Final Target Page 4

  Once back inside the house, Paden went directly to Joanne’s study and woke up her home computer from its hibernated state. He hoped she also didn’t log out of any of her email or social media websites. He pulled up her gmail and was correct. She hadn’t logged out of it. Paden clicked on the button to compose an email and began typing his directions. He explained that she should begin buying Money Orders with the cash. She could do this at several places around town before workers at one place began to recognize her and see a pattern. He told her to do the same at banks; get money orders every so often and mix it up with the occasional cashier’s check. Nothing too big though.

  Paden knew a guy who a couple of years before was talking about one of his cousins taking dirty money and buying a bunch of those prepaid debits cards and putting the max amount into them. It would take some time to do, but Paden instructed Joanne to also do this and to do it around pay days at different places that sold them. She was to find the ones with a max of five hundred dollars that could be put on them. A money order here, a cashier’s check there, and mix that with a bunch of prepaid debit cars and she and the baby would be set.

  When Paden had what he thought all Joanne needed to know typed up, he closed out of her email. He knew that message would still be in her draft folder. He grabbed his cell phone and sent Joanne a text to call him when she got the chance. He didn’t want her to know about the money just yet and hoped she didn’t check her email before he spoke to her.

  Paden looked around the house to see if he’d left any sign of being there and he couldn’t find any. He knew the best thing he could do was leave town and not look back, but he needed to see Joanne and tell her everything before he did so. He left the house and sat in the front seat of his truck where he took out his phone. He texted Joanne another message: Dinner. Tonight. Your place? Let’s keep it simple. One or two of those frozen pizzas you have that we like. 7-ish?

  She texted back a moment later: Sounds good! See ya then!

  Even if he couldn’t make it, Paden knew Joanne would make one of the pizzas and see all of that money. She would contact him then and he’d tell her to check her email if she hadn’t already done so. As he put the truck into gear, his phone vibrated. He knew who it was before looking at the message. Lanny’s message said: My place. ASAP.

  Paden looked at Joanne’s house one more time. “Here we go.”

  6.

  Davy had one hundred thousand dollars in his possession and he didn’t even have to kill the guy to get it. In fact, he was only going to get paid a few grand later for the hit, a hit in which he could’ve been killed committing. For that reason, he decided the money was his. He just needed to make sure no one but that Paden guy knew he had the money. He wondered if Paden believed his story or not. Did Paden feed him a line of bullshit? Maybe giving Paden his name was a little too trusting, but a ton of shit was happening at the moment and they both needed to leave. He could explain not getting the hit completed, but if anyone caught wind that there was to have been two hundred grand exchanged there and it disappeared, he wasn’t sure who would believe him when he’d say he didn’t have it. Big John would…maybe.

  It was Big John who came to him about the hit. Davy and Big John went back fifteen years and had a mentor/protégé kind of relationship. Big John helped Davy take care of something personal when he was thirteen in which there wasn’t any way back from.

  Big John had texted Davy to meet him at Ma’s Griddle for breakfast and told Davy of the hit. It was supposedly a time-sensitive one and although Big John would’ve preferred someone from out of town to do the hit, it needed to happen that day and not the next day or days later. Davy was always good for these local hits. He kept a low profile around town. Most thought he was just a mild-mannered shy guy who worked at one of the local grocery stores. The hits came only once or twice a year, but they each paid what Davy made in six months at the store. He didn’t need much though. He lived a simple life with simple needs. This worked well in his favor because he was always the last person a target expected from a hitman.

  Davy was driving to work his shift at the store where he would contact Big John about what happened. He knew he needed to leave town as fast as he could, but he needed somewhere to stash the money so he could figure out his next move and not get caught with it. He had to find a place that wasn’t obvious and figured his locker at work would do for the time being. Once again, though, he was running late, but that was because he had to meet up with Paden. That made Orrin late for his movie which kind of pissed him off, but Davy dropped him off at the local comic book store instead. He had friends there who would give him a ride home later.

  Davy was sitting in his car in the parking lot when a tap at his car window snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked to see who it was and saw his co-worker, Jamie, standing with a smile on her face. He rolled down his window. “Holy shit. You startled me.”

  “I’m sorry. I was just bringing in some shopping carts and I saw you just sitting here and wondered what you were doing because you should’ve clocked in already, right?”

  “Yeah. I had some shit come up first.”

  “C’mon then. The night shift awaits.”

  He nodded and rolled up his window and then shut off the engine. He exited his car carrying the store bags he was carrying the cash in. The bags didn’t conceal the money well. “Jamie, I’ll be right there. I need to grab something first.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you inside. Better hurry though. You don’t want Gary on your ass right away for being late again.”

