“Get out of the way, Maureen!” Sam told her in a low voice. She laughed and he grabbed her arm, yanking her out the door. He sat her down in one of the flower boxes by the door.
“Come on out here!” Sam said to Perry who just stood staring at him.
Perry could see several people beyond him across the street on the steps of the funeral home. They had apparently grown tired of viewing the body of their loved one and found this view much more interesting.
Perry shook his head. The last thing he wanted was a repeat performance of the little altercation that had occurred only the night before with Billy Johnson. This one would have an audience. There was nothing in his past experiences on which he could call for the proper response and he knew that Angelica would have his head on a pike pole if he destroyed the inside of the store she had worked so hard to set up.
“Leave him alone!” Maureen pushed herself up out of the marigolds and grabbed hold of Sam’s arm. “Go home!” She shouted at him. “I’m sick to death of you and your mother!”
Sam turned his anger briefly on her and his eyes virtually popped out of their sockets at the mention of his mother. He raised his hand as if he would hit her and Perry stepped outside to grab his arm. Another instinctual reaction that put him outside where Sam wanted him. Sam turned to look at him surprised at the strength in his grip. Perry let go of his arm.
“Listen, Mr. Morris,” Perry tried to defuse the situation. “Why don’t you come inside and we can discuss this like civilized... men? We don’t have to entertain the whole town.”
“Civilized?” Sam almost laughed. “I’ll show you civilized!”
Sam threw a roundhouse punch that landed square on Perry’s nose...blood flew. Perry was horrified momentarily until darkness overtook him.
As everything faded to a comfortable shade of black, he remembered Angelica’s cryptic remark about the frailty of his human form.
“Perry?” He heard his name again from far away, but this voice was very familiar.
“Angelica?” He opened one eye slowly. Her lovely frown was only inches from his face. He was lying on the sofa in his living room. He wondered how he had gotten there.
“Can you sit up, dear?” She asked and proceeded to ‘help’ him up. He put one hand over his nose and closed his eyes against the pain. “Sgt. Parks is here. He wants to talk to you.”
Her voice was superbly sweet. Unlike anything he had ever heard from her before.
He opened his eyes again and saw Louis Parks standing in front of him.
“Mr. Aliger?” Louis said hesitantly, bending to look closely at him. “Do you want to file charges?” Louis wished fervently that he was anywhere else but here. Why had they insisted that he answer the call?
“File charges?” Perry blinked at him and frowned at the sound of his nasally twang. “I don’t think so. Ow!”
“I’ll have to file a report,” Louis said apologetically and remembered the last time he had interviewed Perry Aliger. “It’s just routine.” He turned to look at Mrs. Aliger. “Where is Miss Fitzgerald?”
“She’s in the kitchen.” Perry heard Angelica’s voice and looked up to see her pointing the way for Louis. The policeman left them alone. He wished he would not have. The look of reproach on Angelica’s face was awful to behold.
“Angelica,” he said and winced again as the slight movement caused a severe pain to shoot up his nose and into his pre-existing headache.
“Peregrin,” she matched his tone raising both eyebrows. She was still dressed in her jogging outfit and she looked wonderful. “You interrupted a very crucial contact. I was about to meet Mrs. Martin. Cheryl’s mother?”
“I’m sorry.” He looked about cautiously as if expecting Sam Morris to be waiting for him. “I hadn’t expected...”
“You simply cannot continue in this vein,” she told him in a low voice. “You are going to be seriously injured. Now you have a problem with Maureen Fitzgerald. She is in the kitchen, quite hysterical. She is, I believe, hopelessly attached to you now. Perhaps if this is one of those experiences you wished to engage in, your hope has grown to the utmost fruition.”
“Angelica!” Perry managed to look indignant. “How can you accuse me of such?”
“I only know what I see,” she told him. “Add this to what you have been telling me and I can only conclude that you have been dabbling in some emotional entanglement with your insurance agent. Love and hate, Peregrin. Now you have them both tied in one neat package. What are you going to do with them? Write them down on one of your little papers and put them in a box?”
