The Cove (18 page)

“No … No … I’ll call. Where are you?”

“Parking lot for Sand Beach.”

“What are you doing out there?”

“Taking a walk.”

“All right … who is she?”

“No one.”

“You’re not with Kathy, are you?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Come on … You can tell me,” Louise said, adopting the pleading, pathetic voice that had always worked so well on him when they were young.

“There’s nothing to tell. I’m not with anyone. Are you gonna call Skip’s or not?”

Ben narrowed his eyes and shook his head as Julia came up close to him and, resting her hand on the crook of his elbow, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He stared past her at the sky. The sun was setting, and darkness crept across the land. In the west, a low band of purple clouds streaked the sky like old scars.

“Yeah,” Louise said. “I’ll call. Anything else?”

“Just make sure there’s plenty of cold beer in the ’fridge when I get home, ’
kay
?”

“Roger that,” Louise said, and then she cut the call. Ben was grimacing as he closed the cell phone and turned back to Julia.

“You’re not with anyone?” she said. There was as much hurt as anger in her eyes. “You didn’t think it necessary — you didn’t want to tell her you were with me?”

“It’s not like that,” Ben said. He had to look away for a moment to collect his thoughts.

“What
is
it like, then?”

“I didn’t — It’s none of her goddamned business what I do,” Ben said. “I’m sorry, but … people will talk …”

“So what if they do?”

Ben wondered why he hadn’t come right out and told Louise he was with Julia, and he couldn’t come up with a good reason.

Besides, what did it matter?

It certainly wasn’t like he’d be embarrassed to be seen with her. If anything, he was glad that a woman as attractive as Julia had even given him a second look. She sure seemed to be pursuing him as fast as he was pursuing her.

Julia wasn’t convinced, but even though her feelings were hurt, she decided to play it all off as a joke. Hooking her arm around his, she pulled him toward her so fast he almost lost his balance.

“Oh, I can’t
wait
to meet the rest of your family,” she said, and then she blew softly into his ear, making him shiver. As angry as he still was, Ben finally relented and kissed her on the mouth. Julia slid her hands around him and held him as close as she possibly could. When they separated, both of them were smiling.

“
Someone’ll
be out to get us … eventually,” he said. He was considering trying to get her to go off into the woods with him for a quickie, but there was no telling when Skip would show up with the tow truck.

Julia pursed her lips and regarded him for a long time in silence. She could all but read his mind. It was as clear and open as any man’s.

“What?” Ben finally said, suddenly uncomfortable under her steady gaze.

“I’m going to have to walk home,” she said.

Ben frowned at her, then shook his head.

“No way.
Skip’ll
be along soon enough.”

“But my dad.” She shrugged. “I should be there.”

Worry gathered in her eyes like an approaching thunderstorm, and he felt another surge of fury because right now, there wasn’t a damned thing he could do to help her.

“I’ll go with you. I can leave the keys in the car. Skip will know what to do.”

“Don’t be stupid. If the jerk who did this is hanging around, he might do some serious damage to the car.”

She had a point. Still, it would be dark soon. He didn’t like the idea of her walking all the way to Steeple Road from here. It had to be four or five miles, at least.

“What if the jerk follows you home?”

Julia gave him a startled look, but that lasted only a second. She walked over to the car, got her purse, and slung it over her shoulder.

“I think I can take care of myself,” she said, and by the gleam in her eye and the set of her jaw, he was convinced she was telling the truth.

“Are you sure?” he said. I mean … It’s not very gentlemanly to leave a lady stranded. Especially after … you know.”

“Screwing her brains out?”

Ben nodded.

“Jesus, Ben. You’re acting like I’m some kind of moron who can’t take care of herself. I can walk and chew gum at the same time, you know?”

“No, it’s just … I don’t want this to … to …” He didn’t know how to finish, so he let his voice fade away.

“You don’t want this to
what?
” Julia said.

“I don’t want what’s happened to make things weird between us, is all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Julia settled her purse strap on her shoulder and stared at him, looking genuinely astounded. Then she came up to him and hugged him so tightly he lost his breath for a moment. When she tilted her head back, and their lips met in a long, passionate kiss, it really did take his breath away. He clung to her, not wanting to let her go, but he knew — eventually — he would have to.

“All right, then,” he said after the kiss ended. “I’ll catch you later. You think we might hook up later tonight?”

Julia looked away, considered for a moment, then shook her head and said, “Not tonight. Tomorrow, maybe …”

“What do you mean, ‘
maybe?
’?”

She let out a trilling laugh and then turned and started walking down the road. Her figure was indistinct in the fading light, and when she disappeared from sight into the gathering darkness, Ben was left with the unnerving impression she had never been there … that she was an illusion that had now faded, leaving behind a vacuum so cold and empty he found it astonishing.

He covered his mouth with his fist as if stifling a cough, unable to believe the things he was thinking about her, and he scolded himself for allowing himself to fall for her so hard and so fast.

He kept staring down the narrow dirt road long after she had disappeared, knowing that — no matter what kind of second thoughts he might be having — he wasn’t going to back away from following this no matter where it led.

T
he harsh, white glare of headlights behind Julia washed the side of the road, stretching her shadow out thirty feet in front of her. The muscles in her neck and shoulders tightened like springs as she waited for the car to drive past her.

Please don’t stop … Don’t even slow down …

But when the crunch of tires sounded on the roadside gravel, she knew the car had pulled over to the side of the road and was coming up right behind her.