  “Ok.” He watched Jamie walk away. She was a nice girl and he liked working with her. He’d known her for some time because he’d been working at the store off and on for five years and she three. She started during her senior year, so she hadn’t been out of high school for too long and was taking classes at the local community college. Due to her class schedule, they often worked the same shift at night together. A couple of months before, after their shift, they ran into each other at the Kwik Stop where they both were filling up their vehicles with gas. Jamie made a cute comment about the day not wanting to separate the two of them just yet and that made Davy smile which was something he rarely did. He bought a six-pack of beer and invited her to his trailer which she accepted. She was young and eager to please him which she did. He hadn’t had sex with someone barely twenty since he was twenty and although he wasn’t old, it made him feel a few years younger. They both agreed that their night together wasn’t anything but the enjoyment of each other’s company and that neither wanted a relationship.

  Davy chuckled to himself as he thought about that while rummaging around the trunk of his car looking for something to put the cash in. He had an old tool bag Big John gave him when Davy first bought the car ten years before. He emptied the bag and put the bundles of cash inside of it. It was a snug fit, but no one would be seeing the money as they would’ve with the plastic bags.

  With the cash hidden, Davy walked into the store and made his way to the back room where he clocked in. The clock only confirmed what he already knew and what Jamie reminded him of, that he was late. He didn’t care though. He just needed to make it through the next couple of hours and work his shift. He still needed to talk to Big John. That was always tricky, but they’ve known each other long enough that they could talk in code and know what the other was saying. First, he had to stash the money.

  He opened his locker and tried to shove the bag inside, but the locker wasn’t big enough with how the bundles were in the bag. Davy looked around and when he saw no one he began taking the bundles out of the bag and organizing them in the locker. When that was done, he found an extra apron and covered the bundles in his locker. He closed the locker and made his way to the front of the store. He stopped at the frontend area and picked up the phone. He dialed a number he’d memorized years before. The phone rang twice before it was answered. “Hello?”

  “Hi. Yes. This is Ray at the store. I’m calling about that order
you placed for today.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I’m sorry to say that another store got it.”

  “That so?”

  “Yes. There was nothing we could do about it since it happened so quickly.”

  “The other store got it and probably sold it by now.”

  “Yes. I called there and they said it was gone already.”

  “Ok. I need to think what to do now. I’ll call back when I decide.”

  “Ok. Just know, the order was in place and something else happened where it was taken from our store’s order.”

  “Yeah. Ok. I gotcha. I’ll be in touch.”

  “Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to assisting in any other matter, so feel free to call again should you need another order made. Have a nice day.” With that phone call to Big John made, Davy could relax a bit. He just wanted Big John to know he was there for the hit and what happened was a result of someone else’s decision.

  His mind would be off that afternoon’s events at Target because the beginning of his closing shift was always the busiest. It was flooded with people buying groceries after work to make their dinners and whatnot. He didn’t mind it much because by the time it slowed down, his shift would be more than halfway over. Plus, his register was next to Jamie’s. Although they both made it clear they wouldn’t be anything serious, it was still nice to look at her while she worked.

  As his shift slowed, Davy couldn’t help thinking about the money he’d stashed in his locker. He did his best to be pleasant while he worked, but his mind kept wandering back to his money. Was it safe where it was? Would anyone think to look there right away? It didn’t help that work had slowed and Davy was working the aisle with all the cans of chili and other canned goods. This allowed him to think about all of those things.

  He was facing each can forward and lining them up side by side along the edge of the shelf. At the store, they called this process “facing” and it was not only done to the cans, but to all products. It was a way to make the shelves look neat and full.

  “Now, I know you’re bored.” Jamie was walking down the aisle towards him pointing to the cans on the shelf. “I hardly ever see you face things. Usually when it’s slow you try and hang out in the back with Larry.”

  “Yeah. I guess I just felt like facing some stuff. Is it still slow up front?”

  “Yeah. I think there’s something going on tonight at the school.”

  “Probably. Who knows. Nothing like how slow it gets during football season.”

  “Did you play when you were in school?”

  “Yeah, a little, but that was a long time ago.”

  “Quit it. You’re not that old.”

  “No, but it was still a long ass time ago.”

  Jamie began adjusting cans on the shelf alongside Davy. “I better look busy, so Gary doesn’t get butthurt.”

  Davy smiled at that comment. “You don’t like him much do you?”

  Jamie shook her head. “Not really. I used to, but not anymore. He was nice at first, but something changed, so I try and stay away from him if I can.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She looked around. “He made a pass at me a couple weeks ago.”

  This sort of shocked Davy. He didn’t think Gary was completely straight despite being married to a woman. “Really? I always figured him as a closeted gay.”

  “He talks about his wife like she’s a goddess.”

  “Yeah. I just thought that was his cover.”

  Jamie giggled at that. “Well, it doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of trying something like that. Carrie said he tried kissing her once a while back. Cornered her in the office, but she slid by him.”

  Davy looked around. “What did he do to you?”

  Jamie stopped facing. “We were in the break area and he was standing next to me and put his hand on my back. He started rubbing, but kept his hand more on my bra. You know the spot where it goes across the back? He touched that part and when I flinched, he tried to hold my hand.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I jerked away more and then he tried grabbing my hand again and I shoved him away.”