“I did not mean for this to happen,” he said miserably. “And I resent your tone. This entire incident has taken me completely by surprise. Would you please answer the phone?” Angelica looked around in confusion. “Don’t you hear that ringing noise?” He asked as the ice cream truck passed in front of the store, it’s chimes ringing a bright little tune.
Angelica stepped forward and placed one finger under his chin and raised his head to survey the damage. “I see,” she said sarcastically. The swelling and bruising were already beginning to diminish. It would most likely be gone by nightfall without a trace.
“There were witnesses,” he told her and wondered why. Certainly, she would offer no sympathy. “I had to stop him from hurting her. That would have been totally unacceptable. I don’t think I could have done less under the circumstances. I tried to get him to come inside. I could have corrected the entire situation, but he wouldn’t comply.”
“So now you have become... a martyr for her?” Angelica shook her head. “She is already enamored of you and now, you are her hero. Tell me. How does it feel to be a hero, Peregrin? You are always bent on experiencing new feelings. What is my proper role in this? Do I now pretend to be the injured third party? Or do I ignore the whole thing?”
“You should be... angry,” he told her. “That would be the correct response. At least pretend to be angry. Anything less would be suspect.” He glanced toward the door leading to the kitchen. “At least give me one night to repair the damages. I will take care of it.”
“Not tonight, you won’t,” she told him. “Have you forgotten about our dinner party?”
He had forgotten. Another slip. He rolled his eyes.
“And furthermore, for safety’s sake, I think you should confine yourself to our bed tonight.” She turned on her heel and left him.
Perry could only smile at the thought even though it caused him pain. So she would force him to sleep with her. Such a horrible fate. Alas, what punishment! He felt like punching himself for being such an idiot.
Louis returned from the kitchen and looked at him apprehensively. Maureen trailed after him dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. She looked devastated.
“I thought you might want to read Miss Fitzgerald’s report.” Louis handed him the handwritten sheet of paper. “If you agree with her statement, then I really don’t need anything but corroboration from you.”
Angelica returned to lean against the arched doorway watching them quietly. Perry glanced over the report. Maureen had lied extremely well and had then lied some more. He had to admire her style.
“No, nothing.” Perry handed it back to him. “I think she covered it very well.”
“I thought as much,” Louis said eyeing him closely. At least they were even now and he, Louis Parks, could stop feeling so damned guilty. Evidently, there was big trouble in paradise. “Well, that about takes care of my end. If you change your mind about filin’ charges, just give me a call.”
“I will,” Perry told him and looked at Maureen. She averted her eyes quickly.
Louis tipped his hat to Mrs. Aliger and walked toward the door with Maureen following closely behind him.
Maureen stopped at the door and looked back at Angelica.
“Mrs. Aliger,” she said slowly and sniffed. “Your husband was wonderful. He saved my life. I swear I don’t know what I would have done. I’ve never seen Sam so angry and all beca
use I used his charge card at Dillard’s. He’s such a cheapskate. I’ve decided that it would be best if he and I called it quits for a while, at least. I’m really, really sorry about what happened. I’m so embarrassed. I hope that Mr. Aliger will be all right.”
“I’m sure he will be,” Angelica told her levelly. “I believe that there’s a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen, Miss Fitzgerald. If you would care to join me in a cup.”
“I’d love that,” Maureen’s eyes lit up. Louis frowned at her, but she paid no attention.
“Just have a seat in the living room and I’ll bring it out,” Angelica told her and smiled at Perry.
Maureen went back immediately to sit in one of the armchairs near where Perry still sat with his feet in the sofa. The front of his shirt was stained with dark blood. He looked at her expectantly and wondered why Angelica had asked her to stay.
“I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me,” she said immediately and looked at him adoringly. “You were just like a hero out of one of those movies.”
Perry almost groaned at the mention of the word Angelica had used. “I don’t feel like a hero,” he told her. “I feel like a... a...”
