by Jackie Zack
She stepped to the bookcase with a backward glance to him as she pointed to The Unseen then let her arm drop down to her side. Of everything in the apartment, why would she head there first?
“About that book—I did read it. And I know you took pages out of my copy.” Her eyes turned sad.
He rubbed his forehead. He had to know it would come to that. “Look. Dafina, I’m sorry. Believe it or not, my intentions were good—I think.”
“Those two darrens, they had the pages, didn’t they? They showed them to you when we were tied up in the basement.”
“They found the pages in my backpack and showed them to me as a way to threaten me. To tell me bad things would happen, and they got their ideas from my book. But…the violent scene that I took out—I couldn’t bear for you to read it. I just couldn’t. The other page, I didn’t write. Ed thought it needed…well.” He couldn’t bring himself to say anymore.
“I understand.” She touched his arm.
“The bad language, too—all added in.” He sighed and felt like such a push-over, going along with it to get his books published. He wasn’t going to let it happen again. Possibly, Ed might be more accommodating. The man seemed nervous and so unlike his usual cranky self. Perhaps Ed needed Kory more than he needed them. The industry was going through a strange transition with everything turning to e-books. “I have to be true to myself. I can’t let it happen again.”
“Good show.” Dafina smiled. A black spot had wedged itself between her two front teeth.
“Poppy seed—”
“Now that’s kind of stretching it. Have you run out of sweet endearments to call me?”
He laughed. “Um, no. You have a poppy seed stuck.” He pointed to his front teeth.
“Oh, no. Where is the powder room?”
“It’s through there, door to the right.” He pointed past the kitchen. He’d never in his life called it the powder room.
When she’d left the room, he sat down on the sofa. Dafina. She was the one. How could he have known that taking a trip would be a turning point in his life? Was it only her sense of adventure that pushed her into coming to New York? She had to have some feelings for him, too. The warm, joyful glow of her face. The look in her eyes. The way she returned his kiss…
He heard the slightest clink of a noise. The front doorknob turned. His mind raced. Only his parents and maintenance had a key. With all that had happened, his first response was to find a weapon. All he had was a couch pillow.
Chapter 21
A long lock of auburn hair and an arm covered with a pink, green, and blue striped sweater sleeve was the first image Kory witnessed through the opening door. Sundae. How had she gotten his key? The rest of her materialized and she shut the door with her back by taking a step backward. Eyes dark, brooding. Her face unreadable. She looked up at him and gave a small jump, no smile coming to her face.
“You’re home,” she said. “How was the trip—no don’t tell me. You met someone.”
“I…” Weird. How could a petite, beauty creep him out? “How did you get the key to my apartment?”
She looked away, avoiding the question. “I watered your plants when you were gone. Why did you go so far away?”
“Look, Sundae. I don’t understand your concern. Surely, you’ve moved on again like you always have. What are you doing?”
She sighed. “For an intelligent man, you’re such a fool.” The words came out in dripping hatred or an anger that had gone way out of check, slipping into acrid bitterness. He could well imagine a dark halo of maliciousness around her. Her speech issuing a black fog. “I dated other men to make you jealous, because I loved you.”
Loved. Thank goodness. She realized whatever they had was over. Why had he kept taking her back? Whoa. Wait a minute. How did she know he’d gone far away?
So sorry…I heard about your tragic trip. You don’t seem too shook up about it. Guess you only cared about her as much as you cared about me.
What? Dafina—please stay where you are. The woman in front of him was completely unstable.
“Even though she’s dead, don’t come running to me. It’s over.” Tears sprang to her eyes, mixing with her mascara. Black tears totally fitting. She turned to head out the door with her hand on the doorknob. “I don’t know why I even tried—”
Barf. Why she tried? Give me a break. How odd that her tears meant nothing to him.
“Only tried to help.” She opened the door.
Footfalls from the hall alerted her, and she turned to see Dafina.
“Who is that?” Sundae’s voice growled.
“I’m sorry, what?” Dafina asked.
Kory blinked and in that instant, Sundae with her face twisted in anger charged at Dafina. Kory rushed after Sundae, grabbed her, and jerked her back before she could tear into Dafina’s face with her claws.
“Sundae. Get a hold of yourself. Are you crazy?”
She writhed in his arms, kicking his shins with spindly high heels and made a move to bite his arm. He yanked his forearm out the way and picked her up while she kicked, taking her to the door.
“Let me go,” she hissed. “I’ll leave.”
He set her down by the door. She headed out the door, reached in her pocket and threw something at him.
“There’s your stupid key,” she yelled and shut the door behind her.
Kory took in a cleansing breath with hands on his hips. He turned to Dafina, relief flooding him that she was unharmed.
“Um. Something you want to tell me?” Dafina looked to be holding back a smile.
“That was Sundae.” He cleared his throat, his face becoming warm. “Dated her off and on for about two years.” Uh, oh, maybe longer than two years—five? “How much did you hear?”
“All of it.”
“Good—um, good.”
