Sue (29 page)

“Want me to go with you?” He looked
vulnerable, as if expecting her to decline his offer.

“Yes. I think it would help a great
deal to have you there.”

He started toward the door. “Well,
let’s go right now.”

“Now?”
Sue
backed up a step.

“No time like the present. When do
they close?” There was a firm set to his mouth. He waited, hand on the
doorknob.

“They used to stay open until
nine.” Her pulse sped up.

He cocked his head, eyebrows
raised.

“Alright.
I’ll get my purse.”

They said little on the drive to
Re-Books. Once there, they sat in the car, staring at the storefront for a few
minutes.

“They changed the sign,” Sue
remarked. “I liked the old one better.” Her palms were moist and her heart
thudded against her chest. She noted these symptoms with annoyance.
This is
ridiculous. It’s just a building.

“Let’s get this over with,” Melvin
snapped as he reached for the door handle.

Sue was stung. “You don’t have to
do this if you don’t want to. I can go in by myself.”

Melvin’s features softened. “I’m
sorry,” he said quietly. “Of course, I’ll go in with you. But I’ll sure be glad
when I don’t feel like I’m competing with a ghost anymore.”

“You’re not.” Sue took his hand.
“You’ve been patient with me and I appreciate it. Just
be
patient a little longer. Please?”

He squeezed her fingers lightly and
got out of the car. Sue followed.

When they pushed through the door
of Re-Books, her anxiety melted away. The place was hardly recognizable. The
reading area was gone. The aisles were now brightly lit, tightly organized, and
had lost the old feel. It had been rearranged, too. The counter was in a
different place, the shelves ran lengthwise instead of crosswise, and the books
were organized by subject, not haphazardly placed on the shelves like before.
Everything looked hard, glossy, and new.

“Wow.” Sue let her eyes travel over
the interior. She was strangely disappointed.
And more than a
little relieved.

“You okay?” Melvin touched her arm.

“I’m fine.” She gave him a small
smile. “Well, let’s find the book I need.” She walked to the counter, Melvin
right behind her.

The clerk on duty was a young girl,
probably a college student. She looked up Sue’s request on her computer and
told her the aisle where she would find the book. Used books had been relegated
to a section toward the rear of the store.

“Thanks.” Sue started to turn away,
then
asked, “Hey, what happened to the reading area?”

The girl flipped her hair over her
shoulder and rolled her eyes. Lowering her voice, she leaned forward slightly.
“New manager got rid of it. He said too many people were loitering around, just
reading the books and not buying any. Plus, he wanted the room for new
displays.”

“I see.
Kind of a
shame.”

The girl shrugged. “That’s the way
it goes. Nothing good ever lasts.”

Sue and Melvin didn’t stay long.
They found the book she needed, paid for it, and stepped out into the warm
evening.

Melvin stopped her on the sidewalk,
put both hands on her shoulders, and looked down into her eyes. “Well?”

“Zilch.”
Sue stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “No painful memories, no
reminders. I avoided the place for nothing. Now I can come back if I ever want
to, although, the place has lost nearly all its charm.”

“True that.” Melvin guided her to
the car. “New owner pretty much ruined it.”

As they drove back to Sue’s
apartment, she congratulated herself.
Sue Cox, dragon slayer.

Chapter 42

“Melvin, come in here.” Will called
down the hallway before going back to his desk.

Moments later, Melvin appeared in
the doorway. “What’s up?”

“Come on in and sit down.”

Taking a seat in front of Will’s
desk, Melvin leaned back and watched as Will flipped through a yellow legal
pad.

“I just got a disturbing phone call
from a contact of mine in the department. He said a missing person report came
to his attention. Let’s see...” Will perused his notes. “Dixon Barrett,
thirty-one years old, seasonal construction worker, residence Nickel, New
York.”

“Are we taking the case?” Melvin
grabbed a tissue from a box on Will’s desk and began cleaning his glasses.

“No. This has to do with Sue.”

Melvin sat up straight. “Sue?
How’s that?”

