Target (31 page)

She turned the corners of her mouth up.

“Whoa,” he said. “Listen to that thunder.” He sat down.

“I never knew you two were so obsessed with the weather,” Delia said. “It's hard for me. Thinking of the two of you…doing…that.”

Aurelie set her glass aside and put her forehead on top of her hands on the table. But she wasn't quick enough to conceal the pulsing glow on her face.

Delia turned to Nick. “You can understand, can't you? Just like children never think their parents…do it. Parents don't think their children do it.” She took a large swallow of gin, coughed and shuddered.

“I think most parents think their children do it,” Nick said, wiping the bottom of his glass on his cuff. He'd forgotten the napkins. “Usually they think they do it all the time. Every moment they can't see them, they think their children are doing it.”

“Nicholas.”

“It's true. And I know you've done it, Delia. I wouldn't be surprised if—”

“Enough.”

“Nick,” Aurelie said mildly, but her grin was naughty.

“I'd like us to go out for dinner this evening,” Nick said to Delia. “You and Sarah and the two of us. It's time we had a nice family dinner.”

He winced, and so did both Aurelie and Delia.

“We'll go to Damalis's. I haven't been there for ages but the food's good. I'm getting a private room.”

“A soundproof private room,” Delia said. The gin was going down much more easily.

“Soundproof?” Aurelie said.

Delia gave Nick a sideways glance. “In case Sarah gets carried away.”

Aghast, Nick leaned closer to her. “What do you mean?”

Both women pinned him with stares.

“You know, don't you, Aurelie?” Delia asked.

“Yes, but I didn't think you did.”

“I know everything,” she said, raising her chin. “Everything. I always have. Not one of you could or can make a move I don't know about. You think about doing something, and I get a telegram delivered right here.” She poked her forehead. “I've got to go and talk to Sarah. What time's dinner?”

Nick did a fish-out-of-water imitation while he tried to think. “Seven? Eight?”

“Seven,” Delia said, getting up. “Where's that sweet dog, Aurelie? Don't you neglect him because your affections are elsewhere.”

“No,” Aurelie said. “He's over with Eileen.”

“Convenient,” Delia said.

“Stop a minute, both of you,” Aurelie said. She knew what she had to do. “I'm going to talk to Sarah myself. That's the way it should be.”

“Darling,” Delia said. “That would be so hard—”

“She's my sister. We've been through everything together. I'll talk to her. Nick, I'd like to put dinner off until tomorrow—if Sarah feels comfortable about doing it then.”

His disquiet showed. “If that's what you think's best, that's what we'll do.” He cleared his throat. “Should I come with you?”

Aurelie smiled at him and shook her head. “No, Nick.”

“Oh, I can't pretend anymore,” Delia said. She tossed back the rest of the gin, slapped down her glass and opened her arms wide. “I always knew you were perfect for each other. What took you so long? Come and kiss me, right now.”

“H
oover's been ignored all day,” Aurelie said. She pushed the words past a throat that felt paralyzed. “It seemed cruel to leave him alone again. I'll put him in the garden. It's not raining anymore and he loves it out there.”

Sarah let them into the guesthouse. She smiled and looked directly into Aurelie's eyes. “The sun's out again. I had the covers on the furniture. Why don't we go out there, too. We haven't done that for a long time.”

“Yes,” Aurelie said. She felt like an assassin softening up her victim. “I like to look at all the vines.” The garden was walled and the creepers old with thick, tortuous trunks.

She followed Sarah through the kitchen toward the single door to the outside. As they passed the counters, Sarah picked up two tall glasses of freshly poured iced tea. In the quiet, the ice clinked. Aurelie opened the door and Hoover pushed his way out in front of Sarah.

“Rude dog,” Aurelie said. Her jaw didn't move quite right and she could scarcely breathe. How would she move from empty small talk to telling her sister about Nick? Nick and her, Aurelie?

“Glad you've got your hat on,” Sarah said. “Wouldn't want the sun to touch that skin.” She laughed.

“Mmm, the flowers smell wonderful.” Aurelie pulled off striped covers, waited for Sarah to put the glasses on top of a wooden table aged to silver-gray, and sat on one of four chairs. “You should have a hat on, too,” she said. “You're as fair as I am.”

“Northern European heritage,” Sarah said and sat beside, rather than opposite, Aurelie. “At least, I guess that's what it is.”

That was a subject they dodged, who they were and where they came from. Aurelie looked at her pale arms. “I guess so. As far as we know. The light eyes don't help.”

“I like your eyes,” Sarah said. She wasn't smiling anymore. “You're a good sister. You've always been there for me. Thanks for that. And I think you're interesting to look at—you show you're an individual, as well as being gorgeous. And, for the record, I like your old hat.”

Aurelie parted her lips. She couldn't speak.

