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  I closed me eyes and turned my head to the ground, squeezing the bars with my hands until they turned white. When I looked up, Amy was still there but she had changed. Instead of the rotting, dead thing that had stumbled into the room, she now looked very much alive. She was wearing the same clothes she wore on our first date, white shorts and a red tank top. Her skin was smooth and soft, and her hair was neatly combed and shining. She was beautiful. She was always so damn beautiful.

  My crying had turned silent, but tears still trickled. I held one of my aching hands out through the bars and reached for her. "Amy…" I said. "Please."

  She looked at me, her face showing no signs of emotion, and then walked towards my cell. "Yes, yes, thank you. Oh God, thank you. Baby, I’m so sorry. I know I was wrong but, God I’m so sorry."

  She stopped just short of my outstretched hand. I flayed my fingers out, mashing myself against the bars of the cell, giving everything to reach out and touch her.

  I couldn’t.

  She stood her ground for a few seconds, watching patiently as I struggled to reach out, and then she spoke. "Dan. Was I not good enough for you? Was that it?"

  "Oh Amy, no of course you were! You were--"

  "I don’t know what I ever did to you."

  "You didn’t do anything, Amy. Nothing. Not one damn thing. It was completely--"

  "It’s ok though."

  My heart leapt with happiness and my eyes lit up. "Really? Oh Amy, thank you so--"

  "It’s ok. I’ve found somebody who actually appreciates me. Somebody who really loves me."

  Just as my heart sank back down into my groin, Agent Collins stepped up behind Amy and wrapped his massive arms around her, pulling her in and kissing the top of her head. "That’s right you did," he said. She turned around in his arms and reached up and grabbed the back of his head, pulling it down to her level so she could kiss him hard on the mouth. I watched as his hands fell from her lower back and he grabbed her ass in his catcher’s mitt palms. I was stunned, completely shocked and simultaneously enraged. I had no words. I could only manage a long, loud, wordless scream.

  Agent Collins pulled away at the sound of it and looked at me like I was the rudest person alive for interrupting. He looked down to Amy, hands still firmly planted on her ass, and said, "It’s kinda loud in here. Wanna go someplace a little quieter? Someplace we can be alone?"

  She didn’t say anything but I saw her nod. He took her hand in his and led her back towards the door reading SPECIAL AGENT HULK, only now it read I’M FUCKING YOUR WIFE. Just as he was through the doorway and was reaching back to close the door, he looked at me and said, "You two boys keep it real."

  It was Jackson who answered in my head, Up yours, buddy. And then they were gone.

  I woke up while shaking the cell bars and screaming for my dead wife to come back to me.

  She didn’t. She hadn’t even looked back to me to wave goodbye.

  I sat up in the bed sweating, despite the fact I had been freezing in the dream, and my head was swimming with thoughts and images from the nightmare to the point of dizziness. I got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom, making no attempt to be quiet. I was beyond caring about other’s feelings at this point. I splashed cold water on my face twice and tried to calm down. Eventually, I did.

  When I returned to the bedroom I sat on the edge of the bed and spoke quietly to the room. "I should turn myself in."

  WHAT?

  "This is too much. The FBI guy is here now, and… well I’m starting to think I’ve really lost it."

  You’re just now seeing that?

  "This has to stop."

  Not yet. One more.

  "It won’t bring Amy back."

  But won’t you feel better? Remember whose fault this all is.

  I thought about Agent Collins’s giant hands grabbing Amy’s ass, the way she pulled him down onto her for the kiss. I thought about the way Amy had looked when she came into the room, decaying and stale. Jackson was right, somebody needed to pay. Amy deserved to be avenged.

  "Ok," I said, sliding back under the covers to try and squeeze in a few hours of sleep. "It’ll end in two days."

  That’a boy.

  Chapter 43

  When I finally crawled out of bed that morning after my disrupted night’s sleep, I made my way downstairs and was greeted by the unfamiliar sight of Ralph standing in the kitchen. He was filling a large thermos up with coffee, emptying the pot, and when he saw me walking in he smiled and said, "I’ll start another pot if you’ll be wantin’ coffee."

