Chapter 13
An hour later, Angie sat with Ricky on a bed in a holding cell in one of the Little Rock police stations.
She jotted down notes while Ricky told his story after learning Wally, Sidney and Joey also were considered bank robbers.
“I hope you know I’m innocent and can’t believe Wally and Sidney are also in jail for robbing a bank,” Ricky repeated in disbelief with what Angie just told him.
“And Joey ran,” Angie reminded him. “So, what was the name of the girl you gave a ride to the bank?” Angie asked.
Ricky looked surprised. “How did you know I gave a girl a ride?” he asked.
“I’m a detective.”
“Right. Her name was Carrie,” Ricky said.
“Did she have a tattoo of a red rose on her left hand and a mole on her upper lip?” Angie asked but knew what the answer would be.
Ricky looked surprised, she knew. “Why, yes. You’re a good detective.”
Angie opened up her purse and removed Rose’s folded rap sheet. She unfolded it and showed it to Ricky. “Is this the girl you know as Carrie?” she asked.
Ricky looked at Rose’s picture. “It looks like her, but Carrie had brown shoulder-length hair,” he said.
“Could have been a wig,” Angie replied. “Did she have a brother that was with her? Or someone else?” she asked him.
Ricky thought for a second. “Not that I know of,” she replied.
“Let me see, did she complain of a migraine and wanted to recline her seat all the way back?” she asked him.
“Why yes,” Ricky answered, surprised.
“And was she braless and unbutton her shirt to let you catch a glimpse of her breasts,” Angie asked.
“Yes,” Ricky responded a little embarrassed and again surprised; she also knew that.
“And, did she ask you to put her deposit slip in the tube at the bank,” she asked the question and knew what the answer would be, but wanted him to validate.
“She did,” Ricky responded then couldn’t take it any longer. “How do you know so much about what happened?” he said.
“The same thing happened to Wally Spencer over in Columbus, Georgia,” she told him. “And I bet she did the same happened thing to Joey Austin in Orlando,” she said.
Ricky got up and paced around the cell.
“We were going to get married. I bought her an engagement ring,” Ricky said while he paced.
He walked over to the cell bars. He banged his head against the bars for being so stupid. “I can’t believe I fell for her trap,” he said.
Angie felt sorry for him, got up, and walked over. “I believe she’s targeting you and your friends from UIC. Why I don’t know yet,” she said while she moved Ricky away from the bars so he wouldn’t hurt himself.
She walked him back to the bed.
He sat down and looked like he wanted to bust out in tears.
Sergeant Holloway walked up to the jail cell. “We haven’t located your suspects,” he told her. “Any idea where they might be heading?” he asked.
Angie looked at Holloway and debated how she should answer that question. Then she knew. “They’re probably heading back east to Florida,” she bluffed.
Holloway bought it. “We’ll concentrate on the east side of town,” he said.
“Sounds good,” Angie replied.
“If you’re finished,” I’ll have one of my officers drive you to the airport,” he offered. “That would be nice,” she said.
“Thank you, Ricky,” Angie said.
He just sat there and wanted to cry while Angie walked to his jail cell door.
Holloway opened the door, let her out and slammed the door shut.
Angie looked at Ricky though the bars and knew she had to get these boys out of trouble.
She walked away with Holloway.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys west down Interstate I-40.
Kathy glanced in her mirror about every five minutes to make sure the cops were not after them. They were safe.
The sun just settled and nighttime just begun.
At the Little Rock National airport, Angie sat, with her suitcase, at a terminal where a United airline flight from Little Rock to Chicago was scheduled to leave in one hour.
“I have to go with my hunch, Lane,” she said in her cell phone with Rose’s rap sheet in her hand.
“And you think this Sidney Watson in Chicago has more information?” Lane replied from her cell phone.
“Yes. And I think this Rose Cain is the girl setting these boys up to rob the bank. She’s also from Chicago,” she said with conviction while she read Rose’s rap sheet.
There were a few minutes of silence from her cell phone.
“Okay. Go up to Chicago. I’ll contact a buddy of mine at the Chicago PD. He’ll take care of you,” Lane said from her cell phone.
Angie smiled, then looked concerned. She made another call, and this one would be exceedingly harder.
“Hello,” Wayne answered.
“Hey baby,” Angie said.
“Are you on your way home?” he asked. Angie hesitated for a second. “About that,” she said.
“I don’t like the sound of your tone,” he said.
“I have to run up to Chicago and check out a lead,” she said and cringed that he won’t be too mad. A few seconds of silence killed her.
“Will you be home tomorrow night?” he asked.
“I promise,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll tell Lela,” he said, not very thrilled.
“Thank you, baby. Tell her I love her, and I love you,” she said into her cell phone then disconnected her call.
Angie looked around the terminal and wondered if she was doing the right thing. She hated being away from Wayne and Lela, yet it went against her grain to send innocent men to prison.
