The Murder Of Ramon Vasquez (3)

THE MURDER OF RAMON VASQUEZ (3)

"Maybe the 5 grand ain't here," said Andrew.
"It is here." Lincoln looked again at the body on the bed. "Where you got the 5 grand hidden, Ramon?"
"I swear... There's no 5 grand! I swear!"
Lincoln brought the cane down again across the face of The Great Lover. Another slash. The blood ran. Ramon passed out.
"No good this way. Put him under a shower," Lincoln told his brother. "Revive him. Get all the blood off. We'll start all over again. This time − not only his face, but the whole body. He'll talk. Go clean him up while I have a few drinks."

Andrew got Ramon to the shower stall and cleaned the blood off him. Then he put him on the bed. Lincoln had a new bottle of wine. Was working on it.
"O.K.," he said, "this time he talks!"
"I don't think he's got that 5 grand. I wouldn't take a beating like that for 5 grand."
Lincoln wouldn't listen. He picked up the cane and started beating The Grear Lover again. At one point, Ramon became very still and didn't breathe at all.
"You've killed him," said Andrew from his chair, watching, "and he was going to get me into the movies."
"I didn't kill him," said Lincoln. "you killed him! I sat there and watched you beat him to death with his own cane. The cane that made him famous in his movies!"

Anyway, the boys decided to leave. Before, they wrote something on the walls with Ramon's blood, and took the rest of the wine. While they were driving, the saw two girls hitchhiking. They stopped so that the girls could get in. They were going to go to a beach and have fun. 

The Great Lover was dead. But there would be others. Also plenty of ungreat. Mostly those. It was the way things worked. Or didn't work.