03:05
Episode 3: Dog Days Mechanix
Part 5
Laurel arrived back at the house holding a six-pack of Grain Belt. When she entered, the front door was open and the living room dark.
“Violet, you bonehead!” she shouted into the house, “What the fuck did you do now?”
The TV was overturned. The couch had a long tear in two of the cushions. A framed photo of her father and his research team lay on the floor, the glass shattered.
Then she noticed Leeloo was gone from her pillow and there was a dinner plate sized blood stain in the beige shag carpet.
“Mother-humpin’ monkeys!” she screamed as she dropped to the floor.
She did a quick analysis of the blood. The amount was too small to kill Violet and too much for Leeloo to have survived. She knelt over the puddle, knowing that it was Violet’s. She shut her eyes and squeezed back tears, then forced herself to review the entire day. When she ran across the anomaly she nearly tore the door off its hinges getting out to the car.
—
Antonetta opened the door to the Bitterman house but she did not let Laurel in.
“He is not here,” she hissed. “He is gone. What do you want?” Then the woman fixed Laurel with a look of suspicion.
“Who is looking after the dog?” she asked. “It isn’t that blond, is it?”
“No,” said Laurel and then “Yes. Of course she’s watching Leeloo. Who else would be?”
The maid sniffed. “I suppose that is acceptable but she does not like the bitch.”
For a moment Laurel tried to figure out exactly which one Antonetta was calling a bitch and then shook the thought from her head.
“Why are you here?” asked the woman. “Is there something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to ask you about something you said before we left.”
“What? What did I say?”
“You said Mr. Bitterman would know if we didn’t follow the schedule. You were adamant about it.”
She waved a hand at Laurel’s question. “That. It was a figure of speech. I was just scaring you.”
Laurel smiled at her.
“No. You weren’t. You meant it. I can tell.”
Antonetta took a step back from Laurel to close the door.
“I was just trying to scare you. Nothing more.”
Laurel put a hand on the door. Antonetta strained to close the massive oak slab against Laurel’s single hand. Laurel did not move. Finally Antonetta sagged.
“What do you want?” the maid asked. She looked frightened but scowled at Laurel. “I said he isn’t here.”
Laurel pushed the door open and stepped into the house.
“I won’t harm you. I just want to know where it is.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” insisted Antonetta.
“You see, you’re lying again.” She tapped her head just beside her eye socket. “I can tell.”
Antonetta stared at Laurel until she began to shake. She dropped her head as if in shame. Laurel had no doubt the woman felt that emotion.
“I — I can’t show you. He’ll know.”
“How will he know?” Laurel asked. “Is there some sort of laser sensor?”
The woman looked back up at Laurel as if the robot suddenly sported a red nose.
“No. It’s a crystal. Upstairs there’s a crystal.”
“You don’t mean Leeloo. You mean the thing he uses to watch you.” Laurel groaned. “The thing he uses is a crystal. Like a crystal ball?”
Antonetta nodded.
“Ah crap. Why doesn’t anyone just use cameras?”
“He uses magic,” the maid insisted. This was important to her – a point on which she hung her fear. “He is magic,” said the maid.
“He has powers?” asked Laurel.
“No. No powers. He collects things.”
“Magic things,” Laurel whispered.
“Yes. Magic things. He collects those. All over the house.”
Laurel turned away from Antonetta and jogged back to her car.
“Leeloo,” she whispered and drove away.
Laurel steered the car down county road 19 towards New Robbins Valley, away from Robert Bitterman’s mansion. While she drove she spoke into the air.
“Yes. This is Laurel Swanson. I work with….”
There was a pause and then she continued.
“Swanson. Ess, double-you, ay, en, ess, oh, en. No, OH EN. I need to speak to Lynda Allingham.”
Another pause.
“Yes. I’ll hold,” she growled.
“That is just sad,” said a voice from the back seat.
Laurel looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Lynda sitting in the back seat.
“When did you…? How can you…?”
“It’s magic, dear. Don’t worry about it. Watch where you’re going.”
Laurel swerved to make a sharp curve and took her eyes off the diminutive red head.
“Leeloo. She’s magic, isn’t she?” she asked Lynda once she had recovered the road.
“No. It isn’t magic.”
“But Bitterman collects magic, and T&T with the … stuff. She must be magic.”
“I assure you the dog is not magic. You two needed a job. Mr. Bitterman needed a dog sitter. I thought I was doing all of you a favor.”
“Then … Oh Christ! What the Hell is going on?”
“The dog is all right, isn’t it?” asked Lynda. To Laurel the woman’s voice sounded uncharacteristically concerned.
“The dog was kidnapped, or dog-napped, or whatever.”
“Oh dear,” said Lynda out loud.
Laurel drove on in silence.
“The dog isn’t magic — strictly speaking,” Lynda said. “She is a conduit, a pathway, from another world into this one.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it,” said Laurel, “But that’s kinda like….”
“If you want her back you should start looking here.”
Laurel blinked several times and then scowled at Lynda in the mirror.
“Don’t ever do that again,” she barked. “Don’t put things into my head.”
“I texted the address to you, dear. You’re the one with the cell phone in her brain.”
“How do you know where she is? Who has her? Is it T&T?”
“T&T does not have the dog. T&T breeds those dogs. We sold that one to Mr. Bitterman.”
“If you have more than one then why not just buy one?”
“We would not have sold a dog to the person who took Leeloo. You must find it as soon as possible.”
“What do you mean? What’s gonna happen?”
Lynda was gone. Laurel drove on for a quarter mile swearing silently to herself, then she translated the address into directions and turned north to find Leeloo and Violet.
