Billy Bingo: The Forgotten Past
Chapter Five
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After Bess went to bed, Billy and Sammy fell asleep on Bess’s sleep sofa while watching “17 Again.” Morning comes early for Bess and she stumbles out of her bedroom to see Sammy laying cuddled with her brother. They are fully dressed and Bess knows they’d fallen asleep together watching the movie but still Bess feels a little jealous wishing for someone she might cuddle with.
Bess shakes her brother. “You two better wake up before mom and dad get up.”
Frank and Maureen Bingo call to Bess from the breakfast nook. Maureen tells Bess, “I hope you don’t mind that we hit your pantry to cook breakfast. There is plenty for you.”
Frank adds, “We’ll restock your pantry before we go back to Georgia.”
With a slight hangover Bess enters the kitchen and sits down.
Maureen gets a plate down and pulls out some silverware for Bess. “I love your place. It is so cozy.”
Frank points to the living room. “So who is the young man dry humping your brother?”
“That is Sammy Way. His parents are the ones who were hosting the party we went to last night. He came back with us to watch a movie and eat pizza.”
Maureen shrugs. “Well. They make a nice couple.”
“Yeah, Billy started the party with a woman by the name of Sylvia who tried to drown him and ended the night with Sammy. That is my brother.”
Maureen screams, “Tried to drown Billy! Why?”
“I don’t know. Billy thinks it was just a prank of some kind.”
Frank intentionally does not want to seem alarmed by what has just been said and winks at Bess. “So, how was your night. Did you meet some young man?”
“Believe it or not, at one point, Sammy was flirting with me.”
Maureen smiles. “You will meet someone but the way Sammy was humping at Billy while they slept I wouldn’t really count on Sammy being that someone.”
Bess plays with the eggs on her plate and then takes a bite. “The good ones are always gay, married, dead, or all three.”
“What?” Maureen worries about her daughter. “You will meet someone.”
Billy and Sammy wander into the kitchen. Maureen stands up to get two more plates and silverware to set the table.
“That bacon smells good,” Sammy tells Bess.
“Yeah, mom makes a pretty mean breakfast,” Bess tells Sammy.
As Billy and Sammy sit down, Maureen ask Billy, “What is this about some girl trying to drown you.”
“I guess it was a prank. I don’t know.” Billy isn’t about to tell his mother that someone tried to kill him.
Maureen and Frank both know that if Billy suspected Ralph Shath is involved he wouldn’t say so in front of Bess. They wonder but they don’t press the subject for fear they might say something they should not.
There is a sudden, loud, knock at the door. Everyone jumps but it is Bess who jumps up to answer the door. “Hardly anyone ever visits me, much less this early,” Bess says to her visiting company who are sitting in the kitchen as she hurries to the door. When she opens the door, her heart sinks. There are two policemen staring at her and she feels like a mute unable to say anything.
“May we speak to Bess Bingo?” one of the officers ask.
Bess’ heart races. She feels faint. Still, she manages to get the words out, “I am Bess Bingo.”
“Hutch Cassidy says that he was out at the pool with you, your brother, and Sammy when he thinks his wife left the party.”
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Billy has been listening and comes to the door. “I am Billy Bingo. He was with us. There was an incident at the pool where someone had hit me over the head and threw me into the pool. Just a prank. But I lost my cellphone and he was helping us to look for it.”
“I see. Someone hit you over the head and throws you into the pool and you call that a prank and not attempted murder.”
“When I regained consciousness I was laying partially in the pool and my arms and head were out of the pool. My hair was wet so at some point I was submerged but I don’t think anyone was trying to kill me. Someone probably saved me. I didn’t know anyone other than my sister at the party so who would have a motive. Just drunks trying to pull a prank is what I think.”
The other officer ask, “Can we come in?”
Bess nods. “Why was Hutch Cassidy talking to two policemen, I mean, talking to you?”
“He told us that you have been very friendly with his wife. I think you should sit down.”
Bess starts shaking as she walks with the police officers to a chair. Billy watches his sister and the police officers. Frank, Maureen, and Sammy walk to the living room and stand behind the chair where Bess is seated.
One of the police officers ask Billy, “Did you see Clarice at the party?”
“I am from Georgia and am just visiting my sister. I don’t really know anyone but I did see a woman that was identified to me as Clarice. I was dancing with Sylvia Trundle in the Ballroom and she pointed Clarice out to me in conversation.” Billy considers the voices he heard outside the pool house but does not mention what he heard.
“You didn’t have a fight with Clarice in the pool house. She is not the one who hit you over the head and threw you into the pool?”
