With Cruel Intent (58 page)

to get him out of this hellhole. He was

anxious to do his own investigation.

Throughout the night, as he drifted in and

out of slumber, he saw faces and places

but he kept coming back to the man in the

locker room, how unusual it had been that

he retained his sunglasses as he stood at

the end of their aisle.

At the time he had not cared or

paid much attention to it. Some students

just wore their glasses all the time,

perhaps his were the type that changed and

he was waiting for them to clear. He

wished that he had paid closer attention to

him. In his mind he could see him

observing the conversation he was having

with his friend, he remembered movement

and he sat behind him and opened a

locker. Seymour had not turned and

looked at the man, but he noted as he left

for the showers that the man was reading,

his backpack in the open locker and his

shoes on the floor. It seemed odd to him

now. Why had he not undressed and

changed, what was he waiting for? Then it

struck him; he was waiting for the locker

to be unattended so he could plant the gun.

Why had he not realized that a day before?

“Deputy, Deputy Breland, I need

to speak with Sheriff Lupo right away.

I’ve remembered something!” he said,

both hands on the bars speaking excitedly.

* * *

Noon rolled around and still

nobody arrived from the bank, Lillian’s

patience was wearing thin and the anger

she’d felt on Monday was making a repeat

appearance. She picked up the phone and

dialed the bank, asking to speak with the

manager. As she waited, listening to the

annoying audio commercial and then the

elevator music for more than two minutes,

a distinct rap brought her attention to the

front door.

She hollered from the kitchen,

“I’m on the phone, if you’re a reporter get

lost! I’m not making any statements.”

“Mrs. Wood, it’s Marc from the

bank. I think you are expecting me.”

Lillian dropped the phone onto the

mount and hurriedly went to the door,

greeting the young man and putting her

best foot forward.

“Thank you for coming, I’ve been

anxiously waiting for you this morning.

It’s very important that I get this taken care

of so I can get my son home.”

“I understand and I’ll work as fast

as I’m able but be aware these kinds of

things take time. After all it’s a lot of

money we’re talking about,” the preppy

young man said.

“Oh, I know, I’m just anxious.

What do I need to do?”

“Nothing really, I’ll just take a

look at the house and the property. I’ve

already looked over the legal description;

the title and I know the size of your farm.

It’s going to be close.”

“Close? I can’t tell you how

important it is that I get that money. You’ll

get it all back and with interest, my boy’s

not guilty and he’s not going to run.”

“I’m sure Mrs. Wood, but we at

the bank need to be careful, you

understand.”

She did not understand, she just

wanted this pencil pusher to clear the way

for her to get her son out of the county jail.

“Well, if you need anything I’ll be

in the kitchen.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll find everything. I

won’t bother you when I leave but you

should get a call later this afternoon from

our manager, thanks.”

* * *

Blanche had not seen Marcus all

morning and wondered where he was

keeping himself. Mrs. Anderson had

cruised through the foyer multiple times,

just checking up on things. She stopped by

earlier and complimented Blanche on her

attire and thanked her for keeping her

‘headlights’ under wraps. The young

librarian had a difficult time focusing on

her job, she’d not even looked in her

organized boxes and she kept thinking

back to the night on the hillside. The

pleasant thoughts were always pushed

aside by the vision of Jasper squirming

about in his own blood, calling for help,

then the sight of Seymour standing behind

bars, dressed in orange and the tears in his

eyes. She was so torn and confused, but

her heart spoke to her, giving her hope and

assurance that all would be well.

At 1:00 p.m. she sat at the main

desk eating the banana she’d brought and

finally saw Mr. Marcus waltz through the

front doors. He carried a ladder and his

tool belt slung low around his waist.

“What are you doing? I thought

everything was fixed and ready for the

inspection?” Blanche asked, looking to

see if Ester was within earshot.

“I thought so too, but remember the

emergency door upstairs?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“The part still hasn’t come and

Mrs. Anderson wants me to take another

look at it, see if there's something I can do

to get us by the inspection. I already told

her if there was something I could have

done I would have already, but she’s

insisting, so here I am,” he said shrugging

his shoulders under the weight of the

aluminum ladder.

“I see. What should we do if they

show up while you’re up there?”

“I hadn’t thought of that, you’ll just

have to come give me a heads up and I’ll

get out of here.”

“Sounds good, I’ll just come pull

the ladder out from underneath you and

you can dangle there as the alarm. That

should get us past the inspection, don’t

you think?” she joked.

“Very funny. How’s our boy

doing? You doing okay?” he genuinely

asked.

“I’m okay, didn’t sleep much, but I

can’t imagine what kind of a night

Seymour must have had. His mom is

working to get the bail money today so he

can go home.”

“Wish there was more we could

do,” he said.

