The Silver Lake Murder by Gregg Matthews (read novel full txt) 📗

sleep. Police sirens and noise from the helicopter’s flying overhead are heard throughout the night. People screaming and yelling with car horns going off are the last sounds he hears before he passes out for the night.

CHAPTER 28

Blake wakes up with the backpack under his head. His muscles are tight and sore. The sunshine is pouring in a side window; he needs to hold one of his hands up to block the sunshine from his eyes. He puts his sunglasses on and makes some decisions.

There is no way they can stay here at Rivers Tattoo shop safely. The city of New Orleans is not policed properly and will take a long time to get back to normal. From what he has seen since coming back; the city is riddled with crime and is years away from recovering. The streets and buildings have been flooded out and underwater, the water damage is like nothing he has ever seen or experienced. It’s time to cut his losses on this shop and move on to a new location. The new Rivers Tattoo shop will be out west, someplace where it is summertime all year long.

Looking over, he sees Rose and Nola are still sleeping. He quickly exits the shop. He has something he needs to do as soon as possible.

Walking up Bourbon Street, he adjusts the heavy backpack. He walks north a couple of blocks until he reaches the used car lot he walked past yesterday. Looking over the classic cars for sale. A few of them stand out: a muscle car from the early seventies’ gold with black interior, an older red car with black interior, another white with black interior sports car, and a dark green with a black interior car looking like a bullet stands out the most. Looking deeper into the green car, he sees the Hurst shifter, the piece of paper with the details of the car on the dashboard shows a three-hundred-fifty-one Cleveland engine, is under the hood. The wide gator back rear tires are brand new.

The older gentleman tipping his hat and smiling, a wide space between his two front teeth.

“Hey friend, what can I do for you?” the man says

“Looking for a good car.”

“Well, I like this one the best. I can get you a good deal on it,” the man says, pointing to the dark green car.

Turning the engine over and revving it lets him know the car is functioning properly. Not having time for a test drive, he quickly makes a cash deal with the man. He takes the title of the car and in return gives the man the agreed amount of cash.

Driving off the car lot with the backpack in the trunk, Blake pulls the car up to the front of the Rivers Tattoo shop. He gets out of the car and walks to the front of the shop. He climbs in the broken window. He looks over at the front of the shop and sees Rose and Nola sitting on the couches, taking in the morning sunlight.

“Get your things Rose, we are leaving,” Blake says intently.

“I don’t have anything.” She responds.

“You are welcome to join us, Nola.”

“Okay, Blake, I will.”

He, Rose, and Nola step through the broken window of the shop into the dark green car. Blake opens the trunk to make sure the backpack is still there and closes the trunk tight. His cowboy boots click as he drags the heels on the pavement. His jeans are frayed and drag on the pavement a little. His clean white T-shirt is showing early signs of perspiration under the arms and the middle of his back. The sun is shining bright, the

aviator sunglasses help. As if in slow motion he spins the ring of keys around on his index finger, while he is walking to the driver’s side door, he looks back down Bourbon Street for the last time, and sits in the driver’s seat.

“Where are we going, Blake?” Rose says from the passenger seat.

“California.”

Turning the ignition key to the on position, the engine turns over and begins to roar. Twisting the knob on the radio to the right causes the volume of classic rock and roll music to pour out of the speakers. He presses the clutch in with his left foot. He maneuvers the shifter into first gear. Letting the clutch out. Pressing on the gas pedal causes the back tires to spin. The car leaves two straight lines of rubber on the road. The tachometer is redlining in sync with the engine. The engine is at maximum Revolutions Per Minute. He quickly works his way through the gears. He, Rose, and Nola are pinned back into their seats. The speed of the car quickly reaches sixty miles per hour. Bullet. Blake looks for a highway sign that reads, West - California.

The End