Tropical Convergence (31 page)

Kerry watched in bemusement as her partner shut the door gently, and strode off toward the entrance to the Walgreen's.

DAR WAITED IN line, glancing at the items available for sale on the nearby racks out of boredom. She had her chosen items, obtained in quick order, but there was only one clerk working and several people ahead of her waiting to pay.

C'mon. I've got melting ice cream here.
Dar glared evilly at the line from behind her shades.

The clerk, unfortunately, was busy trying to understand the request of the first woman in line, who was attempting to obtain a specific type of cigarette using a language even Dar wasn't familiar with. It was hard to say at this point which one of them was the more frustrated.

Her eyes fell on a shelf about thigh level, and she examined the contents, a grudging smile slowly appearing as she reached down and selected one of the items. After a quick look around, she added it to her basket, then resumed waiting.

The woman ahead of her let out a deliberately audible sigh. "Jesus."

The clerk glanced up at her, giving her an apologetic grimace, but slightly shrugging her shoulders. The foreign woman pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and unfolded it, showing it to the clerk with a bit of impatience. "Ma'am, we don't have those."

The woman questioned her in her own language.

"Ma'am, we don't have those," the clerk repeated, with commendable patience. She pointed at the picture in the paper and shook her head. The woman shook the paper at her, her voice rising.

"Jesus." The customer in front of Dar repeated. "What an idiot." With a disgusted look, she tossed her packages onto the counter and walked away, leaving the store with a slap at the sliding door on her way out. The man ahead of her did the same, shooting the clerk a bird as he followed suit.

At the same moment, the foreign woman grabbed back her paper and shoved it in her purse, storming off and walking quickly through the door on the heels of the other two.

That left the clerk staring after them, and Dar with no one ahead of her in line. Not one to look a gift tourist in the mouth, she stepped forward and began removing her choices from her basket, placing them down on the register counter.

"Why do people do that?" the clerk wondered, as she picked up the first item and scanned it. "Move to a place and not know how to communicate?"

Dar studied her from behind her wraparound shades. "To give Americans a taste of what it's like to deal with them overseas?" she suggested mildly.

"Huh?" The girl frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You ever been in another country?" Dar inquired.

"No," the girl replied. "Why would I want to go to another country?"

"Doesn't matter. How much?" Dar indicated the register. She watched the total come up, and swiped her ATM card through the reader, punching in the code with an impatient motion. The machine hesitated, and then regurgitated her receipt, which she snagged along with her purchases from the clerk's hands. "Thanks."

"Bye." Now bereft of customers, the clerk waggled her fingers at Dar. "Have a nice day."

KERRY HAD AMUSED herself by trying to make up stories about the people she watched coming out of the store while waiting for Dar's return. The first man who had come out seemed to have gotten something he wasn't too sure about based on how he kept looking inside the bag he'd carried out as he walked to his car. She decided it was a choice between hair growth formula, some feminine products, or birth control.

She watched him until he got into his car, whereupon he drew something out of the bag and took a bite of it, skewing her theory.

She hoped.

The next two women who exited were apparently together, talking non-stop in Spanish as they walked right past the Lexus and got into a maroon station wagon right next to her. They started their car and without breaking their stream of discussion, began to pull out.

Kerry's eyes widened as she realized the car's front wheels were turned sharply to the right, aiming the vehicle right for the passenger side door inches from her. Reacting instinctively, she leaned over and slammed her hand on the Lexus' horn, closing her eyes and sprawling half over Dar's seat as she waited for the crunch and impact.

After a moment's silence, however, she opened her eyes and peered over her shoulder. The maroon station wagon was gone, and as she straightened up and looked behind her, she spotted it pulling out into traffic with a squeal of tires.

A blue Jeep barely missed sideswiping it. Kerry blew her hair out of her eyes and faced forward again, deciding the women had probably picked up either legal stimulants or prescription sedatives or maybe a combination of both.

