LA Modern Noir: Chapter 3

I wrote this post about a story where I had a first chapter written.

This is hoped to be a chapter a month (or less) write with a final word count for a first draft somewhere between 60-80 thousand words.
At that point it'll be time to start working on structure and plot holes etc.
Right now, it's about getting it written.

Chapters are likely to be longer, 2-3k words and unless they are hitting 4-5k I'm unlikely to split them up.

If you commented on that first chapter and indicated you liked it, I've tagged you here. Let me know if you want that changed going forward. And if you want to be tagged in for future chapters, let me know.

Thanks

Stuart

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Chapter 3 - 3,092 words
CW partner abuse

The local news was filled with a second body found in garbage. There was talk of human teeth marks in the flesh. The coverage was earnest, but there was a level of glee behind it which Alisson found dis-tasteful. She turned the television off and looked back to the shopping list she was preparing. It was easy to do. They used a rotating menu, Earl liked to know what he was eating, didn’t like unexpected changes to the week’s meals. Unless he made the change.

She tallied the shopping list, again. According to the store website it would be forty dollars more than last month for the same basket of groceries. The knot in her stomach twisted tighter. Earl would blame her, mock her shopping habits, and demand she do it again, and ‘properly this time’. Only there was nothing else to cut, nowhere to save money.

Leaving the list to the side she called up the finance spreadsheet and went through it again. Things were meant to be easier now that Earl’s deal had gone through. He’d promised. But there was still money flowing out to places she wasn’t aware of. That was on top of the loans she was cosignee for.

A car horn sounded out in the street, and she took it as a sign to take a break. The finances weren’t going to change through the act of her staring at them for hours on end. She slid the balcony door open, hoping for fresh air, but only getting the stultifying heat of another LA day. The car honked again, and she peered over the edge to see a Prius sat behind a U-Haul. New neighbors moving in. She wondered what apartment. The one next door was empty but she hadn’t heard anyone going in and out for viewings. The car honked again, and a woman came out of the apartment entrance, waved at the Prius, slid the backdoor of the U-Haul down, got in and drove off.

Alisson went round the flowerpots on the balcony, pinching off dead leaves and flowers, admiring the colors and fragrance from the limited garden an LA balcony allowed for. She was looking at the empty bird-feeder and wondering if she could finagle a couple of dollars for bird seed when the U-Haul turned back into the street and stopped in-front of the building again. The woman got out, opened the back of the truck, and was joined by a man and woman from the apartment block. They piled stuff out of the van on to the sidewalk, keeping an eye for anyone turning into the street.

Before anyone else needed down the road they were finished and the driver got back in and drove off, leaving the others to take the stuff inside.

Alisson realised she’d stood and watched with a handful of dead leaves and flowers. Vacant wool-gathering, Earl called it. She’d always been a daydreamer, but this wasn’t daydreaming, wasn’t her imagination running riot and building worlds for her to explore and draw. This was just standing watching stuff happen, blankly observing without processing or engaging.

It was frustrating, it felt like time was passing by and she wasn’t engaged. Life was happening, people were moving, doing things, and she was stuck. She thought of the apartment she’d seen on Zillow. Eighteen-hundred dollars for a single room that was kitchen, lounge, and bedroom, and a tiny closet with small shower and toilet. It was smaller than one she’d had when she met Earl. And she couldn’t afford it. There was enough for a month’s deposit in her savings account, the one Earl still didn’t know about, but not enough for anything else, and no regular work coming in.

Freelance design was always reliant on businesses being willing to pay, and fewer of them were doing that at present. More of them seemed to be using programs to do the job. It was called artificial intelligence, but there was nothing intelligent about some of the work she was seeing.

Before, when there’d been quiet spells, she’d painted for herself. Canvas filled with her watercolor or oil pictures hung in friends and relative’s houses, she’d even sold one or two. But Earl couldn’t cope with the easel being up in the apartment, didn’t like the smell of the paints, or seeing pictures in an unfinished state. ‘Stick with your design work,’ he said. ‘You’re good at that, and it doesn’t clutter up the house.’

