Evil Origins

chapter TWENTY THREE

  Mike

  A loud banging noise on the passenger-side window scared the hell out me. I looked up to see Irene and William looking through the glass, smiling.

  "Did you and Renaud tie one on last night? It must have been one hell of bender because the cops are all over the place," William said with that same condescending grin he always had. I can't remember how many times I prayed for the strength to resist knocking him on his ass. He was such a little turd that by this point he didn't need to do anything to get under my skin. He just needed to look at me and grin. Holding up a cup of coffee, Irene pointed to the lock.

  "Want something to wake you up?"

  I still had the image of Renaud and Harrow firmly in place as I unlocked the door and slowly opened it. I had always thought that things were different. That karma took Harrow’s humanity away. it was like the world's way of balancing the books, but the memory he passed on to me changed things. I had always thought that the evil was integrated into his soul like adding salt to water, or that it had seduced him like a lover’s touch in the night, but now I could see it for what it was. Renaud chose his life over his eternal soul and he was not violated by darkness, but had embraced by it.

  "Mike, are you listening?" Irene inquired with her schoolgirl smile. Forcing the Styrofoam cup of coffee into my hands she asked, "Have you seen Renaud? He was supposed to be at the meeting this morning, but never showed up."

  It took a few seconds to clear my head. I didn't feel drowsy like I would have expected. I felt damn amazing to be honest, just like Harrow said I would. I still had that image on my mind replaying the scene over and over until it felt like a rerun of a classic film, though. The coffee smelt strong and alive and that first taste was like an orgasm in my mouth.

  "No, the last time I saw Renaud was the day we were at Jenny's place."

  "Oh, I thought he was with you after that. I guess old wounds die hard." Irene was a soft-hearted girl,even if Nathanial always touted that her dark side would blind you if you ever let it out. I had to agree. Even if he didn't see it, Renaud still carried a torch for her. The greatest threat was that the last time she only broke his heart and he ran for fifteen years. This time if she was seriously hurt or even worse, if she died, it might actually kill him.

  William leaned in and pointed across the street asking, "What happened over there? There are six cop cars and they even brought the hounds out." His heart was pounding like a drum. I mean it was so loud that my ears hurt and I was pretty sure that I could hear his blood being pushed through his veins. I am not sure how to describe it, but everything was magnified along with the colors all around me. Laughing, he added "It's the area, you know? It's run down and all the riffraff gather here." He took a sip of his coffee, "How did you miss the action? You were right across the street from it."

  Looking into the alley, the walls of the building on the left side were smashed and scraped all the way through and the coroner was trying to put all the pieces of some poor bastard into a bag. It seemed strange that the only thing left of the man's end was a faded cowboy boot. Would anybody mourn him or miss him? Harrow had a busy night even after he left me. I could smell dried blood, but it was probably from the alley up the street. That's where the cops should be looking. Harrow had a heyday there, and there was so much blood.

  "So what happened?" William demanded.

  Keeping my eye on the other alley trying to decide how the cops missed it, I responded "I must have slept through it."

  "You were that drunk?"

  "I guess I was," I said. I sure as hell wasn't going to tell Irene that her dead cousin murdered them all looking for her other cousin’s missing ex-girlfriend. Trying to change the subject I asked, "How's Wilson doing with Jenny being missing?"

  Irene went to say something, but stopped as William jumped into answer, "Oh, he's fine. You know Wilson isn't the emotional sort. Rumor has it that Jenny was having an affair with some gangster-type and when he caught them, the guy pounded him and she ran off with him. I actually thought that it might be Renaud and when he went missing... well you know, it looks suspicious."

  "I truly doubt that."

  "Seriously. Wilson can't remember the man's face, but he swears he caught her cheating like a common whore. You know she isn't exactly ladylike. We all know her reputation."

  I remembered the woman Jenny was. Selfish and capricious, but she was never a whore. Well, at least not the way William made her out to be. She wanted to devote herself to one man and that was Renaud, but she made one mistake and it changed everything for her. That's all it takes sometimes. One mistake that you can never forgive yourself for and no matter what you do, you’ll always live up to the image in your head and not the one you what you always wanted to become. If Jenny became the kind of woman William said she was, which I won't verify or deny, then Wilson made her into it.

