4 Big Easy Hunter (3 page)

“Come on, Joe. Time to go in. Maybe I can talk Mick into letting you lie by my feet while we play Trivial Pursuit.”

“Sam, that’s terrible! Is she going to be ok?” I asked. I was startled at hearing the news.

Samantha was sipping juice while sitting on a stool at the front counter of the racquetball club. She was keeping me company while I worked my Sunday afternoon shift. We were both watching Larry and Husky play racquetball on the glass court to my right. There had been a number of attacks on women over by the mall area, and one of the recent attacks had been on her cousin, Mae.

“She’s upset, and definitely afraid to go out by herself,” Samantha said, “but she was lucky. A couple of kids were cutting through by the dumpsters to try to sneak into the theater, and when the guy saw them, he ran off. He dragged her in there and smacked her around some, but wasn’t able to do anything before the kids showed up.”

We both shuddered at the thought. I sometimes used to close the club at 1:00 in the morning and walk through the darkened building and out into the dark parking lot by myself. I don’t think I could ever do that again, and I’m sure Mick wouldn’t ever let me anyway.

“Thanks, Jack. Have a good evening,” I said to a member as he handed his towel and locker key back in to me. I turned to a young girl who was literally running up to the counter and said, “Hi, Sheila. Jessie’s waiting for you on court number seven,” I had seen her running through the parking lot and knew she was late for her game. I handed a towel and a locker key to her before she took off running again around the corner to the ladies’ locker room while yelling in my direction, “Thanks, Susan.”

Samantha and I continued chatting and watching the guys play their match around the continual small interruptions working at the front desk brought. We were used to it though and didn’t mind.

“Did I hear you two talking about the rapist at the mall?” asked Lugnut, one of the local auto mechanics in town.

“Yeah,” Samantha answered him. “My cousin had a close encounter with him, but she’s ok.”

“My wife’s scared to death to go over to the mall for anything,” he said. “I don’t understand why the police can’t catch this guy. He seems to only be in the one area. You think they’d step up patrols or somethin’.”

“I know I’m not going to the mall for anything until they catch him,” said Samantha. “Susan, have you talked to the girls over at Slimmers?”

“Not yet. I should check in with Angela and ask her if security in the building has been tightened up. I’ll do that first thing tomorrow.” The local Slimmers center that I used to manage was in an office building on the east side of town right by the mall area. Before heading out to Chagrin Falls in the morning, I’d drive over to the center and talk with Angela, the new manager, to make sure they had enough security when they left the building in the evenings.

Lugnut gave me an impish grin and asked, “Hey, Susan, have you thought any more about my suggestion?”

“Lugnut!” I raised my voice at him. “If you bring that up one more time, I swear, I’m going to talk to your wife.” I tried to be somewhat joking with him so as not embarrass him in public, but my eyes were giving him an
I mean it
look.

He let out a little laugh and said, “Ok. I’ll drop it, but if you change your mind, you know where I am.” He grabbed a towel and locker key from me and ran up the stairs to the men’s locker room. He didn’t play sports or exercise. He was one of a small percentage of members who only used their club membership for the shower facilities before and after work.

“What was that all about?” Samantha asked with a confused look. I think she didn’t know whether what she had just heard was funny, enticing, or alarming.

“I don’t know what’s up with him,” I told her. “You know most of the tenants moved out of our apartment building when it went up for sale, right?” She nodded her head. “All of the leases were suspended, so anyone who wanted to leave could go. Only me and Mick, Darby, and Mr. Tensel and his cats stayed. After we bought the building, Mick and his construction crew went through all of the apartments and made repairs, repainted, and installed new carpeting. When it was time to rent, so many people wanted a unit, we literally took all of the qualified prospects, threw them in a hat, and drew names. Lugnut and his wife were in the hat for one of the apartments, but their name didn’t come up. He didn’t seem to care, but he joined the club shortly after, and he’s been kind of talkative ever since. He acts like we’re old friends.”

“Yeah, that was weird,” Samantha said. “Other than grunting at you when you drop a vehicle off at the garage, he’s not known for being the talkative type. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile until he just now smiled at you.”

“That’s the thing,” I told her in a hushed tone. “Several Sundays ago, he was in here, and no one was around. He was hanging around the desk and kind of flirting with me. I’m used to it, and I’ll play along to an extent, but he came right out and said he wanted to have an affair with me.”

“GET OUT!” Samantha yelled.

“Shhh!!” I snapped at her. “I don’t want anyone to know about this.” I looked around to be sure no one was close enough to eavesdrop. “At first I thought he was joking, and I laughed it off, but he asked again the next week. I told him I was happily married and had no intention of ever having an affair. But he insisted everyone cheats, and I think he would have pushed harder if the club hadn’t become so busy right then. And now you heard him today.”

“Wow, that’s kind of scary,” Samantha said with big eyes.

“Not really,” I said. “I honestly think he’s harmless. He’s married, and maybe he does mess around on his wife, but he hasn’t been ugly or aggressive about it. I think it’s more wishful thinking on his part than anything.”

Samantha sort of nodded while thinking about it for another few seconds. “What time is Mick going to be home tonight?” she asked.

“I don’t think until midnight or after. He took Alex to Cleveland for the ball game, and I’m sure they’ll stop on the way home for something to eat.”

Husky and Larry exited the court, and Larry yelled over, “Hey Susan, you wanna be Samantha’s partner for a few rounds tonight?”

“Sure,” I told him with a big grin. “I’m off in forty-five minutes, and then I’ll be up.” With Mick gone for the evening, I might as well spend my time in the pub playing euchre.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I turned down one more street. There was no movement whatsoever, and I needed to head for home. It was almost 2:00 A.M., and if I wasn’t home when Mick came in, he would panic like nobody’s business.

