"You—you're a used car salesman?" Julie said, temporarily ignoring the problem of the FBI because she was so absurdly glad to have someone near her who called himself Zack's friend.
"You could say that," he added with a chuckle. "But when I sold 'em, they didn't have titles if you get my meaning."
"You … you … stole cars?" Julie added uneasily.
"Yeah, but not any more," he explained with another smile in his voice. "I'm reformed now."
"Good!" she said gustily. It was not nearly as reassuring to have Zack's friend be a car thief. Realizing that her faceless visitor might be able to banish her other fears, Julie said quickly, "Zack isn't in Los Angeles is he? He's not threatening those people?"
"I don't know where he is or what he's doing, and that's the truth."
"But you must! I mean, you've obviously spoken to him—"
"Nope, not me. Zack would have a shi—a fit," he corrected hastily, "if he knew I came here myself and got involved. This was supposed to be handled purely by outsiders, but I figured this would be my only chance to meet his Julie. You must love him one helluva lot."
He fell silent, and Julie said quietly, "I do. He must mean a lot to you, too, for you to risk coming here like this."
"Hell—heck, it's no risk," he said in a cocky voice. "I'm not doing anything illegal. All I'm doing is stopping by to visit a friend of a friend, and there ain't no law against that nor in coming in the back door and waiting for her in the dark. In fact, I even fixed the lock on your back door while I was waiting. That thing wouldn't have kept a kid out of this house if they wanted inside. Is that being a law-abiding citizen or what?" he joked.
He'd said he had come here to make sure she was "clear" to take her trip, and Julie was about to ask him what he meant by that when he provided the answer in the same jovial, unconcerned voice. "Anyway, the reason I'm here is cause Zack wanted you to have a new car—you know, if you should suddenly decide to go for a long drive in a couple days—so I volunteered to deliver it. And here I am."
Julie assumed instantly she was probably to use this car, not her own, to throw off her followers when she made her escape from Keaton in two days. "Tell me it isn't stolen," she said in a dire tone that made him laugh.
"It's not. Like I told you, I'm retired. Zack paid for it, and I decided to deliver his gift, that's all. There ain't no specific law against an escaped con buyin' a car for a lady with his own hard-earned, honest money. Now, how she chooses to use that car ain't none of my business."
"I didn't see any car in front of the house tonight."
"Of course not!" he said in exaggerated horror. "I didn't think I should break some city ordinance or something by cluttering up your nice street. So I delivered it to the parking lot behind a place in town called Kelton's Dry Goods."
"Why?" Julie said, feeling stupid.
"That's an interesting question. I'm not sure just why I got a crazy impulse like that," he joked, suddenly reminding Julie of the incorrigible, irrepressible, eight-year-old boys she taught. "I guess I figured that if you was to park your own car on the street in front of that store one morning, you might want to go inside, look around, and then go out the back door and take your new car for a little test drive. Of course, that might annoy the guys who are tailing you. I mean, it'd be awful hard for them to figure out which way you went, what you're drivin,' and what you're wearin'—assuming you was also to get a sudden desire to change into a different sweater or somethin' that you happened to have in your briefcase. If you get my meanin'."
Julie nodded in the dark, shivering at the clandestine overtones of everything he'd said. "I get your meaning," she said with a tight, nervous laugh.
The rocking chair creaked as he stood up. "It's been nice talkin' to you," he said, as his hand briefly touched her arm. "Good-bye, Zack's Julie. I hope you know what the hell you're doin'."
Julie hoped so, too.
"Don't turn the lights on in the back of the house until I'm gone."
She listened to his slow footsteps and had the feeling he moved with a slight limp.
Chapter 58
Tony Austin heard a noise behind him and he reached for the lamp on the table beside him at the same moment he saw the curtains stir beside the sliding glass doors. "Don't turn on the light!" the voice commanded as a shadow moved away from the curtains. "I can see you fine from right here."
"I don't need light to recognize your voice! Why the hell didn't you come to the front door?" Austin said, jerking his hand away and masking his surprise behind contempt. "I left it open for you."
"Do you have any idea how much I've wanted to kill you?"
"You blew your chance five years ago. Where's the money?"
"You're like a vampire, you bleed people dry."
"Shut up and hand over the money."
The shadow at the curtains raised its hand and Tony saw the gun. "Don't be a fool! If you kill me now, they'll figure out it was you in twenty-four hours."
"No! They won't. Zack Benedict is on the loose, he's on a rampage, haven't you heard?" The laugh was chillingly shrill. "He's making threatening phone calls. People think I got one, too. I made sure they do. They'll think he killed you. I waited such a long time for this moment—" The gun lifted, aimed, adjusted…
"Don't be crazy! If you kill me, they'll tr—"
The explosion from the barrel of the gun blew a small hole in Tony Austin's chest near his collar bone, but the fact that the hollow point shell had missed his heart didn't matter. On impact, it fragmented throughout his entire chest cavity, killing him instantly.
Chapter 59
"It's wonderful of you to have all of us over for dinner like this," Mrs. Mathison told Julie as she stood up to help her clear the table. "We shouldn't wait for special occasions, the way we often do," she added.
Julie picked up four glasses and smiled at her mother. It was a very special occasion—the last night she would ever spend with them, because she was leaving to join Zack in the morning.
"Are you sure you don't want Carl and me to stay and help put the dining room back to order?" Sara asked as Carl helped her into her coat. "Carl needs to work up a bid for the recreation center, but that could wait for another half hour."
"No, it can't," Julie said, walking quickly into the living room and giving Sara and then Carl a hug. She held them both longer than necessary, and she added a kiss to their cheeks. Because this was good-bye. "Take care of each other," she whispered to them both.
