Oliver
Islowly turned and looked over my shoulder at Crash. She was staring right back at me, eyes wide and brows arched high. Her facial expression said a couple of things. Or maybe I’d just gotten to know her well enough that I knew what she was thinking. I saw a judgment that saidI told you so!In her voice, I heardmaybe next time you’ll listenecho through my head. And I knew I’d never live it down. Anytime I wanted to go one way, and she wanted to go another, I knew she’d throw this exact moment in my face, and I’d give in out of guilt.
How was I supposed to know the guy was a murderer?
I had seen enough crime documentaries to know that when you find yourself in the presence of a murderer, you have to use their craziness against them. You didn’t want to upset them by forcing your world of reason on them because they lived in their own little world of crazy. I didn’t want to upset him or make him mad in any way.
“I’m sorry to hear that about your brother, Marv. Were you two close?” I asked.
“We were. Until he went to prison. He came out different. We didn’t get along so well then, but that place changes people, yaknow?” He glanced over at me. “You probably are too pretty to last long in prison,” he agreed with Crash’s earlier statement.
I clenched my jaw and glared at her from over my shoulder. For the first time since we left that shower house, she wore a wide, shit-eating grin.
“Look, Marv… We really appreciate the ride and all, but if you got something illegal in here, I’m sure you can understand why we don’t want to be any part of that. So, why don’t you just pull over? We’ll get out, you can keep on your way, and we’ll pretend that none of this ever happened,” I tried.
“I can’t just leave ya’ll on the side of the road like that. I’ll get ya to town.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal. We’ve walked further, I’m sure,” I said.
Marv took a slow, deep breath, letting it out quickly. “OK, what about this: what if I let you see what’s in the tackle box? Would that make you feel better?”
Suddenly, I couldn’t stop thinking about what could be in that box. Was it drugs? Illegal weapons? As big a creep as he was with Crash, was it something worse, like pictures of his victims after he assaulted them?
No matter what I envisioned, all of it raised my blood pressure and made me want to beat the guy within an inch of his life. And I talked Amelia into letting him sniff her fucking hair. The guilt was filling me quickly, tightening my stomach.
“Yeah, alright, Marv. Why don’t you pull over and show me what you have in that tackle box? Then I will decide whether to let you give us a ride to town or walk. Deal?”
“Alright,” he agreed, slowing the car and pulling to the side of the road.
He killed the engine, and we all climbed out. He led the way to the back of the car, using the keys to unlock the trunk. The moment it was open, the smell of musty carpet, gasoline, anddirt washed over us. Inside was a shovel, jumper cables, a tarp, a rope, and the tackle box.
Marv turned toward us.
“Are you sure you want to see what’s in here? If you don’t know it is, you don’t have to lie when asked.”
“Just open the fucking tackle box, Marv,” I snapped.
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine.”
He turned back toward the trunk and reached for the small plastic box. He flipped the latch and popped the top. I found myself holding my breath… until the box was open and I was looking at a container of…
Fucking mushrooms?
Crash chuckled and looked up at me. I leaned a little closer, confused as to why he would act so shady over fucking mushrooms.
“It’s mushrooms?” I asked him.
He pressed his lips together and hung his head. “Yep.”
“Are they magic mushrooms, at least?” Crash asked him.
His head popped up, and he frowned. “What? No, of course not.”
“Then why all the secrecy? What’s the big deal about mushrooms?”
His eyes doubled in size as a look of pure surprise covered his face.
“Are you guys serious?” His eyes bounced from me to Amelia and back. “These are morel mushrooms. People will pay a pretty penny for these babies. They’re a delicacy and extremely hard to come by if you don’t know where to look.”
