Len and Norma Lose a Body

Chapter 18

Brian parked in front of the open quonset doors and made his way inside. He was late, he was wondering if Dave and Mike would even still be there. He kind of hoped they'd have wandered off by this point. It wasn't like Brian to avoid people, but he was wrestling with whether or not he should say anything about ... he didn't even want to think it in case Mike could guess it. The safest bet would be to go straight for the coffee and start ribbing Dave about how terrible it was.

"Late start," Dave said to Brian as he walked towards the coffee pot, "is that because you had yourself a late night?" Brian poured his coffee contemplating his answer. "Damn Dave how strong is this coffee? If I put a spoon in it, it'd probably stand straight up in it." It wasn't really funny or new, but it got a polite chuckle out of Dave. Mike on the other hand didn't react. Brian wondered what this meant as he took another stab at avoiding the question, "If you keep making coffee this bad, I'm gonna start going into the house and having coffee with Diane you know." Another chuckle from Dave, more silence from Mike. "Well know you know she'd probably like that just fine."

Dave took his last sip of coffee, returning his mug to a table covered in tools and parts. "Welp, better get a move on. Day's wasting away." Dave was already on the move, and the moving was slow. "It'll be noon by the time you get back to the house at that pace," Brian called out. "Never you mind," Dave called back with a dismissive wave as he continued to saunter back towards the house.

Brian left alone with Mike in the garage all of a sudden had nothing to say. Dave had been a great buffer, and Brian began to squirm. He picked up parts and tools and moved them from one place to another without really cleaning or doing anything practical. Mike took at seat and watched Brian pointlessly pace around the quonset. "Well you're in better shape than my wife this morning," Mike sipped on his coffee, "did you see Sharon out last night?"

Brian didn't know exactly what to say but didn't want to lie, "We may have crossed paths." He waited to see how Mike would respond. "I was in bed when she got home. She's not much of a late night champ, so she's paying for it today." Brian gave a short laugh. Ok he thought, bullet dodged Brian thought, but as he was preparing to change the subject Mike added, "You know who she got a ride with?" Brian was prepared to go here if need be, but Mike kept on talking, "That meathead gym teacher Aaron." "Pfft," Brian responded, "that guy's a douche."

Brian gave Mike a bit of a sideways glance, but it was apparent that he had said the right thing. Mike was walking back to the work bench to grab his keys and drop off his half drank cup of coffee, "Let's go check out the progress on that east quarter." Mike was already walking to the truck. Brian threw the rest of the contents of his mug out onto the ground in front of the quonset and half jogged to catch up to Mike. The conversation was over and relief washed over Brian as he climbed into the cab of the truck. "You brining your cup with you?" Mike started down at the empty coffee mug still in Brian's hand.

...

"Oh my god Jill, what'd you do," Amy looked at her little sister with the bb gun in her arms and her eyes the size of saucers. Jill looked down at the gun and threw it to the ground. "We were all shooting," Jill looked at everyone trying to convince herself that anyone of them could have shot him. "Your fingerprints are on it last," Nicole said matter of fact. "All our fingerprints are on that gun," Lauren corrected her and they stood motionless and silent for a few minutes contemplating their situation.

"Ok well who knows we were even going to be here," Lauren asked. Nicole, Amy, and Jill raised their hands like they were in school and were scared to answer the question. "Ugh," Lauren sighed. She certainly didn't tell her parents everything. They had no idea where she was. It was a bit of a delayed reaction, but Nicole started to sniff a bit and her eyes were welling up with tears. She was on the cusp of crying when Jill turned to them and suddenly took charge, "We have to get rid of the body."