At twenty after five, the front door of the clinic swung open and Vicki stepped out. Melvin stared. He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. She looked beautiful. He liked her more in the white doctor jacket she had worn that morning; it was a stiff, formal costume that somehow made Vicki seems all the more soft and vulnerable, as if she needed to wear it for protection. But she looked just fine without it, too. Without her shell. She wore a yellow sundress that had no sleeves at all. Her legs looked very bare below the swaying skirt.
As she walked away, Melvin snapped a quarter tip onto the table. He headed for the door, forcing himself to move slowly so he wouldn’t arouse the suspicion of the waitress or Webby behind the counter. He knew they were watching him. Everyone always watched him, except for strangers in town who didn’t know what he’d done.
Outside, the heat of the afternoon closed around him. He squinted across the street. Vicki was halfway up the block, walking fast. His car was parked at the curb. It’d be stupid, he thought, trying to follow her with the car. Unless he got in and went after her and asked if she’d like a lift. Would she accept a ride from him? Maybe. But she might wonder how come he happened to show up just then.
He decided to follow her on foot.
He stayed on his side of the street, and didn’t hurry.
On the next block, Vicki entered Ace Sportswear.
“Getcha something spiffy in the way of a bikini? Give you our sawbones discount.”
“Not today.”
“Well, then, fuck you. Get outa here.”
A young woman was standing nearby. She whirled around and gaped at Ace.
“Jennifer,” Ace told her, “do me a favor and throw this gal out.”
Jennifer’s mouth fell open. Her face went bright red. She looked no older than seventeen or eighteen.
“Oh, don’t get your shorts in a knot, hon. This is my old bud Vicki Chandler.”
The girl rolled her eyes upward. “I thought you’d flipped out. I mean, Jesus hunchin’ Christ. I mean, shitski, I never heard you take off after a customer like that.”
Vicki grinned at Ace. “You been giving speech lessons around here?”
“What do you mean? Hey, how do you like Jen’s outfit? Spiffy, huh?”
The girl wore a black and white striped dress that looked like an umpire’s shirt. It wasn’t much longer than a shirt, either. The belt was a loose silver chain with a silver whistle that hung against her left thigh. She wore white knee socks and black running shoes.
“Unusual,” Vicki commented.
“Guys love it. Has the sports motif, the little girl motif…”
“The nightshirt motif,” Vicki added.
“Hottest item in the store,” Ace said. “When I get my new shipment in, I’ll give you one. It drives the guys wild.”
“You ready to go?”
“Been waiting for you.” To Jennifer, she said, “Things stay slow, you can close up early. So long.”
“Nice meeting you, Jennifer.”
“You, too,” the girl said.
They left the shop and walked around the corner to Ace’s car. Hot air poured out against Vicki when she opened the passenger door. She rolled the window down before climbing in. The sun had been burning down on the seat. She winced, feeling scorched, and shoved herself up and hooked her elbows over the seatback to keep her rump off the searing upholstery.
“You okay?” Ace asked.
“Medium well,” Vicki said.
Ace sat down on a beach towel folded neatly on the driver’s seat. “Sorry about that, hon. I’ve got another towel in the trunk.”
“Any burn ointment?”
“Want to stop in at the clinic?”
“I’ll live. I guess.” Vicki lowered herself slowly. It didn’t hurt so much, this time. She sighed.
“Where to?” Ace asked, starting the car.
“The first place is on George Street. Near the church.”
Ace made a right onto Central. “Oh, looky there.” She swung her thumb to the left.
Vicki leaned forward, peered past her, and saw Melvin. His back was turned. He was facing the display window of Johnson’s Pharmacy, scratching his cheek with his left hand.
It was odd to see him. Vicki felt as if time had gone haywire. He’d left her office about seven hours ago, hadn’t he?
“He was in this morning,” she muttered.
“I know. You told me on the phone. Going senile?”
“Weird.”
“What’s weird? After seeing you, he probably got inspired to buy some condoms.”
“Oh, charming. Thanks.” Vicki looked over her shoulder and tried to spot Melvin through the rear window. The angle wasn’t right. She couldn’t see him.
“It’s not uncommon, you know, for patients to fall in love with their doctors.”
“It’s not uncommon for doctors to perform frontal lobotomies on wiseass friends.”
Ace glanced down at her breasts. “Think I need one?”
“What?”
“That operation. On my frontal lobes. They look fine to me.”
Vicki ignored that one. She dug into her handbag and took out the folded paper on which she’d written the addresses of the two apartment buildings they planned to visit.
“I really am sorry about Pollock,” Ace said. “That pissbag. I’m gonna have a few words with him.”
“Please don’t. I just want to get out of that apartment and be done with him.”
“Dirty old fart.”
“I just hope I can get into one of these places fast.”
“I wouldn’t count on moving in tonight. I tell you what, we’ll stop by your room after we’ve checked these places out. You can pack up whatever you’ll need, and stay with me till they let you move in.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Great. We’ll have us a blast.”
Melvin supposed they might’ve seen him as they drove by, but he guessed it didn’t matter much. After all, he was right in front of the drugstore, and Vicki had given him a prescription. He’d gotten it filled that morning, but Vicki wouldn’t know that.
