The Street Rat 109

“I’m doing it,” Eddie declared the next morning while Tomas and Alex were still sleeping. Arms crossed, he stood in front of the graffitied brownstone wall of their alley.

“I know.”

Maria was sitting on a blanket, reading a book, with her back against the wall.

“There’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”

“I assumed that was the case.”

“I have to follow up on this.”

“I understand.”

“You’re not even going to try to stop me?” he finally asked, cocking his head.

“Nope,” Maria answered, setting the open book face down to save her page. “I get why this is important to you. That could’ve been you. Or me, or the boys. You’re a protector of this entire community, not just us or a small part of the neighborhood. And the community sees you as one. You were risking your life from the start, and with everyone out here at the risk of dying, you’re willing to risk your own life to save them. Like you always were. So, no, I’m not going to try and talk you out of it. It wouldn’t do any good if I tried anyway.”

She laughed, picking her book back up and tracing her finger down the page until she found her spot.

“Just, please, be as careful as you can be. I know the community needs you, but we do, too.”

“Well. Okay, then. I’m going to go ahead and try to find more information.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

Eddie scratched the back of his head and walked toward the street. That was strange.

Eddie climbed the fire escape and made his way up town towards the grocer’s, where he had found Shaggy’s body. He couldn’t see the sun through the smog, but the reddish sky replacing the usual gray meant the sun was just beginning to rise. A cool breeze hit his face, and a strong smell of fish coming from the docks replaced the acrid Sanders air for a moment.

Eddie stumbled after landing on his third rooftop ledge as his vision blurred, and he forced himself to fall onto the rooftop to gag up bile. He leaned against the ledge and caught his breath, spitting out the remaining stomach acid as he waited for his heart rate to slow.

Without warning, the memory of Shaggy’s body crumpled in the dumpster had flashed in his mind.

I have to push this away. I can’t be walking on ledges if I’m going to get nauseous and dizzy. He shook his head and stood. There’s nothing left for me to do for him other than to stop his killer from killing more people.

Back up on the ledge, Eddie continued toward the grocer’s but had to dive back onto a roof again as he got close—this time because sirens blared. The lights pulled into the alleyway behind the grocer’s.

If I can get over to the building next to the grocer’s, I can see what’s happening.

Just as Eddie stood to move, more sirens shrieked, and Eddie threw himself back to the roof. Three more cars pulled into the backstreet to join the first over the next thirty seconds. Eddie tried positioning himself to where he could see more into the alley, but he wasn’t able to get a good look.

Of course they come right now. I guess it is better than them coming while I was over there, though.

Eddie waited, not wanting to give away his position and risk being seen, but also not ready to give up on this lead. Ten minutes after the first car arrived, all four cars left again. Eddie waited another minute until he was sure the coast was clear, then made his way across to the roof that Shaggy had been on when he died.

Eddie looked down at the dumpster he had found the body in. Trash remained in it, but no longer a body. Eddie could still see the imprint of Shaggy’s figure on the garbage and some blood still on the bags below as he tried to keep the bile from returning.

They don’t care that he’s dead. Eddie leaned against the ledge. This isn’t a crime scene. It’s a cleanup. He’s expendable to them. Just like me. Or Maria. Or anyone else out here. They’re not here to keep us safe. They’re here to keep us from getting to the nicer areas, where they live.

Closing his eyes and lying down, he tried to recreate how he remembered Shaggy looking in the dumpster.

His arms were laying on top. He made no attempt to catch himself as he fell. Okay, that’s a start. What else? The arrow. It was sticking through his chest, in his heart. He must have died before he hit the dumpster. But the arrow wasn’t sticking straight out! It had entered going down and slightly to the right.

Eddie leaned up and looked at the surrounding buildings. One building to his right across the street was a building with a rooftop exit.

The killer had to have shot him from there.

Eddie sprinted off the roof, making his way to the rooftop stairwell door.

There has to be a better name for this thing. It’s common enough of a thing to have an actual name. I’ll have to ask Maria. She’ll know.

Eddie climbed up onto the structure to survey the area. Looking at the roof Shaggy had been on, Eddie knew this was where the killer had to have stood. But gazing at the skyline didn’t give Eddie any clarity as to who the killer was, where he had come from, or why he had killed Shaggy.

Eddie didn’t know anything new, even with this lead. The killer left nothing behind, not even fast-food trash or a receipt that could’ve given Eddie a clue as to where he could start looking for the killer.

After taking the fire escape down, Eddie walked back over to the dumpster he had found the body in. Looking over the edge, Eddie choked back another gag.

The body might be gone, but the smell of it is still here.

Black and white trash bags, empty boxes, a couple of oversized items, and a small army of flies were all that were in the bin. Eddie grabbed a stick and tried to move around waste to see if he could find anything helpful but to no avail.

Eddie left the stick in the bin and hopped back to the ground.

Nothing!

Kicking the dumpster, Eddie jumped back, mumbling, hitting it a little harder than he had intended. The container made a noise as it hit against the wall.

Crap. They had moved it off the wall some to get the body out.

“What was that?”

The muffled yell came from inside the grocer’s back door.

Eddie stepped to run out of the alley before anyone came out to see what the noise was but froze when he saw what his kick had revealed: crumpled-up scrap paper on the ground with specks of blood on it.

The door opened as Eddie darted back for the scrap of paper.

“What are you doing back here?” the old man bellowed.

Eddie picked up the paper in stride as he sprinted out the opposite way he had come from.

“You! Stop! Come back here,” the grocer yelled out after Eddie.

Eddie heard footsteps behind him as the old man chased him, but they faded as soon as they had started. Eddie turned the corner and continued his sprint.

He can’t hope to keep up with me, but it’s a long way back to the diner, and those cops could be back at any time.

Eddie ran two blocks in the opposite direction of the diner before cutting back to his left for a couple more blocks. Finding a fire escape, he climbed as quickly as he could and threw himself over the top. Crawling back to the ledge, Eddie tried catching his breath for the first time since the alley.

Still heaving, Eddie uncrumpled the paper he had found. Okay. What do we have here now?

Derrick, that must be Shaggy’s actual name, Meet me on the roof of the Oak’s apartments on the corner of 12^th and H to discuss the details of the job in person. I will be there tomorrow night at 2:00am. Don’t be late.

He’s not killing people randomly.

Eddie’s heart hadn’t fully recovered from his sprint before this new threat made it start back up.

If these killings aren’t random, that means whoever is killing them is targeting specific people. But why? I have more questions now than I did this morning and not a single answer.

Eddie crawled down the fire escape and slowly made his way back to the diner, the whole time, mulling over the contents on the scrap of paper he had put in his pocket.

Why is this happening?

The Street Rat continues with The Street Rat 110.

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