Sue, page 9
Chapter 16
Everywhere Sue went she was reminded of the approaching holiday. The receptionist’s desk at Dr. Camden’s office held a tiny tree bedecked with blinking lights. Storefronts sported trees of every size and shape; she even saw one that hung from the ceiling. And road crews had already hung giant snowflakes and candles from every other light pole in the downtown district.
Sue, however, wasn’t in a festive mood and had declined the offer of helping with the outside Christmas decorations at home. She’d sat moodily in her room as her mom and dad hauled out the nativity set and erected it in the front yard. Four-foot-tall candles stood at each side of the front door and lights were strung over the porch. Soon, she heard her parents dragging the tree and decorations from the attic. Not long after there was a tap at her bedroom door.
“Susie,” her mom called softly.
“Come in,” Sue responded.
“Honey, won’t you please come help decorate the tree? We’ve always done it as a family.”
Sue wanted to scream. She wanted to shriek that she was already sick of the holiday hoopla that there was nothing to rejoice unless a broken heart was worthy of celebration. Instead she pasted a smile on her face and followed her mom downstairs.
Holiday music issued from her mother’s old cassette player, filling the house with Christmas classics by Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, and Eartha Kitt. Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” nearly pulled Sue under, but she held her emotions in check for the sake of her folks. They strung lights, hung bulbs and sentimental ornaments from the branches, and then lightly draped the tree in glistening silver tinsel. Standing back, they surveyed the finished project and Sue had to admit she’d enjoyed herself. There was comfort in the old traditions. “It’s beautiful.”
“As always,” her dad agreed.
“Okay, anyone up for hot chocolate?” Her mom was already heading for the kitchen.
Since this was traditional also, Sue concurred. They shared their drinks in front of the tree. She looked from her mom to her dad thoughtfully. Is this what real love looks like? Is it this calm, this unremarkable?
Eventually she returned upstairs. In the shower she let tears of frustration course down her face. She’d had such a different plan for this Christmas. She’d secretly dreamed that she and Zeke would have found a house by this time, maybe have been married, and would be surprising each other with inexpensive gifts. Instead she was back home, healing from wounds inflicted by the man she had loved. Still loved. And hated. Life was so unfair. Feeling defeated, she pulled out her journal and filled several pages, surprised at how much she’d grown to enjoy this activity.
Chapter 17
Melvin showed up wearing a sweater with Rudolph on the front. He was there to take Sue to her therapist appointment and then they were going to the shooting range. When he saw Sue looking with disdain at the sweater he smiled mischievously. “Check this out, Sue.” He did something that made Rudolph’s nose light up.
Shrugging, Sue slipped past him and headed toward his car. The smell of wood smoke lingered in the crisp air.
“Wait up.” Melvin zipped his coat as he joined her. “I love this time of year, don’t you?”
“Do I look like I love it?” She pulled her collar up against the cold, yanked the car door open, and got inside.
“I guess a snowball fight is out of the question then?” He slid behind the wheel and started the engine.
Sue huffed and looked away as he pulled into the street.
Once on the road, Sue broke the silence. “How’s your girlfriend feel about you working so much?”
Melvin gave a short laugh. “I don’t have a girlfriend anymore. I did, but it’s over.”
“What happened?” She was half surprised he’d ever had one, to tell the truth. She’d only been making conversation.
“We dated pretty much all through the last year of high school. Then she went off to Berkeley and met someone else.”
“I’m sorry.” Sue wished she hadn’t broached the subject.
Melvin’s face was impassive as he pulled up to a stoplight. “It was rough at first, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Yeah, I’ve had a few of those.” Sue stared out the window and thought of the disappointing crushes she’d had before Zeke.
“Well, it’s for the best. I don’t have a lot of time for a relationship right now, what with work and school.”
“My fault?”
He turned the car into the parking lot of Dr. Camden’s office, turned off the ignition, and looked at Sue. “No. It’s not your fault. If I wasn’t going around with you, Will would have me on other work.”