Another customer stormed by the front of the Lexus, walking with short, furious steps. She banged into a trashcan on the sidewalk, and shoved it away from her with a audible curse even through the closed windows of the Lexus. She gave the can a vicious kick, before she continued on and around the corner of the store to the other side of the parking lot.

Didn't like her one hour photos? Kerry wondered. She had little time to consider it, because the woman was followed almost immediately by another, equally upset looking, who seemed almost in tears. She walked over to a small four-door car near the entrance and spoke to the man inside it, showing him something she had in her hands.

The man grabbed it and then shoved her backwards with an angry snarl. He pushed the car door open and headed for the door to the drugstore, leaving the woman behind. She looked unhappily at the car for a brief moment, then went around and got into the passenger side, pulling down the sunshade and peering anxiously into the mirror.

Now, what was the story there? Kerry wondered, but not for long because her peripheral vision was filled with an approaching figure that captured her attention fully as she turned her head to watch Dar walk over to her.

Just the sight of that angular face made her smile. Kerry could feel her facial muscles responding, and she watched Dar react and return the grin as she opened the door and slid inside bringing a puff of hot, moist air and the scent of the apricot scrub still lingering on her skin. "That didn't take long. Thanks for getting my stuff."

Dar handed her the bag. "No problem. Careful, there's a jug of..."

"Ice cream in here," Kerry finished, peering inside. "And...what in the..." She removed something from the bag and held it up, letting the plastic bag drop down to the floor between her hiking boots. "Dar, what is this?"

Dar was concentrating on removing the Lexus from the parking lot and keeping the body of the car intact while she did so. "Um...it's a hamster."

Kerry tapped the small, furry foot, and the stuffed animal started to dance to the tune of "Over There..." "It's a dancing hamster," she observed, dancing a little in her seat along with it. "It's a dancing hamster in a sailor suit, Dar."

"Yeah." Her partner peered fiercely through the windshield. "You were calling me a hamster the other day so..."

A giggle worked its way out of Kerry's chest. She set the creature on her lap and tapped its foot again, watching it dance and squiggle in its white outfit and hat. "Is this supposed to be you?"

Dar cleared her throat. "I thought you'd think it was cute."

"Hehehehehehehehe." Kerry let out a long, low chortle. "Oh, you're so right, I do." She danced with her new little friend. "Wait till your dad sees it."

Dar turned her head and gave her a look over the tops of her sunglasses.

"I'm going to put this on my desk," Kerry decided.

"At work?" Dar's eyes nearly popped.

Kerry reached over and turned her head back forward, as the light turned green and they were free to proceed across to the causeway home. "Don't be goofy. Of course not at work. At home."

Dar settled back in her seat, relieved. "Yeah, well...I had some time to kill at the register. They were short handed."

"Though it might be a great ice breaker at new client meetings," Kerry mused.

Dar turned to stare at her again, only to find mischievous green eyes waiting in knowing silence. "You're lucky I love you," she mock growled.

Kerry's smile softened and gentled. "Don't I know how lucky I am," she replied. "And I will find us a different church, Dar. I like belonging to something like that. It gives me a sense of community here. But not at the expense of you being uncomfortable with it."

Dar fell silent as she directed the car onto the ferry base. "Does it have to be a church?" she asked as they pulled up to the cones. "Maybe we could join a computer club or something?"

Kerry rested her chin on her fist. "We spend enough time with nerds," she disagreed. "Hey...how about a biker club?"

Dar covered her eyes with one hand.

"Vroom, vroom."

NOW IT WAS Kerry's turn to be a couch potato, and she readily took advantage of it, tucking the light, worn childhood quilt she'd brought back from Michigan around her as she watched the late news. She had a cup of hot blackberry tea on the table nearby, and sufficient quantities of painkillers to render her acceptably comfortable, at least for the moment.

They had paused at the Island Market on the way home and gotten some fish filets, which Dar had insisted on cooking. Much to Kerry's surprise, and also to her partner's she suspected, the relatively simple broiling experiment had turned out very tasty. After that, and some of Dar's newly purchased ice cream, the stresses from the party had finally dissipated.

