O’Connell paused, then said, “Somehow I doubt that. Whatever is necessary? I’m not thinking that that’s really true.”
“Name a price,” Scott replied coldly.
“A price?”
“You know what I’m saying. Name a price.”
“You want me to put a price tag on my feelings for Ashley?”
“Stop screwing around,” Scott said. O’Connell’s grin and the easygoing way he was handling the conversation were beyond irritating.
“I could never do that. And I don’t want your money.”
Scott reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the $5,000 in the white envelope.
“What’s that?” O’Connell asked.
“Five grand. Just for giving Ashley and me your word that you will stay out of her life.”
“You want to pay me?”
“That’s right.”
“I never asked you for any money, did I?”
“No.”
“So, this money isn’t in response to anything I demanded, is it?”
“No. All I want is your word.”
O’Connell turned to Ashley. “I never asked you for money, did I?”
She shook her head.
“I can’t hear you,” O’Connell said.
“No, you have never asked me for money.”
O’Connell reached across and picked up the cash. “If I took it, it would be a gift, right?”
“In return for a promise.”
He smiled. “All right. I don’t want the money. But I’ll give you the promise. I promise.”
O’Connell kept the cash in his hand.
“You’re going to leave her alone? Stay out of her life? Walk away and never bother her again?”
“That’s what you want, right?”
“That’s right.”
O’Connell thought for a moment, then said, “Everyone gets what they want, huh?”
“Right.”
“Except me.” He looked over at Ashley, freezing her with a narrow look that she could not put a word to. The harshness of the look was compounded by a contradictory, devil-may-care smile that Ashley thought was one of the coldest things she had ever seen.
“That make this trip worthwhile, Professor?”
Scott did not answer. He was half-expecting O’Connell to throw the money down on the table or into his face, and he tensed his muscles, maintaining a rigid control over his emotions.
But instead of some dramatic gesture, O’Connell turned and once again stared at Ashley, letting his eyes burrow into her, so intensely that she squirmed in her seat. “Do you know what the Beatles sang, back in your father’s time?”
She shook her head.
“‘I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love…’”
Keeping his eyes on Ashley, O’Connell slid the envelope into his jacket pocket, confusing the two of them. Then, still staring at her, he said, “Okay, Professor, time to let me up. I don’t think I’ll stay for dinner, after all. But thanks for the beer.”
Scott moved aside, standing at the edge of the table while O’Connell, moving with surprising agility, slid out and stood. For a second he remained, his gaze still fixed on Ashley. Then, with a small grin, he turned about abruptly and rapidly walked across the restaurant toward the exit without once looking back.
They remained silent for almost a minute. “What just happened?” Ashley asked.
Scott did not reply. He was unsure. The waitress sidled back up, saying, “So, just two for dinner?” as she handed them menus.
Outside Ashley’s apartment, the night seemed to have painted itself into shadows and shafts of stray distant light from streetlamps that barely argued against the growing autumn dark. There was no place to park, so Scott pulled the Porsche in front of a fire hydrant. He left the car running and turned to his daughter.
“Maybe you should come out west for a couple of days. Just until we’re sure that this guy stands by what he said. Stay a couple of days at my place, then maybe a little bit of time with your mother. Let a little time and a little distance work for you.”
“I shouldn’t be the one who has to run and hide,” Ashley said. “I have classes. I have a job.”
“I know, but perhaps we should err on the side of caution.”
“I hate that. I just hate it.”
“I know. But, honey, I don’t know what else to say.”
Ashley sighed, then turned to her father and smiled. “He just freaked me out a little. It will be okay. Guys like him, Dad, they’re really cowards when you get right down to it. Maybe he was strutting a bit when he took the money, but really he was pretty shut down. He’ll go out, call me names when he’s drinking with his buddies, and move on. I don’t much like it, and you’re out some cash…”
“Damnedest thing,” Scott said. “He said he didn’t want it, then he put it in his pocket. It was almost like he was tape-recording us. Saying one thing, doing another. Creepy.”
“Well, let’s hope it’s all over.”
“Yeah. Look, here’s the drill. Any sign of him, and I mean anything, and you call home. Get your mom on the case, or Hope or me, right away. Anytime, day or night, got it? And I mean any sort of suspicion that he’s been tailing you or calling you, or harassing you, or even just watching you, and you call. You get a bad feeling and you call, okay?”
“Yes. Look, Dad, Michael creeped me out, too. I’m not looking to be heroic here. I just want my life to go back to what it was, even if it wasn’t all that perfect.”
She sighed again, undid her seat belt, grabbed her purse, and took out her apartment keys.
“You want me to walk you up?”
“No. Just wait until I’m inside, though, if you don’t mind.”
“Look, honey, I don’t mind anything. I just want you to be happy. And I’d like to forget about this whole incident, and Michael O’Connell, and watch you get your master’s or doctorate in art history and have a wonderful life. That’s what I want, and your mother, too. And that’s what’s going to happen. Trust me. And before too long you’re going to meet someone special, and all this will just be like a little blip on the past. You’ll never think about it again.”
“A little nightmare blip.” She leaned across and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dad. And thanks for driving and coming and helping and just, I don’t know, for being who you are.”
This made him feel quite wonderful, but he shook his head. “You’re the special one.”
Ashley got out of the car, and Scott gestured her toward the front of the apartment building. “Now get a good night’s rest and call us tomorrow just to touch base.”
She nodded. Scott had one other curious thought, which seemed to come out of some darkened place within him, and before he could stop himself, he asked, “Hey, Ashley, one thing bothered me.”