with a chip on her shoulder,” Archie said.
“That’s called being seventeen,” Susan said. She’d liked Pearl. Pearl hadn’t meant to Taser Archie. Well, she’d meant to Taser him, but how was she supposed
to know that her then-boyfriend was going to drag Archie away, suspend him naked from meat hooks, and try to hack him up with an ax?
Hadn’t everyone had a bad boyfriend at some point?
Pearl had made some bonehead choices, but she had a good heart.
“She lied to me today,” Archie said.
“A teenager?” Susan said with faux surprise. “Lying to an authority figure? Impossible.”
“She told me that she was smoking outside, and that she hid when she saw Jake Kelly go by because he didn’t like her smoking,” Archie said. “Claire took a team to his
house this afternoon. Said it smelled like an ashtray.”
Susan was feeling self-conscious about the pack of American Spirits in her purse. “So he smoked,” she said. “That doesn’t mean he was cool with her doing it. Maybe he
thought she was too young.”
“Or maybe she lied to me,” Archie said.
“Do you want me to talk to her?” Susan asked. “Use my teen interrogation skills?”
Archie smiled. “You two do have a lot in common.”
Susan suspected that wasn’t a compliment. “Maybe we can go get piercings at the mall,” she said.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at ten.”
Susan studied him. He looked tired. “This is supposed to get me out of your hair, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” she said.
She stood up, and as she did, her phone rang. It was in her purse, which was more of a velvet sack with very long straps, and which Susan wore slung across her torso. She dug out the phone and
glanced down at the number. It was that guy from the Oregon State Hospital again. They’d been playing phone tag all day. She wondered if Archie had gotten a call from him, too. Then she
glanced over at the pieces of Archie’s phone and answered her own question.
“Need to get that?” Archie asked.
She knew that she should tell him that she had accepted Gretchen’s invitation to meet with her for an interview. He would want to know. He would want to talk Susan out of it.
Scratch that. He would want to forbid it.
And then Susan would have to go see her anyway, and then Archie would be disappointed and worried.
That was the thing Archie didn’t know about Susan. He was always working so hard to protect her that he didn’t realize that she was just as interested in protecting him. Archie had
nearly killed himself getting out from under whatever spell Gretchen had had on him.
She wouldn’t tell him. Not yet.
Susan turned off the ringer on her cell phone, already looking around for her beautiful, painful boots. “It can wait,” she told Archie. “For now.”
Archie Sheridan wasn’t the only one who could keep secrets.
CHAPTER
11
I t was the noise from the construction crew this time.
Part of the esplanade walkway had buckled under the floodwater and they were using earthmovers to finally haul away what was left of the broken concrete. It sounded like giant metal teeth
chewing on boulders. Archie gave up trying to sleep and sat up in bed.
He looked at the clock. It was 2:59 A.M.
His neck was stiff and as he reflexively reached up to rub it, his fingers found the scar across his neck where Gretchen, with a draw of her scalpel, had sliced open his throat.
That was the thing that Henry and the others didn’t understand. Why Archie could put himself in her path again and again after what she had done to him. He knew she wouldn’t kill
him.
Not on purpose.
Even as he’d fallen to his knees, the blood draining down his chest, he’d known it wasn’t a fatal wound.
Archie sat on the edge of his bed. The fan tickled the hair on his naked body. Sweat crawled down his back. The air felt thick and warm, concentrated, like it was pressing in on him.
He kept his hand on his throat, the scar a fissure under his fingers.
“That’s called being seventeen,” Susan said. She’d liked Pearl. Pearl hadn’t meant to Taser Archie. Well, she’d meant to Taser him, but how was she supposed
to know that her then-boyfriend was going to drag Archie away, suspend him naked from meat hooks, and try to hack him up with an ax?
Hadn’t everyone had a bad boyfriend at some point?
Pearl had made some bonehead choices, but she had a good heart.
“She lied to me today,” Archie said.
“A teenager?” Susan said with faux surprise. “Lying to an authority figure? Impossible.”
“She told me that she was smoking outside, and that she hid when she saw Jake Kelly go by because he didn’t like her smoking,” Archie said. “Claire took a team to his
house this afternoon. Said it smelled like an ashtray.”
Susan was feeling self-conscious about the pack of American Spirits in her purse. “So he smoked,” she said. “That doesn’t mean he was cool with her doing it. Maybe he
thought she was too young.”
“Or maybe she lied to me,” Archie said.
“Do you want me to talk to her?” Susan asked. “Use my teen interrogation skills?”
Archie smiled. “You two do have a lot in common.”
Susan suspected that wasn’t a compliment. “Maybe we can go get piercings at the mall,” she said.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at ten.”
Susan studied him. He looked tired. “This is supposed to get me out of your hair, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” she said.
She stood up, and as she did, her phone rang. It was in her purse, which was more of a velvet sack with very long straps, and which Susan wore slung across her torso. She dug out the phone and
glanced down at the number. It was that guy from the Oregon State Hospital again. They’d been playing phone tag all day. She wondered if Archie had gotten a call from him, too. Then she
glanced over at the pieces of Archie’s phone and answered her own question.
“Need to get that?” Archie asked.
She knew that she should tell him that she had accepted Gretchen’s invitation to meet with her for an interview. He would want to know. He would want to talk Susan out of it.
Scratch that. He would want to forbid it.
And then Susan would have to go see her anyway, and then Archie would be disappointed and worried.
That was the thing Archie didn’t know about Susan. He was always working so hard to protect her that he didn’t realize that she was just as interested in protecting him. Archie had
nearly killed himself getting out from under whatever spell Gretchen had had on him.
She wouldn’t tell him. Not yet.
Susan turned off the ringer on her cell phone, already looking around for her beautiful, painful boots. “It can wait,” she told Archie. “For now.”
Archie Sheridan wasn’t the only one who could keep secrets.
CHAPTER
11
I t was the noise from the construction crew this time.
Part of the esplanade walkway had buckled under the floodwater and they were using earthmovers to finally haul away what was left of the broken concrete. It sounded like giant metal teeth
chewing on boulders. Archie gave up trying to sleep and sat up in bed.
He looked at the clock. It was 2:59 A.M.
His neck was stiff and as he reflexively reached up to rub it, his fingers found the scar across his neck where Gretchen, with a draw of her scalpel, had sliced open his throat.
That was the thing that Henry and the others didn’t understand. Why Archie could put himself in her path again and again after what she had done to him. He knew she wouldn’t kill
him.
Not on purpose.
Even as he’d fallen to his knees, the blood draining down his chest, he’d known it wasn’t a fatal wound.
Archie sat on the edge of his bed. The fan tickled the hair on his naked body. Sweat crawled down his back. The air felt thick and warm, concentrated, like it was pressing in on him.
He kept his hand on his throat, the scar a fissure under his fingers.
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