Fast Lane (28 page)

“
That’s okay,” he said. He moved his body so it blocked the door. “Mind if I come in?”

“
No, not at all,” I stepped aside and let him through. “How are things going for you?”

“
I can’t complain.” He sat down, still grinning.

“
I’m glad to hear it. How’s the wife?”

“
Terrific.” He beamed. “She’s been feeling great lately. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier, and it’s really—”

“
Yeah, well, I’m happy for you, Max. And how about your boys, they causing too many problems for you?”

“
Not at all. I’m so proud of those boys, Johnny. Stevie just made his football team, and Ben is an awfully good kid. You ought to come over sometime and see them. The whole family would like it. Anytime you want, Johnny.”

“
I’d sure like to, but—” But why the hell was he grinning? “But I just don’t have time right now. I appreciate the offer, though.”

“
Why don’t we set a date? How’s next Friday?”

“
We’ll see,” I muttered. A dull throbbing started in my temples. There was a reason he was grinning like that. What the hell was it? “What do you want to talk about?”

“
One of my cases—”

“
That’s good,” I nodded. “See what happens when you listen to me? You take a little responsibility for yourself, and everything works out fine. So you need some help on it?”

“
Well, sort of.”

“
Be glad to help,” I said. “It’s good seeing you standing on your own two feet.”

“
Thanks. It’s not exactly help I need. I just need some information.”

“
Yeah?” I asked, puzzled.

“
Mary Williams hired me to find her parents.”

The other shoe dropped. So that was why he was grinning like a bastard. A sneaky, underhanded bastard. He had gone behind my back and talked Mary into hiring him. She was going to fire me—why shouldn’t she if she already hired another detective? And . . . .

And if I was going to start looking for coincidences, I had an awful big one right under my nose. There was a reason Eddie was acting the way he was. There was a reason the two of them came to my office, one right after the other. Someone had shaken a hornet’s nest and tossed it down Eddie’s pants. And the son of a bitch was sitting across from me, grinning like there was no tomorrow.

“
So that’s it, huh?” I asked.

“
So that’s what?” he asked right back, playing dumb.

“
You went behind my back and . . . .” And if he didn’t wipe that grin off his face I was going to do it for him!

“
I still don’t understand what you’re talking about,” he said, still playing dumb, still grinning from ear to ear.

“
I think you do. I’m disappointed in you, Max. I thought we were friends. I thought you appreciated all I’ve done for you, making you just about a partner and all. But, well, if you’re going to show it by sneaking behind my back, well, I’m just disappointed.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”

“
I don’t suppose there’s much you could say, after what you’ve done.”

“
I’m sorry you feel that way, Johnny. I didn’t sneak behind your back, though. Mary wasn’t happy with the way you were doing the job so she hired me.”

“
I got to disagree with you.” I stared at him, my eyes starting to water from the unfairness of it. From the underhandedness and disloyalty and treachery. I turned away from him, choking back the pain. “I don’t think we can do business anymore. I think you better leave while you still can.”

“
If that’s the way you feel, okay. I still need to talk with you.”

“
About what?”

“
I’d like to know what you found out about Mary’s case. I’m still working for her, and maybe you have some information that can help me.”

I shook my head. “Max,” I said, sadly. “You shouldn’t have treated me like that, because you didn’t get anything from it. Or maybe you got exactly what you deserved. You don’t have a case anymore. Your client’s dead.”

“
Is that so?”

“
She committed suicide. She put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Eddie Braggs, the editor at the Examiner, just told me.”

“
I didn’t know she was dead, though,” he said. “I just came back from Denver Memorial and she was doing fine. I think you must have misunderstood.”

I sat back in my chair. A coolness made me lightheaded. “She’s in a coma,” he said, pursing his lips. “But the doctors think she’ll be coming out of it any day now. It’s remarkable, it really is, Johnny. She was shot in the head, right by the temple, and the doctors think she’ll make a full recovery. She’ll be able to tell us what happened.”

I could hardly believe it. It did something to me—took kind of a weight off my heart. Because, after all, she was my own flesh and blood, and she was going to have a second chance. I was so choked up hearing it, I almost started bawling. “That’s wonderful,” I gushed, fighting to keep the tears held back. “She’s such a sweet kid. I hated to think of her dead.”

He stopped grinning, completely. There was something in the way he was looking at me, like he was disappointed. Disappointed that I’d feel glad for Mary. That I’d want her to be okay. But, how could she be? I saw the hole in her head. I saw her brains leaking from it. At least, I was pretty sure I did.

Anyway, having Max look at me that way made me sore. I realized why he’d been grinning before. I understood what he was trying to do. I felt the blood pushing into my head. I could feel the hotness of it. I shoved my hands in my pockets, hoping they’d stay there. Hoping I could keep from tearing that heartless son of a bitch apart.

“
She’ll be okay.” He nodded, still staring at me. “The doctors think she’ll be coming out of the coma any time now. Well, I—”

“
What did you come here for?”

He tried bringing back his grin, but couldn’t. “I-I th-thought you could help me. According to her adoption records, she came from an Oklahoma City hospital. Mary told me you went out there and didn’t find anything?”

“
Yes sir,” I said. “Why don’t you give it a try and see if you have any better luck.”

I almost laughed out loud thinking about it, because there was nothing for him to find. Even if he met up with Rose, she wasn’t going to say anything to him. How could she? She’d have a tough time saying much of anything the way her tongue had swollen up. When I left her, it was thicker than one of those store-bought salamis. Anyway, he’d have to dig her up to find her, and six feet is a lot of digging.

