the Edge of the Abyss - 4. Smooth

As we returned from breakfast the wind picked up and the sky began to turn threatening.

I said, “We had better get this done quick. It looks like some weather is coming in.”

Lee sighed and said, “Oh great. It’s finally spring break and it storms.”

I laughed and said, “Don’t worry. There’s plenty to do here even in bad weather.”

We arrived at my truck, got in and I asked, “Where are we going?”

“The Broadwater.”

I fired up the truck and headed east down Beach Boulevard. I said, “I haven’t seen the Broadwater since the casino took over.”

Lee said, “It’s nice but expensive. My cut of the hotel was four-fifty.”

I said, “I doubt there’s any way to get that back.”

Lee grinned slyly and said, “I might have an idea about that.”

“What do you have on your mind?”

Lee said, “I really don’t want to see Daniel or Michael again and that’s possible. We’re in Daniel’s girlfriend’s car.”

I asked, “Daniel’s girlfriend? Isn’t he Mr. Grabby?”

“The same. Daniel is… I don’t know how to describe it. He’s really good looking and has a lot of charisma. You want to like him and want him to like you. You kind of trust him easily. It works on girls and boys.”

I observed, “It sounds like you are describing a con man.”

Lee’s eyes widened and he said, “That’s it. That’s the word I was looking for. Anyway, I thought I liked him. But the more time I was around him, I saw things about him I didn’t like.”

I asked, “Like what?”

“He uses people. He uses sex to get what he wants. Like the girl who let him borrow her car for spring break. He uses Michael for money by being a cock tease. I’m pretty sure he wanted me but by the time he did what he did last night, I had him figured out.”

“I’m guessing he used you too?”

Lee sighed and said, “Yeah. We kinda made out some. He made me hot. He conned me into some of the cash for the trip and the dope.”

I said, “I don’t know how much he took you for but you’ve learned a valuable lesson. The world is full of assholes like Daniel that get by conning people with their looks and their dick.”

Lee nodded and said, “There’s another thing about Daniel. He’s sloppy. I’m a hundred percent sure the Olds we drove down in is unlocked. The trunk opens with a button inside.”

I thought about it a minute and said, “That might be risky. I hear the casino security people are serious.”

Lee said, “I just show them my room key and everything ought to be hunky-dorie.”

“Probably. But we’ll need a plausible story.”

“You’re my cousin and we’re going out to the barrier islands tomorrow if the weather is OK.”

“OK by me.”

We pulled into a huge parking lot shaded by a grove of very old live oaks. Lee guided me to a blue Olds Cutlass. I parked my truck beside it.

Lee jumped out and went to the driver’s side door and opened it like he knew what he was doing. He reached in the back seat and pulled out a box and a pillow. He handed them to me and I stashed them on the back of my cab. He then hit the trunk release and the trunk clicked open.

Sure enough, a security guard on a golf cart came cruising by. Lee pulled his room key out of his pocket and flashed it at him. The security guard nodded and drove on by.

Lee was doing something in the trunk I couldn’t see so I started counting. When I got to thirty-seven, he pulled a soft sided duffle bag out and slammed the trunk shut. He carried the bag to his side of my truck shoved it onto the back of the cab and got in.

I started my truck and made a very slow and deliberate exit.

When we got back on Beach Boulevard, I said, “That was nicely done. Your first auto burglary?”

Lee grinned and said, “I’m a veteran of sneaking around. If you look like you aren’t feeling guilty, you’ll probably get away with it.”

We drove back down to our little cottage and moved Lee’s things in through the rain.

Lee sat on the loveseat with his bag between his feet. He unzipped a side pocket and said, “I evened up accounts with Daniel.”

He pulled out an ounce of the Ole Miss weed and a few other assorted party favors out.

My heart nearly stopped, “If that rent-a-cop had caught us with that we would have been really screwed.”

“He was gone before I got in the trunk.”

“What else did you get?”

Lee said, “I didn’t take it all. Just what was fair. Four hits of ecstasy, four hits of acid, an 8-ball of coke and two hundred bucks in cash. ”

I said, “Damn Lee, that’s felony weight.”

Lee said, “Daniel can’t exactly complain. He’s a dealer, this is just a fraction of the stuff in his trunk and that son of a bitch tried to get me started on crack.”

“You said he was older. How much older?”

“Daniel is twenty-six. He says he’s twenty-two but I saw his license when he was passed out once.”

“How old is your buddy Michael?”

Lee said, “He’s a freshman so eighteen or nineteen.”

I sort of growled, “The more I find out about your buddy Daniel, the bigger a creep he seems. I think it would be worth some good karma to get Michael out of his reach and drop a dime on him with the local NARCS.”

Lee said, “I don’t know— let me think about this. You’re right about Michael but I’m not sure how we could get him out of this mess. If the Narcs get Daniel and squeeze him, he could do a lot of damage naming names. He’s smart about conning people but he’s stupid about other things like leaving the car unlocked. He’s headed for a big fall but I’m not sure I want to give him a shove.”

“Fair enough. Consider the Daniel issue tabled. What do you want to do?”

Lee grinned and said, “Bong hits?”

“Definitely.”

Lee handed me some of his stash and I started loading the bong. He took a CD out of the small kit he retrieved and put it in my CD player and turned on some electronic dance music.

He sat down beside me and we passed the bong back and forth a couple of times. Darude’s Sandstorm came on and Lee started a strip-tease. Before long he was tossing his boxers across the room and he pulled out his clothes bag.

He stood in front of me in his birthday suit and said, “I might need a little help deciding what to wear.”

I said, “I like it just the way you are.”

I stood up from the loveseat; swept his off his feet and we participated in everybody’s favorite rainy day activity.