Choices, p.17
Choices, page 17
“I’m—” Some hint of unease in Brian’s expression made him stop and think. “I don’t know. I might track him down. If I found Mrs. Taylor, or whatever name she’s going by now, I could figure it out.”
“Then what? If you did find him?”
“I don’t know!” Nick pushed off the bed and whirled. “When did you turn into a shrink, with all the questions?”
“Do I sound like a shrink?” Brian’s wide eyes met his.
For a beat, Nick’s anger rose, but then a laugh surprised him, shaking his chest. “Oh yeah, exactly like Dr. Murphy.”
Brian’s expression eased into amused relief. “And how does that make you feeeel?”
“Stupid. I always feel stupid around Dr. Murphy.” He sat back on the edge of the bed. “If I do nothing, the son of a bitch will get away with it, but I bet Ari wouldn’t testify, regardless.”
Brian said in a deeper voice, “And that chafes your hide.”
“Chafes? What the hell were you watching while I was out?”
“Old reruns. Bonanza. Little Joe reminds me of you.”
“Thanks, I think.” He rubbed a hand over his head. “I should do something for her, I just don’t know what. She doesn’t need me hanging around right now. She said so. She doesn’t want me to go after Evan’s sperm donor. She doesn’t want us to come over.”
“Maybe she’s got other plans.”
“She said that.” He tugged on his hair, the little pain in his scalp somehow comforting. “I could go buy some Christmas presents. Leave them at the door. Maybe anonymously, ‘from Santa.’ Or is that like stalking?” He tugged harder. “Yeah. That’d be more creepy than good, right?”
Brian sat up and closed a hand around Nick’s, stopping his motions. “I like your hair. Don’t pull it out.”
“We should go home.” Nick slid his hand out of Brian’s and bounced to his feet. “We can get there before Christmas. Maybe even buy a tree.”
“We paid for the room tonight already.”
“So? Forty bucks? Hey.” Ideas seemed to be rebounding around in his head. “I can teach you to drive on the way home. You have a license. It might come in handy.”
“I have a fake license.”
“I’m not a cop anymore. I don’t have to care about stuff like that.”
“You’re being weird.”
“Come on. Might as well do something useful.” He hadn’t really unpacked, but he went into the bathroom and began shoving his razor and toothbrush into their ziploc bag. “We did what we came for. We should head back.”
“All right.”
There was a reluctant slowness to Brian’s voice that made Nick stick his head back out into the room. “Are you too tired? I’m sorry. We could stay another night.”
Brian began stuffing a T-shirt into his backpack. “No, I’m fine. I can nap while you drive, if I need to.”
“Good. Right. It’s settled then. Let’s get going.”
Chapter 12
Whatever Brian’s problem with heading home had been, he didn’t bring it up. Nick watched narrowly, but he didn’t seem too painful or slow-moving as they packed their few things. The brightness when they opened the door didn’t make him wince. They checked out and were on the road in ten minutes.
Nick settled in behind the wheel. Driving was good. It only took a few minutes to get out of town, then he could open up the speed and let the road roll out behind them. Done with that. Stop worrying. Look forward. He searched his thoughts for a distraction, remembered his intention. “Hey, when we get a bit farther out, I’ll take an exit and we can find some nice empty road for you to practice on.”
“Practice what?”
“Driving, you dork.”
Brian flicked a glance at him. “I thought you were joking.”
“No way. Listen, it’ll be useful, right? You should know how. Like, what if there’s an emergency at the farm and you have to get help?”
“That’s what phones are for.”
“You never know, though.”
“And when I can’t read the signs?”
“Dammit, Brian, reading’s not a big fucking part of driving, except for passing the test and knowing when to get off the freeway. Right? That’s an excuse.”
He wasn’t so focused on the road that he missed Brian’s flinch.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean excuse. But… don’t you want to learn?”
“Yeah. Sure. I guess.”
He tried a teasing smile. “It’s fun. Speeding along, all that power under your foot.”
That did get a wry look from Brian. “Oh yeah, always dreamed about speeding across the countryside with the power of an ancient Taurus.”
