Part 45 (2/2)
”I'll be ready. You'd better not forget this.” Esperanza handed him the carry-on bag that had contained the million dollars but that now contained old newspapers they had found in the cabin. The money was in a duffel bag at Esperanza's feet.
”Right,” Decker said. ”The plan won't work if Renata doesn't think I have the money.”
”And without me beside you,” Beth said.
”That's right, too,” Decker said. ”If Renata doesn't see us together, she'll wonder why we split up. She'll begin to suspect I'm keeping you out of danger while I lead her into a trap.”
”Imagine,” Beth said. ”And here, all the time, I thought you decided to bring me along because of the pleasure of my company.”
The remark made Decker feel as if he'd been stuck by a needle. Was her joke good-natured or...? Not knowing what to say, he helped her into the front of the car, pushed back the pa.s.senger seat so that she had more room for her injured leg, then put her crutches in the back. Finally, when he got in beside her and shut his door, he thought of what to say. ”If we can get through this ... If we can get to know each other ...”
”I thought we already did know each other.”
”But who did I get to know? Are you Beth Dwyer or Diana Scolari?”
”Didn't you ever use fake names?”
Decker didn't know what to say to that, either. He started the Buick, nodded tensely to Esperanza, and made a U-turn in the clearing. His headlights flas.h.i.+ng past dense pine trees, he drove down the lane, over the bridge, and onto the deserted road to Pecos. They were on their way.
But neither of them spoke until they were back on Interstate 25, pa.s.sing Santa Fe, heading toward Albuquerque.
”Ask me,” Beth said.
”Ask ...?”
”Anything. Everything.” Her voice was heavy with emotion.
”That's a big order.”
”d.a.m.n it, try. By the time we get to the airport, I want to know where we stand with each other.”
Decker increased speed, pa.s.sing a pickup truck, trying to keep his speed under seventy-five.
”A relations.h.i.+p doesn't survive on its own,” Beth said. ”You have to work at it.”
”All right.” Decker hesitated, concentrating on the dark highway he sped along, feeling in a tunnel. ”You once told me something about your childhood. You said your parents had such violent arguments that you were afraid your father would burst into your bedroom and kill you while you slept. You said you arranged your pillows to make them look as if you were under the covers and then you slept under the bed, so he'd attack the pillows but not be able to get at you.... Is that story true?”
”Yes. Did you suspect I lied to make you feel protective toward me?”
Decker didn't respond.
Beth frowned with growing concern. ”Is that the way you think-that people are constantly trying to manipulate you?”
”It's the way I used to think-before I came to Santa Fe.”
”And now you're back to your old habits.”
”Suspicion kept me alive. The fact is, if I had kept my old habits, if I hadn't let my guard down ...” He didn't like where his logic was taking him, so he let the sentence dangle.
”You wouldn't have fallen in love with me. Is that what you wish?”
”I didn't say that. I'm not sure what I wanted to say. If I hadn't fallen in love with you, Renata would still be after me. That wouldn't have changed. I ...” Decker's confusion tortured him. ”But I did fall in love with you, and if I could go back and do it all over again, if I could change the past ...”
”Yes?” Beth sounded afraid.
”I'd do everything the same.”
Beth exhaled audibly. ”Then you believe me.”
”Everything comes down to trust.”
”And faith,” Beth said.
Decker's hands ached on the steering wheel. ”A lot of faith.”
14.
Apprehensive, Decker left the Buick in the brightly lit rental-car lot next to the Albuquerque airport and walked with Beth into the terminal. On the second level, near the incoming baggage area, he surrendered the car keys to the Avis clerk, provided information about mileage and how much fuel was in the car, paid cash, and folded his receipt in his pocket.
”Catching a late plane out?” the clerk asked.
”Yes. We tried to make our vacation last as long as possible.”
”Come back to the Land of Enchantment.”
”We certainly will.”
Out of sight from the Avis counter, Decker guided Beth into a crowd that was descending from the terminal's upper levels, where the evening's final flights were arriving. Trying to make it seem as if he and Beth had just flown in, they went with the crowd down the escalator to the terminal's bottom level and out into the parking garage.
”And now it begins,” Decker murmured.
The sodium arc lights in the garage cast an eerie yellow glow. Although Decker was certain that none of Renata's group would have risked attracting the attention of security guards by hanging around the airport's arrival gates, he couldn't be as confident that a surveillance team was not in the garage, watching his Cherokee. The garage wasn't as carefully guarded as the airport was. Once in a while, a patrol car went through, but the team would see it coming and pretend to be loading luggage into a vehicle, then go back to watching as soon as the patrol car was gone. But if a surveillance team was in the garage, it was doubtful they would try to abduct Decker and Beth in so public a place, with only one exit from the airport. Travelers getting into nearby vehicles would see the attack and get a license number, then alert a security officer, who would phone ahead and arrange to, have the road from the airport blocked. No, with too many opportunities for the attempted abduction to go wrong, the surveillance team would want to wait for privacy. In the meantime, they would use a cellular telephone to report to Renata that they had seen Decker carrying a bag that matched the description of the one containing the million dollars. Renata would be lulled into thinking that Decker didn't suspect she was in the area. After all, if he thought he was in immediate danger, he wouldn't be carrying the bagful of money, would he? He would have hidden it.
The Cherokee was to the left at the top of the stairs on the garage's second level. Decker unlocked the car, helped Beth into the front seat, threw the bag and her crutches into the back, and hurriedly got in, locking the doors, inserting his ignition key.
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