Looking Over Your Shoulder

CHAPTER 13

  THEO HAD BEEN TEMPTED to ignore the phone and just let it ring. Kashmir was one of those people who always needed something, and who couldn’t seem to make decisions for himself. But Theo was glad that he had answered, this time.

  “You really won the lottery?” Theo demanded, floored.

  “I really did!” Kashmir insisted. "I called the office and checked the numbers! It’s over a million dollars, Theo!”

  “That’s incredible! We gotta go out for drinks. Will you let me buy you a round?”

  “Well, I suppose I’m the one who should be buying,” Kashmir said with a laugh. "Buying for everybody in the place.”

  “No, don’t do that. You shouldn’t be telling anybody. Keep it quiet.”

  Kashmir lowered his voice.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Everybody’s going to be asking you for money, or expecting you to treat them. You could get undesirables following you around, trying to get their hands on your loot. You can’t tell anyone.”

  “I tried to call my mom,” Kashmir said, “but she wasn’t around. You’re the first one that I got a hold of.”

  “Good. Let’s keep it that way. And we’ll find out some special way to tell your mom. Maybe get her an expensive gift, or something.”

  “Yeah, that would be cool. She’d be like, blown away.”

  “Yeah,” Theo agreed. "Make it a big surprise.”

  Kashmir made an agreeable noise.

  “So where do you want to go for drinks?” Theo questioned. "Shamrocks?”

  “Sure. When?”

  “Right now. Let’s just do it.”

  “Aren’t you working right now?” Kashmir questioned, surprised.

  “Am I working while you’re winning millions? Not a chance. I can take off for an hour without anyone noticing. That’s the joy of being a delivery driver. They can’t prove that you didn’t have mechanical problems, or get lost or something. As long as all of the deliveries are done by the end of the day, they don’t care.”

  “Okay… if you’re sure.”

  “Absolutely. I can be at Shammy’s in… half an hour?”

  “Sure. See you there.”

  “And remember, don’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t,” Kashmir agreed.

  They said goodbye, and hung up. Theo put away his phone and sat there, staring out the windshield at the people walking and driving past. Only he wasn’t really watching them, he was blind to everything going on around him, completely caught up in his internal machinations.

  Kashmir hadn’t told anybody. He’d be sure to have the lottery ticket on him. He was all Theo’s, and if Theo managed this right, that money could be his. All of it. Then he didn’t have to work this dead-end job. He could do whatever he wanted. Travel, buy nice things, live in a place of his own without rent or roommates. The world was his oyster.

  And in fact, he didn’t really have to do anything. Just go to Shammy’s, have drinks with Kashmir, and it would all be over. Thanks to the little envelope of cyanide crystals in his pocket, the preparation was already done. Cyanide might not be easily accessible in North America, but finding a contact in India who could set him up had proved to be surprisingly easy. The day that it had arrived in the mail, he had sat for hours looking at the little envelope of cyanide salts, wondering if it was real. A couple of simple animal experiments had confirmed that it was.

  He had originally gotten the cyanide for Juneau. Triggering her allergies was getting harder and harder as she resisted eating and even kissing him, but cyanide could be absorbed through the skin and was still fatal that way. Everyone would assume that she had just had another allergic reaction, even if it gave her a rash. Theo hadn’t yet decided how to get it on her skin, but Kashmir didn’t need nearly the same level of planning. They were going out to drink, and all Theo needed was access to his glass. Dump the entire packet in the drink, and from what he understood, Kashmir would be dead within minutes, or even seconds. Take care of the glass so that it could not be tested by an overzealous coroner, and he’d be home free.

  Finally, Theo stirred himself to action. He turned the key in the ignition, and maneuvered through the streets to Shammy’s. Kashmir was getting out of his mom’s car in the parking lot as Theo arrived, so he didn’t even have to wait. They walked in together in high spirits.

  “First thing you need is a new car,” Theo pointed out, making a face at the old beater.

  “A nice shiny new red sports car,” Kashmir agreed. “I haven’t decided what kind yet, but… it will be new. And red.”

  “Nice,” Theo agreed. He ushered Kashmir in the door. The bar was quiet, but not empty. They wouldn’t have too many witnesses. Kashmir ordered the first round of drinks, though Theo had to shush him to keep him from spouting off about his lottery winnings already.

  “Sheesh,” he muttered to Kashmir. "Can’t you keep quiet? You want everyone in this bar trying to hit you up for drinks and money? Or following you home to murder you in your bed? Think about it.”

  Kashmir nodded, looking shamefaced.

  “I’m just so excited,” he explained.

  “I know you are. And in time, everyone who is important to you will know. But these people?” he gestured at the dregs who were drinking the mid-afternoon dimness away. "They’re not your friends, Kash. They’re not your family.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  They were silent until their drinks were set down on the table by a sour looking, middle-aged waitress. Once they wet their whistles, conversation started up again.

  “So what numbers did you pick?” Theo said. "Were they your birthday or something?”

  Kashmir shook his head.

  “No, just random numbers. I always force myself to just pick random numbers. If I picked significant dates or something like that, then it would feel like… like I was trying to out-think luck. But I didn’t really want to do that. I wanted to be as lucky as I could. Just picking random numbers, that seemed like the best way to get lucky.” Kashmir grimaced and shrugged. "It sounds kind of crazy now that I say it.”

  “Hey, it worked,” Theo pointed out. “Do you have it with you right now? The ticket?”