Nick patted the dashboard. “Are you insulting Betsy?”
“Yes? And since when did you name your car?”
“Since, um, now.”
“The neighbor’s cow is named Betsy.”
Nick patted the dashboard again. “She’s fierce. She doesn’t care who else has the name.”
“Right. Fierce.” At least he finally got a chuckle from Brian.
“Too much for you to handle, huh?” He took a quick glance. Brian’s reaction still seemed more annoyance than humor.
Even so, Nick took the next exit, steering them off the busy freeway. When he found a stretch of back road that seemed quiet, he pulled onto the shoulder and turned to Brian. “Listen. Unless you’re really too beat for this, I want you to get behind the wheel for a bit. I swear, Betsy drives like a jumped-up lawn tractor, nothing more.” He bit his lip. Tell him, you moron. “I’ve had these dreams. You need to escape and the car is there, and you crash it.”
“Your subconscious worries that I’m a crap driver?” But Brian looked less irritated.
“Yes? But you could learn.”
“All right.” Brian unbuckled his belt and got out. They passed each other around the hood of the car. Brian tried to get in, grunted, and bent to shove the seat back first.
“We’re not all built like The Hulk,” Nick said.
“Or even like Thor.” Brian got in and wiggled around, getting comfortable. “Or like Batman. Or even Robin.”
Nick smacked his knee. “Set your mirrors so you can see properly, Chewbacca.”
Brian made a loud Wookie-noise at him. “What should I properly be able to see?”
Nick talked him through mirror angles and gears, and parking brake, and indicators. He was about to start on headlights and wipers and cruise control, but Brian looked less and less confident. Fuck it. “The rest you can learn when you need to. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Brian didn’t reach for the gear shift. “Where should I go?”
“Thataway.” Nick waved ahead down the road. “Drive straight ahead. Get up to speed. Go a few minutes, then pull over.”
“Okay.” Brian took a breath, then put the car in gear and lifted his foot. They crept forward. The gravel of the shoulder crunched under their wheels. “Should it sound like that?”
“When you get on the fucking road, it won’t.”
“What if something comes along?”
“They’ll pass you. Not like there’s much traffic. Pick it up, Buttercup.”
“You hang around Charlie too much.” Brian slowly stepped on the gas and eased off the shoulder until they were doing thirty-five along the paved road. Nick bit his tongue and let Brian try out the steering. He hoped no cop was watching for drunks this far off the freeway.
It got better. He had Brian turn onto a smaller road that turned to gravel, leaving a banner of dust billowing behind them. A few cars came by, passing them with an irritated swoop. Brian held his white-knuckled course. By the fifth one he’d relaxed a bit.
The light was getting lower, sun glinting off the mirrors, and Nick started to say, “Pull over.” Suddenly, a dark shape vaulted out of nowhere in front of the car. “Fuck!”
Brian yelped and yanked on the wheel. The car spun, careening out of the lane. There was a thump, and they jolted. Nick’s seatbelt locked. Grinding. Crunching. Nick’s side of the car dipped low. Then they stopped, half in the ditch.
Brian panted in shallow, shocky breaths, his whole body rigid. “Did I hit someone? Did I kill someone again?”
“No. Easy!” Nick cautiously rubbed Brian’s rock-tense arm. “It was a deer. That’s all.”
“I killed a deer?” Brian’s voice wasn’t any calmer.
“Probably not. We didn’t hit it that hard.” Nick kept rubbing. “Breathe. Take a breath.” He glanced at the dashboard. “Put it in park. I’m gonna get out and see what’s what.”
“Put where?”
“The car. Put it into park. The gearshift.”
“Park.” Brian peeled one hand off the wheel, fumbled with the lever, then grabbed the wheel again.
Nick verified the “P” before he said, “You can take your foot off the brake now.”
“I… oh. Oh.” Very slowly Brian sank into his seat, and his rigid pose relaxed.
“Good job. You did good to pull that off.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Brian said, staring blankly out the windshield. “Just don’t.”
