The Cove (31 page)

Like a good soldier, he resolutely pushed those thoughts far away as Louise sat down at the table, and he served her breakfast. She made a motion to get up to pour coffee, but he wouldn’t allow it. Once everything was served, he sat down with her, and they began to eat.

Throughout the meal, they didn’t talk much. Ben made small talk that he knew was really his way of avoiding having to deal with the things that were really bothering him. A few times he almost mentioned that he’d stopped by Kathy’s house last night, but he let that go, too, concerned that he might let slip the truth about being Amanda’s biological father. When they were done with the meal, Louise went upstairs to shower while Ben cleaned up the kitchen.

The rain was coming down hard by the time they were ready to leave. As they stood in the doorway, preparing for the dash out to the car, Ben clutched the car keys in his hand so hard the metal pressed into his flesh. On a count of three, they ran out into the storm to the car.

They were both soaked by the time Ben got the car unlocked, and they threw themselves onto the seat. Instantly, the cars windows began to steam up from their body heat. Ben cranked the ignition and put the defroster on full blast.

“Your place first?” Ben asked, figuring it was the errand he dreaded least.

Louise’s face was pinched and pale as she stared straight ahead and nodded. The wipers slapped back and forth, spraying water to both sides of the windshield.

“Yeah,” she said. “Best get this done quick.”

Ben shifted into reverse, backed around, and headed down the driveway to the street. Heavy rain pelted the car, sounding like bullets dinging off the roof and hood. Ben snapped on the headlights. They illuminated the shifting gray mist that rose like ghosts from the asphalt.

“Not exactly looking forward to this, are yah?” Ben said, casting a quick glance at Louise and then looking back at the road. She was twisting her hands in her lap and gnawing on her lower lip.

“When’d you get your first clue,” she said in a strained voice without looking at him.

Louise’s fear and tension must be contagious, Ben thought, when he realized he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles stood up like the white ridges of a distant snow-covered mountain range. The close, warm air inside the car made it difficult to breathe. He began to worry that he might have another incident of … whatever had hit him last night at Julia’s.

Keep it together,
he kept telling himself.
Don’t lose it now … You’re here to help Lou-Lou .. That’s all …

But the closer they got to Louise’s house, the more the tension wound up inside him until he felt like he was going to start screaming and pounding the dashboard in order to release it. He wasn’t in a good place … especially if Tom was home when they got there.

And he was.

As they slowed for the turn into the driveway, Ben looked up to see Tom’s truck and police cruiser parked in the driveway.

“Shit,” Louise said, and she took a quick sip of air between her teeth. As they went up the driveway, Ben realized something was wrong with the house. The upstairs window was hanging open, and piles of clothes were strewn about the side yard and hanging in wet, heavy clumps from the shrubbery beside the house.

“Jesus H.,” Ben said.

“That no good son of a bitch,” Louise whispered between clenched teeth.

She cast a quick look at Ben and then leaned forward, her hands pressed against the dashboard, her fingers splayed.

“Is that —?”

“Yeah. The son-of-a-bitch threw my clothes out the bedroom window.”

Ben clenched his teeth and shook his head.

This is going to get nasty,
he thought as an electric charge tingled through the palms of his hands.

“Lou-Lou. You know, now might not be such a good time,” he said as he pulled to a stop halfway up the driveway.

Louise didn’t answer right away. Her fingers hooked into claws, and she dug her fingernails into the padded dashboard. She exhaled through her nose, reminding him of an enraged bull about to charge.

“I’m serious, Lou. He’s home, and it’s only gonna get worse if we go up there now.”

“The fucker!” she said with a snarl.

“We can come back later.”

“The hell we can. My clothes are getting ruined.” She looked at him, her jaw set. Rosy splotches had appeared on her cheeks. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of him.”

“I’m not afraid of him,” Ben said, “but there’s no need to —”

“’Cause I’m not leaving without my stuff, and I ain’t afraid of that limp-
dicked
mother-fucking loser! I can’t believe I ever —”

She went silent when Ben put his hand on her shoulder, restraining her. After taking a calming breath, she reached for the door handle and pulled the door open. The instant there was a crack, a gust of wind whistled into the car and all but tore the door from her hand. Rain slashed her, but she barely noticed as she stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her. She started walking up the driveway, her hands clenched rigidly at her sides. She appeared to be oblivious to the rain.

Knowing this was going to get ugly, Ben watched for a count of ten before shifting into gear and trailing alongside her in the car. When she was almost to the house, he pulled up beside her and rolled down the passenger’s window.

“Come on, Lou. This is insane.
He’s
insane.” He had to shout to be heard above the downpour that had already soaked her to the bone. Her hair was plastered against her pale forehead, and her shoulders dropped down with the weight of her saturated blouse.

Louise looked at him but didn’t say a word. After staring at him for a second or two, she turned and marched across the lawn to the side yard. She looked pathetic as she stood there, surveying the heaps of sodden clothes. Ben parked close to the edge of the lawn and got out. Shielding his face from the rain, he walked over to her.

“We’ll go to
Reny’s
and get you some new clothes,” he said, trying to keep his voice as reasonable as possible. “You don’t need this.”

He took hold of her arm and tried to guide her back to the car, but she broke his grip. Clenching her fists, she fairly vibrated with rage.

“The
fuck
I
don’t!
” she wailed. She glared at him like a cornered animal — desperate and dangerous. “I’m not gonna let that son of a bitch get away with this shit!”

Then she let out a warbling animal-like sound that was half scream, half moan as she strode over to the clothes and began picking them up, shaking them out and then draping them over her left arm. Ben watched for a while, not sure what to do next, but then he went over and started helping. He picked up a few items and shook them, snapping the water and muck off as best he could.

