In Plain Sight by Mike Knowles Read Free Book Online Page A

Escarpment was in an odd pocket of the city. There were expensive high-rises a stone’s throw away in one direction and cheap apartments rented to immigrants in the other. The motel was in the middle, and its clientele leaned towards the low renters. The Escarpment Motel offered hourly rates and parking in the rear — everything I needed to stay under the radar.
    I parked the car and walked into the office. A young kid sat behind the counter watching an old horror movie.
    â€œWhat’cha need?”
    â€œRoom,” I said.
    â€œHow long?”
    â€œWeek.”
    The amount of time made the kid’s eyebrows raise, but his pupils never left the screen.
    â€œWeek’ll cost ya two hundred bucks,” the kid said as he slammed his palm around the desk beside him. His eyes were glued to the movie, and he wasn’t going to miss anything. His hand stopped on a rectangular piece of paper, and his fingers traced its perimeter before picking it up. “Fill this out.”
    I paid with ten bills and scratched a name on the registration card. He absentmindedly handed me a key with a twelve etched on the back.
    â€œCan I borrow a screwdriver? My luggage locked up on me, and I need to get into it so I can change.”
    The kid sighed and got out of his chair. He backed away from the desk and bent at the knees in a way that allowed him to keep his eyes on the television. After a minute, he found the toolbox. It took one more minute for his unguided hands to zero in on the screwdriver.
    â€œHere,” he said, throwing the screwdriver in my direction. It was a good throw considering he wasn’t looking. “It’s a multi-tool, so it’s got everything.”
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œJust bring it back when you’re done, or I’ll add it to your bill.”
    â€œAny more on the bill and you’ll have to add a star to the motel.”
    The jab went over the kid’s head, but he didn’t seem bothered. He sat down and resumed his movie-watching trance.
    I went out to the Volvo and drove it several doors down from the room. If anyone came looking for the car, I didn’t want them using it as an arrow pointing directly to me. I used the cheap multi-tool screwdriver to take the plates off the Volvo. I took the two plates with me to the next parking lot. The apartment building next door was upscale enough to have tenants with cars, but still too shitty to provide a safe underground parking garage. I walked through the lot until I found an old car with two flat tires. No one had moved the car in months. I used the multi-tool to replace the car’s plates with the Volvo’s. I took the boosted plates back to the motel and completed the switch unnoticed before walking the screwdriver back.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œMan, when you go back to your room, turn on channel 149 . Romero is such a genius. Just look at those zombies go.”
    On the TV screen, two lumbering monsters chased a woman around a cage. Bloodthirsty spectators screamed bets and waved money in their fists. It was some sort of post-apocalyptic gladiator game. The girl on screen did anything but kick the shit out of her slowly approaching attackers. The game in the cage was almost at an end, when out of nowhere, except to anyone watching, a handsome man shot his way on screen and killed the two zombies. He took the girl out of the cage and backed off the angry spectators with a hard stare.
    I left before I got roped into a review of the talents of George A. Romero. The carnage on the screen reminded me of something else, not a movie; I thought about the nurse who had been murdered on the floor of the hospital room. Someone had put her down after she was already out. Igor was the obvious doer, but he was chained down. That left the girlfriend. Igor sent her away, but it was probable that she was the one who came back and got Igor loose. Once he was free, either one could have dealt with the nurse. I’ve