“No. Really.” Nick reached out to turn Brian to look at him, then thought better of it and unbuckled himself so he could lean across and meet Brian’s eyes that way. “Deer are suicidal motherfuckers. They come out of nowhere. Drive long enough, and you’re guaranteed to hit one.”
“Have you?”
“Hell, yeah. Right in the fucking city.” Nick shifted his weight toward the door. The car didn’t rock, so he figured it wasn’t too unstable. “Now, hold still. I’m getting out.”
“Are you sure? We’re tipping.”
“It’s not that bad.” Cautiously, Nick opened his door. They were tilted at an angle, and the corner of the door dug into the loose soil at the edge of the ditch, but they weren’t going anywhere scary. All four wheels were on the dirt. “No, we’re fine.” He eased out and scrambled up to the road. There was no sign of the deer, and no major blood on the road. He went over to Brian’s window. “I think Bambi made it too.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
It was good to see a little color come back in Brian’s face. “Can I get out, you think?”
Nick eyed the angle and the wheels. “Yeah. Go slow.”
Brian eased his door open and unfolded himself from the car. Nick grabbed his hand to tug him up to level ground, and then his arms were full of big, shaking man. For a moment, he held on tight and let himself shake too. God, for a second there… He couldn’t finish the thought.
It was Brian who pulled free first and rubbed his face with his palm. “Right. Now we have to figure out how to get the fucking car onto the fucking road, right?”
Nick laughed. No choice, when Brian was being tough and foul-mouthed, except to follow his lead. “Yep. Let’s look at the fucking problem.”
It could’ve been worse. They’d lost a front turning light to Bambi, which he’d have to get fixed before they got pulled over for it. There was a clump of tan fur trapped in the broken plastic lens. Brian pulled it free and stared at it silently, then scanned the sunset landscape before tossing it aside and wiping his fingers. He said nothing, though, so Nick moved on to checking the tires and wheels, and how deep they were into the soft side of the ditch.
Nick was concluding they’d need a tow truck when an old guy with a pickup drove past the other way, made a U-turn and came back. He pulled over up behind them and rolled down his window. “You fellas okay?”
“Yeah,” Nick called back. “Goddamned mice with antlers.”
The guy laughed. “Didja at least get some venison out of it?”
“Nope. Ran off like nothing happened.”
“Fucker. Need a tow?”
“Sure. Can you help?”
“Got some chains in the truck.”
Between them, they got the car up onto the level shoulder. The old guy waited till Nick pulled the car forward a few yards to be sure nothing was dragging or clanking. Then he gave them a “Merry Christmas” and a wave and was gone.
Weirdly, Nick was starting to feel better than he had all day, like the bit of excitement had cleared his head. He turned to Brian. “Ready to head home?”
Brian nodded. He held out his hand. “Yes. And I’m driving another mile. Keys?”
Nick paused for one uncertain second, but Brian’s hand wasn’t shaking and there was a steady determination in his eyes. Nick grinned and dropped the keys in Brian’s palm.
****
Brian was really, truly ready for his own bed by the time they hit familiar home territory, close to midnight on Christmas Eve. Nick drove doggedly but without the flair he’d had when they’d left their roadside motel that morning. Brian was in that weird state where he was dead tired, but restless and antsy from doing nothing but sit for hours.
“Is the gas gonna make it?” he asked, for something to say. It wasn’t a totally useless question. Everything they’d passed in the last hour was closed up, and the gauge was close to the red.
“I think we’ll be fine.”
“I suppose even old Isaac’s Gas-Food won’t be open at this time of night.”
“Probably not. Though it’d be like him to take advantage of everyone else closing.”
They were coming up on the local landmark and Brian glanced over. The main lights were off, but something moved at the back of the lot. “Looks like his raccoons are still up.”
“Huh?” Nick took a quick glance, then his eyes narrowed and he tensed. He slowed the car but didn’t stop as they passed, crested the rise, rolled down the other side… where he pulled over.
“What?”
“Thought I saw something weird.”
“What something?”
“A guy.” Nick frowned, his expression hard to make out in the dim dashboard lights.
“You think Isaac was still there?”
