Страница 18 из 21
These thoughts kept him preoccupied as his food went cold. He also realized he definitely wasn't hungry now. That was a shame because he really did like steak and eggs.
Heller winced from the pain as the cigarette he'd been holding finally burnt his fingers. He dropped it, and then stared down at the embers until they turned black. He'd obviously been far more lost in his thoughts than either he or Jason had realized.
"It's time to go, Jason. Now is a good time to go. I’m done here.” Heller laid a $50 down on the table, and got up to leave.
Jason held the diner door open as Heller shuffled out of the exit and down the steps toward the car. The pie and coffee had definitely given the guy a bit more spring in his step, in fact, he almost seemed happy. Or maybe he was finally finding peace inside himself again. Who knew?
Once Heller was settled in the back seat, Jason started the cab, glanced back over his shoulder at Heller, and asked, "Where to now, Bill?"
"Brinkley Clinic, but don't be in a hurry to get there. I still have some time left, and we might talk some more on the way perhaps?"
Jason felt a twinge of sadness when he heard those words, because they sounded like the words of some random old guy who just wanted to talk to someone, anyone, before he died. He had to force himself to remember that this old man had probably killed dozens of people during his “career”. It was a sobering thought. He pulled away slowly from the curb and pointed his car back toward the route to get them where they needed to be tonight.
Earlier on, Jason had wanted to get rid of this guy as quickly as he could. But now, he felt the need to keep him around for as long as he could. He wasn't sure why either.
Chapter 21
No one said anything for the first few minutes of their journey, but the silence was going to have to break. Jason knew he was going to be the one doing the breaking, too. "Heller? You awake back there?"
"I am, Jason. Just sitting here thinking. Why?"
"Why do I get the impression our meeting tonight wasn't entirely random? Or am I just being paranoid?"
There was just a hint of a pause before Heller replied. "What makes you think it was anything more than me dialing for a cab and you turning up, Jason? Why does it have to be anything more than random chance?"
"I du
There was also the little fact that Heller had decided to tell him his entire life story during a cab ride, taking a huge chance that he wouldn't just open the door, take a sharp turn, and force the old guy out of the cab whether he liked it or not. Something about tonight just didn't add up.
It was only at this point that Jason remembered the voice on the phone from last night. They knew who they were. They'd always known. Shit. Was this guy something to do with all that? Was he being set up?
Heller replied, "That's interesting...you listen to your gut instinct more than your own logic at times then?"
"All I can tell you is that sometimes I'll walk into a bar and know that I need to get my ass out of there straight away. It's like bad Voodoo in the room, or something.”
Jason had been like that his whole life, he could 'smell' trouble coming a long way off. It had saved his life on more than one occasion, too. He'd never been able to explain it either, he just knew when something wasn't Kosher.
"Have you always had that 'sense', Jason? That things just weren't right in some way? To get out of wherever you were?" Heller asked.
"Well...yup...I suppose I have. I never really thought about it too much though. Why do you ask?"
"No reason, Jason. No reason at all." Jason could hear a faint smile on Heller's lips when he said that. He got the creeps. Then he got the creeps some more, like when you get the shivers and people tell you someone just walked over your grave.
Heller was holding back and he knew it, but there was no way he was going to be able to force his hand. "You know about the phone call I got last night, don't you? You knew about it well before you got into my cab tonight. Did you call me?"
Heller seemed a little surprised at the question. "A phone call? What did they say or ask you?"
Jason knew that he's touched a raw nerve here. "They didn't ask me anything, they just said some stuff and hung up. I put it down to some of the guys in work having some fun messing with my head.”
"What 'stuff', Jason? What exactly did they say to you? This could be very important and I don’t think it was a prank," Heller said.
"Oh, they just told me that they knew who 'they' were and that they had always known, or something along those lines. It just sounded like a prank call to me but your reaction is telling me it wasn't a prank call, was it?"
Heller was mumbling to himself, paying precisely zero attention to Jason, or anything he might have been saying.
"Heller, what is this all about?"
Heller replied, "They're as interested in you as I thought they might be. I just didn't expect this to happen quite so soon."
"Expect what to happen so soon? You're not making any sense! You're just creeping me out here because there's no way you could know about that phone call unless you've been monitoring my calls, or you know the guys who made the call. Or maybe both. All I know is that right now, I want some straight answers."
Heller stared straight ahead into the night. "Not now, Jason. Not right now."
He tried to wrestle an answer from him but Heller was keeping his mouth shut. That made Jason just about as mad as any one human being can be.
Chapter 22
The clinic was now just a few minutes away, and Jason could feel a sense of urgency grab hold of him. He wanted to know exactly what was going on here, and he wanted answers before this old man left his life, and this life, forever. If he didn’t get his answers now, he was afraid he was never going to.
"Heller, there's something you're not telling me here, right? You're keeping something to yourself, aren't you?"
He looked out the window and said, "Jason, I'm keeping a great many things under this hat of mine. It's one of the only reasons I managed to survive this long. Loose lips sink ships, don’t you know!”
Jason thought about it and realized he probably didn't really want to know everything going on inside the old man's head. He figured some of that stuff would probably make him hate most human beings. Still though...something just wasn't settling right here. He knew Heller had something else he wanted to talk about, but he was holding back.
He'd heard so much information in the last few hours. He’d heard the truth about what happened to John Fitzgerald Ke
"You're still trying to figure out if I'm telling the truth or not, Jason? I can see it in your eyes."
Jason glanced back at Heller, who was now staring intently at him. He was out of patience here.
"Heller, what you've told me could be a complete crock or the absolute truth. Either way, I'm not sure what the hell I'm supposed to do with this information now that I have it. I can’t tell anyone and I can’t do anything about it either."
Heller sat there listening silently, but nodding slowly at the same time.
"I mean, I know this is like your last confession, just getting this off your chest before you die, but I still can't shake the feeling that something about this entire thing is more than just coincidence. More than just random chance. Am I right or not?” Jason asked.