“Why do you think? To see if you sent the fucking messages!”
Benny looked around at the expectant faces and shrugged resignedly. He nodded at the dresser. An old-style flip phone was charging next to a pile of change, an orange keychain with the letters ‘HT’, and a box of Lucky Strike cigarettes resting on top of a folded piece of paper. Jade snatched the phone up and flipped it open.
“Passcode?” she demanded.
“6969.”
“Ugh, seriously?” Jade unlocked the phone, holding it gingerly, as though she might catch something from it. She tapped on the screen several times. “There’s no message, and nothing recently sent or deleted either” she said.
Well, at least that was some information. Benny hadn’t sent the message, but he also hadn’t received it. Whatever was going on, he wasn’t invited to play this game.
“Look, I dunno what y’all got yourselves into here, but I’m not partof any of this. I’m not responsible for y’all. Whatever kinda trouble y’all are in, ain’t nothin’ to do with me. I ain’t no babysitter. I was hired to drive y’all here, and that’s what I did. Just doing my job.” Benny looked on edge.
Ellis laughed dryly.
“Really?Your job?Well, it turns out your job involved kidnapping a group of teenagers and trapping them in a remote motel.”
“Kidnap!I didn’t kidnap…I… This ain’t fair! This ain’t my fault! I got nothin’ to do with all this… I’m a bus driver is all. Just drivin’ my bus…”
Ellis was clenching and unclenching his fist; he looked about ready to lose it, and Benny was in the line of fire.
Ana stepped forward quickly.
“It’s okay, Benny. We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on. Do you have any idea who might be behind this or who hired you to drive the bus?”
“I don’t know nothin’!” he said, turning to Ana imploringly. “Look, someone emailed me a work order—they needed a minibus and a driver for three days. The money’s real good. I mean,realgood. More than I make in a month. They drop the itinerary in the mailbox and you’re good to go—easy money.”
“Do you usually take commissions from people you’ve never met?” Ellis cut in.
“Commissions?” Benny gave a short bark of a laugh. “It ain’t nocommission. It’s work, payin’ work—and, yes, I take any work that comes my way and I’m grateful for it too. Not everyone’s rich like y’all. Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…put food on the table…pay the bills,” Benny grumbled.
“Yeah, right. Real salt-of-the-earth stuff. Come on, think. Youmustknow something about all this,” Ellis said, clearly frustrated.
Benny stood abruptly, chest pushed forward. “You think I drove y’all here for what? So’s I could blow upmy own bus? Like I wanna be stuck out here with a bunch a stuck-up, no-good teenagers?”
“Who the fuck are you, Benny-boy? Why should we trust you? We don’t know you. You’re just a loser with a bus and a messed-up accent.What’s up with the accent?Trying to pretend you’re a New Yorker? Oh, hey, I’m just some regular guy? Well, you’re not fooling anyone.”
“A New Yorker? Now that’s insulting!” Benny was spluttering.
Ellis’s fists were firmly clenched, his arms tense. Ready.
This was not going to end well.
Ana wasn’t sure what she could do to defuse the situation, but she knew she had to try. They needed more information, and beating people up was not going to help.
“I’m sorry, Benny. We’re not accusing you. We’re just scared.” She could feel the electrical presence of Ellis close by, his tight, angry energy filling the room. “Can you think of anything that might help us? Anything at all?”
Benny scratched his head thoughtfully, then reached over to the dresser and picked up the folded piece of paper. Shaking it open, he held it out in front of them.
“Look, here’s the work order. I brought a copy in case.” He pointedly spoke to Ana.
Ellis snatched the sheet out of his hand and unfolded it. It was a printout of an order placed a month ago and sent to theHappy Travels Bus Co. The instructions were clearly entered, just as Benny had described: services of one driver for a three-day trip, a description of the bus, route information to follow. Payment in the amount of five thousand dollars. Deposit of two hundred dollars paid immediately. An additional five hundred for driver expenses.
There was a name at the bottom of the sheet. Order placed by N. Bates.
“Fuck!” Ellis snapped, flinging the paper down. “Are youfuckingkidding me? N. Bates?”
“Wha—” Benny asked, hands raised in confusion. “Y’all know this Bates guy?”
