Body Rides (47 page)

‘No. She’ll see, right away, that you aren’t the brain-dead teeny-bopper I made you out to be on the phone. She’ll see . . . the real you. But she’ll figure out right away that we . . . you know, have a
thing
going.’

Sue grimaced at him. ‘Think she’ll know we did the nasty?’

‘The minute she sees us.’

‘What’ll happen then?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘She’s gonna hate me, that’s for sure.’

‘Probably hate us both.’

‘That don’t sound like much fun.’

‘No, I’m sure it’ll be . . . terrible for everyone involved.’

‘Specially for poor Marta.’

‘Yeah.’

‘She won’t kill us, will she?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Ya know what?’ Sue asked.

‘What?’

‘We got lotsa time on our hands. What we oughta do is think real hard and figure out how to make it happen different.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know. Make it so she doesn’t find out we’re in love and everything.’

‘How do you propose to accomplish that? Shoot her? Blind her?’

‘Maybe if I hide out. If she never meets me . . .’

‘Stash you away in a hotel somewhere?’

‘Yeah, there ya go. I could be yer silent partner. Just tell Marta I got run over and squished on the interstate.’

‘I’d hate to lie to her.’

‘That’s a real problem, then. Ya can’t fool
nobody
if y’ain’t willin to lie.’

‘I’d rather not. She’d catch me at it, anyway, if I tried. She knows me too well.’

Sue frowned in silence for a few moments. Then she said, ‘That’s okay. I don’t much wanta get stuck away in some hotel, anyhow. Not unless yer with me. What I
really
think we oughta do is stick together.’

‘What about Marta?’

‘We’ll figure out somethin.’

They arrived in the alley behind Neal’s apartment building fifteen minutes before midnight. Nobody seemed to be lurking about. He saw nothing to arouse his suspicions. But as he neared his parking space, he said, ‘Let’s keep going. I want to look around.’

‘What kinda car does Marta drive?’ Sue asked.

‘A green Jeep Wrangler.’

‘A four-wheel-drive Jeep?’

‘Yep.’

‘Wow!’

‘I don’t think it’s around here, though. She
ought
to be getting to work about now.’

‘What days off has she got?’

‘Thursday and Friday nights.’

‘This is what, Wednesday?’

‘For a few more minutes.’

‘So she doesn’t work tomorrow night or the next.’

‘Not unless they had a shift change she didn’t tell me about.’

He suddenly realized they were nearly to Karen’s building.

What if she sees me?

She won’t. Not unless she comes out to dump her garbage, or something
.

Nobody seemed to be in the alley.

‘What’s the matter?’ Sue asked.

‘Just watching out for an old friend,’ he said.

‘Karen? The gal that scratched yer arms?’

Did I tell her about that?

Oh. Right
.

Anything Sue
doesn’t
know about me?

‘The one I punched. Yeah.’

‘She sure lives awful close.’

‘I may move.’

‘On account of her?’

‘On account of a
lot
of stuff.’

Neal stopped at the end of the alley, waited for a car to pass, then turned onto the road. He quickly made another turn, and drove past the fronts of the apartment buildings.

‘Everything looks okay,’ he said.

‘I didn’t see no Jeep Wrangler.’

‘Neither did I,’ he said, and stopped at the end of the block. ‘I didn’t see no Rasputin, either.’

‘Any,’ Sue corrected him. ‘
Any
Rasputin.’

He stretched an arm over to her side of the car, slipped a hand under her ponytail, and rubbed the nape of her neck. Then he took his hand away, turned and headed for the alley.

‘We gonna go
in
this time?’ Sue asked.

‘Probably.’

‘I sure hope so. Gotta see the man about a dog.’

‘Guess we’d better quit dawdling.’ He swung into the alley and picked up speed. ‘We’ll leave our stuff here,’ he said. ‘Except for the gun.’

Moments later, he pulled into his parking space. He stopped, killed the lights and engine, and threw open his door. He opened the back door. His overnight bag was on the floor. Bending down, he unzipped it. He felt around for the pistol.

Sue came to his side of the car. She stood behind him, but didn’t say anything.

As if she simply wanted to be near him.

He found his Sig down at the bottom of the bag and pulled it out.

‘So that’s yer gun,’ Sue said when he turned around.

‘This is it,’ Neal said. He shut the door. ‘Let’s go.’

Sue stayed close to him as he led the way to the rear gate. ‘It’s all loaded and everything?’ Sue asked. ‘Yer gun?’

‘Yeah.’ Afraid someone might see him with it, he slipped it into the right front pocket of his trousers. But he kept hold of it.

‘Don’t go and blow off yer dingus,’ Sue whispered.

‘It’s not cocked.’

‘Neither will
you
be.’

Neal shook his head. He saw the white of Sue’s teeth. In the dark, he couldn’t tell whether she was smiling or grimacing.

With his left hand, he opened the gate. It squawked on its hinges.

Sue followed him through, then eased the gate shut.

Coming up beside him, she whispered, ‘Ya got a swimmin pool.’

‘Yeah.’

‘I love swimmin pools.’

He nodded. He started walking toward the stairs.

The pool was dark, the courtyard deserted. Lights glowed above several of the apartment doorways, but most of the windows were dark.

At Neal’s apartment, no lights showed.

He stopped.