“Come here, boy,” Sarah said to Hoover. She patted the thigh of her white jeans. “Do you like my hair a bit longer, Rellie?”

Hoover swayed his way to Sarah's side and nudged her with his head.

“I really do,” Aurelie said in a rush. “It's softer with a little more length.” There were so many things she'd like to tell Sarah, so many good things.

“The garden is as great as ever this year,” Sarah said.

Wistaria loaded an ironwork frame around the back door and bougainvillea covered the old garden walls. Sarah's favorite colors were purple and orange and they were so bright they made Aurelie squint. “It's lovely. Your passion flower is doing so well. I didn't think it would make it.”

“You came to tell me something,” Sarah said. She rubbed Aurelie's upper arm. “Didn't you?”

The garden felt smaller, as if the walls moved closer to Aurelie. Sarah reached into a pocket and pulled out a fistful of beef jerky chips. “Okay?” she asked Aurelie, who nodded. Hoover snuffled up his windfall and sat where he could gaze at Sarah.

“I should have said something ages ago.” Sarah's bright eyes glittered with tears. “How stupid could I be? I told myself I could have what I want because I'd wanted it for so long.”

Aurelie bounced a shaky fist against her mouth. She saw her sister's face through a film. “You know why I came?” Did she, or was this something else?

“I've been watching you and Nick for several days, really watching,” Sarah said. “It isn't that I didn't guess the truth before, but I wouldn't face it.” She got up and walked away. The dog thudded along behind.

“Sarah,” Aurelie said. “You're in love with Nick. You want him so badly it hurts.”

“Yes,”
Sara said, her voice louder. “Yes, I do. And I have. And I hate him, too, because he doesn't love me.”

“He does,” Aurelie whispered.

“Don't pity me,” Sarah said. “Don't hand out stupid little platitudes. You're sleeping with him, aren't you? You're sleeping with the only man I've ever loved.” Her voice disappeared in a hoarse whisper.

“I didn't know,” Aurelie said. “Not when it first started to happen between Nick and me. And when I did notice…Sarah, I can't stand hurting you.”

Sarah shook her head and wiped the back of a hand over first one, then the other eye. Then she returned and sat down again. She let her head hang. “This is killing me. And I'm angry at you. You saw, you must have, you said you did. Why didn't you get out of the picture? Why didn't you go back to New Orleans?”

Aurelie felt full. Above all she longed to take her sister in her arms. If she could, she'd offer to leave now, but it was too late.

“Answer me!” Sarah cried.

“I didn't expect this to happen and if I went now it would be too late. Sarah, don't hate me, please. I can't bear it if you hate me.”

“I'm such a fool,” Sarah said. “You went to New Orleans, you were the lawyer with the big career. You never showed any interest in Nick. Not that way. It was awkward and I couldn't tell him how I felt.”

“No,” Aurelie said.

Sarah looked at her. “But if he'd cared about me in that way he'd have made a move, wouldn't he? He'd have come to me instead of you.” Her chest rose with her next huge breath. “You tempted him, you must have. The night you stayed at his house, is that when it happened? Did you crawl into his bed when he was—”

“Stop it!” Aurelie shook. Tears ran unchecked down her hot cheeks. “You're not yourself. I'll go. I'll go now. Leave Pointe Judah and never come back. I won't tell anyone where I've gone.”

Sarah clapped her hands over her ears and waved her head from side to side. “And would he love me then? Is that what you're thinking? He'd detest me because he'd blame me for you going. Then I wouldn't even have his friendship.”

Trembling, her teeth clamped together, Aurelie stared at Sarah. “I didn't plan it. Please believe that.”

“Does it matter?” Sarah jerked her chair closer to Aurelie's and sat there with her hands clamped between her knees. “He never saw me that way and I feel like such a fool.”

Aurelie moved her chair all the way beside Sarah's. “We haven't just been like sisters.” She settled a hand on Sarah's cheek. “We've had so much happen to us. And we kept going because we were together. You've been like my other self, like I wasn't complete without you. I don't think I could have gotten through on my own.”

“I know I couldn't,” Sarah said. She covered Aurelie's hand on her face. “You love Nick, don't you?”

“Oh, Sarah. We both love Nick. We've loved him for years.”

“But not the way you love him now, or the way I love him now.” Sarah sniffed and swallowed. “Not the way he loves you.”

The ache Aurelie felt made her heavy. She felt Sarah's hurt. “I knew you'd fallen in love with him,” she said, resting her head on top of Sarah's. “I started to see the signs right after I came home. All I worried about was how it would work out. I could
see
it in you, but I thought I was hiding what I felt.”

“You did, mostly.”

“I hoped going away would cure me, but I never stopped wanting him.”

“This is the pits,” Sarah said, crying freely. “Darn it, why doesn't he have a twin or something?”

