“Huh?”
“Girls’ shirts have their buttons attached to the left side, but guys’ shirts have them on the right.”
“Well, that’s sure dumb.”
“Sure is. You still want it, though, don’t you?”
“Sure I do.”
“Here.” Jody began to fasten the buttons for him.
“Thanks.”
“No big deal.”
“They’ll probably buy me some new clothes pretty soon, anyway. Or at least let me wear Gary’s old things. He’s my cousin. He’s in high school.”
“Is he all right?”
“He’s okay. Sort of a geek, is all.”
“How are your aunt and uncle?”
“Oh, they’re okay.”
“They’re nice?”
“Sure. Uncle Willy’s sort of weird, but ...” He shrugged.
Jody finished with the top button, but she didn’t step away. She put her hands on Andy’s shoulders. “Make sure you give me their phone number before you leave. And I’ll give you mine. I’ll call you every so often. And you call me. Call collect. You know, reverse the charges. Then they won’t have any reason to not let you do it. We’ve got to keep in touch. I have to know that you’re all right and they’re treating you good and everything.”
Andy nodded. “I sure wish I didn’t have to go.”
“Me, too. But they’re your relatives. You could probably stay here with us, but they want you with them, you know? Besides, Dad says you’ll be safer there.”
His face contorted. “What?”
“Safer. You’ll be all the way in Phoenix. Those guys won’t stand a chance of finding you there.”
“They’re still after us?”
“Of course. What do you think?”
He looked stricken. “Can they find us?”
“They’ll have trouble finding you, that’s for sure. Your aunt is your mother’s sister, right? So her name wasn’t even Clark to begin with, and on top of that she got married to your uncle. So they’d have two name changes to get through. Unless they found an address book before they ...”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Dad won’t let anyone hurt me.”
“Do they know who you are?”
“They might. Or they might not. It depends on whether they found my purse.”
“Where was it?”
“In Evelyn’s room. Same as my clothes and stuff.”
“Wow. It had your name?”
“It had the whole shebang. My brand new driver’s license was in it. So if they got their hands on my purse, they know right where to find me.”
“Oh, man.”
“It’s all right. Dad knows.”
“That doesn’t make it all right.”
“You don’t know Dad.”
Andy shook his head. His face was very red.
“Calm down,” Jody told him. “They won’t get me.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“Oh, God, I don’t like it. They’re gonna come after you, I know it. And I’m not gonna be around to... I’ve been to Phoenix. Do you know how far away it is?”
“It’s not all that far.”
“It’s like eight hours on the freeway.”
“It isn’t that far.”
“Oh, no? I don’t want to be in Phoenix when they come after you.”
“I told you, everything will be all right. My dad can handle them.”
“He’s just one guy.”
“Yeah. But he’s Kong Fargo. Besides, he’s got the whole LAPD with him. They’re probably just hoping those creeps will make a move.”
“I’ve gotta be here when they do.”
“No you don’t.” She turned Andy around by his shoulders and eased him backward. He hopped on his good foot, then dropped to the mattress. Jody picked up the shorts and tossed them onto his lap. “Put these on. I’ll throw your jeans in the wash so they’ll be good and clean before you leave.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You have to, Andy.” She turned her back to him. “Off with them.”
“Don’t peek.”
“Why would I?”
He didn’t answer. Jody heard the zipper slide down, then a soft sound of rumpling denim.
“Maybe you could hide me,” he said.
“I’m not going to hide you. You’ll be a lot better off in Phoenix.”
“Why? If it’s safe here like you said.”
“It might not be that safe.”
“See? See what I mean?”
She heard another zipper. “Have you got the shorts on?”
“Yes.” She turned around. His legs were bare below the cuffs of the blue shorts. The right knee was wrapped with an Ace bandage, but both legs had their share of bandages, bruises and scratches.
“Nice gams,” she said.
“Huh?”
“Gams. Gams are legs.”
Andy’s eyes lowered to her gams.
“Let’s get done in here,” she said. “See if the shoes fit.”
“See if the foo shits.” Andy grinned. Then his mouth shook and twisted, his face went red, and his eyes flooded.
If the foo shits, wear it.
One of Evelyn’s favorite sayings.
Andy hunched over his knees and hid his face behind both hands. His shoulders jumped as he sobbed.
Jody sat beside him and rubbed his back. She felt bandages through the shirt. She stopped rubbing, and kept her hand on a place that didn’t have a bandage underneath. She drew circles there with her fingernail, hoping to distract him so he would quit. If he didn’t stop soon, she would start bawling, and she didn’t want that.
“Hey, come on,” she said after a while.
“I’m sorry. ”
“Here. I’ll help.” She picked up the socks. When she knelt on the floor in front of him, Andy sat up straight. He stopped looking tortured, and looked puzzled, curious.
Jody drew his right foot slowly toward her. She rested its bandaged heel on her thigh, just below a bandage of her own, and began to work one of the socks over his toes. “Whew.”