When the sound of Ace’s Mustang faded, he turned around and spotted it heading north on Central. He kept an eye on it as he rushed back for his car.
It turned left on George Street.
He reached his car, made a U-turn, and went left on George. The red Mustang wasn’t in sight. “Shit!” He punched the steering wheel. With his right hand. And cried out in pain.
When the agony subsided, he muttered, “Okay, it don’t matter.” He really wanted to find out where she lived, but he’d just have to try again tomorrow. And the next day, if tomorrow didn’t work out. It shouldn’t be hard. He knew he would find out, sooner or later.
Coming to an intersection, he glanced both ways. No sign of Ace’s car.
He kept heading west on George Street, figuring he might as well stick with it for a few more minutes.
On the next block, he found the red Mustang parked at the curb in front of a two-story brick apartment house. No sign of the girls.
He stared at the building.
That’s gotta be it.
He drove on.
That night, a little before ten, Melvin parked around the corner from the apartment house. His heart pounded fast as he walked toward the entrance. The pounding made his right hand throb.
He needed a new gal. He wouldn’t use Vicki for that, though. Someday. Once he got it right. But it’d be awful to mess up with her and have to bury her like the others. She’d just have to wait.
In the meantime, he’d settle for looking at her.
He stopped at the door. Peering through its glass, he saw a small, dimly lighted foyer with a panel of mail boxes on the wall. On the left was a narrow stairway to the second floor. To the right of the stairs, a corridor stretched the length of the building. He saw no one.
He tried the door. It opened, which was hardly surprising. In Ellsworth, nobody gave much thought to security.
>
He stepped up to the mailboxes. There were a dozen, each labeled with the apartment number and name of the renter. The first box had an extra label that read Manager. Melvin moved his finger down the row, touching each name label.
No Chandler.
But the name on the card taped over the mail slot for 4 had been scratched out with a blue pen.
That’s gotta be Vicki’s, Melvin decided.
She’d only been here a few days, probably hadn’t bothered to put her name up yet.
The hardwood floor of the corridor creaked under his shoes. He winced at the noise. But he didn’t have to go far. Apartment #4 was the second door on the right. As soon as he spotted it, he turned around and hurried outside.
He crossed the lawn. At the corner of the building, he found a narrow lane of grass. Light spilled out from the windows of apartment #2, slanting down and casting a glow on the hedge that bordered the property. Melvin ducked below those windows, and made his way through the darkness to the windows of #4.
He peered through the glass. The curtains seemed to be open, but the room beyond was so dark that he could see nothing.
Either Vicki had already gone to bed, or she was away somewhere.
If she’d gone to bed, he wouldn’t get to see her unless maybe she woke up to use the john, or something. Not much chance of that.
He wondered if he should stick around, just in case she was out.
He didn’t want to waste the night, though. It’d be worth waiting for, if he knew for sure that she’d come in pretty soon. Just spying on her would be great, and even if she shut the curtains there might be a gap so he could see her undress.
But she might already be asleep.
And maybe this wasn’t her apartment. After all, her name wasn’t on the mailbox.
Waste tonight, he thought, and it’ll just be that much longer before you can do things with her.
I’ll try again tomorrow, he decided. I’ll come earlier.
He crept away, ducked under the lighted windows of the neighboring apartment, then thought he might as well take a peek. Slowly, he rose from his crouch. The curtains were open. The woman on the reclining chair looked familiar. He couldn’t place her at first, then realized she worked as a check-out girl at the Riverside Market. Melba, that was her name.
A fat pig.
She was sitting there, leaning back in the chair with her feet propped up. Her hair was in rollers. She wore a beige bra and panties. She held a paperback book in front of her face, so she couldn’t see Melvin. An open bag of taco chips rested between her legs, and a can of Diet Pepsi rested on the lamp table within easy reach.
She looked like a bloated, bulging wad of raw dough.
Melvin considered killing her. She was repulsive. At the store, she acted like a snot.
It’d be nice to kick her swollen belly till she puked up blood.
Don’t be dumb, he told himself. You don’t want to mess around with someone you won’t use.
He wouldn’t be able to get her body out to the car, even if he wanted to.
Besides, he’d have to touch her to kill her. He could just feel his fingers sinking into that puffy white skin.
Melvin ducked down below the window, and headed for the street wishing he hadn’t looked at Melba. He wished it had been Vicki sitting in that chair. Vicki, for sure, wouldn’t wear cruddy beige undies. Maybe red. Maybe black.
He imagined her sitting there in nothing but her white doctor jacket. It was unbuttoned, hanging open.
He climbed into his car, and began the forty mile drive to Blayton Memorial Hospital.
Chapter Ten
A little after midnight, they started coming into the hospital parking lot. The area was brightly lighted. Melvin, sitting low in the driver’s seat, watched them through the windshield.
There were both men and women. Some wore street clothes, but others were dressed in white. He supposed they were doctors, nurses, lab technicians, orderlies, janitors, all ready to head home now that their shift had ended.
