Chapter 36
Ray was already at the downtown cafe when Tammy came in. She waved, walked directly to him, and kissed him full on the lips before sliding into the booth opposite him. “Aren’t Chip and Sandy supposed to meet us here?” She waited a moment before making a questioning smile, because he hadn’t spoken. He was just staring at her; thoughts of their night together still filled his mind.
He remembered falling asleep facing her, their knees touching and her hand under his cheek. Later in a dreamy twist of awareness, he sensed her warm body away from him and moving about in the room. He felt cold and tried to wake but pieces of darkness were shifting around like a blurry puzzle. He was lying naked on his hard cell bunk; his stiff jumpsuit was crumpled under his head for a harsh pillow. He was cold and couldn’t move. Some enormous man in a uniform was standing over him and pointing. He heard the sharp metal clang of the jail cell door. And then, her bare total softness returned, she was warm. He felt her reach out and touch him and her softness enveloped him, and he passed back into bliss with only a fading image of the jail cell.
He remembered awakening in the unfamiliar bedroom wondering if it was true where he was, and true what had happened between them. She was on her side facing him with her breasts showing over the top of the sheet. She saw that he was awake, smiled, and stretched out a perfect leg toward him. Then she raised the corner of the sheet like a theater curtain, to offer him her lovely body again. For him, there was nothing else anywhere.
That was two nights ago. After last night’s talk with Sandy, the incredible happening with Tammy would be remembered sadly.
He heard Tammy’s voice ordering iced tea. He blinked hard and saw her across the booth table. The waitress was hovering.
“Oh yes, iced tea is fine,” he said.
“Turned out really wild the other night, didn’t it?” She puckered her lips and fluttered her eyelashes like a silent screen star.
He had to laugh. “You’re a devil.” He would never kiss those lips again.
“Well, you know where I live.” She reached over and squeezed his hand.
He couldn’t say what he needed to say with her touching him. He gently took his hand away. To cover the awkward moment he reached for a napkin. “Chip had some sort of call, and Sandy is packing for Philly. They’ll be along.”
“Did you see the paper, Ray? Thank heaven the long Park Beach nightmare is over. Imagine Loraine paying Sonny Barner to kill Al and then drowning him to cover it up.”
“Well, Loraine hasn’t confessed and all the evidence isn’t in yet.”
“I never cared much for her, but I’m certainly shocked she’d do it. I’m so happy for you, Ray. Now they must drop the charges.”
He wished she wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t certain he could go through with it if she was smiling. “Sandy and I had a long talk with Chip last night. He was confused about an old boyfriend of yours, the sheriff’s deputy you dated. You told him the guy’s name was Carl Richards.” It helped to talk down to the table and not directly at her.
“I don’t remember what I told Chip.”
“Well, that’s what was recorded. He went looking for him, and found him working in Georgia. Except his name wasn’t Carl Richards, it was Chet Richman. Chip thought for a minute you were trying to mislead him.”
“Richards, Richman, potato, potahto, how many dates have I had since high school?”
“I know what you mean. I have a couple of old girlfriends I wish I could forget. Anyway, Richman is now a deputy in Macon. He said he once bought you a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver for protection for your birthday. Do you still have it?”
She appeared surprised at being asked. “He’s wrong, must have been some other girl. I never had such a gun.”
“That’s the same caliber used to shoot Towson. Some coincidence, huh.”
“What are you getting at? The police found the murder weapon in Loraine’s safe. I have nothing to do with that gun.”
“Wrong, ballistics proved the fatal shot didn’t come from Loraine’s gun. The police haven’t released that information.”
“Then Barner must have used a different gun. You’re acting strange, Ray. What’s all this have to do with me?”
“At dinner you mentioned I was a history expert. Where did you pick that up? And how I was knowledgeable about Chinese porcelain, and therefore I’d appreciate your giving it to me. How did you know Towson and I talked about those cups?”
“I guess I read it in the paper.”
“No, that detail wasn’t released either. How did you know that Towson and I talked about that rare Chinese trader’s directory, the catalog as you called it? Only Towson could have known we discussed that.”
“You must have told me, Ray.”
”No, you and I have never discussed the cups or the directory, and I never mentioned any of that to the police. In fact, I’d forgotten about the directory until you remarked about it the other night at dinner.”
“Ray, stop it! What’s going on here? Obviously, somebody mentioned those things to me. So what?”
“Towson told me he was going to phone you and he did, in spite of your denial. That’s when he told you about the cups, the directory, and my knowledge of history.”
“Yes, he did phone me after you left his place. He just warned me about you that’s all. He didn’t know what you were up to. That’s all there is to it.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police he phoned? It would show he was alive after I left. Why didn’t you tell the police about the message I left on your answering machine when I was first trying to reach you,? Those things would have supported my improbable story?”
“Sorry, Ray. Thinking back on it now you’re right, I definitely should have. At that time, I believed you were guilty and they had you. I wasn’t on your side then. I didn’t think it important. What difference does it make now?”
“You told Chip you hadn’t spoken to Towson since the party. You said you’d never been given a gun. Those were more lies, weren’t they?”
“I don’t like you talking like this. Barner shot Al. They have the murder case all wrapped up.”
Then Ray set the trap that Sandy had suggested. “You said you didn’t leave your office until six, but they have a witness that went to your office around five, found it closed and left after waiting for over an hour.”
“I was showing a property.”
He gave her a sad look and slowly shook his head.
She closed her eyes tightly and grimaced. “There isn’t actually such a witness is there?”
“No,” he said in a low voice.
“That wasn’t very nice, Ray.”
“Sorry. I can guess the rest of it. You acted very quickly that day. You had the idea of killing Towson already in your mind, but you didn’t know when. You didn’t have a plan. Then I showed up. Al had already told you on the phone that we had been arguing. The pieces of your plan fell into place. The perfect fall guy had fallen into your lap. You realized the day for action had arrived. It was the perfect time to go ahead with what had been on your mind. You then told me to wait a few hours before reporting Loraine, so I’d be out running around with plenty of time to have gone back and shot him.”
“This can’t be happening, Ray. Since our wonderful night together, I’ve thought about nothing but the two of us. I have everything planned in my mind—the rest of our lives together.” She put her palms to her cheeks and looked down at the table. “You’re tearing my dream all apart. I can’t believe you’re saying these things and doing this to me, to us.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing it either, and I might not have the story completely correct. My guess is you didn’t carry the gun around. But you had time to go home, pick it up, and go to his apartment. He let you in, of course, with no problem. You shot him and went back to the office. Then you phoned the police and told them about the stranger in town.”
