Part 40 (1/2)
”Not exactly,” he agreed guardedly.
”You were with that woman.”
So that was it! ”Her and George Demerit,” he agreed.
”Doing what?”
”Staking out a cabin, trying to catch a monster. Without success.” He took a breath and plowed on. ”Now two of the victims of that monster have been discovered, and I'm implicated, and May Flowers. That's why I have to call her.”
”You're having an affair with her.”
He could not deny it.
”And you're implicated in a murder?”
Better tell her now. ”Her estranged husband, Bull Shauer, went after her again. She was hiding at a cabin on the Middle Kingdom Ranch. That's where I took her, after he beat her up. The monster got him instead of her. But officially there is no monster, so it would have looked like murder. So we-it's complicated, but the essence is we left his body in a van in Ocala. And the body of a prior victim. We forgot those bodies were in that vehicle. I helped her hide the van, or she helped me. Now it will all come out, and I think you know what that means.”
”Your job.”
”My job.”
”Then I'm going home.”
There was no point in arguing with her; they had finished their dialogue on that matter long ago. His recent affair with May hardly helped. ”I'm sorry to see it end this way. But I think my job was doomed the moment the monster came on the scene. The woman was incidental to that.”
She nodded. ”I don't blame you for the woman, Frank. I saw what that man did to her. She needed someone, and you were there. You and I really never were right for each other. So call her.”
He looked at her. ”You have been fair about this, Trudy. I regret I wasn't able to do better by you. You're a good woman.”
She almost smiled. ”Thank you, Frank.” She returned to the bedroom.
He dialed May's number. She answered immediately. ”They found the bones in the van,” he said. ”Both sets; we forgot about Paris Brown. They'll be after you in hours because of the prints. What are you going to tell them?”
”There's no way to keep it quiet now?”
”I'm afraid not.”
”But your office won't want national headlines about a monster!”
”Right. So someone's head will roll. Mine. But maybe yours too, if they think you had something to do with Bull's death.”
”He was here, he beat me up, he turns up dead with my prints on the vehicle,” she said. ”I see the problem.”
”So I think we had better tell the truth and take our medicine,” he said.
”Which is?”
”You work for Mid, I work for Citrus County. Neither wanted any commotion about a monster. Your employer allowed you to hide at his cabin, Bull came after you, you stabbed him with an anesthetic dart intended for the firefly and fled-and the firefly got him instead. It had already gotten Paris Brown. In the morning you and I collaborated to dispose of the bodies quietly, serving our mutual interest. That may have been a mistake, but we were rattled at the time.”
”Um,” she said. ”I have two questions. What does your wife think of this?”
”She's packing now, to return to her folks. Because she knows this is it for my job. And-she knows about us.”
”What of Cyrano?”
Frank grimaced at the phone. ”Ouch! That's his van! Where is he?”
”He was going to dispose of the bodies,” she said. ”Then he got taken by the monster himself. We haven't found his remains. So we used his vehicle to hide the bodies, and to mask the fact of his death.”
”Got it,” he said. ”Maybe you had better go out and explain to Demerit and Jade.”
”Immediately,” she agreed.
”This will still be hairy,” he reminded her. ”Especially if the firefly keeps killing. You know they'll burn the whole ranch if they think the firefly's using it as a base to roam out and kill people.”
”The firefly must die,” she said grimly. ”You tell them what you have to. I'll tell Geode.”
”Who?”
”Demerit. If the thing hasn't fed yet, it will be out again tonight, and we'll have to get it. Not privately; publicly, so it is clear it is dead. How is that best done, a.s.suming we can find it?”
”Gasoline,” he said. ”Dump it on, light it, stand back. I'll see to it.”
”Agreed. I'm sorry about your wife. I had no intention to-”
”It was coming anyway,” he said. ”Not your fault.” That was true, but what he didn't say was that he would like to take up with May now. How could he, jobless? So the monster had done him in that way too.
”I will see you in due course,” she said.
”Sure thing.” He hesitated a moment, then hung up.
He braced himself to drive to the office and say his piece. If only that van hadn't been discovered so soon!
* 47 - MAY SET DOWN the receiver. She had spoken in a businesslike manner to him, uncertain whether his wife was listening to his conversation. She would have preferred to be more personal. He was in trouble and probably would lose his job because of her foul-up. Also, she liked him, perhaps loved him, and for the first time in her life was interested in having s.e.x with a man, he being the man. She wished she could help him. But he was independent and honest; she knew he disliked this business of telling partial truth, covering up for their foul-ups. If he didn't have a job, he would not take help from a woman.
But maybe if Mid offered him a job...
She organized herself, then drove out to the ranch. Geode buzzed her in, and came out to meet her. ”I didn't bring groceries this time,” she said. ”Things are breaking loose, and we have to work out what to do. Better let me talk to none, too.”
”Can't,” he said.
”She's in this too! If they come here and find her, it will be complicated to explain.”
”When we staked out the cabin, the firefly-”
She glanced sharply at him. ”Are you saying it came here?”
”none-she thought maybe she was doing it, so she made me tie her up-”