Sue (21 page)

Melvin was quiet a moment and Sue
hoped she hadn’t hurt his feelings, but then he agreed. “That’s probably a lot
easier anyway. What time do you want to go?”

“How about in an
hour?
You want to take my car or yours?”

“I’ll come for you.”

Melvin
arrived
sporting jeans and a short-sleeved t-shirt that said
this is the shirt I
wear when I don’t care
.”

Sue smiled.
“Cute
shirt.”

“Cute?” Melvin looked down at
himself. “Cute? I don’t wear cute clothes. I’m no girl.”

“Okay, sorry. It’s not cute. It’s,
uhm
, different.”

“Different I will accept.” Melvin
smiled. “You look nice.”

Sue blushed. She had slipped on a
pair of faded jeans and a light green button-up blouse. Her hair was just long
enough that she’d been able to work it into a French braid. She’d even applied
a coating of light pink lipstick. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Melvin smiled
shyly.

Sue cleared her throat. “All right
then.
Ready to hit the road?”

”Ready and willing,” he said as he
stepped out onto the porch. Sue turned to lock the door and they walked out to
the car together. Melvin slipped into the driver’s seat and Sue slid into the
passenger side. He looked at Sue.
“Where to?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just drive
around in the country. Get on the highway and head out by the Christmas wreath
factory, north of town. I’ll pick a road and we’ll take it.”

“Sounds good to
me.”

Sue gave Melvin directions, which
eventually led them to an old farmhouse, long abandoned. “Why don’t you pull in
here? We can check the place out.”

Melvin drove up an overgrown drive
and parked in a bare patch beside the house. He turned off the ignition and
turned in his seat to face Sue. “Want to tell me what’s going on? This wasn’t
some random drive. You had this house as a goal the whole time, didn’t you?”

Head hanging, Sue whispered, “Yes.”

“Want to tell me why?”

Staring at her lap, Sue swallowed.
“Zeke and I use to come here sometimes.
To be alone.”
She could feel the heat in her cheeks and kept her face averted.

Melvin stared at the house, his
displeasure obvious. “Well, now we’re here.”

“Melvin.” Sue raised her head.
“Please look at me.”

Melvin turned and met her eyes.

“It’s not what you think. I don’t
want to reminisce about being here with him. This isn’t some kind of pleasure
trip down memory lane for me. I just wanted to see if he’s been staying here.
I’m so scared all the time. I just want him found.”

Melvin’s eyes, which had been hard
as ice, melted at her words. “Okay. I understand. In fact, it makes perfect
sense. Let’s take a look.” He reached under his seat and pulled out the case
that held his gun.

Sue stared.

Melvin raised his eyebrows
defensively. “If he’s here, I want to be prepared.”

“You can’t just shoot him!”

“What?” Melvin frowned. “I’m not
going in with the intention of shooting him. I’m not a vigilante, Sue. But if he
attacks first, or tries to run, then you’re damn right I’ll bring him down.”

“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
She dug to the bottom of her bag and brought out her own gun.
If anyone
brings down the bastard, it’s going to be me.
“Ready?”

“Ready.”

They flipped off their safeties and
walked the perimeter of the house, saw no signs of habitation, and went through
the front entrance. The door hung open, useless and warped on rusting hinges.
No footprints, other than their own, disturbed the dust-covered floors.

“No one’s here,” Melvin stated the
obvious. Relaxing their trigger fingers, they moved from room to room,
separating, Melvin going to the kitchen and dining room and Sue to the
bedrooms.

Visions leaped at Sue as she
entered the room she and Zeke always used. She recalled the red paisley
comforter that they laid on the floor. Pictured Zeke lying back, smoking a
cigarette, after they were both satisfied. She could hear his words, telling
her how sexy she was, how hot. Melvin broke into her memories, ripping her back
to the real world as he hollered from another room. “What?” she
called,
voice shaky. She replaced her weapon in her purse.

“Did you find something or are you
ready to go?”

“No, no, I didn’t find anything.
Let’s get out of here.”

