Stage Fright by Richard Prosch

Author:Richard Prosch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lohman Hills Creative LLC

Eight

“Nathan Elliot?” I said, squinting against the sunlit parking lot.

Elliot didn’t bother to turn around. At the sound of my voice, he sprinted the last few steps to the convertible, rounded the hood and grabbed for the driver’s side door. Before he could get behind the wheel, I was towering over the passenger side, reaching across the luxury interior, inches away from snagging the keys from his grip.

His door was still open.

As I clamped down on his wrist, he jerked to his left and pulled away, slipping out of his jacket, the keys springing up and landing in the passenger seat. I reached and picked them up. Elliot stood, flushed and gasping for breath, staring at me, the convertible between us, the keys dangling from my clenched fingers.

“What do you want?” he said.

“That’s all you’ve got to say to me? I expected more. In fact, I think I’m hurt.”

“I don’t know who you are or what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Now, we both know that’s not true. Isn’t that right, Chief?”

It wasn’t just the catchphrase that had caught my attention. The slight southern accent, the drawn-out inflections, this was my interrogator from the garage.

Softball-sized stains formed at his armpits, and I could tell from the contours of his clothes and the flap of his trouser cuffs around his bare ankles that he wasn’t carrying a gun. I hitched up my belt, let him see the butt of mine.

“Give me my keys,” he said, swallowing hard.

“Yeah, and here I thought we were getting along so nicely when you just up and walked out on me. Weren’t you gonna buy me that dinner?”

Elliot realized his bluff was going nowhere, so he switched tactics. Now he was as much a victim as me.

“Listen, man. I didn’t have any choice, okay? You heard Ted in there, right? Your buddy said, ‘a man’s got to be loyal to the people who sign his paycheck’.”

“Shame on you for eavesdropping, Nathan. I can call you Nathan, right? I mean, any guy who’s seen me half naked and kicked me around some, I figure we’re on a first-name basis.”

A couple cars went past on the road above the driveway and the hawk from earlier swooped in low.

I started to walk slowly around the front of the car, letting the key slide across the glossy paint. Elliot scrunched up his brow at the sight. “Aw, don’t do that,” he said.

I applied some pressure. The key bit into the paint. I took another step.

“See it’s my turn to ask the questions now,” I said. “For instance, who is it that signs your paychecks? Ted tells me it’s Reese Hogan. Was it fun-loving old Reese who had you knock me around last night?”

“I ain’t saying nothing,” Elliot said.

I took a step and moved the key a couple of inches along the paint.

“Here’s what I don’t understand. Why would Reese Hogan care so much about Denise May? Can you tell me? A guy like that probably has a lot of girls on

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