Meanwhile, Jesse’s GTO raced west on Interstate I-40. They passed by a sign that indicated the Oklahoma border was fifty miles away.
Inside Jesse’s GTO, he drove down I-40 at eighty-five miles an hour while he smoked on a joint.
Rose slept in the passenger seat with her left hand on her tummy.
Frankie slept in the backseat.
On his dashboard, his radar detector beeped. Jesse rolled down his window and threw out his joint. He rolled up his window and slowed his GTO down to just less than seventy miles per hour.
A few minutes later, Jesse’s GTO passed the Oklahoma Highway patrol car parked in the median.
Jesse drove the speed limit for three more minutes and glanced in his rearview mirror – the coast was clear.
He sped up his GTO back to eighty-five miles an hour.
He reached inside his pants pocket and removed his bag of uppers. He popped another pill.
Just off Interstate I-40 exit 64, Joey and Kathy parked their Harley’s in a field off a two-lane road.
Kathy sat on her Harley while Joey paced nervously as a cat.
“What am I going to do?” he asked while he paced. “Maybe I should run to Mexico?” he wondered while he walked in circles around Kathy.
“Stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy,” Kathy said.
Joey stopped and looked at Kathy with the hope she had answers.
“First, we need to get the hell out of Arkansas,” she said then pondered for a second. “We shouldn’t ride side by side while in this state. Keep a half a mile ahead of me. When we get into Oklahoma, lower your speed to five miles under the posted limit. Then I’ll catch up with you,” she instructed then thought for a few seconds. “Then we’ll find a secluded spot to plan our next move,” she told him.
“Got it,” Joey replied while he got on his Harley. He placed his helmet on his head and started up his Harley.
He drove off in the field and to the road.
He drove off down the road.
Kathy watched as Joey drove down the road towards the entrance ramp to Interstate I-40. She had thought of just leaving and running herself. But she couldn’t leave Wally in jail. She was now in this for the long haul – no matter how it ended up. Besides, she took a liking to Joey.
She started up her Harley and drove off in the field towards the road.
Up in the air, Angie sat on the United Airline flight from Little Rock to Chicago. She reviewed her notes from Wally and Ricky’s interviews.
Back in Little Rock, Ricky sat on his bed in his jail cell. He looked in shock that today’s events ended up with him potentially facing many years in jail. He thought about Sidney, Wally, and Joey and why were they targeted for this horrible crime.
Back in Columbus, Wally lay in his jail cell bunk.
He stared at the ceiling and wondered if this was going to be his permanent home. He wondered what Kathy and Joey were doing at this exact moment.
Joey drove his Harley west on Interstate I-40.
He maintained the speed limit and felt so lonely.
He missed Kathy already.
One half a mile behind Joey, Kathy drove her Harley west on Interstate I-40.
Hours later, at the O’Hare airport in Chicago, Angie picked up her small suitcase from the luggage carousel.
She looked around and saw Detective Harry Benson nearby, and he held up a “Detective Williams” sign. She walked over to him.
“I’m Detective Williams from Orlando,” she told him.
“I’m glad to meet you. I’m Detective Benson. Lane called me and told me you wanted to interview a bank robbery suspect we have?” he asked her.
“Yes, and I would like to see the residence of this girl,” she removed Rose’s rap sheet from her purse and showed it to him. “I believe she’s connected with a bank robbery down in Orlando,” she told him. “She’s probably not here in Chicago, so I’m hoping some neighbor can provide a name on some guy that could be with her,” Angie clarified.
“It’s worth a shot,” Detective Benson replied then nodded for her to follow him.
She pulled her luggage behind her, and they walked to the exit doors for the parking garage. “Do you need a hotel room?” he asked.
“No, I’ll take the first available flight back to Orlando after I’m done,” she replied as they walked through the exit doors.
It was nighttime, and there was a full moon out in the cloudless Oklahoma sky.
Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys down a two-lane road just off Interstate I-40 exit 291 where it was nothing but woods except for a lonely Kangaroo convenience store. Nice and peaceful with low risk of a cop.
They drove down the road, and it made a ninety turn, and just off the corner was a dirt road.
Kathy stopped her Harley at the turn.
Joey stopped alongside her.
“What’s the matter?” he yelled over the sound of their idling engines.
“That dirt road looks safe,” she added then gunned her throttle and drove down the dirt road.
Joey gunned his throttle and followed her.
They drove down the dirt road and made a ninety-degree turn to the right.
They drove down the dirt road and made a ninety-degree turn to the left.
They drove straight down the dirt road, and it turned into a dead-end at the woods.
Kathy drove her Harley between trees for about fifty feet.
Joey followed her.
She stopped her Harley in a small clearing and turned it off. Joey stopped alongside her and turned off his Harley.
