Tim felt a stab of anxiety in his gut. He didn’t want this visit to end. And Lesley would be harder to reach if she was under the noses of her aunt and uncle.
“Won’t the reporters call there too?” he said. “After all, they must be bugging your uncle just as much as you. Worse, maybe.”
Lesley shrugged. “Could be, but at least they won’t be after me.”
Tim sighed. How could he turn this around? Then an idea occurred to him — an inspired idea.
“I could use a getaway too,” he said. “I’m just completely walloped by everything, and the reporters will probably catch up with me soon. How about the two of us get out of town for the weekend?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lesley said.
“It’ll be great. We could go somewhere quiet and get our feet under us again.”
“Like where?”
Tim’s spirits soared. He liked talking about where better than if.
“How about up near home,” he said, “on the other side of Worcester. My uncle has a cabin out in the woods that no one uses this time of year. Has a decent kitchen, plenty of beds to choose from. No reporters will bug us there, that’s for sure.”
He looked at her hopefully.
Rob swayed with dizziness as he negotiated the concrete walkway. The cab had dropped him off on the street corner, several hundred yards from the house in which Kirsten had an apartment. The short walk was nothing compared to the running Rob had done, but he was reaching his limit.
The back yard was just as he remembered it, with the cedar hedge on one side and a picket fence stained brown across the back. An exterior wooden stairway zigzagged up the back of the house and provided a separate entrance to Kirsten’s third floor apartment. Rob slogged his way up the stairs and knocked. The inner wooden door opened and through the glass Rob saw Kirsten’s eyes widen in surprise. She pushed open the outer door.
“Rob! My God! What happened to you?”
“Long story. Can I come in?”
“Of course.”
She stood aside looking horrified as he walked in.
“You’re drenched,” she said. “Were you mugged or something?”
Rob kicked off his sneakers and then had to lean against the wall as another wave of dizziness swept over him.
“Come sit down,” Kirsten said, leading the way into the kitchen.
Rob followed her and dropped gratefully onto the chair she pulled away from the kitchen table. He put his elbows on his knees and held his head until the dizziness passed. When he lifted his head he saw Kirsten hovering nearby looking like she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She wore a terry cloth bathrobe over white pajamas with tiny pink roses. Her feet were bare.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” Rob said. “You’re all ready for bed.”
“I was just watching TV.”
She opened a drawer next to the sink, pulled out a washcloth and wet it with warm water. He held up a hand for the cloth. She ignored it and started dabbing gingerly at the cuts and bruises on his face. Rob was too tired to argue. He closed his eyes and moved his head obediently to one side and then the other in response to the gentle instructions of her fingertips.
“Oh, man,” Kirsten said. “Who did this to you?”
He started and drew his breath in sharply when she touched a gash high on his forehead. She pulled the cloth away.
“Sorry,” she said, and then went back to work.
“I don’t know who he was.”
Kirsten moved to the sink and started rinsing blood from the cloth.
“He took me to this abandoned garage and beat on me a while,” Rob said, “trying to get me to tell him how to fix the problems at the First Malden Bank.”
Kirsten stopped what she was doing and looked at him in astonishment. “You mean you were, like, kidnapped?”
Rob nodded.
“That’s terrible.” She finished wringing out the cloth.
“I didn’t feel safe going home or anywhere like that, in case he was still looking for me. That’s how I ended up here.”
“Have you called the police?”
“You know what?” Rob said. “This isn’t fair to you, barging in out of the blue and sticking you in the middle of something like this.” He stood up and took a couple of shaky steps toward his sneakers. “I better go.”
Kirsten planted herself in his path.
“Nonsense,” she said. “You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”
She guided him gently back to the chair.
“All right,” he said when he was seated again, “but I don’t want to call the cops.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I couldn’t handle all that right now. Maybe later, okay?”
“Could you handle a drink?”
Rob grimaced as his knee twinged. “Yeah, a stiff one.”
“Rum and Coke, right?”
“You have a good memory.”
Kirsten busied herself with finding ice cubes and digging a pint of Captain Morgan out of the cupboard over the refrigerator.
“You left a voice mail on my phone,” Rob said.
“Yeah, I … wanted to talk to you.”
“What about?”
She shrugged and added Coke to the glass. “I don’t know whether I should say anything. I was upset, but … well, I’ve calmed down now.”
Rob accepted the glass from her and took a sip. Kirsten crossed to the refrigerator and got a beer for herself.
“Is it about you and Tim?” Rob asked.
“Sort of.”
She used an opener to flip off the cap and then sat down at the table.
“Tim told me you guys split up,” Rob said.
Kirsten took a drink and then looked at the table as if unsure what to say. After a few moments, she said, “I don’t want to sound like a sore loser, okay?”
“Hey, I’d love to hear about someone else’s problems for a change. I’m tired of talking about mine.”
“This may have something to do with your problems.”
A cold pool of unease formed at the pit of Rob’s gut.
“Now you have to tell me,” he said.
Kirsten sighed and nodded, still looking down at the table. “Tim always tried to be nice to me, but he has this immature side, like he has to have everything his way.”
She looked up at Rob and her eyes seemed filled with new resolve.
“The night we broke up was a classic example. He was all jumpy and nerved up … which wasn’t that unusual, but this was a whole new level. Then we watched Lesley’s newscast about the problems at your bank and his entire body language changed. It was like he just won the lottery.”
Rob frowned. “Meaning what? He’s happy that First Malden is in trouble?”
“I have no idea why he acted like that,” Kirsten said, “but here’s something I do know. Tim has had this thing about Lesley ever since I met him. Whenever we were out somewhere and you and Lesley were there too, he was always sneaking glances at her. And you should have seen the looks he threw at you sometimes. Like if you gave her a hug or something, he’d get this big scowl on. But it was only there for an instant. Then he’d grin and I’d wonder if I imagined the whole thing. But it happened too many times. He’d be Mr. Charming, smiling at everyone, telling jokes. Then the minute we were in the car he’d go all sulky and start complaining about the people he was just nice to.”
“That doesn’t sound like Tim.”
“You don’t know him like I do.”
“Of course I do.”
“You’ve never been his girlfriend.”
“Well … no.”
“I’ve seen sides of him you never will,” she said.
Rob stared at her for a moment, trying to wrap his head around this.
“I still don’t get what you’re trying to say,” Rob said.