“
I guess I’ll have to,” he muttered. “I should probably wait until I can talk to her before going. I don’t know if it would be right charging up expenses otherwise.”

“
I guess that’s reasonable.” I could see how he’d feel that way. If she didn’t pull through, he’d have to eat the expenses himself.

He tried smiling. “There’s really no reason for you to be mad at me, Johnny. Anyone else would’ve done the same.”

“
I don’t know if I see it that way,” I said. “You let me down, Max. I really don’t see how I could forgive you. But it’s nice to hear you’re able to get cases on your own. You know you’re not going to get any more from me.”

“
Johnny, I’m sorry, I’d be will—”

“
Don’t even bother saying it,” I cut him off. “Have yourself a nice life. Say hello to the wife and boys for me.”

He stood up, holding his stomach and looking like he was going to let out with a belch. “Well, er . . . .” He started to reach out his hand to me, had enough sense to realize how ridiculous it looked, and pulled his hand back.

I turned away from him and started studying an old case report. I heard a loud belching noise, and then the door closed shut. I put the report down and tried to think things through.

It didn’t make any sense for Mary to be alive. I saw what the bullet did to her. I saw the hole in her skull. I saw her brains. She shouldn’t have been able to survive that. But, well, the world’s an awful funny place. Things just don’t always make sense. Anyway, Mary was alive. When I first heard the news, I hadn’t realized what it meant. I hadn’t realized what I was going to have to do.

Of course it’s possible she wouldn’t remember a thing when she came out of her coma, but how could I risk it? What if she remembered everything? Even if I fled to South America, I would have to live knowing she knew and I just didn’t see how I could do that. I couldn’t live with my only daughter thinking ill of me. Thinking I’d try to hurt her.

Oh Lord, I knew what I had to do—and it was so hard killing her the first time. Why are you making me do it again?

Chapter 32

When I called Denver Memorial to find out which room Mary was in, the receptionist seemed taken aback, as if I was asking something unusual. She left me hanging for five minutes before she returned and gave me the room number. Well, there was nothing unusual about my call (but why did she sound so nervous?). If you want to send someone flowers, you want to know what room to send them to, right? (If your only daughter’s lying critically wounded in a hospital, wouldn’t you at least send flowers?) Anyway, I had to find out her room number and I couldn’t go there and ask.

I didn’t want to head over to the hospital right away. I wasn’t ready yet, so to kill time I walked over to the Corner Diner. Before going in, I peered through the window and saw that Carol was working the counter. I walked in and gave her a wink.

She tried smiling, but couldn’t hold onto it. She came over and gave me a timid look. “Hi there, Johnny. I want to apologize for some of the things I said the other day.”

“
I guess I should too,” I said. “Why don’t we just forget it?”

She dawdled with her dishrag, spending more time than she needed mopping up in front of me. “You know”—she hesitated—”you take me for granted.”

“
I guess sometimes I do. I apologize for that too.”

“
You always come in here expecting me to cheer you up.”

“
You almost always do a good job of it.”

“
I don’t mind doing it, Johnny. I like making a fuss over you. Sometimes though, I wish you’d feel a little more about me like I feel about you.”

I gave her a slow look, up and down. Carol was nothing to sneeze at. A cute little thing, all fit snug and tight into her size four uniform. She was blushing a bright red, which offset her blue eyes and blond bobbed hair nicely. Looking at her made me smile, my first genuine smile in days.

“
You want to make a guess how I feel about you?”

She pouted. “You always treat me like I’m your sister!”

“
It could be that I’m just shy.” Or that I really did like her and was afraid it would end up the way it always ends up. The way it always has to end up.

“
I never took you as the shy type.”

She was still blushing and it still looked nice on her. I wondered how bright she’d blush if we were alone together. Or whether she would be blushing all over her body. We chatted some more, and I asked what time she got off. Well, not until eleven. Did she have any plans? Not really, just going on home to bed. Would she like to go out for a drink? Well . . . sure!

We arranged for me to pick her up after work. I held her hand while she was standing across from me. It was really just a school kid type of thing to do, but it felt nice. It made me start thinking that maybe this time could be different. And it was funny, but during it all I had forgotten about Mary. About what needed to be done. And then I remembered.

“
Ow!” She tried to jerk her hand away.

I stared up at her dumbly, and then realized I had her hand in mine. And my knuckles were squeezed white. I let go.

“
I didn’t want to hurt you,” I tried explaining, the words rushing out of me. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. Please believe me.” And then I stared up, confused, because it took me a while before I realized she wasn’t Mary.

“
I guess I’m okay,” She had her hand up against her mouth, sucking where I’d hurt her. “You just surprised me. What happened?”

“
I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I started thinking about a case that I’ve been struggling with. I guess sometimes I get too caught up in my work.”

She reached over and rested her hand on mine, giving me a little squeeze. And then she gave me one of the prettiest smiles I ever saw. “I’ll just have to keep your mind off work then.”

We talked some more and she made sure I knew that the incident was forgotten. Hell, as far as she was concerned, it never happened. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had no choice. I told her I’d be back later to pick her up, and she brushed her lips against my cheek before she turned away, blushing.

I was whistling to myself when I got in my car. She’d had her chance to stick the old needle in and she passed it up. It looked like my string of hard luck with the gals was changing. I guess that’s all I ever had before. I guess I always ended up with the wrong type—the type who never left me any choice about how things had to be.

None of the others could ever pass up the needle. That’s why it always ended up the way it did. They couldn’t keep from saying those things to me. Or looking at me that way. You must know that look. The one where they drop their jaw, and as they’re gaping at you, their lips twist just enough into a sneer to make you feel lower than a chicken turd. And you’d do anything to stop it.