Tilt-a-Whirl

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

“Did you actually believe Reginald Hart would be caught dead sitting in the Tilt-A-Whirl at a cheap seaside amusement park?” Betty says. “Oh. I guess he was. He was caught dead.”

They giggle like sisters sharing a secret joke.

“That's funny, Mommy.”

Betty loves having an audience hanging on her every word, even if those words are, basically, a murder confession.

“The two of them didn't go there because Reggie liked bending the rules! Or because Ashley had a turtle named Stinky!”

“Stinky!” Ashley giggles some more. “That's such a silly name for a turtle!”

“The whole Tilt-A-Whirl scenario was preposterous! But Chief Cosgrove knew the comings and goings of certain vagrants who frequented the spot and would provide us with a convenient scapegoat. Someone for Officer Ceepak to go shoot, thereby curtailing any investigation that might eventually lead to us.”

“Mr. Ceepak?” Ashley's eyes look so innocent staring at her hero. “I'm sorry I lied to you.”

“You did not lie!” Betty says sweetly. “Officer Ceepak simply chose to believe what you told him.” She winks at him. “Bob told me you had a soft spot for children-especially children in any sort of danger.”

Ceepak turns to Ashley.

“Tell me what happened that morning at the Tilt-A-Whirl.”

“Can I, Mommy?”

“Yes dear. They need to know so they can help us keep it secret.”

“Okay.” Ashley smoothes out her pants like I've seen her mother smooth out a skirt. “I told Daddy that the Tilt-A-Whirl was where all the really cool kids went nowadays to make out. I told him I wouldn't do any of the stuff he wanted me to do, not in the beach house, anyway. Not with Ms. Stone staying in the guest cottage and all.”

“Then what?”

“Let's see. We had to get up real, real early Saturday morning because we had to do everything before the beach got crowded and while you two were still eating pancakes. Ms. Stone dropped us off and we ran around to the beach and snuck in under the fence. I had my beach bag….”

The bag we found with the cartoon monkey on it.

“… ‘cause that's where I had the gun. Uncle Bob got it for me.”

“Chief Robert Cosgrove is Uncle Bob?” Ceepak asks.

“Yes. He and Mommy are dating….”

“Ashley, sweetie, that's not correct. I've told you: We're simply two adults who enjoy each other's company.”

“Anyway,” Ashley moves on, “Mommy was late.”

“Only a few minutes.”

“She was supposed to pick up the gun from the little tunnel under the fence right after seven….”

“But I had to be at the bank at seven … the time we scheduled for the actual shooting.”

“Then she needed a ciggy-boo.”

“Ashley?”

“You did!”

“Dear. Please.”

“Sorry.”

“Are you finished?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“I can tell my story?”

“I'm sorry.”

Betty beams at us.

“Suffice it to say-I missed my cue … ever so slightly….”

And dropped your ciggy-boo butt on the beach.

“But I got there, didn't I, sweetheart?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“It was my job to take the gun. If Ashley had a pistol tucked in her panties, why even you might have figured something was awry. Where are my cigarettes now, honey?”

“In the other room?”

“Be a sweetie. Fetch them for Mommy.”

Ashley stands up. Ceepak motions for her to sit back down.

“Later.”

“I'd really like a cigarette….”

“Just finish walking us through it.”

“Fine.” She sighs. Smiles. She can flip a scowl into “say cheese” faster than anybody I've ever met.

“Ashley climbed over the chain-link fence at the entrance- something we practiced at the playground-ran up Ocean Avenue, and put on the performance of her life!”

“I'm a very good actress, aren't I?”

Ceepak nods. “One of the best I've ever seen.”

“And this was way harder than Our Town! I had like so much stuff to memorize….”

“Ashley? Why don't you give them a brief encore?”

Ashley stands up, takes a deep breath.

“My fa … fa … fa … ther! He killed my father! The crazy man. The crazy man!”

“She's good, isn't she? All right, dear. Sit back down. Thank you. You, of course, can see why she won the drama competition at her school two years running!”

“You know what my favorite part was?” Ashley says, looking right at me. “The free fudge at Pudgy's!”

Mom shoots her a look.

“Fudge? No wonder you're so fat. Have you seen how big her bottom has become? Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes-Bob picked Ashley up in his chief's car and reminded her what Squeegee looked like. Showed her some photographs we had taken of the man….”

“Later, I forgot about the beard,” Ashley says. “About what kind it was. Uncle Bob helped me!”

“So did I. When I brought you down to the beach house….”

Ceepak's had enough of the Betty Bell show. He wants to change the channel.

“Tell me about the kidnapping, Ashley.”