And she had no doubt who it was.

A mixture of fear and anger filled her as she kept walking. She was convinced Tom was the one who had slashed Ben’s tires.

Who else would have?

The car came closer, its tires crunching on the roadside gravel, the headlights getting brighter. She looked left and right, but saw no place to run. Out of the reach of the headlights, the road in front of her was swallowed by darkness. Suddenly, the headlights swung around her to the left as the car got back onto the road and pulled up beside her. In the corner of her eye, she saw that it was a police cruiser.

She kept walking, looking straight ahead, but the driver — she knew, without looking, that it was Tom Marshall — drove along next to her. She heard a faint whirring sound as the passenger’s side automatic window slid down.

“Hold up a second?” he said.

Julia didn’t even glance at him. She kept walking, her eyes fixed on the stretch of road illuminated by the headlights. After she had gone another fifty feet or so, the cruiser pulled ahead and skidded to a stop at an angle in front of her, cutting her off. The headlights slashed across the landscape, clouded by swirling dust that rose from its sudden stop.

Julia was filled with panic, but she told herself not to let it show. For a long time, she stood there wishing she knew which way to run. Then the flickering blue and red emergency lights came on, sweeping the darkness away. She waited for the
whoop-whoop
of a siren, but it never came.

Balling one hand into a fist and holding it at her side, she raised her other hand to shield her eyes from the flashes. She felt small and vulnerable as she stared at the cruiser, waiting to see what Tom would do next.

The night was warm, and her skin was still sticky with sweat and sand from the beach, but a chill slithered up her back. Her shirt clung to her back and shoulders like clammy hands. She tasted salt when she flicked her tongue over her upper lip and waited.

The driver’s door of the cruiser opened, and Tom Marshall stepped out. He left the car running, and the plume of exhaust spewing from the tailpipe turned a ghastly red in the glow of his taillights and flashing lights. Knocking his police cap back on his head, he walked up to her.

“What’s a pretty little thing like you doing all alone on a dark road like this?” he said.

He might have been trying to inject a bit of humor into the situation, but Julia was frozen. She regarded him with what she hoped was a perfectly flat expression. As frightened and nervous as she was, she also was angry at him and wanted to tell him … to
yell
at him to leave her and Ben the fuck alone.

But he was right.

She
was
vulnerable out here all alone. It would have been much safer to stay with Ben and wait for the tow truck to show up.

Her body fairly vibrated with tension, and she was ready to punch and kick him if she had to, for all the good it would do. Tom was at least six inches taller than she was, and he had a good seventy-five to a hundred-pounds on her.

“I’m just out for a walk, if you don’t mind,” she said, trying hard to control her emotions. “That’s not against the law, is it?”

Tom chuckled softly and said, “Not that I’m aware of, but I’d have to check the town ordinances to be sure. I could always take you down to the station for questioning.”

He paused and for a long, tense moment they stared each other in the eyes. Tom had the advantage on her here, too because the lights were bright behind him, and she could barely make out his features while she was pinned to the night like a medical specimen on a lab table.

Julia took a quick glance behind her to see if there was a nearby house she could run to if she had to, but outside of the cone of light, all was darkness.

She was trapped by the one man she was determined never to see again.

If she’d had doubts before, what was happening right now confirmed her suspicions that Tom had slashed Ben’s tires. He must have been hoping to create a situation exactly like this … to get her alone again.

“You heading home?” Tom asked, his voice loose and casual.

Julia grunted but said nothing.

What she wanted to say was,
It’s none of your goddamned business what I’m doing or where I’m going,
but she kept her mouth shut.

Sarcasm wasn’t going to help with a guy like Tom Marshall, and — obviously — being direct with him — like she had last night — apparently wouldn’t work, either. She had always sensed that, just below his joking exterior, a ferocious temper lurked like a rattrap, ready to spring. Thankfully, he had never unleashed it on her, but she didn’t want him to try it now.

“Can I give you a lift?”

“I’d prefer to walk, thank you.”

“It might not be safe out here,” he said. “I mean — this ain’t New York City, but … you never know who you might bump into.”

“I’ll be fine,” Julia said.

“You sure of that?” Tom’s nostrils flared as he turned his head to one side as though sniffing for whatever danger lurked in the pressing darkness.

Julia clucked her tongue, but a chill slithered through her when she wondered if he really had slashed Ben’s tires.

What level of violence might he be capable of?

What if he did this just so he could get me alone?

“Look —
ahh
, Tom …” She shielded her eyes against the flashing glare. Fear and anger vied within her for equal expression, but she didn’t dare submit to either. “I … I really don’t want any trouble here. I told you last night — We’re done. It’s over, and if you continue to harass me, I’ll report you if I have to.”

“Harass you? Is that what you think I’m doing here?”

He took a step forward, and Julia matched him with a quick shuffling step back.

“I am not
harassing
you,” he continued, his voice taking on the pitch of a pleading little boy. “If anything, I’m doing the exact opposite.” He took a breath. She heard it shudder in his chest. “I want you to like me. I want you to love me and for us to be together.”

“It’s not going to happen,” Julia said, her voice cracking like a whip in the still air. The words were out of her mouth before she thought them through or gauged how he might react.

“You’re not being fair, Julia. You’re not giving me a chance.”

When he took another step closer, Julia backed away again. Trickles of sweat ran down the inside of her shirt, chilling her, but she repressed a shiver.