A siren blipped on the street below then stopped. “What’s that about? It sounds like it’s on the front steps.” He took a step. “Come—”
“Right behind you.”
He grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry you had to find out about Sundae like that. I was so deep into writing that it felt good to talk to a real person—you know?”
“I can imagine so, yes.”
“We never…It was more of a friendship. I never let it go beyond that. It made her mad.”
“Quite literally, sounds like.”
He stepped to the window at the rear of his apartment still holding Dafina’s hand.
“You don’t think you could have been stringing her along?” She said while looking down to the street. “Had she thought something would become of the relationship?”
“Hm. I…” His gut had rather the feeling of being punched. Had he been stringing her along? She’d always gotten mad, left, dated another guy, then came back. He enjoyed her company. Well, some of the time. She’d gotten mad because he drifted away from their conversation into writing mode. She’d wanted to go to next level. He knew she wasn’t right for him. He should have told her. God forgive me.
Two cop cars were on the side walk directly below them. One officer held the arms of a woman behind her. She seemed to be resisting them. “It’s Sundae. The policemen have her.”
“Dear me.”
Kory scanned the people around them. “Look, there. Who do those two figures look like? One short, one tall.”
Dafina’s face paled. “The two darrens. They have the right build. Plus the short one always shifted his weight back and forth like that.”
“Come on. We can tell the cops what happened.”
He started off at a quick jog through the apartment pulling Dafina behind him. She kept pace with him and they entered the elevator. “If nothing else we can find out what happened, hopefully,” he said.
When the elevator came to the first floor and the door opened, he sprang out with Dafina and hurried out the building. The police had Sundae in the cruiser and pulled out onto the street to leave.
“I can’t believe we missed them,” he
whispered to Dafina. No cops. A shiver went down his spine. Shorty and Laces were nearby. He braced himself and held her hand tight as they approached.
“Please let us introduce ourselves,” Shorty began. On the plus side he didn’t look half as crazy as Sundae. “I’m Chip.”
Laces stepped forward. “I’m Dale—and no, not the chipmunks, or the other guys either.” He smiled.
“Wait. This is too bizarre. What’s going on?” Kory took a step back.
Laces said to Shorty, “I told you that you shouldn’t use that name. Real people think we’re nuts.”
“Okay. My name is Chad,” Shorty relented. “The cops took Sundae away for a good reason. Can I take a few minutes to lay out what happened? I’m sure you can guess who we are.”
Kory nodded.
“Sundae hired us to tail you, wherever you went. She had the bright idea that it would be like a book you wrote. That you would like it. Two hoodlums chasing the good guy.”
“I know. Go on,” Kory said.
“She wanted us to tie you up, scare you a little, but make it so you could get away. Then we made the mistake of telling her you were staying with a pretty lady. Sundae didn’t like that at all. She went ballistic and uh—you’re not going to believe this. She said she’d pay us to off the girl. That’s when we packed up and left.”
“Before we could leave, some madman came up behind us and knocked us out,” Laces said. “When we came to, there were lights flashing, ambulance and a cop—we took off.”
“But when we got back to the States,” Shorty said in a hushed voice, “Sundae wanted to meet with us and pay us big bucks to kill you.” He pointed to Kory. “She thought that we’d already killed the girl. That’s when we went to the cops. They got us wired up this morning and the police would have gotten her—”
“At her father’s theater. That’s where she wanted to meet us,” Laces broke in.
“Yeah,” Shorty said, “But she slipped out the back—a hidden exit. The cops caught sight of her car and determined that she came to this vicinity.”
“We followed the cops, guess we shouldn’t have, but—” Laces said.
“Then, when she came out of this building…” He lifted his hands. “They got her.”
“We never meant any harm to you or your lady,” Laces gave a short bow.
“So, in effect, you saved us—protected us.” Kory relaxed. “Thank you—but you did scare us pretty badly.”
The two men smiled, looked down, and almost blushed. “Thank you,” they both said.
“Just who are you guys?” Kory couldn’t imagine.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Shorty shifted his weight and squared his shoulders. “We’re actors.”
****
Dafina didn’t feel like having any sort of conversation on the subway ride to their next destination. Kory looked shell-shocked and muttered under his breath a couple of times. She hadn’t tried to decipher the words, but she appreciated that he held her hand. In his other hand he carried a sack containing the photos for Luke.
She couldn’t be too hard on Kory, after all the things he’d gone through for her sake. When she’d asked him if he had been stringing Sundae along, the poor fellow had taken it to heart. If he had, he’d done it unintentionally. Ah, men.
Their stop came and they exited without a word. Kory motioned to a taxi; he helped her in the backseat and got in. She looked out the window. All the activity of people hurrying here and there boggled the mind. Although Dafina tried to enjoy seeing the crowds, cars, buses, and outstanding architecture, she became overwhelmed. The single best part of New York was Kory.