His windows facing the balcony were dark. So was the bulb above his doorway.

‘What’s the matter?’ Sue whispered.

‘My porch light isn’t on. It has one of those sensors so it comes on automatically after dark.’

‘Uh-oh.’

‘Maybe it just burnt out,’ he said. But he felt shaky inside.

‘We’re still goin up, aren’t we?’

‘I guess so.’

They started to climb the stairs.

As Neal climbed, he listened. He heard the wheeze of air-conditioning units, some distant traffic, a helicopter that sounded as if it might be circling a few blocks away, his and Sue’s footsteps on the stairs.

When they reached the balcony, he whispered, ‘Maybe you should wait here. I’ll go in and make sure everything’s okay.’

‘What if everything
isn’t
okay?’

‘Run for it.’

‘Run for it, my butt. Think I’m gonna run for it while yer gettin knifed to death, or something?’

‘I’ve got the gun.’

‘Ya got me, too. Now, let’s go ’fore I wet my drawers.’

‘You aren’t wearing any.’

‘That’s besides the point,’ she said.

‘At least let me go first.’

‘Be my guest.’

As they walked along the balcony, Neal slightly ahead of Sue, he pulled the automatic out of his pocket.

They walked past his picture window.

The curtains were drawn. Neal could see nothing through them.

What if he’s in there?

He’s not
.

Might be
.

Maybe I got away just in time, and he’s been inside waiting for me ever since
.

Unscrewed the light bulb
. . .

The bulb probably just burnt out, Neal told himself.

He switched the pistol to his left hand and reached into his pocket for the keys.

‘Give ’em to me,’ Sue whispered. ‘I’ll unlock the door, and you get ready.’

‘No. You stand over there.’ He nodded toward the far side of the doorway, where there was stucco wall instead of window.

Sue stepped past him and took the position.

Neal unlocked the door. He pushed it open, leaving his key in the lock. As the door swung his keys into the darkness, he switched the gun back to his right hand. He stood there, gazing in.

Saw nothing but shadows and motionless shapes.

Heard nothing.

After a few moments, he stepped inside. With his elbow, he brushed the light switch up. The lamp came on.

Nobody in his living room.

It seemed to look the same as when he’d left for the Fort.

While he scanned the area, Sue came over behind him. ‘Is it okay?’ she asked.

‘So far. Wait here.’

Leaving her in the doorway, Neal hurried through every room, turning on lights, checking to make sure all the windows were locked and intact, glancing into places where someone might hide: behind furniture, under the bed, inside closets. Even before he finished, he grew certain that there’d been no intruder.

He returned to the living room.

Though the front door was still wide open, Sue had come into
the room. She stood facing the entryway, her left arm stretched out to the switch panel.

The switch nearest the door was tilted upward: it was the one Neal had hit with his elbow to turn on the living room lamp. The switch on the other side of it was down.

‘Yer light didn’t burn out,’ Sue said. ‘Nobody unscrewed it, either. Looky here.’ She pinched the down-slanted switch and jerked it up and down a few times. The outside light flicked on, off, on, off, on. ‘Wasn’t turned on.’

‘I always leave it on,’ Neal said.

‘Did ya leave it on when ya left for the trip?’

‘I never turn it
off
. The switch stays up all the time, and the light goes on and off by itself.’

‘
Somebody
turned it off.’

Shaking his head, Neal shut the door and snapped the dead-bolt into place. He stared at the light panel. Sue had taken her hand away. Both switches pointed upward. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t have a specific recollection of whether it was up or down when I left for the trip.’

‘A
specific recollection
?’

‘You obviously haven’t watched much of the O.J. trial.’

Sue shook her head. ‘Just seen stuff on the news. I been workin at Sunny’s.’

‘I watched it every day for the first couple of months, till it started driving me nuts. Anyway, the Scheme Team were always whining about whether people had a “specific recollection” of this or that.
I
don’t have a specific recollection of how I left the light switch.’

‘So maybe
you
didn’t leave it on.’

‘Possible. I don’t think so, but it’s possible. Anyway, nobody’s here now. And I didn’t find anything weird. As far as I can tell – except for the porch light – we didn’t have any visitors.’

‘So ya figure it’s safe?’

‘I guess so. Anyway, this is like the third night since the murder. If Rasputin hasn’t been here yet . . .’ Neal shrugged. ‘No reason to think he’ll suddenly pop in on us now.’

‘So we’re gonna stay?’

‘Might as well.’

‘Okay. Hang on just a sec. I’ll hit the john, and then we can go on down to the car and get our stuff.’

Neal almost suggested going down for the luggage by himself, but he knew that Sue would want to stay with him. He said, ‘Okay, I’ll wait here. The bathroom’s through there.’ He pointed at the hallway. ‘The light’s on.’

‘Back in a jiff.’

He watched her stride away, her ponytail bouncing and swaying. She wore her sleeveless blue shirt. Its tail hung down, draping her rump, hiding most of her black leather skirt. Even though she wasn’t very tall, her slim legs looked long. And very bare.

She disappeared into the hallway.

A few seconds later, Neal heard the door shut.

A few seconds after that, he heard it open.

‘Neal?’

She didn’t sound alarmed. Not exactly.

‘Yeah?’ he called.

‘Ya wanta come here? Ya better take a look at this.’