Overdue - Chapter 12

"Ms.Lola!" questioned Kate. "The lady in the pink who lived in the flat across from the dead drugie."

"The same one. Delivering the pizzas and an ultimatum." I answered.

Kate and Brad were sitting in the lounge room eating the pizzas, while I told them about Ms. Lola's delivery.

"So if you don't find Rat for them they'll kill you and then start on us, probably." Brad summed up the situation very well. He even included him and Kate in it.

"But we don't know where Rat is. We've checked everywhere she could be." Kate was stumped we had thought of every place she could be.

"Yeah the cops have tried Mum place and Dad's place. I mean as If she'd go to Dad's she hates Kayla." added Brad.

Rat and Brad's parents split up back when we were in High School. Mr DeSouza re-married Kayla a fitness instructor. As trophy wives go she's not that bitchy at all, but Rat loathes her with a passion.

"No she'd never go there." I said.

"No she'd never go there." I repeated to myself.

"Its late your repeating yourself. Maybe we should just sleep on it." advised Kate playing big sister.

"Well she'd go there to see Dad but its not like she'd never go." offered Brad. "There is the beach house though. Now that she hates."

"Did we tell the police about it?" I asked. "Cause if we did they would have checked there."

"No." replied Kate.

"I didn't mention it. Like I said she'd never have gone there, its not even ours. Its owned by uncle Malcom, Mum's brother." after Brad finished we looked at each other.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Kate silently.

I had a plan. It involved acting like we didn't know where Rat was. Then finding some way to contact the Police tomorrow and getting them to go and resucue Rat. We couldn't do it. Brad and Kate agreed and after a night of restless sleep I went to work the next day.

It was uneventfull till in walked Ms. Lola. I was on the front desk with Mindy.

"Honeydear." she said to Mindy. "Can you help me I need find a book on the psychology of lying?" As she said lying she turned her eyes to me.

Now Mindy and I had been working together for a long time and we had an arrangment. If one of us didn't want to deal with a customer you scratch your nose and the other takes over. Mindy was about to go to lunch with Lachlan so she naturally scratched her nose and turned to me. I scratched my nose too. Mindy glared at me. She'd told me she had arranged to lunch with Lachlan and dealing with such an abstract search like Ms.Lola's would take a while. So she scratched her nose again at me. I scratched right back.

"Excuse me children but is this some kind of sign language? Or is it hayfever season again?" asked Ms.Lola.

I was about to turn and run when.

"Mindy you coming to lunch." Lachlan was at the front door.

"I'm sure Craig here can give you all the assistance you require. I have to go to lunch."Mindy smiled and raced over to Lachlan. The two embraced and left.

"Ain't they a beautiful couple." Ms. Lola actually sounded genuine and then she turned nasty. "I need to give you this." She passed me a Mobile phone. "The number stored on it is mine. Call me when you find out where Rat is." With that she turned and walked out. I put the phone in my pocket and forgot about it, after work I decided I'd make a b-line for the cops. The phone rang.

"Craig honey." It was Ms.Lola. "You better not be going to the police. Oh and yes we are watching you." She hung up and I walked home.

 

Overdue - Chapter 11

I got to the station and Kate and Mephisto were there. They were siting down and Kate was holding Mephisto. He was shaking and I could hear him sobbing. Kate looked up, her mascara was running. I was numb. I'd never seen them this way before.

Coughlan led me to the viewing room. It was a room next to the mortuary with a window which was covered by a curtian.
"You ready." Coughlan was rather grim. "Mephisto didn't do very well, not many people do. Just breathe clamly and tell me who you see."
And with that the curtains were whisked away. The body was naked except for the face which was covered. I turned to Coughlan.
"You don't want to know. But you've probably guessed. This is when Mephisto lost it." It was a challenge. Be a man its just a dead body. So I took up the challenge, I looked at the body.
"Are those nipples pierced?" I asked.
"Yes. Quite plain really, I've seen better." Coughlan smiled. If this was cop humor it was damn dark.
"Its not Rat." I said it plainly. Coughlan's smile dissapeared.
"You sure." she didn't believe me.
"Of course I'm sure. Over 48 hours ago I was in very close contact with Rat and I can tell you her breasts were not pierced." I was relieved.
"So who is this?" Coughlan was upset she now had a dead body who looked a lot like Rat with her face missing. She was back to square one.
"I don't know." I replied as if it was my fault. It wasn't but maybe I had a way ahead. "I think her name's Storm."

Coughlan was not that happy with trying to find a punk/goth artist named Storm. Personally I thought she was being a bit bitchy. She stormed off out of the veiwing room.
"Someone get me Proust." she screamed. "We gotta find some skank named Storm"

I went out to where Kate and Mephisto were. They'd heard Coughlan screaming. I smiled to them.
"Its not Rat?" asked Kate hopefully.
"Not unless she went and got her nipples pierced recently." I answered.
"Thats great Craig." said Kate and she lifted Mephisto's face up and smiled at him. "You fool its not Rat."
"Its not." Mephisto turned to me. He smiled for a bit and then turned away from me."I couldn't do it."

"Hey its ok Meph'." I reached out to console him but he brushed my hand away.

"I didn't want to see her dead. Some dark lord of death I turned out to be. I'm just Brad DeSouza." And with that he stood up. "I wanna go home."

So we did. We were hungry tired and spent. So we orderd pizza. The pizza was taking a while so Kate and ex-Mephisto Brad decided to have a shower. Of course not long after they got in the shower there was a knock at the door. I opened the door and was greeted by pizza. Happy that the food had turned up I took the boxes and handed over the money.
"Thanks but don't expect no change." I knew that voice. "You know God and I don't agree on much church boy. But we do agree on one thing." Ms. Lola was standing there in front of me at my front door. "I do believe the good book says 'Thou shalt not lie.' And I hate liars. Which means I hate you."