"Nothing." Dar looked up from her perch sprawled across the love seat. "I don't get it. There's nothing here." She lifted a hand and let it drop, shaking her head at the screen of her laptop. "No mention, no little notes in the paper, nothing in the trades...a major contract falls through, and all you see is news about rugby."

Kerry chuckled softly. "I don't know, sweetie. I think I like those priorities for a change." She took a sip of her tea. "Oh well. We'll find out eventually what the deal is. Once we get to those ships, someone'll talk. They always do, Dar."

"Mmph." Dar was rattling away at her keyboard.

Kerry returned her attention to the big screen television, where an overly earnest reporter was relating the day's news in serious, emphatic tones. The shot cut away to a nighttime scene, with flashing police lights, and after studying it for a minute, she frowned. "Hey, Dar? Look."

"Mm?" Pale blue eyes flicked to her, then to the television. "What am I looking at?"

"Isn't that the Walgreen's? The one we were at today?"

Dar leaned on the love seat arm and peered at the screen. "I don't...hell, they all look alike to me, Kerry. Maybe it is. Why?"

"Shh." Kerry turned the sound up to listen.

"Police are unsure of how the woman got left in the trunk, or who might have done this to her. She was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where she's in critical condition." The reporter on the scene drew back, showing a small, four door car parked on the side of the building. It's trunk was hanging open and obviously had been forced. "The car was rented, police say, by an unidentified man they are now looking for."

"Huh," Dar murmured. "Someone locked in a trunk? Lucky they didn't croak in this heat." She shook her head and went back to her laptop screen. "Wonder when it happened?"

"I don't know." Kerry leaned forward. "They can't have found it that long ago. It's a live report. Oh, Dar I'd hate to think that poor woman was in that trunk when we were there!"

Dar looked up again, studying the car. "We weren't on that side of the building," she said. "Car looks a little familiar though, but it's a common rental type. Dime a dozen, Ker."

"Yeah." Something was niggling at Kerry's memory, and she rested her chin on her fist as the news went on to another story. After a few minutes of trying to root it out, however, she gave up and tuned back in to the reporter. "Ah...gonna have rain tomorrow," she chortled softly. "Sure you don't want to spend the day inside with me watching it?"

"Mm." Dar gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Temptress."

Kerry gave her best impression of sultriness, aware that her Pooh T-shirt was probably skewing the impact just a trifle. "Actually, I've got a ton of stuff to do tomorrow. I want to get a hair-cut for starters, and my car's due for service."

"Thought you were going to relax?" Dar reminded her.

"I will," Kerry said. "But I want to get something accomplished too, so I don't feel so guilty thinking of you slaving away in the office stuck in your monkey suit."

"Ahh, and I have to meet with all the international sales directors. They're in tomorrow." Dar reminded her. "So you can really pity me. Maria has a four hour block scheduled in the afternoon."

"Ew."

"Uh huh."

Kerry rolled over on to her back and watched Dar's profile as she worked on her machine. "I could pass on having a day off," she suggested. "You want some backup?"

"Nah." Dar glanced up at her, and grinned. "But thanks for the offer."

"Okay." Kerry wiggled her feet under the cotton covering. "But I'll make sure you've got something great to come home to."

The blue eyes twinkled. "Something other than you? What else do you think I need?"

Kerry sighed happily.

"Besides, you're going to have to run the ball game with Quest," Dar continued dryly. "Don't thank me yet." She went back to her typing, listening to the soft chuckle as Kerry rolled back onto her side and the news switched over to sports.

"Okay." She reviewed her work for the last time, studying the presentation she'd put together for the meeting. "I think that'll work." She set the laptop down on the coffee table and stretched, reaching out to scratch Chino's head.

It was a completely ordinary Sunday night at home. They usually watched whatever was on either the Learning Channel or Discovery, or a movie, then the news before getting together whatever they needed for work the next week and going to bed.

Comfortingly predictable. Dar regarded the shots of football players practicing in the hot sun with a touch of bemusement. "Y'know, they took us to see those guys do that once."