On the Run by M Zeigler (short story to read TXT) 📖

explain to Barrette as I walk over to the sink to wash the plates off in the water basin here within the wannabe kitchen.

Barrette must’ve easily found the drain stop because he has the sink filled with just enough water to wash the plates off, and there’s a milky red glass vase filled with fresh water to rinse the dishes with. I actually remember digging that red vase up just outside the cabin we’re residing in right now. According to my grandfather there was a four room cabin here when he bought the property, the log built structure that was here before was lived in and built by the gold miners back in the gold rush days. The original cabin was something everyone in the family wanted to save, we wanted to restore it back to its original glory but the logs on all sides had been eaten away so much by termites that there was nothing anyone could do to fix the place.

Later on when I was brought out here as a toddler I was set loose in the yard with a tiny shovel and told to go dig for gold. Looking back I realize that was my family’s way of keeping me busy and out of their hair while they worked on setting up camp. No one actually expected me to find anything especially a unique item such as this.

it was the last trip out here before my mother ran away with me, everyone was inside arguing over who forgot the pitcher that was used to rinse the dishes and just to have clean water on hand. I had only been in the yard for all of twenty minutes and had a very impressive crater dug, I pulled the vase out of the ground and went running into the house amazed by my discovery. I toddled up the porch stairs and went running inside straight to my grandfather shouting ‘Gramp look! Look, I found a gold artittact!’ I had said in a child’s voice making every attempt to say artifact correctly.

The vase isn’t see through like most vases today, this one is milk glass, it’s opaque but someone added red coloring to the molten glass. It’s unique in its own way because there are deep burgundy streaks that go through the lighter coloration. Plus there’s some super old expensive name branded on the bottom of the vase that tells us who ever lived in the old cabin must’ve been finding a large sum of gold.

“He didn’t see the bog coming?” Barrette replies taking notes down on a rather large piece of white paper I realize to be one of the white paper bags from the mini market that he has carefully opened up. I’m amazed that Barrette has already perfectly sketched a map on one half of the paper and has a profile on Devon going on the other half up in the far top right corner. He’s putting this together like an old western day’s police file, I like it.  He is working this like its nineteen thirty three.

“Exactly, when I was leading him into the mud bog he was so focused on trying to catch up with my car that he didn’t see the road ending ahead of us. That is part of Devon’s problem he sees the people in the photo but not the back ground.” I explain with more detail this time figuring I probably should have added that detail to the earlier explanation.

 “I’ve also noticed that he doesn’t really have a plan, he’s reckless. Like with the Strychnine, he just randomly spikes my food with the poison figuring to kill me easily. Then sends hit men after me, it’s like he has done absolutely no research on my background.” Barrette suggests his thoughts and opinions of Devon. He’s right to figure this, Devon does not research his target, he just assumes he’s holds a higher intelligence card than they do. He goes in blind knowing he can pay off everyone around him to keep quiet even when he fails to kill his target. What still has me bothered is why Devon wants Barrette dead; typically my cousin doesn’t kill off anyone unless they have something he wants.

 “Strychnine is a very efficient way to kill someone; it causes seizures, heart problems, a multitude of things that policemen wouldn’t notice as anything strange. Plus the dosage for the poison is so low that it wouldn’t show up in a toxicology report. And Devon doesn’t typically study his target, he figures that as long as they can’t get to him then he’s safe, he can pull a hit on someone and pay off the people involved to stay quiet. If it even looks like they may not hold their tongue then he kills them as well.” I explain to Barrette who gives me a ghostly look, why he looks so mortified all the sudden I don’t know. Right now I think I will leave out the possibility of Devon having ulterior motives for killing Barrette, he doesn’t need any more stress than he already has.

“What?” I huff at Barrette as I dry the dishes. “Oh nothing, I guess it’s perfectly normal for a twenty year old female to know the proper murderous dosing instructions on a dangerous plant.” Barrette replies jotting down more notes on the profile he has started.

While shaking my head at his weariness over my knowledge I decide to ask him what he thinks we should do right now. Coming close enough to Devon to actually kill him won’t help our situation at all, and running won’t help much either. I’ll just continue being a fugitive on the run, and that means Barrette will become a missing persons report because he won’t leave my side until this is all said and done.

