She opened her eyes. "Father Joe-I told you about him-well, he told me that the Lord would bless our union with many children."
"That must be nice to know."
"We'll have them, Charlie. I'm going to have them."
"I know you are."
"And Father Joe told me he got strong feelings from certain people and that Sean and I were two of them. People who would have some effect on the world around them. He sought those people out, he said. He'd invite himself right into their lives because he enjoyed their company. He said it was unusual for both people in a marriage to strike him that way. And I said, 'You're not going to follow us home and take up residence in the spare room, are you?' And we all got a laugh about that. Man, oh, man, did we do some drinking that night. Father Joe-you're going to love this-he had this secret potion he wouldn't tell us the ingredients of. And he'll only let you drink it straight from either his silver flask, or this old cocktail shaker with the top that fits tight. That's because he doesn't even want you to know what it looks like. And Sean's all, 'Go ahead, Sel-try it. You'll love it.' And I'm not brave about things like that, so I'm all, 'Okay, I'll try it once.' And, weird thing is, it tastes really good. Kind of like wood smoke with a little mint in it. Like if you could make a liquid out of cedarwood. Cold. Went down a little too easy. We drank beer and tequila, too, so maybe it was just the combo, but I've never been quite that messed up in my life. In college I'd drink so much that the next day in the pool I'd exhale underwater and smell it. Really. So I can hold my liquor, Charlie. But that night with Father Joe. Wow."
"What happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"Tell me about that night and you and Sean and Joe."
"Nothing really happened."
"It's just that you've already told me so much about it. I can see the Arenal Volcano smoking in the background, and the rooms with screens instead of windows up in the trees, and all the birds and bugs and geckos. I can see you and Oz and the priest and his silver cocktail shaker with his secret elixir. That's quite an opening scene, Seliah. I'm hooked."
She smiled and Hood thought it was the first true smile he'd seen from her since this nightmare had started. He also thought that for the events of the last ten days to have had their beginnings on the volcano, then something damn well had to have happened. She wanted to tell him. She'd led him up close to the rim of that volcano. But she didn't know exactly what had occurred, or she didn't remember it clearly or she had buried the memory of it.
Hood heard the front door open and close. Bly stood in the entryway to the living room.
"Potty mouth still here?" she asked.
Seliah stood up and ran to Bly and took her hands. She bowed her head. "Please forgive me for that ugly lie. Please."
"Forgiven, Seliah."
"I'm so sorry."
Bly hugged Seliah and Hood heard her whispering into Seliah's ear until Seliah said something he couldn't understand; then she whispered into Janet's ear and the women didn't let go of each other for a full minute. Unincluded, Hood timed it on his watch, wondering at the durability of women.
When they broke the embrace Hood saw the tears on Seliah's face and the long clear ribbon of mucous hanging from her chin. She glanced at him with a hunted expression, hurriedly swiped it onto her hand and hustled into the bathroom.
She was back a few minutes later, her face clean and a fresh coat of lipstick on. She sat on the couch behind the laptop. "Okay. I can do this. I'm going to give it a try."
Her fingers found the keyboard. "'Dear Sean,' " she said. "That's a good start, now, isn't it?"
Half an hour later Seliah had composed an invitation to her husband. Hood stood behind the women and read over their shoulders. Seliah had proposed a weekend in San Francisco, at the Monaco, where they'd stayed before. "'Just three days from now we can have a bit of heaven, sweet man.' " She assured Sean that this was a private e-mail, an absolute and total secret from Blowdown. It was classy and sexy and perfect, Hood thought. He felt bad about it.
"I'd say yes to this," he said. "I'd get there early."
"He'll say yes, too," said Seliah. "There's no way he can refuse me."
"Maybe not the first time," said Bly. "But eventually he'll say yes and we'll… have him and he'll be safe with us."
Another moment of silence.
"You've done the right thing, Seliah," said Hood. "And you're going to get him back."
Seliah typed, "Your Loving Wife, Seliah," then tapped the "send" bar with a red nail. She sighed and sat back.
Hood put a hand on Seliah's shoulder and she reached up and set her hand on his. He was surprised how hot it was, like she was burning with fever. "Let's go out to dinner tonight," she said. "The three of us. Dutch and nothing fancy."
"I've got a date, believe it or not," said Bly. "With a real, live man."
"You're a lucky woman, Janet. Charlie? Me and you?"
"Sure."
"Come by six thirty, would you? Sean will have accepted my invite by then. We can catch the sunset at the Fisherman's. And I can finish that Costa Rica story. I'll tell you everything that happened." Hood drove toward Buenavista.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Bly.
"I don't know."
"How can you sweat when it's fifty-five degrees inside? Did you hear the way she hissed at me? In her bathroom she's got a beach towel hung across the mirror. So I peek in the bedroom and she's got the dresser mirror turned around to face the wall. Every curtain and blind in the house, drawn tight. Vampire books and videos all over the place-did you see them? What's that all about?"
"Sean acts the same way," said Hood. "In the videos. He hisses obscenities. He sweats. He hung that dress over the mirror in the scorpion girl's house."
"There's a warning in that e-mail," said Bly. "They've worked something out. You watch. If he accepts, they'll scoot off somewhere else and we'll look like the Three Stooges. Do you trust her, Charlie?"
"No."
"Be careful tonight, Deputy."
"Always. You, too."
Bly cracked a small smile. "I am not what she said I am."
22
Hood knocked on Seliah's door and waited. He heard music inside. He turned to look at the sun lowering toward Catalina Island.
"Come on in, Charlie."
She wore baggy hiker's pants and a Susan Komen T-shirt and an Angels cap and red slip-on sneakers. She followed him into the living room where the curtains were still drawn tight and the laptop sat where it had been before.