The Big Ugly Read online

  I knocked.

  Footsteps approached the door.

  A woman's voice barked, "Who dat?"

  I couldn't tell if it was her or not.

  "Big F? This is Ellie Bennett."

  A moment passed and then the door opened.

  The big in "Big F" was misleading. Actually, she was a trim woman a couple of inches shorter than me. The only thing big about her was her wide, full mouth. When she opened the door, she was already smiling.

  "Ellie Bennett! What you doing, woman?"

  "Thought I'd drop by. Is this a good time to visit?"

  "Yeah. Sure. Come on in."

  She opened the door wider, and I walked past her. A short hallway with a narrow closet door, a doorway into a kitchenette, then a den.

  The den was spacious and warm. Sunlight poked through the curtains over a large window on the far wall, throwing some rays across a cream-colored sectional sofa. Some magazines were fanned out across a glass-topped coffee table facing a flat screen television.

  "Cute place, Jack," I said over my shoulder.

  She followed me into the room. She wore gray yoga pants and a blue T-shirt with the neck cut out.

  "Thanks."

  "It's good to see you," I said.

  She leaned against her doorway and crossed her arms. She gave me a polite smile, but her dark brown eyes were serious. "It's good to see you, too."

  "Bet you're wondering why I'm here."

  "Well, I'm glad to see you," she said with another polite smile, "but … yeah. You and me don't exactly run in the same social circles."

  I walked over to her sofa and nodded at it as if to ask if it were okay for me to have a seat.

  She nodded.

  I pushed a folded Afghan out of the way and sat down. "Well," I said, "I don't know about social circles. We were inside together."

  "I guess. But you did a year for fucking up a prisoner—"

  "Allegedly."

  "And I did five for allegedly jacking up a bank." She smiled for real this time. "You see the difference?"

  "I get it. There's a difference between us and the time we did. And yet here I am."

  She walked over to her sofa and sat down on the edge of the cushion, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. "Yeah. Here you are."

  "I'm looking for Alexis Kravitz. Thought you might know where she is."

  She stared at me for what seemed like a full minute before she said, "Alexis."

  "Yes."

  "Why you trying to find Alexis?"

  I told her. We sat there eyeball to eyeball, and I told her all about it.

  She didn't say anything as I talked. She didn't nod, didn't shake her head. She just stared at me while I told her what I knew. When I was done, she said, "So why you here? Why you come to me?"

  "I was hoping you'd know where she is or how I could locate her."

  "I don't."

  "Damn it. Since we were all together at Eastgate, I thought maybe she'd contacted you when you got out."

  She watched my face a moment, then she asked, "You know who Junius Kluge is?"

  "Aside from what I've told you, no."

  "He bad. Does the dirty work for the Colfax family."

  "The Colfax family. As in Governor Lou Don Colfax, that Colfax?"

  "Mm hmm. That weird guy that tracked you down and chewed up the money—that's Vin Colfax, the little brother of the governor. He's too much of a psycho to go into politics like Lou Don, so he works for Junius. Stay away from him."

  "Bad news?"

  "Remember Yasmine Johnson from Eastgate?"

  "Yeah."

  "She can't have kids no more because of Vin Colfax. Don't know the whole story on it, but he fucked her up so bad she can't never have kids. He that kind of bad."

  I stared at my hands a while.

  "Look," I said. "I need help. And I know it's a big favor—"

  "It ain't no favor. I owe you. That's why you here. You here to collect a debt."

  "I didn't mean—"

  She waved that away. "We both know why you come to me. I owe you, Bennett. I ain't about to deny it. I got an obligation to somebody, I pay it."

  "Then can you help me find Alexis?"

  "You ever stop and wonder why Jerry Kingston and Governor Colfax—two of the most powerful mother-fuckers in this state—got people out looking for some ex-con like Alexis?"

  "Yes."

  "And?"

  "And, I don't know. Maybe she has some dirt on one of them. Maybe she fucked one of them. Maybe both. I don't care. All I know is, I need money to try and put my life back together."