“What do you think we should do then? Obviously shooting Devon point blank is only going to further the murder charges against me.” I explain to Barrette absent mindedly as my mind wanders again, running over everything I know about Devon and how we can apply it to capturing the bastard.

I’m at a bit of a loss, but that could be from the distractions all around me, I’d much rather be lounging on a sun heated flat rock in the meadow with a glass of that moonshine Barrette purchased and reminiscing on the good times spent at this cabin.

While watching Barrette chop fire wood… No! Bad Bonnie, keep your mind focused! I mentally slap myself.

“What do you suggest at this point? Running doesn’t seem like it’s going to really fix the problem? Besides that I’d like to get your name cleared of murder charges, and whatever else you’ve racked up by now.” Barrette turns my own question back on me also pointing out that I still have those pesky murders on my head, and rightfully so, I’m the one who is the ‘know it all’ at least that’s what I told Barrette, and Alden.

When I’m reaching up to put the dishes back on their respective little shelf an idea comes to mind, of course it means this entire case will become dragged out. If I can locate, Barrette, above all other of Devon’s targets, past, and present, then maybe I can find the others or at least the ones that are still alive. They could point us in the direction of authorities who were paid to keep quiet and hide criminal files; I’d be able to overthrow a few government officials to get the needed files on Devon.

 I lean against the counter and shake my head again, this time with dismay. I realize that Barrette has a limited amount of time he can be working this case; it’s hard to catch someone who is so reckless in such a small window of time. And Barrette is right to say running away isn’t getting us anywhere fast, but ironically it is getting us somewhere, we haven’t had one interruption from anyone in the last nineteen plus hours.

I remember once again that Barrette and I forgot to stop by his bank to pull money from his account, branching from this idea I realize that he asked me for permission because withdrawing money would lead Devon right to us. Maybe we can keep on the run for a while until we figure out how to get a hand on some of Devon’s criminal files and then lead Devon into a controlled location, not to kill him but apprehend him. I would get off the hook for murder, Barrette goes back to his life, and I can go back to mine?

 “We also have the case of your step father, how does he play into all of this? Is he possibly after you?”  Barrette adds reminding me of our little scrap fight back at the abandoned warehouse. I forgot about Michael, and now that Barrette has reminded me of the evil man being in the midst of this I know that running is out of the option. Michael may not know me very well but he knows enough about me to start looking for me in isolated locations where it would be hard for anyone to get to.

 My mind returns to the night before last when I was standing in the summery night air watching Barrette easily put the hurting on Michael, a smile forms on my face.  I wonder if Barrette realizes how much of a turn on it was for me watching him mop the floor with my tormentor, especially after that outraged look that formed in his eyes when I announced who Michael was to me. Has it occurred to anyone else that I might be more evil than the people trying to kill me? Perhaps they do have a solid reason to chase me down.

“Odds are that Devon knew we hit the road running, he doesn’t know me well enough to track me. So logically he called someone who would, in theory, know exactly where I would go. The problem is, Michael doesn’t know enough about me so he can’t track me to an exact location he can only speculate. But he will pose as a huge problem for both of us because he will eventually find the right combination and find us. Michael is the kind of man that goes into a fit of rage and won’t think twice about pulling the trigger, he’s not the monologing kind of bad guy either. He will scope you out and shoot before you can even say death.” I explain to Barrette who chalks another name down on the profile section and starts scribbling in details under the name. Explaining this to Barrette forces me into realizing, Michael is where I adopted my quick trigger finger from. He was never shy about his past, he used to be a mobster in Arizona and would speak frequently about shooting people.

“That could possibly be our first foot in the door?” Barrette announces sounding somewhat proud of himself, I look over my shoulder to Barrette who waves me over to the table. I walk up next to him and lean down on the edge of the table to see what he has put together, he uses his signature rock N roll hand symbol to point out two differences in the personality category between Devon and Michael. If their working together then it won’t be for very long, Michael seems to plan things out to an extent, but Devon goes in blind.

I can see where that clash of personalities could work to our advantage, if Michael finds a location Devon will want to charge in head first versus Michael will want to keep at bay and observe. Theoretically speaking Devon will charge in and betray Michael’s trust which will cause a feud between them temporarily blinding them.

Barrette’s idea is a good one but in this case it won’t work, separating them would be a bad idea, we would have crazy coming at us from two different directions.

“I don’t want