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on the table and walked over to where Ray was standing. “Who was that on the phone?”
    “The kidnapper,” Ray said.
    “What did he say?”
    “That he has my wife and daughter.”
    “Well what does this fucker want? Money? Jesus, you’re not exactly rolling in cash. You’re only one step up from poverty. You live in a shit-hole of a place, just like the rest of us. What can he possibly want?”
    Ray shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
    Jerry ran a hand through his hair. “Oh man. This is fucked. I can’t believe this is happening. So that was really him on the phone? Just then?”
    “For Christ’s sake yes!” Ray cried. Jerry was his best friend, had been for over twenty years, but he could be an incognizant idiot sometimes.
    “Do ya think we should call the cops?”
    “No way,” Ray said and made his way to the couch. He sat down and hung his head. “He’ll kill ‘em both if I call the cops.”
    “How will he know if we’ve called them?”
    “Because,” Ray said. “Hand me a beer, will ya?”
    Jerry grabbed an unopened can of Melbourne Bitter and handed it to Ray. The can had lost its icy chill, but it was the last one. Ray had been just about to go to the bottle shop to pick up some more when the kidnapper called. He popped open the lukewarm can and took a long drink. It tasted horrible, but it hit the spot. “What’s the time?” he said to Jerry.
    Ray’s watch was broken. Busted one night when he had fallen to the pavement, drunk. He was trying to save up to buy a new one.
    “Nine-thirty-eight,” Jerry said.
    “Okay, that gives me a little over twenty minutes to decide,” Ray muttered, taking another drink.
    “Twenty minutes to decide what?” Jerry said. He sat down in the single chair adjacent to Ray.
    Ray gulped down the rest of the beer then threw the can across the room. It hit the wall with a dull ting! He looked at Jerry. “He’s going to kill either Kim or Rebecca. I have to choose which one.” He put his head in his hands and shed more tears.
    He gathered his composure again, quicker this time.
     “We have to call the police, Ray,” Jerry said softly.
    “He’s going to call back at ten o’clock. If I don’t answer, he’ll kill ‘em both. There’s not enough time for the police to do anything. That wouldn’t even be enough time for them to set up a tap on my phone.”
    “Well what are you gonna do? We can’t sit here and do nothing. Fuck! He’s got your wife and daughter. We have to do something.”
    “What can we do?” Ray said. “I don’t know who he is or where he’s taken them.”
    “Well you can’t play along with his game. That’s for sure.”
    “I have to,” Ray said.
    Jerry stared at him, his thin face contorted so he looked like some evil little gnome. “Why? He’ll probably kill ‘em both anyway.” He winced. “Sorry, Ray. But it’s the truth.”
    “I can’t take that chance,” Ray said. “He said if I don’t decide then he’ll decide for me.”
    “So? It’s better than you having a death on your conscience.”
    Ray shook his head. “It’s not that simple.” He breathed deeply. “If I don’t choose, or if I don’t answer the phone or if he feels in anyway that I’ve called the cops he’ll kill Kim and Rebecca in the most painful way imaginable. Torture of every kind, the kidnapper said.”
    “And if you do choose?”
    “He’ll kill whoever I decide quick. With a single shot to the head. And let the other one go.”
    Jerry nodded slowly. It seemed the situation was becoming clear to him. “That’s fucked,” he said.
    “So I have to decide which one dies, and soon.”
    “How about I drive around? See if I can find them. Or at least find some clues.”
    “It’ll be a waste of time,” Ray said. “You won’t find anything. Including Kim and Rebecca.”
    “Well I can try,” Jerry said, and started to get up.
    “I said don’t worry.”
    “Hell. Why not?”
    “If he hears you coming, he’ll kill ‘em both. That’s