Me, I know life. Stay right on the line, you'll be fine.'
163
'YOU LIKE THE blonde or the redhead?' I asked Blossom. The sex shop had a plentiful supply. Black, white, Oriental. Matching pubic hair, 'removable for washing,' the dandruffy clerk told me. 'All three holes, too.' The two faces were identically blank.
'I don't like either of them.'
'Yeah, okay. I know what you don't like. What I need is some clothes of yours, okay? They need to be dressed when I first pull into the spot.'
'It won't work.'
'Why not? You think he's gonna get that close a look?'
'Let's see.'
'What do you mean?'
'Let's try it. Look for yourself.'
'It'll work, don't worry.'
'You can't be sure.'
'Burke, we won't get another chance. I'll leave it up to you. Just take a look first. Please.'
'Get a suitcase,' I told her as I pulled the plug on the inflatable dolls.
164
VIRGIL AND LLOYD weren't home. 'They went out somewhere,' Rebecca told us. 'Have some coffee with me— they said they'd be back in an hour or so.'
Virginia marched into the kitchen, pulling her brother by one hand. 'Mommy, can we get Junior a sailor suit? I saw one on TV before. He'd look so cute in it when he goes back to school.'
'Junior, you want a sailor suit?' Rebecca asked him, eyes dancing with joy at her children.
'No!'
'I guess that settles it, Virginia. Your brother's getting old enough to know his own mind.'
'He's just stubborn.'
'Like his daddy.'
'Daddy's not stubborn.'
'No, Daddy's perfect, huh?'
'Well, he
'How come you're not practicing your piano, sweetheart?' Blossom asked the child.
'She don't hardly touch that thing unless her daddy's around to hear her.' Rebecca laughed.
'Mommy!' Virginia gave her a look I didn't think women learned until they were grown.
I went into the living room. Watched a Monster Truck competition on TV. Virginia sat down at the kitchen table with Blossom and her mother, sipped her mostly-milk coffee with them. I lit a cigarette, drifting. Junior came inside, sat down in his father's chair, watched the trucks with me.
165
IT WAS ALMOST ten o'clock when I heard the door. The kids were in bed. Virginia came into the living room in her flannel nightgown, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Virgil picked her up, gave her a kiss, carried her back to bed.
'Got something to show you, brother. Outside.'
The 'Cuda was in the garage, lights on. A neat round hole in the driver's door.
'Lloyd and me, we took it up to a spot I know. Off in the woods. I threw down on it from maybe fifty yards. Real close. Put one round into the door, one into the driver's window. From the thirty-ought-six. The bullets never got inside. That thing's a bank vault.'
'You don't know the Mole,' I told him.
His face was calm. 'That's right, I don't. Thought I'd see for myself.'
'Okay, it's time. We're set. Tomorrow night.'
'What about the other test?' Blossom. Honey-voiced, thread of ice running deep inside.
'What test?' Virgil wanted to know.
'She wants to see what the dummies look like from outside the car. I got them in the Lincoln. I'll just blow one up, we'll take a look.'
Blossom stood to the side, watching us, hands on her hips, jaw set. 'Not here.'
'What difference does it make?'
'Difference enough. Let's take it back, to where Virgil tested it. See what it looks like in the dark.'
'This'll be good enough.'
'No, it won't.'
'Blossom…'
'She's right.' Rebecca.
'Reba, you don't know what…'
Rebecca wheeled on Virgil. 'What is it I don't know, honey? I don't know what you and Lloyd gonna be doing out there? What if this maniac sees a plastic dummy, figures out it's a trap, starts spraying bullets all over the place? Burke, he's inside this car, safe. What about you?'
Virgil held out his hands, palms up, surrendering. I caught the look between Blossom and Rebecca. Wondered why men ever think they run things.
166
BLOSSOM SAT NEXT to me in the 'Cuda's bucket seat, running her hands over the surfaces, gauging the weight. The coupe's tail slid out a bit as I gunned it around a corner, pavement-ripping power barely under leash.
'He would have just loved this car,' she said.
'Who?'
'Chandler.'
I watched the Lincoln's taillights through the dull windshield, following Virgil.
167
HE PARKED THE 'Cuda at the end of a dirt road. A few strokes of the foot pump (the one 'optional extra' I bought from the sex shop after I passed on a great variety of cheesy negligees and garter belts) and the redhead doll was life-size. I positioned it in the passenger seat. Stepped back onto a rise, settled myself and looked.
The white body was only a dull streak behind the glass. Couldn't tell what it was.
'Look for yourself,' I told Blossom, standing aside.
She stood next to me. Nodded.
'Let's get out of here,' I said, taking her elbow.
She stood rooted. 'Virgil, you got your rifle with you?'
'Yeah.'
'Got a scope on it?'
He looked at me. I nodded.
I put the rifle to my shoulder. 'Do it right. Play it square.' Blossom's voice.
Or Wesley's?
I dropped prone, sighted in. He'd have a night scope of some kind. Infrared or luminous.
I put the cross-hairs on the passenger's window. This time, I didn't just look. I watched.
