The Cove (35 page)

“You’re right,” he said at last. “There’s some … some crap going on with my family, is all, and I —”

He stopped speaking suddenly when it felt as though someone behind him had wrapped powerful hands around his throat and was strangling him. He hunched his shoulders forward and, shaking his head, gasped for breath. The alarm in Julia’s eyes was obvious, and as an oily tension coiled up inside him, his first thought was that what had happened to him to other night at her house was happening again.

“Just relax,” Julia said, but her voice seemed to be coming to him from miles away.

Ben looked at her, his vision telescoping crazily. He was terrified to see how far away she appeared even though she was still reaching across the table, holding his hands and squeezing them reassuringly. Her arms were impossibly long, stretching out and sagging like long tubes of rubber.

“You’re safe with me,” she said in an airy whisper. “Right now … it’s just you and me, and everything’s fine. There’s no need to —”

“Can I see your cell phone?” Ben spoke so suddenly Julia let go of his hands and pulled back.

“My cell phone?” she said, her voice twisting into a high note.

“Yeah. Your cell phone.”

He held his right hand out, palm up, and shook it demandingly. Obviously confused by his sudden shift in attitude, Julia slowly reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She looked curious as she handed it to him.

Ben took the phone from her and sat back. He frowned with concentration as he snapped it open and glanced at the buttons as he tried to figure out how to use it. He pressed the round black button in the middle of the dial, and a menu popped up. After a few clicks, he found the “Calls Received” file and opened it. As he ran down the list of displayed numbers, his frown deepened.

“What the hell are you doing? What’s this all about?” Julia asked, her voice tight with worry.

“I’m making sure nothing’s coming out sideways,” he said.

What’s she sounding so worried about?
Ben wondered.
Is she afraid she’s been found out?

“Who do you think you are?” she asked, her voice high-pitched and full of irritation. “Give me my phone back right
now!
That’s my private property.”

She made a grab for the phone across the table and knocked into the tray, spilling fries and clams all over the table. Ben twisted to one side, fending her off as he scrolled through the list he had brought up.

“Ben … I mean it.” Her face was beet-red now. She cast a quick glance around to see if Judy was watching them from the order window. “You’re really starting to piss me off.”

“Am I?”

But as he scrolled through the list, he saw nothing. Certainly no calls from Pete.

He loosened his posture and looked at her as a feeling of satisfaction ran through him.

He handed her cell phone out to her. Glaring at him, Julia snapped it from his hand it and stuffed it back into her purse.

“Do you mind explaining what that was all about?”

“I found your number on my brother’s speed dial today,” he replied.

“
Wha
...” Julia’s voice trailed off.

“So I had to see if you’ve been talking to Pete.”

“You could have asked me, you know. That might have been less dramatic than grabbing my phone and snooping.” Julia’s eyes were dark with anger.

“I don’t know what to think anymore,” Ben said, lowering his gaze. He took a long gulp of Coke, letting the sugary carbonation burn against the back of his throat. “I feel like the whole world has gone crazy ever since I came home.”

“You really are a jerk sometimes, you know that?” She huffed her breath, trying hard not to yell. Ben sat there and watched her. Finally the pain he was causing her registered, and it cut deeply.

“You have absolutely no consideration … no concern for what I … what I’m going through, do you?” Julia said.

“Yes I do.” Even to his own ears, Ben’s words sounded false.

“You have a hell of a way of showing it, then,” Julia said. “But as for your brother … I think he’s been interested in me since I moved here. He’s never called or anything, but he always seems to turn up wherever I am. And he’s watching me.”

“You mean stalking?”

“No. Not really.”

“If he’s stalking you …giving you a hard time, you should call the police.”

Julia shook her head and said, “I can handle it on my own, Ben. But honest … I have never had any interest in Pete. Never.”

Ben suddenly felt like a colossal fool.

“And after all the trouble you’ve been having …” she said.

At first, Ben thought she was talking about his father’s dealings with Richie Sullivan, but then it flashed on him.

“You mean the slashed tires?”

“Uh-huh. That … and when you got jumped outside the Local. At first, I thought it must have been Tom, but I didn’t want to say anything if it was Pete. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to cause any more problems for you and your family.”

Her voice choked off, and her shoulders wrenched and collapsed inward as she heaved a deep sob and had to look away.

Ben was speechless. He began to put the pieces together and realized that Julia was telling the truth. Pete had been acting so hostile because he was pissed Julia had chosen his brother, not him.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” he whispered. “I don’t know what to say. I … I had no idea. I’m really sorry.” He wished he didn’t sound so weak.

Tears were spilling from her eyes, carving glistening tracks down her cheeks. She sniffed loudly and, grabbing a napkin, dabbed her eyes and then blew her nose.

“You should have said something before now,” he said.

“I know.” Her eyes brightened as she looked at him and nodded. “You’re absolutely right. I should have, but I honestly didn’t want to cause you any more grief.”

She grabbed another napkin and wiped her eyes, harder this time. When she looked at him again, her lips were thin and bloodless. One corner of her mouth was twitching.

“I’m such an idiot,” Ben said, smiling weakly and hoping to relieve or reduce the tension between them. He wouldn’t blame her if she got up and walked away right then, but he prayed she wouldn’t.

“I guess we both have some personal issues to work on, huh?” she said.

It gladdened his heart to see a ghost of a smile light her face.

“Amen to that,” Ben said, his smile widening.

Both of his hands were clammy and trembling as he slid them across the table and took hold of her hands. He squeezed them tightly.