Sue had no reply; she felt foolish for making it all about her and wondered if he thought she was self-centered. If so, he didn’t show it.
Melvin walked her into the building, grabbed a magazine from the table, and dropped into a chair to wait.
Her appointment went well and she actually got out a little early, exiting with a much lighter spirit. Entering the lobby, she gestured for Melvin to follow her. “Okay, bud. You ready for a whoopin’?”
“Whoopin’? By whom, pray tell?” Melvin looked all around. “Surely you don’t mean by you. Ohh, you make me laugh.” He hooted and slapped his leg in mirth.
“I don’t know,” Sue countered. “I’m getting pretty good. You want to make a wager?”
“Five bucks.” Melvin held out a hand.
“Five bucks? Not in this life. I have to buy a gun, you know. How about fifty bucks?”
Melvin gulped. Sue had shot well the last time they’d come. Then he manned up. “Fifty bucks it is.” They shook hands and got in the car.
Several rounds later, the two were pretty much even and called it a draw. Sue cleaned her rental while Melvin attended to his own pistol. As they walked across the parking lot Sue said, “I’m taking my test on Thursday.”
“Driving test? Eye test? Typing test?”
“Yes, all three of those. Either that or I’m going to take my permit-to-carry test!”
“Ohh, that test.”
“Anyway, Thursday is the last day anyone can test this year. Then they’ll be closed until after the holidays.”
“When do you want me to pick you up?”
They settled on a time and Sue asked him if he could take her to a local sporting goods store afterward, providing she passed.
“You’re not buying from Burns?”
“Jason’s prices are pretty high. I’ve looked online and I can get a much better deal somewhere else.”
“I guess that’s probably true. Burns has to keep his prices up there in order to make a profit.”
They pulled up in front of Sue’s house and she stepped from the vehicle. Melvin piled out and walked with her to the door, snow crunching underfoot.
“You don’t have to come up every time you bring me home,” Sue protested.
“Ah, but I do. I’m here to protect and protect I will.” With a mock bow, he turned and darted back to his car, almost slipped on a patch of icy driveway but caught himself. He shot her an embarrassed grin.
She shook her head and went inside.
Sue woke excited Thursday. She poked around online, searching for ideas on what to buy her mom and dad for Christmas. She decided to see if Melvin had time to take her shopping after they bought her gun, assuming she passed the test. Nervous now, Sue studied until he picked her up.
She’d filled out an application for the background check a month earlier and, much to her surprise, passed. Today she would take the written exam and the shooting test.
Melvin pulled up as near to the Highway Patrol office as possible. “Go get em, slugger,” he said as she climbed out.
Sue, nearly sick with nerves, barely smiled in return.
An hour later she emerged with a hangdog expression. She climbed into the car and stared morosely out the passenger window.
Melvin started the car and drove in silence for a minute. Finally, he asked, “You didn’t make it?”
“What?” Sue turned to him sad-eyed. Then a teasing smile radiated across her face. “Of course I made it. I passed with flying colors.” She pulled her permit from her bag and waved it under his nose. “Let’s go shopping.”
Melvin was game to take Sue to the mall to shop for Christmas. “Maybe we’d better go to the sporting goods store last.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like the idea of a gun sitting around in the car. Especially with the ammo in the same bag.”
“You take yours along with you.”
Melvin smiled wryly. “I only carry it to the range. But someday I’m hoping Will and Roxie will let me go on a stakeout. I’ll need it then.”
“Oh,” Sue said. “Okay. I’ve gone this long; I can wait another couple of hours.”
The two wandered through the mall, looking in shop windows, and venturing into this store or that. “What did you tell your mom and dad you wanted for Christmas this year?” Melvin asked.
