True Evil

'That's not true. She knew I might go out of town.'

'She told me that some woman named Alex called her about Ben. Who the hell is Alex?'

Chris sat up slowly, then stood and walked into the adjoining den. 'Look…I had to drive up here to see a patient at UMC. There's nothing to freak out about. Where are you?'

'In Greenwood, where I'm supposed to be.' Thora's voice had lost none of its hysteria.

He clenched his jaw but said nothing.

'Chris? Are you there?'

'Uh-huh.'

'What the hell is going on down there?'

He stood at the center of the dark room, his throat and scrotum aching from the spasms of repeated retching, his arm almost too weak to hold up the phone, and fought to keep from screaming from the depths of his soul. He remembered Alex begging him not to confront Thora, but the truth was, he didn't care about the goddamn investigation. He could never look at Thora again and pretend that everything was fine.

'Answer me!' she shouted. 'Are you drunk or something?'

'You're where you're supposed to be?' he said.

'Of course I am!'

'What about Shane Lansing? Is he where he's supposed to be?'

Now there was only silence.

'Or is he where I'm supposed to be?'

'What are you talking about, Chris?'

'Stop it, Thora. Just stop, okay?'

'Wait…I don't know what you think you know, but you don't…I mean, you just can't…' Her shrill voice faded to nothing.

'I'll tell you what I know,' he said with quiet conviction. 'I know you took a morning-after pill after we had sex in the studio.'

He heard a gasp, then the sound of a thumb being squashed over the cellular mike.

'I've also got a nice snapshot of Shane doing you doggy style on the hotel balcony. I'm sure he'd like another trophy to add to his case. You'll be what…the tenth conquest this year?'

He heard a muffled scream, then a male grunt.

'Is he there now?' Chris asked, reeling from sudden vertigo. 'Or has he flown home to eat supper with the wife and kids again? What's it costing him to commute up there to bone your skanky ass? I guess that makes you feel like you're worth something, huh?'

No response.

'If he's there, put him on the phone.'

'Chris…' Thora's voice was smaller now, almost desolate. 'I'm alone. There's no one here but me.'

'I don't believe you. I know what you did, okay? And I may be dead in a year. But you…you and Lansing, you're dead, too. Spiritually dead. You probably don't even know what I'm talking about…but one day you will. You're going to prison! And you tell that motherfucker he's going to stand toe-to-toe with me before it's over. Just once.'

She was sobbing now.

'How could you do that to Ben, Thora? Forget me. But he's been doing so well…Jesus. Do you want to turn him into a clone of your fucked-up emotional blueprint?'

Thora screamed like a woman rending her flesh in mourning.

Chris hung up and stood shivering in the darkness. He was no longer alone. Alex was standing in the door that divided the bedroom from the den, her face confused, her bare legs outlined in the light from the window.

'What did you do?' she asked.

'I couldn't pretend anymore.'

'But-You may have ruined everything.'

'How? You've been working on this for five straight weeks and you've got nothing. You heard Kaiser: poke them with a sharp stick, he said. Well, I just poked Thora. And my guess is, she's going to poke Andrew Rusk like he's never been poked before.'

Alex raised her hand like a little girl and wiped sleep out of her eyes. 'How's your stomach?'

'Better. What time is it?'

'Eleven thirty. That's p.m.'

Chris swallowed painfully. 'I guess we're not going back to Natchez tonight.'

'Not unless you need to get Ben.'

'Did Mrs. Johnson say she was okay with keeping him?'

'She said he was fine.'

'Shit. Thora acted like he was in a panic. She also didn't like hearing that a woman had called. Asked me who the hell Alex was.'

Alex smiled. 'Screw her.'

'No, thanks. Never again.'

Alex walked forward and took his hand, then led him back to the bed. 'I'm not making a pass,' she said. 'I'd just rather sleep with you than by myself. Are you okay with that?'

He lay down on his back, then scooted across to make a space for her. She got into the bed and laid her head on his shoulder, her body warm along the length of his side.

'Why did you marry Thora?' she asked softly. 'Was it because she's beautiful?'

He thought about it for a while. 'I didn't think so at the time. But now…I think maybe that had more to do with it than I knew.'

Alex nodded, her cheek against his shirt.

'It wasn't only that, though,' he went on. 'And I still don't know why she would do this. I mean, why not just ask me for a divorce? I'd give it to her.'

'I think it's about Ben.'

'What do you mean?'

'She knows how much Ben loves you. She can't tell her son that she wants to take away his wonderful new father because she's suddenly bored. That she lied when she married you. Death solves all those problems for her. If you die, she's a noble widow, not a selfish divorcee. And noble widow is a role Thora already knows how to play.'

'That's for sure.'

'Not to mention adding a couple of mil to her bank account.'

He sighed but said nothing.

'People used to think I was beautiful,' Alex whispered, her hand rising to her scarred cheek. 'Before this.'

'You still are. You just can't see it right now. You're not the same as you were, that's all. It's like women who get chemotherapy. They're still beautiful, they're just bald. I call it the Sinead O'Connor look.'

Alex laughed softly. 'You've got a pretty good bedside manner, don't you?'

'Not good enough for Thora, it seems.'

'Well, we know that bitch is crazy.'

Chris closed his eyes. 'I'm going to be bald myself soon, if I take the chemo.'

'No ifs, bud.' Alex wagged her forefinger in his face. 'You're taking it.'

'You're my doctor now?'

'Somebody needs to be.'

He took her arm and turned her on her side, facing away from him, then spooned her tight.

'Oh, no,' she said softly.

'What?'

'This is my favorite thing in the world.'

'Good.' After only a few breaths, sleep was returning.