Chapter 7: Vince Comes Through
The boys met up at the Laxon’s lot. Dave still had a big smile on his face from the memory of Rhonda. All the boys still had a smile on their faces. Mike was still uncomfortable as he squirmed back and forth. Dave said, “Man she was pissed. Do you think she’ll call anybody?”
Joe was tired from running and trying to permanently implant the memory of what he saw in his mind, “If she calls the police, we’ll know pretty quick. We can see her house from here.”
The boys talked and watched for a while. There was no police activity at Rhonda’s place and there were no parents out scouring the streets for the boys. Mike was looking disappointed, “I guess we’re done looking at her for a while. We blew it. You know every time she comes home now, she’ll check the window to make sure we’re not there. Damn it.”
It had been a little while since they talked to Vince. Dave said, “Let’s walk to Vince’s house. Maybe he talked to somebody already.”
Mike and Joe agreed, and they headed that way. They ended up walking by the front of the house where Rhonda was. Nothing was going on. It all looked clear. The boys arrived at Vince’s house about the time he was coming out the front door. He smiled and said, “Hey guys I got some news. I called my buddies downtown and they said no one has been murdered on the river in almost a year. They also didn’t know either of the bad guys you described to me. There haven’t been any assaults on the river in months. Are you sure you saw them stab her?”
The boys looked at each other in amazement. Dave said, “We saw the guy stab her. She fell and didn’t move. The guys saw us and ran off. Somethings wrong here.”
Mike and Joe were nodding their heads, agreeing with Dave. Vince said, “I’ll keep checking on it, but it appears nothing happened. Plus, I hate to say this, but sometimes when it comes to hookers the police aren’t as vigilant as they should be. They brush things under the rug and don’t really do much of an investigation.”
The boys stood there staring at Vince. Mike said, “So that’s it? She gets killed and nobody does anything about it?”
Vince winced, “Yeah, I’m sorry but it happens. I’ll let you know if I find anything else out.” The boys thanked Vince and left. They went home to ponder the situation.
The next day they decided to go downtown to check the bushes again. They arrived downtown on a new bus refreshed from the air conditioning. They walked to the Arneson River Theater bridge and observed for several minutes. Joe said, “Nothing here! They must have gotten them all!”
Dave said, “Don’t be so fast. The other girls might have gone to another area. They move around. We’ll go walking and keep an eye out.”
Joe and Mike agreed. The boys knew downtown like the back of their hand. They walked around the places the girls would be but found nothing. They went home. They had some luck going for them, they rode home on an air conditioned bus.
The next day the boys went to see Vince again. He was on the front porch, “I’m glad y’all came by. I talked to a buddy of mine in vice, and he said they had no reports of any hookers getting injured or killed. He did say they had a raid about the same place and same time you saw the stabbing.”
The boys looked at each other and Dave said, “That’s why we can’t find girls by the bushes. They got busted.”
Vince said, “That’s a good possibility. Hell, they might be back at the same place soon. They run off and work another area for a while and after the heats off they go back to the original place. Just be patient.”
The boys left to go home, and Joe had to hurry past Rhonda’s place, so she didn’t see him. Joe got home and supper was almost ready. His dad was reading the paper and saw him come in, “How you doing Joe. I haven’t seen you too much lately. You and your buddies have been going downtown a lot. You guys having fun?”
Joe stopped, “Yeah, we run all over the place. It’s fun.”
Joe’s dad worked at a bank downtown and knew all about the great things of San Antonio and the underbelly. His dad said, “That’s great. Y’all be careful down there. Some stuff goes on where people can get hurt. I’m sure you guys can take care of yourselves but be careful.”
Joe wanted to tell his dad what was going on but decided not to. It would be one of those deals where Joe told him and ole dad would not let him go downtown again. Joe did not want that.
The boys continued to talk to Vince and nothing new came up. They decided to go back to Hemisfair and ride the rides and con the tourists. It worked out great. They went in the back way as usual, got stamped, and were ready to go. They were having fun riding the monorail and all the other rides. They pulled the hero bluff scam. They did this for several days and made good money.
Then, it happened. The boys were running a wallet scam in front of the Kodak pavilion. Everything went according to plan. Mike grabbed the wallet and ran. Dave pursued and caught him. Joe was cover for Mike. When Mike ran with the wallet Joe noticed a guy in black slacks and a blue dress shirt watching Mike. Joe started moving towards Mike. Dave got the wallet and was on his way back to the guy. The slacks and dress shirt guy were after Mike. Joe was fast and caught up to Mike before slacks got to him. Joe ran by Mike and said, “Tally ho. Run.”
Mike hesitated for a second as if he had questions to ask. Joe jerked his arm, and the boys ran through the gate to the outside. The river was across the street from the entrance. The boys ran towards the river knowing once they got there nobody could find them. They didn’t see slacks, so they were good. Dave never knew what happened. He got their bounty and met up at the rally point.
The boys found themselves at the Arneson River Theater. Dave says, “Let’s go check on the bushes.”
Joe said, “Not yet we’ll give them some more time.”
Mike said, “Come on. It can’t hurt to look at the bushes.”
The boys went to the bridge and saw the bushes. There was no one there but there were a lot of cigarette butts. More than usual. Someone was working the bushes. It was time to go home, the boys left.