“Me too,” she said, waving as he

made his way up the stairs, being careful

not to mar the handrails.

Fifteen minutes later the doors

opened again and a mother with three

small children entered, followed by a man

that she recognized but could not place.

He strode directly toward her, smiling as

if they knew one another. She desperately

tried to draw a name from her memory but

could not.

“Hello Blanche, how are you

today?” he said, extending his hand and

shaking hers with vigor.

“I’m good and you?”

“I’m good, thanks for asking. Sorry

I’ve not been able to get back here since

we talked last week,” Lester said a bit

annoyed. Looking into the woman’s eyes

he could tell she was drawing a blank.

“Oh, that’s okay, I’ve been busy

with my library stuff,” Blanche said,

trying to give herself the time she needed

to remember his name.

“Yeah, me too, been real busy

getting ready for a big event tomorrow

night. Looks like I’ll be moving away

from Valdosta. Thinking maybe of

relocating to California, got to convince

my girl between now and then to come

with me,” he said, teasing the woman in

his own way.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to, seems

like you’re the convincing type,” she said,

still searching.

“That’s for sure; I suspect she’ll

come around to my way of thinking.”

He was having fun watching her

try to remember his previous visit but the

fact that she could not was also causing a

seething storm to grow inside him. He

looked around to see who else was

working. She appeared to be alone.

“You working on your own today?

Must be hard to keep up when you’re the

only one running the place,” he said,

fishing for information.

“No, everybody is here just off

doing other things.” Why could she not

remember

his

name?

She

vaguely

remembered talking to him and if she

didn’t have Seymour at the forefront of her

mind she probably could recall who he

was.

“Do you remember the books you

helped me find last week?” he prompted.

“Ah, was it travel related?” she

said, hoping he would throw her a bone.

“Mmmm nope, I’m surprised you

don’t recall, you said you didn’t

remember the last time someone asked for

that topic.”

Suddenly her mind was clear.

“Voodoo, right?” she said, knowing she

was correct.

He was pleased to see that her

memory had been jogged and she

remembered the visit.

“So Rob, what brings you back to

the library this afternoon?” she said, so

pleased that she had finally remembered.

“You mean other than you?” he

said.

She could tell that he was dead

serious and it concerned her. “Don’t tease

me, what would your girl say? Really,

what can I do for you today?”

“Okay, you called me on it. I just

wanted to do a bit more reading and I was

interested in looking up some stuff on

violent crimes. This recent crime wave

has got me curious and I had a few

minutes today, so here I am,” he said,

smiling and trying to put her at ease.

“Well, I can certainly help you

with that. Very popular lately, can’t seem

to keep them on the shelf. They’re up and

….”

He cut her off. “I know where they

are, but thanks, I’ll find them just fine.”

“Okay Rob, it was good seeing

you again. Let us know how we can help

you further. Good luck convincing that

girlfriend to go with you.”

“I really don’t think she’ll have a

choice when it comes right down to it,” he

said, trying to hide the malevolent intent in

his voice.

She watched him walk up the

stairs to the second floor. She thought of

his words and the strange conversation

she’d just had.

“Why was it that the weirdo’s

always seem to come her way, glad this

one’s moving to California,” she thought,

and in her next brief moment she realized

how fortunate she was to have a man like

Seymour in her life.

Lester’s anger peaked as he

reached the second floor. How could she

not have remembered who he was! He

thought there was a spark, a connection

that she had seen as well as he. It was the

influence of Jasper and Seymour but that

wouldn’t last for long. After tomorrow,

they’d be past history and she’d learn to

love him the way Virginia May had, when

they first united their souls. They’d be one

and he knew it was only a matter of time.

An older guy stood on a ladder

near the emergency door. He was afraid of

that. Good thing he decided to make this

impromptu visit. He watched the worker

for a moment before he approached him.

“Do you need some help?” Lester

asked.

Marcus looked down from his

perch on the ladder, a small electronic

device in his hand, “No thanks, think I’ve

got it.”

“What you working on there?” the

curious patron asked.

“Oh, the stupid alarm on this door

is broken and we’ve got to have it fixed

by today or my butts in a sling.”

“How so?”

“We have an inspection this

afternoon and this door is supposed to set

off an alarm when opened. Somebody

messed with it last week and it won’t

work, so here I am. Got one on order but

won’t be here ‘til Friday.”

Lester was relieved to hear it,

“Think you can fix it?”

“Nope, just trying to appease the

director. Known my butt was going to be

in trouble for a couple days but nothing I

can do about it.”

“That’s too bad, wish I could help

but

don’t

know

anything

about

electronics,” he lied.

The stranger turned and walked to

the shelves housing the true crime, took

down a book and sat at a table and read

waiting for the custodian to finish his

work. A quarter of an hour passed before