Melvin settled on a tall, slim gal in a white dress. Probably a nurse. At this distance, he couldn’t see her face too well. But she had short blonde hair like Vicki, and her figure looked good. She looked better than any of the others.
She walked with a stocky woman who was likely another nurse, and a man in overalls. The three of them stopped beside a van. They chatted for a while. Melvin heard the quiet sounds of their voices, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. The man soon climbed into the van. The two nurses stayed together as they passed several cars in the area of the lot reserved for staff. Then, the slim one climbed into a VW Rabbit and the stocky one kept walking.
Melvin backed his car out of its space, joined the small line of other vehicles waiting to exit the lot, then rolled onto the street and swung to the curb. Peering over his shoulder, he watched the Rabbit VW turn onto the road.
It turned right, just as he had.
A good omen, he thought.
The Rabbit passed him. He quickly moved out behind it, then eased off his accelerator and let himself drop back a ways. No point in hugging the gal’s tail, even though she probably assumed he was just another hospital employee heading home.
She might not be easy to get.
The ones who stopped at his gas station were always easy. A couple of those, he just did them while they sat in the driver’s seat, all set to pay him for the gas. Some, he followed them into the john and took care of them there. Others, they’d stop at the full-service island and he’d make a slice on the fan belt while he was under there checking the oil. After they drove off, he would shut the station and head up River Road in his tow truck. He’d find them stranded on the roadside a couple of miles out of town, and they’d think it was a miracle that he’d happened to show up. Easy.
But this was a lot different. He wasn’t sure how to handle it.
He’d given the matter considerable thought while he was waiting in the hospital lot. He knew how he wanted to get her. He wanted to just follow her home, wait till she was inside, then sneak in and take her by surprise. That way, he would have all the privacy and time he might want. For all he knew, though, the gal might be married or staying with her parents or have a roommate. In fact, he had to admit that it was most likely she didn’t live alone.
He could go in and get her, anyway, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to bother with that.
The other choice was to nail her before she got home. Either figure a way to stop her on the road, or try to get her after she parked, while she was on her way to the door. Those methods would only work if nobody else was nearby.
Just play it by ear, Melvin told himself.
The Rabbit turned left. Melvin followed. He checked his rearview mirror. None of the cars behind him made the turn. The road ahead was empty, with only a few houses in sight up ahead. He knew this road. It led to Cedar Junction, eight miles west of Blayton. Soon, there would be a long stretch through farm land before the outskirts of Cedar Junction. If she just doesn’t pull into one of these driveways…
She didn’t.
Headlights appeared in the distance, so he held off. The lights drew nearer. He squinted against their glare. A pickup whooshed by, and the glare was gone. Melvin watched the tail lights in his rearview. When they were tiny red specks, he swung across the center line and stepped on the accelerator. He gained on the Rabbit, sped past it, then eased back onto his side of the road.
Nothing ahead except the moonlit road and fields.
He studied the Rabbit in his rearview mirror. It seemed to be about three car lengths behind him.
Melvin grinned at his craftiness. He knew he could’ve swerved into the car’s path while he was passing it, but a weird maneuver like that would’ve put the woman on guard. This way, she might not be suspicious at all until it was too late.
He braced, left hand tight on the steering wheel, arm locked straight, pressing himself against the seat back and the headrest.
And
jammed down on the brake pedal.
His tires grabbed the pavement, skidded and shrieked.
The Rabbit bore down on him.
He heard its squeal.
His car lurched with the impact. Not much of a jolt, really, but enough. He heard no breaking glass, so he doubted that either car had been damaged.
He swung onto the hard dirt shoulder of the road, and stopped. The Rabbit moved slowly past him, both its headlights still working. For a bad moment, he feared the nurse might keep on going. But she turned her car onto the shoulder and stopped a few yards in front of him.
Her door opened. As she climbed out, Melvin slumped against the steering wheel. He heard the quick scrape of her shoes on the road. The sounds stopped beside him. He slowly sat up straight, shaking his head.
“Are you all right?” the woman asked. Her voice was trembling.
“I guess,” he muttered. He rubbed the back of his neck.
She was standing close to his door, bending down to look in at him. He wished he could see her better, but the light was too faint. What he could see looked good. He guessed she was in her early twenties. Her white dress had a name tag over the left breast, but he couldn’t read it.
“What happened?” she asked. “Why did you stop?”
“Something…ran out in front of me. Maybe a cat. I don’t know. It all happened so fast. Guess I should’ve gone ahead and hit it.”
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have been following so close. Did you hit your head?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed his forehead. “I’m all right, I guess.” He turned off the engine, and took out the keys with his bandaged right hand. He slowly opened his door and stepped out onto the road. Pretending to ignore the woman, he wandered to the rear of his car.
“I don’t think there’s any damage,” she said as she followed him.
The tail and brake lights glowed red.
“Don’t look like it,” Melvin mumbled. “I got a flash in the trunk. I’d better get it.”
“I’ll give you my name and number,” the woman said. “If there are any problems, I’d be more than happy to pay.”
He unlocked the trunk. Its lid swung up.