Driving Lessons
CHAPTER FOUR
After leaving the mall parking lot, Harold Lutz had directed Lloyd straight to the freeway, which they had been traveling on for the past twenty minutes with no sign of any police or rescue; Lloyd had been checking as often as he dared to take his eyes off the road. There had been a few close calls and a lot of horns honking when Lloyd had tried merging but after settling in and getting the hang of things, Lloyd decided his first attempt at freeway driving wasn't going too poorly. The steady flow was a lot easier to maneuver than the stop and go of street traffic. He could actually get used to this sort of thing... assuming he lived long enough to try.
"So, uh, where are we going anyway?"
"You don't need to know that." Lutz looked straight ahead, fingers tapping the handle of the gun he kept in his lap.
"I may have failed driver's training ... eight times, but if I understand anything about driving, it's usually best to know where you're driving to," Lloyd tried. He was desperate for a plan. Somehow he didn't think it would go over so well if he tried sideswiping a car on the freeway.
"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you when to stop," Lutz replied evenly.
"I don't think that choice is entirely yours," Lloyd said, eying the gas gauge. "If I'm reading this correctly, we're almost out of gas."
Lutz leaned over to confirm and cursed loudly when he saw Lloyd was right. They drove on in silence for the next ten minutes until Lutz apparently found a gas station he trusted and told Lloyd to pull off into it. The station was fairly empty, despite being close to the freeway. Only one other vehicle was pumping gas and a single employee stood behind the counter, flipping through a magazine. He didn't even look up when Lloyd and Lutz pulled up to pump four and got out.
"You fill her up, then wait for me. Don't try anything stupid either." Lloyd watched him go then turned to the pump and removed the nozzle. He may not know how to drive a car but he'd had more than enough experience pumping while his mom went inside to buy cigarettes. This part he had down. Lloyd watched out of the corner of his eye as Lutz walked around to the side of the building in an attempt to gain some privacy and pulled out what looked like a cell phone. Lloyd guessed it must be a disposable phone and wondered if there would be a way to track it while he furtively listened in on Lutz's call.
"I've got the money, I'm coming to you... Never mind about him. He won't be a problem..." There was a sudden cacophony from the other hand as what seemed to be a female voice raised in timbre, shouting at Lutz. The escapee jerked the phone away from his ear at the surprise. Lloyd watched out of the side of his eye as he gripped the phone tightly, his knuckles going white. "What would you have me do then?" he asked through gritted teeth, then: "Do you know what I've gone through to get to you? To my son? I am coming to get you and we are leaving today... I don't care where! I've got more than enough money to take us wherever we want to go. But I am not leaving without my son, do you hear me?" The car finished filling up but Lloyd froze, waiting to hear how the call turned out. He must be calling his wife to fill her in on the escape plan, but it sounded as if she didn't want to go. This was good, though, Lloyd thought. This was a solid lead, something he could work with. Lutz's voice lowered a few octaves; Lloyd strained to hear the words he spoke. "You can doubt me all you want, but I will be coming to collect my son today. Whether or not you come with us is up to you, Sonja." The flip phone was audibly snapped shut as Lutz abruptly ended the call. Lloyd awkwardly returned the hose to its place as Lutz looked up sharply and gestured for him to follow.
"I don't want you saying anything to anyone," Lutz warned as they walked into the store. "If I hear you so much as hint at giving me away, I'll put a bullet through your forehead and the clerk's, d'you hear me?" Lloyd nodded assent and Lutz made for the cooler first, reaching up to grab a couple bottles of water. While he was momentarily preoccupied, Lloyd wandered down the snack aisle, eyeing the bags of chips. He reached out, fingers brushing a bag of Lays and held on a moment, shifting his gaze to the clerk, whose dark eyes were fixed firmly back on him. He could steal the bag of chips, slip it into his jacket just like that. The clerk knew what Lloyd was thinking; it would be so easy...
"I wouldn't, if I were you," Lutz muttered in a low voice, suddenly appearing in the aisle opposite. "Remember what I said?"
Lloyd abruptly retracted his fingers and followed Lutz to the front of the store as the latter paid for their stop with a few of the crisp bills from the bag Lutz had stolen earlier. The threat of Lloyd's larceny gone, he no longer seemed interested in interacting with the pair and rang up their purchase dully, without making eye contact. Lloyd felt his chance at freedom slipping away in seconds and bought himself some time at the last second by blurting out, "I have to use the restroom."
Lutz raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but Lloyd ignored him as the clerk wordlessly reached under the counter and handed him the key. "It's out back, return the key when you're done." Lloyd walked around the building slowly, the escapee close on his heels.
"We have places to be, Lowery."
"I can't help it if I have a small bladder. My mother always said I was terrible on long car rides. She said it was my fault we never went down to Disney World." He unlocked the dingy, single-stall bathroom and was about to close the door behind him when Lutz stopped it with his hand and propped it open, waiting. "What, you're just going to watch?"
"I don't trust you any farther than I can throw you. Do your business so we can hit the road."
