Some Degree of Murder

Wednesday, April 21 st 3124 West Fairmont, 1:30 PM

VIRGIL

Brian’s house was a squatty one-story with blue shingles. I drove up into the driveway past a beat-up yellow Chevy and parked near the open gate to the back yard. There were no windows on the side of the house so Brian wouldn’t be able to see that I had Rowdy’s bike. I turned off the bike and walked around to the front door.

I knocked several times before it opened up. A long-haired kid stood in the doorway and looked at me with suspicion. He wore a faded Metallica shirt that bore the tagline Metal Up Your Ass.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.” I looked over his shoulder into the house and didn’t see or hear anyone else. The kid stuck his hand up to my chest as I stepped by him into his house.

“Hey, man, what are you doing?”

“Are you Brian?”

The kid’s voice was rising in pitch and fear. “What? I think you should go.”

“Brian, shut the door,” I said and looked around the house.

“Get the fuck outta my house or I’ll call the cops.” His voice shook so bad I thought he going to cry.

“Is Rowdy here?” I asked as I looked around the room.

“That’s it,” he said and reached for a cellular phone on top of the television. “I’m calling the cops.”

I grabbed his arm and spun him around before my fist slammed into his chest. Brian backpedaled to the wall. When he hit, he pushed off and came at me screaming. He tried to tackle me, but I caught him under the arm, lifted him up and threw him onto the coffee table. He landed on his back and shattered the table. Thousands of splinters and shards of glass shot everywhere.

I grabbed him by the hair and dragged him to his knees. “Where’s Rowdy?”

“Fu-”

My hand slapped across Brian’s face and I let go of his hair. Brian fell to the ground and then scrambled in to the kitchen. I chased him in and pushed him from behind. Brian crashed face first into the refrigerator. Blood poured from his nose which was now clearly broken.

“Where’s Rowdy?”

“Not here,” he said through little whimpers.

From the kitchen I could see the bathroom. I snatched Brian by the hair and dragged him to the toilet.

“Ready for a swim?”

Brian shook his head wildly.

With my hand still in his hair and the other around his neck, I shoved Brian’s head in to the toilet. His hands clawed at me. After a count of twenty, I pulled his head out of the toilet. Brian gasped for air like a fish out of water.

“Where’s Rowdy?”

“At the fun house.”

I pushed Brian’s face back into the toilet. His hand reached up and flushed the toilet. As the water ran from the bowl, I lifted his head up.

“What’s the fun house?”

“It’s where he takes his girlfriends.”

“That's where he takes them to kill them?”

“He doesn’t kill anyone, man.”

“Where’s the fun house?”

“Why should I tell you?”

I slapped Brian hard and then grabbed his right arm by the wrist and elbow. With a sharp thrust, I brought my knee up against his forearm. He squealed but I didn’t feel it give. Brian clawed at my back as I hugged his arm to my chest. I dropped all of my weight across the rim of the toilet bowl and heard the sharp snap of a broken bone. Brian howled in pain.

I stood and let Brian cradle his arm while he cried.

“Tell me where Rowdy is or I’ll continue to break things until you do.”

“It’s on the corner of Wales and Magnolia.” Spittle flew everywhere as he spoke.

“Where the hell is that?”

Brian shook his head in a frenzy. “Off Sprague and Napa. In that area.”

I slapped his face to get him to focus. “What’s it look like?”

“It’s an old office building. No one uses it anymore.”

I pulled out Fawn’s picture from my jacket. “You ever see this girl?”

He nodded frantically. “Once.”

“Where did you see her at?”

“Rowdy introduced me to her. Said it was his new girlfriend.”

I grabbed his throat. “Did you fuck her?”

“No,” he gagged, “that was Rowdy’s girl.”

My fingers wrapped around his throat. “I think you’re lying, kid.”

“I swear.”

“You wanna live?”

“Please,” he begged softly and let the tears flow.

“Don’t tell anyone I was here. Not the cops, not a doctor, not your priest. Got it?”

Brian nodded frantically.

“You got a basement in here?”

He nodded and I released his throat. I stepped out of Brian’s way and let him walk into the kitchen. He opened a door on the far side of the room and reached out to flick on the light. With both hands, I shoved him down the stairway. He flew down the stairs and stopped suddenly with a loud crunch.