Aurelie gave a croak of a laugh. “So we could fall in love with the same twin, or the wrong twin, you mean?”

They were babbling. But they were trying to keep what they shared intact.

“I'm afraid,” Sarah said. “Us—you, Nick, Delia and I have something too good to lose. But this feels like grief, like I can't still be part of Nick's life at all.”

“That would hurt him as much as you.” But Aurelie couldn't let herself imagine how Sarah must feel.

“There isn't a way to make this go away, is there?” Sarah said. She straightened and looked at Aurelie. “I hate what I feel. There are going to be so many times when I want to tear your hair out, or fly at Nick, but I'm not letting either of you go.”

“W
hy now?” Joan asked. “We're going to get everything we want soon. Trust me. I'm starting to get their confidence. But if you drop out now and the old man calls looking for you, all hell's gonna break loose. Vic, listen. Please don't leave me.”

He sat behind the wheel in her truck and wouldn't look at her. All of his gear was piled in the back.

“Tell me where you're going,” she said. “At least do that for me. And let me know how I can get hold of you.”

“We've already been together for too long,” he said. “Look, we've had a good run but it's over. If this job hadn't been a pain from day one I'd have kept going, at least a bit longer, but it isn't working. You saw that bitch's—Aurelie's—reaction to both of us. You won't get anywhere with her, any more than you have with Nick.”

Her hands shook. She turned sideways and held his arm. “I love you, Vic.”

He laughed.

“Don't be like that. It's been too long for you to treat me like that.”

“Damn it.” He half turned his face toward her. “Don't try to turn us into Cinderella and the fucking prince. We were great together on film. You could take it and I could give it.”

“We can still do that.”

He laughed again. “I've still got the biggest cock around, you don't still have the youngest pussy. You should have known as soon as the old man moved us on to what he calls his ‘special projects' that it was over for you.”

Anger straightened her back and sparked her pride. “I haven't seen you being passed along to some nubile chick.”

He slapped her across the mouth with the back of his hand. The sharp, coppery taste of blood ran between Joan's cracked lips.

They were on the outskirts of town. Vic had said he wanted them to have a chance to talk where they wouldn't be interrupted.

Tears ran silently. She touched her mouth and blood trickled onto her fingers.

“Shit,” Vic said. “I didn't mean to do that. You make me so goddamn mad sometimes. You don't know when to shut up.”

“Don't leave me here,” she said. Her nose ran and she wiped it on the back of her hand. She was really bleeding.

“Don't you have something to clean that up with?” Vic said.

She found tissues in a pocket and pressed them to her lips. When she ran her tongue over her teeth they didn't seem harmed.

“Please, Vic. If you go, I won't have any choice but to go back. I don't know what he'll do to me.”

“What he'll make you do, you mean?” Vic said. “That's what scares you most. Relax, enjoy one of the benefits of old age. Making fake snuff is way out of your range now. So what's the worst that can happen?”

She cried harder. Blood mixed with water and mucus. She was so hot, so scared. No, she wasn't going back. Not ever. She'd die first. “I'll die before I'll do that again,” she said. “What have I done to you, Vic? I've looked out for you. I've come up with money when you had one foot in a concrete bath. And I've done things for that money no one should have to do.”

“You sure have,” he said, expressionless again. “Look, I've got a plan. Fuck the book bit. I should have let you in on the truth from the beginning.”

Joan licked her lips. “What do you mean?” She only got more scared. “He wants to get a movie out of what we're doing. He said so. We're supposed to help him make a killing on this. He said it would be a dark film and the background would be perfect.”

“There isn't going to be any book or movie. That was just the cover Cooper came up with for us being here. I want you to stay here and pretend you're still working on it. Anyone asks, I had to report to the publisher but I'll be back. Keep your eyes and ears open.”

He looked at her sharply. “Can you do that?”

“Yes. Oh, yes, Vic. Anything.”

“I hit you too hard.” He tilted up her chin and looked at her mouth. “We've never had much of a chance, you and me. We started out up to our necks in shit and never could climb out.”

She nodded.

“You're okay,” he said. “You think I don't appreciate anything but I do.”

Joan didn't dare overreact but she grew a little warmer, and little more hopeful. “You're okay, too,” she said, and attempted a laugh. “Just tell me what to do, and I'm your girl.”

“Yeah. Okay. Cooper owes us more information. He's got it all, the whole enchilada, but he kept too much to himself. That's because he's paranoid. Old fucker. Go do it, he said, but don't ask any more questions. That's his way of giving instructions.” He ran the palms of his hands around the steering wheel. “I wasn't going to tell you, but I'm going back to San Francisco.”

“Oh, my God,” Joan said. “You're not going to ask him to explain, are you? You're not going to try getting tough with him? Vic, don't. He's got people. You know it. We're just supposed to do as we're told.”

