Mandaline forced another wan smile. She couldn’t tell if it was getting easier or harder to do that. “That’s okay. We’re doing a tree planting Saturday at noon at the library downtown in her memory.”
“Oh! We’ll try to make that, thanks.”
She walked out of the office and around the building. She slowly approached the SUV. After a few deep breaths, she punched the unlock button on the key fob and heard the driver’s door lock disengage.
She opened the door. It looked like they’d even washed and vacuumed it out. Julie was a tidy person by nature, but there’d always been sand on her floorboards.
Maybe the cops did it for evidence.
She wished she hadn’t thought that. That was worse. Then again, they had told her they’d dusted it for Stephen Corey’s prints and found them on the door handle, inside on the hood latch, and on the hood and inside the engine compartment, where he’d disabled the vehicle.
She blew out a breath to cut off that line of thought, too.
She set her purse on the passenger seat after climbing in and shutting the door. She inserted the key in the ignition, closed her eyes to say a silent prayer, and turned the key.
It smoothly cranked to life.
Does it get any easier? She hoped so. She put her seat belt on and put the SUV in gear.
After his call to Mandaline, Brad realized he’d forgotten to tell her about the picture he’d drawn overnight.
Dammit. He’d have to talk to her later, when she wasn’t so rattled over what had happened between her and Ellis.
Brad decided he needed to keep himself busy and out of the attic. He went upstairs to retrieve the hamper from the bathroom so he could do the wash. As he sorted clothes in the utility room, he realized when he pulled his jeans out that he’d forgotten his wallet in the back pocket.
Wasn’t the first time. At least I didn’t wash it this time.
As he went through all his pockets, he froze when he reached his right front pocket. There he found two three-pack strips of condoms and a receipt.
Slowly and with growing dread, he unfolded the receipt. Dated early that morning, at 1:59 a.m., from a convenience store a mile down the road, he’d bought two boxes of condoms. No bag, no boxes, just the receipt and condoms. He’d paid with his bank card.
A scene flashed through his mind of him ripping the boxes open and pocketing the receipt and condoms, and then dumping the bag and boxes in the garbage can on the sidewalk in front of the store after leaving.
Well, that explains why my feet hurt.
It didn’t explain why he did it in the first place. Or why he had no conscious memory of doing it at the time.
Or how he also had time to draw something in addition to his late-night shopping trip.
He took his wallet and the condoms upstairs and left them in his dresser. With all the weirdness already going on, he didn’t want to think about it right then.
He damn sure didn’t want to mention any of it to Ellis.
Ellis had too many appointments and too many things to do to simply say fuck it and write the day off as a complete loss.
He also found it impossible to get Mandaline out of his mind. Every time he caught his mind drifting to her he relived kissing her, the way her lips tasted…
Arrrgh!
I’m just horny is all. Horny enough to hallucinate nearly committing a felonious sexual assault.
Then again, in his hallucination Mandaline had willingly kissed him back and hadn’t fought him or resisted.
And hallucination was what he’d convinced himself it was. Just a horny hallucination. A one-time thing that would never happen again.
By the end of the day he’d managed to be productive…barely. His last appointment left at six and he headed home.
As he drove past Many Blessings, he considered stopping and cancelling their dinner. Then again, that wouldn’t be fair to Brad.
Not to mention he’d have to explain to Brad why he’d cancelled.
And he wasn’t about to admit that something freaky or supernatural had happened to him.
Maybe I’m the one who needs a full medical workup.
There were no such things as ghosts or spooks or haints. Things that went bump in the night had an explanation. They always had an explanation. A natural, scientific, logical explanation.
Unfortunately, he had no explanation for what had happened earlier.
When he got home, he found Brad had made some progress in the living room. He’d taped and mudded the drywall on two of the walls. Brad stood in the center of the living room, looking deep in contemplation.
“Looks good, buddy,” Ellis said.
Brad nodded. “Sorry it’s taking me so long.”
“No, it’s okay. I know you like doing it. I can live with it as long as I see progress every day.”
Brad smiled and turned to him. “I’m thinking a light green in here. Not mint, more grey, like a pale avocado or fern. Make the wall over there where we’re going to put the TV a darker shade. And do built-ins around it. What do you think?”
“I think that sounds great.” When Brad started talking in concrete terms about a design plan, it usually meant he was gearing up to bust ass on the room to get it finished.
“I haven’t decided what to paint the trim yet, though. I’m thinking lighter. Maybe a yellow or an orangey hue. I’ll know once I decide what to paint the hallway. I want it to match or at least tie in with it.”
“You’re the artist. I trust your judgment. As long as you don’t go purple or something, I’m fine with it.” He reached out and touched Brad’s arm.
They weren’t in the living room anymore. Or in either of their bedrooms. He didn’t know where they were, but they were both naked and in a large, king-sized bed. Mandaline was also naked and writhing in pleasure between them.
He jerked his hand away from Brad’s arm. Brad’s eyes looked as wide as he knew his must also be.
Ellis slowly backed toward the stairs. “I…um…” He flexed his fingers, where his hand still tingled.
Brad shook his head and slowly advanced on him. “You felt that. Tell me what you saw.”
“Nothing. It was just static electricity, that’s all.”
“Bullshit! You felt that, and you saw it.” He grabbed him by the hand and held on tight, refusing to let go, but the vision didn’t return. “You saw it,” Brad insisted. “I know you did because I saw it in your face.”
He tried to yank his hand away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Brad grabbed him by the front of the shirt and knotted his tie around his hand so Ellis couldn’t escape. “You and me, in a bed. Not either of our beds. With Mandaline. Naked and screwing her brains out. You saw it. Tell me you saw it!”
“Let go of me!” He shoved Brad away from him, nearly getting jerked off his feet before Brad let loose of his tie. In a blind panic he bolted for the stairs. “I didn’t see anything!”
Brad pounded up the stairs behind him. “Admit it. You saw it. Just like you had a vision you kissed her this morning when you stopped by her shop!”
At Brad’s words, Ellis came to a sudden stop halfway up the stairs. Brad plowed into him, taking them both down. When Ellis finally untangled himself from Brad, he sat there on the stairs, his head in his hands, elbows on his knees. “I didn’t see anything! It was a hallucination!”
From his sound of voice, Brad knew Ellis was close to an emotional or mental breakdown. He knelt in front of him and gently took Ellis’ hands in his. “It’s okay,” he told him. “It happened to me with her, too. It’s not just you.”