“Let me lay it out for you. Mr.
Barrett was only recently reported missing, but he could have been gone for as
long as three months. His sister said they didn’t keep in close contact,
sometimes they didn’t speak but a couple times a year. Anyway, she got worried
when she’d tried calling him several times and couldn’t reach him. So she took
her key to his house and went over there. There were signs that he hadn’t been
home in a while. Food in the fridge was moldy, mail piled
up,
neighbors hadn’t seen him around, that kind of thing. She contacted the police
there in Nickel and, long story short, they’ve identified Dixon Barrett as the
corpse found in the burned out school in
Assaria
.
Dental records match.”

“So Zeke didn’t die in the fire?”
Melvin slowly replaced his glasses. They’re sure?”

“One hundred
percent.”

“This just sucks!”

“I agree.”

Melvin’s voice faltered. “When are
we going to tell Sue?”

Will
ran
his hand through his hair. “The sooner we let her know, the better. I hate
this. It seemed like she was just getting her life together, finding a way back
from the hell that lunatic put her through.” He gave Melvin a sympathetic look.
“And I know the two of you have become really close.”

“Yeah, really close since we
learned he was dead.
Really in the past and no longer a
threat.”
Melvin looked down, brows knit in a frown. “Let me be the one
to call her.”

“Wait. I don’t think we should tell
her over the phone,” Will
said
. “Have her come in and
we’ll tell her together. Like the last time.”

Melvin put his phone away without
dialing. “I’m going to go pick her up. Looks like things are going to have to
go back to the way they were for now. She’s going to have to be vigilant again.
Always being careful, looking over her shoulder.”

“Unfortunately, I think you’re
right.” Will rose and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his khakis. Worry
creased his face. “Zeke might be halfway across the country by now.”

“Or he could be right down the
street.
Just waiting for his chance.”
Melvin stood.
“I’ll go to her office now, see if she can take a short break. I’d rather she
didn’t get in her car and drive by herself.”

“You can’t be there every second,
Melvin.”

“I know. But I can be there this
time.”

Sue took the news better than
they’d expected. In fact, she actually took the news too well. “I knew something
was going on when Melvin showed up at work. It’s really sweet of you both to
look out for me. But I think you guys are blowing this out of proportion.”

Both Melvin and Will stared at her
in shock.

“It’s bad news, Sue,” Melvin said.
“It means being on guard all the time again. I’m glad you aren’t scared; I
don’t want you terrified or anything. But I thought you’d at least take it
seriously.”

She gave them a slight shrug and a
smile. “I would.
If
I believed for one second Zeke was still alive. You know,
I haven’t had any suspicious letters or phone calls since that fire.” She
turned an earnest gaze on Will. “If he were still around, he’d have sent me
some kind of reminder by now. I’d get a letter, or there’d be some weirdo
showing up at my place.
Something.”

“Maybe he’s just lying low,” Melvin
suggested.

“Maybe that’s because he’s dead!
Can’t lie any lower than that.”
Sue raised an eyebrow.

Melvin’s mouth tightened. “
Dammit
, Sue! How can you be so nonchalant? You know what I
think? You’ve got your head in the sand. You’re in denial because you just
don’t
want
to believe it.”

Sue’s eyes flashed.
“Denial?
What are you, my therapist now?”

Melvin flushed. “Hey, it’s just
common sense. Things have been going really great for you, and for us. I don’t
blame you for not wanting to rock the boat. But just because you want something
to be true is no reason to ignore reality when it slaps you in the face. You
need to wake up and listen!”

“Don’t lecture me, Melvin. Don’t
ever
lecture me.” Sue stood and flung her purse over her shoulder.

“I’m not lecturing you, Sue.”
Melvin rose. “I’m just saying it’s not over and we still need to be careful.”

He tried to take her arm, but she
jerked it away. Her eyes were moist.

