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
"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.