“Somethin’ wrong, Trudy?” Clem says, from his post at the back of the room.
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“Want me to re-arrange your pillows again?”
“Nope, I’m good. Thanks.”
Dr. Box arranged for me to receive ten thousand dollars a month for the next two years. While it’s much more than I need, it’s an insanely generous gift. It wouldn’t be right to accept that much money.
But I’ll accept some.
Enough to get me started with a new life.
My relationship with Dr. Box seemed to end before it got started. I was hopin’ for more, but I think my family history scared him off.
As it should have.
I’d been prepared to step aside and let him go on with his life, but that was before I realized how much he needs me. And he does, at least for the near future.
Dr. Box is in serious danger, and I need to warn him.
What concerns me most?
Renee texted me from his cell phone.
I can’t think of any scenario in which Dr. Box would willingly allow my crazy sister to screen his messages or text people from his phone.
Especially me.
I know he wants to talk to me, or he wouldn’t have called me twice this afternoon.
I shake my head, thinkin’ about the rough twenty-four hours my family’s put Dr. Box through. First, Daddy knocked him unconscious. Then he robbed him, kicked his nuts, and hung him. Then the barn roof collapsed on him. Then he lost a possible love connection with Faith, when the people my brother and husband Darrell sent to kill him shot each other instead. And now my sister Renee is likely holdin’ him against his will, and makin’ threats against me that’ll eventually drive her to punish him.
If I can somehow manage to protect Dr. Box from Renee, Daddy, Darrell, and the local police, and if he and I wind up gettin’ engaged someday, can you just imagine the scene my kinfolk will make at our weddin’?
45
“Clem, could you give me a few minutes of privacy?” I say.
“You’re not gonna call him, are you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
He frowns. “I don’t like it. And I sure as hell don’t like him.”
Great.
Dr. Box has managed to make yet another enemy in law enforcement.
When Clem leaves the room I call Dr. Box, but get no answer.
“Clem!” I shout.
He comes flyin’ through the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Call Sheriff Boyd.”
“Why?”
“I need to talk to him.”
“What about?”
“Just call him.”
“He’s gonna ask why.”
“Maybe so, but he’ll come.”
He glares at me a minute, and I glare back.
“I don’t like it,” he says.
“Why am I not surprised?”
46
Dr. Gideon Box.
I’ve gone through a lot of emotions over the past twenty-four hours. Heard good things, weird things, bad things. Learning I was about to be hung was the worst, hands down. I mean, literally, my hands were down, cuffed behind my back. So that was the worst.
A close second was learning I’m not the first guy Trudy’s fence-kissed.
Worse, according to her own sister, Trudy’s blown other guys at the very same fence.
And here I thought I was special.
I come out of the shower, dejected.
Renee sees it. She can tell my mood has shifted.
“I’m here for you, Gideon,” she says.
I grab my clothes from the sink as I pass her, heading to the bed. I sit, put my socks on, then stand and finish dressing.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asks.
I raise a palm. “Why not?”
“What happened to your neck?”
Something in the way she asked the question makes me do a double-take.
I can’t explain how, but I do believe Renee knows her Daddy had something to do with the rope burn around my neck.
“You just noticed that?” I say.
“Of course not! I noticed it right off. I think you might have a permanent mark there.”
Now I have two lovely thoughts. The woman I love gives blowjobs at the dumpster, and her father gives permanent rope-burn tattoos.
There’s a knock at the door.
“Room service!” a voice calls out from the hall.
I notice Renee’s still naked from the waist down.
She backs into the bathroom and closes the door. I let him in, he sets up the food, and leaves. When Renee comes out I can tell she’s been crying.
“What’s wrong?”
“This is all going badly,” she says.
“What is?”
“Our date.”
I nod.
“It’s all because of her!” she says.
“Who?”
“Trudy.”
She’s right. But I say, “That’s not true. It’s just that I had a horrible time at the police station earlier.”
“Oh my God!” she says. “You’re right! I was so excited to see you, I never asked what happened!”
I wave her off.
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“Of course it is! You were a suspect in an armed robbery! I can’t believe I never asked about your experience. I’m a horrible girlfriend. Truly horrible!”
“Don’t be silly.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she says, walking around the bed. “You’ve got a fine dinner here. We’ll sit together, have some wine. You’ll tell me all about your afternoon at the police station, while enjoying your meal.”
She leans down, lifts her purse from the floor, places it on the bed in front of her.
I say, “Can I be honest, Renee?”
“Of course, darling.”
“You’re a sweet girl, and the last thing I want to do is offend you.”
“But?”
“I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite.”
She smiles. “Nonsense! You haven’t eaten all afternoon, you said so yourself. We’re going to have a nice quiet evening and you’re going to relax and enjoy your dinner.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m just not in the mood.”
She pulls a gun from her purse, points it at me, then cocks it.
“I insist,” she says.
47
Have you ever tried to eat dinner with a loaded gun pointed at your face? If so, was the person holding the gun chugging a bottle of wine? And if so, did you enjoy your meal? Reason I ask, I’m having trouble concentrating on the food.
“My Daddy gave you that rope burn, didn’t he?” she says.
I nod.
“How’d you escape?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“Can I tell you later?”
“Sure. Want to tell me about the police station first?”
“Maybe after dinner.”
“Okay,” she says, cheerfully.
“Would you consider putting the gun down?”
“Not really. Not yet.”
“When?”
“Well,” she says, “you were quite the eager beaver till the cops barged in. I thought we really had it going, sex-wise. I mean, you yelled a lot, and carried on like it meant something. But now you seem to have lost interest. I’m trying not to take it personally, but I don’t deal well with rejection.”
“If you’re not planning to get to the point, can you just go ahead and shoot me?”
She smiles. “I like you.”
“Don’t base too much on a first impression,” I say.
“You’re a saucy one, Dr. Box!”
I shrug.
The room phone rings.
“I should get that,” I say.
“I don’t think so.”
She lets it ring. Then picks up the phone, calls the front desk, tells them not to put any calls through. She hangs up the phone and says, “You know what I think?”
“I have no idea.”
She says, “I think I may have given it up too quickly. The sex, I mean.”
“Really?” I say. “Because it seems to me you held out nearly two minutes before taking your clothes off.”
“I don’t remember you complaining about that. And anyway, we had a history on the internet that gave me reason to believe you might be special. I haven’t given up that thought, by the way. But I’m afraid you don’t respect me like you should.”