Blind Date

by Anders, Robyn

  They turned a corner and he picked up the pace, the two of them panting together as they accelerated up the incline to his home. Since he wasn't going to health club much anymore, he needed these runs. Forcing himself to run until he was totally exhausted helped with his sleep as well. No matter how many times he washed his sheets, he couldn't completely eliminate some lingering sense of Amy's presence. Everything reminded him of Amy's willing body next to him on the bed.

  "Nice looking dog," a friendly female voice said, taking up beside him.

  He slowed his pace. He hadn't even heard the approaching runner.

  "Thanks." He felt proud--as if he had anything to do with it. How had he managed to go his entire life without pets? More to the point, why? He and the mysterious woman jogged together for a few minutes, and he found himself hoping she would leave it at that. No such luck.

  "I've seen you around the last couple of weeks, right?" He could hear the smile in her voice.

  "Yeah. Since I got Molly, I've been able to get out more."

  "I thought so. I live just a couple of doors down from your place."

  "I'm Mark," he told her.

  "Lisa. And the dog must be Molly. Hi, girl! You're a pretty girl, aren't you?" she gushed.

  Somewhere he'd read that women couldn't resist guys with dogs. Unfortunately, he didn't really care whether this one could resist him or not.

  They were nearing his house. Thank God. "Looks like I'm here," he said. He tried not to let the relief show in his voice.

  "Yeah. Hey, listen. Why don't you come by some time and have a glass of wine?"

  "Sure. Sometime."

  "How about tonight?"

  "I'm sorry. I'm behind at work," he lied. "Maybe another time."

  "I'd like that a lot. Here's my phone number." She handed him a piece of paper then giggled. "You can get someone to read it to you, can't you?"

  "Of course." Even without the giggle, he had no intention of calling her. The last thing he needed was another debacle with a woman. He'd sworn off. Anyway, although this one seemed nice, for some reason she didn't excite him in the least. Not the way Amy had from the very beginning.

  "I'll look forward to your call then. See you around."

  He fished out the keys to his house, opened the door, then collapsed on the couch.

  Now what? He was completely caught up at work. He didn't have the heart to drag Molly out for another run. And nothing on the tube sounded vaguely interesting.

  He almost decided to ignore the knocking on the door. He knew Lisa meant well but he didn't feel like having a woman patronize him for his blindness or for his dog.

  Unfortunately for that plan, Molly had decided to become a watch dog. She howled at the door as if it hid some ghastly specter.

  He got up, grabbed Molly's collar and opened the door. He didn't really think she'd attack someone, she was too well trained for that. But just the sight of her could scare some people.

  "Like I told you, I'm pretty busy tonight," he said.

  "Yeah. Me too, but I've got to do my job."

  The female voice with a strong Brooklyn accent definitely didn't belong to Lisa.

  "I'm sorry, I thought you were a neighbor. Can I help you?"

  "You Mark Barnes?"

  "That's me."

  "Dallas Police Department. I'm Detective Levin."

  Mark almost dropped Molly's collar even though he didn't have any guilty secrets. It isn't that easy for a blind man to take up a life of crime.

  "Can I see some ID?" he asked.

  "Um, well, how would you propose I do that?"

  Just what he needed, Mark thought. Someone else to rub his blindness in his face. "You do have a badge, don't you? Or do they take those away when they promote you to detective?"

  "I've got a badge."

  Mark held out his hand and, after a wait, the cop placed her precious badge in it. Maybe she thought Mark would hang onto it and go on the run.

  The badge felt solid and Mark could make out the depressed lettering for 'Dallas Police,' 'Detective,' and 'Levin.'

  "Is there a problem, Detective? Should I contact my attorney?"

  "Look, I'm asking for your voluntary cooperation on this."

  He realized he was being a jerk. "You'll have to tell me what it's about before I can answer that. Why don't you come in, sit down, and tell me about it."

  "What about that animal?"