"Pervert," Lloyd muttered half-heartedly, his hopes dashed once more. Thankfully, years in prison cured him of his shy bladder and he really did have to pee, so his attempt at distraction wasn't completely foiled. On their way back to the car, Lloyd turned at the last second. "Oh, I almost forgot to return his key!" He dashed back to the store before Lutz could object but the criminal watched him carefully. Lloyd smiled as he handed the key to the clerk. "Thanks, pal, my buddy's anxious to get to his wife, Sonja. She just had their first son. Gotta go!" Without wasting any more seconds, Lloyd turned heel and rejoined an impatient Lutz, climbing into the driver's side once more. As they pulled away from the gas station, Lloyd hoped his only clue would be enough.
BKBKBKBKBK
It took nearly three quarters of an hour to access the security camera footage from the parking lot, identify the owner of the car and get a license plate. From the camera, all they could make out was the make and model of the car Lloyd and Lutz had gotten into. The employee, distinguished by her work uniform, had to be sought out and briefed on her situation to get the rest of the info. Then all they could do was put out an APB and hope that a red flag went up somewhere nearby. Aside from that, they had no clue on the pair's whereabouts, but that didn't stop them from following leads.
"The runner's ex-wife lives not too far from here. She was informed about his escape and told to contact us if she heard anything but I think it's time we paid her a visit ourselves," Ray told his team.
"Might as well," Shea agreed. "Beats sittin' around here waiting."
Within twenty minutes the trio found themselves sitting in the living room of Harold Lutz's ex-wife, a blonde woman in her late forties. A cop car had been stationed outside since the news of Lutz's escape came out and the voices of children playing could be heard in the next room.
"Are you sure you haven't heard from him, Mrs. Lutz?" Ray asked the tired-looking woman as he sat opposite her on the couch.
"I go by 'Evanson' now," she began. "And I'll tell you what I told the cops who came by this morning: I don't know anything about what my ex-husband is planning. He hasn't tried to contact me or any of the children since his escape. We've been here all day; I pulled the kids out of school the moment I heard. There's even a police escort outside—ask him. He can tell you no one has been here."
Ray looked to his team dubiously. Erica nodded and gave a slight shoulder shrug, as if to say, 'sounds legit.' Indeed, it did not seem as if the former Mrs. Lutz was lying.
"The moment I found out about my husband's drug business I took the kids and left. I've wanted nothing to do with him since," she pleaded sincerely. "Please, if he has something planned, I would have no part of it."
"We don't mean to accuse, Mrs. Evanson, we're just lookin' for clues here. Harold kind of... got the upper hand on us earlier today." Erica said nothing, but audibly scoffed and left the room, to Mrs. Evanson's confusion.
Ray's phone buzzed then and he whipped it out and answered it after a single ring. "Excuse me—" he said to the ex-wife then, "Jules, what've you got for me?" He hit the speaker button just as the young woman began to rattle off her new information.
"We got a hit on the Honda belonging to the waitress," Julianne said quickly. "It was spotted at a gas station near the freeway, the BP off of I-87. No more than 20 minutes ago. They filled up, bought a few bottles of water and left. The clerk didn't see which way they went, but I think we can assume they continued heading north."
"Alright, that's a good start, Jules, thanks—"
"That's not all..." Julianne began. "The clerk said they weren't acting all that strange, except for 'something the younger guy said as he was leaving.' He said his buddy was anxious to get to his wife, Sonja, who was having their first son. The clerk felt it was an awkward offering of personal information, but didn't think anything of it until he saw the bulletin on the news."
Erica and Shea's minds were abuzz with possibilities. "That's definitely a clue," Erica spoke. "Sounds like he's coming for his son."
"Mrs. Evanson?" Ray asked her as she simply sighed, closing her eyes with a beaten expression.
"We have two daughters," she spoke after a few seconds, and sank her head into her hands. "I should have known... All that time he denied it, but I should have known he was lying about her too."
Ray should have guessed sooner. Mrs. Evanson-formerly-Lutz was not named Sonja. Her name was Karen.
"She's the mistress," Shea supplied then. "He's going to see his mistress."
"Sonja Krupnov. They met at his work. We ran into her at a work function and I began to suspect... When I confronted Harold about it, he swore up and down that nothing was going on between them and I believed him at the time. I'd almost forgotten until I heard that name just now..."
"Jules, you get all that?" Ray asked, walking away from the living room. He felt ashamed carrying on his business in same room as the anguished woman and had no idea what he could say to make her feel better. Lloyd and Charlie were always best at that touchy-feely crap. Erica and Shea looked just as uncomfortable about the situation too, standing nakedly around the room.
"Got it," Julianne responded. "Sonja Krupnov. Worked with Harold Lutz at RenTech. She is no longer employed there but she still lives in New York. I'm sending her address to your GPS and texting you her phone number momentarily."
"You're a lifesaver."
"Just keep me up to date," Julianne answered brusquely, and ended the call after a brief but to-the-point, "Good luck."
TBC