“I didn’t. Every year I tell them exactly what I want and every year they buy me anything but. So this year I left it to them.” They were passing a jewelry counter and Sue stopped. Pointing at a small silver chain with a teardrop gem of her birthstone she said, “See this? This is something I’d put on my list.” She looked around and found a chunky chain from which hung a garish rhinestone-encrusted faux ruby. “But this is what I’d get. And the crazy thing is, the birthstone is actually cheaper.”
They walked on. Sue led the way through a department store. She bought her mom a pair of warm house slippers and a blouse. She chose a flannel shirt for her dad and then stood fingering a selection of socks.
Glancing over she saw Melvin holding up a pair of gaudy black socks with several large dancing penguins on each. “What are you doing with those?”
“I was thinking of buying them.”
“For who?” Sue asked, wrinkling her nose.
Melvin blushed slightly. “Well, I sort of have a sock collection. I even have a pair with pink flamingos.”
Reaching out, Sue snatched them from him.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“These would be perfect for my Aunt Murielle,” Sue announced.
“But,” Melvin stuttered. “That’s the only pair. And besides, they’re men’s socks.”
“Aunt Murielle is really masculine,” Sue said earnestly. “And I’m getting these for her. You’ll have to choose something else. Sorry!”
She quickly chose a couple pairs of argyle socks for her dad and hurried to the checkout stand, leaving Melvin with mouth agape.
Smiling triumphantly, Sue took her packages and headed toward the door into the Mall proper.
Just as they were stepping outside, Melvin stopped. He slapped his coat pockets and looked around his feet.
“What?” Sue asked.
“I lost a glove. Promise not to move from this spot and I’ll backtrack to see if I can find it.”
“I’ll wait in the bookstore.” Sue gestured to a store two doors down “I want to get my mom a couple of books and my dad some magazines.”
It wasn’t too long before Melvin was beside her once more. “Did you find it?” Sue asked.
“Right here.” Melvin held out both gloves.
“Good for you,” she joked. He seemed extremely pleased with himself. He’s so funny. “Ok. Let’s go buy my gun.”
At the sporting goods store Sue chose a 9 mm Glock.
“Is this a gift or for you?” the clerk asked.
“It’s mine. Why?”
“Well, this gun has quite a kick. It might be too much for someone as small as you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve been shooting one all month. But thanks for your concern.”
As Melvin pulled into Sue’s driveway he asked, “Are your parents going to have a fit over the gun?”
“Nope,” Sue said.
“No?”
“I have no intention of letting them know I have it. Now stay put. I can get inside on my own.”
“Alright, alright.” Melvin held up his hands in surrender but he was smiling.
That evening at supper, Sue quizzed her folks. “How much are you paying Will for Melvin to take me around?”
The fork stopped halfway to her father’s mouth. “Not that much. Why?”
“Well, it seems like an unnecessary expense.” Sue kept her voice casual.
Frank gave Linda a look and slipped the food into his mouth. He chewed slowly and swallowed before laying the fork aside. “Susan, it’s worth it. That kidnapper probably won’t come back around, but you never know. We want to keep you safe.”
Kidnapper? Her dad’s persistent denial always gave her a small rush of shame.
“We’re not worried about the money, Sue.” Her mom pressed a palm to her cheek and Sue could see the subject upset her.
Holding up her hands, Sue relented. “Okay. It’s fine. Melvin can stay. I was just curious is all.”
Her mom looked relieved. “Well, that’s all settled then. More meatloaf, dear?” She pushed the platter toward Sue before turning to her husband. “Now, tell us about your day, Frank. Did you get those parts in your boss was so worried about?”
Sue let the conversation flow over her while she ate, though her mind was elsewhere.
A beautiful snow fell on Christmas day, dusting trees and houses with a thick layer of white. Looking outside, Sue smiled in satisfaction. It would be a good day.
Along with presents from her parents, Sue opened the tiny box Melvin had given her. Inside she found the necklace she’d admired at the mall. She flushed in pleasure and wondered if he’d opened the package containing the socks she’d supposedly bought for her aunt.
