Part 26 (1/2)
”You're already-or maybe still-bombed,” Matt said. ”I don't want to have to carry you into the church.”
”You have always been something of a prig, Payne. Have I ever told you that?''
”Often,” Matt said, putting the b.l.o.o.d.y Mary down and picking up the suitcases. ”Jesus, what the h.e.l.l have you got in here?”
”Just the chains and whips and handcuffs and other stuff one takes on one's bridal trip,” Chad said. ”Plus, of course, what every Marine second lieutenant takes with him when going off to battle the forces of Communism in far-off Okinawa.”
”The sword and dress blues too?”
”I'll change into the blues at the hotel, and then out of them at Daffy's after the wedding. We don't use swords no more, you know, to battle the forces of Communism.”
Matt set the suitcases on the cobblestone driveway and opened the hatch.
”Get in,” he said, then, ”What are your travel plans, by the way?”
”We're going into New York tonight and flying to the West Coast tomorrow.”
”You're not coming back here?”
”I hope to come back, of course, but if you were asking 'after the wedding and before going overseas,' no.”
He swung his leg off the stone lion, picked up Matt's b.l.o.o.d.y Mary gla.s.s, and walked to the car.
”If you were to open the door for me, I think I could get in without spilling any of this on your pristine upholstery,” he said.
Matt closed the hatch and opened the door for him. He took his b.l.o.o.d.y Mary from him, drained it, and set the gla.s.s on the step.
When he straightened, Mrs. Chadwick T. Nesbitt III was standing there.
”I'm not at all sure that's a very good idea, Matt,” she said, and then walked around him to the car.
”He insisted, Mother,” Chad said. ”He said he didn't think he could get through the ceremony without the a.s.sistance of a little belt.”
”Well, don't let him give you any more,” she said. ”Have you got everything?”
”Yes, Mother.”
”You're sure?”
”Yes, Mother.”
”Well, then, I guess we'll see you at St. Mark's.”
”G.o.d willing, and if the creek don't rise,” Chad said, and slammed his door shut.
Matt walked around to the driver's side of the Porsche.
”Matt ...” Chad's mother said.
”Yes, ma'am.”
”Just . . . behave, the two of you.”
”We will,” Matt said.
He got behind the wheel, made a U-turn, and started down the drive to the gate.
Mrs. Nesbitt waved. Chad waved back.
”Mother, I think, is aware that she may be watching her firstborn leave the family manse for the last time,” Chad said. ”That somewhat discomfiting thought has occurred to me.”
Matt didn't know what to say.
”If I asked you politely, would you give me a straight answer to a straight question?” Chad asked.
Matt sensed that Chad was serious. ”Sure,” he said.
”What does it feel like to kill somebody?”
”Jesus!”
”At the moment your experience in that area exceeds mine,” Chad said, ”although, to be sure, I am sure the Marine Corps plans to correct that situation as quickly as possible.”
”I haven't had nightmares or done a lot of soul-searching about it,” Matt said. ”Nothing like that. The man I shot was a certified sc.u.mbag-”
”Interesting word,” Chad said, interrupting. ”Meaning, I take it, someone who has as much value as a used rubber?”
”I really don't know what it means. It's ... cop talk. A very unpleasant individual. The same day I shot him, earlier that day I saw what he did to a woman he abducted. He raped her, tortured her, mutilated her, and then killed her. I suppose that's part of the equation. I knew that he was no f.u.c.king good.”
”In other words, you were pleased that you had killed him?”
”When I saw him, he tried to run me over. He totaled my car. The only emotion I had was fear and anger. He was trying to kill me. I had a gun, so I killed him.”
”Courage is defined as presence of mind under stress,” Chad said.
”Then, ergo sum, courage was not involved in what I did,” Matt said. ”He had a woman in the van, another one he had abducted. It was just blind f.u.c.king luck that I didn't hit her when I was shooting at him. If I had had 'presence of mind,' I wouldn't have shot at him at all.”
”The newspapers made quite a hero of you,” Chad said thoughtfully. ”The Old Man sent them all to me.”
”That was all bulls.h.i.+t,” Matt said.
”f.u.c.k you. I'm impressed.”
”You never were very smart.”
”So tell me, Sherlock, who popped Penny Detweiler?”
”We're still looking,” Matt said.