is

  gonna keep killing until he’s caught, you know that don’t

  ya?"

  Ben flopped back in his chair, "I know, but unless a break

  comes soon, or unless he gets sloppy, we’ve got nothing

  much to go on. Are you going to pay our wellness clinic a

  visit soon?"

  "First thing," said Jay.

  "Well don’t expect to be seeing them any-time soon, the

  doctor is unavailable until Thursday next week,

  apparently."

  A wicked grin spread across Jay’s face. "I don’t make

  appointments."

  Ben smiled, finished his drink and stood up. "Well, I’m

  heading off. I want to be on the ball for the bean counters

  tomorrow. You never know, one of them may fall to his

  knees and confess to the murders… case solved!"

  Jay scoffed at him and sarcastically said, "Yeah, and I

  might get that pissed off waitress back into my bed

  tonight."

  "Now that I can believe," Ben remarked as he waved and

  walked out the door.

  Through the bar, Jay could see the cute waitress talking

  to Tadpole.

  "Time to turn on the charm Jay," he said to himself. He

  then stood up and began to walk inside.