The day passed pleasantly enough. After dinner, Melvin called from Kansas, where he’d gone for the holidays, to thank her for the gift. “I love the socks.” There was a smile in his voice. “Was Aunt Murielle very disappointed?”
“Crushed. But I’ll make it up to her. I have my eye on a set of wrenches.”
“There is no Aunt Murielle, is there?”
“No.” Sue chuckled. “I made her up.”
“I suspected as much. I’m not a detective’s assistant for nothing.”
“Yep, can’t fool you.” Sue rolled her eyes, then grew serious. “Melvin, I really like the necklace. It was very thoughtful of you.”
“I almost bought the one you didn’t like, you know, as a joke. Then I decided that really wasn’t very funny.”
“What you did was perfect,” she assured him and could almost hear him blush over the phone. “When will you be back in town?”
“I’m flying back in two days. I love my relatives, but I’m ready to be home.”
They talked a bit about what they’d had for dinner and the other gifts they’d received. After that, conversation fell off and they soon hung up.
Sue wrote in her journal and then spent several hours on her computer in her quest to track down Zeke. Ian, she corrected herself. These searches always left her feeling down, almost dirty. But she couldn’t stop. On impulse, she typed in Ian and got 148,000,000 results. Typing Zeke into the search engine garnered a mere 4,940,000 hits. She’d known it would be useless, but she’d had to try.
She reverted back to her usual habit of scrolling through reports of missing women. The name of a town screamed out at her. Merlington, Missouri. That was one of the last towns she and Zeke had passed through. It was outside Merlington that Zeke had dug up the head of one of his victims, Daisy Swak, and shown it to Sue. Fingers trembling, Sue clicked and opened the page. An assistant librarian had gone missing weeks earlier. Sue typed in her name, Anna Blythe, and performed another search. There were a few entries, among them, a website obviously set up by her worried family with contact numbers for any information. Tears filled Sue’s eyes as she stared at the young woman’s image on the screen. A round cherubic face, more cute than pretty, long auburn hair, and brown eyes crinkled at the outside corners by a sweet but slightly crooked smile. Like a fist to the gut, Sue instinctively knew this girl no longer lived. Or if she did, she wouldn’t soon.
She sprang to her feet and looked out the window, twisting her hands. Taking a deep breath, she returned to the computer and searched to see if Anna Blythe had been found and Sue somehow overlooked it in the entries. But it appeared that neither Anna nor any remains matching her description had yet turned up.
Now Sue was on fire. She spent the rest of Christmas day on her project, only getting up every so often to use the bathroom or stretch her muscles. There were so many missing people! It was astounding. She found reports that ranged across the country. She decided to focus on the area where she’d last seen Zeke. Hours later, she discovered something that made her skin crawl. Another woman had gone missing shortly after Anna Blythe; this time in Edison, Kentucky, another town Zeke and Sue had gone through. Diane Swanson, realtor, mid-thirties. Sue stared at her image. Light brown hair, close-mouthed smile, chic hairstyle. She’d left to show a property and never returned to her office in Edison. A chilling thought occurred to Sue. Zeke’s killing his way back to me!
She strained to remember the towns they’d traveled through on their road trip, her thoughts skittering around her head like a handful of teeth thrown across a tile floor. Reason soon prevailed and she calmed herself. Just because women went missing in those two towns did not necessarily mean the disappearances were connected, much less related to Zeke. Coincidence, that’s all. Nonetheless, she printed out the pages and added them to her growing file.
Two days later, Sue had an interview with an insurance company for a secretarial position. She left having secured the job and grinned at Melvin as she approached the car. “I start the first Monday in January.”
He put the car in gear and pulled into traffic. “That’s pretty quick. You won’t be able to give notice on your other job.”
“I know. But I don’t care. I’ll be glad to be out of that place.”