They both placed their kickstands down and got off their Harley’s.
“Build us another fire while I get our bed ready,” she told him.
Joey loved the thought of sleeping next to Kathy again. “My pleasure,” he replied, then walked off to some branches on the ground twenty feet away.
Kathy walked to the back of her Harley and removed her sleeping bag.
Twenty minutes later, the campfire was lit, and Joey and Kathy sat on their sleeping bags while they munched on some granola bars and drank warm water from the bottles.
“I can’t run forever, and Mexico is out,” Joey said then gobbled down his granola bar. “My friends depend on me,” he said with a mouthful.
“Then were should we go?” Kathy asked then took a sip of water.
Joey thought for a second. “Well, if she’s targeting my friends and me, then Denver or Phoenix is their next target,” he said then sipped on his water bottle.
Joey got curious. He removed his iPhone off his belt.
He turned it on.
After it came up, he opened up Google maps and looked at the satellite picture of the United States.
“Denver is closer to us,” he said while he studied his iPhone. “And Phoenix is closer to Mexico,” he said while he continued to look at the satellite picture of the United States. “That’s it! They’re doing Lenny next then Sammy in Phoenix then they’re probably going to hide out in Mexico and live off all that money,” Joey concluded.
Kathy thought about his theory. “Makes sense to me, so Denver is it.”
Joey looked worried. “But I can’t screw up this time. If we let them slip away, we should head to Mexico and live the rest of our lives down there,” Joey said. “Hiding for the rest of our lives.”
“How are you going to make sure we don’t screw this up?” Kathy added letting Joey know that she bears some of the responsibility with Little Rock.
“I’ll call Lenny and tell him everything,” Joey said with the belief this will work this time.
“There was a payphone down at that Kangaroo store,” she said.
Joey got up and walked to his Sportster. He got on it and wore his helmet. “I’ll be right back,” he said, then started up the Harley.
Kathy watched while Joey drove off. For a split second, they wondered if he would run and leave her behind.
Joey drove his Sportster down the dirt road.
He got to the two-lane road and turned down it.
He drove off in the direction of the Kangaroo store.
A little while later at the Kangaroo store, Joey dumped quarters into the payphone.
He punched in Lenny’s phone number. He waited.
“Lenny’s home,” Lenny answered the call.
“Lenny, it’s me, Joey Austin.”
“Joey! I can’t believe you’re calling me. What’s going on?” Lenny replied from the receiver.
In Lenny’s lovely two-bedroom apartment in Denver, he still looked the same from college. He was always a geek.
He sat in his lazy boy chair and played an action video game on his TV. He had a Bluetooth in his ear and talked while he played his game.
In the background, was an iMac on his computer desk.
Back at the Kangaroo store, Joey hid his face from view while he talked into the phone. “I’m on my way to see you. It’s a matter of life and death,” Joey told Lenny.
“What’s wrong?” Lenny asked, concerned.
“This may sound strange, but some girl with a red rose tattoo on her left hand and a mole on her upper lip will flirt with you. She has black shoulder-length hair,” Joey told him.
In Lenny’s apartment, he sat on the edge of his chair, excited. “Does she have big boobs?” he asked Joey and had a vision of a girl with enormous perky and bouncy breasts in his mind.
“I’m serious. She’ll get friendly for a couple of days then ask for a ride to a bank. Don’t do it! She’ll set you up to rob it. Wait until I get there and we’ll come up with a plan where we can get her arrested,” Joey told him from the phone.
Lenny sat back down and looked a little baffled over his comment. He laughed.
Back at the Kangaroo store payphone, “That’s a good one, Joey. You were always pulling jokes on me back at UIC,” Lenny chuckled from the receiver.
“No. I grew out of that joking phase,” Joey said with a serious tone.
“Okay, I won’t give a girl a ride to a bank until you get to Denver. Got it,” Lenny said from the phone as he faked being serious.
“Wait until I get to Denver tomorrow, because Sidney, Wally, and my lives depend on this,” Joey instructed Lenny.
“Life and death. I hear and obey,” Lenny replied. “I wonder if she has tattoo’s on her big perky breasts?” Lenny added.
“Just don’t do anything until I get there. I should be there in a day,” Joey told Lenny then hung up.
He walked over to the Sportster and got on, he started it up and drove off.
Back in the woods, Kathy sat on the laid out sleeping bags and waited.
Her ears perked up when she heard the Sportster while it drove down the dirt road.
Joey parked his Sportster next to Kathy’s Harley.
He turned it off and walked back to Kathy.
“What did he say?” she asked when he walked back to the sleeping bags.
“He’ll wait until I get there,” Joey asked with a little hesitation on whether Lenny really believed him.
Kathy cringed. “I need to pee,” she told Joey while she stood up.
He watched her walk off into the woods.
A few minutes passed, and Kathy walked back to Joey from the woods.