  Kashmir patted his breast pocket.

  “Right here,” he said.

  “Can I see it?”

  Kash looked covertly around the bar.

  “Probably best if I don’t take it out here,” he said. "Don’t want anyone to see it.”

  “No one else would know it was a winning ticket. It could be any old ticket.”

  Kashmir considered, but shook his head.

  “No, I don’t want to do that,” he said. “Not here.”

  “Fine. So what are you going to buy?”

  Kashmir was finishing his first drink, and Theo signaled the waitress for another. The woman didn’t acknowledge even seeing him. Ignoring Kashmir’s monologue about all of the things that he planned to get, Theo got up.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. "I’ll get them at the bar.”

  He went to the bar and ordered two more beers. The bartender poured them for him and Theo took them back to the table. As he put them down on the table, he spilled most of Kashmir’s in his lap.

  “Oh man! I’m sorry,” Theo said, grabbing a handful of napkins and pushing them at Kashmir. “I’m sorry, what a klutz!”

  “What the hell, Theo? You can’t be drunk already!”

  Kashmir stood up, sponging his pants with the napkins.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, and retreated to the men’s room.

  Taking a quick glance around to be sure that no-one was watching, Theo emptied the packet into his own drink, gave it a little swirl, and then pushed it across the table to his friend’s place. He went up to the bar to get another.

  “Your friend all right?” the bartender questioned, brows drawn down.

  “Huh? Yeah, he’s fine. He’s feeling a little under the weather,” Theo embellished after a moment’s panic, “and he spilled. But
I think he’s all right.”

  “He had too much?”

  “No, we’re just barely getting started. It was just a fluke, he’ll be fine.”

  He walked slowly back to the table and waited for Kashmir to get back. He took a few sips of the beer. Eventually Kashmir walked back to the table, looking a bit embarrassed at the wet splotch across his lap, but shrugging it off.

  “It’ll dry,” he said easily, as Theo apologized again. "It’s nothing.”

  Kashmir sat down and picked up his glass. Theo watched him, fascinated. His heart was thumping fast and hard, and he could feel the flush rise over his face.

  “To the lottery,” Theo suggested, raising his glass in a toast.

  “To the lottery,” Kashmir agreed with a laugh, and raised his glass. They clinked their glasses together, and both gulped their drinks. Theo wanted to encourage Kashmir to drink it down quickly without tasting it, so he set the example, chugging it to see if he could drain his glass. Kashmir took a couple of large swallows, and choked. His face turned red, and he tried to say something.

  “Are you okay?” Theo questioned, feigning concern.

  Kashmir grasped at his chest, and Theo reached over, pulling Kashmir’s tie to loosen his collar, then slipping his hand into Kashmir’s breast pocket to grab the lottery ticket before anything happened to attract attention. Kashmir couldn’t seem to get any air, both hands clutching at his chest and throat. He made a loud cry, and toppled onto the table, then to the floor with a crash. Theo tucked the lottery ticket into his pocket and stood.

  “Kash! What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

  Kashmir convulsed on the floor for a few moments, and then was still. Theo looked around; the entire bar was watching, their eyes wide in shock.

  “I think my friend is having a stroke,” Theo said loudly. "Call an ambulance!”

  “I got it,” the bar tender called, as people looked at each other to see who was going to place the call. Theo continued to minister to his friend, loosening his tie some more, listening for his breath and feeling for his pulse. The sour waitress came over, brushing her hair back over her shoulders.

  “I know CPR,” she said, bending over Kashmir’s body.

  “No-” Theo said in panic. All he needed was for her to get poisoned doing mouth-to-mouth on Kashmir. That would sort of ruin his fun. “No, he… he might have AIDS.”

  She checked herself, looking up at him with widening eyes.

  “Thanks,” she said. Looking down at Kashmir helplessly, he eyes lit up. “I can still do chest compressions,” she said. "That might be enough to keep the blood circulating until the ambulance gets here.”

  Theo nodded. She immediately repositioned Kashmir and started compressions, counting aloud.

  It wasn’t long before they could hear the siren of the ambulance. It pulled into the parking lot as Theo waited impatiently. It seemed to take an excessively long time before the paramedics came into the bar with their cases of equipment, looking around. They walked over to where Kashmir lay, and started checking his vital signs.

  “Does he have any medical conditions?” one of them questioned.

  “No,” Theo said, and then at the waitress’ puzzled look, he quickly amended. "He might be HIV positive. I’m not sure.”

  The paramedics already had gloves on and expressed no concern about this.

  “Anything else?”

  “No. He just… seemed a little funny. He was clumsy, spilled his drink. Then he was acting like he couldn’t breathe, and fell down, and had this seizure, and then…” Theo motioned at him on the floor. "He wouldn’t wake up.”

  “I’m not getting anything at all,” the other paramedic said, taking his stethoscope off. “Let’s put him on a vent and AED, they can declare him at the hospital.”

  The other paramedic agreed. The first went back to the ambulance to get the gurney, and the waitress continued to do chest compressions until he came back. Then they loaded Kashmir onto the gurney and hooked up various instruments. Theo watched, fascinated. Just like when Juneau had an attack, he was enthralled with watching the paramedics and being a part of the whole drama. He agreed to meet them at the hospital, accepted their heartfelt apologies, and went out to his truck once the ambulance was gone. He didn’t go to the hospital, but checked his list for the next delivery and continued on with his job.