“I didn’t have fight with Clarice. I don’t know who hit me over the head and threw me into the pool. I went to the pool house with Sylvia Trundle against my better judgement. I thought we were going to have sex.”
“I see.”
Sammy speaks up. “While we were searching for Billy’s cellphone, Billy found my father’s revolver under the sofa. It should have been in a locked drawer. That was odd.”
“We may need that revolver.”
“Sure.” Sammy looks at Billy and looks at Bess. “What has happened?”
“Where did you go after you left the party?”
Billy sits down on the fold out bed. Sammy sits next to him. Sammy tells the officer, “Bess, Billy, and I went to get pizza, beer, and rent a movie at the Shastaria. We came back here. Bess went to bed. Billy and I fell asleep watching the movie. Their parents were already in bed when we came in. Earlier, before Hutch Cassidy went to look for his wife he said he would call us. We thought they might come here to join us but he never called.”
“At their home Hutch Cassidy found his wife shot.”
Bess cries, “Oh God. Is she at the hospital? Is she going to be okay?”
“She was already dead when the paramedics arrived.”
The other police officer looks at Billy. “I think it would be good if you file a police report on what happened to you last night and that be investigated as a separate crime. It is possible the two crimes are connected.”
“I guess I can do that. As angry as I felt last night after it happened, I don’t really want Sylvia or her boyfriend Kane Bishop prosecuted.” Billy looks at Bess. “I used very bad judgement. I’ll be going home to Georgia but my sister lives here and will be dealing with the people who were at the party.”
“I understand. Do you think there is any reason to believe that what happened to you is in anyway connected to the murder of Clarice Cassidy?”
“I don’t know. I know I went out to the pool house with Sylvia. I don’t know why Sylvia left me there and I don’t know who the two people were who attacked me after she left. I figured it was Sylvia and her boyfriend. They were laughing when I came back into the Ballroom.”
Sammy shakes his head. “I also laughed. You were comical the way you made your wet entrance. Even Bess laughed at one point. I mean, Sylvia obviously lured you out there but I don’t know about Kane.” Sammy suddenly bows his head and strains to control his emotions. “I can’t believe someone killed Clarice. It seems unreal.” Sammy looks up and stares at Bess. The image of her kissing Hutch flashes in his mind but he doesn’t say anything about it.
“Clarice’s brother Tommy either committed suicide or was murdered back in Rockdale, Georgia. Now she has been murdered. It can’t be a coincidence, can it?” Bess looks at her mother and then her father. “Could her death be connected to the death of Tommy Harris and George Destone?”
Billy remembers the muffled woman’s voice. “I am sure that Leg Man has the tape that can prove who killed my brother. Leave me alone. I want to go talk with him.” He realizes the woman had to be Clarice. He starts to tell the police but he doesn’t. He has his own secret from the police to protect.
Maureen shakes her head as she glances at Billy. “Darling, I don’t know. George’s death was over ten years ago.”
“At the party I was showing some changes I had made in my play to Clarice. Then she was showing a page to Kane Bishop while I was showing some pages to David Jenkins. I was so busy trying to get David Jenkins interested in the play I didn’t much pay attention to Clarice.”
Neither of the police officers know what Bess is talking about. One receives a call just as he is about to question Bess. The Officer is told on the phone that a suspect has been caught trying to sell a couple of items that were taken from the Cassidy home for drug money. They are told to return to the station.
“We are sorry for the loss of your friend and if our questions have made your grief worse. Apparently the killer is a junkie. He killed her trying to get money for a fix is what the chief detective thinks.”
Sammy questions the officer. “Did he kidnap her from our party and take her back to the Cassidy Home?”
“We understand your concern but we don’t know. We intend to continue the investigation.” With that the police officers leave.
Sammy Way says his goodbyes and leaves. Bess prepares to go check on Hutch Cassidy. Billy changes clothes to prepare to go with his sister. Together they go to the Cassidy home. Hutch is sitting in the backyard trying to paint while he cries. When he sees Bess and Billy he puts down his brush and stands up.
“I don’t understand this. I just don’t understand,” Hutch tells Bess. “We were at the party together. Why did she come back here? It doesn’t make sense.”
Billy watches Hutch and notices a look that Hutch directs toward him. It is an odd look that Billy can’t quite read, other than it unnerves him.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you. The police say a Junky did it.” Bess hugs Hutch and Hutch glances over her shoulder at Billy with what Billy considers another strange look.
