“Something like that,” she admitted, and took another big sip of orange juice.
“I see this very often,” he said, nodding sagely. He leaned up against the Formica countertop and pointed an apple slice at her. “My advice to you, mi amor, is that you get him out. He is like . . .” He tapped his chest. “Poison in there.”
“You really think so?” she asked weakly.
“Yes,” he said emphatically. “It is obvious.”
It was obvious, and would be to her, too, if she would just think clearly about it. Leah sighed, drank more OJ, and pushed it away, had the thought that it was a little absurd to be having this conversation with a man she had almost slept with last night.
“Well,” she said glumly, “be that as it may, I guess there is nothing left for us to say. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”
“De nada,” he said, flicking his wrist.
Why did he keep smiling like that? He was acting like he did this sort of thing all the time. Her head was beginning to ache again, and she put her knuckles to her temple and began to rub. “Will you at least tell me what happened to my dress?”
“The zipper, it was very stubborn,” he said cheerfully.
“Did we . . . you know . . . do anything?”
He laughed at that. “You have a grand imagination.”
Not really. “Can I borrow the shirt?” she begged. “I’ll return it to you in Bellingham.”
He nodded politely. Leah stood, and whoa . . . her knees were wobbly again. She laughed a little self-consciously. “I guess I really tied one on last night, huh?”
Adolfo smiled.
“So . . . you’re going to give me a ride, right?”
“No, no,” he said shaking his head.
Man, she felt bad. She put her hand on the table to steady herself. “Come on, Adolfo. I don’t feel well, and I can’t really walk through town dressed like this.”
“No, that would not be good,” he agreed.
Well all right then . . . why didn’t he move? “I don’t think you understand. I need a ride.”
“No,” he said, smiling brightly.
“Jesus, Adolfo, what is with you?” she cried with exasperation, the force of it making her feel extremely woozy. “What is your problem? I need to go, and I need you to take me.”
For some reason, Adolfo’s smile faded. “But I cannot do that, Leah,” he said, his pleasant voice belying the suddenly hard and very cold look in his eye. “I need you here.”
Leah gasped. “What do you mean? Like a sex slave?” she almost whispered.
He chuckled at that, reached out and traced a line across her jaw. “That is an appealing offer, but put your mind at ease—I do not need you for that . . . not at this time,” he added, his gaze flicking the length of her.
“I don’t understand,” she said, and had a very thick feeling that her brain couldn’t absorb anything at the moment. “Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but I am out of here,” she said, and moved awkwardly for the door.
Adolfo caught her hand and turned her around, and Leah had to grab his wrist to keep from slipping to the floor, she was suddenly feeling so bad. “Leave me alone,” she said sharply.
“But I cannot,” he said, and reached behind his back, into the waist of his pants, and when he brought his hand around again, he was holding a black gun. A big, ugly black gun that he held away from him, almost as if he was afraid to touch it.
Leah shrieked and swayed backward, colliding with the table and sending orange juice flying across the ugly linoleum floor. “What are you doing?” she cried.
“I need you here, mi amor. I need you so that the bastard will come for you, and then I may kill him.”
“What?” she shrieked. “Kill him? Kill Michael? Why?” she exclaimed, and in her fogged mind, she meant to tell him that he had no reason to kill Michael, that he was a bastard, okay, but he didn’t deserve to die for it. Yet all her words were garbled, and the walls started to melt behind Adolfo’s smiling face as the floor rose up to meet her.
MICHAEL was able to get cell phone reception halfway to Bellingham, and phoned Rex. “Well,” Rex said after Michael told him what had happened. “I think you’ve got your boy. I’m on my way.”
“I’m not waiting for you,” Michael warned him. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to rip him in two.”
“Don’t go off and leave me nothing. I want a piece of him, too,” Rex said. “Why don’t you leave all the killing to me this time—I’ve got permission to do it and you don’t. I’ll try and get a couple of guys out of Seattle to lend you a hand. Just sit tight until they get there, okay?”