Suzy Q.
Funny how you can always tell, somebody died and they both feel guilty. He's some bigwig, I seen him give speeches. She's a teacher and real serious about it. Wonder if they killed somebody like I killed Jack. Who would they both not like enough to do that? Maybe they're in love and it was her husband or his wife, or both—Where would you put the bodies nowadays? With that new mall over the swamp. On top of old Jack, him lying there looking up the little girls' dresses while they walk over him, and he can't do a damn thing about it.
That's a nice thought, him all bones but still can see. And a bone down there but no juice to go with it. He who lives by the bone shall die by the bone, or the frying pan. That was a mess on the rug, good thing we had so many cats.
Maybe he couldn't see so good, his eyes hanging out like that. I remember when I drag him from the trunk of the Chevy into the swamp, I almost turn him over so he look down into hell, then thought no, make him look up at God and Jesus and Mary. Now he looks up the dresses of little girls. That's funny. And here comes my favorite little girl, with her coffee and bread for me.
Sara
"Here you go, Suzy Q. Sweet stuff today; a couple of almond rolls left over."
"You sweet stuff you'self. Thank you kindly." She carefully lined up the rolls and coffee on the cart's fold-out shelf.
She was wearing several layers of clothes in the gathering heat, her face red and sweating. "You don't have to wear all that, do you, Suzy Q.? You look so hot."
She nodded. "I don' mind being hot, and it keep the rays out. Came down here to get hot, but that was before the rays. Don't want the cancer."
Sara adjusted her hat. "That's a point."
"You know," she went on, "I could leave the extra clothes somewhere, and nobody would take them. I know that, even though the town's full of murderers, but the problem is, I might not remember where I put them. Come winter I'd get awful cold."
"It's already November, Suzy Q. It doesn't get real cold anymore."
She laughed, a nasal wheeze. "That's what they say, all right. You watch out, though." She took a sip of coffee and pushed on. "Watch out for them murderers."
Always good advice, Sara thought, watching her rattle away, waiting for her to say it. She stopped and turned. "You know it snowed the day I was born?"
"No kidding!" Suzy Q. nodded slowly and pushed on. Sara went back into the place.
Jose was cross-slicing onions. "That's probably enough. It's too damn hot." The onion flowers really sold when it cooled off. This year, it looked like the aliens would get here before winter did.
And here comes Senor Alien himself, resident alien, Pepe Parker. "What'll it be, Pepe?"
" Cafe con leche, por favor." He sat down at the bar. "And a date, if you dance."
"What?"
"New club opening in Alachua tonight. Old stuff—tango, samba. New club, new girl, what do you say?"
She smiled and put a cup of milk in the microwave.
"Pepe, I haven't danced in years. I had an accident, and I'm still an operation away from the dance floor." The bell rang and she took the milk out. "Thanks for asking, though."
"Professor Bell told me about that ... horrible thing. They ever catch who did it?"
"No." She stirred a heaping spoon of Bustelo into the cup and brought it over with the sugar. "I think I know. But I could never prove it."
" Gracias. Who?"
She looked around. The two customers had left and Jose was buried in his tabloid. She lowered her voice. "You're no Boy Scout, are you, Pepe? I mean, you know how the world works."
"As much as anybody, 1 suppose."
"We have to pay protection, to keep the cafe from getting gang-banged. Is that shocking?"
"No. Sad, but no."
"There's a slimeball comes in here at noon today, every first of the month, to pick up his five hundred bucks. He calls himself 'Mr. Smith,' but everybody knows he's Willy Joe Capra."
"He did it?"
She nodded. "Or at least knows who did it. He's made that pretty clear."
"And you can't go to the police?"
She shook her head wordlessly for a moment, and then knuckled at tears, her mouth in a tight scowl.
Pepe
He handed her the napkin that she'd just handed him. "The bastard."
She pressed it to her eyes. "I, maybe I should. But what I'm afraid of, I go to the police, they pick him up, he gets off. And a week or a month or a year later, I'll have another accident. During which, Willy Joe will be in church or talking to the Lions Club or something."
"The devil never forgets a face. People like him eventually get what they deserve."
"No." She balled up the napkin and stuck it in her pocket. "This is the real world, remember?"
Pepe poured sugar into his coffee and stirred it slowly. "Nothing people like you or me could do. Shoot the bastard, we wind up choosing the door."
"Instead of getting a medal." She wiped the clean counter in front of him. "You want something to eat with that?"
"No, thanks. Just had breakfast." He'd skipped it, actually, needing to lose a few pounds. He only had one suitcase of clothes, and wanted them to last another couple of months. The kilt and trousers were getting tight around the waist, and suspenders had gone out of fashion last year.
He drank the coffee fast enough to get a little buzz. It would be nice if he could do something about this Willy Joe character.
He allowed himself an adolescent fantasy about Sara's gratitude. But that sort of thing wasn't really in his job description.
He put a ten under the saucer and waved adiosto Sara and her partner. Not for the first time, he wondered whether they had something going. Their mutual affection was obvious.
Her body would be unusual. But that could be an attraction.
In that erotic frame of mind, he stepped out of the cafe and stopped dead in his tracks, paralyzed by a woman. She was dressed like any other student, jeans and halter and sun hat. But she had a classic chiseled beauty and perfect carriage, and she radiated sex.
Gabrielle
It barely registered that the handsome Cuban took one look at her and stood like a deer caught in headlights. Whenever she walked through campus she was caressed by eyes. Did any of them ever recognize her from the films? Not likely. She'd only had face parts twice.
She hated physics, but couldn't put it off any longer. She had to take a chemistry elective next semester, and the only ones she could take required physics.
So they were doing fluid dynamics today. A doctor does need to know about fluids. In her other persona, she knew plenty about them. Semen stings your eyes and makes your eyelashes look as if semen has dried on them. But it was better than the fake stuff Harry sometimes squirted on her. Soap solution and glycerine and some white powder. It stung the eyes even worse, and made you smell like a cheap whorehouse.
That was one of her father's favorite observations: You smell like a cheap whorehouse. Just before she left home, she was able to make the obvious rejoinder: You would know, Dad, wouldn't you? Someday she'd have to find a cheap whorehouse and go in for a sniff.
One nice thing about physics was the building, air-conditioned to the max. She went through the door and it was like walking into a refrigerator. She put her books and hat down on a table and patted the sweat from her face and hair with a handkerchief.