Trouble Read Free Page B

always visit me in
jail.”
    “ Yeah, I guess I’ll see you
around,” he backtracked. I smiled politely as he left.
Relationships were all fun and games until one of you went to
jail.
    I got in my car and drove back to my former
residence – our apartment. I needed to get the pawn ticket or I
would never see my jewelry again. The ticket had to be in the
apartment somewhere.
    I started with the trash cans and worked my
way around the apartment from there. I briefly wondered who was
going to pay the rent next week with Ryan in jail but I couldn’t
find the energy to care. All my stuff was out of there, if the
landlord decided to sell everything, then good luck to the grumpy
old man.
    I spent an hour turning the place over from
top to bottom. I only had the bedroom left and it didn’t offer that
many hidey holes. Most of the drawers were empty now and the closet
only held a few of Ryan’s good clothes. The rest were on the
floor.
    His underwear drawer just held pants. His
socks, only socks. I was giving up hope. I checked the bottom
drawer last. His boxers were hiding a set of fluffy handcuffs. I
had never seen them before. Whoever Ryan was playing cops and
robbers with, it wasn’t me. Kind of ironic really. I put them back
in the drawer and closed it with a thud.
    The damn ticket was not in the apartment, I
was certain of this fact by that stage. I racked my brain trying to
work out where else it could be. Ryan didn’t own anything, it’s not
like he had a holiday house or an office to stash things away from
me.
    The only other place it could be was in his
car. Which was still parked near the bank, it never got its chance
to shine as a getaway vehicle. The police never mentioned it in the
interrogation, I doubt they would have moved it from the street.
Even the parking inspectors normally waited a few days to
tow.
    I grabbed Ryan’s spare key and left my car at
the apartment. I would drive his vehicle back, perhaps it would
help my case if they didn’t think we were prepared enough to plan
the escape. I caught the next bus downtown.
    I grew up using public transport. I used to
ride it all day long when I was skipping school. I liked the
anonymity, the way you could ride with strangers and just be left
alone.
    At least, I used to be able to ride the bus
like that. Thanks to the news reports, I was the weirdo on the bus
that everyone stared at and nobody wanted to sit next to. An old
woman at the front kept looking at me, clutching her bag to her
chest like I was about to steal it. Thanks to Ryan, I was a
leper.
    “ Hey, you’re the bank robber,” the
male voice came from the seat across the aisle from mine. He said
it loud enough to tell everyone on the bus if they didn’t already
know. “Shouldn’t you be in jail? Did you escape or
something?”
    “ I’m on bail,” I whispered back,
praying he would shut up and leave me alone. I’d never been on such
a slow moving bus before.
    “ Oh. They just let you out? Like
that?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ Man, that’s messed up. Aren’t you
dangerous or something? I heard you shot someone.” He just wouldn’t
shut up. To make it worse, everyone else seemed to be hanging on
every word he said.
    I could only see one way out of it. I didn’t
just address the man, but everyone. I was done with whispering. “I
only hurt people who get in my way or talk to me. Especially on
buses.”
    Every single set of eyes suddenly averted to
the floor. My own went back to the front of the bus. You could hear
a pin drop for the rest of the journey.
    Downtown, my stop finally came. I stood to
leave, a path was magically made for me. They were avoiding me like
I was the sticky patch on the railing. Apparently I was worse than
a mystery goo.
    I walked the two blocks to the bank, cringing
when I caught a glimpse of the yellow police tape still stuck to
the wall. The bank was open but they were under heavy guard. I
could see the beefy security men standing just inside the
door.
    I kept my