Flamethrower (19 page)

Ruby knocked at the front door, softly at first, then adding a little force to it. Jody might have come back without the
large neighbor’s noticing. No one answered though. Ruby peered in the windows. There was a small kitchen with quaint 1950s appliances. The counters and sink were crammed with dishes.

Ruby tried the doorknob. It was locked but flimsy. She took out her bank card and did the honors. Utterly effortless. Spike trotted ahead into the little house. The garbage container was overflowing with empty cans, eggshells, and Styrofoam containers congealed with meat. Ruby had always thought of Jody as a tidy individual yet here she was breeding varmints in her kitchen. Ruby walked from the kitchen into the living room, calling out “Hello?” Nothing.

The mess was nauseating, and Ruby was starting to think her psychiatrist couldn’t possibly live here when she noticed the elegant yellow purse on the kitchen table. Ruby had seen this purse a dozen times. She’d always admired its modishness even though she would have felt like a drag queen carrying such a purse. She contemplated the sacrilegious-seeming act of looking inside the purse and was about to open the clasp when she heard Spike knock something over in the living room. She went to see what the dog had gotten into. Clothes, luggage, and take-out containers were strewn all over the floor, and Spike was gnawing on the remains of a rotted roast chicken.

“You can’t have that.” Ruby tentatively tugged on the chicken. She didn’t know if Spike had any food aggression. He let go without growling and stared at Ruby sadly as she put the rancid carcass into the kitchen garbage can.

Ruby went back to the living room. There were two crusted dinner plates on the wood table. An empty beer bottle. A full ashtray. Socks. It didn’t quite make sense. She remembered Jody’s apartment being spare and clean. Maybe Jody was completely unraveling, and a latent filthy streak was revealing itself after years of suppression.

There was a narrow wooden staircase at the far end of the living room, and Ruby climbed up to the second floor. There was a bathroom at the top of the stairs, and the rest of the floor was one open room serving as a bedroom. There were snarled bedsheets, two half-empty coffee mugs, a pair of red panties.

As Ruby went into the bathroom to explore the medicine cabinet, Spike came running up the stairs. The puppy rushed over to Ruby then started licking her hands and wiggling furiously, as if he hadn’t seen her in years. Ruby laughed. Decided she might have completely lost her mind by now if it weren’t for the dog. It hadn’t even been a full day, and already she felt she couldn’t live without him.

The medicine cabinet held only a bottle of ibuprofen and an ancient-looking dental floss dispenser. The strangest thing in the bathroom was the shower curtain. A clear plastic number with little pockets containing translucent plastic fish. Ruby never would have thought Jody whimsical enough to buy a fish-motif shower curtain. Frivolous household items were the sort of thing she and Jody had occasionally discussed during lulls in sessions when Jody had urged Ruby to speak—to say
Whatever comes to mind, Ruby
—and Ruby had volunteered
some triviality, like having bought vivid pink flannel bedsheets on sale at Bloomingdale’s. Never in the course of these mundane chats had Jody Ray admitted to a penchant for whimsical shower curtains.

Spike trotted after Ruby as she headed back down the stairs and into the kitchen. She picked Jody’s yellow purse up off the table and opened it. Nothing but a packet of Kleenex. She turned the purse upside down, spilling out dimes, pennies, and half a roll of cherry LifeSavers.

Ruby sat down at the kitchen table. There was a Home Depot receipt inside an empty fruit bowl. Someone had bought plants and gardening tools. Ruby hadn’t thought to look at the garden.

She didn’t want to lose Spike in the shrubbery again, so she left him in the house while she went to poke around outside. She walked to the back, where a little garden area was fenced off against deer. A shovel was wedged into the ground. Ruby stared at the tomato plants, trying to envision her elegant psychiatrist digging around in the dirt. It didn’t add up.

Ruby walked back around the side of the house and to the front. A blue car was parked next to the Mustang, and Ruby’s heart did a few somersaults before she realized that it was not the Honda and that the large neighbor from down the road was standing at the front door.

“Hiya,” said the woman. “Just seeing what you’re up to here.” She was narrowing her eyes at Ruby.

“Door was open. I’m just looking around,” Ruby said.

The large woman obviously didn’t believe her.

“Do you want to come in?” Ruby asked.

“You’re inviting me in? Ain’t even your house.”

