Lloyd's Angel: Saving Glory
November 2010
Thanks, Danny.
It was one of the "the merchandise has left the store" sort of problems. One of the girls hadn't come in that night. It wasn't unusual, but there was a protocol for these things. Had the girl given advance notice of the absence? No. Was she answering her home or mobile number? No and no. Did a discreetly vague query at her emergency contact number result in an acceptable response? No. Was Lloyd in? Yes.
I sighed heavily and asked for the driver to bring the car around while I looked at Glory's personnel file and printed a locator map for her residence. Ironically, I would have been better off in my rumbled and soiled suit, but really this wasn't the sort of job that called for a suit at all.
Angel was still in the shower, so I ended up leaving without saying goodnight and studied the map during the ride home. When we arrived, I fed the paper into the conveniently installed cross-cut shredder, and told the driver I'd see him the next day.
It seemed likely to be the sort of job that benefited from proactive medication, so I gulped some aspirin and changed into a boring, forgettable black sweatsuit. I left my wallet on the dresser, and took only my license and proof of insurance.
I rehearsed various scenarios, none of them good, on the way across town, and pulled up to the curb on a dark side street a block from Glory's house. The ID and key went under the floor mat; my car was old but sported one of those combination code entry systems. As prepared and deniable as I could be, I started walking slowly down the block, just another old geezer out for an evening stroll.
Glory lived in a small single-family residence, which was good, and there were lights on, which could be good or bad. Increased numbers of people meant increased volatility and decreased controllability; family interventions were the worst, almost impossible to sort out. I didn't see any movement inside the front windows.
Telling myself to quit stalling, I walked up to the front door and rang the bell. There was no answer, but I concentrated and listened hard. There was faintly audible screaming and shouting inside, which suggested things might have turned violent. I consoled myself with the thought that, as far as I could determine, there were only two people inside the house.
I started ringing the bell repeatedly, and finally one of the people inside came to see what was going on. I pushed
I am not threatened by the old man
and
contemptuous indifference
through the door, blind, and braced myself for whatever might happen next.
"What do you want, you old motherfucker?" was the greeting I got. The guy looked like a redneck who'd been drinking. Looking past him, I could see Glory cowering in the hallway. She'd been beaten pretty badly; a quick glance was enough to see a black eye, welts on her arms and legs, and blood on her lips.