Trailer Park Noir

a side window on the house that appeared to look into the same room as the large front window, and Reznick went to it. He peered through the sliver of space between the drapes. Couch, coffee table, chairs, fireplace, television – it was a living room. An empty living room – there was no one there.

Reznick cocked his head and listened closely for something, anything.

Was that the hint of voices he heard? Laughter?

They had gone to the rear of the house.

He doubled back and crossed the front of the garage, then turned left around its corner. He walked down a narrow passageway between the side of the garage on his left, and a six-foot-tall wooden fence on his right. The fence divided this yard from the neighbor’s. He came to a gate that matched the fence in height. He fumbled around in the dark for a latch. He found it a moment later and flipped it up, pushed the gate open and went through. He closed the gate behind him, latched it, then walked on until he came to the end of the garage.

He stopped at the garage’s back corner and very carefully, slowly, peeked around the edge. There was no one there, but he saw a window with light in it. He stepped around the corner and saw that the window’s drapes were open, and there were people on the other side of the window moving around, and Reznick quickly stepped back behind the cover of the garage’s corner.

Once again, he moved forward slowly, peered around that edge.

A naked man stood by the window. A moment later, he was joined by a naked woman who threw her arms around him and lifted her knee up high on his hip. Then she pulled back, took his hand, and pulled him away from the window.

The light came through the window and spread over the ground in a widening rectangle. Reznick neared the window but stayed out of the light. He walked around it and along the other side to the edge of the window. He pressed his back to the wall beside the window.

The window was to his right, and to his left was another corner, the corner of the house. Beyond it was a swimming pool, a small pool house to the right, and what appeared, in the dark of night, to be a sprawling, gently down sloping back yard beyond that.

He looked to his right again, at the window. From where he stood, he could see down a hallway. The window was at the end of that hallway, facing an open doorway across the hall.

Reznick turned around and faced the wall of the house, and slowly eased his head around the edge of the window. No one was looking his way.

The window looked across the hall at an open doorway, into a room. Naked people stepped in and out of view. Across the room from the open door was a bed with the covers in a tangle at the foot. On the wall above the bed was a large colorful banner that read MILFPARADE.COM – HOT MAMAS ONLINE!

Someone brought a light into view and set it up in front of the bed. As far as Reznick could tell, it was the kind of light used in photography or video sessions.

Alicia Carey got on the bed.

Reznick quickly removed his phone from his pocket, opened it up, and began taking pictures.

Alicia jumped up and down on the bed like a teenage girl at a slumber party. Another naked woman got on the bed and joined her.

A naked man approached the bed and waved his arms back and forth, shaking his head at the same time, like a disapproving adult. They stopped jumping and sat down. The woman who had joined Alicia got up and left. A man joined Alicia.

Reznick kept taking pictures.

Seventeen

When Reznick got home, he printed the pictures up and looked them over.

There was Mrs. Carey, plain as day, going at it with a handsome fellow who seemed to be enjoying himself.

There was that banner: MILFPARADE.COM – HOT MAMAS ONLINE!

He went to his computer and typed in the address. The page popped up on his screen. On the left was a beautiful naked woman in her late thirties, standing in an alluring but unrevealing pose, and on the right was a column of text:

Hi, kids! Wait till you see the new MILFs who’ve

joined us here at MILFPARADE! It’s amazing what

a little cash’ll get some people to do. They might say

no at first, but when you flash some of that green

stuff, they get mighty cooperative. And it doesn’t

even have to be that much, either! Next thing you

know, they’re naked and fuckin’! Which is why

you’re here. So, if you’re a member, come on in

and see what’s new. If you’re not a member,

then what the hell are you waiting for? Join now

by clicking on the Join Now button!

Reznick clicked on the Join Now button. He took his wallet from his back pocket, took out a credit card, typed the number into the correct window, filled out all the information requested, then clicked on the button at the bottom of the page.

Seconds later, he was a member of MILFParade.com.

Someone knocked at his screen door.

Reznick left his bedroom, went down the hall, and stepped up to the open door. He smiled down at Anna Dunfy. “Hi,” he said.

“Hello there,” she said. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Not at all.” It was then that he noticed the smell of something being cooked outdoors, and he realized how hungry he was.

“We’re having a barbecue, and I thought you might like to join us. We’re about ready to wrap it up, but I’ll gladly hold it open for you, if you’re interested.”

He thought of the barbecued chicken in his refrigerator, but that would keep until tomorrow night. “You know what?” he said. “That sounds delicious.” He slipped his bare feet into the flip-flops beside the door, grabbed his keys, and opened the screen door. He pulled the front door closed as he came out, locked it. “I’m glad you invited me, because it smells delicious.”

They started walking toward Anna’s trailer.

“It’s nothing special, just hamburgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad, some chips, some dip.”

“All of my favorite foods.”

“The macaroni salad is special. I went all the way to Kent’s Market for it, way up on Airport Road.”

“I’m familiar with Kent’s Market. He has a great deli. And he makes the best macaroni salad in the world.”

“Then you’ve had it.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Then you know what I mean.”

“I do.”

Anna had a small Webber Kettle barbecue. There were hamburger patties and hot dogs on the grill just waiting for him. He got a paper plate, put buns on it, then went to the Webber.

He saw Kendra, smiled and nodded once at her, then vowed to pay her no more attention for the rest of the evening. There were other people there, too, but he did not know them. He would wait for Anna to introduce them.

Anna lifted the lid and speared a hamburger patty with the long, two-pronged fork she held. She put the patty