Record Scratch by J.J. Hensley

Author:J.J. Hensley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books

Jackie left after lunch and I spent some time doing my best to temporarily secure my damaged front door, although it still wouldn’t be able withstand much more than a hard knock from a solicitor. After I finished practicing doorway triage, I cut my hair to a length most Marines would call conservative, showered, and changed out the thick bandage for my head for a thinner version. I dressed in jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt, my black leather jacket, and a black Pirates cap. I tucked my Sig Sauer into the back of my waistband and clipped a folding Gerber knife onto one of the pockets of my jeans. At my desk, I used my computer to type out an official-looking document on what might pass for realty company letterhead, printed out the page, and stuffed it into an envelope. I wrote URGENT NOTICE on it, slid it inside my jacket and went to the kitchen to grab some recycling and headed out the door.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled up outside the apartment building of Roger “Stretch” Orta. I waited until I saw someone walking toward the main entrance before grabbing the full bags. Timing my approach just right, I ended up at the entrance as a black woman in her sixties punched a code into a keypad that would grant her access into the building. I rustled the plastic bags and made a show of struggling to carry my items. The woman glanced over her shoulder as she opened the door.

“Hi,” I said as I made an exaggerated effort to lift an arm and punch in my code. I let one of the bags slip down my wrist and tried readjust to get my index finger on the keypad.

She flashed teeth as white as I’ve ever seen and said, “Oh, here you go.” She held the door open and I thanked her between heavy breaths.

We walked to the elevators together and once we were in she asked me which floor I needed.

“Five, please,” I said, remembering Stretch’s address had him in apartment 502.

The woman pushed the buttons for five and seven and I thanked her again as I got off the elevator.

Dropping the bags in a corner of the hallway, I proceeded to walk to 502. Reaching inside my jacket, I retrieved the envelope slid it under the door, and knocked three times before shifting out of sight of the peephole. A few seconds later, I heard the door and then the rustling of the envelope being opened. Then I heard the same voice I’d heard on the intercom.

“Damn it! What the hell?” he said as he read the mock URGENT NOTICE regarding the supposed graffiti on his apartment door and how he was financially responsible for the removal.

The door flew open as he decided to check the exterior and I pushed my way inside the apartment before he knew what was happening.

“Hello, Stretch,” I said as I gripped his shirt and forced him through a hallway. We cleared the hallway and entered a living room that was roughly the size of Montana.

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