Time of Death

52

Ren sat on Billy’s bed, looking tiny, dressed in his sweatpants and hoodie. She had taken a shower and tied her wet hair in a knot in the back. Her face was gray.

Billy crouched in front of her, holding her hands. ‘Well, have you made a decision, yet?’

‘Peter Everett is lying dead in a house rented by Billy Waites, a man who has been linked to many crimes, and who is linked to Special Agent Ren Bryce…who is linked to Dr Helen Wheeler. Who is dead. Who is linked to Peter Everett who is dead. Who is linked to Ren Bryce. Who, let’s face it, is dead.’

She laid back on the bed. ‘I feel like I’m in one of those movies where someone runs through all the back gardens and takes all the washing lines with them.’

Billy got up and sat on the bed beside her. ‘So…are you going to call work?’

‘Yeah, I’ll call in sick.’

He smiled.

‘I am being attacked,’ said Ren. ‘And I have no idea why. What do we do about this — do we walk away from this crime scene, shut the doors and hope none of the neighbors get the smell? And when they do, then what? I can’t ever have been here. I have no reason to be here. You and I have zero working relationship.’

‘Here’s some good news,’ said Billy. ‘This house is not registered in my name. No one can connect me to here. Not right away, anyhow.’

Ren glanced around the room. ‘But…your stuff.’

‘My stuff is that,’ said Billy, pointing to a half-open sports bag in the corner. ‘Remember?’

‘You live like someone on the run.’

‘At least I can admit it.’

‘Whoa,’ said Ren. ‘Where did that come from?’ She stood up and walked over to the window.

‘Where broken-hearted Billy lives.’

Ren turned back to him. ‘Stop. I hate that.’

‘I’m trying to keep it light.’

‘Everett hadn’t been here long, this was all recent,’ said Ren.

‘And he was killed here.’

‘So say your lovely blood-spattered walls.’

‘What do we do?’ said Billy.

Ren let out a slow breath. She watched the falling snow and the white lights sparkling across the city. And then she noticed red lights. And blue lights. And they were flashing. And there was a siren to go along with them. And they were coming towards the house.

Ren turned to Billy. ‘We get the hell out of here.’

The narrow lane that ran behind the houses had barely been cleared of snow. Ren was a strong, fast runner, but she was barefoot on rough, icy ground and being hauled along by someone bigger and taller than her with strides twice the length of hers. She stumbled, and he whipped her arm up in the air like a child’s to keep her from falling.

‘Jesus Christ, Billy. Slow down. Please.’ Ren stopped and pulled up the track pants with one hand. ‘These are huge on me.’

‘Ren, I don’t care if you’re half-naked. We have to run. As soon as they find that body in there, they’ll be spreading out like flies. Why am I even telling you this? Someone has obviously sent them this way. And for now, we don’t know if it’s the person who killed Everett or a neighbor who heard it, so we don’t know if the police already have you and me on their radar. And we sure as hell can’t stick around to find out. Let’s hope it was a neighbor.’

They started up again.

‘At least we don’t have to run through gardens and washing lines,’ said Billy.

Forty-five minutes later, Billy was carrying Ren on his back across the rough, glass-strewn grounds of an apartment complex in Five Points.

‘Where are we going?’ said Ren, stopping, catching her breath.

‘We are going to pay a visit to my friend, Stray Eddie.’

‘I’m guessing he was not christened Stray.’

‘No, nor was he blessed at birth with the gift of a good aim or a steady hand.’

‘You have to be kidding me,’ said Ren. ‘I am going to the home of a guy who has a known reputation for shooting people.’

‘Yeah, but he misses…’

‘You can’t tell him what I do.’

Billy glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘No shit. I’d say it would be the first time he might hit his target.’

‘What are you going to tell him?’

‘The truth, the partial truth and nothing but the partial truth. We’re fleeing the po-pos. You’re my bitch. That’s all he needs to know. He’ll let us hang out. And he has cars. If we need one.’

What has happened to my life?

‘It’s cool,’ said Billy. ‘He’s a good guy.’

‘Sure, maybe missing his targets is his way of high-fiving Jesus…’

Stray Eddie’s apartment looked like what would happen if a nightclub exploded and penetrated the wall of a historic apartment block. Eddie had left the door open, so he could go back and sit on his sofa. Ren could see Billy waiting for her reaction. He had been here before. She looked at him and smiled. The walls and ceilings were made of some strange white glossy resin. Unsynchronized mood lighting pulsed different colors in different rooms. Ren expected to see two hot lesbians wrapped around each other through an open doorway.

‘In here,’ said Eddie, calling them into the living room.

Eddie was tanned and fresh from the shower, with his black hair slicked back. He was dressed in gray Calvin Klein loungewear. Nice. Ren found herself drawn to the last place she should have been. Stray Eddie had been gifted with something at birth.

‘Well, hello there,’ he said.

‘Hello yourself,’ said Ren. She could not tell if he had noticed her stare.

‘This is Ren,’ said Billy.

My real name? Excellent.

Eddie gave a thoughtful nod. ‘I used to date a girl called Ren…not. What the hell kind of name is that?’

‘I don’t know, Stray Eddie.’

‘Ha,’ said Eddie, re-arranging himself. ‘So, what’s up?’ he said to Billy. ‘What do you and your shoeless friend here need? Your feet are bleeding, by the way.’

Ren looked down, then back at the smudges of blood she had left on the floor. ‘I am so sorry,’ she said.

‘If you’re going to shed blood, it’s the right surface for it,’ said Eddie.

‘A fresh body is lying in my house-’ said Billy.

‘Oxymoron dot com,’ said Eddie.

‘Hey, we didn’t kill the guy. Someone is fucking with us.’

‘Riiight,’ said Eddie. ‘But I could still-’

‘No cleaning required. The cops are all over the place,’ said Billy. ‘Here’s what we need: to hang here for a while and to borrow a car. And probably some money.’

‘Hang here, yes,’ said Eddie. ‘Borrow a car? Not so much.’

‘Shit, why?’

‘They’re all out.’

‘They can’t all be out,’ said Billy.

Eddie shrugged. ‘They might be back in a little while, I don’t know.’

‘Well, screw you,’ said Billy. He was smiling.

All of you go screw yourselves. Is anyone taking this seriously?

Billy saw her face. ‘It will all be cool,’ he said.

‘I’d love to know how.’

‘So,’ said Eddie, shifting again in his seat. ‘Looks like the lady here is in deeper shit than you, Mr Waites.’

‘The shit is rising to the exact same point on both our necks,’ said Billy.