  "Molly?" The dog had kept growling through the short conversation. "She won't hurt you."

  "Then I'd be happy to come in."

  The detective followed him inside and he pointed at his couch then sent Molly upstairs.

  "I haven't seen anything criminal in the neighborhood," he told her after about ten seconds of silence. He pulled his chair closer to the couch and sat down.

  "I'm not here about anything going on in this neighborhood. I'm on the gang task force. We've been working on a fairly serious gang down in Oak Cliff."

  "I don't do criminal law."

  The detective gave him a short, polite, laugh. "Actually, I'm looking for help on a supposed assault."

  His legal training came to the rescue, preventing his jaw from hitting the floor and bouncing. "Can you be more specific?"

  "I have a report that a sight-impaired male matching your description, accompanied by a blonde female, assaulted a young man three weeks ago."

  Just as well he hadn't blabbed when she'd started this. "No kidding. I didn't know there was a law against the blonde leading the blind. So do you think this blind man is a gang member?"

  "I most certainly am not kidding, Mr. Barnes."

  "It's my experience that blind people avoid fights," he said. "For some reason, they think their sightlessness makes them less likely to win."

  "The hospital results indicate that this wasn't the case here. Several broken bones, major abrasions, and a bill that the city is stuck paying."

  "I see," Mark said. About the only thing he'd done right that night was to keep Amy's name out of it. Now the police seemed interested in dragging her back in.

  "I don't think you do, Mr. Barnes. You see, I think you are the sight-impaired male of this discussion."

  "There are a lot of blind men in Dallas, Detective Levin."

  "Tell me about it." The woman took a deep breath and exhaled. "If one of the cops in Crimes Against Persons hadn't thought about looking for blind men with military training, we might have written the whole thing off."

  "I guess I've always thought Dallas had enough to do without chasing minor assault cases. A blind man and a blonde woman don't exactly sound like a major gang threat."

  She sighed impatiently. "God, I hate dealing with lawyers. I don't want to hang anything on this blind man unless I have to. These are the facts. Either this blind male and blonde female jumped a gang member with a record as long as an elephant's trunk, or the supposed victim committed assault, violated the terms of his probation, and deserves to be back in jail. The guy is a scumbag. He got away with murder-one last year because the Assistant D.A. blew a case handed to him on a silver platter. I should know. I worked on that case and almost got my partner killed. My partner just got out of the hospital a couple of months ago with a lot less attention and fanfare than this creep got. With this jerk's record, even assault should be good for a couple of years served."

  "I'd say your second choice is the odds-on favorite."

  "I'd say that too. Except, I don't have a case unless I find a witness. You see, so far the only witnesses I have in this case are this guy and two of his buddies that back up his story all the way. Almost as if they had it memorized."

  She muttered something else about lawyers but Mark didn't try to follow her.

  "I'd think a blind man would make a poor eye-witness." So he was being a smart ass? He'd be overjoyed if the punk went to jail for a long time after the way he'd gone after Amy. Except Mark couldn't see any way he could help without dragging Amy into it.

  Levin sighed. "We both know a halfway
decent defense attorney would eat you up on the witness stand. Unfortunately, this gang has a couple of real sharp lawyers. That's one reason we think they're a key part of the south Dallas drug trade."

  "All right. You don't want me as a witness. I take it you do have a point and you'll get to it eventually?"

  "I want the blonde female."

  Levin wasn't the only one, but Mark didn't figure he'd help matters by telling her that.

  "I wish I could help you."

  "Hey, maybe the next blind guy they jump won't have played football for Air Force and been the all-Armed Forces silver medal winner in Judo. These guys are killers even if the D.A. blew his chance to prove it. I'm asking you to do your duty as a citizen."

  "And I'd be happy to do it. Call me and I'll testify. I won't put another person at risk." Once was enough.

  "I'm not following you."