She put the dead leaves and flowers in the garbage and logged on to her job portal, seeing if there were any new calls for work in the last two hours. There weren’t. Well, none worth the effort. ‘Send us your design and if we like it there’s fifty dollars in it for you,’ was less an invite to work and more a call for free labor. She knew more than a few designers who’d responded to such things, received a ‘sorry, not quite what we had in mind,’ email, and then seen their design with a change of color or font used by the company. Changes which were just enough to mean they weren’t identical and, anyway, who could afford to sue a company over a fifty-dollar copyright?

Her phone rang and she pressed answer without even looking at the screen. ‘Hey, it’s Alisson.’

‘ALLY-BALLY-BEE!!’ The scream of her old nickname made her wince, but also break into a smile which hurt her face.

‘SHONDALOO, WHERE ARE YOU??’ Her singsong response was almost as old as their friendship.

Two weeks after becoming college roommates they had already developed the nicknames, but it was trying to find each other at a crowded frat party which led to the call and response shout. They’d already been friends but that single event bonded them in ways their divergent post-graduation paths could never sunder. Anytime they went out and were separated they would call for each other.

‘Hey, Alisson, how’s it going babe?’

‘Shonda, good to hear you. Where are you?’

‘Still in Charlotte. But next month, I’m in L.A .BABY!’

‘Really?’

‘Yup. At least two weeks in a hotel doing unspeakably boring research things for clients. So, you’d better have some funky places to take me. It’s been too long since we had some time together. I’m not counting watching each other Zoom, even if you falling of your seat was hilarious!’

Alisson grinned at the memory, before recalling the barrage of beratement Earl had offered when the call had ended. She pushed it aside. ‘Where is it you’re staying? The Beverly Wilshire? The Biltmore?’

‘The equally luxurious Starlight Inn near the University. That’s where I’m working for the two weeks and they figured I need to be close to base. I did try and finagle somewhere near the other campus at Wilshire, but our travel department is smarter than the average bear. If you don’t mind bunking up you can stay with me for a night or two, if Earl can let you out of his sight for that long.’

‘Earl’ll be fine with that. And you can stay hear at the weekend, instead of watching television by the freeway.’

‘Is the Starlight by a freeway?’

‘Unless you got promoted to the C-suite, and if you’re schlepping around the country doing weeks worth of on-site research I’m guessing not, then it probably is. Haven’t you checked?’

‘I looked to see how far the University place I need is. Wait.’ There was the sound of fingernails on keys and then, ‘Ugh, well, it’s not a freeway, but a busy enough road. Sitting on your balcony with wine while Earl grumbles to his baseball may be worthwhile, but only if we eat out.’

‘Earl’s fine. And He knows we’ve been friends forever, it’s why you get to use the guest room. I’m almost offended you didn’t ask if you can stay here for the two weeks, but it’d take you ages to travel across town every day.’

‘Yeh, that’s what I figured. Still, it’ll be good to see you.’

‘Wait, what dates are you here? If it’s the middle of the month, Earl’s away for some business trip from Thursday to Tuesday over the third weekend.’

‘Let me look.’ Fingernails on keys again. ‘I fly in on the eleventh, so my middle weekend lines up nicely with Earl’s trip. Ooh girl, we’re going to party like we’re twenty-one again.’

‘I think I’ll need a curfew. Dawn is not my natural bedtime anymore.’

‘You always were the lightweight.’

‘Bitch!’ Alisson surprised herself but the response was from deep inside, a primal cry for a challenge which could not be left without response. ‘It was not me who slept through three dawn lab schedules, even though we were at the same party the night before. It wasn’t me who had a date drop me off---‘

Shonda had started laughing with Alisson’s imprecation. Now she said, ‘Okay, stop. I was the lightweight. But you were always easy to trigger.’

