Chapter 11
The stars twinkled in the clear night sky, and the temperature dropped.
Traffic was light while Kathy and Joey rode down Interstate I-40 headed west. After hours of highway riding on their Harleys, Joey now rode like a pro. They were just west of Memphis and about twenty-four miles from the Arkansas border.
As they rode down I-40, Joey's eyes started to droop. They rode for hours down I-40, and it caught up with him.
His eyes closed.
He weaved in his lane, and it scared him. He quickly opened up his eyes.
His eyes closed again. He weaved and came inches from Kathy's Harley.
She weaved away from him so they wouldn't eat the pavement.
She looked over at Joey and realized it was time to stop for the night.
"Can you stay awake long enough to find a place to sleep?" she yelled at him as they rode down I-40.
"I think I can," Joey yelled back.
"You better," Kathy yelled. She looked up down I-40 and saw an exit about three miles down the Interstate where a big patch of woods was nearby.
"We're getting off the next exit," she yelled.
"Okay," Joey yelled back, then slapped his face to wake up.
They rode down I-40 and drove down that exit.
Joey and Kathy drove their Harley's down the two-lane road and headed toward the woods a mile down the road.
Joey slapped his face all the way down the road to make sure he stayed awake.
Kathy caught an occasional peek while Joey slapped his face and chuckled. What a geek. She thought. But he is cute. She thought with a smile.
They reached the woods, and Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys down a dirt path used by pick up trucks that were probably hunters or four-wheelers.
Kathy stopped at a small-secluded spot.
Joey stopped next to Kathy.
She looked around and smiled. She turned off her Harley.
Joey turned off his Harley.
"This place looks safe for a couple of hours of sleep," Kathy said while she got off her Harley and put the kickstand down.
Joey got off his Harley and put his kickstand down.
They both removed their sleeping bags and put them on the ground, fifteen feet from their Harleys.
Kathy crossed her arms and shivered. "It's chilly. We need a fire."
Joey smiled. "I was a boy scout," he said to impress her.
"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" she chuckled.
Joey stuck out his tongue then walked off to broken branches on the ground nearby.
A few minutes later, Joey walked back to Kathy with an arm full of branches and twigs.
He placed them down and cleared out a circle of bare dirt. As a kid, Joey loved Smokey, the Bear. He stacked the branches and twigs into a pile. "We need some matches," Joey said as he stared at the pile.
Kathy walked back to her Harley.
She opened up one of her saddlebags and removed a lighter and a box of Quaker chocolate chip granola bars.
She walked back to Joey and handed the lighter to him. While she opened up the box of granola bars, he flicked the lighter and used the flame to ignite the twigs.
After a few seconds, the twigs caught fire, and it started to grow.
They sat side by side on their sleeping bags that were spread out against a big log they found in the woods and dragged close to the fire that grew and was so warm and cozy.
They munched on the granola bars and sipped on Gatorade while they stared at the fire. Even though he was a boy scout, Joey wasn't thinking straight since he had Kathy by his side - he had had his shoes a little too close to the flames.
They stared at the twinkling stars in the sky.
It was quiet. Then an owl hooted from a nearby tree branch. Joey jumped up startled. Kathy chuckled at his innocence then she got curious. "Boy scout, huh?" she asked in doubt. She looked interested, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"I want one, but they don't want me," Joey said and looked sad while he stared at the stars above.
"So I take it you're a virgin?" she asked but knew the answer anyway.
Joey looked embarrassed. "Yes." He hesitated for a second, then looked brave. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Once. He left me for some big-breasted biker whore," Kathy told him and looked upset over being dumped.
"I don't understand why a guy would leave a beautiful and sexy woman, like you," Joey blurted out then cringed as he wondered if he overstepped his bounds.
"Aw, you're so sweet," Kathy said with a smile.
She leaned over and kissed Joey on his cheek. He blushed. Kathy rested her head on Joey's shoulder and cuddled next to his body. "I'm still a little chilly. We can share our body heat," she said, then closed her eyes.
Joey looked at her. Should I? He wondered. If I do, will she beat me? He pondered and got brave and moved his arm around her.
Kathy's eyes opened and smiled.
She closed her eyes.
Her nose sniffed the air.
Her face cringed, and she sniffed the air again. She opened her eyes concerned with that odor.
"What's burning? Smells like rubber," she said while she shot straight up and broken free of Joey's arms.
Joey sniffed the air. "You're right. There's rubber-burning somewhere," Joey said while he sniffed the air again.