The rumors of me and my car driving around in the middle of the night were starting to unnerve me. I heard them from three more people at the club since Martin mentioned it yesterday afternoon. And there was talk I was up to no good, but no one had any concrete information as to what type of no good I was supposed to be up to.

I left the club around midnight. Mick had called and said the ballgame went into extra innings. They were still planning on stopping somewhere to eat ribs, so he was going to be very late. I was guessing he would be home right around 2:00.

Ten minutes of fast driving, and I was pulling into the carport. I jumped out of the car, dashed into the building, and took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. I raced into the apartment and then into the bathroom, flinging my clothes at the hamper, slipping into pajamas, and jumping into the bed just as the front door of the apartment opened. I took deep breaths trying to slow my racing heart and calm my breathing. Now I needed to pretend to be asleep. I didn’t want Mick to know I had been out driving around.

Several minutes later, he was sliding into bed beside me. I was lying on my side with my back to him and would normally have been sound asleep when he crept into bed late like this. I felt him run a finger lightly along my shoulder as he softly nuzzled my neck with a few kisses and whispered “
I love you
” before turning over to settle down to sleep.

Oh my gosh! What a sweet thing to do. I wondered if he did it every time he came to bed late. It took every bit of restraint I had to keep from turning over and asking for more, but I didn’t want him to know just how awake I was. I wasn’t a good liar and would probably end up telling him what I had done, and then we’d be up arguing about it.

It was only a few minutes later, and I could tell by his rhythmic breathing he was asleep, but I was still wide awake. I was going to be tired in the morning. What a stupid thing to do – driving around at night looking for a clone of my car. I sat watching from the deli parking lot for about forty-five minutes, and only two cars had driven by. I drove over the viaduct and through the neighborhoods on the west side of town, but didn’t see anything at all. And what would I have done if I had spotted the car? Nothing. I was done with this. If people wanted to talk, they could talk. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, and as far as I knew, the girl driving the other car hadn’t done anything wrong either.

“Susan, Detective Bentley is here to see you,” Mick said sticking his head around the corner of my little library.

I looked up from my book and knew I had a look of fright on my face. I couldn’t hide it. “What does he want to see me about?” I asked with concern in my voice.

Mick laughed at my expression and said, “How would I know? He was pleasant enough. Come see what he wants.”

Mick didn’t fully understand how much Detective Bentley unsettled me. He was always trying to scare me when I hadn’t done anything, and he could be a real smart aleck at times. Mick liked the man and couldn’t understand why he upset me so much.

“Ok. Tell him I’ll be right out,” I said with a resigned sigh.

I slipped a bookmark into my book and placed it back on the bookshelf. I crossed the hall to our bedroom and went into the bathroom to brush my hair and check my overall appearance. I wasn’t attracted to Detective Bentley, but he was handsome and looked as though he could have been a movie star. If I wasn’t comfortable with how I presented myself to him, I would be even more intimidated.

My hair was getting long and was down past my shoulders now. If I had time, I might cut it before leaving for the wedding, but Mick liked it longer, and I should probably just get it trimmed. I looked myself over in the large mirror and thought I was probably at my ideal weight right now. Playing racquetball with my friends, and now adding extra games with Mick, had given my arms and legs good definition. At 5’ 7”, with blue eyes and blonde hair, and a body that made me very happy, I certainly didn’t need to fear Detective Bentley. I held my arms up in a muscle pose and made a face at the mirror.

“What in the world are you doing?” Mick asked watching from the bathroom doorway. He was starting to laugh.

My face turned red, but I said defiantly, “I’m preparing myself to meet Detective Bentley.”

“Susan, he’s not here to wrestle with you. He just wants to talk. Come on.”

I sighed again and followed him into the living room. Mick had already invited the detective to have a seat, and had given him a glass of iced tea.

Merely looking at him unnerved me as he seemed to be glaring at me with his smoldering, blue-gray eyes, and I hadn’t even said hello yet. His square-cut jaw with the cleft appeared to be set hard as he stared at me. I sat down on the sofa.

“What can I do for you, Detective?” I asked.

He didn’t hold back. “Where were you last night at 1:00 A.M?”

My mouth dropped open, and I was stunned for a second.

“She was right here, sleeping,” Mick said nonchalantly.

The detective was abrupt as he said, “I want to hear it from her.”

I was suddenly sick to my stomach. I could tell this wasn’t going to go well. I looked at Detective Bentley, and he seemed tired, like he hadn’t been sleeping much. There were dark circles under his eyes. I sensed he wasn’t playing games with me today, and I should simply tell him the truth.

“I was sitting in the parking lot at Martin’s Deli,” I admitted sheepishly.

“What?” Mick said with his voice raised. “What were you doing out at that time of night, and what were you doing at Martin’s?”

Detective Bentley held his hand out toward Mick to silence him. He looked back to me and said, “Did you take Old Carbide Road over the viaduct and drive around in the neighborhoods over there?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Susan?” Mick’s voice was still raised. He was completely baffled, and I could tell he was starting to become more than a little upset.

“Now do you want to tell me why?” asked the detective.

I looked back and forth between the two men and sighed. “It was just a stupid thing,” I told both of them. “I’ve been hearing rumors that people are seeing me in the middle of the night, in my Chevelle, driving around and up to some kind of no-good business. It bugged me. I saw the other car Saturday night when I was out front with Joe. It went speeding by the apartment building.

“Who’s Joe?” the detective asked.

“Nate’s dog,” Mick muttered.

“Anyway,” I continued, “Mick wasn’t coming home until late last night, so I decided to run my own reconnaissance. I parked at the deli and watched to see if the car drove by. Then I drove into a couple of neighborhoods to see if I could see anything there. I didn’t even have a plan if I did see the car.”