Strawberries

Ricky and Joey eased through the New Mexico Port of Entry without anybody giving them a second look.

"I'd say we are pretty much out of the woods now. Next set of scales is clear over in Arkansas, and I don't foresee any problems. I figure if you were a dangerous fugitive, they would have have tracked us down by now. Besides, you don't seem all that dangerous to me." Ricky said.

"You don't seem all that dangerous to me either, country boy. But one never knows. I saw this movie once about this smooth talking guy that traveled all over the country picking up unfortunate women and doing horrible things to them." Joey said, with mock seriousness.

"Hmm, I'm intrigued. Enlighten me as to the horrible things he did to them. And are you sure they didn't deserve it?"

"Of course they didn't deserve it." she said, playfully slapping him on the arm. "And I will tell you what he did to this one chick. He really got her very interested in him. He was a smooth, sexy talker. Didn't look too bad either. But all he did was drive and drive and drive, never stopping for anything. And all the while this girl was growing more and more anxious by the mile. It was making her crazy with desire to be so close to him and him barely looking at her. She longed for his touch, but felt like a prisoner buckled in the passenger seat."

"Oh, my, what a scary dude. Maybe he had some secret he couldn't reveal. The reason he kept the girl buckled in and made her keep her hands to herself." Ricky countered.

"No that's an interesting twist." Joey said, playing along. "I must have missed that part of the movie. And just what was his terrible secret?"

"One reason he didn't stop very often is because waitresses were so attracted to him, he would sometimes cause disturbances in the restaurant. And being such a super nice guy, it hurt him to think he caused any of the women to lose their jobs." Ricky explained.

"Well that explains part of it. Now tell me why he tortures the girls he picks up."

"Well, it's like this. He is such a magnificent lover, that if he ever showed his skills to the women he picked up, they would never be the same. He would ruin their lives, for they would be searching forever for another that could please them the same way."

"Now you have my complete attention, country boy, but answer me this. Why does he pick up the women in the first place? Why tease them so? Allow them to be in his presence and then withhold his super amorous pleasures?"

"Ah, good question. Maybe because he is such a super nice, generous guy at heart, he only wants to help them out by giving them a ride, lest some other trucker with evil intentions comes along. And maybe, just maybe, he is searching for that perfect lady to come along who is worthy of his passion."

" 'Worthy of his passion'. Now that is an interesting choice of words, country boy."

 

Thanks everybody for the support. I'm off to work tomorrow, providing Atlanta is thawed out enough for me to work my way to Alabama.
And if I survive my weekly trek to Michigan, I will be back here Sunday.

 

Anthony Diaz had been waiting in the interview room for forty minutes when Harry Benson finally joined him at the steel table. The only other furnishings in the eight by ten room were two other steel folding chairs, one of which would be occupied by Harry, and the other by Larry Feine, Anthony's public defender.

The delay was intentional. Harry had been observing Anthony through the one way glass. Anthony worked hard at an effort to appear nonchalant, but couldn't help glancing up at the camera mount high on the wall every few minutes, and he couldn't conceal his nervousness.

Harry called the desk sergeant down the hall and told him the send the lawyer waiting in the lobby down to interview room two. He arrived half a minute later, fuming.

"I hope you have a good reason for the undue harassment of my client. This is time I could have spent with him, preparing his case." declared Larry.

"Put a lid on it, Feine." snapped Harry. "Your client doesn't have a case and you know it. He is about one step from going back to the joint, unless he suddenly becomes very cooperative."

"Come on Harry, the kid overslept and missed a meeting with his PO. Happens all the time. His PO didn't even think it was a big issue, since he didn't bother to write it up. No need to make a big deal about this." Larry Feine pleaded.

"His PO didn't report it because he is a slacker. And we don't need his say-so to move on this. Now, if you have no objection, I want to ask your client some questions."

Without waiting for a response, Harry started right in.
"It's like this Tony, you can continue to deny you know anything about the Mega Mart if you wish, but I know you were there..."

"Hold it, Benson. You don't know anything of the sort..." Feine interjected.

"This isn't a courtroom. We're just talking here Larry. Three innocent people died in that Mega Mart and if Diaz knows anything about it, now is the time to speak up." Then turning his attention to Anthony Diaz, "If you think finishing off that six pack is all you got to worry about, you got another thing coming. That is the minimum and this other thing isn't going away. I know you were in that store. You have already admitted that. Give me something, Tony. You said you rode with a friend. That's when you touched the glass. Who was it? Just give me a name. You're only twenty-three years old. You been out three months is all. Forget about the balance on the six pack. Folks are dead Tony. I don't have to tell you what that means."

Anthony was visibly shaken. Not making eye contact with Harry, he said "Give me a minute with my lawyer."

"I'll leave you two alone. Be back in a few Larry." Harry said as he headed outside for a smoke. While outside he called Captain Hornsby on his cell to give him a promised update. "The kid wants to tell me something. What good it does us remains to be seen. You will be the first to know, boss."

 

"I was in the Mega Mart, but you know that, the prints." Anthony Diaz began.

"What day was this?" Harry asked .

"Monday, two days before the robbery. I was at Bernie's. I wasn't drinking, just shooting some pool. Then Manny comes in."

"Hold it. Who is Manny?"

"Manuel Ruiz. I been knowing him since high school. He asks me to take a ride with him. I said sure. Not like I had anything to do."

"Is that when you went to the Mega Mart?"

"Not right away. He was like just cruising around sipping on a beer. Then, like maybe twenty minutes later he stops at the Mega Mart. Said he needed some cigs."

"Did you go in with him?" Harry asked.

"Not at first. Seems like he was in there too long for some smokes, so I went in to check it out. I found him like wandering around the store. He was acting weird. I saw him keep looking up at the ceiling, but trying to be sneaky about it."