Joey felt something. Something hot was felt down at his feet. He looked down and saw flames shoot out of the bottom of his shoe.
"Ahh! My shoe is on fire!" Joey yelled as he jumped up in a panic.
Joey danced around in fear he was going to burst into flames any second. The flames got bigger from his shoe. He quickly stomped on his flaming shoe with his other shoe.
Kathy rolled on her side and laughed at the sight of him dancing around.
He stomped harder on his flaming shoe.
The flames extinguished.
Joey stomped again. He lost his balance and fell flat on his butt.
Kathy rolled off her sleeping bag and into the dirt and laughed until her stomach hurt.
She got up and walked over to him.
She assisted him back on his feet. She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. Joey smiled as he loved the attention.
"You really do need someone to look after you," she said while she got back on her sleeping bag. She looked at Joey and patted his sleeping bag. "Come to bed," she said with a smile while she patted Joey's sleeping bag.
Joey was in heaven as he lay down on his sleeping bag next to Kathy.
She cuddled next to him and closed her eyes.
Joey looked at Kathy and wondered if he should make his move. He didn't. He closed his eyes.
His shoe continued to smoke.
Joey looked at their sleeping bags. Why didn't we sleep in them? He wondered. But he felt her body next to his and was glad she didn't recommend doing that. After all, it wasn't that cool.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
It was seven-thirty in the morning.
The sun shined through the trees. A beam of sunlight lit up Joey's face. He woke up and looked around. He hoped everything was a dream.
He looked at the campfire. It was out and wasn't a threat to the woods.
He looked at Kathy, still cuddled under his arms. She felt so good. He looked down at Kathy's shirt and saw a huge wet drool spot with a stream of slobber from his lower lip. His drool. Joey wanted to die right there. Here he had a chance with a sexy woman, and he drooled on her shirt. Joey pondered what should he do. He got an idea. He leaned down and blew air on the spot to dry it. It wasn't working. He blew harder.
"What are you doing?" Kathy asked as she woke up to find Joey blowing on her shirt. Joey wanted to die.
"Ah, your shirt is wet. I thought I would dry it for you," he said, hoping she would believe his story.
Kathy looked down at her shirt and saw the wet spot. "I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe I drooled in my sleep," Kathy said.
Joey knew he was out of the woods on this one. But guilt hit him hard. "Actually, I think it's my drool," Joey confessed.
Kathy looked down at the wet spot. "Oh well," she said and got up. She yawned and then her face cringed as she realized she had terrible breath. "We need to get to a store. I forgot some toothbrushes and toothpaste," she said. Joey nodded in agreement.
They rolled up their sleeping bags and walked over to the Harleys.
They tied their sleeping bags to the rear of their Harleys with those bungee cords.
Joey went back and picked up their trash and put it in one of his saddlebags.
The got on and started up their Harleys. They drove off.
It was nine in the morning over in Orlando.
Back at the Orange County Sheriff Department, Angie sipped her coffee while she reviewed her notes. Then something bugged her. She thought for a few seconds then remembered something she saw in Joey's apartment.
She got up and rushed out away from her desk.
Later that morning, Angie and another deputy entered Joey's quiet apartment. She walked over to his computer desk and snatched his UIC picture.
She walked out of his apartment with the deputy.
At the same time just across the Arkansas border off I-40, Joey and Kathy stopped at a convenience store.
They drove to the gas pumps and turned off their Harleys.
"Fill the tanks while I pay inside," she told Joey.
Joey removed his wallet, opened it up, and handed Kathy forty dollars.
She grabbed the cash and walked off to the store while Joey removed the gas cap from her Harley and grabbed the nozzle.
He put the nozzle in her tank and waited.
The gas pump indicated it was ready. Joey pumped gas into her Harley.
Kathy exited the convenience store with a bag in hand. She walked up to Joey, reached inside the bag, and removed some sunglasses. "Here," she said while she handed them to him.
"Thanks," Joey replied and wore the glasses. She reached in the bag and removed some toothbrushes and two small tubes of toothpaste.
"I'll freshen up first," she said and walked to the side of the store where the bathrooms were.
Joey continued to pump gas into her tank.
Back at the Orange County sheriff's department, Angie looked at Joey's UIC picture at her desk.
A female deputy walked up to Angie.
"Nothing on Austin's cell phone," the deputy stated.
"Thanks," Angie said, disappointed.
The female deputy walked away.
