Trailer Park Noir

me? You need to see a doctor? I’ll pay for the first visit. Okay? Now, I don’t want you to think about involving a lawyer in this, all right, honey?”

“Don’t worry, Paul, I’m not gonna sue you,” she said, wincing at the pain in her back. “It wasn’t your fault, it was that damned drunk out there.”

“Well, he’s gone.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer to go home, though.”

“You go on home and I’ll let you keep all your tips tonight, sound good?”

Anna had to smile. He was nervous – he really was worried that she might sue.

“Sounds good to me,” she said.

In less than ten minutes, Anna was in her car and on the road, headed home.

* * * *

Afterward, Kendra got a washcloth and soaked it with warm water, and returned to Reznick in the living room. She cleaned him up and then kissed him. He smiled as he buried his fingers in her long hair. She went to the bathroom and got rid of the washcloth, then came back and lay down on the couch with her head in his lap.

“Oh!” she said. “Match Game is on again! This is one of my favorite shows. It’s so funny. Charles Nelson Reilly makes me laugh,” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah, that Charles Nelson,” Reznick said. He took another drink of icy vodka. “He’s a riot.”

* * * *

Josh Garner drove into the Riverside Mobile Home Park and stopped at unit five. He got out of his BMW and into the hot wind that blew loudly through the trees overhead. He went around his car to Steven’s porch. He slowed down and frowned, his head down. It appeared something had been spilled all over the concrete, something dark, like motor oil, or chocolate syrup. He couldn’t tell what it was because the porch light wasn’t on, and it was dark.

Garner climbed the steps and knocked on the side of the trailer.

“Steven? It’s Josh.”

No response. He listened for the sound of movement in the trailer, but heard nothing.

Instead of knocking with his knuckles, he pounded with this side of his fist, shaking the whole trailer.

“Steven!”

Nothing.

He pulled open the screen door and tried the doorknob. It was locked. He took his keys from his pocket, found the right key, and slipped it into the doorknob, turned it.

Garner pushed the door open and found the lights on inside. He took one step inside and froze.

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” he said, and it sounded like a genuine plea to the Savior. His voice wavered and he stumbled backward and swept an arm out to catch the edge of the doorframe so he wouldn’t fall out of the door and down the porch steps.

There was blood everywhere. The trailer reeked of it, of soured blood and feces, and the blood was everywhere. On the floor, on the furniture, on the walls. But there was something in the pattern of blood on the floor. A shape on the carpet that was not covered with blood, a kind of smeared shape of a body. He could make out the head and the arms and legs and the torso. But it had been moved and blood had smeared onto the section of clean carpet.

“Oh, God,” Garner whispered.

He found Steven’s phone and called nine-one-one.

“This is nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”

“Uh, I’m at my friend’s house, and I’ve found – uh, his trailer, I’m at his trailer, and I’ve found… well, blood, a lot of blood, and I haven’t been able to reach him all day, and I think he’s been murdered. I mean, if you could see how much blood there is here – I don’t see how he could live.”

“Where are you?”

He gave her the address.

“And you found your friend murdered, you say?”

“No, I think he’s been murdered. All I found was blood.”

“But there’s no body?”

“No.”

“Then there is no emergency.”

“Well, I think it’s an emergency, I mean, this looks like a fucking slaughterhouse in here, it looks like he was butchered! He’s been missing all day, and I came to his trailer to see if anything was wrong, and the living room is covered in blood. And I think there’s blood all over the concrete out front, too. Now if that’s not an emergency – “

”We’ll send a unit out, sir. What’s your name?”

He gave his name.

“And you’re at this address?” She repeated the address.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Someone will be there soon.”

“Thank you.”

Garner sighed as he put the phone back on its base.

He turned to the living room again and put his hands on his hips

“God, Steven. What the hell happened to you?”

* * * *

There was a grey Lexus ahead of Anna as she pulled off Interstate-5 into Anderson. The Lexus turned left onto North Street, just as she did.

Anna had always wondered what it would be like to own a luxury car. The kind of car that practically gave you a foot rub while you drove.

Up ahead, the Lexus stopped at the intersection of North Street and Stingy Lane, then turned right onto Stingy, just as Anna did. Anna was even more surprised when the Lexus turned left on Park Way. There were no Lexus owners on Park Way.

She was downright startled when the Lexus pulled into the Riverside Mobile Home Park.

It drove slowly ahead of her, so slowly that she assumed its driver was uncertain of where he was. He must be in the wrong place, she decided.

He passed up unit eight, where she pulled in. He kept going along the narrow road, on around the loop.

Anna killed the engine and opened the door. Pain pierced her back as she got out, and she groaned. She reached in the back seat and got her costume, closed the door. She noticed the Lexus stop outside unit seventeen across the road.

The hot wind slapped her garment bag around as she climbed the steps. She opened the screen door, then the front door, and went inside.

Twenty-Six

They were putting on their clothes when she came in. They’d heard her drive up. Kendra, of course, was quickly dressing as fast as she could, but Reznick was taking his time. He had nothing to hide. He was in no hurry. He didn’t care.

She stood just inside the door, Anna did, her garment bag slung over her shoulder, her mouth open to its limit.