Green Lake (30 page)

Eris nodded, and they were both silent for several moments. Then he lowered his head to kiss the tip of her nose and one swollen cheek. “Why didn't you tell me, Madeleine?”

She looked up at him. “I thought you might see it as an excuse to keep you here.”

“Russell told someone at the lake office you got a grant.”

“I told him I did.”

“Did you?”

“No. I'm supposed to go and see some people today about a job.”

Eris's pulse quickened. “Where? In the city?”

“Yes.”

“Is it what you want?” Eris asked, watching her face.

She heard something in his voice and touched him on the chin. “Yes. Almost as much as I want this baby. Do you?”

He swallowed and reached behind himself to take out his wallet. He opened the leather, withdrew the ring inside, and put down the wallet to pick up her left hand. Eris put the ring on her finger, and then he looked at her, his dark eyes searching her face.

Madeleine sucked in her breath as she stared at the simple, elegant cut of the diamond. Finally she lifted her gaze to Eris, who was waiting.

“Don't say no,” he croaked. “I lost the receipt.”

Her lips curved upward and she lifted his left hand in hers and pressed a kiss on his bare ring finger.

His heart thudded in his chest and he pulled her to him. In a strangled whisper he said what he had been longing for some time to say, and he was rewarded with a tiny noise of joy and a deep, lingering kiss. When she finally pulled away from him she asked, “Where are we going to live?”

“Somewhere else.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Sherman Tanner heard what sounded like a moan as he walked his dog up the road that evening. His dog heard it, too, and it wanted to investigate the source. Sherman let the dog have its head, and it leapt into the brush, its leash snaking along behind it. Sherman followed, and his nose immediately picked up the scent of blood. His nostrils widened and he filled his lungs.

Then he saw a blood-covered arm jutting up, white bone sticking out where the flesh was torn.
Sherman moved closer, and closer yet, until he could see all of the injured man.

Extensive,
Sherman told himself as he looked over the man's arms, legs, and trunk. The right leg was twisted unnaturally and was obviously just as broken as the arm that jutted up. Even the neck appeared bent at a strange angle.

Sherman
looked hard at the man's face and finally recognized him. It was the other conservation officer. The good looking one. Used to be, anyway.

His dog was getting close to that torn flesh, sniffing at the white bone, and
Sherman called it away. Another moan sounded, as if the injured man knew someone was near, and Sherman leaned down to look into his face.

“How long have you been here?” The man's lips opened and dark red blood
streamed out of his mouth. “Ooh,” said Sherman, and he shook his head. Things didn't look good. There were obviously internal injuries as well as broken bones. Sherman guessed he'd have to cut his walk short and go back home to call someone about the broken CO.

Or would he?

He had already turned to call the dog when the thought struck him. He looked up and down the deserted road, then turned back to stand over Dale Russell. He unzipped his pants. As he reached in his underwear he said, “I do this because I like to think it gives a dead thing one last taste of life.”

The injured man's head moved half an inch, as if he were trying to turn away, and when Sherman Tanner ejaculated, Dale Russell's chest heaved one final time and then was motionless.

Sherman zipped his pants and waited, watching for nearly ten minutes before being certain the man was in fact dead. Then he ran back to his house to find his wife, Gudrun. She was going to have to help him get the man to their backyard.

This time they would need their shovels.