Will
tapped
the desk with his knuckles, gaining their attention. When he spoke, his voice
was calm. “Let’s talk about this a bit. I’m just tossing around scenarios in my
mind. Zeke had been in the van they found at the scene of the fire, somewhere
along the line anyway. His fingerprints were all over the vehicle. So we know
that much for certain. Suppose this Barrett guy met up with Zeke, killed him,
and rode off with his girlfriend before dying in the fire. It could happen.
Maybe Zeke
is
dead. It’s one possibility.” He gave Sue a patient look.
“But you know him, Sue. What are the chances that somebody got the better of
him?
Some regular
Schmo
like Dixon
Barrett?”

Sue’s shoulders drooped. “Not very
good,” she admitted.

“Or what about
this.
Zeke, Barrett and the girl go to the school to party. Zeke heads
outside to take a leak. The fire starts and he bails on them. Runs out in front
of a train and gets smashed, his body dragged for ten miles and then dropped in
a gulley, never to be found. That could happen.”

Melvin cocked his head and gave
Will and incredulous look. He turned to find the same look on Sue’s face.

Will continued, “But it didn’t.
Whether we like it or not, what probably happened is that the three of them
were partying at the old school, maybe got drunk, and fell asleep. The fire
started and Zeke got out.
Didn’t bother to rescue his
friends.
That’s more believable, wouldn’t you say? And let’s not forget,
the dental records matched Dixon Barrett. That’s a fact.
Undisputable.”

Sue dropped into the chair and set
her purse at her feet. She took a shaky breath. “I’m convinced Zeke died there;
they just haven’t found his body yet. It’s probably still buried in the rubble.
It’s just like you said, Melvin. Life is going well for me now. If I have to
believe Zeke is still alive, it’s like taking three steps, no, a dozen steps,
backward. I hate the very idea of it!”

“I hate it, too,” Melvin said
softly and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “But just to be on the safe
side, don’t you think we’d better keep our guard up?”

Sue looked up at Melvin, her
expression unreadable. “Okay, fine. We’ll watch out for him.”

If he believed she was merely
humoring him, he kept the thought to himself. They were quiet as he drove her
back to work.

That evening, Sue stopped by
her parents’ house. She nearly cried at the looks on their faces when she told
them about Zeke. Her dad immediately wanted to hire Melvin to escort her again.

“It’s not necessary, Dad,” Sue
said gently. “We’re together most of the time already. In fact, I need to hurry
because he’s meeting me at my apartment in a little while. Besides, I still
believe Zeke’s dead and they just haven’t found his body yet.”

“Don’t you think they’d have
found it by now?” her mom asked.

Sue shook her head stubbornly.
“I think it’s buried under tons of rubble. Or maybe it burned completely and
there’s nothing left.”

She went home soon after,
bearing the weight of her parents’ worry and disappointment.

Chapter 43

Sue wandered through the mall, but
it seemed wrong somehow, different. It was after hours and everyone was gone. In
the low light, the stores were inky pools of darkness, the security gates drawn
down and locked. Her footsteps echoed through the empty concourse, and she
stepped carefully, looking over her shoulder. The soles of her feet ached and
tingled, and she could barely lift her legs. In the dim light, mannequins in
the clothing stores were faceless, sinister forms. Noises sounded behind her.
Furtive shuffling.
Breathing.
She
looked around wildly. Her heart drummed in her chest as she caught the quick
movement of a shadow, tailing her, the brief glimpse of reflection in
storefront windows. She struggled to lift legs that refused to be hurried. The
desire to run was strong, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She felt for her
purse; it hung heavy at her side. Slowly, she turned to face her pursuer. Zeke
stepped from the darkness into a puddle of weak light, face still in shadow.
“Bunny!”
His voice was raspy. “You should have been with me
when I died, but I’ve come for you now. We can be together for eternity.”

He stepped into the light and Sue
gagged. His face was blackened, nothing but eyeballs glaring at her from
scorched sockets, eyelids burned away. Teeth
bare
of
lips clattered together as he spoke.
“Susie-Q.
Come
with me!”

He drew closer and the sickening
smell of burnt flesh wafted toward her. She fumbled for her gun, but her
fingers couldn’t find the opening of her bag. Glancing down, she realized her
purse was gone and instead she carried an ice chest. She flung the lid away and
reached inside. Her fingers met something soft and alive. She recoiled in
horror.