The cat raised her head at the sound of my voice. I think I saw agreement in her expression.
“I mean she didn’t let me examine that badge very closely. She could have bought it online for all I know.”
Wila returned to her bowl.
“Yeah, you’re right. Carlos wouldn’t be taken in by somebody with a costume badge. And they seemed pretty chummy at the Speckled Perch. Collegial. She must be a fellow cop. Wait until I tell Mama.”
Within fifteen minutes, I was ready for bed. Wila jumped up, too. I’m not normally a pet-on-the-pillow person, but tonight was an exception. I was grateful for the company, even if her breath did stink of salmon.
I fell asleep with the reassuring warmth of the cat’s body beside me. That comfortable feeling vanished, though, once I began to dream.
Tony was in my living room, in the same chair where the Mystery Woman had sat just an hour or so before. He was studying a thick book, looking like the handsome college guy he’d once been. But when he smiled and beckoned me closer, I could see the book was stained with blood. A sharp knife was hidden within the pages.
I ran from him, but when I passed through the cottage’s front door, the scene suddenly shifted. Dark woods surrounded me. Vines and tree branches pressed close, scratching me. Suffocating me. When I tried to escape, a figure in a pig’s head gave chase. No matter how fast I thought I was running, my feet wouldn’t move. The huge head came closer and closer, until it loomed above me, eyes glittering with a murderous rage.
Then, the dream transported me to Lake Okeechobee, where I was on a boat again. I watched as Carlos stepped off the bow.
“Don’t worry,” I called to him. “It’s shallow.”
But when I leaned over to see where he went in, it wasn’t the familiar dark water of Lake O after all. It was clear and turquoise blue, like the Caribbean Sea. I watched as Carlos fell, faster and faster, into the depths. My feet felt glued to the boat deck as he somersaulted out of my reach. Just before I awoke from the dream, I saw Carlos’ hands, fingertips outstretched toward the water’s surface and me.
My heart hammered. My T-shirt clung to my body, soaked with sweat. I felt a stab of fear and loss. Had I really watched him drown? I couldn’t tell for a moment what was real and what was the dream.
When my mind cleared, I was struck by a single thought. I’d been a fool. Seeing Carlos sink out of sight wasn’t real, but the emptiness I’d felt at losing him was. I loved him. All my flirting and playing and failing to commit couldn’t change that simple fact.
Wila, awake now, blinked those Siamese-blue eyes at me. Ruffling her fur, I repeated the words I’d heard so many times from Mama.
“Sweetheart,” I said. “How would you like to have a new daddy?”
The wedding day dawned sunny and clear. Not a dark cloud in the sky. I hoped it was an omen for the ceremony, and, even more, for the marriage beyond. Five just might be Mama’s lucky number.
As I measured coffee into a paper filter, I glanced at my wall clock, a cut-and-varnished cypress knee, shaped like Lake Okeechobee. A largemouth bass leapt at twelve o’clock, and a speckled perch swam at six. It was an hour past the perch. I had all morning to think about getting to Hair Today, Dyed Tomorrow. What torture by teasing comb had Betty planned for me? Whatever, it was guaranteed to make me look like a big-haired contestant in a Deep South beauty pageant.
I could hardly wait.
I showered and dressed, poured some coffee, and caught up with a pile of Himmarshee Times newspapers I’d been neglecting. Lake Okeechobee was down a couple of feet due to the dry season and drought; some drunken high school kid hit and killed a cow while driving doughnuts in a pasture; and the cops busted a “grow house” for pot that was tucked away in the woods off Lofton Road.
I was bemoaning the fact that the big city was coming to little Himmarshee, when my phone rang. It seemed kind of early, but everyone who knows me knows I’m up with the roosters. Maybe it was Mama, calling off the wedding again. The upside would be I could skip that hair appointment. Perking up, I picked up the phone.
“I need to talk to you, Mace. I’m really in trouble.”
Similar words on the telephone had never led to anything good. I should have hung up right then. But Tony sounded so desperate.
“Okay, talk. You can start by telling me if it’s true you killed that restaurant owner in New Jersey.”
There was a long silence. I could hear him breathing.
“I can’t discuss this on the phone, Mace. Can I see you? Can I come over?”
Now, I’ve watched enough movies to know you don’t throw open your door to a suspected murderer. “No way.”
“Can I meet you somewhere, then?”
“How about Gladys’ Diner?”
“No good. That place is crawling with cops drinking coffee and eating pie. I can’t take the chance that some yahoo will try to make a name by bringing me down. An innocent customer could get hurt.” He paused. “What about your nature park? We could meet where you held the walk the other day.”
I thought of the park’s wild spaces, all those hiding places. I remembered another meeting on an early morning before Himmarshee Park opened. That encounter nearly came to a tragic end.
“The park is closed,” I said.
“I want to do the right thing, Mace. I’m going to turn myself in. But I need your help.”
Tony had known me less than a week. But already he knew to push the button for my savior complex. Am I that transparent? Thinking fast, I came up with a plan.
“All right, you can come on out here. But give me an hour. I’m not even out of bed yet.”
“Who says you have to get out of bed?” His voice took on a sexy growl. The man couldn’t help himself.
“Look, I’m doing this as a friend. That’s all we are, Tony.”
“Sorry. I appreciate it, I do. Just don’t call the cops. I’m going to hand myself over, I swear on my mother’s life; but I have to do it on my terms. You know I’d never hurt you, right?”
No, I thought, I don’t. “Sure,” I said.
“So promise me you won’t call Carlos. If I see the cops are there, all deals are off.”
I waited for a beat. He needed to believe I was thinking about it.
“Okay, Tony. I swear I won’t call Carlos.”
The moment I hung up I did two things: I got Paw-Paw’s shotgun from the closet, loaded it, and slid it under the couch in the living room within easy reach. And then I called Carlos.
_____
“C’mon in. The door’s open.”
I could see Tony through the window. Eyes darting around nervously, he came through the screen door to the porch, and then on into my living room. Faint circles under his eyes were the only outward sign of the inner turmoil he claimed to be suffering. The collar on his pink-grapefruit polo shirt lay perfectly outside his navy blue blazer. His khakis were pressed and creased. The white smile was present, if a bit less luminescent than usual.
“No cops, right?”
“No cops,” I said, failing to add the word yet. “We’re alone. Now, I want to know: Did you kill that man up North?”
He heaved a huge sigh. Studied the cypress board floor. Finally, he nodded.
“You can’t understand the pressure I was under, Mace. I’m the only son. Since I was born, everyone just assumed I’d take over for my father some day. It never mattered what I wanted.”
His dark green eyes bored into mine. “It’s my destiny.”