Back at the car, Melvin
replaced his weapon and slid the keys into the ignition. He paused, staring out
the windshield at the greening fields around them. Sue slid into her seat,
pulled her door shut, and waited.

Melvin tapped the top of the
steering wheel lightly with his fingers but didn’t look at Sue. “You hate the
guy, right?”

“Of course!
Why would you even ask that?” She put her hand on his arm.

“I just needed to know.” He
started the car and began to ease over the bumpy lane back to the road.

“Now you do. But being out
here again is weird.
Brings back bad memories.”

Melvin seemed to sense her mood and
stayed quiet as they began the trip back toward town. At last he broke his
silence. “If you want to look for Zeke around here maybe we should research
some other abandoned buildings. Like Will had me do when we were trying to find
you.
”

Sue knew all about the searches.
“That’s a great idea.” She smiled and saw the tension slide from Melvin’s
shoulders. “Do you want to do it since you already have an idea what to look for?”

“No problem.” Melvin gestured
toward a small diner up ahead. “Want to eat there?”

Sue’s mind went blank,
then
she remembered their plans included lunch. “That’d be
great.”

Lunch passed quickly as they each
tried to think of local places Zeke might hide out. They pretty much drew a
blank but Melvin promised to do some research. Again, Sue almost told him about
her own searches, the ones for missing women. But at the last minute she held
back. She wasn’t quite sure that he wouldn’t tell Will and she didn’t want her
plans thwarted.

Eventually, Melvin dropped her off
at home and Sue spent the afternoon napping and reading.

Chapter 31

The next week was particularly busy
at work, but otherwise uneventful. Sue saw Melvin for at least a moment or two
each night. One evening they moved the coffee table out of the way and he
helped her practice her self-defense moves. They moved around each other like
wary dancers. Melvin tried several approaches, as a mugger might, and she
deflected him at every turn. Before long, they were both breathless. They
laughed at themselves. The setting of her cozy living room as an attack site
seemed ludicrous.

Sometime during their exertions, a
strand of her hair slipped from her ponytail and lay strung across her face.
Melvin reached out with his fingertips and tucked it behind her ear. His touch
was so tender. Sue experienced a rush of sensation, startling her with its
intensity. She looked up at him, eyes wide, still a little breathless. He
smiled down at her, creating a small burst of elation within. The moment
stretched.

Sue yearned silently, her need
drawing him in like an invisible net. He surrendered to the impulse and softly
touched his lips to hers, then pulled away. Their eyes linked. Wordless
feelings passed between them. Melvin lowered his head for another kiss and Sue
wrapped her arms around his back, pressed her palms into his shoulders, pulled
him closer. When the kiss ended, they continued to embrace and Sue laid her
head against his chest, listening to his heart beating, inhaling his scent.
Passion raced through her body, confused her,
heated
her blood. She hadn’t expected to ever feel this type of arousal again, at
least not with someone as ordinary as Melvin. A picture of Zeke entered her
mind and with that, a reminder of the sordid activities in her recent past. She
resisted, but her thoughts were insistent and her conscience prodded her like
an annoying child demanding attention. Reluctantly, she disengaged from
Melvin’s arms and stepped back.

He allowed his arms to drop to his
sides and stared at her with concern. She knew he worried that he’d made the
wrong move, knew he waited for her rejection.

“Melvin, I have to tell you some
things. They won’t be easy to hear, but I owe it to you to be honest.” She
twisted the bottom of her t-shirt in her hands.

“You’re going to say I shouldn’t
have kissed you.
That you don’t have those kinds of feelings
for me.
Aren’t you?”

She looked at him in surprise. “No.
Not at all.
But you might think what I say is worse.”

He reached out and gently
extricated her shirt from her hand, then squeezed her fingers lightly. His eyes
shone with obvious affection, and something else.
Apprehension?
“Go on.”

“You don’t know the things I’ve
done.” Sue was flooded with shame but forced herself to meet his gaze.
“Who I’ve been with.
How I’ve acted. There’ve been men and
I...”

