chapter 43

word count: 1473

it was well past midnight when jake leichtenstien finally crossed the state line..  hot, tired, and hungry he was relieved when he saw a tourist courtesy sign that boasted not only food and lodging,, but a 24 hour super walmart to boot..

the parking lot was nearly empty, but jake opted for a parking space well away from the store entrance.. he had to.. ‘it’ had been in the toolbox in the bed of the truck for nearly two days,, and ‘it’ was really starting to stink..

‘come to think of it,’ jake chucked to himself,, ‘i’m not smelling so hot myself’..

having spent the last two nights in the truck in an effort to save up enough money to bankroll yet another transformation,, jake was anxious to get the task at hand out of the way as a hot shower and a nice soft bed awaited him tonight..

slipping the knitted earflap cap over his head for what he hoped would be the last time,, jake made his way across the parking lot and into the super walmart  store.. he moved quickly through the nearly empty store collecting all the necessary items,,  a box of summer blonde hair color, some disposable razors, a couple of pre-made hoagies and two liter of orange soda .. as he exited the store, he grabbed the whole dispenser of wet wipes the store provided to sanitize the handles on the carts, stuffed them in the plastic shopping bag, and made a beeline for the truck.

jake stuffed the walmart bag in his backpack,, and went to work with the sanitizing cloths,, wiping down not only the entire interior of the truck,, but the exterior doors and the tool box as well..  (wow! was that thing ever getting ripe!) when he was satisfied that he had wiped off every conceivable surface,, he grabbed up his duffel bag threw it and his backpack over his shoulder and took off on foot toward the starlight motel just across the road..

the proprietor of the motel,, evidently eager to get back to bed,, rushed thru the check in procedure,, slid the key to room 122 thru the slot on the night time check in window, and retreated to this living quarters before jake even had a chance to load up his baggage.. 

room 122 was shabby,, and smelled a bit musty,, but it would do.. jake sat down on the slightly sunken in the middle mattress,, clicked on the tv and proceeded to wolf down the hoagies and half of the two liter of soda before he got busy with the hair color and razors..

he saturated the shock of dark hair that had sprung up from his clean shaven head over the course of the last couple of weeks,,  as well as his thick dark brows, in the foul smelling cream hair colorant and watched it do it’s magic while he shaved off the heavy stubble of his beard..  

a little less than an hour later he emerged from the shower a new man.. a man even he did not recognize..  his short dark hair,, now shimmered,, like  a sunlit golden crown.. his newly lightened brows brought life to his aging, tired, brown eyes that had not been there before.. the face staring back at him in the mirror looked younger,, more vibrant..  

“oh yeah.”jake said aloud, as he admired his new look in the mirror.. “lookin’ good,man. lookin’ real good!”

***

gil met hank at the hospital cafeteria,, as hank had requested.. he understood that jeannie was more or less alone in this world.. he understood her husband was  a complete asshole, even if he was his boss.. but he also understood that a child was still missing.. a little five year old boy,, missing for just over two weeks,, and they didn’t have lead one..  the investigation had gone from searching for the boy,, to combing isolated areas for the body,, and even though both of their guts told them leichtenstein was their man,, they had been unable to pull together one piece of solid evidence against him..  

“but you shoulda seen her.” hank beamed. “walking straight and tall, head held high, looking like she had what it takes to conquer the world. i shoulda went in with her,, if i had only been there..” his voice drifted off..

“if you’d only a been there, what?? you could have stopped the radiology department from cancelling her appointment and sending her to her doctor’s office instead?? come on, man,, it’s not your fault..” gil said consolingly.. “you might not like it,, but she does have a husband.. if it had been at all important to him,, he would be here.. shit you would have driven him here, if he had said he wanted to go.. but no,, he dumped it off on you,, and now you’re starting to believe this is in some way your fault..”

“i know. i know.. it’s just that,, well,, it’s just that, nothing.. i called you over here so you could fill me in on what’s going on the brown and learnagel cases.. any word on the whereabouts of that slime ball leichtenstein??” there he was,, the old hank gil had come to know and love..

“nothing, man. not a god damn thing.. we’ve still got troops and volunteers sweeping every forested area, every body of water, and every vacant lot,, but so far, nothing.. i hate to even admit that we are looking for another body,, but at this point there is no reason to believe the learnagle boy is still alive.. no call, no ransom note, nothing.. “ gil was starting to sound defeated..

seeing that look of defeat on gil’s face threw the “old hank” into action,, his mind was churning,, and his lips followed,, “have you been in contact with forensics?? how are they doing on that composite,, the one that can create mug shots of leichtenstein in a variety of incarnations? we need that,, we need it in the field,, and we need it now!! he knows we are after him,, and he knows we don’t know what he looks like, the only thing he doesn’t know is that we have the technology to reincarnate him ourselves,, and with any luck,, that is gonna be key.. someone is going to have seen him.. i can feel it..”

“i am expecting a call on that sometime tonight.. it should be ready and in every patrol car and substation before midnight at the latest..” gil sounded hopeful again,, they were a team,, and he needed hank to kick him in the ass every now and then when he got to feeling hopeless..

***

trudy had seen enough..  it was evident buzz’s wife wasn’t faking this .. no one in their right mind would allow themselves to be hooked up to all of those machines,, just to get her husband back.. no man was worth all of that.. not even buzz..

not wanting to go home,, not wanting to face elliot,, or be bothered by any questions he may have had about what he had seen her doing with his best friends dad earlier that day,, trudy decided she would stop in at the hospital cafeteria,, you know,, people watch for a little while.. after all a girl never knew who she might meet,, now did she??

she chose a corner table well away from the maddening crowd.. she took a big swig of her red bull and then topped it off with a little sumthin’ sumthin’ out of her little paisley flask.. doing a quick sweep of the room,, she was looking for a vacant seat next to someone that looked like they might be interesting,, or interested whichever the case may be.. 

much to her surprise,, there he was again.. that cop she had seen leaving buzz’s house when she had gone over there to pick up elliot.. the one that was supposedly taking care of jeannie for buzz.. ‘ah ha,” she thought to herself,, ‘i bet that’s it.. i bet he is “taking care” of jeannie while buzz works all those long hours and has his little flingy’s on the side..  of course that had to be it.’. now she was really starting to get the picture. 

trudy  hopped up and wiggled her way on over to hank’s table,, she had some detective work of her own to do here.. as she approached, she was distracted by the ruggedly handsome latino that was sitting across the table from buzz’s friend the detective.. she gave him the once over..  ‘cop.’ she said to herself..  she could smell them a mile away.

although her head told her to stay away,, her hips just kept tugging her along in gil’s general direction.. 

after all with buzz laid up…..