Innocent on the run. Part 27.

Chapter 8. The policeman stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Ricky. 'What's up, kid? You sick?' 'No.' he mumbled, lying through his teeth. His stomach was in uproar, and his heart beating like mad. He stumbled towards the cop, almost holding out his hands for the cuffs, when the policeman said, 'Where's Joe?' Joe! He wants Joe, not me. Thank God! He muttered, trying to hide his accent, 'Back soon.' The policeman looked at him curiously, trying to decide whether he was a genuine half wit, or was he just practising to be one. He turned and got back in his car and started the engine. 'Tell him Lennie called and I'll speak to him later.' He looked at Ricky to see if his message had got through. 'Okay?' Ricky nodded. The cop looked away and said, 'Jeez,' before driving off shaking his head. Ricky opened the Chevvy's door and sat down with his head resting on the steering wheel. His legs had gone wobbly. The sense of relief was enormous. He'd have to get down the docks and see if there was a ship he could get on. He'd be a nervous wreck if he didn't. After a while he felt better, so he got out and finished cleaning the car. He was throwing the dirty water away when the phone rang, so he ran to the office and lifted the receiver. 'Hi, kid, it's Joe. Listen, we're held up for a while with this guy who bought the car. Any messages?' 'A cop came in. Lennie. Said he'd see you later.' 'Okay. Now when you've finished the Chevvy, start on that red Ford next to it. The keys are on my desk. See you later.' He hung up. Ricky picked up the bunch of keys off the desk and went back outside. The piece of forecourt outside the office wasn't big enough for two cars, he'd have to move the Chevvy first, then bring the Ford over. It was a tricky operation, and he managed it without causing any damage, but he was sweating streams by the time he'd finished the operation. He was finishing the Ford off when the car pulled up and Joe got out, carrying a paper bag. Frank drove across to the garage and parked his car. Joe grinned, 'Hey, you did it, driving's easy, aint it?' 'Yes. Piece of cake.' 'Anyone else been?' 'No. Oh, yes. Someone was looking at that Blue car on the front row.' He indicated the car he'd ripped the wing mirror off, hoping that the fictitious customer would get the blame for the damage. 'But he drove off again.' 'Okay.' Joe went into the office and put the coffee on to boil. When it was ready he called Ricky in. He pointed at a paper bag on the desk. 'Lunch.' he said. Halfway through lunch, a car pulled up on the road near to the car display and a man got out and started inspecting the cars. Joe was out of the office like a shot. It was the fastest Ricky had seen him move. He talked to the customer for ten minutes, showing him different cars, before the man climbed back into his car and drove off. Joe came back to the office, and he had the wing mirror on his hand. His face was like thunder. He stamped into the office. Ricky's face went white. 'Goddam,' he shouted. 'This guy you saw looking at the cars this morning. What did he look like?' Ricky thought fast. 'Tall, skinny guy with red hair.' 'You sure it was red hair?' 'Yes, why?' 'There's a tall skinny guy with black hair who thinks he had a raw deal from me, just because his transmission was shot. Said he'd get even. Now I find one of the wing mirror's broken off. Thought it was him.' 'No, this guy had red hair. And a red moustache,' he added. Joe threw the mirror in the corner. 'Goddam.' he repeated. Ricky breathed a sigh of relief. He was off the hook. He finished his sandwich and went outside to wash some more cars. Later that afternoon, they got quite busy with a lot of people looking at the cars. Joe went out with a customer on a trial run, and told Ricky to hold the fort. When he came back he told Ricky that he always went out with the customers on trials, ever since he'd had a car stolen letting someone go out on his own. Three men walked on to the site, looking at the cars, and wanted a trial run in a fast looking coupe. Joe explained that he was just taking a lady out in a car, and if they could wait a little while, he'd be happy to take them out. One of the men, a short, swarthy looking individual with shifty eyes said, 'Hell, we don't need no one to come with us.' 'I'm afraid it's company policy, sir.' Joe said. 'Our insurance is void if one of us doesn't accompany you. If you're in a hurry.' he added, 'I'll get Rick here, to come with you.' Shifty eyes was about to say 'No.' when one of the others said, 'Yeah, okay. The kid can come.' They drove off the forecourt with Ricky sat in the back alongside Shifty Eyes, and headed towards the city centre. 'How much gas is in this heap,' the one alongside the driver asked. 'Not much,' came the reply. 'Okay, pull in to the next gas station.' They pulled in to a garage forecourt and filled up with gas. Ricky thought it a bit strange that they should put gas in one of Joe's cars, but maybe it was an American custom, and they'd get the money off Joe later. They drove through the city, on wide roads packed with vehicles of all kinds, huge skyscrapers lining the route, and out the other side to the suburbs. They'd been gone a long time, now, and Ricky wondered how much of a trial they would give the car. Surely Joe would be worrying about them, thinking they'd had an accident. 'How much further are we going ?' Ricky asked. 'Shut it, kid.' Shifty Eyes snarled. They pulled up to the side of a long, low building, and the man alongside the driver got out. Shifty pulled a revolver out of his pocket and pointed it at Ricky. 'Out.' he said. 'One wrong move, and you're dead.' Ricky's eyes widened in fear, but he opened the door and got out onto the pavement. Shifty followed, the gun concealed in his pocket, and grabbed Ricky's arm. 'Move.' he said. The three of them went around to the front of the building, Ricky sandwiched between two men. He could see that it was a bank, now. My God, he said to himself, they're going to rob the bank. They paused in the doorway and the two men pulled their neck scarves up over the lower part of their faces. Bundling Ricky in through the door, they shouted, 'Stick up, no one move!' There were no customers, just two people behind the open plan counter. They froze at the sight of two guns pointing at them. Shifty bellowed at them, 'Put the money in bags. Move it.' The staff started shoving money in bags and putting them on the counter, until there were five bags stuffed with money in a pile. 'Now move back from the counter.' Shifty shouted, covering them with his gun. He pushed Ricky forward. 'Get the bags,' he said. Ricky picked up the bags and moved back to Shifty. 'Outside,' he snarled. Ricky went out through the door as the car pulled up with the two nearside doors open. He slid into the back and was pushed into the corner by Shifty propelling himself in on top of him. Both doors slammed shut as the car screeched away from the curb and raced down the street at breakneck speed. The driver gave a triumphant whoop, as they sped off, slapping the steering wheel in exultation. The two men took their bandannas off and the one in the front handed Shifty a holdall. He took the bags of money from Ricky and put them in the holdall, watching through the rear window for any sign of pursuit. The man in front handed his gun back, and Shifty put both weapons in the holdall. The car was on the outskirts of the suburbs now, heading towards the country and they raced along the roads, overtaking other vehicles and jumping traffic lights. 'Slow down, for Christ's sake.' Shifty shouted. 'You'll have the cops on us.' The driver laughed, 'Yahoo,' he shouted. 'We done it! Yahoo.' Copyright Deric Barry 2005.