“That’s true. But I have a right to be here.”

“How’s that?”

“Jody’s husband asked me to come look for her. He couldn’t come look for her himself. He’s sick,” Ruby said.

“And he couldn’t just call her?”

“They had a little fight. She wouldn’t answer his calls.”

“Huh,” said the woman. “And you’re a friend of the family?”

“Yes. Why don’t you come in,” Ruby reiterated her offer. She wanted the woman to see that she wasn’t up to anything nefarious.

The woman grunted and followed her inside.

Spike was at the door, wiggling. He tried to lick the big woman’s hands, but she squealed and moved out of the way a whole lot faster than Ruby would have guessed she could move.

“He doesn’t bite,” Ruby said.

“I don’t like dog drool,” said the woman. She was standing in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, wiping her wet hand on her dress.

Ruby was offended on Spike’s behalf. She picked him up so he wouldn’t further violate the big woman.

“You don’t think Jody’s dead, do you?” the woman asked out of the blue. She was still standing under the archway, still wiping her hand on her dress.

“What?”

“She didn’t look good the other day. She sick or something?”

“No, of course not.”

“Okay,” the woman shrugged, “I’m just trying to help.”

Ruby said nothing. Spike was already getting heavy, so she put him down. He instantly trotted over to the big woman, sat, and stared up at her.

“My husband looked kind of funny and gray about a week before he dropped dead,” the woman said, ignoring Spike. “Name’s Dolly, by the way.” She suddenly seemed to warm to Ruby. She took a few steps toward her and extended her hand.

“Ruby,” said Ruby, shaking the hand. Ruby hated people with weak handshakes, and her estimation of Jody’s large neighbor improved when Dolly gripped Ruby’s hand firmly.

“Jody looked ill?”

“I dunno really. I’m just saying she was kinda gray looking same as Gil, my husband. Turned out he had a big of clot in his brain. One night he’s lying on the couch eating chips and watching TV. I go into the kitchen to get some juice. I come back. Boom, he’s dead. I knew right away he was dead. Just one look at him. Death is funny that way—how you know it right off.”

“Uh huh,” said Ruby. She hadn’t seen many dead people, but she did agree that dead people looked dead. No doubt about that.

“You know,” Dolly said after a pause, “I think Jody’s probably at Delaware Park.”

“Delaware Park? Why?” Ruby asked.

“That’s what they were saying. Her and the boy she had with her,” Dolly shrugged, making her chest jiggle. “I guess
the boy had a lead about a job at the track there. They were asking me for directions. I’ve been known to go to the races, you know.” Dolly lowered her voice and looked over her shoulder, as if upholders of the community standard might be lurking there, waiting to incriminate Dolly as a filthy horse-player.

“But wouldn’t they have come back? What, they’re just going to go to Delaware Park and stay there? What’s Jody going to do?”

“I don’t know about none of that,” Dolly said. “All’s I know is they asked me about how to get there. Then, next thing I know, they’re driving off and ain’t been back since. Look, I’m enjoying chatting with you, but I gotta put my feet up. I got bad varicose veins. Ten minutes standing up and I’m in pain.”

Ruby watched Dolly, who seemed familiar with the layout of Jody’s house, go into the living room, sink into an armchair, and make herself comfortable propping her legs on an ottoman.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby offered, not knowing what else one said under such circumstances.

“Ain’t your fault. It’s genetic. My pop had ’em too. Plus I’m fat. That don’t help.”

Ruby didn’t know what to say to that either, so she offered Dolly a glass of water. Dolly declined.

“Just give me a minute and I’ll be good as new,” Dolly said.

Ruby had no reason to hang around Jody’s any longer, but she didn’t want to rush Dolly. She sat down on the couch opposite Dolly and arranged Spike in her lap. He’d probably be
too big for anyone’s lap in another few weeks, but for now it was nice having him there.

Ruby glanced up at the wall clock and saw that it was just after 10 A.M. Outside, clouds had drifted over the sun and the day had turned dark.

B
efore Ruby could come up with something to talk to Dolly about, the big woman started snoring. Ruby stared at Dolly in disbelief and wondered if maybe the woman was narcoleptic. She thought of the Gus Van Sant movie where the late River Phoenix played a narcoleptic male hustler. She tried remembering how River Phoenix had died in real life but couldn’t. She moved on to thinking about River’s brother Joaquin Phoenix in the movie
Gladiator
. Which led her to thinking of
Gladiator
director Ridley Scott, who had made one of Ruby’s favorite movies,
Blade Runner
. She managed to thoroughly distract herself until her cell phone started ringing in her back pocket. She maneuvered to get the phone out without disturbing Spike in her lap.