Suddenly a memory of the date came to mind. Alisson said, ‘Maybe. Do you remember that date though? What was their name? ‘

‘Robin.’

‘That’s right! Did you know they hated your laugh?’

‘What?’

‘So, the night they dropped you off they didn’t say much, but what I remember is, ‘We came out the movie, she cackled for five minutes straight at some kid who dropped the last of their popcorn, got in the car and fell asleep.’ I said, ‘Cackled?’ and they said, ‘Yeh, y’know her weird laugh thing.’ Then imitated it and screwed their face up like it was disgusting.’

‘Oh, that kinda makes sense of something now. Because before then you were okay with them, but after you got kinda cool and when we stopped dating you were all ‘Good riddance’ but wouldn’t say why.’

‘I knew you liked them. Just thought that was off.’

‘We need to have a long wine and reminiscence evening, see what other things you got locked away. But right now I’ve got a two hour meeting to go get coffee and files for. Who arranges a two hour meeting mid-morning on a Thursday? Madness. I’ll phone you before to make arrangements, but see you next month.’

‘See you in a few weeks. Go slay the meeting.’

‘You know I will!’

The room was suddenly quiet, the exuberance Shonda brought to any environment emptied away and leaving Alisson needing to recover. Still, it was something to smile about. There were plenty of free things she could suggest going to see, and if the dates were right then it wouldn’t even impact the food budget as swapping Shonda for Earl meant the same amount of groceries, probably fewer if Shonda still ate like a pigeon.

A faint thump caught her attention.

She tilted her head and listened. There was another one. Maybe there was someone moving in next door. She wondered if they’d like a coffee.

---

The elevator pinged as Alisson stood talking with Maeve, Corrina, and Tyrrel, the new neighbors. They had appreciated the offer of coffee, with their stuff all in poorly marked boxes after a flood from an upper neighbor had led to a hasty move from their last apartment.
Turning to see who’d come up Alisson felt her stomach lurch as Earl stepped out the elevator. His tie was loose, and he looked tired and sweaty, like someone who’d been walking and not just stepped out of an Uber. She looked at her watch and confusion joined the mix. It was only just after four. He was at least an hour early, probably nearer two.

‘Earl,’ she called, ‘we’ve got new neighbors.’

He looked over, taking a moment to assess the scene, looked at Alisson, and said, ‘I need a drink.’

Without acknowledging anyone he opened the apartment door and went it. After a moment he leaned back out. ‘Come on Alisson.’

‘Coming,’ she said. ‘I’d better go find out why he’s home early. It’s nice to meet you. We’ll need to have you round for a drink.’

Corrina, the one who’d driven the U-Haul, said, ‘We owe you a glass of wine for helping this afternoon.’

‘That’d be nice. See you later.’ She took the cups and went back to her apartment.

Earl had a beer in hand and was slumped in his Lazyboy. He looked sullen, dejected, frustrated.

‘You’re home earlier than normal,’ Alisson said. ‘Is everything okay? It’s pasta for dinner, so it isn’t started yet.’

‘I have to fly to Akron tomorrow,’ Earl said.

‘Oh, why?’

‘For work you stupid cow.’

Alisson wondered if this was instead of going in a few weeks, and sincerely hoped not. It had been nice meeting the new neighbors, but the earlier call from Shonda had been the high-spot of the day and she wasn’t ready for the possibility of uncomplicated time with her best friend being removed just yet. She looked at the cups in her hand. She wondered what time his flight was. If he was like this now it would be a long evening. ‘I’ll wash these cups. Would you like another beer?’

He nodded, saying nothing, and staring at the blank television screen as if engrossed in a baseball game. When she came back through with another bottle of Schlitz he was in the same position. She took the empty bottle from his hand, switching it for the full one. He drank without acknowledging her.

