'Not hungry.' Rusk had already backed fifteen yards away from the fire. 'How will I know that Braid has been taken care of?'
Irritation flashed in Tarver's blue eyes. 'Have I ever promised anything that did not become fact?'
'No. My mistake.'
'Go away, Andrew. And remember-two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I want uncut stones-white crystals, but not that flashy stash you use to seduce college girls.'
'Uncut white crystals,' Rusk acknowledged, finally in the trees now. 'You'll have them next week.'
Tarver was mostly a silhouette now, but Rusk saw him hold up the arm with the coral snake coiled around it.
Rusk turned and started running.
CHAPTER 15
Chris had been working nonstop for hours. The last face he expected to see when he walked into his private office for a break was his wife's. Thora was sitting behind his desk, typing on the keypad of her Treo. She wore blue silk pants and a white silk top so fine that he could see through it. At the rustle of his white coat, she looked up and gave him a brilliant smile.
'Hey,' he said. 'What are you doing here?'
She started to answer, but then her eyes clouded. 'Chris? Are you all right?'
'Sure. Why?'
'You look green, baby. What's the matter?'
He closed the door behind him. 'I just diagnosed a fifty-five-year-old woman with advanced carcinoma of the lung. She was a friend of my mother's when we lived in Natchez.'
Thora pulled off the pale blue scarf she was wearing in her hair and laid it on the desk. 'I'm sorry. I know that kind of thing tears you up.'
'I'm really glad to see you. I'm just surprised.'
'Well, I happened to be driving past on the highway, so I turned in here to see your face and get a kiss.' She got up and came around the desk, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him on the cheek. 'Sit down.'
He did. Thora moved behind him and began rubbing his shoulders. The soft scent of perfume reached him, and soon he was back in his studio, in the moments before she made love to him last night.
'Feel good?'
'This job really sucks sometimes.'
'That's because you let it in. Doctors like my father shut it all out. They come in for the cutting, then take their check and move on.'
Shane Lansing rose into Chris's mind: Lansing shared that trait with Lars Rayner.
'Relax,' Thora said softly. 'Just for a minute.'
'I'm trying.'
She kneaded the base of his neck, trying to ease his tension. He tried to go with it, but mostly to please her. A massage wasn't going to resolve any of his current problems.
'Oh, I ate lunch with Laura Canning at Planet Thailand,' Thora said. 'She told me the Alluvian had a cancellation this morning. They gave us reservations for the next three nights. The only catch is that we have to stay together-as in the
Chris leaned back and looked up at her inverted face. 'You mean you're driving up there today?'
'No, no, tomorrow night. We won't leave until tomorrow morning.'
He leaned forward again, absorbing this in silence.
'Don't worry, I'll still take Ben to school, and Mrs. Johnson can take him to Cameron's birthday party, if you can't get away.'
Chris had completely forgotten the birthday party: a bowling party, like so many held by Ben's classmates.
Thora came around the chair and sat on the desk. His mood had deflated her excitement, but she looked more concerned than irritated.
'You're pretty quiet,' she said, her eyes intense.
He wished he could do something about his mood, but after Alex Morse's accusations and a morning of dealing with terminal illness, it was tough to get excited about vacation plans. As he looked at Thora propped on the desk, something struck him with odd force. He'd actually noticed it last night, but his starved libido had relegated it to minor importance.
'How much weight have you lost?' he asked, staring at her concave belly beneath the silk top.
Thora looked flustered. 'What?'
'Seriously. You look too thin.'
A little laugh. 'That's what running does to you.'
'I know. And it can be unhealthy. Are you still menstruating normally?'
'I had a period two weeks ago.'
Chris tried to remember any signs that this was true. 'I want you to go in the hall and let Holly weigh you.'
Thora reached down and squeezed his thigh. 'You're being silly, Chris.'
'No, I'm being serious. Come on,' he said, standing, 'I'll weigh you myself. I want to draw some blood, too.'
'Blood?' Thora looked stunned. 'No way.'
'Look, you hardly ever come to the office. When was the last time you had a complete physical?'
She thought about it. 'I can't remember. But Mike Kaufman checked me out during my last gyno visit.'
'That was more of a focused exam. I'm worried about your general health. Plus, you weren't running nearly as much when Mike looked at you. That could be interfering with your ability to conceive.'
Thora looked sober but said nothing.
'What are you worried about?' he asked with genuine concern.
'Nothing. I just don't like needles. You know that.'
'That's no reason to put it off. Come on.' He took her by the arm and walked her out to Holly's nurse's station. Leaving her sandals on, Thora stepped up onto the medical scale. Chris shook his head and told her to take the sandals off. After she did, he worked the black iron balances until the bar settled into a level position.
'A hundred and eleven pounds,' he said. 'How much did you weigh when we got married?'
Thora shrugged. 'I don't remember.'
'I do. A hundred and twenty-six.'
'I never weighed that in my life.'
Chris chuckled. She was definitely lying about that, but there was nothing sinister in it. 'You're five feet six, Thora. You don't need to lose fifteen pounds when your starting point is one twenty-six.'
She sighed and stepped off the scale.
Chris knew he'd never get her down the hall to the lab, so he sat her down and fastened a blood-pressure cuff around her upper arm. After he'd pumped it up, he dug into Holly's bottom drawer and took out one of the syringes she used for injections.
'Hey!' Thora cried. 'What do you think you're doing with that?'
'Just sit back and be calm. I'm very good with a needle.'
'He is,' said Holly from behind him. 'He could find a vein on an overweight elephant.'
'I'm not sure that's relevant here,' Thora said. 'What gauge needle is that?'
'A twenty-one,' said Chris.
She grimaced. 'Can't I have a twenty-three?'
'Stop being a baby. Most people get twenty-ones, you know.'
