Chapter 35
'You deserve each other,' Samantha told Mason and Abby. 'I pity the fool that tries to come between the two of you.'
The fire was out, the crime-scene technicians were finished, Centurion's and Nix's bodies were on their way to the morgue. Even the press had gone home, its insatiable appetite slaked for another news cycle. Dawn was close. Mason and Abby leaned against his car, arms interlocked, neither letting the other go.
'Thanks for your help,' Mason told Samantha.
'What help?' she said. 'I took your bait about Centurion escaping through the woods so you could put on your cape and save the day,' she teased.
'Works every time,' Mason said. 'Have you talked to Ortiz?'
'Yeah. He'll wait until he gets my report to make a final decision, but he agrees that it's an easy call. Centurion was justifiable homicide. No charges. He says you'll have enough trouble with Sanctuary's insurance company that he's not going to bother with an arson investigation.'
'What did he say about Jordan?'
Samantha shook her head, not hiding her exasperation. 'The same thing I've been telling you. Jordan's case led to the investigation of Centurion and Nix. That happens all the time, one crime exposes another. It doesn't mean the two are related or that Jordan is innocent.'
'So you're not going to reopen the investigation, even after what I told you about St. Louis?'
'Ortiz said he'd look at it next week, but he wants you to know he's getting ready for trial.'
'Swell,' Mason answered. 'Can you have someone drive Abby's car back to her place?'
Abby interrupted, 'I don't need anyone to drive my car.'
'I just thought,' Mason began.
'Then don't. I saved you, remember,' she said, kissing his forehead.
'Like I said,' Samantha replied. 'You two deserve each other.'
They chose Mason's house, Abby scrubbing the blood from Mason's body, Mason washing her with gentle strokes, knowing the stain of killing someone never comes out, no matter how justified the act. Their lovemaking was desperate with the fresh memory of nearly losing each other.
'I love you,' he told afterward, tangled in her arms.
'I know,' she said. 'I couldn't live with all of this if you didn't.'
He propped himself on one elbow. 'What about you? Do you love me?'
She lay on her back, stroking his face. 'You know I do. Do you need me to say it?'
'Yeah, it has a nice ring to it,' he answered.
'I love you, Lou. Now, forever, and always.'
They slept until late morning, Tuffy climbing into bed between them, whimpering, thumping their legs with her tail.
'What's she saying?' Abby mumbled, covering her morning breath with the sheet.
'I think she's trying to tell us that dogs don't do brunch,' Mason answered. 'Come on, dog,' he said, rubbing Tuffy's nose. 'Chow time.'
Abby joined him in the kitchen wearing a pair of Mason's sweats, cinched tight at the waist, and one of his rugby shirts that fit her like a tent. He was standing at the sink wearing boxer shorts and a hooded sweatshirt that zipped in the front, watching Tuffy chase scents in the backyard, an early frost melting into a thin ground fog speckled with sunlight as the day warmed. Abby hugged him from behind, slipping her hands under his sweatshirt, pulling him close.
'What do we do now?' she asked, her wistful tone casting the question in capital letters.
He covered her hands with his, raising them to his heart, pressing her hands down to feel it beating. 'Live,' he answered.
'It's not that simple,' she said. 'I killed a man. I know I did it to save you, and I'd do it again, but how do I live with that?'
'Living is the first choice you have to make. Getting up every day, going to work, doing your job, coming home. Loving me. Do that every day, and it gets easier.'
'But I won't forget,' she said.
'You're not supposed to,' he told her. 'But each day you live your life, you understand even more why you did it. That's how you live with it.'
'Is that what you did?' she asked. 'I mean after, you know, you..'
'Killed a man,' he said, finishing her sentence. 'It doesn't get easier to say the words, believe me. It's not like introducing yourself at a twelve-step meeting. Hi, my name is Lou and I'm a killer. And it's not one of those catchy pat-yourself-on-the-back slogans. Hi, my name is Lou. I'm my kid's dad, and I also kill people.'
Mason turned around, keeping Abby's hands locked behind him, wiping a tear off her cheek. 'Hi, my name is Abby. I love Lou Mason and I'll kill anyone that tries to hurt him,' she said.
'That's another approach,' Mason said. 'You're better protection than taking my vitamins. I'm canceling my life insurance.'
'How much life insurance do you have?' she asked with a sly smile.
'A lot,' Mason said.
'Don't cancel it. I'm a reliable lover, but I wouldn't count on the killer thing.'
'I'll sleep better knowing that. All the same, we need to talk about last night,' he told her.
The police had questioned Mason and Abby separately, testing one version of the events against the other. When they finally got to Mason's house, the last thing they wanted to do was debrief one another.
'You told me not to go out there,' Abby said. 'I should have listened.'
'You can't un-ring that bell. Tell me what happened.'
Abby sighed, rolling away from Mason, leaning against the kitchen counter. 'Coffee,' she said. 'I need coffee.'
'Tea,' he said. 'I don't drink coffee.'
'I'll start a list,' she said. 'At least make the tea strong.'
'I'll brew, you talk.'
'Okay,' she said, rubbing her palms against her sleeves. 'The kids were packing up when I got there and Nix was running around, yelling at them to hurry up. He acted like he didn't know who I was, but he hustled me down to his office before I could even tell him why I was there.'
'He didn't want any of the kids to hear what you had to say,' Mason said.
'He played dumb at first, which made me act dumber. I kept telling him what we knew, thinking that would make him talk. Instead, he got real jumpy. Then Centurion showed up carrying the bags with the drugs and the money and they started to argue like I wasn't even there. When I tried to slip out, Centurion slapped me and made Nix duct-tape me to the chair while he cooked up some crack and loaded the syringe. They were going to kill me,' she said, the words catching in her throat.
Mason handed her a steaming cup of tea, Abby held it to her neck, fighting the chill from telling her story. 'I know they were arguing about the dope and the cash,' Mason said. 'What did they say?'
'Centurion yelled at Nix for not telling me to leave earlier. He said they had to kill me since I'd seen the drugs and the money and that you would come after him, but that they had no choice.'
'What about Nix?'
Abby shook her head. 'You were wrong about Nix. You said he was a make-love-not-war type. He laid into Centurion, telling him that the whole scam was his own idea, bragging about using pregnant girls to run drugs and as a source for babies. The bastard called the girls renewable resources. He was willing to split everything with Centurion, but Centurion wasn't going to give him anything. Centurion came there to kill Nix.'
'Did they say anything about the Davenports?'
'Centurion said it was a good thing Gina and Robert were dead, so they couldn't testify. He called it the best luck they've had. Nix called Centurion an idiot. He said that Gina Davenport gave them credibility and that Robert bought drugs and peddled them to his students. He blamed Centurion for ruining everything.'
'If Centurion didn't kill Gina and if Robert OD'd on his own, how did Centurion ruin anything?' Mason