“Yes,” she said.

“Hello,” Tobias said.

He’d gotten presumptuous enough to assume that Ruby would know his voice.

“Who’s this?” Ruby asked, to irritate him.

“Tobias,” he said impatiently.

Ruby gently pushed Spike off her lap then got up to walk outside for some privacy even though Dolly hadn’t stirred.

“Still no sign of your wife,” Ruby said, closing Jody’s front
door behind her. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk. “I’m at her house right now.”

“What’s it like?”

“It’s a mess. There’s a neighbor who thinks maybe Jody went to Delaware Park.”

“The track?”

“Yeah.”

“Alone?”

“Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Oh,” said Tobias.

“You’re still not going to tell me where you are?”

“Why should I?”

“So I could call you with updates.”

“Our current system is working for me just fine.”

“Ah.”

“I’m sorry if this is a burden to you.”

“It’s okay. I agreed to it.”

“Yes. You did. Well,” Tobias paused, “I’ll check in with you later?”

“Sure,” Ruby said.

He hung up. Ruby closed her phone. She went back inside and found both Spike and Dolly standing in the kitchen.

“Where’d you go?” Dolly asked, speaking for both of them.

“Had to take a call. Didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Uh,” Dolly grunted. “You gonna keep hangin’ around here or what?” She put her hands on her hips.

“I guess I’ll go to Delaware Park. Try my luck there.”

“Uh,” Dolly grunted again.

“How far is it from here?” Ruby asked. She had a vague
idea that Delaware abutted Pennsylvania at some point, but she didn’t know where.

“About an hour. You got a map?”

“Yeah,” Ruby nodded, “in the car. Wanna show me?”

“Sure,” Dolly shrugged. She looked around the place one last time then walked outside.

Ruby locked the doorknob lock then pulled the door shut behind her. She got her MapQuest printouts out of the car and spread them on the hood.

“What’s this?” Dolly frowned so hard her eyebrows became one.

“MapQuest.”

“Uh. Well. Delaware Park ain’t on here.”

“I know. Just show me the right direction.”

Dolly did as Ruby asked.

“Well,” Ruby said when she’d made a few notes.

“You want some chicken for that dog?” Dolly asked out of the blue.

“What?” Ruby wasn’t sure she’d heard right.

“Chicken. I got some spare chicken. You want some for the dog for the road?”

“Uh, sure, yes, thank you,” Ruby said.

“Meet me at my house,” Dolly said. She opened her car door and slowly lowered herself onto the seat.

Ruby put Spike in the Mustang then got in.

It took Dolly a few tries to get out of her car, and Ruby felt bad for her. Dolly had started reminding Ruby of Stinky, who was overweight for mysterious reasons. For the most part, the big cat got along fine, even seemed proud of his size,
but sometimes he struggled to jump up onto things, and he always looked horribly embarrassed by any lack of grace he might exhibit.

Ruby left Spike in the Mustang and followed Dolly up onto her porch.

“Wait here,” Dolly said.

Ruby waited, wondering if Dolly had something in there she didn’t want Ruby to see or if she was just a keenly private person.

After a few minutes, Dolly came back out onto the porch. She was puffing as though she’d just climbed Everest.

“Here you go.” Dolly handed Ruby a big hunk of chicken wrapped in plastic.

“This is great,” Ruby said. “Thank you, Dolly.”

“No problem,” the large woman said.

“Would you mind calling me if you see Jody come back?” Ruby had written her cell phone number on a sheet of paper from a small notebook in her glove compartment.

“I got a feeling she ain’t coming back,” Dolly said.

“Why?”

“Just a feeling I got.”

“You mean she’s gonna sell her house?”

“No,” Dolly frowned. “Just not coming back.”

It sounded so ominous that Ruby left it alone.

“Take care, and thank you,” Ruby said.

“You too,” said Dolly. She looked sad. She had been so gruff with Ruby for the first half hour of their acquaintanceship, but now that Ruby was leaving, Dolly seemed melancholy.