  With this thought in my head, all I could think about was the sound of the blood pumping through his veins and how easily it would be to just reach out and snap his neck. I didn't need to see my arms to know that they were rippling so much that my skin felt tight. I was stronger than ever before and trembled as the thought of how much I could hurt him kept entering my mind like a racecar following its way right back to the place where it started, over and over. I was about to tell William exactly what I thought and where he could go when common sense took over.

  "I think I should go find Renaud," I said as I slid over to the driver's seat. William went to say something stupid, but before he could pollute the air I snapped, "I should go. I will call you when I find him." I closed the door and slowly drove off, watching them disappear in the rear-view mirror.

  I passed the alley from the night before. It looked like nothing had happened. No bodies or blood of any kind. It looked too clean, actually. Even the trash that was scattered on the alley floor appeared to be placed there and not dropped or stepped on. The large rusty green trash bin was tipped over and leaning against the wall on the other side from where it had been. It was not just tipped, but thrown hard enough to shatter the brick to pebbles where it connected, but there wasn't a single body or drop of blood anywhere. I could smell the blood though. It had this rotten salty aroma that stood out from the stench of garbage and attached itself to me. Harrow might be able to move the bodies and clean up the pools of blood, but it still existed hidden in the cracks and crannies that ran everywhere in this alley.

  As I drove off trying to outrun the sweet smell I couldn't help but wonder what Harrow did to me. It wasn't natural and even if it made me feel like a god, I wasn't one. I was just a mortal man who seemed to be stained like ink on a white sweater. He said that it would wear off, but the only real question was when would it and how long would it take?

  I decided that I needed to see Wilson. I know that most men in my line of work will stop by the hospital to see one of their flock out of genuine concern, but my concern wasn’t for him. My concern was for Jenny and Harrow. Jenny because she was missing and Harrow because I set a fire under him that would burn the city to ashes if I didn’t find her soon. I had no idea how I was going to get Wilson to come clean. He wasn’t exactly the worst guy out there, but he wasn’t the most honest or moral one either. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but he was going to tell me what I needed to know. Better me then having to answer Harrow. Last night was a lesson in itself that one always tells Harrow what he wants to know otherwise it will cost them an arm and a leg.

  I made my way towards the glass doors that lead into the emergency room. I don't know why, but I haven't liked the hospital much since the reconstruction. It was all part of the modernization trend. They threw in a wall of glass dividing the city by the type of care rather than the actual area you lived in. It just didn't make any sense. Damn government wasted too much money making the hospital look like a piece of art rather than a place you can actually get help.

  I stepped through the doors and headed down the long hallway. Somebody must have th
ought that that best way to make the place seem warm and inviting was to have ugly green walls and beige tile. It was the ugliest setup that I had ever seen. I didn’t know why, but I liked the old look. That 1970s feel with the off-white tiles that always looked dirty and the artificial looking wood on the walls that looked more like a bowling alley floor then paneling. It even had those long brown runners with diamond shape in it. That’s when our health care was the envy of everybody, but now it looks warm and inviting depending on who you talk to.

  The room to Wilson’s room was wide open and he was sitting in his bed reading the business section of the morning news. For a man whose wife went missing, he seemed overly content as he sipped his coffee and shook the paper so he could see it better. His face was still swollen with bruises and gashes everywhere, but he looked a lot better than he had earlier. The day I found him lying on the floor of his den I was certain that he was a dead man, but now it all looked so superficial. There had been so much blood though that I was positive bones had been broken and that I’d be giving him his last rights, not watching him read the paper like nothing happened at all.

  “Oh Mike, you old dog! I thought that you would never come to talk to me,” he said as his raised his eyes from the newspaper. The sunshine falling through the window sent a blinding glare shooting up off the freshly-waxed floor.

  The room was empty as far as I could tell which would make what I was planning on doing a lot more private and easier to do.

  “Sorry, I’ve been busy,” I said as I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. Luckily, there weren’t any nurses or orderlies around.