“Maybe, but if it was Isaac, why would his car be parked as far from the station as possible. He’s an old dude. He wouldn’t hike when there’s no need.”
“It was?” Huh?
“Mm.” Nick seemed to come to a decision. He popped the car into park. “Stay here.”
“Why?”
Nick bent, swiped under his seat, and came out with his gun.
Brian’s gut clenched. “Oh, hell, no. What’re you doing?”
“Checking things out. You’ll be fine here.” Before Brian could protest, Nick slipped out of his seat and was gone back up the road.
Brian fumbled for the door handle. He’s the pro. Follow orders. You have no clue what you’re doing. He ignored the smart voices in his head and hurried after Nick, whispering, “Wait!”
Nick stopped, suddenly enough that Brian almost bumped into him. In a low voice, Nick muttered, “Go back to the car where you’ll be safe.”
“No.”
“Fuck.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s probably nothing. Listen. Stay back, get your phone out, be ready to call nine-one-one if I tell you to. Do not get between me and any kind of trouble, and if anyone starts shooting, drop to the ground. Right?”
Brian blinked, trying to remember that stream of directions. Shooting? “Right.”
“Stay behind me.” Nick jogged off, fast but silent along the edge of the pavement toward Isaac’s.
Brian followed, trying to make equally little noise. As they reached the top of the hill, Nick gestured sideways with his hand and slowed, moving off the pavement to the weeds along the fence line. Brian did the same behind him.
A hundred yards down the hill ahead, the shabby gas station sat dark and quiet behind the glow from the single streetlight. As Brian watched, a flicker of light beyond it showed the trunk of a car being opened, off under the trees.
“Stay,” Nick muttered, heading down the hill.
I’m not a dog. Although he wasn’t an idiot either, so he followed slowly, letting Nick open more space between them. Digging out his phone, he covered the screen with his palm and pulled up 911, careful not to actually call yet. Is that guy stealing stuff? The dark figure below lifted something out of the trunk, rather than putting stuff in, and shut the lid.
The stranger headed around the side of the small attached store, and what he carried looked awfully like a gas can. Brian’s breath lurched, but he still tagged along behind as Nick glided across the pavement after the stranger, gun ready in his hand.
There was a soft whomp. Then a flicker of light.
Nick sped up, rounding the corner of the store out of sight. Brian hurried past the gas pumps till he could see the fire. Flames licked skyward from inside a dumpster. In front of the pulsing glow, a short, pale-faced man in dark clothes stood, knees bent, as if trying to decide whether to run or jump Nick.
Nick yelled, “Freeze! Hands up! Now, motherfucker!” He stood between the man and Brian, gun aimed at the stranger. “Don’t move. Hands where I can see them. Now!”
There was a snap and thud from the dumpster and sparks burst skyward. The stranger flinched and whirled to run. Before the guy could take a second step, Nick ran forward and leaped on him, wrapping his free arm around him and driving them both to the ground. The man slumped for a moment, shaking his head. Nick wrenched his arm up behind him and aimed the gun at his head. “Freeze!”
“The fire!”
Nick’s laugh was wild. “Getting hot for you? Too scary? Don’t move.”
“But—”
“Brian!” Nick raised his voice. “Call nine-one-one.”
With a sense of déjà vu, Brian hit the red icon. “Shouldn’t you get farther away from the dumpster?”
Another crackling thump punctuated his question.
“Yeah.” Nick bent closer to the man he had pinned. “We’re getting up slowly. No sudden moves. Try to run and I’ll take you out.” Nick eased off the guy’s arm and tugged him up.
The operator answered Brian’s call. “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“There’s a fire. There’s a guy. At Isaac’s Gas-Food.” He tried to pull words together as he backed off to give Nick space.
“Move to the wall, motherfucker. Hands on your head.” Nick kicked the guy’s ankle. The fire guy scrambled back from the blaze and staggered, moaning about his knees but with his hands raised. Nick steered him across the pavement and made him turn and brace on the cinderblock wall of the store, arms out, legs spread wide. The man slumped, his forehead to the bricks, as Nick patted him down.
