Maybe

18

LOU TURNS TOWARD us, his face red from the effort. He gasps, closes his eyes, shakes his head, mortified.

Sherry hasn’t seen us yet, but notices her lover has stopped in mid-thrust.

“Everything okay back there, hon?” she says. “You’re not done, are you?”

I say, “If Felix is in there, you’ve probably subdued him by now. Step away, and we’ll help you drag him out.”

Sherry jumps, causing Lou to slip out of her. He deftly pulls his pants up and says, “I wish I had something clever to say.”

Sherry pushes herself to a standing position and yells, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same, since it’s my office. By the way, I think you owe my desk an apology.”

She looks like one of those “What’s Wrong with this Picture?” photos, standing as she is with her hair and makeup freshly done, wearing diamond-studded earrings and an exquisite matching necklace, a beautiful silk print blouse, but naked from the waist down. She spins around and tries to walk across the room to fetch her skirt from the chair against the far wall, but her panties are bunched around her ankles. Lou, ever the gentleman, drops to a knee and tries to slide them up her legs as she’s doing the penguin walk. His interference causes her to trip. She falls to the floor and cries out, but Lou won’t be denied. He keeps tugging her panties up her legs. When he gets them to her thighs, she slaps his face and hoists them up the rest of the way. Then gets to her feet, puts on her skirt, smoothes it down with her hands, and says, “Who’s the bimbo?”

To Miranda I say, “I’ve told you about my girlfriend, Rachel?”

She says, “Yes, of course. Is this her?”

I laugh. “No, this is Rachel’s mother.”

“You think this is funny?” Sherry says. “We’ll see how funny it is when I tell Rachel you’re fucking this one.”

“My name’s Miranda.”

“I don’t give a shit! You could be Martha fucking Washington, for all I care! What I want to know is what are you doing with my daughter’s boyfriend?”

Miranda looks at me.

I look at Sherry.

“How’ve you been, Sherry? You appear sober.”

“You’re not putting me away, Donovan. You want to make someone miserable? Let Miranda spend some time in that nasty fuck hole.”

Miranda says, “No thanks. I saw the view from both angles just now, and it’s not working for me.”

I say, “Sherry’s talking about the underground bunker at Mount Weather. That’s where Rachel’s eggs are being harvested by government scientists.”

Miranda says, “See? This is why I love hanging out with you! Where else am I going to hear these types of conversations?”

I look at Lou. “You told Sherry about Mount Weather?”

“I did,” Lou says.

“But how did you know about the exchange?”

“Doc Howard told me.”

Sherry says, “I don’t give a rat’s ass who told who!”

“Whom,” Miranda says.

“Fuck you, whore!” Sherry says. She turns to me and says, “You’re not exchanging me for Rachel. Tell him, Lou.”

“Yeah, tell me, Lou.”

Lou clears his throat and says, “I agreed to let Sherry leave. We’ve got no right to hold her here against her will.”

“I agree.”

“You do?”

“Yes. But I’ll take her.”

Sherry looks at Lou. “Kill him if you have to, Lou. But don’t let him touch me!”

Lou gives me a pleading look, and I can see what’s going on. Lou’s been romancing Sherry, telling her how important and powerful he is. To gain her confidence, he told her my plans to get her sober and exchange her for Rachel. Then he promised to protect her from the big, bad Creed. Bought her expensive jewelry and clothes, and eventually seduced her. But now I’ve popped in, and Lou’s afraid Sherry’s going to see him in a different light.

“Let’s talk about this outside,” Lou says.

“Fair enough.”

He and I step outside. As we do, my phone vibrates. It’s Sal Bonadello, crime boss.

“What’s up?” I say.

“My Fourth of July party,” he says.

“You already invited me.”

“What about your blonde? You said you’d ask her. What’s her name? Callie? My party needs-whatcha call-pizzazz! Callie in a bikini? Yowzer!”

“Callie’s not a party animal.”

“Talk her into it.”

“I don’t know, Sal. The kind of people you’ll have there…”

“What about them?”

“Someone’s bound to hit on her.”

“So?”

“Callie hits back.”

“What’s that mean?”

“She might kill some of your guests.”

“I’ll put the word out. Hands off this one. But I gotta see her. And you.”

“You want me to wear a bikini too?”

“No, jerk wad. I might have some-whatcha call-gainful employment for you.”

“We’ll see.”

“We’ll see, we’ll see. That’s all you ever say.”

I hang up and look at Lou.

“Have you even bothered to tell your geeks to start searching the parameters we gave you?”

“Of course.” He looks at his watch. “They’ve been on it about forty minutes now.”

“This thing with Sherry Cherry,” I say. “How long has it been going on?”

“Long enough. I love her, Donovan.”

“She’s been here less than two months.”

“Doesn’t matter. Things are good between us.”

“Are you saying we’re at an impasse?”

He stares into my eyes, searching for hope. Finding none, he says, “Can you at least give us a few days?”

“Give me proof Doc Howard is Darwin, and that he’s dead.”

“If I provide it, you’ll let her stay?”

Yesterday Rachel threatened to kill Gwen. I believe her, she’s killed before.

“I’m in no rush to have Rachel on the outside,” I say. “She’s getting worse. If you can protect Sherry, she can stay here until I’m convinced Rachel’s functional.”

“I told Sherry she could leave.”

“She leaves with me or stays here on the compound. Those are your choices.”

“Why?”

“If something happens to Sherry, the government will never release Rachel.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t.”

“Maybe not. But I hope you don’t intend to take that option away from me.”

“Me? Of course not! I love Sherry. I want her here.”

“You’re aware of her history with drugs?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll protect her?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“I have your word?”

He pauses, knowing what that means.

“Yes,” Lou says. “You have my word.”

We go back in the room. Sherry looks at Lou, hopefully.

I say, “Sherry, there’s good news and bad. Which do you want to hear first?”