“There a small pond back there,” she pointed behind her. “I need to wash off as I can imagine I stink to high heaven,” she said while she sniffed her underarms.
Kathy turned around and walked back into the woods.
Joey stood there and looked at the woods where she disappeared into, and he thought about her being skinny dipping in that pond. He never skinny-dipped.
After a few minutes with being curious, Joey decided to take a peek.
He slowly and cautiously walked into the woods.
Joey watched his every move to make sure he didn’t step on a branch while he inched his way in the woods.
After he walked twenty feet, he heard a water splash.
He inched closer to a tree and peeked around the trunk.
Kathy was naked in the pond, and the moonlight provided Joey a glimpse. But he needed to be closer.
He inched toward a tree that was closer to the pond.
He cautiously walked to the tree nearer to the pond.
He saw her shirt, jeans and then saw her panties at the base of that tree.
He stepped back and stepped on a branch, and it cracked. Joey stood frozen.
“You might as well get naked and jump in. You also stink,” Kathy called out from the pond.
Joey stood there speechless in that he got caught. He didn’t know what to do. But she did invite him to skinny dip.
“Don’t worry. I’ve seen men naked before,” she called out from the pond then dove under the water.
Joey decided to take this opportunity.
He removed his shirt.
He removed his shoes then socks.
He unbuckled his belt then unzipped his pants.
He quickly removed his pants. A little too fast as his right foot got hung up on his pant leg and he fell flat on his ass.
He removed the rest of his pants.
He removed his socks.
He stood bare ass naked. He couldn’t believe he stood in some woods in Oklahoma – naked.
He ran into the water.
It was cold! But after a few seconds, he walked further into the pond to where the water line was at his belly button. He adjusted to the temperature and enjoyed it.
Kathy swam over to Joey and stopped with only her head above the water.
Joey couldn’t believe that he had a sexy naked girl within a couple of feet from him. Even though she was in the water, she was still naked.
Then he cringed. The cold water caused the standard hazard every man faced – penis shrinkage. Embarrassed,
Joey lowered his body deeper into the water until his head was the only part of his body that was exposed to the night air.
She splashed some water on Joey. “I’m done,” she said then turned around and headed to the edge of the pond.
Joey watched her and could not believe his eyes when she walked out of the water with her back to him.
He stared at her lovely firm ass cheeks and noticed the Heart Wing tattoo on her lower back.
He watched Kathy pick up her clothes and walk back to their campfire.
Joey washed his body with the pond water and ducked under to get his hair wet. He stood up and walked out of the pond.
He walked over to his clothes and got dressed.
He walked back through the woods.
Kathy sat by the fire and combed her hair.
Joey walked up to Kathy and sat next to her.
“There, I think we smell a little better,” she said while she let the warmth of the fire dry her hair.
Joey placed his head close to the fire to let his hair dry.
“Don’t catch your head on fire,” Kathy chuckled at him.
Joey quickly pulled his head back and patted the top of his head in case it was on fire.
“I’m only kidding. You were safe,” Kathy chuckled and pushed Joey’s head closer to the fire.
After ten minutes, the campfire dried their hair. Kathy yawned. “Let’s get some sleep. We have a long ride tomorrow,” she said.
Kathy lay on the sleeping bag on her back with her shoes by the fire.
Joey lay on his back next to her.
They both stared up at the twinkling stars through the treetops. They both closed their eyes. Joey quickly opened his eyes.
He looked down at his shoes and cautiously moved them away from the fire.
In the northern area of Oklahoma, about twenty miles from the Kansas border, Jesse’s GTO was parked off in a field just off a two-lane in a secluded country area.
Rose was relaxed curled up in the backseat.
Jesse and Frankie lounged by a tree twenty feet away. They smoked cigarettes while they planned their next moves.
“What are our chances?” Frankie asked, then puffed on his cigarette.
“I’m thinking excellent. Really excellent,” Jesse said with a smirk. “During our last gas stop, while you were taking a dump, I sent Rose over to that hotel next store. She went into the lobby and used their free computer. She searched the Internet, and we’re not wanted for any bank robberies,” he said.
Frankie looked pleased.
“But, that Joey geek in Orlando apparently ran from the Orlando police,” Jesse said.
“What? But I thought we saw the police raid his apartment. We knew he was in there,” Frankie said.
“I know. But apparently, the dork grew a pair of balls and ran according to an Internet article. Go figure,” Jesse said a little proud of Joey.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Frankie said.
“Sorry,” Jesse replied.
“Is he going to screw this up for us?” Frankie asked, concerned.
Jesse thought for a second. “Nah. His balls ain’t that huge to be messing with me,” Jesse said then he chuckled when he remembered something from his past. “When those assholes turned me into the UIC campus police for pot, I charged after them. That dorky Joey kid pissed his pants. Nah, he’s not a threat,”