Angie moved over to her computer. She searched on Lenny Roth of Denver. Nothing worth checking into appeared.
She searched on Sammy Goddard of Phoenix. Nothing worth checking into displayed. She looked at the picture and wondered if she was wasting her time.
She searched on Sidney Watson of Chicago. Bingo!
A link for a new article of a bank robbery displayed with Sidney Watson's name listed as the robber.
She smiled when she clicked on the link.
An on-line Chicago Tribune news article about Sidney Watson arrested for robbing a National City Bank, of $40,000, in Chicago appeared.
She looked at the news article picture of Sidney then compared it to the UIC picture from Joey's apartment. It was the same guy.
She looked at the notes again.
She opened up Google Maps and looked at the USA map.
She grabbed a pen and pointed to Chicago.
She drew an invisible line down to Columbus, Georgia.
She drew an invisible line down to Orlando, Florida.
She had a hunch. A strong suspicion!
She wrote down the date of Sidney's bank robbery.
She searched on Wally Spencer of Columbus.
A link about his arrest for robbing a bank displayed.
She clicked on the link.
She scanned the article then wrote the date of his robbery.
She jotted down in her notes that Sidney's robbery occurred first, then Wally's and then Joey's.
She looked at her notes then looked at the Google Map of the US. She took her pen and touched Little Rock.
She had a good lead.
She got up and rushed over to Lane's office.
Lane shuffled paperwork when Angie knocked on his door.
"Come in, Angie," he said while he put some papers down.
She walked over and sat down in front of his desk.
"I have reason to believe Austin is headed to Little Rock," Angie told him.
"How do you know that?" he asked curiously.
"It appears two of Austin's college buddies were also recently arrested for bank robbery," she said.
Lane thought about what she said for a second. "Some type of gang?" she asked.
"My gut is telling me no way. Both claim they gave a girl a ride to the bank and she tricked them into sending the robbery note through the drive-thru window," she said.
"The same girl?" he questioned.
"They both had a rose tattoo on their left hand," she said.
"Could be a coincidence. Austin's fingerprints are on the robbery note. He was on video at the bank. Plus we found the robbery note typed on his work computer," he said.
"No. I think it's the same girl. But don't have the proof yet," Angie said with confidence.
Lane noticed her strong determination. "I thought you didn't want to travel and be away from Lela?" he asked.
"I know, but I also don't want an innocent man to go to jail," she replied.
Lane smiled. "Have fun in Little Rock," he said.
Angie got up and left his office.
Back in a Little Rock police station near where Ricky lived, a fax machine printed out wanted posters of Joey and Kathy.
After a few minutes, a male officer walked up to the fax machine and grabbed the fax. He saw that the fax was addressed to Chief George Alford.
The officer walked the fax to the Chief's office.
Back in Orlando, Angie walked back to her desk.
She sat down and immediately typed on her computer keyboard. Information on the Little Rock Police Department appeared on her monitor.
She wrote down the phone number of Chief Alford's office.
A female deputy walked up to Angie's desk with a piece of paper in hand. "We got a match on some prints of the metal trash can from Austin's office. Belong to a Rose Cain. She has a record," the female deputy said then handed Angie the rap sheet.
The female deputy walked away while Angie read Rose's rap sheet from the Chicago police department.
On the rap sheet was a picture of Rose with her short red hair and a mole on her upper lip. The sheet made reference to a rose tattoo on her left hand. The only crime Rose committed was being arrested for prostitution five times. Rose's rap sheet reinforced Angie's hunch that Joey might be innocent.
She picked up her phone and made a call to Chief Alford.
Joey and Kathy rode down I-40 towards Little Rock.
It was two-thirty in the afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas…
A red 2008 Honda Civic was parked in the far outside lane of the drive-thru at the First National Bank of Little Rock.
It's been ten years, and Ricky Adamson also hadn't changed a bit, except for the fact he truly believes he finally got a woman. A hot woman!
Ricky removed a plastic tube carrier out of the pneumatic terminal.
He opened it and dumped two bundles of one hundred dollar bills in his lap. He looked at it in disbelief. "Whoa, look at all the money," he said, but then another tube swooshed to him from the machine.
He removed it from the machine, opened it and dumped two more bundles in his lap. "Wow, Carrie, why do you need all this cash?" he asked curiously.
Ricky looked over at Rose, who used the name Carrie with Ricky, and wore a long brown hair wig. She had the passenger seat all the way back with a baseball cap that covered her eyes.
