Bloody Mary

Two days ago, Fuller shot a street corner dealer and relieved him of his stash. He scored a lot of reefer (which Fuller thought might help his eye but didn’t do a damn thing), a few grams of coke, and three balloons of black tar heroin, complete with works.

The heroin went down smooth. Fuller boiled the needle first and had no problem tapping a vein – it reminded him of his steroid days.

Blessed pain relief.

The last hit he took, a few hours ago, is wearing off. He has one syringe left, resting safely in the inside breast pocket of his jacket, a piece of cork on the tip.

He prefers to use it on himself, but if Benedict gets rowdy…

Speaking of, the portly detective comes out of the health food store with a protein bar. His attention occupied with unwrapping the snack, Fuller sidles up behind him.

Benedict spins around, reaching for his gun, but Fuller anticipates the move and grabs Herb’s wrist. His grip tight, he gets behind Benedict and applies a hammerlock, one arm around his neck, another pi

“Hello, Detective. Glad to see you’re watching your health.”

Benedict reaches for his shoulder holster with his free hand and Fuller tightens the submission hold. Benedict is strong, but not strong enough. With a quick jerk, Fuller yanks upward on the older man’s arm. Benedict’s elbow hyperextends, and then blows out.

Herb is yelling now, fighting like crazy, but Fuller has a firm grip on his bad arm and levers him into the alley. He forces Benedict to his knees, pulls the cork from the needle with his lips, and jabs the fat man in the neck.

Benedict continues to resist, but slowly, sweetly, the energy goes out of him.

Fuller replaces the cork, tucks away the syringe, takes Herb’s gun, and muscles him into the back of the cab.

Then he goes prowling for more smack.

The taxi makes him invisible – urban camouflage – so he’s free to cruise parts of the city where a Caucasian might ordinarily stand out. He drives to 26th and Kedzie, an area known as Little Mexico. It doesn’t take long to find a young Hispanic male hanging out on a corner. Cold night to be just hanging out, alone.

He circles the block twice, and then stops. The youth walks over in the wide, unhurried gait of a young man whose pants are too baggy.

“Tienes cocofan?”

The Latino has a little peach-fuzz goatee, and a gold crucifix hanging from his ear. “Que?”

“Cocofan, puto. Zoquete. Calbo. Perlas?”

“Calbo?”

“Yes, jackass. Heroin.”

“No tengo calbo. Tengo Hydro, vato.”

Fuller sighs, and shoots the kid in his sideways-tilted baseball cap.

Rico Suave takes the big dirt nap, and Fuller steps out and gives him a quick pat-down. He finds three loose joints, and six vials of brown granules.

“No calbo my ass.”

Fuller squeals tires, heading back to his hidey-hole on Clybourn.

Twice, people try to hail him. Fuller slows down, lets them get close, and then pulls away before they can get in the cab.

Good, clean, American fun.

Benedict moans in the backseat.

“We’ll be home soon, Detective.”

Chaten Patel shared a residence with his girlfriend. Fuller never got her name. They lived on the ground floor of a two-flat. A modest place, old but clean, with a large basement they used for storage.

The basement currently stores Chaten, and what’s left of his woman.

Fuller parks the taxi in the alley behind the house, and half-carries/half-walks Benedict through the backyard and down the steps to the basement entrance. Herb obligingly has a pair of handcuffs in his pocket, and Fuller locks the detective’s bad arm to a pipe under the concrete shop sink, and takes his keys.

The corpses have begun to smell, but Fuller won’t be here for long. Once Daniels is dead, he’s going to make good on his original intent and flee to Mexico.

But first things first.

Upstairs, Fuller fills up a pot with some water, puts it on the stove, and drops in the syringe.

As it boils, Fuller removes a heroin vial from his pocket and shakes out four big chunks. It doesn’t look like the black tar he’s been using – it’s lighter in color, and crumbles easier. He sniffs it. There’s no odor of vinegar, a telltale trait of smack.

What did that kid call it? Hydro? Maybe it’s a hybrid – heroin and coke, or heroin and XTC.

Fuller doesn’t care. It could be heroin and rat poison, and he’ll inject it just the same. He needs a break from the pain.

There’s a fat candle on the kitchen counter that smells like vanilla. Fuller lights it, dumps the boiling water into the sink, and puts the syringe back together.

Placing the granules in a metal tablespoon, he adds a squirt of water and holds the spoon over the candle flame.

With his free hand he removes a cotton ball from the open bag on the table and rolls it between his fingers until it’s the size of a pea. When the drugs are fully dissolved, he puts the cotton on the spoon and watches it expand.

The needle goes into the center of the ball, the plunger is slowly pulled back, and all Fuller has to do is pick a vein and the good times will roll.

Not yet, though. First, he has a phone call to make.

Fuller takes out his cell phone and punches in Jack’s number. Then he heads down the basement stairs, to wake up Herb.

CHAPTER 49

My cell phone rang. I ignored it.

Though Mom was nonresponsive to sound and touch, she still had brain activity, so I talked to her.

I talked about a lot of things.

Sometimes I talked about silly stuff, like the weather, or people we used to know. Other times I spilled my guts, apologizing for what happened, begging forgiveness she couldn’t give.

Tonight I was in begging mode.

My cell rang, again. I couldn’t handle any more condolences. Even from friends. Especially from friends. I finally had to tell Alan to back off, give me room to breathe, or I’d go crazy.

On the positive side, I hadn’t taken any sleeping pills in days. I embraced my insomnia.

The phone rang once more. I finally picked it up and shut the damn thing off. I was crying, again, and I didn’t want to talk to anybody.

Before I could begin another apology to Mom, the room phone rang.

I let it ring. And ring. And ring. It eventually stopped. Then it started again. Couldn’t whoever it was take a hint?

“What?” I answered.

“Hi, Jack.”

I almost dropped the phone in surprise. Fuller.

“I was begi

A male voice screamed.

“Herb’s not doing so well. And if you don’t follow my directions, he’s going to be doing even worse. Here’s what I want you to do.”

In the background Herb yelled, “It’s a trap, Jack! Don’t-”

Followed by another scream, even louder than before.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry.

“What do you want, Fuller?”

“Turn your cell phone back on and call me on my cell. When you’re ready, I’ll give you the number.”

I powered up my cell phone and punched in what he told me. It rang once, and he picked up.

“Good. Now hang up the hospital phone. Here’s the deal. I want you to come over and join our party. We’re having fun, right, Herb?”

Another scream.

“I’ll be right over.” I clenched the phone so tightly it shook. “Want me to stop for beer and pretzels?”

“Fu

“How?”

“Tell them you got a call from me, and I’m in the parking lot. Be convincing. If you try to give them any signals…”

Benedict screamed again.

“Stop hurting him.”

“Hurting him? You mean like this?”

I shut my eyes while poor Herb wailed in agony.