  Chuckling, he added “I guess you were busy with Renaud and catching up.” He folded the paper and set it on the wide windowsill, groaning as he forced himself to sit up. “I know that seeing old friends after such a long time apart can steal all your time so quickly.”

  “Where is Jade?” I asked. “I thought that she would be here seeing how banged up you were when they brought you in.”

  “Oh she comes and she goes like a yo-yo. Keeps going to the police station to harass them about finding her mother. If they don’t find her soon, I think Jade will start searching every nook and crannyherself until she finds her.”

  What an ass was all I could think. He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he didn’t care where Jenny was.

  “So I’ve heard a rumor that Jenny ran off with another man. It must be hard for a girl to hear such lies about her mother.”

  He snapped, “It’s no lie Mike.” Pointing to his face he continued, “Do you think I would do this to myself?” His heart was beating hard as he slapped the bedcovers, “I know that you and Jenny go way back, but she and her new man pounded the hell out of me and emptied out the safe before running off to Toronto.” He was red faced with anger as he pointed, “She’s nothing more than a common whore!”

  I clamped hold of two of his fingers and applied pressure, watching his eyes water and his teeth clench as a small cracking sound started. “You broke my fucking fingers, Mike!” He was trying to break my grip with his free hand, but he wasn’t nearly powerful enough.

  “Tell me what really happened or I’ll tear them off too, Wilson. If you lie to me I will know.” I applied just a bit more pressure, listening to the sound of the bones breaking in his hand. “Tell me what really happened, Wilson. I am the friendly interrogator. You don’t want the other one asking these same questions.”

  His heart was speeding faster and faster as I added more strength and he went to scream out. I don’t know what came over me, but without even a thought I snapped hold of his throat and grunted, “Lie and I will tear your throat out.”

  “I swear to you, Mike. She ran off with some guy.”

  “You mean some guy like Renaud? Isn’t that what you told William? That you thought it was him?” I clamped hold of his other hand and applied as much pressure as I could. “Renaud was with me when the whole thing occurred.”

  Wilson was squealing as he whined, “I can’t tell you what really happened because he will kill me. I swear Mike, he won’t just stop with me. He will take Jade. He will force her to do inhuman things, Mike.” Weeping he added, “I can’t change anything. If I could, God as my witness, I would never have done it.”

  “What did you do, Wilson?” I was increasing the pressure and ashamed to admit that I liked it. He ruined Jenny and now that she was all used up he just tossed her away. It seemed like nothing to apply such vice-like force and Wilson grunted in agony, “What did you do?”

  “It’s not my fault,” he whined, “If Renaud hadn’t returned, none of this would have happened. It’s not my fault!”

  I demanded again. “What did you do?”

  “It was just a bad business deal, that’s all. Just one wrong choice that’s all it was. It’s this Renaud’s fault. If he hadn’t comeback, everything would have worked out and we would be millionaires.”

  I slapped him across the face, breaking his nose in the process. Blood was pouring out like a waterfall and he went flying back into his bed. “What did you do?” I snapped.

  He was weeping, his hands over his face.“I made a deal with The King, Danny Carminati.” It made sense now. The morning that Jenny went missing it had been mobsters that I had seen leaving the parking lot. Jenny must have been in the trunk of the car that passed us. That’s why they stopped. They were deciding if they should scoop up Renaud too. It all made sense. They were black mailing him, but Wilson didn’t seem to be concerned at all.

  “What was the deal,” I inquired, readying my fist.

  He flinched, “I made a bad deal. A very bad deal.”

  Slapping him in the face again I retorted, “What was the bad deal, you bastard?”

  “I used Jenny as collateral.” Weeping he snorted, “Nathanial was dead and William was going to destroy the company. The company I helped build. My blood, sweat, and tears went into building it and it was going to die so I used Jenny to borrow money from The King. It was a done deal until Renaud showed up.”

  “Did she know?” a voice emanated from behind me. “Did my mother know you were trading her like she was… like she was some kind of dollar store whore?” His daughter didn’t even wait for an explanation. She stormed out, running through the halls like she couldn’t escape fast enough.

  Looking up, Wilson pleaded. “Jade, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It was just a mistake!”