  I waved him off, "I’ll do it in a bit." I opened the fridge and pulled out some OJ and eggs. Ralph shrugged and put the pot back on the coffee maker, then leaned against the counter. I could feel him watching me as I put the frying pan on the stove to cook my eggs. I could tell he wanted to talk, and all I wanted for him to do was leave. The man had worked himself near to death for the past who knows how many days, never spending more than a few hours of broken sleep at home, and now that he was there all I wanted him to do was get the hell out. My mind was too busy and too tired to shoot the shit with Ralph Sanderson.

  When I accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to go anywhere for the moment, I cracked my eggs into the pan and then turned to face him while they cooked.

  "Not used to seeing you around in the mornings, Ralph. Been kinda like a ghost town around here lately."

  He screwed the top onto his thermos and then eyed me with the look that I had started to know pretty well. It was the look Ralph got when he was about to say something serious. You could always tell because his whole face seemed like it changed. I was scared as to what he might say. I grabbed a spatula and stirred my eggs, waiting.

  "Yeah, when I volunteered to go back on and help I never expected to get sucked in like that, honest. But, I just couldn’t help it. I felt like that if I wasn’t out there doing something whenever I could then I wasn’t doing enough. That make any sense to you, Dan?"

  "Sure."

  "But anyway, now that Eddie’s here, Agent Collins, I’m going to do better. Minnie didn’t deserve the way I… deserted her here. And I know I snapped at her a few times, too, and there was no need for that. She’s always been a worrier."

  I scooped my eggs out of the pan and slid them onto a plate, then made my way over the coffee maker and started to make a fresh pot.

  "Now Dan, I told you I’d do that."

  "It’s no problem, you looked like you were about to head out."

  He picked up his thermos and grabbed his jacket off the back of one of the chairs. "I am," he said. "I’m about to go pick up Eddie from his hotel. When I spoke to him earlier on the phone he said he had stayed up till almost three o’clock going over all the files and case notes we gave him. I guess the FBI didn’t send us no slouch. Anyways, he wants to revisit the second crime scene for some reason. I don’t know what he expects to find out there, our team went over it pretty good."

  "Well, who knows, maybe he’ll find something."

  "After this long, I doubt it. He’s a nice guy though, don’t you think?

  You two boys keep it real.

  "Yeah, he is. Very friendly, smart too." I said those things, and they were true. It didn’t change the fact that I hated him. Hated him for coming to Jacob’s Bluff and possibly getting in my way. And also hated him for showing up in my dreams.

  I sat down at the table with my food and a glass of OJ and started to eat. I knew Ralph wasn’t done saying what he was trying to say, but I was too tired to try and force it out of him. So I chewed on my eggs and stared ahead at the sink.

  After a minute or two Ralph finally got it out. "Dan, thanks for watching after Minnie all this time while I was out there playing Policeman. I know she can be…tiresome at times, especially when she gets upset and depressed. I know it probably wasn’t always real fun to be around her."

  I wanted to say, Oh gee Ralph, it was no problem at all. Honestly all she did was stuff her face full of junk food and watc
h her weight go up in the recliner. Oh, that is until she decided she’d much rather just spend all day lying down in bed instead of sitting in a chair.

  "Ralph, don’t worry about it. I did what any friend would do. They needed you out there," I pointed out to the frond door, "and I understood that. I was happy to help." And then, sounding like a farmer talking about his cow, "She’s a good gal, Minnie. A good gal."

  Ralph nodded his head and walked around to my side of the table, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You know, Dan, with all you’ve gone through, with your wife and all, Minnie and I had started to figure that the Lord had sent you to us in need, and that it was His will that we help you anyway we could." He zipped up his jacket and started to leave. He stopped in the doorway and said, "Between saving Minnie’s life that night, and now all you’ve done to help us over the past few months… Now I’m not so sure He sent you to us, but maybe he sent you for us." He laughed then, his face returning from serious mode. "The Lord works in mysterious ways, Dan. I’ll be back for dinner." And then he left. I sat at the table and finished my eggs, then got up and poured a cup of coffee.

