invitations and eventually forgot about the girl.
Eleven years later she called. He couldn’t place her name. She repeated it several times then became so angry she hung up on him. But called right back. “
Annie Locken
goddamn it I had a crush on you.”
Then he remembered.
Annie explained she was in charge of inviting people down to the beach house this summer … would Teddy come? He begged off. She persisted: teasing, flirting, assuring him there’d be lots of people there for protection.
“Protection?” he asked.
“In case I try to crawl in bed with you again, I’m twenty-one now,” she pointedly informed him.
“Which still makes me fifteen years older.” He was speaking to a grown-up voice but picturing a ten-year-old girl.
“Things have changed.”
Camel didn’t realized how much until he arrived at the beach house and discovered he was the only person Annie had invited.
12
Clouds came in low, dark, thick enough to awaken hundreds of sodium-vapor lamps well before their usual hour, Teddy Camel standing at the window of his office looking out across those acres of ugly yellow orange illumination. When he heard Annie in the other room he went to the connecting door, knocked, gave her time to collect herself, then went in.
She’d put the blue dress back on but not her shoes, Annie sitting on the edge of the bed looking embarrassed like a woman who’d gone home drunk with a man whose name she couldn’t recall.
Camel asked how she was feeling, she said fine but she spoke in a very small voice.
Going over to sit next to her he almost asked what she meant when she said, right before passing out, that she was sorry about their baby … Annie had gotten pregnant that summer they spent together fourteen years ago when she was twenty-one and he was thirty-six? And never told him? That’s what all those phone calls were about, the calls he never returned? But instead of going into any of that he said he had some information on Cul-De-Sac. “You feel like talking just yet?”
She slipped off the bed and walked to the sink, washed herhands and face, dried off with paper towels, then turned around. “I have to call Paul, see if he’s okay … tell him where I am.”
“Why don’t I borrow your truck, drive to Cul-De-Sac, get your husband, bring him back here, maybe we can thrash it out what he and that other guy are up to.”
“Thrash it out?”
“Talk it out.”
“No I think you meant what you said the first time, you can thrash the truth out of anyone can’t you?”
Why was she mad at him? “I could try to get to the bottom of it, yeah.”
Annie checked her watch. “It feels a lot later than five.”
“Overcast. So what do you think, bringing your husband here?”
“I’m not sure how to explain you to Paul.”
“Is he jealous?”
“He’s a man.”
“I meant—”
“He gets jealous, yes. When we were first married he wanted to hear about my old boyfriends.” Paul would actually get sick to his stomach listening to her but still kept insisting Annie tell him everything.
Teddy wondered what she had told her husband about that summer fourteen years ago.
“I have to call him right now.”
“The phone’s in the other office.”
Annie went to make the call but returned almost immediately, the line was busy. She sat next to Camel as he laid out what he’d learned about the homicide at Cul-De-Sac seven years ago. Camel asked her how long she’d known her husband.
“It’s our third wedding anniversary, I met him about a year before we were married.”
“Do you know where he was living seven years ago, what he was doing?”
“Paul wasn’t connected with any murder if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“Your husband—”
“His name is Paul.”
Camel stood. “Well you think Paul is involved in something criminal … but you also think he’s not the kind of man who’d break the law, that’s what you said, a super-straight arrow—”
“Don’t
Eleven years later she called. He couldn’t place her name. She repeated it several times then became so angry she hung up on him. But called right back. “
Annie Locken
goddamn it I had a crush on you.”
Then he remembered.
Annie explained she was in charge of inviting people down to the beach house this summer … would Teddy come? He begged off. She persisted: teasing, flirting, assuring him there’d be lots of people there for protection.
“Protection?” he asked.
“In case I try to crawl in bed with you again, I’m twenty-one now,” she pointedly informed him.
“Which still makes me fifteen years older.” He was speaking to a grown-up voice but picturing a ten-year-old girl.
“Things have changed.”
Camel didn’t realized how much until he arrived at the beach house and discovered he was the only person Annie had invited.
12
Clouds came in low, dark, thick enough to awaken hundreds of sodium-vapor lamps well before their usual hour, Teddy Camel standing at the window of his office looking out across those acres of ugly yellow orange illumination. When he heard Annie in the other room he went to the connecting door, knocked, gave her time to collect herself, then went in.
She’d put the blue dress back on but not her shoes, Annie sitting on the edge of the bed looking embarrassed like a woman who’d gone home drunk with a man whose name she couldn’t recall.
Camel asked how she was feeling, she said fine but she spoke in a very small voice.
Going over to sit next to her he almost asked what she meant when she said, right before passing out, that she was sorry about their baby … Annie had gotten pregnant that summer they spent together fourteen years ago when she was twenty-one and he was thirty-six? And never told him? That’s what all those phone calls were about, the calls he never returned? But instead of going into any of that he said he had some information on Cul-De-Sac. “You feel like talking just yet?”
She slipped off the bed and walked to the sink, washed herhands and face, dried off with paper towels, then turned around. “I have to call Paul, see if he’s okay … tell him where I am.”
“Why don’t I borrow your truck, drive to Cul-De-Sac, get your husband, bring him back here, maybe we can thrash it out what he and that other guy are up to.”
“Thrash it out?”
“Talk it out.”
“No I think you meant what you said the first time, you can thrash the truth out of anyone can’t you?”
Why was she mad at him? “I could try to get to the bottom of it, yeah.”
Annie checked her watch. “It feels a lot later than five.”
“Overcast. So what do you think, bringing your husband here?”
“I’m not sure how to explain you to Paul.”
“Is he jealous?”
“He’s a man.”
“I meant—”
“He gets jealous, yes. When we were first married he wanted to hear about my old boyfriends.” Paul would actually get sick to his stomach listening to her but still kept insisting Annie tell him everything.
Teddy wondered what she had told her husband about that summer fourteen years ago.
“I have to call him right now.”
“The phone’s in the other office.”
Annie went to make the call but returned almost immediately, the line was busy. She sat next to Camel as he laid out what he’d learned about the homicide at Cul-De-Sac seven years ago. Camel asked her how long she’d known her husband.
“It’s our third wedding anniversary, I met him about a year before we were married.”
“Do you know where he was living seven years ago, what he was doing?”
“Paul wasn’t connected with any murder if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“Your husband—”
“His name is Paul.”
Camel stood. “Well you think Paul is involved in something criminal … but you also think he’s not the kind of man who’d break the law, that’s what you said, a super-straight arrow—”
“Don’t
Similar Books
