better than nothing.
The surveillance had not been sanctioned by his superiors. Officially, their strong hunch that Albright was their culprit didn't amount to 'just cause.' Not yet. But it was enough for Dodge. If anyone found out that he'd planted a bug without authorization, he would be removed from the task force, if not drummed out of the Houston PD altogether. But if it paid off the way he predicted it would, it was worth the risk.
The day following the beating, he called in sick at the tire plant. As soon as Caroline left for work, he drove to within a block of Crystal and Albright's duplex and gave the equipment a test run. He was able to pick up snatches of their breakfast conversation. Most of it consisted of his yelling at her and calling her ugly names. Crystal tearfully denied that anything sexual had transpired between her and Marvin.
Dodge couldn't catch all of Albright's response to that, but he picked up the word
When he returned to work at the tire plant, his brutalized appearance shocked co-workers. He fielded questions about what had happened to him and created a fender bender, saying it had been severe enough to push his face into his windshield and teach him a hard lesson about wearing his seat belt.
Crystal avoided him. At lunch, she joined a table of other women, and, after giving him one shamefaced, sympathetic smile, she steered clear. It went on like that each following day. They made eye contact, but she never gave him an opportunity to get close to her.
His captain was on his ass about it. Other cops on the task force considered his attempted penetration of Albright's duplex a complete bust.
In the evenings, after dinner, he contrived reasons for leaving the house. He drove to the duplex. He parked near enough for the receiver to pick up any transmissions from the bug, but not so close that he risked being spotted by either Albright or Crystal.
Only once did he hit pay dirt. He heard Crystal asking Albright what he was doing next door. Why was it such a big secret? Why couldn't she go in there? If the landlord found out that he was using it for extra storage, they'd be kicked out of the apartment. She asked if he was dealing drugs. If so, she threatened to move out.
Albright told her that she would move out when he ordered her out and not before. Then he shouted for her to shut the hell up and not to meddle in his business.
Having heard that exchange, Dodge returned home pumped, only to become alarmed when he caught Caroline sitting on the edge of their bed, stroking her mounded stomach with one hand and massaging her lower back with the other.
He rushed to her side. 'Oh, God. Is the baby coming?'
She affectionately ruffled his hair. 'Not for another couple of weeks at least. I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions.'
'What the hell is a ... what you said?'
'They're perfectly normal. Really just twinges.'
'Looks like more than twinges to me.'
'The doctor says to expect these contractions until the real thing comes along.'
'How will you know it's the real thing?'
She laughed lightly. 'Oh, he says I'll know.'
For the rest of the night, even while she slept, he kept his hand on her belly, wondering how she could possibly sleep with so much activity going on inside her womb.
Worry gnawed at him. If her uterus was in proportion to the rest of her, it was tiny. He thought it was a miracle that a frame as small as hers could carry a child of any size, but what if their baby was extraordinarily large? He couldn't remember if he'd ever been told how much he'd weighed at birth, but even if he had been told, he didn't know what the standard was. He'd have no gauge of comparison. What if he and Caroline had conceived a giant? His offspring could bust something up inside her. She could be ripped apart.
He lay awake all night, fearing an anatomical catastrophe. Consequently, he was out of sorts the next morning when he reported for work at the tire plant. His mood didn't improve when he realized Crystal hadn't clocked in that day. Was she sick? Had Albright made her leave the job because of her friend and co-worker Marvin? Had he started thinking about the plumbing episode, got angry all over again, and taken his abuse to a new level?
At the end of his shift, Dodge quickly made his way toward the employee exit. He was anxious to get home, reassure himself that Caroline was all right, and then see if he could pick up anything untoward going on in the household of Franklin Albright. He practically mowed down a female co-worker who planted herself in his path.
'Hi, Marvin.'
'Hi. Excuse me. I'm in a hurry.'
'I have a message for you from Crystal.'
He stopped in his tracks.
Crystal's friend passed him a slip of paper. 'She wants you to call her at this number.'
'Is she okay?'
Either the co-worker didn't know or she wasn't saying. 'First chance you get, she said.'
'Okay. Thanks.'
He called from a pay phone. Crystal answered on the second ring. Her hello was faint, hesitant. 'It's Marvin. Are you all right?'
At the sound of his voice, she began wailing. 'No, no, I'm not! I'm scared.'
Dodge cooed and consoled and finally got out of her that she'd left Albright.
'More like escaped,' she sobbed. 'He's ... he's...'
'Where are you?'
She told him, and, twenty minutes later, he was at the motel, knocking on the door, glancing over his shoulder and hoping that Albright didn't have a bead on the back of his head.
Crystal looked a fright. Her face was splotchy and bloated from hard crying. She was also a mess emotionally. Sitting beside her on the bed, Dodge held her until she stopped shaking. Brushing the hair off her damp cheeks, he urged her to tell him everything.
'I can't help you if I don't know what's going on.' The first thing he wanted to know was if he had to worry about Albright crashing in on them again, wielding his switchblade and making good his promise to slit Dodge's throat. 'Does he know you've left him?'
'I'm sure he does by now,' she said, hiccuping. 'He went out and said he'd be gone for a few hours, but I didn't trust him not to come right back. Not after the other night when he tricked me. As soon as he left, I called a taxi. I packed only what I could carry, and all the time I was waiting for the taxi, I was frightened he'd come back and catch me before I could get away.'
'You didn't leave a note or anything telling him where you were going?'
'No! I've left for good, and I'm not going back. Oh, Marvin, if he catches me, he'll kill me.'
'No he won't, because I won't let him.'
She clutched him tighter and said she didn't know what she would do without his friendship and protection. Out of gratitude, she kissed him on the lips.
'Listen, Crystal,' he said, setting her away from him. 'Do you have any other reason to be scared of Franklin?'
She blinked the gummy eyelashes. 'Like what?'
He cautioned himself not to blow it, to go easy. 'Like ... I don't know. Do you think he's planning another crime?'
She averted her eyes. 'Maybe. He's up to something.'
'Jesus.'
