Bestiary

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Beth dldn’t know what woke her, or how she knew she was alone in the bed. But when she opened her eyes, moonlight was streaming in through the window, and Carter’s side of the bed was nothing but a twisted sheet and crumpled pillow.

She slipped on her blue robe, and padded across the hall to Joey’s room. She had barely crossed the threshold when she suddenly stepped on something soft, heard a yelp, and she jumped back, startled.

Champ was sitting up, watching her.

“Oh my gosh,” she said, letting out a breath. “I didn’t see you there.”

The dog waited, his ears up, tongue out. She could see the glistening scar on the top of his head from his fight with the coyotes; the vet had said it would heal in a few months. But ever since that night, Champ had appointed himself the unofficial companion and protector of little Joey, keeping tabs on him during the day, sleeping by his crib all night. Robin, the nanny, said he was like a sheepdog, tending to his flock.

“We’re going to have to get you a doggie bed, aren’t we?” Beth said. Right now, he just slept on the carpeted floor. “And maybe put it farther out of the doorway.”

Champ appeared to have no opinion, but watched silently as Beth went around him to look into the crib. Joey’s eyes were open.

“Oh, did I wake you, pumpkin?” she said, leaning down. Although she had nothing to compare him to, Beth thought that he must be the most sensitive baby in all the world; he always seemed perfectly well rested, but he never seemed to sleep. Anytime you so much as approached him, he was wide awake. She’d even mentioned it to the pediatrician, who’d said he couldn’t see any problem or adverse effects.

“If anything,” he’d said, “he seems ahead of the curve — growing fast, thriving. I’d put him in the top one percentile on almost any measure.”

Beth checked his diaper — no problem there — and kissed him on his forehead. His eyes, crystal clear and pale blue, remained fixed on her, and she had the odd sense, as she often did, that he was about to say something to her. That he could say something to her, if he wanted to, but that he just hadn’t decided to do so yet. She knew it wasn’t really true, but even as she drew back, she felt it.

“Someday,” she whispered, “you’re going to tell me what that’s all about. Okay?”

He wiggled his feet in reply.

As she left, she could hear Champ turning around and around in a tight circle as he settled back down at the foot of the crib.

Downstairs, the house was dark. Had Carter actually gone out somewhere, at this hour? And after what had happened with the coyotes the last time? She glanced at the digital clock on the microwave; it was almost one in the morning. Going to the kitchen window, she looked out into the tiny yard, and she could see him sitting there in a lawn chair, facing out over the canyon. He had a beer in one hand.

Opening the double doors to the yard, she said, “Drinking alone again?”

He turned his head toward her. “Couldn’t sleep.”

She gathered her robe around her, walked barefoot across the short, mostly brown grass, and sat down in the chair next to him. “Was it the arm?”

After the attack in the tar pit, Carter had been taken to USC University Hospital, where they’d sewed up his forearm with a half dozen stitches. Now he had a narrow white bandage running down his forearm.

“No, that’s okay.” He was wearing a California Science Center T-shirt and a pair of Jams.

Beth sat back on the plastic strips of her chair, its aluminum frame creaking. The moon was full, etching the trees and brush below in a cold silver light.

She knew what it was; she knew Carter well enough by now to know what he would be thinking after such a terrible day.

“You know,” she said, gently, “it’s not your fault.”

He didn’t answer.

“The man was crazy.”

“I know that,” he conceded. “But now he’s dead.”

“Through no fault of yours. He attacked you, with a knife, and all you did was defend yourself.”

He shrugged, as if to say, I know you’re right… but it doesn’t matter.

And it occurred to Beth that she had had this conversation before… back in New York. After the lab assistant had misused the laser, and set off the fatal explosion, Carter had blamed himself for everything. How strange, she thought, that even here in L.A. — where they’d gone to start over — such awful accidents were haunting them again.

“So, how come you’re up?” Carter asked, as if to change the subject.

“I don’t know. Just woke up, to an empty bed.”

But Carter could read her as well as she could read him. He could see the concern in her eyes. It was one reason he’d gotten up and come outside; he didn’t want her to be disturbed by all his tossing and turning. He’d tried to sleep — God knows, it had been a long enough day — but every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the terrified face of Geronimo as he sank, slowly, to the bottom of the pit. He kept thinking that there was something else he could have done, some way he could have saved him.

And he wondered what the man’s real name was.

No one knew — and there was a good chance no one ever would. Even if his body was recovered from the tar one day, there was no guarantee he’d have identification — that was still legible — on him. He’d become just another anonymous victim of the pit.

“At least it’s not so hot out anymore,” Beth said.

“Yeah, that’s a relief,” Carter agreed.

Another silence fell.

Carter finished the bottle of beer. “How’s your work coming? On that bestiary.”

“Good,” Beth said, sounding as chipper as the late hour would allow. “The book is spectacular — the most beautiful I’ve ever seen — and I can’t wait for the script analysis to come back. Trying to read it right now is an ordeal.”

“How come? You were always pretty good with Latin.”

“This text is so archaic, and the handwriting so peculiar, it would take me months to translate it on my own. Not to mention the fact that in some places it’s very faded, and in others it’s so intricately woven into the illustrations that it’s hard to separate out.”

“But apart from that,” Carter said, with a laugh, “it’s a piece of cake.”

Beth smiled. “At least on my job I don’t have to worry about getting attacked with a knife.”

“But you do have to worry about the mysterious Mr. al-Kalli.” A breeze blew through the canyon below, rustling the dry leaves. “Is he breathing down your neck?”

“Oh yeah,” Beth said with a laugh. “He acts as if he’s waiting for a doctor’s report to come back from the lab.”

Carter nodded companionably.

Beth levered herself out of the lawn chair. “I guess I’ll try to get some sleep.”

Carter reached out, took her hand, and drew her down onto his lap. Beth’s robe fell open. “Hey, what’ll the neighbors think?” Beth said.

“That’s the great thing about this place,” Carter said, gesturing out over the wide, dark canyon. “There aren’t any.”

He bent his head and kissed her. And for the first time in a long while, Beth felt herself… go with it. Maybe it was just the shock she’d had, hearing how close Carter had come to being killed in the pit, and maybe it was something else entirely, but right now she wasn’t thinking about anything but her husband — not the baby, not her work — and the way his lips felt on hers. His hand moved up onto her breast, and she felt the nipple, usually so sore, stiffen under his fingertips. She let out an inadvertent moan, and his tongue went into her mouth.

Together, they slipped out of the chair and onto the parched grass. Carter pulled the robe off her shoulders as she shoved his Jams down. He pressed himself on top of her, and she opened her eyes, gazing up at the moon and stars — in L.A., you could actually see the stars at night — then closed them again. She didn’t want to be distracted, even by something so beautiful; she didn’t want to miss a moment of what was happening.