Vic snorted. “Things are going to change. From here on in, I'm in charge and you're my insurance.”

She gave a little cry. “I don't know what you mean.”

“Piece of cake. You lay low here and become what Cooper fears most. The unknown quantity. Because if something happens to me, you'll turn him in. That's what I'll tell him. And I'll tell him there won't be time to stop you, so he'd better treat me easy.”

She shrank back. “I couldn't turn him in. Everything would come out. The kids—”

He took her by the shoulders, shook her hard. “We're not responsible for what he's done.”

“We hung with him. We helped. If we turned him in he'd have us picked up, too.”

“Stupid,” Vic said. “I'm only going to threaten him with that. You're never going to do it, but with me there and you not with me, he'll get scared.”

“He's never been scared of anything.”

“Things change.” Vic reached behind the seat and pulled a small duffel onto his lap. From inside he took a videotape in a scratched case. “Take this and hide it. I don't mean under a bed. Put it where no one will think to look. Just till I get to you with more instructions.”

She began to feel better. “Yes,” she told him, taking the tape from him. “What is it?”

“Don't ask and don't look. I don't want you messing anything up. Just use your imagination. Get it out of sight as soon as you get back to the motel. I'll need this pickup. If I pull over out of town and sleep for a couple of hours, I can make it all the way there in thirty hours. I'll use the same route we came by. It's the shortest.”

“I won't have a way to get around,” she said.

“You'll figure something out. And I also think you can get the Boards to talk to you.”

“How?” Her nerve began to crack again. “You just told me to forget about that. Why would I try getting to them now?”

She got another shove. “Because I'm telling you to. You've got to have some cover for being here. Go ahead and tell them I did that to you.” He indicated her face. “Don't whine, just let it be seen. Give them the loyal, it's-nothing routine. Make them sorry for you. Then let it out that I've left you. Make 'em work for it but let them get it out of you that we're broke and if you don't get the money from the book, you could be in trouble with collections. Make it seem like I'm out of the picture, and make sure they draw you into their circle. I'll call you every evening to see what you've got.”

“I'll do it,” she told him. “Vic, I'm sorry I've disappointed you so often.”

He sniffed. “You've got to work with what you've got. You can't help it.” He looked ahead. It was getting dark and the rain still drove straight at the windshield. “I hate the fucking weather here. Either it's hot and wet, or hot and wet. The only thing that varies is how hot.”

Joan loved the climate but she knew better than to say so. She nodded.

“You know what you've got to do,” Vic said. “Take advantage of the sympathy. They're soft, all of these people. I've left a camera for you. We don't want them to start looking for some other reason you might be here. You're writing a book and you want to feature Place Lafource, past and present families, because it's so friggin' interesting. Period. Make them trust you, want to help you—just long enough for me to deal with Cooper.”

“Yes,” she said. She couldn't even go to Buck looking like this. He'd ask too many questions—he already had. “I may need to talk to you. Can I call if I need to?”

“Shit.” He locked his arms, then slowly relaxed them. “Yeah, of course you can. Just don't do it because you're feeling lonely. The only reason to call is because you think trouble is coming my way. Misuse the privilege and I'll toss the phone, and, as far as you're concerned, disappear. You won't be able to reach me at all.”

“Why can't I just come with you?”

“I've explained, damn it. Get out. I need to get going and find somewhere to pull off and catch some sleep.”

Slowly, Joan started opening the door. She was only a mile or so from the motel. “I've got to ask you something,” she said.

“Not now.”

“Yes,
now.
” She looked at him over her shoulder. “You killed that Baily Morris, didn't you?”

He bared his teeth and chords stood out in his neck. “You don't know when to shut up.”

“You did kill her, then?”

“I didn't say that. But just you remember, all we came here with were the so-called facts we were given. It wasn't my fault Cooper's incredible tails failed to notice that Sarah wasn't the only one who worked some nights at the lab. They also didn't make sure to tell him the other chemist also had short, bleached hair and wore a ton of makeup. What I got on Sarah Board seemed watertight. She should have been at the lab that night—on her own. All I intended to do was scare her. We wanted them to make a move, didn't we? It wasn't my fault if the other one got in the way.”

“I don't know what you're saying,” Joan said. “What kind of move? All we wanted to do was get them talking.”

He sneered at her. “You are such a gullible fool.”

“You killed Baily,” she repeated stubbornly.

“Yes, I killed her,” he shouted. “I couldn't leave her around, could I? She'd have gone screaming to the cops and they'd have been bound to look at us.”

“At you,” she said and started sliding out of the vehicle.

“Wait.” He pulled her purse from her hands and took every last dollar she had in her wallet. “Work out the rent with the motel manager. I've seen the way he looks at you. Go. Now. I'll make sure you get more money soon, and Joan…”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You've arrived at your last chance. Make a mess of this, and I won't be able to help you out again.”