chapter 25

word count: 947

buzz checked the time on the LED display.. 3:42.. ten minutes later than it was the last time he looked.. he rolled his pillow into a ball and stuffed it noisily behind his head.. he kicked off the sheets..

“fuck fuck fuck!! he said out loud.. if he couldn’t sleep he might as well wake up the whole house.. 

“buzz?” jeannie whispered from somewhere far off in dreamland..

“i can’t fucking sleep.. augh!!” buzz groaned back.. “too much on my fucking mind.. i’ve got two huge cases open right now jeannie.. two.. i don’t have time for this shit with adam.. i don’t have time to be chasing the fucking kid all over town at ten thirty at night.. that’s what i have you for.. what the fuck went on here last night?? what the fuck was adam doing at the dairy queen in the middle of the night??”

jeannie stirred,, but made no reply..  buzz bolted upright on the bed.. he grabbed a handful of jeannies hair and yanked her head up off the pillow.. “i am fucking talking to you!!”

“buzz! buzz, please..” jeannie whimpered,, as buzz, tightened his grip,, jerked her across the bed,, and deposited her like so much rumpled blanket on the floor beside the bed. “please buzz..”

“please buzz my ass!! he thundered.. “please jeannie is more like it!! is that what you want?? is that what you want? you wanna hear me say  ‘please jeannie wake up i’m talking to you’.. ‘please jeannie,, wake the fuck up and watch your fucking kid!!’ is that what you want? you want me to fucking beg? you want me to fucking beg?? i don’t fucking beg!!”

as if to emphasis his point, buzz landed a sweeping kick in the small of her flannel covered back, before stomping laboriously toward the door..

jeannie lay motionless.. she knew she dared not cry out.. she counted buzz’ heavy footsteps,, as he pounded his way across the room and out into the hall.. it was not until she heard him descending the staircase that she dared to breath..  

adam sat transfixed atop his bed.. the sound of his father screaming had awakened him.. he knew this scenario all too well.. he sat motionless, arms wrapped tight around his knees.. a part of him wanted to cry,, but he wasn’t gonna let that happen. tears were for babies,, and he was not a baby any more.. 

it was then that he remembered the little pearl handled revolver he had seen silently scudding across the floor in the dairy queen earlier in the evening.. it was so small.. it almost looked like a toy.. even a little kid like him could handle a gun like that.. 

‘if I had a little gun like that,’ adam thought to himself in the darkness, ‘if I had a little gun like that I could stop him. if I had a little gun like that, he would never hurt my mom again..’

buzz grabbed a crisply starched white button down dress shirt off the clothing bar in the laundry room.. he slipped it on and stepped into a pair of freshly pressed dark pants.. a pair of matched black socks awaited him in the basket atop the dryer.. he grabbed them and headed for the kitchen.. he’d pick up a cup of coffee on the way into the office.. right now he just wanted to get out of here.. he had entirely too much on his plate to be getting so involved in all this home shit.. jeannie was gonna have to step up to the plate.. 

after slipping his cell phone into his pocket,, buzz stepped out into the cool night air.. he pulled the back door closed with a slam,, punctuating the end of his tirade.. as he strutted down the driveway towards the car,, he winked at himself,, and let a menacing little smile overtake his lips.. yeah,, he was pretty damn sure he had made his point..  

***

coming up on 48 hours of no sleep,, gil found the tall grass beneath him just a little too inviting..  from his vantage point there in the small wooded embankment that bordered the highway,, he had an excellent view of leichtenstein’s room at the travelers rest motel.. 

the room light was still on.. ‘did this guy never sleep?’ gil wondered to himself as he forced himself onto his feet.. he bent at the waist and allowed the weight of his upper torso to gently pull the kinks out of his back.. he stretched his fingertips toward the ground.. no way.. he was getting too old for all of this.. 

at 47, gil had spent the majority of his time on the job undercover.. he was a natural.. having been born with a less than memorable face had turned out to be his life’s greatest asset.. while it had never done anything to increase his chances with the ladies,, it had allowed for him to assume an everyman persona on the street..  and if the truth be told, gil was much more ‘himself’ playing a part, than he ever was being himself.. 

he stood up, and let his head roll deep on his shoulders.. the cartilage in his neck creaked in protest.. yep.. he was definitely getting too old for this.. if he had had any doubt when he decided to break cover and canvass leichtenstein’s known haunts with a mug shot earlier this evening,, the creaking in his neck and the dull ache in his back were quickly erasing them.. 

he had chummed the waters.. and his gut told him,, it wouldn’t be long now..