Gerry : TWO

Linda made sure to get the keys to the house from Janis. After she did her part at the rehearsal, she excused herself from the dinner, blaming it on a migraine. She was prone to them so it seemed like a logical excuse. Everyone understood. She figured she had three hours before the rehearsal dinner would end and there was talk about going to Smittie’s for a drink afterwards. Her husband, Arnie, would hopefully go. His big brother, Cliff, came to town for the wedding.

Cliff was that kid who was really good at playing football in high school. He was popular with the girls and held a love them and leave them mentality. He was, for a brief time, the big fish in a small pond. After a failed attempt at the trade school, he took up as a mechanic in the public works department back at the village where they grew up. He ended up marring a woman he met through a bowling league on Thursday afternoons. She came with two kids. They lived in a seventies cardboard ranch with a walk-out basement and a pool in the backyard. The pool was half full with a toxic mixture of rain water, three years’ worth of falling leaves, and one child’s sunken baseball. A cloud of oily murk skimmed the surface. Cliff thinks he is so much better than Arnie.

 Arnie went to college and is a CPA with his own little brick and mortar on the main drag of town. His sister, April, was Linda’s roommate at the state university. They started dating shortly after meeting. Arnie had one year left and Linda three when they eloped because Linda was with child. Linda dropped out of college to take care of the baby and get a job to help Arnie finish school. He’s more or less a big fish in his small town, but Cliff will never recognize that.

“Arnie, you need to stand up to your brother. He treats you like shit.”

“What am I supposed to do Linda? Beat him up?”

“Well, I’ll beat him up for you.”

“What did you just say?”

“I’m just saying, don’t put up with his bull shit. Go out have a few drinks. Treat yourself to that bourbon you like. Your brother drinks discount beer in a can that he gets at the Dollar Market. You will look like the cool guy. That’s how you get back at a bully, you make like you don’t care and life is treating you pretty good.”

“I don’t know; I’ll think about it.”

“Arnie, go out. This is your daughter’s wedding. You will never get this time back. Don’t let Cliff take this away from you.”

Linda figured if he went, she would have an extra thirty minutes, one hour tops. She programmed an Uber for Arnie on his phone in case he had a drink and didn’t want to drive. Arnie was sensible like that. One drink and even if two hours had passed, he was still leery about getting behind the wheel. He promised he would call her later when he knew for sure.

***

Linda parked her car a few blocks away. She wore black sweat pants and a hoodie. She found her mother’s old wig from the sixties stored in the back corner of the guest bedroom closet and she wore a pair of winter gloves found in the junk drawer. She left her phone on the bedstand playing a self-guided breathing exercise for migraines. She drove the kids old Volkswagen Rabbit because the car was too old for tracking technology or computers. Linda spent a lot of time listening to true crime podcast. She was sure she had covered her bases.

She crept through the backyards hugging trees and shadows. She was thankful for the dark night and the few streetlamps. When she got to Janis’s backyard she stopped suddenly. The house seemed incredibly dark. It was so dark, the windows looked like there were no glass panes in them. It seemed to Linda the house was waiting for her. A shiver ran up her spine and a nervous pee came to life in her bladder. She was terrified.

“What in the fuck am I doing here. What the fuck was I thinking.” She puts the key into the backdoor. She heard it click and she slid through. She closed the door making as little noise as possible. It was then she remembered what she had forgotten.

“My flashlight.” She stood there in the dark kitchen trying to figure it out. She reminded herself she had spent years in the house and Janis had not changed the furniture around once since she has known her. She had bought new furniture and flooring here and there. But everything stayed exactly the same. “I know my way around here.”

Linda walked through the kitchen to the dining room. She knew if she kept walking through, the foyer was just on the other side. She also knew right inside the foyer would be Gerry’s dead body. As she made her way to the small entryway, she made sure to pull down blinds and shut curtains. Once in the foyer she turned on the small table lamp. Above the table lamp was a round mirror. In the round mirror was a man Linda did not know.

“Who the fuck are you?” Linda spun around.

“Who I am does not matter.” He takes out a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers as he stepped over Gerry’s stoic body. “What matters is cleaning up the mess your friend has made here.”

“Again, I am asking you, who are you?”

“Again, I will tell you it doesn’t matter.”

The two of them circled around each other in the foyer, trying to avoid the blood that had drained and pooled from Gerry’s fatal injury. Linda clenched her fist and the man lit his cigarette. They stared into each other’s eyes. They came to a stop with each of them standing on opposite sides of Gerry.

“Such a tragic death. A grown man who knocked up his co-worker and beats his wife is here,” he points to the floor, “dead at the bottom of the stairs. Do you know, Linda, it is Linda right?”

Linda stuttered, “How did you know my name?”

The man takes a deep drag off his cigarette, pauses and then exhales one continues plume of smoke over his left shoulder. “Because you just told me. Now, how do you suppose he got here? Dead on the floor at the bottom of the stairs?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do or you wouldn’t be here trying to clean up the mess your best friend, Janis, made.”

“How do you know our names, who are you and what do you want. Better yet, how did you get in here?” Linda stood a bit taller and stepped around Gerry towards the man. She gaged him to weigh at least fifty pounds less than her. She figured if she was quick, she might have a chance to take him down.

“Linda, don’t even think of trying to take me out.” He pulled out a gun. “You see, the way that I look at it is this, you want me on your team.”

“Team? Do you think we’re playing baseball here buddy?” Linda took a step back. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Well, I don’t want to, but I will if I need to.”  He took a drag of his cigarette. “I want you to go back home and nurse your migraine.”

“How did you know about my migraine?” Linda interrupted.

“That doesn’t matter. Now stop talking and listen because I am only going to tell you this once.”

***

Linda didn’t sleep the night before her daughter’s wedding. It is not unusual for the mother of the bride to keep running over the next few days events but she wasn’t thinking at all about the wedding or the two-hundred guest. Linda could only think about the mess Janis and she were in. She kept thinking about the Man who let her go with instructions and the promise if she did everything he told her, there would be no more deaths. If you know what I mean.

Linda climbed out of bed before her alarm went off at five. She made a pot of strong coffee but only drank a few sips as she frantically gathered her hair and make-up products. She needed to be at the church by two for pictures before the four o’clock nuptials. She promised both Janis and Nancy she would help with their hair and make-up as well. She did have thoughts about her daughter’s wedding, and the dead body at the bottom of the stairs in her best friend’s house. And then there was the Man who knew all about it. Linda thought about him the most.