  "I think you are. You said yourself that this punk is part of a well-connected and well-organized gang. Gangs don't become successful by letting people testify. If your punk goes to jail, the ones left outside could make Ms. X's life pretty miserable. And maybe short."

  "The police will protect her if necessary."

  "Right. For a good couple of weeks, maybe. You don't really think that buys anything, do you?"

  "I can't believe it. You're letting those creeps walk and then pretending to be such a hero about it? Come on, Barnes. You're a lawyer. That means you're sworn to uphold the law."

  "I was a man before I was a lawyer. Where I came from, that means protecting the people we love." Yeah right, Mark, he told himself bitterly. Now you can tell everyone but Amy that he loves her. What did that make him?

  "I'm trying to save some time. I could assign a couple of uniformed officers to follow you. Next time you met your Ms. X, they'd have her."

  Mark shook his head. "If you've got that many extra cops with nothing to do, more power to you. I'll warn you up front, though. You're digging a dry hole here."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Ms. X and I aren't seeing each other anymore."

  "Then I don't understand the point of your trying to protect her."

  He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe this is going to sound noble or sickening or something, but I don't care. I messed up taking her out to that neighborhood. That doesn't mean I'm going to compound my mistakes."

  He heard a rustling sound of papers being re-arranged. "I think maybe I should let them throw you in jail for the night," Levin told him. "Except I'm afraid you'd terrorize the inmates. The county is responsible for their medical bills as long as they're in jail."

  A rattle at the door reminded him he'd left it ajar when he'd let Levin in.

  "Mark?" Amy's voice.

  Ah, hell, she had impeccable timing.

  "I saw a police car outside," Amy said breathlessly. "I was just coming over to . . ." her voice trailed off.

  "And just who is this?" Levin asked smugly.

  Mark knew his goose was cooked. The chance that Amy would take the hint was almost negligible. Still, he had to try.

  "Just a neighbor," he said giving the direction Amy's voice had come from his most significant look.

  "Oh, my God, you're his girlfriend, aren't you. When I saw the police car out front I thought he might be in trouble. Yeah, I'm a neighbor. I live, ah--."

  "Spare me," Levin interrupted. "Mr. Barnes was just telling me that he wasn't seeing you anymore."

  Mark could almost hear the wheels churning in Amy's pretty head as she tried to figure out what was really going on.

  "I appreciate you checking up on me," he said. "But everything is all right."

  "The hell it is," both women said simultaneously.

  "If you were seeing this woman, why didn't you tell me?" Amy asked, sounding more than a little ticked.

  "There really isn't any reason to keep up the subterfuge any longer," Levin instructed him as if he was a two year old who didn't want to give up his purple dinosaur.

  Mark crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm going to stand on the statements I've made to this point."

  "I'm Nancy Levin," the detective said to Amy. She raised her voice half an octave and sounded almost friendly.

  "That's Detective Levin, investigating an assault charge involving a blind man and a blonde woman," Mark broke in.

  "Your silence certainly lasted a long time, Mr. Barnes," Levin said sarcastically. "And who are you?" she continued to Amy.

  "I'm not sure I should tell you," Amy replied.

  Mark gave Amy his most approving smile. Good job, Amy. Lay low and let this blow over. With a lot of luck, he might actually be able to keep Amy out of it. A whole lot of luck.

  "Actually Ms. X or whatever your name is," Levin said, "your first instinct was correct. Mr. Barnes may be in a whole lot of trouble. I'm hoping that you can help avert any problems."

  "Just keep your mouth shut," Mark said. "You aren't obligated to say anything or answer any questions."

  "I'm sure that's the proper legal advice," Amy said. "On the other hand, I've never been much good at following advice of any kind. So what questions?"

  "We're investigating an assault incident a couple of weeks ago. Several witnesses maintain that a blind man, accompanied by an attractive blonde woman, attacked and injured a young man in south Oak Cliff."

  "That's ridiculous." Mark loved the indignation in Amy's tone. He just wished she could hold some of that enthusiasm down right now.

