Woman On the Run (36 page)

“Good idea. Aikido.”

“Ai…what?”

“Aikido,” Cooper repeated. “It’s a martial art. Doesn’t require the bulk or strength of judo or karate.”

“Yes, Cooper.”

“You want to see one of your friends, Alice or Beth or Maisie, you let me know, and I’ll accompany you. Either that or Chuck or Sandy or Mac or Bernie will. I’ve got to tell Loren and Glenn, too,” Cooper went on, shooting a glance at Chuck. “And the other men in town. They won’t have to know why. All they’ll have to know is that she’s never to be alone. Not for one minute.”

Chuck nodded.

Julia wasn’t too sure what she’d bargained herself into, but right now there was only one answer. “Yes, Cooper.”

“You don’t answer the phone. Ever. You let me answer.”

“Yes, Coop—” Julia began, then stopped. “At all hours? How can you do that?”

“I’ll be here as much as I can. I’m moving in with you.”

“But, Cooper—” Julia’s mind whirled. “If you move in with me—what about—I mean, what will people here think? It’s not really…” She shrugged helplessly and turned to Chuck.

“That’s okay, honey.” Chuck patted her shoulder. “The very last thing you have to worry about is what people in Simpson will think. Everyone here likes you a whole lot. Hell, if anything, we’re all really happy that Coop is finally getting laid.”

* * * * *

I’m being protected to death
, Julia thought a few days later. She pushed open the lavatory doors at school and stopped the janitor from following her in by slapping a hand on his chest.

“Not here, Jim,” she said, exasperated.

“But—but Miss Anderson,” Jim protested. His watery pale blue eyes widened with distress. “Chuck said that I wasn’t supposed to let you out of my sight.”

Julia curled her fist around the door’s edge. “I’m sure Chuck didn’t mean that you had to follow me into the ladies’ room. I assure you, Jim, I’m going to be fine.”

Without giving him a chance to say anything, she slid into the teacher’s lavatory, closing the door behind her. Bracing two hands on the sink, she examined herself in the mirror.

And she’d thought her life had raced out of control after witnessing the murder. That was nothing compared to being protected by Sam Cooper. She looked around the small lavatory. It was the first time she’d been alone in three days. Cooper had spent the rest of Sunday night and early Monday morning on the phone with Herbert Davis and conferring with Chuck. They had drawn up elaborate plans, that she hadn’t been able to follow, full of “clear lines of communication” and “fire zones” and “signal intelligence”. Julia had fallen asleep on the couch to the sound of Cooper’s deep voice discussing military strategy.

She now lived in an armored house. Everything that could open was alarmed. Her front and back doors were now made of reinforced steel. Two of Cooper’s men had been sent to Boise, and on Monday night, motion detectors and tripwires were installed. Her phone was set up to record messages and had caller ID. Each room had a fire extinguisher.

From the moment she woke up in the morning to when she came back to her house in the evening, Julia was handed from man to man in an unbroken chain of stewardship.

After breakfast, Cooper waited until Chuck came over before leaving for the ranch. Chuck walked her to the school door and left her with Jerry Johnson, who walked her to her classroom door. After school, Chuck was waiting at the school entrance. The past two days, Chuck had accompanied her to Jensen’s grocery store, where she and Beth pored over drawings and colors. Julia had promised to help Beth redecorate. Then Chuck or the lanky foreman called “Sandy” would walk her home. They would wait until Cooper arrived and make a solemn little ceremony about “handing her over”.

Julia felt like the baton in a relay race.

She hadn’t the faintest idea what story Cooper and Chuck told the men in Simpson, but it got results. Loren stood rigidly behind the counter, eyes scanning the street outside, while she and Beth happily planned the grocery store’s rejuvenation. Julia had sketched sheet after sheet while Beth talked and Loren hadn’t once taken his eyes off the door.

Once, when a lost and bewildered traveling salesman had walked in and asked for directions, Loren had pulled a walkie-talkie from under the counter and spoken into it quietly.

Chuck and Bernie had immediately materialized. Chuck’s hand hovered over his pistol in its brand-new leather holster and Bernie carried a rifle. The traveling salesman had looked from one unsmiling, suspicious face to the other, bought a bag of apples, asked the way to Rupert and quickly exited. Julia could see him mop his brow outside the shop and run to his waiting car. Chuck and Loren and Bernie had moved to the entrance and watched until the car’s taillights had disappeared from sight.

It was no way to increase tourism.

Julia was looking forward to the evening with Cooper. He had hooked up a DVD player to her TV set and had brought over enough films on disk to keep her busy for the next fifty years. To her astonishment, it turned out that Cooper was a film buff, too. The older the better, just like her. Their tastes ran along remarkably similar lines, though Julia had a slight preference for romantic comedies and Cooper leaned towards Hitchcock and Westerns. Tonight he’d promised to bring over
Casablanca
.

She shivered as she thought of what would come afterwards.

Except for when she was in school, Julia carried a gun, a small, powerful one. A Beretta Tomcat, that took .32 caliber bullets. Or “rounds”, as Cooper called them.

Cooper had said that he didn’t want her to have a “girl’s gun”. The Tomcat was small, but Julia was astonished at its kick, and at the damage it could do to the few tree trunks she was starting to hit.

She had a callus between the thumb and forefinger and had had to set aside special clothes for shooting practice because she came home reeking of cordite after a practice session. It took her an hour to get the powder out from under the fingernails of her right hand.

Cooper was an excellent instructor, patient and thorough. At first, he had walked her through the theory over and over again, until her head spun with “sighting planes”, “trigger pulls” and “creeps”. Then he had let her start target practice. The back of her legs still hurt from the improper stance she’d adopted at first. Cooper had made her lean forward in a slight crouch, steadying her hand with his until she got off the first shot of her life. She missed, but not by much.