“This is absolutely crazy, you know?” he said.

“I know. It’s nuts.”

Louise looked at him, and then a wide smile spread across her face. It looked like dawn spreading across the land. “It’s absolutely fucking out of our skull insane!”

“We’ve lost it,” Ben shouted, and he started laughing, too, at the utter absurdity of it all.

“Out of our ever-loving minds!” Louise wailed.

Ben realized this was the only way to relieve the tension … to see the absurdity of it all and embrace it. So he and his sister made it a game, scooping up clothes that were so saturated with water they were twice their weight, wringing them out and waving them around their heads as they carried them back to the car and threw them onto the backseat. They whooped and hollered and laughed like little kids. All Ben could think was:
This is exactly what she needs … This is what we both need.

It took about ten or fifteen minutes to get everything off the lawn and into the car. The last thing Louise did was pick up the screen that had fallen from the upstairs window and set it up at an angle against the house. With a savage giggle, she brought her foot down on it, ripping out the screen and bending the frame beyond repair. To be sure, she kicked it again and snapped it in two places.

“
There!
” she shouted. “See if the dickhead can fix
that!”

Ben was roaring so hard with laughter that his belly began to ache, but the sound of a door slamming open brought both of them up short. The sudden crack of a pistol shot split the air. Louise let out a piercing scream when a clump of damp earth less than five feet from where she stood jumped into the air and then landed with a soft plop at her feet. The sound of the shot was still ringing in Ben’s ears as he turned and looked to the house. Tom was standing in the doorway, but Ben saw a memory from the other side of the world.

A sudden rush of adrenalin surged through him, and he reacted with years of training honed by raw experience in the field.

“Sniper! Get down! Get down!” he shouted as he dashed over to Louise and, grabbing her by the waist, threw her to the ground. He covered her with his body, pressing her flat against the grass.

“What the hell?” she shouted, her voice distorted because he was mashing her face into the grass. She wriggled under him, trying to see under his arm.

Panting heavily, Ben scanned the area, looking up at the rooftop, expecting to see a sniper up there, zeroing in on them with his rifle and scope.

“Jesus! Get off me!” Louise wailed. “I can’t breathe!”

“There’s sniper fire,” Ben shouted as he shifted his full weight off her, but he didn’t let her up. The rain pelted his face, stinging like blown sand. He wanted to make sure they weren’t surrounded by enemy enfilade fire. He eyed the distance to the house, calculating the time it would take to reach it if they ran in a crouch, in a
zig-zag
pattern …

“I could have you both arrested for trespassing and vandalism,” Tom said. He was standing on the front steps, wearing a thick, black rubber raincoat with the hood pulled down low over his eyes. His service revolver was aimed squarely at them.

Neither Louise nor Ben said a word as they stared at him. The initial rush of adrenaline was slowly seeping away, and Ben began to realize what had happened. He’d had a flashback to combat back in Iraq. He blinked stupidly as reality crept back in. For one thing, it never rained like this in Iraq. His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Both of you,” Tom shouted, “get the fuck off my property.
Now!
”

“This is as much my property as it is yours,” Louise said. She cast a worried glance at Ben as if still unsure what had just happened to him. Her face was smeared with mud from being pushed into the dirt.

As his pulse slowed, Ben was aware of the quaver under his sister’s belligerent tone. He hadn’t been wrong, shielding her with his body. He’d rather take a bullet than let her get shot. He looked from her to Tom, convinced Tom was crazy enough to shoot both of them if they weren’t careful what they said and did next.

“Get back into your
fuckin
’ car
now
and get the hell out of here.” Tom’s voice was low and rigid with command. The look on his face convinced Ben he meant business. He raised his hands and slowly got to his feet, then helped Louise get up. She was scowling as she sluiced water and dirt from her arms and chest.

“C’mon, Lou-Lou,” Ben said, moving so he was between Tom and his sister. “He means it. We gotta go.”

But Louise didn’t move. She stood there, glaring past Ben at her husband. She folded her arms across her chest as if that would protect her from any bullets.

“We got what we came for,” Ben said, turning to her and speaking harshly. “Let’s go before this gets any uglier.”

“Oh, it’s gonna get ugly, all right. You wait and see.” Louise spoke in a low, controlled voice that had real iron in it. Then, shaking her fist, she shouted past Ben at Tom. “
You wait and see!
”

Tom didn’t flinch. A cold gleam lit his bloodshot eyes as he raised the revolver and sighted down the barrel at them. Then he pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed past them, whining like a bee above the steady downpour of rain.

“You can’t shoot us in cold blood,” Ben said.

“You think I care? I’m protecting my property. I have a constitutional right to defend my —”

“Shut the fuck up!” Ben shouted.

He was seething with rage and frustration because he knew if Tom didn’t have a gun — or if Ben had one himself — things would be playing out much differently.

“Lou,” Ben said, dropping his voice low. “Go down and get into the car. The keys are in the ignition.”

“Do what your asshole of a brother says,” Tom shouted. “For once, the dipshit is making sense.”

“You are such a jerk,” Louise said, her upper lip curling into a sneer. “You know that? A total limp dick.”

“Get off my property,” Tom said, his voice low and steady.

When Louise still didn’t move, he fired a third shot. This one ricocheted off the side of Ben’s car with a loud whine that left an angled crease in the rear wheel panel above the back tire.

“You gonna flatten my tires again? Is that it?” Ben said.

Louise turned and walked over to the car as slowly and easily as if she were out for a morning stroll.