A Lesson Learned: Red: Book 3

  RED

  Book 3

  A LESSON LEARNED

  By Darrell Maloney

  Edited by Allison Chandler

  This is a work of fiction. All persons depicted in this book are fictional characters. Any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Copyright 2016 by Darrell Maloney Publishing

  This book is dedicated to:

  Jordan Chandler

  Allison Chandler

  Zachary Chandler

  Mason Maloney

  Raymond Salinas Jr. (“RJ”)

  I hope you learn to love the “Red” character as I have. The inspiration for Red was my sister Debbie, and she was a heck of a woman. Thank you all for your continued support.

  The Story Thus Far...

  Red was what old-timers call a “strange breed.” She was all woman, and a beautiful one at that. She never really wanted the attention of the men who always seemed to vie for her affection, and she hated to break their hearts. But the fact was, few of them interested her.

  It wasn't their fault. It was just the way she was brought up. For although she had a softer side, Red was also tough. Texas tough, her father called it. It was easier to keep men at arm's length than it was to let them believe they could capture her heart.

  Red lost her mother at an early age and was raised by a father who worshipped her.

  He also equipped her with all the tools she'd need later when times got tough. She could hunt, fish and rope a steer as well as any man.

  When the worst natural disaster in the history of the world destroyed life as she knew it, her toughness kept her alive.

  But others she loved weren’t so lucky. Her husband and young son were killed in an apparent accident. An accident which severely injured Red and burned her house to the ground.

  An accident which turned out not to be an accident at all.

  They were murdered.

  Red and her father were at a loss. No one hated Russell and little Rusty. Or Red either, for that matter. There seemed to be no motive.

  Red went into a funk and did what she often did as a young girl when she was troubled and needed some time alone. She retreated into the woods with her horse Bonnie. She lived off the land and found herself again.

  It had always been therapeutic for her, and it was this time as well.

  Until she returned to the tiny town of Blanco to find her father had been murdered as well.

  Red, like everyone else, had been trying to cope with a new and very chaotic world. A world in which almost everything powered from electricity no longer worked. A place without lights or telephones or automobiles. A place where supermarket shelves could no longer be stocked, and where there was nothing to put on the shelves anyway. Factories and food-packing plants no longer existed.

  Those who were lucky enough to have survived the crisis lived a new kind of lifestyle. One in which most hours of the day were spent merely trying to find enough food and water to survive to see another sunset.

  And where the boldest and greediest of men merely took what they wanted from those who were weaker.

  Red had a dilemma. She was now all alone in the world. Every one of her family members had been brutally murdered. She didn’t know who did it or why. But she was determined to find out.

  She’d get no help from the police.

  Blanco’s Chief of Police was a brutal banker who’d won the position by coercion. And he was at the top of her list of suspects.

  Austin was the home of the Texas Rangers, and she thought of going there to plea for help.

  But Austin was a six day ride on horseback. And she had no proof to offer them. Only her suspicions.

  Red decided she didn’t need them. Not the police, not the Rangers. She’d solve the murders herself. And in the absence of an honest judicial system, she’d administer justice herself. The way Texans used to do it.

  She’d find the killers, and she’d make them pay.

  In the last installment, Red got a tip from a good friend and followed a man named Luna to Lubbock. She got the drop on him and took him hostage.

  Then she fought with her conscience about how best to deal with him.

  As sure as she was that he was involved in the murders, she needed to hear him say it. She needed to extract a confession from him.

  And then… what?

  He’d need to be punished. And in the absence of a working justice system, it would be up to her to do it.

  She wasn’t sure she could.

  For as angry as she was, and as much as she felt right was on her side, Red was a Christian girl as well.

  God said thou shalt not kill.

  Red was a God-fearing woman, yet one who seldom read scripture. She’d stopped going to church right after her husband and son were murdered, when she went into a deep depression.

  Still, she seemed to remember another Bible passage. Something about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

  And she remembered that God was a benevolent God, who loved His children and who had a problem with them being murdered.

  “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.”

  So maybe, just maybe, if God didn’t want His children being killed, He wouldn’t be happy that someone had brutally murdered everyone Red had left in the world.

  And maybe since He was a benevolent God, maybe He wouldn’t mind so much if Red helped Him out a bit.

  On that whole vengeance thing.

  Hey, it made sense to Red.

  Chapter 1

  Red left him there, tied and gagged and unconscious, in his own bed. She’d hit him a little too hard and drew blood. And the blood streaming from the back of Luna’s head made a big mess on the carpet in front of the living room couch.

  She felt bad about that. Much worse about the mess than she did about hitting the man she’d tracked to Lubbock.

  The old codger who ran the motel seemed like a nice man. He’d reminded her a bit of her own grandfather, both in his physical features and mannerisms.