"It's for my sister's wedding. I'm helping my parents pay for it," she lied through her teeth.
"Why cash?" Ricky asked.
"Oh, my Daddy's weird about only dealing with cash. You'd have to meet him to understand it," she said.
"When are you going to tell them we're engaged?" he said with a huge smile.
"At my sister's wedding and my family will love you," she replied as she lied through her teeth.
Rose looked through the brim of her cap and admired her beautiful 14-karat gold diamond engagement ring on her finger.
"I'm so sorry I accidentally smashed your iPhone the other day," Rose said, and she really meant it.
"That's all right. I'll get a new one tomorrow," he replied.
She reached over and lightly stroked his inner thigh, which he loved as was evident by the pump tent in his britches.
Ricky looked at the bank teller who stared at him, scared to death she might die. "Thank you," Ricky said into the speaker on the machine.
Ricky drove his Honda away and smiled as he knew he would be married in a few months.
Ricky drove his Honda down a Little Rock street.
While he drove, Rose placed her seat in the upright position. She then reached over and grabbed the bundles of cash and put them into a paper bag.
When she finished, she leaned over and gave Ricky a kiss on his cheek.
"You're the best! I know you're going to make me happy after we get married," she said, followed with a loving smile.
Ricky grinned ear to ear, as he couldn't wait for that beautiful day. He couldn't wait to tell his old college buddies.
From behind his Honda, Jesse's GTO drove up in the left lane and approached Ricky's Honda.
From the backseat, Frankie had his digital camera in hand. He discreetly aimed the camera at Ricky's Honda and snapped a picture of Ricky and Rose.
He looked at the viewfinder. "Perfect!" he told Jesse then shoved the camera over to Jesse.
Jesse looked at the camera's viewfinder. "Great little brother," Jesse replied then he raced his GTO down the road.
Fifteen minutes later, Jesse's GTO waited in the parking lot of a Taco Bell fast-food restaurant.
Jesse and Frankie waited inside and watched as Ricky's Honda pulled into the parking lot and parked at the first available open spot.
Ricky looked at Rose with love in his eyes after he parked his Honda.
He leaned over and gave Rose a quick kiss on her cheek.
"I love you, Carrie," he told her. Rose looked at him.
"I love you, Ricky," she replied, then waited for a few minutes and hoped he would ask her what she wanted to hear. But he didn't so she took action.
"Why don't I come over for dinner later tonight and then you can make me breakfast in the morning," Rose asked and smiled at him. Ricky's eyes lit up.
" I would love that," he replied.
"Good, I'll meet you at your place around eight tonight," she said then opened the passenger door.
"Tell your sister I said hello," Ricky said.
"I will," Rose replied while she got out of his Honda and slammed the door shut.
Ricky watched her as Rose walked into the Taco Bell.
She went inside.
Ricky backed his Honda out of the parking spot and drove off.
From inside the Taco Bell, Rose watched while Ricky's Honda drove off down the street. She rushed out of the fast-food restaurant.
Rose rushed through the parking lot to Jesse's GTO.
She got inside the GTO.
She handed Jesse the paper bag.
He opened up and peeked inside.
He grabbed a bundle of one hundred dollar bills and kissed it. "You're beautiful Rose," he told her then leaned over and planted a huge kiss on her lips.
"All for us, baby," she said while she smiled at him.
"We're going to be rich. Rich, rich, rich!" Frankie said while he high fived Jesse from the back seat.
"Yep, we're going to be rich," Jesse told Rose while he looked at her with a smirk.
Jesse drove his GTO out of the Taco Bell parking lot. He pulled out onto the street and raced off.
In the Orlando International airport, Angie talked into her cell phone while she walked down the terminal to her gate. She wheeled her small suitcase behind her. "I'm sorry, honey, but I need to fly to Little Rock tonight. I should be back tomorrow," she said into her cell phone.
"But I miss you, mommy," Lela cried from Angie's cell phone. Angie felt terrible.
"I know sweetie. But I'm a detective, and I need to prevent an innocent man from going to jail," Angie replied. There were a few minutes of silence.
"Please hurry home. I love you," Lela told her.
"I will baby, and I love you too," Angie replied.
Angie disconnected the call and turned off her cell phone.
She walked up to the gate just in time for the boarding of the Orlando to Little Rock flight.
Joey and Kathy rode their Harleys down I-40 and passed by a sign that stated Little Rock was eighty miles ahead.