Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

the law allowed and nothing more. This was important to me. But something kept me there. It came to me in this chaos that I had a reason to put a scare into that boy, to say something to him, let him know I was on to him and I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t want to let him go and then have it come back and cause trouble for me or anyone else. The third boy rolled out onto his back. I looked down at him. Through the dark I was able to recognize him. I had seen his photograph in the papers, in the local sports pages, there and only there. It appeared nowhere else, not the front page, not in the police blotter, not anywhere. I knew his name. I knew exactly who he was.
    Tina wasn’t the first girl from the high school to be attacked. Since last November three rapes had been reported by girls who claimed not to know their attackers. The rumor around town was that the investigating cops weren’t doing their job. A lot of people had a pretty good idea why nothing was being done.
    The first boy, the one whose rib I had cracked, got to his feet fast then and headed toward the park exit. He didn’t look back, just bolted clumsily, his arm clutched at his side. The second boy, the one I had clipped in the groin, was on his hands and knees, wiping the vomit from his chin. He looked at me but I wasn’t certain he could see much of anything. His eyes were watery. They looked for me in the dark but didn’t seem to find me.
    “Get out of here,” I said to him.
    He looked at the third boy, then back up at me. When he didn’t move I took a single step toward him. It was just a bluff, but it did the job. He scrambled to his feet and hobbled away as fast as he could.
    I approached the third boy and stood over him. He was out of breath. He looked up at me, his eyes blinking. Since he was a football player I knew he was used to pain, to playing hurt. He was stunned by the shots I had landed but he wasn’t broken. I sensed no fear from him at all. He was simply on his back, resting as if between plays.
    “Fun time’s over,” I said to him. “Do you understand me?”
    He said nothing, just stared up at me. His jaw was set tight, hatefully.
    “I know who you are,” I said. “You and your friends, you’re out of business. Understand me?”
    Suddenly he was smiling. “My father’s the chief of police,” he said.
    “I know who your old man is. I don’t give a fuck. You’re out of business. That’s all there is to it. I’m stopping you right now.”
    He laughed and shook his head from side to side. “You can’t stop me. I do what I want.”
    “You don’t scare me, Tommy.”
    “You can’t touch me, asshole”
    “You’re the one flat out on his back, Tommy. I’m still standing.”
    “You won’t be for long. Not when my father is done with you.”
    I chose to ignore that and just get to the point. “You come near Tina again and you’d better hope I get to you before her old man does.”
    I turned to get Tina. All the time I had to spare had been burned up, I knew this. We needed to go, but I stopped dead in my tracks when Tommy spoke again.
    “Your friend’s a skank anyway. There are a lot of other sweet little pieces in town. Maybe we won’t be so nice to the next one. And she’ll have you to thank for that. Just a little something for you to think of while you’re sitting on your ass in my father’s jail.”
    I said over my shoulder, “You want to be careful what you say here, Tommy.”
    “She wanted it. They all do. She came with us, she knew what was up. If they want in, they have to pass initiation. This goes on all the time, every weekend, and there isn’t a fucking thing you can do about it.”
    I turned and looked down at him. I said nothing.
    “Your little friend is the biggest tease in school. An ugly thing like her shouldn’t play so hard to get. What does she think she is? She can cry rape all she wants, but to be part of the gang, you’ve got to bang. She knew that when she left the party with us—”
    Suddenly Tina lunged forward. I had lost track of her, of where she was, but she came out from behind me, from my left, and bolted toward the fallen boy. She had put her bra back in place and had refastened her jeans and was holding her torn shirt up to her chest. She was anything but anywhere near put back together, though.
    “You’re a liar,” she shrieked. “You’re a lying pig.” She charged Tommy and kicked at his head. It was a powerful and well-controlled kick. Her