“Forgive me?” he asked, but Julia didn’t answer him, and he couldn’t blame her. She kept staring past him, looking over his shoulder into the darkness beyond their cone of light.

T
om turned off onto the dirt road twenty minutes before nine o’clock. The sun had set, but a cobalt blue glow lingered in the western sky. A chorus of frogs was singing in a nearby pond, and far off in the distance, a whippoorwill whistled its mournful song.

Using his training as a police officer, Tom parked so his car was facing toward the main road and angled so he could pull out quickly and drive away without having to back up.

He got out of the car and, leaving his headlights on, surveyed the surrounding area. He wanted to scope out every place Gillette might be able to park. Tom had no doubt Zimmerman would be with him, but Gillette always drove. It was one of his ways of staying in control. Tom was counting on Gillette being a creature of habit and parking in the same spot he had parked before with his car positioned so it was facing the woods. That would be perfect because he would have to back up and turn around before he could get out of there.

He paced off the distance, trying to guess exactly where Gillette’s car would be and what would be the quickest way for him to get the drop on them. If it came down to it, he wanted to get a few shots off before they knew what hit them. Once Zimmerman started shooting, Tom was pretty sure all bets would be off. He was positive the man would prove to be a dead-eye shot, so he would have to go for him first and then finish off Gillette, who had a reputation for never going armed. It would have violated the parole conditions from a previous arrest, but Tom was also sure Gillette wasn’t very good handling a gun. In fact, Tom was counting on that.

Once he was satisfied that Gillette would have no choice but to pull into the same spot, Tom got back into his car and waited. He kept fidgeting, checking the ammo in his revolver, which he kept tucked under his waistband in the small of his back. He hoped Gillette wouldn’t notice the bulge under his loose-fitting shirt. In the darkness, he probably wouldn’t, but after what had happened last time, both Gillette and Zimmerman would be fools to think he hadn’t come to this meeting armed.

Time moved slowly as he waited, listening to the night sounds of insects, birds, and frogs. The sky to the east was pitch black with not a cloud in sight. No breath of wind stirred. Tom jumped when an owl suddenly hooted in the nearby woods. When he leaned across the steering wheel and scanned the night, the bird launched itself from a nearby tree and drifted as silent as a phantom out across the nearby marsh.

“Happy hunting,
compadre
,” he muttered as he tracked the bird until it dissolved into the darkness.

He willed his racing heart to slow down as he looked at his wristwatch for what seemed like the hundredth time, took a few deep breaths, and stared at nothing. After an unaccountably long time, far down the road, the glow of approaching headlights lit up the surrounding trees. After touching his revolver one last time for reassurance, he sat with both hands on the steering wheel and looking straight ahead.

Happy hunting, indeed,
he thought, smiling grimly as the yellow glow of headlights grew steadily brighter.

J
ulia hung her jacket in the hall closet. She asked Ben to stay the night with her, but he had said he couldn’t — Louise had moved out of Tom’s house, he said, and there was family crap to attend to. Julia told him about the phone exchange she’d had with Louise earlier, and they laughed. That —
finally
— broke the tension over the cell phone snooping.

“Tell Louise … tell her I …” Julia’s voice trailed off, remembering that Louise might not think too kindly of her.

“I’ll tell her you said ‘hi.’” Ben said. “Don’t worry about Lou-Lou. And call the house if you need anything, any time. ’Kay?”

“I will,” Julia replied, and they had clung tightly to each other for a long time on her porch. Then she watched Ben walk over to his car, get in, and drive away.

Now the house was empty for the first time since Julia had come to live here. She thought of her father, alone in the hospital. Tears welled in her eyes.

Maybe a shower and a nap, and then I’ll go back to the hospital and keep him company. I can’t stand to think of him being there alone, and I sure don’t want to be here alone.

The front door flew open with a crash. Startled, Julia whirled around, thinking … hoping for a split second that it was Ben.

But it wasn’t Ben.

“Pete? … What are you doing here?” Her voice was pitched high with astonishment and a sudden jolt of fear. “Ben just left.”

Pete nodded, and she knew he must have been watching and waiting. He stared at her mutely for a long time. His jaw and throat muscles knotted, looking like he was trying to swallow a handful of walnuts. Then his face flushed.

“Then you
prob’ly
know that my brother found your phone number on my cell.” He was visibly shaking. “And you
prob’ly
had yourselves a good laugh at my expense, right? Stupid old Pete! What was he
thinkin
’? Huh? You wanna know?”

Julia was incapable of reacting.

“Well,” he said, “I’ll tell yah what I was
thinkin
’!

“Hold on, Pete,” Julia began. “You can’t just burst in here —”

He cut her off by taking a step closer and raising a fist.

“Shut up!” he shouted. “Just
shut
the
fuck
up!”

Trembling, Julia nodded and took a step back. She eyed the doorway leading into the kitchen and the wall phone, but she calculated that she’d never make it if she made a dash for it.

“I’m finally gonna say what I’ve been
wantin
’ to say.”

“Okay,” Julia managed.

Pete took a deep breath, but his posture was still wire-tight.

“You see, I was
thinkin
’ … when you came to The Cove … that I’d never seen a finer woman in my life, and I’ve been
waitin
’ for a chance to … to talk to you, maybe even take you out and … and treat you good. I was willing to wait ’till you got tired of my dipshit brother-in-law, ’cause I knew you would. He’s always been an idiot and not much good in the sack.”

How’d he know that?
Julia thought irrelevantly.

Pete’s voice was steadily rising. “’N then Big Ben the war hero breezes back to town. And just like he’s always done all his
fuckin
’ life, he just takes what
I
want.”