Read Online Reel to Real by Joyce Nance - Free Book Online

yeah, you’re right. We gotta get outta here,” John said, a profound frown on his face. He sat back up. “Matter a fact. I need to get my black ass outta town. Now.”
    ***
    On the best nights of her vacation, Crystal slept like a baby. Tonight, however, there would be no sleeping. Not with everything that had gone on. She was wide awake.
    When the phone rang, she jumped. It was the Albuquerque Police Department and they were looking for John.
    “He’s not here,” Crystal said.
    “Okay, we were just checking. That’s fine,” the dispatcher said. “Thank you.”
    Five minutes later, APD called back and told Crystal to come out of the apartment, the SWAT team was waiting outside the door.
    “Shit. You’re kidding me!” Crystal said, straightening up. “Can you give me a sec? I’ve gotta put some jeans on.”
    “Quickly,” the officer said.
    Once outside, she was surprised by the number of law enforcement personnel crowded around the apartment complex. It looked like the entire SWAT team plus a few plainclothes detectives. They told her to put her hands up and walked her over to a somber-faced man with a thick brown mustache and aviator glasses. He introduced himself as Detective Hayes and asked her if John was inside. She told him no.
    The detective told her bad things could happen if it turned out she was lying.
    “I’m aware of that,” Crystal replied.
    “We’re going to need to go in there to make sure,” Detective Hayes said. “We have reason to believe he’s in there.”
    “Fine.”
    Six APD officers dressed in full body armor marched inside, guns drawn. They swept through the studio apartment, looking for John Lausell. The rest of the cops stayed outside with Crystal. She lit a cigarette and leaned against the railing, looking dour, waiting for them to finish. One of the cops informed Crystal that John had been in an earlier altercation with a woman and another man at the woman’s apartment. Firearms were involved, he said.
    “What’s he going to do?” Detective Hayes asked, walking over. “Did John tell you what his next move was?”
    “I told you I haven’t seen him. How would I know what he’s going to do next? I know less than you do.”
    Loud banging and yelling could be heard inside John’s apartment as the SWAT team conducted its search. Outside, Crystal was questioned. The cops wanted her first and last name, her social security number and a look at her driver’s license. They told her they were adding her information to the local database. Smoke curled through Crystal’s gritted teeth.
    Ultimately the police emerged empty handed. They left shortly thereafter.
    Crystal was furious at the police, but more so at John. She pulled her suitcase out of the closet and packed up to leave. She wanted out of Albuquerque and out of New Mexico. She needed to get back to Colorado, ASAP.
    Her original flight was scheduled to depart at three that afternoon, but now that wasn’t soon enough. She called the airline to inquire about changing her departure time. They informed her there would be additional fees if she altered her flight. With no extra cash to spare, she was forced to stay.
    ***
    Esther rubber her forehead in an unsuccessful effort to make her monster headache go away, and tried to think. The only thing she could focus on was the fact that everything in her life was going wrong, wrong, wrong. John was really mad at her. The cops had just been in her house and they had asked her tons of questions. She had tried as hard as she could to be honest — but not too honest, which was a tough line to walk.
    When the police left, they made it very clear that they were going to locate John and arrest him. Esther felt sure John would want to know about these latest developments. He would be furious, of course, if she violated the no-contact rule again, but she felt duty-bound to inform him.
    She grabbed her keys and drove the short distance to his house.
    11 PM
    John decided before he left