The taxi driver shuffled hurriedly in and out of lanes and ran a couple of red lights. The driver veered off to the right and stopped; Kory paid the man. After getting out of the taxi, she tried to get her bearings as they stood on the sidewalk. They were at some sort of parking center.
“Here we are. Shouldn’t take long. Have to rent a car.” Kory sped talked as he sped walked. “We’re heading out of the city. I think you’ll like the country and towns.”
“Right-oh.” Sure he’d do fine. What had he said, ten years of no driving?
After getting beeped at several times, they made their way out of the city. But in all fairness, he did just as well as the taxi driver. Dafina relaxed, rolled down the window a bit, and breathed in cool air. A glance at Kory told her he wasn’t quite so relaxed. His hands gripped the steering wheel. But after close to forty minutes of enjoying the green rolling hills, he gave her a reassuring smile.
“I suppose you think I’m a real jerk with how I led Sundae on.”
“You’re no worse than any other man.” Dafina teased, biting back a smile.
“Zing. And there we have it.” Kory groaned.
“Let’s look at it from my perspective, shall we? First—”
“Your dad left you, without any trace,” he said solemnly. You probably dated boys who were either less than mature or moved away. Then you had George who you loved, and he was only after money. It is a cruel world.”
“True that.”
“Pops your best fellow?”
She nodded trying to keep from smiling, but smiled then laughed. “I could tell from your expression that you were right mortified at the thought that you’d strung ‘er along. You are a decent fellow, you are. Wouldn’t have come ‘ere if you weren’t.”
“Dafina, I could never do you wrong. But…”
She waited. His forehead winced. “What?”
“I have this problem of zoning out sometimes.”
“Really. When? I ‘aven’t noticed.”
“You didn’t notice the subway ride, or in the car when I didn’t say two words.”
She shrugged. “A bit of quiet never hurt anyone.”
“I fall into inner dialog…writing, plotting, setting scenes.”
“But that’s what you do.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
She shook her head. “No. I ‘ave things to think about, too. I don’t need entertaining all the time.”
“I promise that you can interrupt—any time without worry of bothering me. I’ll put writing on the backburner and trust that I can move it forward later.”
She touched his forearm. What a dear he was.
“With writing I can set my own schedule and live anywhere.” He gave her a quick glance with a raised brow.
She smiled. Was it his way of telling her that he was open to moving? “Nice.”
He turned the car down a country road lined with poplars and pulled off to the side. “We’ll have to get out and walk a short way.”
Picking up the sack, he got out of the car, walked to her side and helped her out.
“It’s beyond this stand of trees. I know it seems kind of odd, but trust me.” He looked at her reassuringly then brought his face near and kissed her tenderly. He took her hand. “This way.”
He led her through the tall, narrow trees that rustled in a soft wind. Beyond an even row of hedges, large trees grew, more poplars, and… Her breath caught in her throat. Monuments, headstones. No. Kory’s friend. Dead. She mourned the loss as if he were her own friend. She’d wanted to meet him.
Kory brought her to Luke’s headstone on the edge of the cemetery.
“Here we are.” Kory kept his focus on the engraved, gray stone.
Dafina was unsure if Kory spoke to Luke or to her. “Kory, I’m sorry.”
“I have so many regrets.” His voice wavered. “I only went to see him once after the accident. Always told myself I’d go again soon.” He paused, trying to regain his composure. “He was such a great friend. Christian. Fun to be around—always positive. And entertaining. When he was in grade school, he performed magic tricks.”
She held Kory’s arm. “I’m sorry that you had to lose him.” She rested her head on his shoulder and waited for him to continue.
“It was a dirt bike race, our last. I was ahead of him—I told you how competitive he was. My bike swerved o
n one turn, but I was able to get control and continue on. Luke lost control, fell and was hit. He was paralyzed—lived for a year after that.
“He told me that he wanted me to travel, take pictures, and tell him about it. I should have done it back then for him. After he died, I immersed myself in writing. All the anguish was fuel, I suppose.
“I can’t tell him I’m sorry.” He pulled out several loose photographs and one that was framed and showed her the castle pictures. “I tried to remember all the names, but…”
“That’s all right, Kory.”
He set the pictures by the base of the headstone and put the framed picture on top of them. A picture that he’d taken of her and himself. Bittersweet, it was, seeing it there.
“Pray about it Kory. God can make everything right. Pray that God will let Luke know how sorry you are—how much he meant to you…”
He nodded and closed his eyes that brimmed with tears.
Chapter 22
Kory put ice in two glasses, filled them with soda and stepped to his parent’s kitchen table. Dafina smiled her thank you. He sat next to her at the head of the table in the quiet room. Since he’d taken her to dinner at a favorite barbeque place, they’d missed his parents who had already gone to bed.
Through God’s grace—he was sure—he felt more at peace with his life about Luke’s tragedy. How easily the accident could have taken Kory’s life instead of Luke’s. Kory could see that he’d been hiding survivor’s guilt deep in the recesses of his mind. If anyone would have asked him if he suffered from it, he would’ve denied it. But he’d been deceiving himself.