Sokowski
Sokowski could smell the piss in Carl’s pants. The idiot was stewing in his own urine and stinking up his whole damn truck.
“Jesus, Carl. You smell like hell. Shoulda changed into a pair of my pants.”
“Huh? Naw. Your pants wouldn’t fit me.”
“Better than swishing around in your own juices. Shit.”
Carl didn’t answer. Just chewed on his thumbnail.
They had stopped by Sokowski’s house to make the call to the sheriff. After Sokowski took care of that business, he made sure to grab a bottle of Wild Turkey—he had a few to spare in his liquor cabinet.
Now they were parked back in Mindy’s driveway again, idling in the cold. Sokowski kept his eyes locked on the rearview mirror, watching and waiting. He wanted to suck dry the bottle of Wild Turkey nestled between his knees but thought better of it. He didn’t want to stink of whiskey when Lester showed up. Miserable prick was always silently judging him. Sokowski lit up a cigarette instead.
Beside him Carl kept rocking in his seat, twitching and jerking like a chicken at feeding time. “Christ, Carl. Don’t be going and shitting your goddamned pants, too.”
“This is wrong, Mike. We’re in a lot of trouble. Jesus. A lot of damn trouble.”
A set of headlights appeared down the road a ways. Sokowski turned to Carl and gave him a cold stare. “Just keep your pie hole shut. I’ll take care of it. I don’t want you saying shit.”
“But Danny’s gonna say that we were here. That Mindy was already dead when he got here.”
“Goddamn it, Carl. I got it covered. Don’t say nothing or you’ll just fuck everything up.”
Carl nodded. He shoved his hands in his pockets, then took them back out again and resumed gnawing on his already gnawed-down thumbnail.
Snow crunched beneath the sheriff’s truck tires as it pulled alongside them, white plumes of exhaust getting swept up in the unrelenting wind. Sokowski shoved the bottle of Wild Turkey under the seat, stepped out of the truck, and met Lester in the middle of the driveway.
“Well?” Lester worked a fresh cigarette in the corner of his mouth.
“Just got here. Haven’t been in yet.”
“Seen Danny?”
“Nope. Not out here anyways,” Sokowski said.
Lester noticed Carl sitting in the truck. “What’ve you boys been up to?”
“Just doing a little drinking. Party up in Towanda.”
Lester noticed a few tiny specks of dried blood on the side of Sokowski’s neck and on his mangled-up ear. “What happened to your face, son?”
Sokowski rubbed at the side of his head. Shrugged. “Got into a little tussle at this party. Somebody mouthing off. Stupid shit.”
Lester nodded and stepped up to the trailer door. Gave it a hard knock. No answer or sound from inside. He knocked again, harder this time.
“Mindy? It’s Lester and Mike. You in there, missy?”
Again no response.
“Maybe Danny went on home,” Lester thought out loud.
“Maybe so, but I didn’t see him walking on the road or anything on the way out here,” Sokowski offered.
Lester nodded. Better check and make sure. “Well.” He tried the doorknob and found that it was unlocked. He pushed the door open and stepped on inside. He stopped short as his boot slipped in something slick. He looked down at all the blood, and the color drained from his smoke-lined face at the sight before him.
Mindy’s corpse lay sprawled on the floor in front of him, half covered with the crocheted blanket. Blood and chunks of glass everywhere. The back of her head looked smashed in. Her throat discolored, black and swollen. And there was Danny, kneeling beside her, rocking back and forth on his knees.
“Jesus, Danny . . . what have you done, son?”
Danny heard his name and looked up to Lester. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. His head quivered a little. “She won’t wake up, Sheriff.”
“Son of a bitch!” Sokowski barked from behind Lester, spit flying from his lips. He shoved past Lester and threw himself right on top of Danny. Swinging wild fists that connected with the side of Danny’s face a few times, and Danny offered no resistance. He kept his hands at his sides and took the beating.
Lester reacted, but too slow. Before Lester could get to him, Sokowski hovered over Danny and delivered a violent steel-toed-boot tip into his gaping mouth. A loud popping sound echoed off the trailer walls as Danny’s jaw cracked and shattered. Blood exploded over his gums, and Danny’s deadweight fell on top of Mindy’s body, snapping two of her ribs from the impact.
“Hell, Mike!” Lester grabbed Sokowski by the arm and tried to throw him backward, but the deputy outweighed him by at least fifty pounds. Even so, it was enough to knock Sokowski off balance. Lester staggered back, slipped on a patch of congealed blood, and fell into the kitchen table.
“Back off this now, Mike!” Lester’s heart hammered in his chest—hammered too damn fast. His face turned a bright shade of crimson, and his eyes bulged in their sockets near to the point of popping right out of his skull. He plopped down on a kitchen chair to catch his breath and watched as Danny rolled off of Mindy.
Danny whimpered like a puppy pulled off its mama’s teats. He grabbed at his jaw and moaned again. He didn’t even try to get up. He just lay there on the carpet and stared up at the trailer ceiling. His eyes flickered a few times before they rolled into the back of his head and he shut down. His arms went limp and folded at his sides, and blackness enveloped him and swallowed him whole.