  And she hated the thought of leaving a big mess that a crippled old man in his eighties would have to clean up after she’d gone.

  Luna wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And Red was hungry and needed something to eat.

  But first she had to do the right thing. It was just her way.

  She picked up the key to the room that Luna had dropped in his drunken state just before she knocked him cold. She slipped it into her pocket and carefully looked out the door and into the parking lot half-filled with dusty and abandoned cars.

  Her caution was rooted in the thought that although Luna had arrived in Lubbock alone, he might have taken on a partner once he’d arrived. Or made friends, although that seemed highly unlikely. Luna hadn’t seemed a sociable type to her. He had a venomous personality that seemed to drive others away. Never smiling, never courteous, never friendly.

  Still, he’d come to this city for a reason, and since he wasn’t the friendly sort it was probably business-related. Perhaps he’d come here to murder someone for money.

  That would mean he’d have business associates, or partners, or maybe even a boss, who might come to call.

  And she didn’t need any extra bad guys to have to deal with.

  They might distract her from getting what she’d come here for.

  They might delay her in her search for answers. About who killed her family. And her father. And why.

  The parking lot appeared to be clear.

  She walked over to the office, where she encountered the same old man who’d pointed out Luna’s room to her a couple of hours before.

  “Hello there, little lady. I saw your friend stumbling toward his room a few minutes ago. Did
the two of you find each other?”

  “Yes sir, we did. Thank you. But I’m afraid I have a bit of a dilemma.”

  “I might be able to help. What is it?”

  “Well, I’m afraid I made a big mess in the room. I dropped a bottle and it shattered and went everywhere. All over the carpet, all over the living room furniture. There’s no water over there to speak of, and I just don’t know how to clean it up. Do you have any bottles of spray cleaner or anything I can use?”

  “Ah shucks, Missy. You don’t need to worry about that. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is. I’ll clean it up after your friend checks out. It ain’t like the rooms here are spotless or anything anyway.”

  Red inquired, “What’s the story behind this place, anyway? I saw a boy out on the street and asked for a motel room, and he said these used to be apartments.”

  “Yes ma’am. They were. The apartment owner happened to survive the blackout and the plague. He was as mean as they come. He was upset that his tenants stopped paying their rent. Hell, it wasn’t their fault. The dollar crashed and nobody could go to work and earn any money anymore. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to pay. It was just that they had no means to do so.

  “He didn’t want to hear it. He demanded gold and silver, and them that had it gave it to him, in the form of silver spoons and jewelry and such. Them that didn’t have it moved out. But he made ‘em leave all their stuff behind to pay their back rent. Said he didn’t want any squatters taking up space in his apartment complex.”

  Red shook her head, aghast at the greed and cruelty of the man.

  But it didn’t really surprise her. She’d seen a lot of other greedy men since the blackout. Men who tried to use the crisis as an excuse to further their own aims, without having any empathy for other human beings.

  “I don’t know why some men have to be so heartless to others. It’s almost like they possess no souls.”

  “Oh, it’s okay, Missy. He got his in the end.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “One by one the residents who weren’t kicked out immediately ran out of gold and silver to pay him. And one by one he ran them off, at the end of a gun, and made them leave all their belongings behind.

  “Now, the rest of what I’m gonna tell you is pure speculation and rumor. I didn’t see anything with my own eyes, except for what they left in the parking lot.”

  “What did they leave in the parking lot?”

  “The landlord’s body. All bled out and stripped bare. Somebody even took the time to piss on him. I guess he weren’t none too popular by that time.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, like I said, this is all rumor and speculation. But word was that once it got down to the last five families, they got together and decided enough was enough. That they’d lived in this here complex for years, and it was as much their home as anybody else’s. They went to the man and tried to reason with him. They said that if he let them stay they could do odd jobs. Help him do maintenance on the place. Help him clean the rooms after his motel guests checked out. Walk about the town to help spread the word that there was a really nice motel with rooms to let, just west of 50th Street and Slide Road.

  “Rumor was that the man wouldn’t have any of it. That he was just too damn greedy. And he told them all to get the hell out. And that the next morning he was found dead, all crumpled up in a heap in the parking lot in front of room 16C.”

  Chapter 2

  “Who was he to you, mister? The landlord, I mean. Was he your boss or something?”

  The old man hesitated, as though ashamed.

  “Well, Missy, I’m sorry to say that he was my step-son. He wasn’t always like that. He was once a pretty good kid. When Helen died… she was my second wife and his mom…when she died a couple of years ago, he just lost his mind. The blackout affected everybody in a lot of different ways. It turned him mean. His mind was already gone by that time, and I guess the stresses of the blackout did their number on him too. There was no need for him to kick people out of their homes like he did. He only let me stay here because I was running the place for him. He let me set up a cot in the office back there to sleep on.”

