Chapter Eight

Beatrice:

A black and white picture of a beautiful human lady was revealed on the first right page.

"Elsie Palmer", The left page was written.

Then like Acme's Disappearing/Re-appearing Ink, a red 'X' shows up on the face of Elsie Palmer.

I frowned in a suspicious matter at the 'X'. It was no surprise to me that Greasy would date one girl and then, he dates another girl after dumping the first girl he dated before. I frowned suspiciously because this kind of reminded me of one of my dad's mystery puzzles.

"In a mystery," Dad said to nine-year-old me (after solving a puzzle), "there's always evidence. Most of the time, it takes many pieces of evidence to figure out the conclusion of the mystery. But in this puzzle, only one piece of evidence is found and it has all of the answers to get to the conclusion. That rarely ever happens in mystery cases."

I promised myself that I would look at one page in the book but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

So I turned the page.

There was another picture of another human woman and she also had an 'X' on her face. The left page had three words appearing on it before my eyes: "Muerte por arsenico". Although I don't speak Spanish or translate it as well as Tommy, I knew the first and third words, thanks to a friend of mine who went to Chile and a label in one of Dad's detective scrapbooks. I know that 'muerte' means 'death' and 'arsenico' means 'arsenic'. I turned back to the first left page and it also said "Muerte por arsenic".

What kind of a book is this? I thought. This could be like one of Dad's mystery puzzles. It can tell me why Greasy hangs out with one woman and date another.

Still with a suspicious frown on my face, I began to flip through the book. Every right page had a picture of a woman, both Toon and human, with a disappearing/re-appearing red 'X' drawn on their faces and every left page said the same thing: "Muerte por arsenico". As I continued to flip through the book, my face goes from a suspicious frown to a look of terror and my eyes grow wider and wider after seeing each picture and reading each "Muerte por arsenico".

I stopped flipping through the sixty pages (It's an approximate guess) and dropped the book after seeing the last page. It had a picture of me with a neutral look on my face, messy Katniss braid, and my hands were behind my back. The left page said, "Must be handled like a porcelain doll. Hands, hair, and skin are incredibly soft and is a soldado."

I had many reasons why I get uncomfortable around Greasy and this became my number one reason on my list of reasons. I was friends with a serial killer, who would hang out with one woman and then, he would poison her and move on to the next. This is really awful. Greasy should be jail instead getting away with his murders.

I can't believe this! I thought. I made a deal with a serial killer and right now, I am scared and extremely uncomfortable. I don't know what Greasy will say or do to me the next time we interact.

Person Number One (a little voice in my head) would say: "Look on the bright side…at least you discovered this and you just have to be more careful when you're around Greasy.

Person Number Two (same as Person Number One) would say: "Go to the dark side of this situation, you idiot! You're always too curious! You're always getting yourself into more trouble because of your curiosity! That weasel is going to kill you."

Some people would try to see the good in a bad situation and some will focus on the negative side. But in this situation, I'm stuck in the middle, not the bright side, not the dark side…only the dim side. I'm not sure on which side is the best side to focus on.

If I focus on the bad side, then Greasy would hide his anger and then, he'll probably kill me in my sleep. I thought. But if I'm more careful when I'm around Greasy, he'll think that there's nothing wrong for a few minutes and then, he'll find out that I've looked through his book of murdered women and I'll try to reason with him. Well, he can try to do horrible things to me because I deserve that for being too curious and nosy.

Then, I heard footsteps in the hall.

"I don't trust the broad being alone in that room." I heard Smarty say to either Greasy, Wheezy, Psycho, or Stupid, once again using that insulting name that he uses to refer me.

Quickly and quietly, I closed the book and slid it back under the bed. I tousled my hair and pulled out a few strands too make it look like I have rubbed my head too hard on the bed…

"Duh, but what about the girl's cousin?" Stupid asked. "What should we do with her?"

…Then, I grabbed the pillow and placed it against the bed…

"How about this, boss?" Wheezy asked with his raspy voice. "One of us will look after the girl's cousin and one of us will look after the girl herself?"

…I pulled the sheets a little bit, took off my shoes, and placed them on bottom of the edge of the bed. I was breathing really hard but not loud enough for the Toon Patrol to hear.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Smarty said. "Wheezy, you take the first 'watts' on the broad's cousin but lose those cigarettes! We'll switch every one 'tower'."

"All right." Wheezy said and I heard his footsteps becoming less clear as he walked away.

Quietly, I lied down on my left side on the cold, hard, wooden floor. Then, I realized that I don't have my tennis racquet with me. Now, all I have to do is just hope that I don't get killed in my sleep because I don't have anything to defend myself. Despite of the shocking realization…or disappointment…I closed my eyes and tried to breathe calmly and evenly to make it look like I'm a heavy sleeper (I usually am but in a time like this, I would sleep for some time and then, I would be wide awake the next in a pattern.).

"Psycho, you watch the broad first." Smarty said.

"Can I use this?" Psycho asked.

"No, you're not using that 'blazer'. Give that to me. You'll use it for some other 'crime'."

What?!

"All right, Psycho. I'm about to unlock the door. Don't hurt the muchacha, got it?" Greasy asked.

"HEE HEE…HEE HEE! I got it!" Psycho replied.

"Aye yi yi, be quiet!"