“You know,” she said dreamily. “This is the first time I’ve ever had two men actually fight over me and it feels just... just... Heavenly. Sam’s done a lot of things, but he’s never hit me. I don’t know what got into him. I hope you don’t think I would stay with someone who would physically abuse me. He must be absolutely insanely jealous of you.” She glanced toward the kitchen where they could hear Angelica clinking cups and saucers. Perry did let a small groan escape at her words. He knew perfectly well that Angelica could hear every word.
“I assure you that this,” he pointed to his swollen nose “does not feel Heavenly. Perhaps he truly loves you, Maureen. How else could you explain his behavior?”
“No!” Maureen shook her head. She didn’t want to hear it. “He did what he did is because you’ve done something no one else has ever done to him. You’ve taken away something he thought belonged to him.”
“I haven’t taken anything from him,” Perry objected and swung his feet around to sit up on the sofa.
Maureen leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Oh, yes you have,” she said. “You’ve stolen my heart.”
“Then you need to give him the chance to win it back,” he suggested brightly.
“No. He had his chance. If I am to be an old maid, then I have the right to take lovers who make me happy. I know we could be happy and I promise never to be a burden to you. All I ask is a little of your time. I just want someone who can appreciate me for a change. Someone sweet and kind and thoughtful. Someone who can recite poetry and tell me about far away places. I promise I won’t ask too much of you.”
Perry’s face fell. He was getting no where fast.
“That looks so painful.” She frowned and got up to stand in front of him leaning to peer at his nose. He leaned back instinctively. She kissed the tip of her finger and pressed it to his nose.
“There!” She smiled. “I’ll go see if I can help your wife with the coffee.”
Perry fell back on the sofa and regretted the action immediately as the pain returned to his head full force. He would never hear the end of it from Angelica.
“Joanne!” Chris Parker burst into the cooler causing his sister to let out a small shriek and lose count of her inventory. She dropped her little pad of numbers between the stacks of beer.
“Damn!” She said, peering into the dark crack between the cartons and cases. “You scared the shit out of me, Chris!”
“Wait til you hear!” He said and automatically began to unstack the boxes to help her look for her notepad. “You’ll never guess in a million years what happened!”
“I know what happened,” she said irritably. “I lost count of the Old Milwaukee!”
“Never mind that,” he told her as he held up her notes. “Listen!”
Joanne gave up and perched on the edge of a stack of soft drinks.
“Not in here,” he frowned at her. “I’m freezing.”
She allowed him to drag her out of the cooler and along the aisle into the office. She glanced at the woman behind the counter and went along with Chris. He closed the door.
“Last night!” He said excitedly, as she took a seat behind the desk. “Somebody beat the crap out of Billy Johnson!”
“Is that what you called me in here for?” She looked at him incredulously. Billy Johnson was always getting into fights. “Somebody’s been needin’ to do that for a long time. I’d have done it myself, if I’d been a man.”
“No, no!” Chris’s eyes sparkled. “You gotta guess who did it.”
“Oh, crud, Chris,” she rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time for this. I have to make an order here.”
“Nope.” He crossed his arms stubbornly. “You ain’t doin’ nothin’ else til you guess who it was.”
“Oh, for Chrissakes, all right. Let’s see...” Joanne tried to think of someone big enough and bad enough to accomplish the feat. “Curly Thompson?”
“Nope.” Chris shook his head. “You’ll never guess.”
“Then just tell me,” she said resignedly.
“Perry Aliger!” He said with smug satisfaction.
“No way!” She looked at him in surprise. “Not Mr. Angel Eyes!”
“Way! And that ain’t the funniest part,” he told her. “He never laid a hand on him. Beat him slap unconscious without touchin’ him.”
“What?” Joanne frowned suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”
“Mike Padgett saw the whole thing,” Chris continued. “He said it was like magic. Perry just ducked and dodged and Billy knocked himself out.”
Chris went on to give her a blow by blow description of what Mike had told him. By the time he was finished, Joanne sat with a stunned smile on her face.
“Boy, that would have been a sight to see.” She shook her head. “But why were they fightin’ in the first place?”