“I know that is what they are saying, but I know the young man. She knew the young man. He was clean. He was off drugs. They find him trying to sell a few of our items for drug money right after he has been shot up with heroin. I talked with a friend at the police station. He agrees. It doesn’t make sense. Joe Bigby would not have killed Clarice. Why would she leave me at the party? Joe Bigby wouldn’t be on that side of town where the party was. He wouldn’t have kidnapped her from the party.”
“I know Joe Bigby. Clarice was worried that he was about to self destruct. Still.”
“Do you think he did it?”
“I don’t know.”
Billy remains quiet while watching his sister and Hutch. To Billy, something does not feel right.
“Can you help me pick out a dress to bury her in?” Hutch ask Bess.
“Sure.”
Hutch, Bess, and Billy walk up to Clarice’s bedroom. The smell of jasmine is strong in the bedroom. Billy guesses that lots of people might wear that perfume but he can’t help but remember that jasmine was the perfume he smelled at the pool.
“I smell jasmine in the air,” Billy comments.
“Clarice loves, loved that fragrance.”
Bess opens the closet to look at Clarice’s many dresses. Tears stream down her face. She pulls one dress from the rack and takes a quick look at it. She then puts it back on the rack.
Billy notices a box of pictures on the bed. Billy points to the pictures. “I guess your memories are important at a time like this.”
“She had been going through the pictures. Some are of her brother and other people.
Billy is shocked to see a picture of the junk car that he had driven to run George Destone and Ralph Shath down. Next to the picture of the car Billy sees a torn out Catalog page of the costume he had worn so that he looked like a small Moslem Woman. Then Billy notices a sketch pad off to the side. Billy picks up the sketch pad.
“That sketch pad belonged to Clarice’s brother, Tommy. You remember Tommy, don’t you?”
Hutch is speaking to Billy but Bess answers. “I wasn’t part of that circle of people.”
Billy flips through the pages. “He was very talented.” Then Billy comes to the last page that isn’t blank. On that page is a sketch of himself when he was ten and wearing the costume. Billy quickly closes the pad.
Bess pulls a black dress from the closet. “I think this is the dress for the …” Bess can’t finish her sentence.
“Yes. That one. I remember that one.” Hutch takes the dress from Bess and they leave the room.
They do not pay much attention that Billy is still standing with the sketch pad. He quickly flips to the sketch of himself and rips it from the pad. He sticks the page with the drawing down his pants to hide it. Billy is just about to make a quick exit from the room when Hutch stops him.
Hutch walks forward to cause Billy to walk backwards into the room. “Bess has gone to do some work on the dress.” Hutch walks Billy all the way back against a wall. He puts his arms on both sides of Billy. “Leg Man! Leg Man, what happened to my wife?”
“Why do you call me Leg Man?” Billy knows Clarice was also outside the pool house and talked about someone called the Leg Man. “I am pretty sure it was your wife that I heard outside the pool house. I think it was her because of the smell of jasmine in the pool area and also she said that she was sure that the Leg Man has the tape that can prove who killed her brother. She was talking to someone who I gather from things said had stopped her and was hurting her.”
“Leg Man, do you have the tape?”
“I don’t know why you are calling me the Leg Man. I don’t know anything about a tape.” Billy pushes Hutch away. “And hell, as far as I know, you could have been the one your wife was talking with outside the pool house.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“I don’t know that. I think it was Kane Bishop. That is what I think, but I don’t know. I only think it was your wife talking because of her mentioning the death of her brother which Bess had already mentioned to me. There was also the smell of jasmine in the pool area.”
“Look! Leg Man, now is not the time for your games.”
“Stop called me the Leg Man. I don’t know who the Leg Man is, but it isn’t me.”
“Joseph Face, Raymond Bing, Tommy Harris, Olivia Destone, Clark Bishop, George Destone, and myself were the only ones who knew your identity but you are the Leg Man. When you were being Billy with kids your own age, you’d keep your hair in a cap or in a pony tail tucked down your shirt. You wear your hair visibly long now, which is more like the way the Leg Man wore his hair. Back then, other than our little gang, most people did not connect you with being the Leg Man. There was just a few of us who knew. Because you were tall for your age you could pass for someone older and when you passed you were the Leg Man.”
“You’ve got me confused with someone else.”
“Man, I know that Billy Bingo and the Leg Man are one and the same person. Leg Man was a nick name we had for you when you were different. When you were the Leg Man you dressed older and behaved older. Your leg holster was known by a crowd and they would call you the Leg Man because that revolver and leg holster was your creed. The police knew of the Leg Man and at one point suspected the Leg Man as the driver of the car and of George’s death but the police never learned that you are the Leg Man. Those of us in the know did not want you to be arrested for killing George Destone.” Hutch hesitates. He stares at Billy. “But if Clarice confronted you with knowing who killed her brother and you killed her to protect yourself or someone else, by God I will make your ass fry.”
