After Midnight (11 page)
“He obviously didn’t, or you wouldn’t have to ask.”
“What’d he do to
you?
”
“Nothing. I wouldn’t let him. That’s why he beat me up.” She smiled a little sadly. “You should’ve seen me afterward. I was a wreck. You look like you lucked out.”
“This was my lucky night, okay.”
“You got off without too much damage. That’s all I meant.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“How did it turn out?” she asked.
“Where were we?”
“On the picnic table.”
“Oh, that’s right. He was screwing me. In the vagina. With his penis. Without a condom.”
“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about AIDS or anything. I happen to know that he’s perfectly healthy.”
I laughed.
Couldn’t help it.
Luckily, I didn’t have a mouthful of beer. It would’ve spewed.
Judy raised her eyebrows as if she hoped I might let her in on the joke.
“As a matter of fact,” I said, “he isn’t.”
“Isn’t?”
“Perfectly healthy.”
“What do you mean?”
“He probably has a major headache, right now. If he’s awake yet.”
“Awake?”
“I knocked him out cold with his tequila bottle. He’d left it on the table where I could reach it. So while he was busy humping me, I grabbed it and gave him a good one. Busted it against his head.”
Judy’s mouth dropped open. She gaped at me, an odd look in her eyes as if she might be tempted to laugh, herself.
“Knocked him out cold,” I said. “But he was still on top of me, so I rolled over. He fell off me
and
the table, and whacked the bench, then rolled off
it
and landed on the ground. Took a pretty good fall.”
“Was he all right?”
“Not really. He was out like a light and his head was bleeding. He wasn’t dead, though.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t care. He’s probably on a back road, somewhere, walking home. But he won’t have an easy time of it. I was still really angry at him, you know? A bit
more
than angry. I was furious. I mean, he’d raped me. Wouldn’t you call that a rape?”
“I’d call it a rape,” Judy said.
“So would I.”
“Are you going to press charges against him?”
“I don’t think so. I think I’ve punished him pretty good
without
the cops. You know what I did? I left him there in the woods completely naked. Out cold, and naked as the day he was born. I kept his shirt, since he’d wrecked mine. All the rest of his clothes, I burned in one of the fireplaces. His underwear and everything. Except his shoes. I threw those into the woods. He’ll never find them. Then I hopped into his car and drove off.”
“You really left him there?”
I grinned. “Seemed like a good idea. Part of my revenge. But it didn’t seem like
enough
revenge. So I thought I’d drive over to his apartment and trash the place. Just to teach him a lesson, you know? Teach him that he can’t do that sort of thing to a girl.”
“So why did you come
here?
”
“I thought
this
was his place. I’ll show you.” I drank the last of the beer, set the mug on the table again, then pulled Tony’s wallet out of my rear pocket. Taking out the slip of paper, I walked over to Judy’s chair. “See this?” I handed it to her.
She scowled at it. “That’s
my
address. It’s also my handwriting. I gave this to Tony…months ago. When we first met.”
I sighed and shook my head.
She held the paper toward me.
“You might as well keep it,” I told her. On my way back to the sofa, I stuffed Tony’s wallet into my pocket.
“What made you think this was
his
address?”
“I found it in his wallet. I just assumed it was where he lived. Pretty stupid, huh?”
From the look in Judy’s eyes, she seemed to agree. But she didn’t make any sort of crack about it. All she said was, “You should’ve checked his driver’s license.”
“He didn’t have it with him.”
“He
didn’t
?”
“He’d gotten it revoked.”
She gasped. “You’re
kidding!
”
“No. They took it away from him about a week ago. For drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident.”
“My God! An accident?”
“It wasn’t anything serious. Nobody got hurt. But Tony sped off, afterward. He got caught about a mile away. He was lucky he didn’t end up in jail.”
“Poor Tony,” Judy said.
“Yeah. He’s been having a hard time of it, lately. He just can’t get over losing you.”
“Jeez.”
