and although I should have been absolutely exhausted, for some reason I felt awake and wired. My mind was buzzing as I headed north, away from town, with no real destination in mind. I just wanted to drive, to be moving, and to be away from Becca. I couldn’t stand staying in that house while that look still lingered in the air.
As I made a left onto a dirt road, it suddenly dawned on me where I was headed. Almost as if on autopilot, I was only about a half mile from the shitty trailer Thom called home. He was my direct link to the mob, though he was about as low level as it got. At first, I thought he had been some big shot, but as time went on it became clear that he was only involved because the Canadians needed an American dumb enough to be their fall guy in case anything went wrong on our side.
Unfortunately for Thom, he was the perfect fall guy. Trusting and stupid and loyal to a fault, he’d be willing to jump on a grenade for the mobsters, even if they continually overlooked him for promotions within their organization.
Worst of all, he didn’t make that much money, especially considering the amount of risk. As I pulled up in front of his dingy trailer, it was clear that Thom was a stooge in their whole enterprise. For a long time I felt bad for him but didn’t say anything about it, since I needed him to help facilitate the deals and to get me paid, but maybe it was time to try and push him. He had already begun to notice the changes that were happening in the mob, and maybe that would make him a little more inclined to change.
I parked the truck and waited a minute. Usually he came right out when he heard a car pull up, often drunk and almost always with a rifle. Not many people got up around his area, and that was how he liked it. But as I sat there, his trailer remained completely dark.
I climbed out of my truck and walked up to his door, pounding on the cheap tin metal. The sound vibrated through the whole rickety structure, but clearly nobody was home.
I checked the time. It wasn’t late, which meant that he was probably out getting fucked up somewhere. I didn’t feel like going home and coming back, though, so I did the only reasonable thing I could think of.
With a piece of bent chicken wire I found lying around his property, I jimmied the front door, catching the locking mechanism and yanking it free. Breaking into trailers was pretty easy since most trailers didn’t have anything worth stealing. As I pushed my way into his place, I knew Thom was no exception.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was dank and heavy, almost like a musk, but with a tinge of rotting garbage. It wasn’t horrible but it was pretty uncomfortable. Immediately I grabbed a window and yanked it open, hoping the outside air could clear the rank space out.
The next thing I noticed was the mess. He had dishes piled in the sink, trash all over the floor and counters, and other shit just strewn about. It looked like he had never cleaned it, not even once, and he probably didn’t even mind the stink. The trash and shit explained the smell, obviously, and it was a wonder that Thom could even survive in a place as rank as this.
I pushed through the crap and poked my head in the bedroom, just to make sure. The sheets on the bed were a tangled mess and there were more dirty dishes piled next to the bed, plus a bunch of empty beer cans thrown all over the place. Still, the bedroom was empty.
I made my way back into the main room and cleared off a spot near what was supposed to be the kitchen table but was really more like a giant ashtray and trashcan. As I looked around, it made sense why he was so protective of his shitty little trailer out in the middle of nowhere. He was probably too embarrassed of the place to let anyone see it.
I pulled the gun out of my pants and set it down on the table next to me. I made sure it was loaded and ready, though I wasn’t sure why. I had no reason to harbor any