“Ha ha.” He sniffed. “Jody?”
“Huh?”
“How are we gonna see each other again?” He sniffed again. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Jody finished with the first sock and eased his foot away. “I mean it. I don’t think they mean to just keep me for a week, or something. I’ll be living there.” She lifted his other foot onto her thigh. “It’ll be ... like permanent. It’s not like a vacation or something.”
“I know.”
“What if we never see each other again?”
She pulled the second sock over his foot and up his ankle. “Then you can keep my clothes.”
“I mean it.”
From the sound of his voice, Jody suspected he was about to resume crying. “We’ll get together again. You can count on it. You and I are ... I don’t know ... tied together. Because of last night, you know? We’ll always be like that, no matter how far apart we are. No matter what.”
“Really?”
“You bet.”
“But when’ll we get together?”
Jody shrugged. “I don’t know. But we’ve got all summer before school starts, and you’re only gonna be a day’s drive away. We’ll work out something.”
“If they let me come, can I stay here?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you have to ask your dad?”
“I know what he’ll say. He’ll say you can stay here any time you want. That’s what we’ve got the guest room for.”
He let out a long, heavy sigh. “I want to stay here right now.”
“I wish you could.”
He looked doubtful. “Really?”
“Of course, really.”
“Then help me hide.”
“Hey.”
“Why not? I can hide in your attic, or somethin
g. You can tell them I ran away.”
Jody shook her head. She cupped Andy’s unhurt knee with her hand. “Hey. No. For one thing, if you go and pull a disappearing act, everyone’ll think the creeps from last night got their hands on you.”
“Not if you tell them I ran away.”
“It won’t work, Andy.”
“Sure it’ll work.”
“No, it won’t. I’d have to lie.”
“So ?”
“I’m not going to.”
“Why not?”
“I’d have to lie to Dad. I won’t do it. And you shouldn’t even be asking me to do something like that.”
He stared at her. He looked confused, betrayed. “I thought you wished I could stay. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yeah. And it’s true. I’d like it very much. But there are right ways and wrong ways to do things. I might want to—I don’t know—maybe spend a week at Disney World, you know? But I wouldn’t rob a bank to do it.”
Now, he was scowling. “Nobody’s asking you to rob a bank. Cripes! All it’d take is a little fib. I’d tell a fib for you, you know.”
She let go of his knee and stood up. “It’d never work anyway, so forget it. Even if I did lie—and I won’t—you’re crazy if you think your uncle’s gonna drive all the way out here and then just turn around and drive home without you. Just forget it. It’s not gonna happen.”
“You probably want me to go away with him.”
“I do not.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Just shut up and try on the shoes, okay?”
“Who wants your stupid old shoes, anyway?”
Jody kicked her right foot high and flicked off her moccasin. It jumped at Andy fast, tumbling, and its soft leather sole smacked his forehead. The moccasin dropped to his lap. He gaped at Jody.
“Why’d you do that?”
“Felt like it.”
“Well...”
She kicked her other moccasin at him. His hand swiped through the air and caught it in front of his face.
“Jody!”
“Ta ta for now,” she said, grabbed his jeans off the floor, and hurried from the room.
Chapter Sixteen
Jody entered the garage through its rear door off the hallway, and tossed Andy’s jeans into the washer. She dumped some detergent in, started the machine, then returned to the corridor.
The door to the guest room stood open, as usual.
We’ve got plenty of room for Andy.
If only he could stay with us ...
Forget it. Won’t happen.
Passing the open door of her bedroom, she glanced in and saw Andy had his head down. She decided not to intrude on him.
She went ahead to the kitchen.
Her father was still there, but no longer at the table. He stood at the counter, shaping hamburger into patties.
“I just put Andy’s jeans in the washer,” she said. “Don’t worry, I gave him some of my old stuff to wear. I mean, you know, he’s not running around the house in his birthday suit, or anything.”
“Well, lucky us.”
Jody laughed. “Do you have anything you want me to toss in?”
“Don’t think so. I did a load this morning. Including your nightshirt.”
“Winnie? How’d it come out?”
“Not bad at all. At least it’s clean. Or looks clean. If there’s still any blood, it doesn’t show. The only problem is, there are some snags and minor rips.”
Jody wrinkled her nose. “Oh.”
“It isn’t bad. Really. I don’t think we’ll have to consign Winnie to the rag bag. Maybe a few patches here and there ...”
“Where is it?”
“I hung it out on the line to dry.”
Jody went for the back door.
“No you don’t. Halt right there.”
She stopped.
“You can’t go outside.” He set down a gob of ground beef and started to wash his hands. “You finish making the patties, I’ll go out and see if it’s dry.”
Jody wrinkled her nose. “Is our back yard dangerous?”
“Probably not. Basically, we’re surrounded. But you never know who might be up on a hillside with a good rifle.”
“Maybe you’d better not go out, either.”
