An Indian Affair (10 page)

Cindy glanced at her watch. She hated to wake him, but she had promised Paula that she would be back by five to monitor the phone. The woman who shared management duties with Paula was sick, and Paula had to work a double shift at the hospital in order to get a three day weekend she’d requested.

Cindy sat next to him, tucking her legs under her and touching his shoulder. He stirred slightly, turning toward her, and his shirt, loosened by her eager hands earlier, rode up on his midriff.

Cindy sucked in her breath. His ribs were taped all along his left side, and a deep, angry scratch below them was painted vivid carmine with iodine.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes moving to his placid face. He must have been in pain all day with this, and yet he had given no sign, even doing the lawn work at his grandfather’s house. She and Eli had seen him only from the back, and nothing in his movements had indicated the presence of such an injury.

Cindy tugged at his arm, harder, until the thick lashes lifted and he looked into her eyes. He was alert immediately, sitting up and looking around him.

“It’s all right,” Cindy assured him. “You were only sleeping about half an hour.”

He nodded and stretched, showing the white markings of the tape once again.

“Drew, how did you get that?” Cindy asked quietly, pointing.

He glanced down at himself, and then at her. “I’ll have to be a little neater in the future,” he said dryly, tucking in his shirt.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Fox shrugged. “The guy I went after last week didn’t agree that it was time for him to return to jail. He gave me some trouble, that’s all.”

“That’s all!” she echoed, incredulous. “Drew, you should have told me that you were hurt. You shouldn’t be out with me today; you should be in bed, resting.”

“Cindy, if I went to bed every time something like this happened on the job, I’d spend most of my time flat on my back.” He got to his feet, looking around for their scattered things.

“Is that all you can say?” Cindy challenged him.

He met her eyes. “No, that’s not all. I thought the time with you today was too important to miss, and that’s why I said nothing about my... mishap. I figured you’d react just like this.”

Cindy dropped her eyes. She was only beginning to realize how dangerous his lifestyle was.

“Does this sort of thing happen often?” she asked in a small voice.

“Now and then,” he said vaguely, picking up the hamper and setting it aside, shaking out the tablecloth. She bent to help him, and he caught her hand.

“Cindy, I want to ask you something.”

She waited.

“About what happened before, you don’t think I brought you here to... seduce you, do you?”

She met his gaze squarely. “No, Drew, I never thought that.”

His relief was only partial. “I just wanted you to see my special place, that’s all. I know that it’s secluded, but I honestly wasn’t thinking about getting you alone or anything.”

His insistence was almost ingenuous, and she smiled. “Forget it, Drew. Now can we get this show on the road before the ants eat my ankles?”

He nodded, unsmiling, and they packed up to go.

Fox was silent on the way back to the truck, and Cindy wondered what he was thinking. There were no cute remarks about the wildlife underfoot or killer fish. Cindy missed the teasing banter, but his demeanor was serious and it didn’t look like it was going to change. When he handed her into the truck she smiled at him, and he didn’t smile back.

The drive home seemed to pass in a blur of sunstruck palms and roadside stands. By the time they reached Paula’s apartment Cindy was convinced he was going to tell her that they shouldn’t see each other again. And why not? Other women didn’t refuse him; they didn’t make him work so hard. Cindy had heard enough from Paula to understand that, but she also knew that she couldn’t change her personality to suit his expectations. She was sitting in wordless misery, her hands folded in her lap like a grade schooler about to get a scolding, when Fox pulled into a parking place and shut off the motor.

“I’ll take you up,” he said briefly, and walked at her side up the two sets of stairs, a trip that took an eternity. When they came to a halt outside Paula’s door, Cindy took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.

“Thank you for my lovely day, Drew,” she said, making a brave attempt to finish everything gracefully.

He stared at her for a second, and then, with a sound like a broken sigh, he cupped her face in his hands.

“What a well brought up young lady you are,” he said quietly, rubbing his thumbs gently over her lower lip. “You look like you’re about to cry, and yet you’re able to say the right thing. Come on, princess, the last part of it wasn’t so lovely.”

“It was too lovely, Drew. That was the problem.”

He closed his eyes, and it was several seconds before he replied. “Cindy, your honesty is going to get both of us into trouble,” he said huskily, closing her lips with his fingers. “Don’t you know women aren’t supposed to make admissions like that?”

“Why not, if it’s the truth.” She turned her head, avoiding his touch. “I didn’t want you to think that what happened was your fault.”

He grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look at him. “You’re not mad at me, then?” he asked, searching her face.

“No, of course not. Did you think I was?”

He dropped his eyes. “I wasn’t sure. You’re always so polite. I thought maybe you were just toughing it out until you got home.” He shrugged. “Even if you did think the worst of me I figured you’d never tell me.”

“But what about my famous honesty?” she asked, and he shook his head.

“It would take a back seat to sparing my feelings, though, wouldn’t it?” he answered, and she permitted herself a slight nod.

“Thought so.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Now, with that behind us, can we start over?”

“By all means.”

He grinned, his first real smile since she woke him up at the beach. “Okay. I have to go down to the DA’s office to give a deposition, but it should only take an hour or so. Why don’t you change clothes and I’ll pick you up later. We can go someplace nice for dinner.”

“Drew, I can’t. I promised Paula I would stay here tonight and monitor the phone.”

He looked annoyed. “Doesn’t she have an answering machine?”

Cindy shook her head. “That’s not the point. She’s an assistant manager of the complex, and she’s paid to have a real person on duty to respond to real emergencies.”