  "So it's all about getting paid?"

  "Like the man said: it ain't about the money—it's about me needin' it."

  "I hear that. But what about Alexis?"

  I didn't know what to say to that. Jack waited me out though. I finally told her, "If I can find her, I'll see what she says. I don't want to get her in trouble."

  Jack regarded me warily. "Maybe she already in trouble. Maybe you headed right into trouble with her."

  "Maybe."

  "If she is in trouble, you just gonna hand back the money to Junius Kluge and that preacher dude, and go on about your business, even though you got a shady PO breathing down your neck?"

  "I suppose so. I mean, I'm not going to let Alexis get hurt because of me."

  Jack sat back on her couch. For a moment, she stared at the sunlight pooled like honey on the coffee table.

  "Okay," she announced.

  "Okay what?"

  "I'll take you to her."

  "I thought you didn't know where she was."

  "I lied."

  CHAPTER NINE

  We were in her truck, driving out of North Osotouy, headed toward the sticks. I didn't ask where we were going. Jack was a pro. I didn't have anything to teach her about how to properly engage in sketchy activities. Besides, I could tell she didn't want me to ask. So I just sat there with my little purse on my lap and waited quietly.

  Jack had on jeans and Nikes and a turquoise hoodie. She sat casually with her seat pushed back, left hand flopped over the steering wheel. She drove with her wrist. She sat on her right hip and gestured with her right hand. I don't think the palm of her hands ever touched the wheel.

  North of Osotouy City were the mountains. South were the marshes. We headed into swamp country. She got off of the highway and took a back road past low fields of green and black muck. Neither of us spoke. She tugged at her bottom lip. I thought about the five thousand dollars in my purse. I hadn't wanted to bring it with me, but I didn't want to leave it sitting in my car back at her place, either.

  After a while, Jack turned off the back road onto a skinny dirt trail that zigzagged between trees.

  "Alright," I said finally. "I give up. Where the fuck are we?"

  She smiled. "We in a truck going down the road. Live in the moment, Bennett."

  "Okay, but will you at least tell me what Alexis is doing all the way out here?"

  "She called me up and said she needed to get out of town. I told her I knew a place she could stay. Got a guy out here that owes me a favor."

  "Why'd she call you up?"

  "Why not?"

  "But why you in particular?"

  Jack thought about that for a moment. "Because," she said, "I'm the baddest motherfucker she knows."

  After a few more minutes, the trail ended at a compound of buildings. In the middle was a small stone house with a front porch and a chimney. Next to it were a couple of small sheds. And beyond those sheds stood a large pole barn.

  Jack drove toward the pole barn. "That's where she staying," she said.

  As we drove up, a tall man in jeans and a sweatshirt emerged from the barn with a scowl and a shotgun.

  "Uh," I said, "that man has a gun."

  "That man always got a gun," she said.

  "He got a good disposition?"

  "Better hope so."

  As we climbed out of the truck, the man's coal black face lit up
when he saw Jack. "Effervescence Jackson," he drawled.

  "Darnell Willis," she drawled back.

  "Whatchoo doing, girl?"

  "Oh, you know. Lil' this, lil' that." She gestured at me. "This Ellie."

  He shifted his gun, adjusted his glasses, and extended a hand to me. "Ellie?"

  I took his hand. "Ellie Bennett," I said. "Nice to meet you."

  We shook and he said, "Good to know you." Then he turned to Jack and asked, "What brings you ladies all the way out here?"

  "Come to see your visitors."

  When she said it, his face didn't move but his quiet brown eyes turned to me for an instant and then back to her. "I 'spect they be happy to see you."

  He led us into the barn, which turned out, to my surprise, to be a very bright and obviously climate controlled computer junkyard. Technology covered the concrete floors: old terminals, keyboards, motherboards, coils of cord, spools of wire. There seemed to be a method to it all. Paths just narrow enough for one person ran through the stacks of laptops and desktops and boxes marked Routers and Cards and Interface Boards.

  "Holy shit," I said.

