“God, it feels good to do that,” Tash said. “I can’t remember the last time I truly laughed.” It made her radiant.
“Honestly,” Coltrane said, “I think I should drive you.”
“But if he’s out there, he’ll still see the two of us in your car. He’ll still follow.”
“Not if you get in my car while the garage door is down. You lie on the back floor until we’re a distance away. Since he won’t know you’re with me, he’ll stay and watch the house. Have you got any timers for the lights?”
10
AS THE GARAGE DOOR DESCENDED, Coltrane removed his hand from the remote control he had taken from the Porsche and continued backing onto the murky road. He turned on his headlights only after the door was sufficiently low that illumination into the garage wouldn’t reveal that Tash wasn’t in there and wasn’t pressing the control on the wall to lower the door.
So far so good, Coltrane thought. But he knew that a couple of other tactics were required to make the ruse convincing. Pausing at the foot of the driveway, he turned on his car’s interior lights and consulted a map, as if figuring out how to get back to the highway. Anyone watching the house would see that he was alone. Next, he shut off the interior lights and tapped his horn twice, two short blasts, evidently saying good-bye. As he proceeded along the road, his headlights probing the darkness, he glanced at his rearview mirror and saw a lamp go off in a window.
“The timer worked perfectly,” he said.
“It looks like I’m still at home and turning off a few lights?” Tash asked from where she hid on the back floor.
“Yep. And there goes the second one,” Coltrane said, watching his rearview mirror.
“Inspired,” Tash’s voice came muffled from the back.
“Not to be immodest, but I agree. Even so, stay down for a while. I want to watch for any headlights that start following us.”
“Is this…”
Coltrane waited, but Tash didn’t finish her question. “What?”
“Maybe you don’t want to talk about it.”
“How can I know until you tell me?”
“Is this what you had to do when you were running from Dragan Ilkovic?”
The reference caught Coltrane unawares, blunting the satisfaction he had felt in getting Tash out of the house. “How did you know about me and Ilkovic?”
“While you were in the bathroom waiting to get your clothes dried, Carl Nolan told me.”
It felt odd to be having a conversation with someone Coltrane couldn’t see. He made an effort not to tilt his head in Tash’s direction and ruin the illusion that he was alone.
“I knew about what had happened at that movie ranch,” Tash’s voice continued below and behind him. “At the time, there wasn’t much else in the newspapers or on the television news. But when I met you, your name didn’t register. I didn’t make the connection.”
“That’s encouraging. I hate to think that every time I introduce myself to someone new, I’ll always be remembered as the man who shot Ilkovic. I prefer to be known for my photographs, not for killing someone – even if he did deserve it.”
“I’m sorry for asking you to talk about it.”
“No, it’s fine. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. I used to check for headlights behind me all the time. I used to drive around the block and down narrow alleys and one-way streets – anyplace that would make it unusual for someone to stay behind me. But the timers on the lamps, all that business in the garage, they weren’t anything I’d tried before.”
“It’s reassuring to know you’re inventive.”
“Yeah, but it’s not something I’m overjoyed to find out I’m inventive at. Keep staying down.” Coltrane steered onto the Pacific Coast Highway and checked for any headlights that emerged onto the highway after him. “So far so good.”
“Let’s hope,” Tash’s muffled voice said.
“When you found out what I had done to Ilkovic, did it change the way you looked at me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“As you put it, he deserved to be killed.”
“That he did.” Coltrane sighed bleakly. “That he did.”
“People you know did change the way they related to you?”
“One in particular.”
“Powerful emotions can be frightening.” Coming from the darkness, Tash’s disembodied voice sounded more faint, almost childlike. “Do you have nightmares?”
“Yes. I thought they’d go away, but they haven’t. I keep dreaming that Ilkovic isn’t dead, that he’s still coming for me. I imagine his hands…”
“I have nightmares, too,” Tash said. “Someone’s reaching for me, but I can’t see his face. Since I don’t know what he looks like, it’s natural that he’d be faceless, I suppose, but it’s worse than that. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have a…”
“Head.”
“Then you understand.”
“That’s in my nightmare also,” Coltrane said.
“This’ll sound odd, but I’m glad.”
“What?”
“You’re the first person I’ve been able to talk to about what I’m feeling and know that you understand. Walt, Lyle, Carl, and the others – I try to explain how alone and afraid I feel, and they tell me they know what I mean. But they don’t know. How can they possibly? They’re big men with badges and guns. Their lives are in control. They’re not being stalked.”
“We’re in a limited club.”
“Not you. Not any longer. But it’s reassuring to know that you survived. I feel safe with you.”
“I hope I don’t let you down.” Again, Coltrane checked his rearview mirror. “I didn’t see any cars pull onto the highway after us. I think it’s okay now for you to sit up.”
“Since I’m feeling safe…”
Coltrane wondered what she meant to say.
“Why don’t I stay down out of sight until we get to your place?”
“It’s a long drive,” Coltrane said.
“It won’t be if we keep talking the way we are. Tell me about your photographs.”
11
“ALL CLEAR,” Coltrane said as his garage door rumbled shut.
“Ouch,” Tash said. “I’m going to need a couple of aerobics classes to get my back into shape after this.” She rose, massaged her spine, and got out of the car. But it was obvious that she wasn’t that creaky. An upward stretch of her arms accentuated her trim body. She had changed from her loose-fitting sweatsuit to a pair of blue slacks, a gray turtleneck sweater, and a jacket whose color resembled the raspberry tint of what she had previously been wearing – obviously a favorite color; it added a depth to her dark eyes and hair. When she stretched, she turned modestly away, so as not to emphasize her breasts in front of him, Coltrane assumed. No matter, that upward stretch and a slight twist this way and then that were a pleasure to behold, her body assuming the dancer’s grace she had exhibited when he first saw her, although Coltrane continued to have the uncanny feeling that he had first seen her long before that.
Watching in wonder, he suddenly found himself in darkness.
“What happened?” Tash asked in surprise.
“The garage opener’s overhead light is supposed to stay on for a minute after the door goes down, but it’s been cutting out much sooner. I’ll go over and turn on the switch.”
Footsteps scraping on concrete, he inched through the darkness and approached where he estimated the door to the house was. Reaching blindly, he touched the door and groped toward the switch on the right, all at once flinching from a shock, seeing a spark as a hand brushed past his and reached for the same switch.
“Oh my God,” Tash said, “I’m sorry.”
“Whoa. You really do give off static electricity.”
“I thought you were having trouble finding the switch. I was looking in that direction when the lights went off, so I figured it would be easier for me to… I really am sorry.”