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With his back against the wall, Billy slides down to the floor. “I remember driving the car that killed George Destone. I have other hazy memories from that period of time. I don’t remember what you are telling me.”
Hutch Cassidy stares at Billy. “You and I were friends. I was much older, but we were friends.”
“I don’t remember.”
Hutch turns around and sits down next to Billy. “Sylvia Trundle and Kane Bishop are evil. They may now attend all the A list parties but they were evil in the old days and they are still evil.”
“Did I know them in the past?”
“You crossed paths a couple of times, maybe even more.”
“I don’t remember.”
Hutch stands up and helps Billy to stand up. “I guess you don’t.”
Billy and Hutch go down stairs and to the kitchen where Bess is. Bess fixes tea for them to drink. Together, Billy and Hutch sit silently. Dirk Jenkins and Rachel Aghar enter the kitchen through the door to the kitchen from the backyard.
Dirk pats Hutch on the back. “I know we are competitors but Clarice and I were friends. When Rachel and I heard, we wanted to come here. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I understand. Clarice had many friends.”
Rachel sits down between Hutch and Billy at the table. “We are your friend also. If you need us for anything, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Dirk sits down next to Billy. “I saw you at the party last night after you went swimming with your clothes on.”
Bess pours tea for everyone. She says nothing as she sits down next to Hutch. They all sip their tea in uncomfortable silence.
Billy excuses himself from the table telling everyone he needs to stretch his legs. He walks to the living room and stares at a painted portrait of Clarice. Dirk walks up next to Billy. “That is a self-portrait. She was a very talented woman. I will miss her.”
“Do you have any idea what happened at the party last night,” Billy ask.
“What do you mean?”
“Sylvia Trundle lured me out to the pool house to have sex. She vanished and I was hit over the head. Naked, unconscious, I was thrown into the pool.”
“All I know is when you came back into the ballroom all wet. I didn’t realize something that serious had happened to you. You should have called the police.”
“When I regained consciousness there was the smell of jasmine in the air.”
“Clarice’s fragrance. She was at the pool?”
“Yes.”
Rachel comes into the living room. “Bess is acting like she doesn’t even know me. I know it has been over ten years but still we were close at one point.”
“A friend has died. I am sure she will be glad to see you when she is not so upset.” Billy picks up a picture of Tommy on the mantel. The young man in the picture seems familiar but Billy can’t quite place him. “Do you remember Tommy Harris?”
Rachel takes the picture from Billy and looks at it. “He was kind of shy around me. The few friends he had were stoners. There was this one dude that was friends with Tommy. God he scared me. He was called the Leg Man. They may have used more than pot. I don’t know. Bess totally disliked Tommy. I am surprised Bess is friends with Clarice. In school they didn’t like one another either.”
Dirk takes the picture from Rachel. “People change. What is he doing now?”
Billy clears his throat. “He is dead. He died some time after George Destone. It was reported as suicide by hanging.”
“God. Clarice and Tommy were twins. That had to have been awful for her. Mom had already moved me away from Rockdale before any of that happened.” Rachel shakes her head. “I didn’t know. There was so much I didn’t know that was happening.”
* * *
Billy stares at the body of Clarice in the open coffin. A man about Billy’s age walks up beside Billy. They look at one another and the man speaks, “Someone told me that you are Billy Bingo. We played together as children. Well, you’d come over to my house and sometimes you’d stay and play and sometimes you’d sneak home.”
“Harris. Jimmy Harris.”
“Clarice is my sister.”
“I didn’t realize. Tommy and Clarice were your older brother and sister. I saw a picture of Tommy and I didn’t remember.”
Jimmy smiled. “Remember once when Tommy took us swimming.”
Billy’s eyes widened. “I think I do. He threw me in the deep end and I thought I was going to drown but then I started dog paddling. How could I forget him? Tommy taught me to swim!”
“If you want to know what a small world it is, I was the cab driver who drove you and your sister to the party at the Way Mansion. My sister and I haven’t spoken in years. I didn’t even know she was at that party.”
“I am so sorry for your loss. Are your parents here? I loved your mom’s apple pie.”
Jimmy frowns. “No. Clarice and I were the only ones left. Now there is just me.”