“Can I, Mommy?”

“Yes, dear.”

I can tell Betty hates sharing the spotlight. But ever the good Weather Gal, she realizes it's time to toss things over to the Sports Guy.

“Okay. Let's see. I climbed out of my window and all to make it look like, you know, I really was sneaking out to see Ben. I had to be real quiet. Uncle Bob was on the beach with his boat … but he was wearing these hiking boots with his swimsuit and that made him look so silly. I called Ben on my cell from the rowboat….”

“What happened after the boat ride?” Ceepak asks.

“Uncle Bob took me to the train depot and I stayed in my room like Mommy told me to do.”

“The baggage room?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You stayed there all Saturday night and Sunday?”

“Yes, sir. It was kind of scary and I couldn't leave or make any noise or I'd ruin everything. I peed in my pants.”

“Ashley? Really. Do we need to know that?”

“Sorry, Mommy.”

“Must've been hard,” Ceepak says. “Up there all alone.”

“It was.”

“We all made sacrifices,” says her mother the martyr.

“Can I have my bracelets back?” Ashley asks shyly.

“The ones we found?”

“Yes. Uncle Bob made me drop them so you would find clues and stuff. Can I have those back? My daddy bought them for me….”

“She doesn't want them,” Betty says. “Throw them away. Burn them.”

“Mommy?”

“We'll buy new bracelets. We're very rich now, remember?”

Ashley drops her head again.

“By the way….” Betty lowers her voice. “Did Chief Cosgrove offer you three people any of our money? I don't really think you've done enough to warrant payment; however, if Bob made certain promises….”

“What'd you do while you waited in the baggage room?” Ceepak asks Ashley.

“Nothing,” Ashley mumbles.

“She ate candy bars and drank soda pop!” Her mother sounds very disappointed in her.

I hear the apartment door open.

I look down the hall and see Morgan and a couple of his guys.

Betty is watching me. “Who's that?”

“I think it's the cavalry.”

She ignores me and goes to the door.

“Oh, god. Did they follow you here? Hush, Ashley!” Betty hisses. “Not another word.”

“Yes, Mommy.”

Ceepak calls out to Morgan.

“Hey!”

“Hey,” the FBI agent answers. “We'll wait out here, in the foyer.”

“Thanks.”

“Officer Ceepak?” Betty is puzzled.

“Yes?”

“Do they know about you and Squeegee?”

“Yes, ma'am. They know I didn't shoot him.”

“What?”

“I did not shoot Squeegee. By the way-his real name? It's Jerry Shapiro.”

“You didn't shoot him?”

“No, ma'am. You see, I gave my word that I would not.”

“So …?”

“We're not in this together.”

All of a sudden, there's this squeal of feedback.

“Sorry about that,” Morgan calls from the foyer, adjusting the volume on the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

“No,” Ceepak says. “My fault. I forgot to turn mine off.”

I see a red light glowing on the walkie-talkie clipped to the back of Ceepak's belt.

So does Betty.

She understands now that Morgan and the FBI have heard everything.

“You son of a bitch. I'm going to call Cosgrove-”

“Chief Cosgrove can't help you any more,” says Ceepak. “He's in jail.”

“You goddamn son of a bitch!”

Ceepak ignores Betty. “Ashley, remember when I gave you my word? Said I would protect you?”

“Yes.”

“I meant that. I'm going to take you away from your mother now-”

“No!”

“We'll take you someplace safe, okay, sweetie?”

“Get away!”

“Jane?” Ceepak says calmly. “Please take Ashley out of here.”

Betty stretches her arms to her daughter, but Ceepak restrains her.

“Come on, honey,” Jane encourages.

“No! I need to stay with Mommy. Stop!” Ashley kicks at Ceepak.

“Leave her alone!”

Jane reaches for Ashley.

“Come on, honey!” she repeats.

“No!” Ashley screams like I hope I never hear anybody ever scream again. “No! I want my mommy! I want her now!” Ashley is kicking and blubbering, her whole body shaking.

Ceepak loosens his grip. Betty loses her balance and falls to the bed. Ashley immediately curls up against her, her thumb in her mouth.

Betty is wailing into the bedspread.

Ashley twists her head back to face us, just as Morgan and his men enter from the hallway.

“Leave my mother alone,” she hisses at Ceepak, “or I'll kill you, you son of a bitch! I'll kill you!”

He steps back.

Ashley grabs a stuffed animal. A pink lamb. She squeezes her hand tight around its neck and glares at Ceepak, then Jane, then Morgan, then me.

“I'll kill you all, you goddamn bastards!”

I think we just lost another child.