  "Don't say anything," Mark warned again.

  "The whole story sounded difficult to believe. I mean, how could a blind man attack and injure a fully sighted man?" Levin observed.

  "That isn't the ridiculous part.” Amy sounded offended. “Mark is perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

  "Is that right?"

  "Amy, please be quiet."

  "Mark, you have no business giving me orders. Detective Levin, that is absolutely right."

  Mark had hoped Amy would catch the uptake in Levin's voice. More frustrated hopes.

  "Amy," he interrupted, "I'm speaking here as a friend, not as a lawyer. If you're called as a witness, your name will go on record. They'll know where you live and they won't be happy."

  "What are you talking about, Mark?" Amy sounded like she was talking to a slow-witted brother.

  "I'm talking about taking care of yourself. I proved that I couldn't do the job, acting like an idiot and dragging you to a place where we were almost certain to get mugged. The cops don't know anything. They aren't going to charge me with anything."

  "Actually, we could charge you with obstruction of justice," Levin put in.

  "Good luck," he fired back. "I don't think you could get a jury to convict, especially once I told them why I refuse to talk. This is Dallas, after all. Men are supposed to protect their women."

  "Mark," Amy said, "I understand every word you're saying but you aren't making any sense at all. Now, if you'd just keep your mouth shut for a couple of minutes, I can finish up with Ms. Levin. Then I want to tell you why I'm here.

  Chapter 10

  The cop wasn't his girlfriend. Amy's stomach had almost rebelled when she'd seen Mark and this Levin woman together. But it didn't matter. It was just some police thing. Three hours at the police station had finally straightened that mess out.

  Other than that, so far, the day had not gone according to Amy's plans, she thought as she and Mark traipsed wearily up the walkway toward his front door. He hadn't said a word to her in twenty minutes.

  Earlier, she'd finally talked herself into following her mother's advice and headed to Mark's house with the idea of confronting him and finding out what had happened.

  She hadn't counted on the reaction she'd had when she saw that cute brunette jogger approach Mark on the street and practically beg him to take her back to his bed--or so it had looked like to Amy.

  While she'd sat in her car trying to get her courage up, the police cruiser had pulled up in front of Mark's house. She'd assume
d the worst and followed the detective in, hoping to be able to help.

  Inside, she had again let her imagination--and paranoia--run away with her, assuming the female detective was a paramour and infuriating Mark which hadn’t been her objective at all. When she'd finally figured out what was going on and had given the information the detective had asked for, Mark had only gotten madder.

  "Exactly what did you think you were doing?" Mark asked impatiently, breaking his silence as he entered the living room. Molly greeted him excitedly, and he gave the dog an absent pat. "Don't you realize you could be in serious trouble?"

  Maybe this wasn't the moment for her to follow her mother's advice and proclaim her deep and abiding love for this man. Right now she'd just as soon slug him as kiss him. Well, maybe not quite. Still, she could see the appeal in both choices.

  "I've been trying to do my duty as a citizen," she told him. "Maybe the next woman they try to mug won't have you along to beat them up. You know as well as I that they weren't just after our money."

  "I'm not responsible for other women." His eyes glared into her.

  "This may come as something of a shock, Mark, but you aren't responsible for me either."

  He took a deep breath, then exhaled. "I know I'm not responsible for you in general. On the other hand, it was me who suggested south Oak Cliff. I should have known better than to take you there. I almost threw up when they made you pull up your sweater."

  "The way I remember it, we both decided where to go. I'd always heard that place has the best jazz in Dallas. It didn't work out like we'd planned, but that isn't your fault."

  She sank onto the cool leather of his sofa. Molly came over and put her head on Amy's knee. She scratched the anxious dog behind its ears. "If we avoid going anyplace where there could possibly be some danger, we'll never leave our homes. I couldn't even go to work. Last week one of our students pulled a knife on a teacher. And this is in a private, Catholic, girls' school of all things."