Lazy Lizzie

Six

"I have no money," Dale lied, his steel eyes warning her to shut up. He looked proud of the way his girl had kept her word under what was presented to him as weeks of torture rape. "You can kill me, or you can go," he told Leo, encouraged. His bony shoulders tried to make him more imposing by gaining an inch in height, but the way he said it, he almost wanted trouble.

"Nah, I'll give you a few hours to come around," Leo made himself comfortable in Lizzie's chair, making her exhale in defeat. "Then I take you to the Ramiros and you can be tough with them."

Dale and Lizzie stood still, unsure what to do, but only one of them wanted undivided attention. So he power-walked for the trailer.

"Where do you think you're going?" Leo leaned forward, about to launch to stop him.

"To take a piss," Dale froze.

"Yeah, no."

"Come on man, you know I got nowhere else to go." Seeing how zero out of two spectators were endeared by his plight, Dale begged, "I got clothes in there," all but confirming that he thought the money was in the trailer.

"I put your shit in the shed," Lizzie said, to distract Inconvenient Boyfriend from the obvious machinations Dale was ineptly constructing.

But Leo had decided the money was in the trailer long before her ex even showed up, based on his calm. His former cellmate was just confirming it.

Getting up, smiling now, Leo said, "You know, I was never worried I wouldn't find the money. I was worried that you buried some plastic case somewhere six-foot deep, anywhere in this park. And that I would have to torture you to find out where. Show your girlfriend a few new tricks."

And he was back to Cartel Guy. Worse, he had more, "But since you two hid the money in it... all I have to do is tear this trailer down."

He said the words as if not talking about her only home. When he took a step towards it, it was too much.

"The money is under the kitchen sink," she finally got both men's eyes on her. But only for a second, because they turned to each other as to check the competition, and then sprinted for the trailer door.

It was halfway through that New Boyfriend remembered he had a gun, breaking in the same moment to a full stop. One shot in the air later, Dale was back to being cooperative. The threat of dying before spending it made him respect the money less.

Leo disappeared into the trailer.

"I told you to hide the money!" Dale was predictably angry. Lizzie ignored him until the old mosquito net that served as the trailer's day door moved again.

Duffel Bag was impressed with her. "You just... left it there?" Hanging in his hand, the deflated camouflage sack looked smaller. "Not touching it? For four years?"

She shrugged.

"Come on, man, you know they're gonna kill me!" Dale moved on to a new strategy. "I was gonna take the money and run. I was afraid here would be the first place they looked, so I laid low."

"Leaving her to explain everything to the Ramiros?"

Based on how Dale's mouth refused to close, both he and Lizzie were struck by the same shock at the obviousness of that answer. What else was there to do?! Fizzie would be fine, they both knew.

"It's been fun but I gotta go beg for my life," Leo said, and he looked disgusted in them, his eyes thinned. He looked around as if there was still something on his mind.

"Dale," he decided, "I think you should come with me. Have a story ready, swear it was a misunderstanding. Let them keep the land as a token of your newfound loyalty. They were going to keep it, anyway. You lost everything. Don't die for this."

"They'll kill me," Dale whined.

"They won't. You got into this by boasting about your money, they saw an opportunity and they took it. They'll never come here, you can continue as you were."

Dale still hesitated, looking for reasons to stay, not once turning to Lizzie, so Leo had to be clear. "I'm not leaving you here with her. You can decide in the city."

Crushed, Dale let his shoulders flop, but there was something about New Boyfriend's words that worked on him. Maybe he'd live, sponging off his cell buddy's strategy. He kept fidgeting in his place, formulating incoherent plans.

"Fine," he agreed.

Leo opened the door to his car. "Take your shit. You're not coming back here."