Then, I heard the door getting unlocked and then, I heard it open. I closed my eyes as soon as Psycho walked in with not-so-heavy footsteps and giggled softly. Greasy walked in with his shoes quietly tapping on the floor. I guess Smarty left after Psycho and Greasy walked in the room.

"Pretty girly. Pretty girly! Hee hee hee!" Psycho said.

"Oh my goodness! Muchacha has rolled off the bed." Greasy exclaimed softly.

Yes! It worked! I thought. The act has paid off!

"Psycho, fix the bed and I'll move the muchacha out of the way." Greasy said.

PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I thought.

Despite of that thought, I remained calm.

I felt Greasy nudged me a little bit and I rolled on to my back. Then, I felt his right hand touch my back and I was propped up a little bit and I felt his left hand slide under my knees. All of the sudden, Greasy just picked me up and I feel like I'm levitating. I even felt the motions of Greasy sitting down on something, possibly a small couch that I didn't happen to notice.

Be careful, Beatrice. I said to myself, mentally. Don't do or say anything to this snake or you'll end up dead after drinking a glass of lemonade with arsenic! And seriously, Greasy! Remember our promise that we made in the Los Angeles hospital.

While I heard Psycho giggling and stumbling around the bed, I felt Greasy rake his fingers through my hair. I really wanted him to stop doing that.

"All done, Greasy." Psycho said.

"All right, muchacha," Greasy said to me, although he doesn't know that I'm pretending to be asleep, "time to go back on the bed. You still have a long day tomorrow."

I felt Greasy getting off the couch and gently putting me down on the bed, placing the pillow under my head, and covering three quarters of my body with the thin bed sheet. I really didn't want him to do that. I would've just slept on the floor.

"See you in a little bit, bastante pequeño ángel." Greasy whispered in my ear.

Then, I heard Greasy walk out of the room and he closed the door.

Now I wondered if I was going to survive with a crazy weasel who goes by the name 'Psycho'. I probably will but after a slow-passing ten minutes, Psycho's round of giggling fits, repetition of 'Watch the pretty lady', exclaiming random words like 'knife' or 'baseball bat', and rolling around on the floor while hugging himself (I watched him while barely opening my eyes) made it harder and harder for me to sleep. I was at the point of losing it when Psycho began to sing Ring Around The Rosie and getting the lyrics wrong almost every time.

Please no more singing! SHUT UP! I thought. I don't know how the other Toon Patrol members sleep at night but I really want you to put a cork it!

Finally, after the twelfth time of singing Ring Around The Rosie, I sat up and said "Will you shut up?!"

Psycho immediately stopped singing and he freezes where he stands. He looks at me in shock and surprise.

"Sorry." Psycho said. "Sorry, pretty girly."

Then, something tells me that I shouldn't speak harshly to Psycho.

I sighed.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you and I am just really scared and tired."

Psycho's face goes from shock and surprise to concern and sympathy. He walked towards me and rests his chin on my bed like a dog.

"You're tired, too?" I asked.

Psycho nodded.

Without thinking, I rubbed my hand on his spiky-haired head and Psycho's eyes rolled back in pleasure.

"You like that?" I asked.

"You're nice…really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really nice." Psycho replied.

Very flattered, I replied, "I think you're nice, too."

"Boss is working on your game…I tried it out…Boss wasn't happy after that."

"What did he do to you?"

Psycho gets on his feet and he smacked himself on the head.

"Smarty smacked you on the head? That's not nice." I said. "But what's this game like, Psycho?"

"Why do you want to know, pretty girly?" Psycho asked.

"I would like to know because…I get nervous if I don't know what it's like."

"Boss would be mad at me if I told you."

"How about this? If you tell me what the game is like, then I won't tell Smarty. Trust me, I'm a good secret keeper."

Psycho told me everything that I needed to know about the challenge. Basically, I have to go through a series of obstacle courses and try to not get scared or back out on the last minute.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Psycho asked me after explaining the challenge.

Huh! I'm liking him already! I thought. It seems that I have an ally.

"Don't freak out but are you familiar with this?" I asked and pulled Greasy's book out from underneath the bed.

Psycho looked at the book cover and nodded.

"I'm familiar with it but never opened it. Why is that book important right now?" Psycho asked.

"In this book, it says that Greasy puts horrible things inside a lady's food and drink, like rat poison and arsenic. I want you to make sure that Greasy or any other member of the Toon Patrol doesn't put anything wrong in any dishes and drinks. Don't tell them what we're up to or the both of us will be in really big trouble. You got it?"

Psycho looks at me mischievously, stands up straight, and does a soldier's salute. "Got it." He replied.

"All right, then." I said and held out my fist for a fist bump. Psycho covers his face with his sleeve-covered hands and trembles in fear.

"I'm not going to punch you." I said. "Where I came from, fist bumps are just another way of making an agreement."

Psycho uncovers his face and he looks at my clenched right fist.

"Get your right fist and gently tap my fist back." I said.

Psycho gently taps his sleeve-covered fist on to mine and smiled.

"Remember…don't tell Smarty, Stupid, Wheezy, or Greasy." I reminded Psycho.

He replies back with a 'cross my heart and hope to cry' gesture and tells me (verbally) to go back to sleep.

After that, I began to start a nice and quiet sleep.