Cooper made a big point of praising her aim, but Julia knew better. Still, a gun no longer felt like an alien metal lump in her hand. She doubted she’d ever have the nerve to actually fire at a human being, but it was astonishing how reassuring it was to have the gun near to hand at all times, which she was sure had been Cooper’s intention all along.

A sharp rap startled her. “Miss Anderson?” Jim called anxiously. “You okay in there?”

She sighed. “Fine, Jim. I’m coming right out.”

* * * * *

There it was!

The professional leaned forward eagerly as the computer beeped.

It was about time. This place was enough to give anyone the creeps. The bed sagged, the weather was lousy and the food was worse. But the long wait was over.

kdsjcnemowjsiwexnjskllspwieuhdksmclsldjkjhfd

kdiejduenbkclsjdjeudowjdiejdocmdksdldkjdjeiel

mpnwjcmsmwkcxosapewkrjhvgebsjckgfnghgdsj

Decryption 60% complete…70%…80%…90%…

Come on, baby. We can make it to St. Lucia by Thanksgiving.

Decryption completed.

Bingo!

The letters moved across the screen.

File: 248

Witness placed in Witness Security Program: Julia Devaux

Born: London, England, 03/06/76

Last domicile: 4677 Larchmont Street, Boston, MA

Case: Homicide, Joey Carpuzzo, 9/26/04. Last known address: Sitwell Hotel, Boston, MA.

Approximate cause of death: massive hemorrhaging from .38 caliber bullet wound in left anterior lobe of brain.

Accused: Dominic Santana.

Current address: Furrow’s Island Correctional Facility

Come on, come on. The professional leaned forward, eyes riveted to the screen.
I know all that. Tell me something I don’t know.

Placed in Witness Security Program: 10/03/04

Area 248, Code 7gb608hx4y

Area 248
. Well, we know where that is. Now for the rest of it. It was Mickey Mouse stuff. The information was already in the file, the only problem was how to tickle it out. Just a question of time, and patience.

Too bad there wasn’t anything to while away the time with. Nothing at all, except staring at dusty green wallpaper with pink flamingoes and hunting down the cockroaches. The computer whirred silently.

Area 248, Code 7gb608hx4y
: the cursor blinked in place for a quarter of an hour. The computer beeped just as the professional finished counting all the cracks in the ceiling.

Decryption 60% complete…70%…80%…90%…

Decryption completed.

Ahh!. The thrill of the chase. Nothing like it.

The letters started scrolling.

Julia Devaux. Relocated as: Sally Anderson

Current address: 150 East Valley Road, Simpson, Idaho

Well, well, well, the professional thought, sitting back. Sally Anderson.

That was it. In no time, the professional would be flying out of Seattle, two million dollars richer.

* * * * *

The following Monday afternoon, Julia stood at the door of Jensen’s grocery shop and listened wistfully to the bursts of female laughter coming from the Out to Lunch.

Alice finally had the Rupert Ladies’ Association over and it sounded like everyone was having a wonderful time in Simpson’s brand-new fern bar.

Everyone except Julia.

She was under strict orders from Cooper to wait in the grocery store until he could come pick her up. Even Beth was over at the fern bar, probably gorging herself on Maisie’s rum chocolate mousse, Julia thought resentfully.

To be honest, Beth had asked Julia if she’d mind. Julia had set her jaw and told Beth to go right ahead. But it wasn’t fair that she had to miss out on all the fun.

It wasn’t even as if she could look forward to popping in on the ladies’ tea once Cooper had arrived, either.

No, sir.

Cooper had made it very clear that the Rupert Ladies’ Association was strictly off limits to her. She’d argued and pleaded last night, to no avail. She’d tried seduction and that had worked. Very well, too. Not to change Cooper’s mind, just to give her six or seven mind-blowing orgasms.

She might as well have argued with the walls. Cooper was unmovable. It was crazy to think that someone from the Rupert Ladies’ Association could suddenly pull a submachine gun out of a flowered handbag.

Julia had watched the ladies arrive, one by one. Women in Rupert obviously didn’t know that small handbags were in. To tell the truth, some of the handbags the women had been carrying
were
large enough to carry bazookas in.

Still, it was ridiculous of Cooper to be suspicious of anyone who belonged to the Rupert Ladies’ Association. They’d all known each other forever. She’d tried to wheedle the reasons for his refusal out of him, but even there she’d come up against a solid brick wall. The only thing she had gathered was that he didn’t trust anyone he hadn’t known for his entire lifetime, childhood included, even if the person in question was seventy, female and arthritic.

Well, this wasn’t living. What was the point of being alive when you couldn’t even taste some of the best rum chocolate mousse in the world? Not to mention the best sour cream apple cake or chocolate Bavarian or brown betty. Maisie had outdone herself. Julia knew because she’d had a few preview samples. But now she wanted the real thing.

Another burst of laughter came from the fern bar and Julia gazed longingly down the street. It was empty, as usual. No crazed killers toting guns, no sinister figures, not even a stray dog. She was all alone, and everyone else in Simpson was at the party.

Except for Loren, who was out back, fussing with the supplies. Paint, varnish, nails, scaffolding, antique wooden barrels. Saturday was going to be the big day for Jensen’s Groceries. The store was going to be redecorated according to the plans Julia and Beth had drawn up.

Julia could hear Loren muttering to himself and smiled. He wasn’t familiar with hardware and paint and she’d seen how he had been a bit overwhelmed by the plans. It was only because Beth was so excited that he’d agreed to go along. He was probably shaking his head even now over all the things he’d had to buy.