“You went to the Vishna yoga studio,” he said.
“That’s right, hon. I was going to surprise you about it later-”
“Damn it, Susan, what the hell were you thinking?” He stopped himself and swallowed back the rest of what he wanted to say. “What’s done is done, but you’re not going back there,” he said in a more controlled voice.
Susan stared at him with what could’ve been mistaken for amusement if he overlooked the intensity burning in her dark brown eyes. “Hon,” she asked, “how long have we known each other?”
“A long time,” he admitted.
“Since I was eighteen. Over sixteen years.”
He nodded.
“Do you think now’s the time to start ordering me around?”
“Sue, these people are dangerous. This is not something you should be fooling around with.”
“Hon, I think I can make my own decisions. Besides, all I’m doing is going to a yoga studio on the Hill. If by doing that I can help you, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Sue, please-”
She took hold of his hand, gave it a squeeze. “Darling,” she said, “I can take care of myself. You should know that by now.”
He nodded. What he knew was that there was no point trying to talk her out of it. He couldn’t help feeling a sick twisting in his stomach at the idea of her going there. “Just promise me going to that yoga studio is all you’ll do,” he said. “If they invite you to True Light’s compound-”
She got up on her toes and kissed him lightly on his nose, stopping him. “I promise you, hon, that’s all. Nothing else. So stop worrying, okay?” She shook her head, laughing. “I can’t believe that smell’s still in my hair. When I got back today I washed my hair for twenty minutes trying to get it out.”
“What is that smell? Are they smoking pot down there?”
She opened her eyes wide in mock surprise. “Oh, now you want my information?”
“Susie, my darling, quit being coy. You already put me through the wringer, remember?”
“I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry about that. I know you’re just worried, and maybe a bit overprotective. Which is sweet. To answer your question, they’re burning incense.”
“That’s all it is?”
“That’s all, but boy is it powerful. They have it burning all over the room fogging it up. The stuff gave me a headache the whole time I was there. Why don’t we wait ’til dinner and I’ll tell you more about it.”
They decided to go to a pizza place on Pearl Street. The night air had gotten cooler and Susan hung close to Shannon, keeping an arm around his waist. As they walked, her hip brushed against his with almost every step. Shannon expected to see more people on the outdoor mall for a Thursday night, but at that hour it was quiet, mostly just college kids gathered around and a few transients bumming for money. When they were half a block from the restaurant, he spotted Eddie sitting alone under a streetlamp studying a chess position. Given his rapt attention to the chess board and the way the lamp illuminated his heavily-lined face, he could’ve been mistaken for an antique wooden carving that had been dressed up in jeans, work boots and an army jacket. Shannon pointed him out to Susan and told her that he knew the guy and needed to talk to him, but that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Susan was fine with it, and joined Shannon as he walked over to Eddie.
Shannon stood quietly for a minute or two studying the position, then told Eddie that white could force a bishop advantage in five moves. The older man looked up, a bit startled, then chuckled softly as he recognized Shannon.
“Caught me by surprise,” he said. “I guess in your line of work you get good at sneaking up on folk.” He noticed Susan, quickly tested his upper plate with his thumb to make sure it was in place, then nodded solemnly as if he were tipping a hat. “Ma’am,” he said.
Susan laughed good-naturedly. “Ma’am?” she said. “I guess there’s a first time for everything. Just call me Susan.”
“My ex-wife,” Shannon explained with a wink. “Eddie, I thought you were taking up shop at the student center?”
“I have. Completely dead there tonight so I thought I’d catch some of this cool night air. Mostly dead here also. Reeled in a couple of guppies earlier, neither of which were worth the bother of filleting.” He breathed in noisily through his nose. “I love the smell of this mountain air. One of the reasons I moved back to Boulder.” He gave Shannon a quick one-eyed look. “If this lovely woman’s your ex-wife, then I gave you far too much credit for being bright last time we met.”
“We’re in the process of reconciling,” Shannon explained. “Any luck finding that girl?”
“Don’t you think I would’ve called you if I had?” he said, his tone turning cantankerous.
“I guess that was a stupid question.”
“Won’t argue with you there.”
“Then let me quit while I’m ahead. How about I stop by the student center Saturday for the rematch I promised. Think you’ll be there in the afternoon?”
Eddie said that he would, then grudgingly asked Shannon to show him the sequence of moves forcing a bishop advantage. Shannon played them out quickly.
“Why in the world am I bothering with a rematch?” Eddie groaned as he rolled his eyes upward. “I should just put a sign on my back and ask people to kick me.” He continued to stare skyward, as if searching for divine intervention, then mumbled something to himself about being the world’s dumbest mud-sucking bottom-dwelling fish. He remembered Susan standing there, apologized for his salty language and nodded again towards her, once more giving the impression of tipping an imaginary hat. “Pleasure meeting you, ma’am,” he said. With that he locked his stare back onto his chessboard as if that was all that existed in the universe.
As they walked away, Shannon explained that Eddie was one of his many minions doing his dirty work. “He’s looking for an ex-member of True Light that he ran across a week ago. I’m paying his fee in chess games -”
Susan interrupted him by slapping him in the stomach. “Ex-wife?” she exclaimed.
“Factually correct.”
“You could’ve introduced me as your friend! And what’s with this reconciling business? We’ve been back together almost four years!”
“I’m not introducing you as my friend,” he said. “That would be a joke with what you mean to me.” He paused, then added. “And you know that anytime you want to get the ex removed from my introductions, I’m more than happy to accommodate you.”
“I know that.” Susan touched his arm. “But it would just be a piece of paper, hon. It wouldn’t change that you already have my heart and soul, and that nothing’s keeping me from spending the rest of my life with you.”
Shannon nodded and squeezed her hand resting on his arm. Up until then he had resisted mentioning the idea of them getting remarried, sensing Susan’s reluctance to upset what they had. He understood her reason: that they were happier now than they’d ever been during their ten year marriage, but a big part of it was that they no longer had the specter of Charlie Winters hanging over them. As he looked at her, he also saw the thought flicker across her eyes-that if they were married again, it might bring back memories of Winters that she’d so far been able to block out.
He reached down and kissed the tip of her nose. “Maybe I’ll just start introducing you as my better half.”
“Are you okay with that?” she asked, her eyes searching deep into his. He nodded. She returned the kiss, catching him hard on the mouth. “Let’s get some pizza then. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
After they got seated at the restaurant, they ordered a deep dish pie, half broccoli for Susan, half garlic and olive for Shannon. When he ordered his half, she raised an eyebrow and commented on how he better be damn good in bed if he expected to get lucky that night.
“I’m planning on my irresistible animal magnetism to do the trick,” he said. She got a laugh out of that. As they waited for their pizza, he told her about Linda Gibson. “That poor girl,” she said when he had finished. The empathy in her eyes brought a lump to his throat. At that moment, she was probably never more beautiful. “You don’t think her parents could be responsible for her death?”
“I’m sure in some way they’re responsible,” Shannon said. “Maybe not in actually killing her, but in screwing her up enough for her to end up with a guy like Taylor Carver. Maybe I’m prejudging him, but from what I’ve heard so far he was a piece of work.”
