Stupid, wishful thinking. Evan has that fucker up his back and he isn’t going to let Alison get away.
Maybe Evan’s not the guy she went to see.
He is. But maybe he doesn’t have the thing in him.
Then what was that blood on his apartment floor? Roland, half dead, must’ve staggered up to Evan’s door. When Evan opened up, the thing burst out of Roland’s belly and nailed him. It took control, got Evan to haul the dead or dying Roland down to the VW. Sam saw them, just thought Roland was plastered.
Why no blood on the sidewalk?
The thing’s clever. Maybe it got Evan to bandage the wounds before carrying Roland out. The fire took care of the bandages.
Evan’s got it, all right.
And Evan’s got Alison.
Evan handed Alison the bags containing their soft drinks, cheeseburgers and french fries. She held them on her lap, glad to have more than her shirttails for covering.
In spite of his frequent glances in that direction, he’d acted all right during the drive over. Alison’s jitters had subsided, though she still dreaded telling him that she wouldn’t go with him after today.
She would postpone that moment for as long as possible.
Evan pulled away from the drive-up window. Instead of turning in front of the restaurant to circle around to its parking area, he continued ahead and swung onto the road.
“Aren’t we going to eat in the lot?” Alison asked.
“That’d be kind of dreary. Let’s drive someplace nice. We can have a picnic.”
“Evan.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.” He smiled at her. A corner of his mouth trembled. “No more touchy-feely, not unless you start it. I’m a slow learner, but I finally got the message. I’ve put our relationship in too much jeopardy already. Here you are, convinced I’m some kind of a sex fiend. Well, I’m not. You’ll see. From now on, it’s hands off. Consider me a eunuch.”
Too late for that, Alison thought.
“I came so close to losing you, last night. My boorish behavior, then…the attack on you. I had to face how much you mean to me, what it would be like if I never saw you again. I love you so much, Alison. I’ll never again do anything to make you doubt me.”
“We’ll see how it goes today,” she said.
“A test. I’ve always passed my tests with flying colors.”
Alison settled back against the seat. She believed him. The lunch would go smoothly. He would make the sacrifice today, knowing this was his last chance. Be a good boy, and there would be plenty of future opportunities to make up for it. So he thought.
He’s no mind reader. He doesn’t know that, regardless of how wonderfully he behaves, this is it.
By the time he finds out, it’ll be over.
He steered onto Latham Road.
“Where are we going?” Alison asked.
“Just out of town a little way. We’ll have a picnic, all right? Just like old times. Except no fooling around.”
“What’ll it be?” asked the bartender.
“I called earlier about Alison Sanders,” Jake said.
“Right. She wasn’t here.”
“Do you know her?”
“Not the name. Maybe if I saw her…”
Shaking his head, Jake started to turn away.
“You said Alison Sanders?”
Jake faced a slim young man who was seated on the bar stool beside him, nursing a martini. He looked rather old to be a student. “Do you know her?”
“I met her a few nights ago. Are you a friend?”
Jake showed the man his badge. “I’m also a friend. I need to find her fast. She said she was coming over here today.”
“Well, she was here. Around one thirty or a quarter till two. I was just arriving. In fact, I’d come here in hopes of seeing her.” He shrugged. “She was with someone else. I just caught a glimpse of her getting into his car.”
“Did you see who she was with?”
“I wasn’t looking at the driver.”
“Did you tear your eyes away from Alison long enough to notice the car?” Jake asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
“A dark blue four-door. I’m not good with cars. I do know that it wasn’t a compact. It had a rather squarish shape along the lines of a Mercedes. It wasn’t a Mercedes, of course.”
“License number?”
“I didn’t notice. Nothing suspicious was going on, why would I look at the license plate?”
“Did you see the car leave?” Jake asked.
“It was still sitting at the curb when I came in here.”
“This was about one forty-five?”
“Give or take.”
Jake checked his watch. Ten after two.
Rushing out of Wally’s, he squinted against the sudden glare of daylight and ran to the street. He looked both ways. No blue car.
He leaned sideways against a tree trunk.
Twenty fucking minutes.
If he’d just been quicker.
Groaning, he rammed his elbow hard against the trunk.
Evan slowed the car. As he started to turn, Alison glimpsed a sign on the other side of the narrow road.
The Oakwood Inn.
He’s taking me to the Oakwood.
Alison felt herself sinking, going down and down, dropping into an abyss.
It’s happening, she thought. Oh dear Jesus, it’s happening. It
I took care of Roland. I can take care of Evan.
Jesus, I’m going to die.
Maybe Evan just picked this place by accident, just took the first side road that looked interesting.
“Look at that,” he said, “a restaurant.”
Alison nodded.
“Looks like we’re the only ones here.”
“It’s closed,” Alison said. Her voice came out a whisper. “It’s where those people were killed.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “Well then, I guess nobody will mind if we use the parking lot.” He steered toward the front of the restaurant.
Alison lifted the bags of food off her lap. Leaning forward, she set them on the floor between her legs.
Evan stopped the car no more than a yard from the porch stairs. “So this is where it happened,” he said. “I wonder if we could get inside. It’d be kind of fascinating, wouldn’t it? Explore the scene of the crime?”
“Maybe after we eat.” She faced him. She stared into his intense, bloodshot eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’ve been so rotten to you, Evan. All my dumb nonsense. Not wanting you to…It all seems so stupid and petty, now. I mean, I was almost killed last night. That sort of thing, it makes a person…it made me take a long