  The Lord works in mysterious ways, Dan.

  More than you know, Ralph. More than you know.

  When I stepped through the front door, returning from the Y, I heard my cell phone ringing in my bedroom--I had left it charging--and sprinted up the steps and answered it just in time.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey, Dan." It was Jenna.

  "Oh, hey, what’s up?"

  "Well, everything is set on my end. My bags are packed, my meetings rescheduled, plane ticket is on the kitchen counter waiting to go. I’m one hundred percent ready." She sounded like she was getting ready to go on vacation to Aruba instead of flying out to see me. She was excited, and I took that to mean that my plan of igniting the spark had somewhat worked. "So," she said. "I just wanted to make sure that you were still going to be there to pick me up. I didn’t want you to, you know, forget about me or anything."

  I went along with it. "Now, Jenna, how could I ever forget you?" I swear I heard her giggle on the other end. "I’ll be there. Your flight schedule hasn’t changed or anything has it?"

  "Nope, not that I know of. It I find out otherwise, tomorrow when I get there maybe, I’ll definitely let you know."

  "Ok, well then I guess all we do now is wait until tomorrow. Hope you have a safe flight."

  "Ok, thanks!"

  "Oh, and Jenna?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Thanks again, I’m really looking forward to this."

  "Me too."

  I hung up the phone and went to the bathroom to take a shower. I had worked out extra hard, lifting heavy and fast, doing my best to burn off the frustration and anger I had built up from the night before. It had helped some, but the next day would fix it all.

  Chapter 44

  Showered, clean, and dressed in sweatpants and a long sleeved T-shirt, I was comfortable, warm, and my nerves were somewhat relaxed. Perhaps as relaxed as they were going to be for the time being. I made a nice lunch--tuna with just the right amount of fat-free mayo, and carrot sticks with peanut butter--and had just finished up around two o’clock when Minnie came down the stairs dressed to go out, purse under arm. I wondered where I’d be taking her, where her first trip out of the house in what seemed like eons would be to.

  "Dan, whenever you’re finished with your lunch, or whenever you get a few minutes, I guess, would you mind running me over to the Beauty Shop?"

  Of course the Beauty Shop, and the fact that she didn’t give me a specific time meant that she didn’t even have an appointment, just wanted to go sit with the hens and cluck. Considering she’d been away for a couple of weeks I suppose she had quite a bit of clucking-up to do.

  "Sure, Minnie. I just finished, actually. Let me just wash this plate and we’ll be on our way."

  She smiled, satisfied, and as she turned to go wait in the living room I wondered if I was ever going to get an apology from her--one like Ralph had given--for being the way she was while Ralph had been out working. I know she didn’t actually do anything to me, per se, but she had let herself get downright disgusting and I had to live with it. That alone should have at least weighed on her conscious some. But no, she never said another word about it. She went on acting like her stint of self-destruction had never happened, and maybe that was best. I didn’t dwell on it, I had more pressing matters on hand.

  I dropped her off and gave her the customary farewell of, "Just call my cell when you’re ready for me to come get you." She agreed, waved, and I left. The timing of Minnie’s re-entry into society was actually perfect. With Ralph out working until dinner I had planned on preparing the barn for the next night’s festivities, but had worried about Minnie getting curious. It wouldn’t take me long to do what I needed to do, but all it would take would be Minnie looking out the window at just the right--or wrong, I guess--time and see me going in or coming out of the barn for her to immediately ask what I was doing. I had thought about it for the past day and couldn’t think of a legitimate reason I could lie about. And I didn’t want her to tell Ralph she had seen me poking around out there. The last time he had cut the grass and parked the John Deere in its place inside the barn he told me he wouldn’t need to go back out to it unless it snowed. If Ralph didn’t need to be out there, I certainly didn’t. So, I had planned on taking a gamble and going out while Minnie was at home, maybe waiting until I heard her plop down in front of the TV for a while, or maybe take a shower--she was bathing again now that Ralph had returned from the dead. But her going to the Beauty Shop just made things easier.

