“What?”
“Susan Kelly. Do you think she’d help him?”
She thought a moment. She knew that Susan had tried several times to get on with her life. The way Susan had talked the last few years, she wanted to get Richie out of her life forever.
“I’m not sure,” Amy said. “She’s pretty bitter.”
“She may be bitter but I think she’s still in love with him.”
“I feel so damned sorry for her,” Amy said. “Richie should’ve married her a long time ago. She was one of the few decent women he ever went with. She didn’t care about him being a football star or a cool guy or any of that stuff.”
“We’re not very far away. Why don’t we give her place a try?”
Amy sighed. “I guess we might as well.”
2
What Susan ended up doing was preparing a knapsack full of basics for him. The food consisted of two meat-loaf sandwiches, three apples, five granola bars, a dozen Oreos, and a dozen sliced carrots. She also put in Band-Aids, iodine, and a hunting cap with ears. The temperatures would be sliding down into the forties tonight.
The last thing she put in was a box of bullets for the gun she’d given him.
All the time she was filling the knapsack, Richie stood by the window, staring out at the farm fields.
It was pretty obvious what he was trying to do: remember last night...
Jimmy sat in the living room looking through magazines. Earlier, Richie had snapped at him. Jimmy could be tiresome sometimes. No fault of his own. She had suggested looking through magazines in the living room.
Jimmy hadn’t wanted to go. Richie was his hero. Always had been. He clearly felt sad that he’d irritated him. But he’d trudged off to the living room anyway...
“Damn!” Richie said, and made a fist.
“You remember something?”
He turned and looked at her. He seemed weary and forlorn. She wondered how he was ever going to summon the energy to stay ahead of the posse.
“Almost,” he said. “I started to focus in on something and then it just” — he shook his head — “it just faded away.”
“You’ll remember, Richie.”
“Yeah, but will I remember before they start shooting?”
“You could always turn yourself in.”
His anger came quickly. “We’ve been down that road, haven’t we?”
She cinched up the knapsack, carried it over to him.
He took it and said, “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
“Never mind that right now.”
He reached over and took her hand. “Man, I’ve treated you like shit my whole life, haven’t I?”
She smiled sadly. “Pretty much. But it’s not all your fault. I could’ve found somebody else anytime I wanted to.”
“You really thought I was worth the wait?”
She laughed. “Oh, sometimes I suppose I had a few doubts. Like the night you stood me up for my twenty-third birthday dinner. I was real pissed that night, Richie. In fact, it was a good thing you didn’t show up because I probably would’ve tried to shoot you or something.”
“God, I’m sorry. I really am.”
She slipped her hand out of his. “Like I said, Richie. I’m just as responsible for it as you are.”
“After this is all over, if I can stay out of prison, I—”
She shook her head. “No promises, Richie. This isn’t the time. You’re likely to say something pretty stupid right now — and I’ll probably be stupid enough to believe you.”
“A guy can change, can’t he?”
“Let’s see what you’re like when Sam finds the real killer.”
“You mean if I ask you to marry me, you’ll say no?”
She touched her fingers tenderly to his face. “You’re a romantic son of a bitch, I have to give you that. You’ve got the whole county after you and you still have time to think about marriage.”
Then, “Why don’t you go in and see Jimmy?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I probably should do that, shouldn’t I?”
He had almost made it out of the kitchen when he suddenly turned back and walked over to her.
She couldn’t ever remember being kissed like this before. At this moment, he needed her so desperately she was a bit overwhelmed. She’d always dreamed of Richie in her arms this way. But now that the moment was here... a part of her wanted to tear his clothes off and make love right here on the kitchen table... and another part wanted to run away. She’d never felt this needed by anybody before, and it was a bit spooky...
“Wow,” she said.
“ ‘Wow’ good or ‘Wow’ bad?”
“ ‘Wow’ I’m not sure. I mean, you were pretty overwhelming just then.”
“Good. And that’s just a preview of coming attractions, too. We’ll save the good stuff for later.”
He grinned and he was a reckless boy again for just a millisecond — no men, no dogs, no helicopters chasing him — and she remembered him then in high school, the golden boy in the convertible, with the movie-star looks and the odd moments of tenderness... mixed in with the odd moments of anger and violence.
“You’d better go see Jimmy,” she said. “He was pretty hurt.”
“Ah, shit,” Richie said. “I hurt people’s feelings even when I don’t mean to.”
He walked into the living room.
“Hey, Jimmy.”
Jimmy looked up from his magazine. “Hi, Richie. You feelin’ better?”
“It’s not me I’m worried about, tiger. It’s you.”
“How come you’re worried about me?” Jimmy said.
The innocence of the question made Richie feel even worse. He was always lashing out at people who cared about him.
He sat down on the couch next to Jimmy.
“You watch over Susan for me, will you do that?”
“You goin’ someplace, Richie?”
“Yeah. Just for a few days.”
“Where you goin’?”
Better not let Jimmy know where he was headed. Jimmy might accidentally let something slip.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t be gone long.”
“It’s because of Chief Hadley, isn’t it? And all those men?”
Richie sighed. “Yeah, yeah, it is, Jimmy.”
“They want to hurt you, don’t they, Richie?”
“Some of them do, anyway.”
“That Steve Arnette... he really hates you. I think he hates me, too. Just the way he looks at me sometimes.”
“Don’t worry about Steve Arnette, Jimmy. He won’t hurt either one of us.”
Sometimes Jimmy got afraid of people, and you had to reassure him that things were going to be all right.
“He won’t hurt us, Richie? He really won’t?”
“He isn’t as tough as he thinks he is.”
“He’s pretty mean sometimes. He took my bike away once and wouldn’t give it back to me for three days.”
“He ever tries anything like that again, you tell me, all right?”
“You think you can whip him, Richie?”
“I know I can.” Then: “Listen, Jimmy, I’m sorry I snapped at you in the kitchen there.”
“Oh, that’s all right, Richie. You were just nervous and stuff.”
“No, it isn’t all right. You’re one of my best friends, Jimmy.”
Jimmy’s eyes instantly reflected the pride he felt. How could I ever treat this poor guy like shit? Richie thought.
Richie put out his hand.
“You want to shake hands, Richie?”
Richie laughed. “Yeah.”
Jimmy said, “How come?”
“Oh, it’s just something people do when they make a pact.”