  “Oh my God! That’s horrible.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mind. I’m an old man. I don’t need much to live from day to day. I can’t get my medicine anymore, so it’s just a matter of time before my body gives out anyway. And truth be known, after they killed him I moved into one of the empty rooms. Then I decided I didn’t need that much space and moved back in here. I came into this world during the depression, you see. With nothing but a mama and the towel she wrapped me in. My daddy was killed in a farm accident before I was born. So I came from humble beginnings. I reckon I’ll just end my life like I came in. With nothing but a cot and the clothes on my back.”

  Red felt bad for the old man. She was struggling for the right words to say to him, when his face brightened and his tone changed.

  “Well listen to me, Missy. I’m rambling on like an old coot, when you just came in here to ask me a simple question. I don’t have any cleaning materials, I’m sorry. What did you spill on the carpet?”

  Red lied. “A jar of strawberry jam that my friend found in a supermarket, under a pile of wreckage. We were trying to open it to see if it was still good, and it just slipped out of my hands. Now it’s broken and all over the place.”

  “Oh hell, Missy, just let it dry and get walked into the carpet. It don’t matter. If it’s too bad I’ll just stop renting the room after you and your friend are gone. There’s several other rooms I never rent out for one reason or another. Mostly because people shot themselves in ‘em and left blood and brains all over the place. Truth be known, I’ve only got three, four people staying here at any given time anyhow.”

  “I just wouldn’t feel right making a big mess and then leaving it there.”

  The old man chuckled.

  “You know what, Missy? I don’t doubt that. You strike me as somebody with a heart. The kind of person who wouldn’t make a mess and leave it there for someone else. Someone who actually cares. Do you know how rare that is?”

  “I imagine it’s not as common as it once was.”

  “Well, if you really want to try to clean it, you can probably find some cleaning supplies in the old supermarket up the street. Last time I went in there to get some salt there wasn’t much left on the shelves. Not anything you could eat, anyways. I seem to remember that the cleaning supply aisle was still pretty well stocked, though. I guess when the lights went out folks had other things to worry about than sweeping their floors and dusting their furniture. The cleaning supplies were still there, and the dog and cat toys, and not much else. Even the dog food and cat food was all gone. People were desperate and eating whatever they could get their hands on. So was I, for awhile.”

  “You said you were out of medicine. I passed that supermarket on the way in. It had a big ‘pharmacy’ sign out front. Make me a list of the medicines you need and I’ll see if I can find them for you.”

  “Thanks anyway, Missy. But you wouldn’t find them. Once the food supply ran out, people got even more desperate. Some committed suicide. Some grew mean like my step-son and just started taking from the weak.

  “And there was a certain element that turned to drugs and alcohol to ease their pain. All the beer and wine and hard liquor disappeared off the shelves, then all the prescription drugs. I suspect that many of those people didn’t even know what drugs they were grabbing, or what they were used for. They just grabbed bottles at random and starting eating them like candy until they found a combination that helped them tune out what was going on around them. And eased their pain, I guess.

  “No, the only thing you’re gonna find at that pharmacy are empty shelves and empty bottles. But thanks anyway.”

  Red felt bad for the old man, but there seemed nothing else to say.

  She bid him well and walked down the street to a red brick building that had onc
e been a supermarket. Every glass window along the front of the store was now smashed, and the parking lot was littered with all manner of trash.

  A young man of about twenty was sitting nonchalantly on a lawn chair in front of one of the doors.

  “Hey, where you goin’, girlfriend?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going inside to look around.”

  “This is my store. If you take anything out of it you’ll have to pay me a tax. Unless you wanna take it out in trade, girlfriend.”

  Red was not impressed, nor was she afraid.

  “Number one, I’m not your girlfriend. Number two, I seriously doubt that this is your store, since you’re barely smart enough to form a coherent sentence. Number three, there will be no taxes collected today. Not in trade or any other means. I’m going in there and if I find what I need I’m bringing it out. You won’t try to stop me or impede me in any way. If you do I’ll make you wish you’d never been born. Got it?”

  He swallowed hard. She meant business. And although he couldn’t form a coherent sentence, he had enough intelligence to back off.

  “Yes ma’am. I meant no offense.”

  She brushed past him and continued on her mission.

  Chapter 3

  The interior of the supermarket was dark and foreboding. It had a series of skylights installed in neat rows across the ceiling, and they helped a bit. But Red still had to be careful as she climbed over a mountain of trash in the darkness.

  As she grew closer and closer to the dreary bowels of this miserable place, her eyes began to adjust and it became easier for her to see.

  The looters who’d gone through this place seemed to have done so in great anger. Those items not deemed edible for whatever reason were thrown about. Items seemed to have been raked off the shelves and into piles on the floor. Some of the aisles were inaccessible.