Maybe, she thought, an early meal will lighten his mood. She guessed he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and that had been hastily snatched toast on the way out the door. Whatever had happened, whatever reason he had to be in Ohio tomorrow, getting a meal inside him would help.
Going back into the kitchen she weighed out pasta, put on water to boil. From the fridge she took a jar of pesto, a shallot, a yellow bell pepper. There were prawns which were for a laksa on Friday, but if he was away then they could be used this evening.

She was slicing the shallot when Earl came into the kitchen.
‘It’s too late for dinner,’ he said.

‘I thought I’d get prep done, then we can eat whenever.’ She assumed he meant it was too early, and felt it confirmed her guess about him being hungry. ‘Did you have lunch?’

‘No. I was working.’ The acerbic tone hadn’t been eased by the two beers. Often that would have been enough to relax him. But he was really tense.

‘What time’s your flight tomorrow? Is it from LAX?’

‘Yes from LAX, and it’s half-past-eleven.’

‘So, you can have a bit of a lie in. Do you want me to drive you down, or will you take-‘

‘Lie in? How stupid are you? I need to pack and get ready to go. And yes I’ll have to rely on you to drive me.’

Alisson placed the knife down and turned to face Earl. ‘I thought you said you had to go to Akron to-morrow.’

‘Yes. And to do that I have to fly to Cleveland tonight. Damned red-eye flights. I can never get a decent sleep on them.’

‘Okay. So, we’ll leave about eight. That gives us plenty time in case of traffic, and you’ll be able to go through security nice and relaxed.’

‘Great plan, Alisson. Only I need to be there for seven. I have a meeting. Which I’d have told you about if you shut up for two minutes and let me speak. Life would be so much easier if you stopped trying to manage everything and took time to find out things.’ He slammed the empty bottle on the counter. ‘I’m going to shower, change, and pack.’

She took the empty bottle and moved towards the recycling box. His palm caught her just behind the ear and propelled her head into the cupboard, her cheek narrowly missing the knob for pulling it open.

‘Get the kitchen cleaned, you’ve got it looking like a pig sty. And don’t think you can let it slide while I’m away.’

A few moments later the sound of the shower washed through the apartment and Alisson set about tidying away the meal she’d begun preparing. It didn’t take long and wiping the surface down left it looking as pristine as when she started. There was a spot on her cheek which felt warm. It was the part of her face which hit the cupboard first. The sight of the doorknob coming towards her came back. It was a slowed down moment of fear, and then relief. Hitting that would have… Well, she didn’t want to think about it.

Earl was still in the shower as she looked in her mirror and dabbed on some concealer, blending a bit on both sides of her face so the redness was covered, but in a way which kept her makeup looking balanced.

She got Earl’s travel bag and suit hanger out of the wardrobe. If he was working all weekend he’d want at least three shirts, but he hadn’t said. Best to let him decide. But she put out the blue suit. It was the one he always took if flying. It got the fewest creases. From the draw she took out boxers and socks, enough for five days. She could put away what he didn’t pack.

The shower shut off. She could hear him towelling down as she laid a few vests out. He’d only wear them under his work shirts, so there were fewer than the socks. She was trying to decide if he’s want a sweater when he came through. She stopped, and looked at him. ‘I thought I’d lay out some things you might want to pack,’ she said.
He stepped forwards and gave her a hug. He was still wet from the shower, he was never good at dry-ing down. Her shirt picked up the moisture and stuck to her midriff.

‘Sorry for getting frustrated,’ He said. ‘This work thing came out of nowhere and—’ he trailed off. Then he said, ‘Go make us a coffee. There’ll just about be time for one before we have to go.’
‘Okay. This trip, does it mean you wont have to go in a few week?’
‘Sorry, sweetie, this is an extra one.’ He smiled, like he knew it would be a disappointment for her.

She smiled back, feeling relief that she’d have time with Shonda without having to worry about her and Earl snapping at each other. ‘I’ll go make coffee,’ she said.

Chapter End/Break

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words by stuartcturnbull pic by igorelick on Pixabay