"You could say that," he added with a chuckle. "But when I sold 'em, they didn't have titles if you get my meaning."
"You … you … stole cars?" Julie added uneasily.
"Yeah, but not any more," he explained with another smile in his voice. "I'm reformed now."
"Good!" she said gustily. It was not nearly as reassuring to have Zack's friend be a car thief. Realizing that her faceless visitor might be able to banish her other fears, Julie said quickly, "Zack isn't in Los Angeles is he? He's not threatening those people?"
"I don't know where he is or what he's doing, and that's the truth."
"But you must! I mean, you've obviously spoken to him—"
"Nope, not me. Zack would have a shi—a fit," he corrected hastily, "if he knew I came here myself and got involved. This was supposed to be handled purely by outsiders, but I figured this would be my only chance to meet his Julie. You must love him one helluva lot."
He fell silent, and Julie said quietly, "I do. He must mean a lot to you, too, for you to risk coming here like this."
"Hell—heck, it's no risk," he said in a cocky voice. "I'm not doing anything illegal. All I'm doing is stopping by to visit a friend of a friend, and there ain't no law against that nor in coming in the back door and waiting for her in the dark. In fact, I even fixed the lock on your back door while I was waiting. That thing wouldn't have kept a kid out of this house if they wanted inside. Is that being a law-abiding citizen or what?" he joked.
He'd said he had come here to make sure she was "clear" to take her trip, and Julie was about to ask him what he meant by that when he provided the answer in the same jovial, unconcerned voice. "Anyway, the reason I'm here is cause Zack wanted you to have a new car—you know, if you should suddenly decide to go for a long drive in a couple days—so I volunteered to deliver it. And here I am."
Julie assumed instantly she was probably to use this car, not her own, to throw off her followers when she made her escape from Keaton in two days. "Tell me it isn't stolen," she said in a dire tone that made him laugh.
"It's not. Like I told you, I'm retired. Zack paid for it, and I decided to deliver his gift, that's all. There ain't no specific law against an escaped con buyin' a car for a lady with his own hard-earned, honest money. Now, how she chooses to use that car ain't none of my business."
"I didn't see any car in front of the house tonight."
"Of course not!" he said in exaggerated horror. "I didn't think I should break some city ordinance or something by cluttering up your nice street. So I delivered it to the parking lot behind a place in town called Kelton's Dry Goods."
"Why?" Julie said, feeling stupid.
"That's an interesting question. I'm not sure just why I got a crazy impulse like that," he joked, suddenly reminding Julie of the incorrigible, irrepressible, eight-year-old boys she taught. "I guess I figured that if you was to park your own car on the street in front of that store one morning, you might want to go inside, look around, and then go out the back door and take your new car for a little test drive. Of course, that might annoy the guys who are tailing you. I mean, it'd be awful hard for them to figure out which way you went, what you're drivin,' and what you're wearin'—assuming you was also to get a sudden desire to change into a different sweater or somethin' that you happened to have in your briefcase. If you get my meanin'."
Julie nodded in the dark, shivering at the clandestine overtones of everything he'd said. "I get your meaning," she said with a tight, nervous laugh.
The rocking chair creaked as he stood up. "It's been nice talkin' to you," he said, as his hand briefly touched her arm. "Good-bye, Zack's Julie. I hope you know what the hell you're doin'."
Julie hoped so, too.
"Don't turn the lights on in the back of the house until I'm gone."
She listened to his slow footsteps and had the feeling he moved with a slight limp.
Chapter 58
Tony Austin heard a noise behind him and he reached for the lamp on the table beside him at the same moment he saw the curtains stir beside the sliding glass doors. "Don't turn on the light!" the voice commanded as a shadow moved away from the curtains. "I can see you fine from right here."
"I don't need light to recognize your voice! Why the hell didn't you come to the front door?" Austin said, jerking his hand away and masking his surprise behind contempt. "I left it open for you."
"Do you have any idea how much I've wanted to kill you?"
"You blew your chance five years ago. Where's the money?"
"You're like a vampire, you bleed people dry."
"Shut up and hand over the money."
The shadow at the curtains raised its hand and Tony saw the gun. "Don't be a fool! If you kill me now, they'll figure out it was you in twenty-four hours."
"No! They won't. Zack Benedict is on the loose, he's on a rampage, haven't you heard?" The laugh was chillingly shrill. "He's making threatening phone calls. People think I got one, too. I made sure they do. They'll think he killed you. I waited such a long time for this moment—" The gun lifted, aimed, adjusted…
"Don't be crazy! If you kill me, they'll tr—"
The explosion from the barrel of the gun blew a small hole in Tony Austin's chest near his collar bone, but the fact that the hollow point shell had missed his heart didn't matter. On impact, it fragmented throughout his entire chest cavity, killing him instantly.
Chapter 59
"It's wonderful of you to have all of us over for dinner like this," Mrs. Mathison told Julie as she stood up to help her clear the table. "We shouldn't wait for special occasions, the way we often do," she added.
Julie picked up four glasses and smiled at her mother. It was a very special occasion—the last night she would ever spend with them, because she was leaving to join Zack in the morning.
"Are you sure you don't want Carl and me to stay and help put the dining room back to order?" Sara asked as Carl helped her into her coat. "Carl needs to work up a bid for the recreation center, but that could wait for another half hour."
"No, it can't," Julie said, walking quickly into the living room and giving Sara and then Carl a hug. She held them both longer than necessary, and she added a kiss to their cheeks. Because this was good-bye. "Take care of each other," she whispered to them both.