  Jack nodded. "Off the hook. Like you died and went to computer heaven, ain't it?"

  "Where'd you get all this?" I asked Darnell.

  He shrugged. "The gettin' place."

  He stopped for a moment at a little office in one corner of the barn. A couple of computers sat on a small desk. Monitors bolted to the wall showed live video feed of the grounds, including the end of his road. He'd known we were coming to see him before we'd pulled up to the barn. He propped his shotgun against a wall, and motioned us toward the rear of the barn and said, "They up in they room. Ain't come out much, except to take a bite to eat or go to the bathroom up at the house. I give that little girl a iPad with some games on it."

  He led us past a couple of long cafeteria tables stacked high with factory sealed boxes marked POWER SUPPLY to a flight of wooden stairs leading up to a small apartment in the back of the barn. He gestured up the stairs and turned and walked back to his office.

  Once he was out of earshot, I nodded in his general direction and asked Jack, "What'd you tell him about her?"

  "Said she had to get out of town because of some legal difficulties with an ex. Left it vague. Darnell don't mind a little bit of trouble."

  I followed her up the stairs. She knocked softly and said, "Alexis?"

  "Yes?" a small voice answered.

  "It's Effervescence. I'm here with Ellie Bennett."

  And then we heard footsteps and the door opened.

  And there she was.

  * * *

  Alexis listened silently, and I told her everything, every bit of it, but the whole time I talked, I kept examining her face. She was pale, and although she'd always been skinny, she had lost weight since her time in Eastgate. Her auburn hair had grown out and hung flatly against her ears, framing her round face. She was pretty but her front teeth were a little large—some of the broads in Eastgate had called her Alexis the Chipmunk—and she had the habit of suddenly pulling her lips together as if she'd just realized she had big teeth. As I spoke, she kept clamping her mouth shut. Looking back on it, I have to admit that as I searched her face, some quiet part of my mind was occupied with the question of whether or not I valued her more than I valued ten thousand dollars.

  Jack and I both stood, and we seemed to dwarf her—me telling her everything that had happened, Jack listening with her arms crossed, both of us waiting on this tiny woman to decide what she would do with her life.

  As I talked, the kid sat on the floor and stared at a cartoon on an iPad. Kaylee Kravitz was a hulking little girl about five years old, with ruddy cheeks, and some thin brown hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. She had the look of a kid whose father would be named Dale Crittenberger.

  When I finished talking, Alexis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She said, "What are you going to do with me?"

  That pushed me back a little.

  "Do? I'm—we're not going to do anything with you. I just wanted to come talk to you."

  She nodded. "Why?"

  I felt like she was being deliberately dense, but I didn't really know how to answer her. I guess, when you get right down to it, I didn't know why I was there. I suppose I wanted her to tell me it was fine to tell Junius Kluge where he could find her.

  "I just came to check and see if you're okay."

  "I'm okay."

  Beside her bed was the only other furniture in the room, a small desk and white metal folding chair. Kaylee sat on the carpet, her back to the wall, and scowled down at the iPad. She barely seemed aware that Jack and I were in the room.

  "Why are you here?" I asked.

  Jack leaned against the door, her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

  Alexis thought about my question.

  "I just wanted to get away," she said.

  "From what? From who?"

  "Mostly from Evan," she shuddered. "He's horrible and gross."

  There was a small scratching at the door.

  "That's Leonard Nimoy," Alexis said. "Could you let him in, Jack?"

  Jack opened the door just wide enough for a large black cat to stroll in. He didn't seem vexed by new people. Kaylee raised her eyes from the iPad. She watched him prance over to the bed and jump up and nuzzle Alexis. Then she returned all of her attention to the screen.

  "Darnell has three cats," Alexis explained. "Tom Baker and Diana Rigg never come in, but Leonard Nimoy is our buddy, ain't you?"

  He headbutted her leg and slumped next to her. He cast a disinterested glance at me and Jack.

  "Alexis …" I said.

  Her eyes were as blank as the cat's. Hell, they were blanker. At least the cat looked bored.

