Gargantuan_ A Ruby Murphy Mystery - Maggie Estep [106]
I keep my mouth shut. It’s not like I have anything to say anyway. It occurs to me to ask where he’s going. But I don’t. Doesn’t seem like he knows. I watch him slap his thigh, calling to his dog. The dog glances back at me once, as if apologizing, and then they are gone. I continue my vigil, crouched near Attila’s body.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I finally stand up and look around for a phone. There are two empty jacks but no phone. My body feels like it weighs more than an entire ocean but I force it to move. I walk in circles in the living room for a while, then crouch down by Attila once more. I lean over and kiss his cheek. It is already slightly cool. I hesitate and then trace his lips with my fingers. With his last words he kept trying to tell me something. To run, I think, but it also seemed like he was saying ride. You have to ride. I don’t know what this meant. Ride a horse? Our last good moment together was in fact when I was riding Lucky out at the Hole. Maybe this is what Attila was thinking of. I will never know. And realizing this makes me sob again. More time passes. I start thinking about moving again. About getting out of here. It feels wrong to leave him here but I can’t see what choice I have. I walk out of the house and start heading down the dark, steep driveway. I come to a road. I look left and right but see no lights. I begin to walk. When I hear a car, I put my thumb out. The car passes by without slowing down. Another one follows a few minutes later with the same results. About ten minutes later a truck appears. The driver slows down. I walk over to the passenger side and get in. The driver is a heavy-set middle-aged white guy. At first he’s very cheerful, maybe thinks I’m going to show him a good time. I disabuse him of that notion. He takes me to the nearest police station, in Saugerties. He wishes me luck as he leaves me there. I don’t think luck can help me now.
ED BURKE
38.
Falling
She’s lying on her side with her knees tucked toward her chest. Her face is smooth and childlike in sleep. I’m afraid to move and disturb her so for a long time I stay beside her, propped on one elbow, watching her sleep and marveling that she can look this peaceful such a short time after walking through the mouth of hell.
It was just dumb luck that I was able to help her at all. When I couldn’t find hide nor hair of her that day at the track, I started getting worried. I was sick to my stomach after learning about her and the jockey, but some instinct was telling me my girl was in trouble and I had to squash my hurt pride and help her. I was supposed to be checking in with the office and then getting myself back down to Florida to tend to my string and keep things going there but I didn’t. I went looking for Ruby.
I called all her phones to no avail. Under the guise of helping him find the man, I got Carlo to give me Attila Johnson’s address and vital statistics along with a photo. I didn’t want my face to show anything so I didn’t look at the picture of Attila Johnson until I was alone. In it, he was standing near a barn. He was staring into the camera, unsmiling. His eyes were a little hard, but he had good features. A shock of boyish white blond hair made him look younger than he was.
I drove to the address Carlo had given me for Attila. A nosy landlady nearly called the cops on me when I went asking her to let me into the guy’s basement apartment. She examined my badge at length and eventually let me in. She flicked on the overhead fluorescent, then stood in the doorway watching me.
“I’ll be all right, ma’am,” I told her. “I’ll let you know when I’m done.” She hesitated for a few moments then reluctantly went away.
There wasn’t much to see. A narrow twin bed, a pressed-wood dresser, a miniature fridge, a hot plate, and a scale. I went through the dresser drawers. There were a few pieces of clothing, none of these in very good shape. In the closet was