“Seems Billy kicked a rat off Mr. Aliger’s porch,” Chris shrugged. “But you ain’t heard it all...”
Chris told her about how Sam Morris had knocked Perry out cold on the sidewalk of his store only a few hours earlier in front of at least a dozen witnesses at the funeral home and how Maureen Fitzgerald had apparently been the cause of it.
“You mean to tell me that he whips Billy Johnson and then lets that wimp, Junior Morris, knocked him out?” Joanne frowned in earnest.
“Yep,” Chris nodded. “Must have a glass jaw or somethin’. One pop and he’s a goner. Took three men to carry him upstairs. What a show and we missed it all. Maureen was there and then Mrs. Aliger came home from joggin’ or somethin’. Anyhow, Mike said that Mr. Aliger and Maureen were down in the old shop with the lights all off and Mrs. Aliger wasn’t home. Then Sam went over and started beatin’ on the door.”
“Ain’t that something?” Joanne said quietly. “I would never have thought anything like that could’ve happened with him. I bet Mike’s story is exaggerated. Who’d he hear it from?”
“I dunno.” Chris shook his head. “But it sure makes a damned good story. Best one we’ve had around here since ol’ Chuck Meyers got arrested for rustlin’ cattle and shot Weldon Cramer’s toe off.”
Joanne smiled and stood up. “I gotta get back to work, Chris. If I don’t get finished I won’t be ready in time to go with you. I got to see if he got a broken jaw or what.”
“You’re gonna go? Really?” Chris seemed very pleased.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Joanne told him. “I got to see the new hero who whipped Billy Johnson and find out what in the world is goin’ on with Junior Morris.”
“I know that’s right,” Chris agreed wholeheartedly.
Tyler pulled up in Mike’s driveway and jumped out of his truck, forgetting to turn off his engine. He cursed and got back in to switch it off then got back out more slowly. He beat on the patio door,
but got no answer. He turned and listened. The sound of banging came from Mike’s workshop around the side of the house.
“Mike!” Tyler shouted above the sound of the saw.
Mike switched off the saw and looked up in surprise to see his friend standing over him, breathing hard, holding his ribs. Mike brushed the sawdust from his clothes and stood up.
“Tyler!” Mike greeted him and pushed his safety glasses up on his head causing his hair to stick up. He really looked like a bird as he stood there frowning. “What’s the matter with you?”
Tyler shook his head and leaned one hand on the workbench, trying to catch his breath.
“Lookee,” Mike said while he waited and picked up a piece of odd-shaped wood from his work bench. “I just keep amazin’ myself.”
The wood had perfectly cut curly letters that spelled ‘Howdy Neighbor’ in it.
“That’s great,” Tyler panted and sat on a stool. “Listen, Mike, you shouldn’t have told Don Baxter what happened to Billy Johnson last night. It’s all over town now and Billy’s hoppin’ mad. He’s mad at me and you both and he’s real mad at Mr. Aliger. Hell, he was already mad at him anyway. But now he’s hellbent on destruction. He sent word that he was gonna kick all three of our asses.”
“Well, let ’im come on and do it then,” Mike said as he sat back down disgustedly. “That damned fool nearly ruined my deal with Mr. Aliger. He got just what was comin’ to ’im. If that wuddin’ enough for ’im I’ll be glad to give ’im some more.”
“That ain’t the point, Mike,” Tyler shook his head. “We can prob’ly handle Billy. He’s been mad at us before. You know he ain’t really gonna beat up on us too bad.” He held his side and winced. “Not for real. We’re his only friends. It’s Mr. Aliger I’m worried about. I heard he’s got a glass jaw. Seems that ol’ Junior Morris cleaned his clock for him this mornin’.”
“You don’t say.” Mike’s mouth fell open.
“I do say,” Tyler nodded. “If that’s true, it’s no wonder he was jumpin’ around and so bent on not gettin’ hit last night. He ain’t no fighter, Mike. Billy might just kill him.”
The Pandora Effect Page 30