“In fact, Marty liked them so much, he’s going to put them up for sale in the mercantile. I think I might like to have a couple for the cabin.”
Comstock stood up and extended his hand, a skin-deep smile flashing. “Harm, nice to meet you.”
“Hmmmp,” punctuated this time by a single shake.
“Would you like some coffee?” she offered, “or a bear claw? You must be famished after your walk. You’ve been gone for ages.”
They stared at each other for several long, uncomfortable moments. Finally, Marty roused himself.
“Well, I really must be running along,” he told them, rising to his feet. “I’ve got absolutely tons of work to do and I have to spend the afternoon babysitting with Byron. You won’t forget now, will you Elgin darling?”
“No, Marty, you can count on it.”
“Good. Well, ciao everyone.” Turning, he stumbled right into Harm who took a single step to his left to allow the little man to make his escape. Harm watched him trundle quickly down to the dock, untie the little boat, set sail and turn for home.
The shallow water around the dock rippled and the sailboat didn’t make any noise as it maneuvered nimbly back toward the lake. He filed it in his brain under ‘potentially useful information.’ Then he turned back to the stranger.
“Well, I guess I better be getting along, too,” he announced, reaching for his book and box. “I’ve got a lot of things I need to do and I’ve gabbed the morning light away.”
“I’m sorry,” she told him, gazing up into his face. “I feel bad for keeping you from your work.”
Comstock smiled; a genuine smile this time. “I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed myself more. And now that I know I’m welcome, you’ll probably get tired of having me around.”
She laughed again, a warm sound filled with real joy. Harm felt his stomach tighten and his mouth turn down even further.
“I’m sure that won’t happen. Feel free to bring your easel and oils down anytime. Maybe if I’m nice to the artist, he’ll give me a break on a sunset painting for the fireplace.”
“Consider it done.”
They hung there for a moment more, her face turned up to his, their lips only a few inches apart.
Harm plopped down in the chair, still warm from the little man’s butt and reached for a pastry. The spell shattered and the moment passed.
“Well, I’ll see you later, Elgin,” Comstock told her reluctantly. “Goodbye. Oh, and goodbye to you, too, Harm.”
“Mmbllemm,” he answered, raising his hand.
“Goodbye, Chad.”
She stood at the top of the steps and watched until he disappeared up the drive. Enraged, she turned on Harm.
“How…dare…you!” she snarled.
“Me?” he managed after a slug of left over coffee washed down the pastry.
“Yes ‘you.’ I can’t believe even you’d be that rude to my guests. That was utterly unforgivable, even for a crude, selfish lout like you. You practically chased them away physically.”
“Yeah, well, what did you expect? You keep forgetting that my job is to keep you from being killed by a guy who may have already committed one murder and who tried to run you down in the street. So what do I get for my pains? Appreciation? Cooperation? Shit no! All I get is attitude.
“Not only are you a pain in the ass, you’re a stupid pain in the ass in the bargain. You wander away in a strange town without telling me where you’re going. You won’t wear a simple little homing device so I can keep track of your skinny little ass without having to put a leash on you. And then, after I take my life in my hands to go out in the woods to make sure there’s no one waiting for you with an axe, I come back and find you cheerfully coffee-klatching with your friendly neighborhood gay and a guy you never laid eyes on before!”
“Chad is not a stalker.”
“Oh? And you know this for a fact?” Harm’s voice dripped acid and ice.
“He’s much too…too nice, too normal to do anything like that.”
“When the police were hauling body bags out of John Wayne Gacy’s basement, his neighbors stood across the street and couldn’t believe that ‘nice, normal’ guy was a sexual sadist and a murderer. Trust me, if guys looked like stalkers and rapists and murderers, Ted Bundy wouldn’t have racked up eighty kills.”
Her body froze then, the color draining away from her face, her lower lip curling over her teeth. He didn’t need to see her eyes behind her sunglasses. He could feel the fear and uncertainty. Like so many times lately, without a word, she’d made his rage boil away to embarrassed sorrow.
“I…I hadn’t thought of that,” she whispered, dropping heavily into a chair beside him. “I have to admit he did frighten me when he first showed up out of nowhere. But he’s no nice and an artist and we have a lot of things in common and…and he’s been up here a lot longer than this…this person’s been stalking me. I’ve never met him before. We don’t know any of the same people. It…it just couldn’t be…”
“Look, I’m sorry I growled at you. And you’re probably right. He’s probably just what he seems to be. Only please promise me you’ll be a little more careful? This job is tough enough without you inviting home strays. Okay?”
She smiled then and Harm felt lighter.
“Okay,” she agreed, reaching under her shirt and producing the pendant. “See? I’m wising up already.”
“Good,” he told her, his anger gone. “Maybe we can get through this summer in one piece after all.”
“Ellie!” he cried, scooping her up in his arms like a child and spinning her around.
“Jim.” They exchanged warm hugs and a kiss that seemed to Harm a little too long and a little too enthusiastic.
“Let me look at you.” He set her down and took her in from head to toe.
“My God but you just get prettier every time I see you.”
“Thanks, Jim,” she laughed, putting her fingers on his huge forearm. “It’s nice of you to say, even if it isn’t so. But you look terrific. I think you’ve lost a few pounds since last year.”
“Put on some during the winter. Always do when things slow down but now that the tourist season is here I drop it and then some. Nothing like hard work to keep a body fit.” He paused and surveyed her again.
“God but it’s good to see you again. When Marty called and told me you were back up at Moon’s End and that you wanted to rent a boat to go out on the lake, I got number eight ready myself. Packed the cooler with hard cola although you watch it. A little alcohol and a lot of sun can be a mighty dangerous combination.”
“Don’t worry, Jim,” she told him playfully. “You know I never have more than two at a time. And anyway, I brought along company.”
Turning, she nodded to Harm standing behind her about three feet.
“Jim Fisher, this is my secretary, Campbell Harm. Camp, this is one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jim Fisher. My aunt and uncle used to bring me up here every summer for a couple of weeks. Jim practically adopted me.”
Harm stuck out his hand and it disappeared in the huge paw. “Camp, please,” he panted as the vice closed on his fingers.
“And I’m Jim,” he replied good-naturedly.
“Glad to meet you.”
Massive leapt to Harm’s mind. At least three inches taller than his own six foot two, a whiskey keg head, bare but for a steel gray buzz cut, black eyes like gun ports in the rock hard battlement of his long, square face. The eagle beak bent slightly to the right and a telltale lump on the bridge told of at least one break. Full lips, even pulled up in the delight of seeing Elgin gave him a hint of hardness. A heavyweight’s body, all broad shoulders and muscular arms, callused, scarred hands, legs like tree trunks, stretching the denim of his jeans seemingly to the breaking point.
“Jim taught me to sail and water ski and fish,” she continued brightly, squeezing Fisher around the middle. “Even bait my own hook. Also gave me my first hard cola and taught me to slow dance. Remember?”