After Midnight

“No, it’s true. I got him into this mess, so I’ve now gotta help him get out.”

“Whether you want to or not.”

“Yeah, sort of. No, I want to. I mean, we had a lot of great times together. Before he went off the deep end.”

“You just feel sorry for him.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I was in love with him. That sort of thing…I can’t just pretend it never happened. He was the most important thing in my life for a while. The things we did…they’re all part of me, and always will be…in spite of everything else.”

“You’re nuts,” I said.

She laughed softly. “Think so?”

“Yeah. You sound like you’re still in love with him.”

“Maybe with the way he used to be.”

“Well, that guy’s gone forever.”

“I know. It can never be the same. But still, I owe him. For the good times, and because this crazy stuff happened because of me.”

“You gonna kiss and make up with him?”

She let out a sharp laugh. “No way!”

“Yep. And you’ll take him back to your place…supposedly so he can pick up his car. But before you know it, you’ll be asking him in for a beer. Maybe a coffee. Then wham! You’re all over each other.”

“Not a chance.”

“Next thing you know, it’s Humpty Dumpty time.”

“No!” she blurted, laughing, and slapped my leg. “That’s not going to happen. No way! Not in a zillion years.”

I happened to know she was right.

“It’s what he’d like to have happen,” I said. “He wants you back.”

“Well, I don’t want him back.”

“He kept pretending I was you.”

“He what?”

“Yeah. He’d shut his eyes whenever we were making love, and call me Judy.”

“Oh, my God.” She sounded appalled. “Really?”

“Yeah. He even did it tonight when he had me on the picnic table.”

“While he was raping you?”

“Yeah. He kept saying stuff like, ‘How do you like it, Judy? Huh? Big enough for you, Judy? Oh, Judy, you’re so tight and wet. I love your tight, wet pussy.’”

“Tony said that?”

“Not exactly. I cleaned it up a little. He didn’t say pussy.”

“Oh.” She stared straight out the windshield. Her face looked gray in the moonlight, but I bet its true color was bright red.

“That’s when I hit him with the bottle,” I explained.

“Good going.”

“Like I told you, guys are pigs.”

“I’m willing to concede that he is.”

“Trust me, they all are.”

“I wouldn’t go along with that,” she said. “Not a hundred percent.”

“Ninety percent?” I asked.

She said, “Ninety-nine.”

So then I had to laugh.

“I tell you what,” she said. “When we do find Tony, I’ll run him over.”

“All right!”

15

INTO THE WOODS

But she was joking, of course. About running him over. She wanted to rescue Tony, not kill him.

More’s the pity.

If she’d been sincere in her desire to murder the guy, I might’ve changed my mind about killing her.

No, not really.

Here’s the deal. No matter how much I might like Judy (and I liked her plenty), no matter how much she might despise Tony (though I frankly believe she still loved him in spite of everything), no matter ANYTHING—she had to die.

Didn’t she?

Because if she lived, she could tell on me. I’m not saying she would. But she might. And then where would I be?

Up the infamous Creek of Shit without a paddle, that’s where.

Kill her, and I’m home free.

Well, not completely. There was still the little problem of the redial button on Tony’s phone. If he even had a redial button. Wherever his phone might be. In his mystery apartment, wherever that might be.

I wished I could get to it, but I didn’t know how.

What could it show the cops, anyway? Only that Tony’s last call had been to Serena and Charlie’s phone.

It didn’t prove that anyone had answered it.

Serena and Charlie were away on a trip. I, of course, never heard the phone ring because I never left my room over the garage.

There was only one problem with that.

Phone records would show that the call had lasted a while. Four or five minutes? Which would lead the cops to figure he either talked to someone, or left a message on the answering machine.

My insides shriveled.

They’ll want to hear Tony’s message.

But I couldn’t let them hear it.

One little button on a telephone was going to destroy me if I couldn’t come up with a way to find Tony’s new apartment.

“We’re almost there, aren’t we?” Judy asked.

For a second or two, I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I saw the woods on both sides of the road. “It’ll be pretty soon,” I said. “The turnoff. It’ll be on the right. Shady Creek Picnic Area.”

“I hope he’s okay.”

“But not too okay?”

“Medium okay, medium hurt. Maybe in great pain, but with no permanent damage.”

“You’re so caring, Judy.”

“I just hope he’s there. I thought we’d find him before now. You know, on his way home.”

“Don’t forget, he’s naked. He probably hides when a car comes along.”

“Yeah. We might’ve gone right by him.”

“Or he could’ve taken a different route.”

“What other route? There’s only one way to get back to town from out here.”

“If you stick to the roads,” I said. “But maybe he took a shortcut through the woods.” I spotted the sign up ahead and said, “Here it comes.”

Judy slowed down.