“Anyway, that’s why he didn’t have a license. When I found the address in his wallet, I just automatically figured it must be where he lived. So here I am. Guess I would’ve figured out something was wrong when none of his keys fit the door.”
“I heard you trying them,” Judy explained.
Trying to look embarrassed, I asked, “Did I wake you up?”
“No. I wasn’t asleep. I’d
been
asleep, but then I had this horrible nightmare that woke me up. Really freaked me out.”
“I hate nightmares.”
“Me, too. I think they’re scarier than real life.”
“Think so?”
“Sure,” she said. “Nightmares just give you raw fear. If the same stuff happened in real life, you’d still be scared, but you’d also be thinking rationally and trying to figure things out. How to get away, that sort of stuff. In nightmares, all you have is the fear. Just fear, and nothing else. That’s what makes them so terrible.”
“But you wake up from nightmares,” I pointed out.
“I sure woke up from this one tonight. And then I wasn’t very eager to fall asleep again. If you go back to sleep too soon, you know, you can wind up back inside the same nightmare. So I got up and went to the bathroom.”
“
That
gives me the creeps,” I told her. “Going to the john in the middle of the night. I always think I hear things.”
“I heard
you
trying to unlock the door.”
“Oh, wow. That must’ve freaked you out.”
“I didn’t think it was
my
door. I thought it might be the one across the hall. But the sounds went on a lot longer than they should’ve, so I looked out the peephole.”
“And there I was.”
“There you were.”
“You sure scared the hell out of me, opening the door like that.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Judy said. “I just thought you looked like you needed help.”
“You were right about that.”
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just looked at me like maybe she was worried about hurting my feelings or making me mad. Then she said, “Now it’s Tony who needs the help.”
“What?”
“I don’t blame you for what you did to him,” she said. “I’m sure he deserved it. Maybe even worse. But…I owe him. If I hadn’t dumped him, none of this bad stuff would’ve happened tonight.”
Funny, but she was absolutely right about that.
Then she said, “It sounds as if he’s…come apart at the seams.”
“He really has,” I said.
“I just can’t leave him out there,” Judy told me.
“He’s probably on his way home, by now.”
“But he was still unconscious when you drove off and left him, wasn’t he?”
“Dead to the world.”
“So for all we know, he might
still
be out cold.”
“I guess it’s possible,” I admitted. “Look, I have an idea. Why don’t you give him a call?”
It seemed like a fine idea. Judy didn’t know that he’d moved to a new apartment. She would obviously dial his old number and get a recorded message explaining that Tony’s phone was out of service.
“Maybe he’s already home by now,” I added.
“It’s worth a try.”
Judy leaned forward in the big, old chair and stood up. Her phone was on the lamp table near the end of the sofa. As she walked over and picked it up, she said, “I can’t imagine he’s home, though. Not if he had to walk.” She picked up the handset and started to tap in a number. “It’s an awfully long way from Miller’s Woods to his place.”
“Especially if you’re bare-ass naked,” I said.
Which made her laugh. “You’re terrible,” she said.
“Yep.”
Listening at the earpiece, she suddenly frowned. “His number’s been changed,” she muttered. “They’re going to…” She stopped to listen.
They’re giving her the new number!
I couldn’t even
begin
to figure out the ramifications of that.
While I sat there, stunned, she tapped in a series of numbers.
A moment later, she met my eyes and said, “It’s his machine.”
“Maybe you’d better hang up.”
“He might be monitoring.”
Should I stop her?
Maybe not. This could be a good deal.
Or a disaster.
“Hi, Tony,” she said. “It’s me, Judy. Are you there?” She stopped talking. She waited.
Leave it at that! Don’t say another word!
“I guess you’re not home. Okay. Well, I just called to see how you’re doing. Give me a call back if you want to. I’m still at the same number. So long.”
She hung up.
“We’ll probably get to him before he even hears it,” she said.
“I imagine so,” I said.
“It’s funny that he changed his number. Do you know why he did that?”
I couldn’t come up with a good lie right off the bat, so I just said, “No idea.”
“Maybe it has to do with his accident.”