“Then why isn’t she doing it?”

“She has to work. Come on, Drew, I’m doing her a favor. You can understand that.”

His expression grudging, he said, “I guess so.” He smiled dryly. “You can see that I don’t like anything to interfere with my plans.” He brightened. “I know. I’ll get some take-out stuff and bring it back here for us.”

Cindy didn’t reply.

He read her silence correctly. “No good, huh?” He eyed her intently. “Afraid to be alone with me?”

“No, Drew, that’s not it. It’s Paula’s place and I don’t think it would be right for me to have company here when she’s not home.”

Fox rolled his eyes. “You take this Miss Manners thing too seriously, do you know that?”

She was about to protest when he raised his hand, forestalling her. “All right, all right. Far be it for me to question your judgment on etiquette, though I think Paula is the last person on earth who would care.”

“I’d care,” Cindy said, and he relented.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” he said softly, stroking her hair.

“Okay,” she said, and then touched his arm. He studied her, waiting for the question he could sense was coming.

“Drew, why do you have to give a deposition on a Saturday night? Is it an emergency or something?”

He looked as though he regretted bringing it up. “Sort of,” he hedged.

“What does that mean?”

He sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping. It was a gesture of resignation, and she knew that he was about to tell her.

“You know that guy who gave me this?” he said, pointing to his taped ribs.

She nodded mutely.

“Well, I tracked him down in a bar, and when I tried to pick him up he created kind of a ruckus. He came at me with a broken beer bottle, but somebody got in the way and took the cut instead. I have to give my version of what happened and swear to it.”

Cindy licked her lips, which were suddenly dry. “Drew, that could have been you.”

“It wasn’t,” he said firmly. “It wasn’t me, and I don’t want you to think about it anymore.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to follow those orders,” she replied, looking away from him.

The phone rang inside the apartment, and Cindy quickly unlocked the door. “I have to get that,” she said, glancing back at Fox.

He leaned forward and kissed her briefly on the forehead. “Go ahead,” he answered. “I’ll call you later,” he repeated.

She left the door ajar, and she heard him whistling as he walked away.

* * * *

He didn’t call. All that evening, every time the phone rang, Cindy was sure it was Fox. But she heard from three tenants, Paula’s aunt, and her own mother, everyone but the person she most wanted to be on the other end of the line. As it got later, she began to worry. What could have happened to him? She knew that he would have kept his word if it were possible, and the only conclusion she could come to was that something was wrong.

Paula returned from the hospital around eleven-thirty, so exhausted from her double shift that she didn’t pause for conversation but just stumbled into bed. Cindy fretted for another hour and a half, and then went to bed, certain that she would not be able to sleep. She had pulled the phone with its long extension cord into her room, and she drifted in and out of a fitful doze, waiting for it to ring.

When it finally did, she jumped up so suddenly that she knocked over the lamp on her bedside table reaching for the receiver. She winced as it crashed into the wall, and then plunged to the floor, making enough noise to wake Paula, and possibly several of her deceased relatives.

After scrabbling for the receiver in the dark, Cindy lifted it to her mouth and said, “Drew?”

‘‘Yeah, it’s me.” He sounded very tired.

“Drew, what happened? Where are you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I’m at the county jail.”

Her heart missed a beat. “You haven’t been arrested?”

“No, no. Although it would hardly surprise anyone if I had been.” He paused, and she heard a deep inhalation. He was smoking.

“I got held up after I gave the deposition,” he explained. “The assistant DA who took it brought me over here to look at a lineup. A jumper I caught a few years ago got out on parole and killed a woman. He was using an assumed name, and I had to identify him as the person I returned to custody, and the victim’s daughter had to identify him as the guy she saw leaving her mother’s house.” He didn’t say the experience had been harrowing, but she could hear it in his drained, toneless delivery.

“Killed,” Cindy repeated. “He killed a woman?”
 

“That’s what the prosecutor thinks,” Fox replied. “And from what I know of the guy I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.”

There was a brief knock, and then Cindy’s door opened. Paula entered the room, wearing two ounces of lace lingerie and a pained expression.

“What broke?” she demanded. “I heard a noise.”
 

“Just a second,” Cindy said into the phone, and then covered the mouthpiece.

“The lamp fell,” Cindy replied to Paula, “but it didn’t break. I’m sorry. I knocked it over in the dark.”
 

Paula, her shadowy form outlined by the hall light behind her, folded her arms. “Who’s that on the phone? As if I didn’t know.”

“It’s Drew,” Cindy answered patiently.
 

“Somebody ought to buy that guy a watch,” Paula stated irritably and slammed Cindy’s door behind her.
 

“I guess Paula heard the phone,” Fox said when she got back on the line.
 

“Yes,” Cindy said, not going into the rest of it.
 

“Look, I’m sorry I woke both of you up. I just got involved and the time sped by. It wasn’t until later that I realized you might be worried when you didn’t hear from me.”
 

“I was worried. I couldn’t sleep.”
 

“It was only a phone call, Cindy. It wasn’t like we had a date firmed up and I missed it.”

Cindy was silent. Was he chastising her, asserting his independence?
 

“You still there?” he asked, his tone lighter.

“I’m still here.”

“All right,” he said. “I’m a jerk. I’m not used to anybody worrying about me, that’s all. I really was tied up with the police until a few minutes ago. I would have waited until morning to get in touch but I’ll be gone by then.”

“Gone?” she repeated faintly, her spirits sinking further.