  I said, "You want to tell me why I got people throwing stacks of hundred dollar bills at me in order to find you?"

  Alexis thought about that as she ran her fingers through the cat's black pelt.

  Jack, leaning against the door again, said, "You know, Alexis, all you told me was you wanted to get out of town and lay low. Said it was for Kaylee. And I didn't ask nothing about it. I cashed in a favor Darnell owed me, and I paid you back what I owed you. But the people out here looking for you … Junius Kluge? Junius motherfucking Kluge?"

  Alexis stopped rubbing the damn cat and dropped her hands in her lap. She sucked in her lips.

  I said, "You realize I'm here out of the kindness of my heart, Alexis? I don't have a whole lot of kindness in there in the first place. But here I am. And here's Jack. Why don't you tell us what's going on?"

  She wouldn't look at either of us. She kept sucking on her lips, and she rubbed her palm against her smooth little chin.

  "Kaylee," she said.

  The little girl didn't acknowledge her.

  "Kaylee," Alexis said, a little louder.

  Without looking up, the girl said, "Yes, momma?"

  "Why don't you go outside and let me talk to my friends.

  The girl didn't budge.

  "You can take the movie with you."

  The girl pushed herself up and padded across the room without taking her eyes off the iPad. She went out the door and closed it behind her.

  "That little computer is a lifesaver," Alexis said. "Darnell gave it to her the first day we were here, and she hasn't been bored at all."

  Jack glanced at me and lifted her eyebrows.

  "Alexis," I said. "What's going on?"

  "I know some stuff," she said.

  Jack and I waited.

  Alexis rubbed the cat behind its ears. Its loud purr was the only sound in the room.

  "I don't know how much to tell you," she said. "I don't know how much you want to know."

  "I need to know what the hell's going on," I said. "I need to know what I'm in the middle of. It's not idle curiosity."

  Alexis didn't look up, but she started to talk. It was like she was telling it to the cat. "I got mixed up in some shit. Through … well, it sta
rted with Mule. He introduced me to Evan. And then Evan introduced me to some guys who worked for Junius Kluge. They were bringing stuff in from South America. Evan said the connection got made back in the eighties during the whole Iran-Contra thing. I don't know much about that. I wasn't even alive back then. But some of those people were involved in the airport in Mena. You know about that?"

  Everyone in Arkansas had heard the rumors that during the eighties the CIA had used an airbase in the little town of Mena to smuggle drugs up from Nicaragua. Supposedly, the Iran-Contra hearings had shut down the operation and others like it. "Yeah," I said.

  "Well, I guess after the whole Iran-Contra thing blew up, there were still some folks left here in the state who had connections down there in South America." She shrugged. "I don't understand it all. When Evan first told me about it, I thought 'South America' meant Mississippi."

  "Just tell us what you do know," I said.

  "Well, Junius Kluge was one of those local people. He'd helped the CIA bring the stuff into Arkansas back in the day, and since he still had his connections he started bringing stuff in on his own. They couldn't use Mena, of course, so they started taking it to Stock's Settlement, a little town up in the Ozarks.

  "I was a runner. I would drive up there in the middle of the night every Wednesday. My job was to take a cut of the stuff to a state trooper named Obermeyer."

  "What was the stuff?"

  "Cocaine. I think they flew in other stuff, but I only ever handled coke."

  "Why'd you have to take it to this state trooper?"

  "Well, I don't know … but I do know that Obermeyer is on the detail that protects the governor."

  "You're telling me you were the governor's coke connection?"

  "No, I'm telling you I gave some coke to Obermeyer. That's all I know for sure. I did that for a year or more, but then I got pulled over in that speed trap in Damascus. You know the one I mean? The town is a mile long, but it drops from 65 to 30 in the space of about two hundred feet. And the cops there will give you a ticket for doing 35. Bunch of assholes. I got pulled over, and I guess I acted shifty because the cop got me out of the car and searched it and found the coke. It all happened so fast. Before I could even get my phone call to call Evan, a news camera was there."