“Could be.”
“At any rate, he hasn’t gotten home yet. I’m sure he would’ve picked up.”
“You can bet on that. He’s been dying to get a call from you. But you never know, maybe he’s taking a shower or something. We probably ought to wait a few minutes and try him again.”
Judy shook her head. “No. I don’t want to wait any longer. I need to go out and find him.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“You don’t have to,” she said, and turned away.
“Sure I do,” I said. From my seat on the sofa, I watched her stride into a nearby room and switch on a light. At the other end of the room was a rumpled bed.
Judy stepped out of sight.
Raising my voice, I said, “I can’t have you going out there all by yourself. Something might happen to you.”
“I’ll be all right,” she called.
“Maybe. But what if you’re not? I’m the one who left Tony stranded. I’d feel awful.”
“You hardly even know me.”
“I’d feel awful, anyway. You’re a nice person.”
A quiet laugh came from the bedroom. Then Judy said, “Well, I’m not sure how nice I am, but thanks.”
“You
are
nice. And trusting. I mean, I’m a complete stranger, but you let me in here in the middle of the night. You even gave me a beer.”
“Well, we’ve got a mutual friend, I guess. Or enemy.”
“I want to help you look for him. Really.”
“Fine with me. I might be a nice person with a lot of sterling qualities, but I am a chicken. It’ll be great to have you along.”
“You and me, Judy.”
She came out of the bedroom. Her pajamas were gone, and she was no longer barefoot. She wore white socks and blue sneakers, a pale blue skirt, and a short-sleeved white blouse that looked crisp and cool. Most of the blouse’s buttons weren’t fastened yet. It wasn’t tucked in, either, and hung down like a miniskirt. Only a few inches of her real skirt showed in front of her thighs.
“You’re wearing a skirt?” I asked.
“It’s a hot night.”
“Tony’ll like that.”
“I guess so,” she said.
“And no bra.”
She laughed. “Hot night. Besides, look who’s talking.”
“I have an excuse. Tony wrecked mine.”
“I don’t
need
an excuse. You’re not my mother.” Grinning, she looked down and worked on fastening the rest of her buttons. “It’s not like I’m trying to do Tony any favors,” she said. “I just want to be comfortable.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Hell, you look great.”
“Thanks. I feel great. This is kind of fun, in a way. It’s like going out for an adventure.”
I found myself grinning. “Yeah,” I said. “It is.”
Finished with her buttons, she hurried into the kitchen. She came back with her purse and slipped its strap onto her shoulder. “All set,” she said. “You ready to go? Do you want to hit the bathroom first?”
“Ah. Maybe so. Good idea.”
She pointed the way.
I went in, turned on the light and shut the door. The bathroom was small, but very clean. A wonderful, flowery aroma filled the air. It seemed to come from a bar of soap on the sink.
Not wasting any time, I took the .22 out of my back pocket, pulled my cut-offs down and sat on the toilet.
While I peed, I wondered what the hell I’d gotten myself into.
A complete disaster, that’s what.
I’d actually brought Tony’s car—and corpse—to Judy’s building, not his.
Even if I could somehow learn the location of his new apartment—which seemed impossible—the plan was blown anyway because I’d come face to face with Judy.
Killing her wouldn’t fix everything, but it had to be done.
The worst part of it was, I liked her.
Too bad I hadn’t shot her right away. It would’ve been easier. Now that I knew her, it was going to be tough.
I kept staring at the pistol in my hand.
Maybe I should just do it. Go out there and shoot her right now.
With my thumb, I switched off the safety. It had been hiding a small red dot.
Wait till she turns around. Get up real close behind her, then put a couple in the back of her head.
Don’t let her know what’s coming. That way, she won’t be scared.
And won’t scream, either.
Maybe she’ll scream because it hurts.
I imagined it all happening, and it made me feel sick.
Let it wait, I told myself. There’s no big hurry. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Wait till we’re someplace where nobody will be likely to hear the gunshots.
Right away, I felt better.
I still had to kill her, but not until later.