“Stop.”
He
raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I don’t need to know. In
fact, I don’t even
want
to know.”

“You don’t?”

“It’s the past, Sue. It doesn’t
matter. What matters is what we do from this point forward.” He led her to the
sofa and pulled her down beside him. “Let me tell you a true story, okay?”

She nodded and leaned back
nervously. He propped an elbow on the back of the couch and looked down at her.
“When your folks first hired Will, I saw a photograph of you. There was
something about the expression on your face in that picture, a quality I
couldn’t put my finger on; it reached out to me. I wanted so badly for you to
be found unharmed. I felt a pull toward you. It’s hard to explain. I can’t even
find the right words.”

“I think I know what you mean. You
felt a connection?”

“Yes. And when you were rescued, I
celebrated right along with Will and Roxie. It was such a huge relief to know
you were going to be okay. By that time, I was emotionally invested in your
survival, way more than was probably usual for an investigation. I don’t know
because I’ve never been involved in this kind of case before, so it’s kind of
hard to judge.”

“I can understand that.”

“When Will told me I’d be working
as your escort, I was pretty happy about it, even though it didn’t seem to go
so well at first.”

She blushed, remembering how rude
she’d been.

He continued, “And then, I got to
know you.” He traced her cheek with his fingertip.

“But?”

“There is no but. I like you, Sue.
I like you so much. And I admire you, too.”

“Admire me? What on earth for?”

“Your strength,
your determination, your fighting spirit.
The way you just march bravely
ahead,
and how you’ve picked up the pieces and created
a new life for yourself. You decided to determine your own destiny and I
respect that more than you can know.” He couldn’t stop himself now; the words
he’d held back so long rushed out. “Plus, the way you talk and look and move,
the little mannerisms you have, the way your mind works, in fact, everything
about you...you just captivate me.”

Sue looked down, suffused in a
radiant glow and struggling with uncertain feelings.
“Oh,
Melvin.
That’s really beautiful. But the timing...” she broke off,
paused. How could she have even considered taking him to bed just to satisfy
some transient physical urge? He wasn’t the sort to be toyed with; he cared,
really cared. His feelings were tender; he could be so easily hurt. She hated
herself in advance for her next words. “I don’t know any other way to say this,
but it’s Zeke. He’s still there.”

A dark look crossed Melvin’s face.
“Still there?
Like still in your heart?”

“No.” Her denial was vehement,
maybe too much so. She pushed past it, waved her arms around in a vague
pattern.
“Just still out there.”

He relaxed. “Oh, that. Well then,
he can’t come between you and me in any significant way. He’s just a criminal
who hasn’t been caught.
Yet.”

Sue cupped Melvin’s face in her
hands. A soft agony twisted inside her and she spoke with earnest desire. “You
know what? I wish I’d met you first.”

He wrapped her in his arms.
“Me too.
I’m just glad we met at all.”

The next natural step would have
been to make love, to consummate their fledgling romance, but they didn’t. They
curled up together, cuddled and kissed, each delighting in the touch and feel
of the other. Drunk with the freedom to experience her, Melvin cradled her to
his chest, caressed her, and gazed at her with wonder.

Sue responded in kind. Tasted his lips,
ran her fingers through his soft hair, breathed in the warm scent of his skin,
explored with eager hands his chest and arms and shoulders. It was a passionate
and thrilling start to a new chapter in their lives, if Sue could only let go
of her obsession with Zeke.
If only he’d be caught.
Or
killed.
Then I could really live again.

When she walked Melvin to the door
that night, she put most of her heart into their goodnight kiss.
Most, not all.

Chapter 32

Sue knocked on the motel room door,
heart pounding. She clutched her purse to her chest, the heaviness of the gun
inside a righteous evil waiting to be unleashed. Long seconds passed, as if
time had slowed. Then the door opened and there he stood. His brilliant blue
eyes moved tenderly over her face and his lips curved in a slow smile. Her legs
nearly buckled.