“They aren’t after me, hon.” He dried his hands, then swaggered over to the back door. “You might wanta pass the word to Andy about staying in.”
He left. As the door bumped shut, Jody stepped to the counter. She picked up the moist, greasy ball and began shaping it into a patty.
Basically, we’re surrounded.
By cops, she supposed. That had to be what he’d meant.
Where were they, in the neighbors’ houses? On the roof-tops ?
Jody flinched and yelped as something whapped her rump.
She whirled around.
The second moccasin had already been launched. It flipped end over end. She tried to catch it, but missed. Its sole smacked the underside of her right breast.
Andy, standing in the doorway, bared his teeth in a grimace. His face went scarlet. “Oooo.”
“Neat play.”
He looked agonized. “I’m sorry. Did it hurt?”
“Yes, it hurt.” One hand held the meat and both were greasy, so she used the back of her wrist to rub the injured area. “I’m scraped up there already from the wall fast night.”
Andy watched her, his eyes very wide. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he muttered.
“Yeah, I know,” she told him, and quit rubbing. “Besides, I got you first.”
“I didn’t know you were gonna turn around.”
She toed the moccasins closer, flipped one rightside up, then slipped her feet into them. She turned again to the counter and worked on shaping the sides of the patty. “We’re having hamburgers, by the way. Is that okay?”
“Sure. ”
“We usually do them on the barbecue. Maybe not tonight, though, seeing as how we’re surrounded.”
“We’re what?”
“Surrounded. By cops. But Dad’s afraid of snipers, so you and I have to stay inside.”
“Snipers ?”
“He’s just playing it safe. I guess they’ve got things really tightly controlled right here, but there’s nothing much they can do about people who might be up in the hills. With a good rifle, you know, you can hit somebody from like a mile away.”
“I know that.”
“See how lucky you are to be going away?”
“Maybe I’ll get shot going to the car.”
The words made her stomach hurt. “Cut it out,” she said. She set down the thick disk of meat and faced him. “Nothing’ ll happen. So quit worrying, okay?”
Just then, Dad came in. “Still pretty damp,” he told Jody. “We’d better give it a couple more hours.” Then he gave Andy a big, crooked grin. “Good looking outfit there, pal.”
Andy made a face. “It’s weird, wearing girls’ things.”
“Long as you don’t enjoy it too much, you’re in good shape.”
“Real nice, Dad.”
“Did Jody warn you about going outside?”
“Yes, sir.”
She went to the sink and turned on the hot water faucet. As she washed her hands, she listened to her father say, “We should all try to stay away from the windows, too. I’ve shut the curtains, but if these fellows are desperate enough, they might just throw some wild shots at the house and hope for the best.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you and Jody just left town, or something?” Andy asked.
Jody rinsed the soap off her hands, turned the water off, and reached for the towel. Wondering why her father hadn’t answered yet, she looked over her shoulder.
He was leaning back against the counter beside the refrigerator, scowling at the floor. Whenever he scowled, he looked murderous.
Jody turned to face him.
“It goes against my grain to run from trouble. But my grain be damned. Honor
doesn’t matter squat to me when it comes to Jody’s safety.” He glanced into her eyes, then quickly returned his scowl to the floor. “The deal is, what’s best? Which comes down to this: what’s safest for my girl? We could take a long trip, but what happens when we come home again? Or we could move to the middle of nowhere and change our names and start all over like different people.”
“No way, Dad. Huh-uh. Not me. I’d rather take my chances.”
“Yep, I know that, all right. But we’d do it, anyhow, if I figured it was the safest thing. I don’t think it is, though. There’s no such thing as real safety until those men have been taken off the streets. The sooner that happens, the better for everyone.”
“So you’re hoping they’ll come here,” Jody said.
“Yep. Only I’m just not sure I want you to be here if they do.”
Andy brightened. “Maybe she could come to Arizona with me.”
She felt like pounding him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“The jury’s still out on that, honey.”
“What? You can’t send me away! I won’t go! Besides, you need me here. I’m the witness, you know.”
“We both are,” Andy reminded her.
“Well, you are going. But I’m not. Dad! You can’t be serious. What kind of trap would it be if you sent your damn bait out of town?”
He aimed the scowl at her.
“I mean it!”
“Settle down, honey. And watch your language.”
“Well, really! You can’t send me away. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Dad stretched an arm in her direction. His open hand gently patted down the air. “Easy, easy. The deal is, I’m the only one I trust to watch out for you.”
“It’s settled, then, isn’t it?”
“For now. But let’s just say the situation’s fluid.”
Fluid. Jody didn’t care for the sound of that. She pictured a puddle on a table top. If the table didn’t move, fine. But the slightest bump might send the fluid spilling off its edges.
What would it take, she wondered, for Dad to send me packing without him?
A bullet through a window, maybe.
The phone rang. Its sudden jangle made her flinch and started her heart thudding hard. But she was glad to see Andy jerk. He’s as rattled as me.