Billy wanted to ask Jimmy why he and Clarice were estranged but he thought asking would be improper. There are people waiting for the viewing of the coffin and so Billy and Jimmy walk away from the coffin. As they turn to go down one of the pew aisles, Billy sees Sylvia Trundle sitting next to Kane Bishop. He wants to ask her a few questions but doesn’t want to make a scene at the church. Still, he sits down in the empty spot next to Sylvia.
“I would like to talk with you outside, if that is okay,” Billy whispers to Sylvia.
Jimmy continues walking down the aisle. He looks back at Billy sitting next to Sylvia. Jimmy takes a seat toward the back of the church to sit alone.
Sylvia and Billy stand up. Kane Bishop follows as they walk out of the church and toward the parking lot. Bess notices Billy leaving the church with Sylvia. She prays he is not about to make a scene.
Billy is polite when he ask Sylvia. “What happened at the party?”
Kane Bishop speaks up, “I saw Sylvia and you go to the pool house. I used my camera that has night vision to follow you. Inside the pool house I pulled Sylvia away from you. As I was doing that she grabbed up all the clothes. Outside she got back dressed and I threw your clothes into the pool. Neither one of us know anything about who hit you over the head or threw you into the pool. That is what we told the police. That is the truth.”
Sylvia shakes her head. “I am sorry. I don’t know what happened to you in the pool house. I am sorry I took you out there.”
“Sylvia and I have an open relationship. I don’t know why I acted all jealous.”
“Did either of you see Clarice around the pool area?”
Sylvia and Kane stare at one another. Kane speaks, “I didn’t see her but I told Sylvia that I smelled Clarice’s perfume when I went to a bush to pee. Sylvia was getting dressed on the other side of the pool deck and didn’t notice the smell. I did though. I fully expected Clarice to be standing behind me when I got a whiff of that smell but no one was there.”
“I smelled jasmine when I regained consciousness at the pool.” Billy shakes his head and shrugs. “I appreciate the two of you talking with me.” Billy didn’t expect for them to be honest with him and of course there was no way that he could make them be honest. Still, he wanted to know their version of the night and now he had it. Billy doubts he has been told the truth. “I guess my parents and I will be going home in a few days. When you two are back in Georgia, look me up.”
“We will be going back to Georgia and back to work.” Sylvia cocks her head at Billy. “Would it be wrong to ask for hug?”
Kane pats Billy on the back. “Give the woman a hug.”
Billy hugs Sylvia and pats her on the back as Sammy walks up. “Can I sit with you and Bess. I don’t really know too many people here.” Sammy stares at Sylvia. “That is people that I like.”
“Sure. I need to go find Bess and then I want us to find Jimmy Harris.”
They all walk from the parking lot back into the church. Billy and Sammy find Bess and then they find Jimmy Harris still sitting on the back row. They sit down with Jimmy.
“Sis had lots of friends.” It is not so certain whether there is pride or resentment in his voice when he mentions his observation.
Bess nods and takes a kerchief from her pocketbook.
Sammy whispers to Billy. “You were hugging Sylvia.”
“They were pretending to be friendly.”
“You believe them?”
Bess whispers, “I believe them. Sylvia is a friend.”
Sammy stands up and starts to get up to go sit somewhere else. Billy takes his arm and stops him. “After the funeral I’d like to go get a beer with you and Jimmy.”
“Okay.” Sammy sits back down.
Bess shakes her head. “You are not old enough to drink in New York.”
“I am not old enough to drink in Georgia either. What is your point? I am not planning on us going somewhere and getting plastered.”
After the funeral Billy, Sammy, and Jimmy go to O’Heno for pizza, beer, and to play a game of pool. Then Billy goes back to Bess’ Apartment where his parents are already getting ready for the trip back home to Georgia. Their parents retire to bed and Billy and Bess sit halfway watching TV.
“I had fun with Sammy and Jimmy. I didn’t remember that Jimmy’s brother and sister were Tommy and Clarice.”
“I didn’t much like Clarice while we were going to school but here she was friend. She was much smarter and talented than I realized while we were in school.”
“Rachel was kind of hurt the way you were at the Cassidy home.”
“My friend had just died.”
“I know. Maybe some time the two of you can get together under more pleasant circumstances.” Billy pauses and moves closer to Bess. “I also would like for us to spend more time together. I wish you would consider moving back to Georgia.”
“My home is here.” Bess stands up. “Billy, it has been good seeing you this last week. Even if not under the best of circumstances, I am glad you were with me. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” Billy gets up to fold the bed out. He then collapses into it without changing out of his clothes.
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