  I made a quick stop at the local Hardware Store--a small, dusty store interestingly named "Tim’s Hardware" that was a block and a half down from The Sawmill--and picked up the one item I needed. I might have been able to find what I was looking for in Ralph’s barn already, but it was too late in the game to take a chance like that. I was only going to get one shot.

  I made the always-quick drive back to Ralph and Minnie’s and just as I had pulled my Jeep into my spot against the side of the house Minnie called my cell phone. "Shit!" I said when I saw it was her. So much for the perfect timing, it had to be the fastest she’s ever been ready to leave the Beauty Shop. She couldn’t have been there more than twenty minutes. "Hello?" I answered.

  "Hi, Dan."

  "Minnie, you ready already?" I sounded a little irritated and didn’t really try to disguise it.

  "No, no. I was just calling to let you know that one of the ladies here is going to take me home, she’s going to be heading out that direction when she’s ready to go."

  Good, that’d give me some extra time, saving me a trip.

  "Oh ok, well you ladies have fun." I said, happier now. I could hear women chatting and laughing in the background.

  "Mmm-hmm, bye." She hung up.

  I got out, grabbing my purchase from the passenger seat, and headed towards the barn, not wanting to waste time by going inside first.

  My mission took a lot less time that I had anticipated--nothing wrong with planning for the worst--and twenty minutes later I was inside sitting in Ralph’s recliner with the TV on and the idea of a nap floating around in my head. Before I managed to fall asleep, though, I did remember one last thing I needed to take care off.

  The only hiccup in my plan that troubled me was the fact that I needed Ralph and Minnie away from their house the following evening so I would be… undisturbed in my efforts. I had an idea and I was pretty sure it would work.

  I dialed information on my cell phone and waited for the other end to pick up.

  "What city please?"

  "Larendale," I said.

  "What number please?"

  "Ramones… It’s a restaurant."

  I got the number and a few minutes later I was back in the chair, ready for that nap.

  There was not much else to do except wait.

  Minnie woke me up coming through the front door, slamming it harder than was
necessary, and for a moment I thought something had happened and she was upset. Maybe her and Ralph had already gotten into another spat. Her smiling, rosy-cheeked face greeting me from the doorway dispelled the thought.

  "Hey," I said. "How was gossip hour?"

  She took off her coat and hung it on the rack by the door. "Us ladies do not gossip," she

  said, heading towards the kitchen. "We talk enthusiastically about certain social and personal matters." She gave me a little grin and a quick wink and then we both busted out laughing. It was perhaps the funniest thing I’d ever heard Minnie say. She pulled a Little Debbie cake box down from the cabinet and I went back into the living room, eventually falling asleep again.

  Ralph made it home for dinner as promised and, fortunately, the day’s work with Special Agent Collins had not done anything to foul his mood any. He was just as pleasant as the evening before, and the extra couple hours of sleep had noticeably changed his appearance already; the bags under his eyes lightening.

  The three of us all sat down for dinner around seven o’clock. It was Minnie’s second night in a row of cooking and I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t missed her food. Chicken Pot Pie was on the Menu that night, and I enjoyed it from my usual seat since Special Agent Collins wasn’t there to steal it from me. Midway through the meal I let Ralph and Minnie in on my little surprise.

  "Guys, I know I didn’t really check with your schedules or anything, but well, Ralph since you’re going to be home for dinner now it seems, I wanted to do something for you guys. Just to let you know how much I really do appreciate you all letting me stay here."

  "You pay us to stay here." Ralph. Always devil’s advocate. But he said it smiling and that’s what I loved about him.

  I laughed. "I know, I know, but dishing out money just seems kinda…impersonal. I wanted to do something."

  Minnie spoke up then, scooping a second helping of Chicken Pot Pie from the dish. "Dan, really. You help us so much, you don’t have to do anythi--"