Looking for cameras. Harry thought.

"Did you say anything to him about it?"

"Nah, just said 'What up, bro'. And he tried to act all casual like he wasn't doing anything. Then he was in a hurry to go. Even forgot his smokes."

"What kind of car did he have, Tony?"

"An old Honda Accord I never seen before."

"So you're telling me that was the one and only time you have ever been in that store?" Harry asked.

"Swear to God. That was it."

"Now is my client free to go?" Larry Feine asked.

"Not so fast." Harry answered. "I have to check some things out, but this is a start."

The first thing would be to pull the store tape for that day. That would verify the story. Next on the list was to pick up Manuel Ruiz.

 

You didn't miss anything and thanks for remembering. That was part of TALE OF JOHHNY RAY.
That was my first attempt at anything. I had too many sub-plots going at once and couldn't pull it all together.
Maybe one day I could develop that as a separate story.

 

After clearing the POE, Ricky consumed the remaining three hundred fifty miles of New Mexico in just over four hours, the 600HP Caterpillar taking no prisoners. He told Joey to help herself to whatever snacks she could find in the sleeper, promising a decent meal when he stopped for fuel in Texas.

Joey commended Ricky on his choice of rations while munching on a granola bar and a snack size container of butterscotch pudding. While chasing it down with some strawberry flavored milk, her cell phone sounded. It was Manuel.

Though he didn't reveal the true nature of his call, Manuel was extremely shaken by recent events. He was in the restroom at Bernie's Billiards when the cops picked up Anthony Diaz. He peeked out the window as they put him, handcuffed, in the back of the patrol car. He had counted on Tony to take care of something for him and now Tony was in custody. When he recruited Tony for a certain task, he rationalized that Tony would be trustworthy since he had so much to lose. No way he would risk going back to prison by being careless. If he had thought it through, he may have realized if Tony was smart he wouldn't have been in prison to begin with. All he wanted Tony to do was to ditch the #### car for him and he chickened out at the last minute, leaving Manuel to do it himself. But maybe that was better anyway, he reasoned, since his cousin Joey was going out of state, the car would be gone forever.

"No idea who this is." Joey told Ricky, looking at the incoming number. "Hello?" she answered cautiously.

"Yo cuz, what up." announced Manuel.

"You owe me a refund is 'what up' you moron. You have a lot of nerve screwing over family like that." Joey told him.

"Whoa, slow down, cuz. What are you talking about?" answered Manuel, feigning innocence.

"Don't even try to play dumb with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about, that POS car you sold me."

"Actually, that's why I called. I was concerned and thought I would check up on things. Where are you now, anyway?"

"Don't worry about where I'm at, but I will tell you where that junky car is, or was. Go to Needles, California and look for a puddle of motor oil. Then follow the trail until it dries up."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean 'was' ? Where is it now?" Manuel asked, alarmed.

"I imagine the state has towed it off the interstate by now. You think I had the money to get it fixed? I gave you nearly all I had for the stupid thing. I barely had gas money to Florida as it was." She waited for Manuel to respond, but the line was dead.

 

"So you think the kid was being truthful?" Captain Hornsby asked Detective Benson over a cup of cafeteria coffee.

"Yeah, I do, but he is holding back. I'm going to keep him overnight, talk to him again tomorrow. I did get him a private cell away from the riff raff. Arranged for a decent meal tonight too."

"Can't hurt. You pull the store tapes yet?"

"Sure did. Got Manuel "Manny" Ruiz staring directly into three separate cameras, along with Anthony Diaz approaching him, just like he said. We are checking against the robbery tape for body similarities with the three masked guys. So far, I don't see a match with Anthony. Got a ninety-nine percent on Manuel, which is useless in court, since they were masked. We are still assuming the female was waiting in the car. Oh, by the way, Arizona called. They found two, long, dark hairs in the Honda, believed to be from a female."

"Sounds good, Harry. Just keep following the evidence, but I don't need to tell you that. Now tell me what you think Anthony is holding back?"

"I can't help but think he had some involvement. He may not have been present at the robbery, but something is missing. There had to be a reason Manuel took him to the Mega Mart two days before the job. He didn't drive five miles in a stolen car for a pack of cigarettes. Maybe recruiting him as a gunman and Anthony said no? There is something we are missing boss, and that boy ain't going nowhere until I figure it out."

"You pick up Manuel yet?" the captain asked.

"No, but we will. Must have spooked him when we picked up his buddy, but he hasn't gone far. They never do."

 

"So much for the extended warranty." Joey said with a bitter laugh. "I wonder why he even bothered to call. He did seem worried about the location of the car for some reason. Something else is a little strange too. He never even mentioned the car until I told him I was leaving the state. And then he made me wait a few days for it. He said he needed it for something important. That irked me because I had planned on leaving sooner than I did. But for the price, I really couldn't fuss about it."

"What about the title? Everything clean?" Ricky asked.

"Well, there's that. The name on the registration is Reginald Grofski. Address is East Mojave Court. Nice area. I remember delivering flowers out there when I was working for a florist part time."

"Didn't that seem a little hinky to you?"

"It should have. Manuel claimed he never transfered the title over because he didn't plan on keeping it very long. He said he would switch it over directly to me. I don't know if that's even possible. I feel so stupid. It could be stolen for all I know."

"I think you are anything but stupid, sweetie. You just weren't expecting your own cousin to screw you over like that. I've been burned myself. I think most people have at one time or another. Just look at the bright side. You are about to begin a whole new life and this will all be a distant memory. And I know it sounds selfish, but if you hadn't broke down, I would have never met you."

"Well, listen to you, country boy, getting all romantic. It's not selfish at all for you to say that. I think it's sweet."