Graveside visit

         Walking down the cemetery path, the gravel crunched beneath my feet. As I had hoped, it was a beautiful day and no one else was there. The next time I came here would be my last, and then I wouldn’t be alone.
          The cemetery maintenance crew should be held accountable for how poorly the grounds are kept.
          Kneeling, I weeded the grave and arranged the flowers til every detail was perfect. Then I hurried back up the path, trying to smile as I walked back onto the street. There’d be time for tears later.

         Louis was waiting at the curb in a caramel colored Camaro. I wish he’d picked me up in something a little less conspicuous, but what he lacks in subtlety he makes up for in predictability.
          When he saw me he tried to get my attention by rapping on the window with a machine gun beat. “Rob, you’re late. What’s the idea making me wait across the road from the police station in a stolen car?”
         “I had to see if they both were there. But if you’re nervous, maybe you should have stolen something less noticeable.”
         “Get in the damn car before I snap your neck and leave you dying on the side of the road.”
         “You can’t, you don’t know what the guy who put you in jail looks like- and I’m not going to tell you til you help me get the guy who killed my wife.”
         But I still got into the car.
         Louis was a big man who expected the world to give him everything he wanted and when that didn’t happen he could be cruel. He was irritated with me for making him wait- I could tell by the way he was mauling his cigar. But as long as he did what I wanted I really didn’t care.
         Actually that’s a lie- I rather enjoyed it.

          He pealed away from the curb and dove recklessly into traffic. I gave him directions and he drove. When I pointed out the pawn shop, he let me out at the corner.
         Ernie Schmidt waved me a hello as I entered the shabby pawn shop, . He sat behind the counter trying vainly to scrub a stain out of his tie. Ernie, like his tie, was frayed around the edges and slightly out of date.
         “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t show. Robert, are you sure you want to go with Louis? He was a tough character before he got sent away- I can imagine what he’s like after 5 years in prison. You’ve spent the past 5 years weeding Natasha’s grave. He’s been lifting weights and dodging shivs”
         “After we finish this, I’ll never see him again. You have the gun for me or not?”
         I hated calling things this close, but sometimes it just can't be helped.
         He handed me the gun and I handed him the money. It was an old Colt revolver, a tarnished and rusty .38. But if Ernie gave it to me, I knew it had to be good.
          As I left, I tucked it in my belt so my jacket would conceal it.

         Louis was waiting in the Camaro-still conspicuous, still impatient. He was quizzing me before I was completely inside the car.
         “Did you find out anything?”
         “Back to the cemetary Louis, old buddy. They should both be there when we arrive.”
         The trip back to the graveyard was as quick and uneventful as the trip to the pawnshop. And the grave was just as barren as I’d left it.
         “You said they’d be here and we’d both get our revenge. Where are they, Rob? I don’t see anyone.”
         “That’s right Louis, you never saw anything you didn’t want to see. You never saw how you hurt me when you killed my wife. You never saw me setting you up for the robbery when the murder rap didn’t stick. And you never saw me getting ready to kill you when prison didn’t do it for me.”
         I planted three bullets in his chest. They bloomed like crimson flowers as he fell across my wife’s grave.
         And as I headed up the path to turn myself in, gravel crunched like bones beneath my feet.