Creep by R.M. Greenaway

Author:R.M. Greenaway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2018-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

FEVER

Joey Battar was turning out to be a treasure trove of new leads, and Leith thought it wise to just nod encouragement, prompting only when necessary, while JD quietly jotted notes. Right now a prompt was needed, as Battar seemed to have fallen into a deep reverie.

“Tell us about the lady, Joe.”

“She showed up pretty soon after Aphid disappeared, and good timing, too, because Gunner was in a mood. Depressed. He needed a break. And a bath. He cared about Aphid in a big way.”

“And so this lady came over. And what’s her name?”

Battar shook his head. “I was laced that night, man, complete Nirvana. So it’s all a bit of a dream state, to tell the truth.”

Fabulous, Leith thought.

“What’s kind of funny,” Battar went on, “is a couple nights before she walked in, Gunner went over and ripped her place while she was out — I only found this out later — bagged a bunch of jewellery and stereo equipment. So then holy shit, when she just walked into our place and came up the stairs, we’re like, yikes, what’s up here, man? And she found us in the closet and she goes, ‘Give me my stuff back, like, now.’”

Leith was glad his digital recorder was taking this all down, as JD seemed to have stopped taking notes. Like himself, she was too busy not believing her ears.

Battar said, “So I guess this is a first for Gunner, being told to give stuff back. Pretty quick he goes into his hidey-hole under the floorboards there” — the hidey-hole the team had discovered under the claw marks, Leith supposed, nothing inside but dead beetles — “and he gets the stuff out and gives it back to her, and me and him are both, like, wondering what she’s going to do about it, if she’s already called the cops and they’ve got the place surrounded, or what. But nope, apparently not. This lady just takes her jewellery and goes through it, checking for something in particular, which she finds. A ring, or something. She says none of it would score us any cash, anyway. Sentimental value, she says. And all the while I’m thinking, lady, there’s two of us and one of you here. You should be a little more, if nothing else, respectful. Better yet, scared shitless. I sure would be. But anyways, far as I remember, then she says we can keep the amp and mini CD player, but she’ll take the jewellery. And she wants her speakers.”

JD seemed to have stopped writing altogether.

Battar continued, “She probably wasn’t too worried because we were both skin and bones by then and couldn’t take her on even if we wanted to. Actually, she seemed more worried about us than herself or the crap Gunner took. She asked how long we’d been there, and how long we planned to stay, and if we were okay. She was talking about shelters, I think, trying to get us out of there and somewhere safe.”

Some kind of do-gooder, Leith thought.

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