  “Did you say anything to him or to anyone?

  “I told Carrie and she told me about the time he made a move on her.”

  “You didn’t tell Louise? You know she’s his boss no matter how much he tries being the big dog around here. He answers to her.”

  She shook her head. “No. I should’ve though. I’m hoping it all just passes.”

  Davy nodded. Despite working regularly and sleeping together once, he wondered why Jamie was telling him all this. It wasn’t like they were good friends or a couple. He continued to work the cans around the shelf until he had a complete and straightened out shelf. After a few moments more of working the aisle and not saying any more to each other, Jamie was called to the front to work her register. Not even two minutes had passed before Gary approached Davy in the aisle.

  Gary worked at facing a shelf near Davy and didn’t say anything at first because there was a couple of mothers with their babies strapped into their shopping carts’ seats visiting with each other about their other kids’ soccer games. When they both left the aisle, Gary walked right up to Davy. “You know you were late again, right?”

  Davy stopped what he was doing and turned towards Gary. Gary was barely average height and a little more than overweight. He wore a mustache and a couple days’ worth of what was supposed to be a beard. He was pretty much bald on the top of his head, save for the slight wisp of hair combed across. He reminded Davy of someone who’d appear in the Tribune’s weekly sex-offender bulletin.

  Davy was already bored with the conversation and it had barely started. “I know, Gary. Shit just came up.”

  “Well, unless you want to stay just a checker up front, you need to start coming in on time. Is that what you want? To stay a front-end checker?”

  “I really don’t care, Gary. I don’t.” Davy wondered if he would have been this bold if he didn’t have a hundred grand stuffed in his locker.

  “You know, I’m gonna have to do the write up on this and give it to Louise.”

  Normally, Davy wouldn’t give a shit and was wondering why he was even discussing it with Gary. “Go ahead.”

  “It’s the fourth time this month you’ve been late.”

  It just came out and Davy didn’t know why. “Go ahead. I hope to see it next to the incident reports these female employees will start filing on you for trying to play grab-ass with them. I’d hate for your wife, Sonia, to hear about all of them.”

  Gary froze and didn’t say anything. After a minute of standing in the aisle looking like a jackass, he turned and started walking away and then stopped. “This aisle looks fine. You might want to head back up front in case things get busy.”

  Davy finished the shelf he was working on and then headed back to his register. Two of the six registers had a customer. Neither Jamie or he had anyone at theirs, so she came over to him. “Guess what?”

  Davy was spraying down his station with some cleaner and began wiping it down. “What’s that?”

  “Gary just walked up to me and apologized for the other day.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. It’s weird, too, because he never apologizes for anything.”

  Davy smiled. “Maybe he realized the errors in his behavior.”

  7.

  After Lanny texted Paden telling him to come to his house, Paden took his time. He knew he was being summoned about the money and the meeting probably wasn’t going to be a pleasant one. He had to think how he was going to handle the meeting and come out alive. He was certain Lanny wasn’t going to be alone. In fact, he was thinking it wasn’t even Lanny who wanted to see him. Paden also knew he couldn’t bring a weapon with him because that might be checked. He was pretty much walking into this meeting one against an undetermined number of others without a weapon. Not ideal, but he was resourceful and woul
d figure something out.

  He pulled his truck up along the curb in front of Lanny’s house. Lanny’s Camaro was parked in the driveway along with a dark navy blue Tahoe. Paden exited his truck and made his way to the house. He rang the doorbell and waited a moment. When the door opened, Lanny stood in the doorway. “Good. You made it. Took long enough.”

  Paden shrugged. “I had a few things to do before I came over.”

  “Well, you’re here now, so come on.”

  Paden entered the house following Lanny through it. He wasn’t unfamiliar with Lanny’s house and knew they were making their way to the deck in back. They went through a sliding door and on the deck was another man. He was probably fifteen or more years older than Paden and working the grill. He was drinking a beer and didn’t look up to see who had come out onto the deck. “You Lanny’s guy?”

  Paden figured the guy was talking to him. “Yeah.”

  “You got a name?”

  “Paden.”

  “Payton?”

  “Paden. Rhymes with maiden.”

  “Really? That’s the name your parents gave you?”

  “Yep. It was the town in Mississippi where my dad grew up.”

  “Ok. Whatever. Lanny here gave you something of mine to deliver.”

  “He gave me something. Never said who it came from or what it was.”

  “Did you look in the bag?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “Fuck. Why do I have to keep repeating myself? No, I didn’t look inside. I wasn’t getting paid to look inside the bag.”

  The guy held up his hands as if he was giving in. “Okay. Okay. Did the bag get delivered?”

  This was where Paden knew things were going to start to get tricky. “Yeah.”

  “Were you there when things went to shit?”

  “Kinda. I was driving away when a van pulled up and started shooting up that truck.”

  “Did you see who was doing the shooting?”