Chapter Six –

 

“Right. Because you’re such a freaking catch, Kyle!”

“You think you know your best friend? Why do you think she moved? Because she was so damaged? Because she was so miserable over what I did to her? Or because her little game plan got chumped?”

“What kind of creep takes photos of an unconscious, drugged up woman?” I snapped back. “What does it take to have sex with a partner who can’t participate?”

“Is that what that bitch told you? That I drugged her? That I had sex with her while she was asleep?” Kyle was roaring at me now. I could see the vein at his left temple throbbing as his face went crimson. “She was the one who came onto me. She was the one who chased me.”

“Yeah, right. You’re Prince Charming. No woman can resist you!”

“I can prove it to you!” he screamed at me. “I have the evidence!”

I took a step back. Kyle seemed to be in the process of dangerously spiralling out of control, and I didn’t want to be within striking distance when he unraveled.

“Did you forget, Kyle,” I said defiantly, “about the photographs you took of that orgy? Not to mention the photos of the other men who took their turns with her? Kind of hard for a woman to participate in sex when she’s not aware of what’s going on.”

Kyle got a strange look on his face. He studied me for a long, silent moment, his breathing labored as his chest heaved. And then he sat down on the back step, slapping his knees. The tension seemed to leave his body and he shook his head in wonderment.

“She really did it to me. Janie really did it. Good God, she did it.” I wasn’t sure how to take the bitter chuckle that sputtered out of Kyle’s mouth. “That vile, deceitful bitch really did it to me. And it’s only taken me ten years to find out how badly I got screwed.”

“What goes around comes around,” I muttered. I wasn’t sure how to take the change in Kyle. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to me any longer. It was like he was lost in a dark, fog from long ago, wandering about in search of a memory he couldn’t grasp. I took advantage of the moment to make my escape.

Jasper was just leaving Farmer Brown’s yard when I came around the corner. He took one look at me and knew instantly that something was wrong.

“What’s the matter?”

“That bastard Kyle is here.”

“For heaven’s sake, is the man a complete idiot? I’ll go talk to him,” Jasper said. I shook my head. “I can make him understand you’re not available.”

“No, let’s just go. I want to get as far away from that creep as I can. And I want to take a shower and get his stinking fingerprints off my fanny!”

“He touched you again? Son of a bitch!” Jasper didn’t even get into the silver streak.

Instead, he disappeared around the back of the house. I don’t know what I was expecting. Yelling. Maybe the sound of fisticuffs. There was nothing. For a horrible second, I wondered if Kyle had killed him. But a moment later, Jasper reappeared and strode determinedly to the passenger side of the Miata, opened the door, and climbed in beside me.

“Kyle and I have come to an understanding. He will not be bothering you again.” Jasper was still steaming. I thought I saw little puffs of moisture coming out of his lips.

“Oh?” I was alarmed at how tense he seemed, like he was all wound up and unable to release the over-tightened spring that drove his mechanism.

“Just drive, Suzanne,” was all he said.

I pulled away from the curb, still not sure what had transpired in the backyard. Jasper wasn’t talking. I took the side streets that ran parallel to Windsong Boulevard, heading towards the center of Glendale. Finally, I had little choice. I had to interrupt his silent reverie.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Jasper seemed to force himself to focus.

“Want to hit the Low Down?” His voice was throaty, almost as if he had been caught in an emotional reaction to something, maybe a past memory. As far as I knew, he and Kyle had never run in the same circles. But something was gnawing at Jasper. That much I could see in his eyes. He was a haunted man.

By the time I pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant, Jasper had put on his game face, but I could see the distance between us.

“Are you okay?” I gave it a shot, not really expecting an answer.

“Yeah, sure. It’s a guy thing.”

“Oh.” We crossed the gravel parking lot and went through the front door, heading to the back deck that overlooked the water. It was crowded, but we found a tiny table by the railing. The waitress came over to take our drink order.

“Iced tea, please,” I requested, “unsweetened, with lemon.”

“Make it two,” he added. He was still avoiding my gaze, and I felt uncomfortable, like I had done something wrong. “Suzanne, I have to ask you something.”

I waited, watching. I needed to see his eyes. I needed to know if he really cared about the answer. Don’t ask me why, but something told me how I responded would change the course of our friendship.

“Those photographs of Jane...did you see them, or were you told about them?” he wanted to know.

“Why are we talking about Jane?”

“Humor me. Did you ever actually see them?”

“God, no. That’s disgusting!”

“Jane told you about them?” He pressed on.

“Her father did. Jane wouldn’t talk to me. She was too embarrassed. After all, I had taken her to the emergency room. I had held her hand when she gave a statement to the police officer. She left right after that and I never saw her again. All my cards and letters got returned. None of my phone calls were answered. Jane just cut me right out of her life, thanks to that prick!”

“Maybe that’s not why Jane cut you out of her life,” he suggested.

“What’s that supposed to mean? That I did something to hurt my best friend?”

“Forget it. Let’s change the subject.”

“I’m not sure I want to,” I replied. “What’s going on?”

“We can’t change the past, Suzanne. Let’s move forward.” Jasper cleared his throat, sounding like he was shifting mental gears. I waited, but he didn’t explain further. It was a long minute of silence before he started his report on Farmer Brown. “The neighbor’s name is John Sullivan. He’s a maintenance man for Duplox Industries. He claims he’s had a relationship with Susan Lefkowitz for the last six years. He met her at a psychic fair down the coast, and when the house next door to hers came on the market three and a half years ago, he bought it. Single, never married. John claims Rainbow disappeared in the middle of the night, after she had a visitor.”

Jasper took a long sip of his drink, watching the liquid move up through his straw. It was as if he was avoiding something unpleasant, something that involved me. Jasper had a secret he wanted to conceal, and now that I knew that, I had no intention of letting my heart get entangled with his.

“Who was the visitor?” I finally asked.

“What?”

“If Sullivan knew Rainbow had a visitor, he must have been watching. Maybe he was jealous, especially if it was a man who came to see Susan. He doesn’t seem all that emotionally stable to me. Maybe he had a Manson moment. Maybe he was all drugged up or drunk, and did something to Rainbow.”

“What? Killed her?” Jasper chuckled. “Too much TV, Suzanne. What did he do with the body?”

“Maybe he took it out in the middle of the ocean. Maybe he buried it in the woods. Who knows? She’s gone. Her family’s tried to find her since she disappeared three years ago. Sullivan moved in a short time before she went missing. Maybe he was stalking her.”

“You went from Point A to Point D without hitting B or C. How can you conclude that he was stalking her? The guy said he was trying to look out for her place while she’s gone.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to admit to himself that he hurt her,” I suggested.

“Maybe he didn’t hurt her,” he fired back.

“We’re not really doing well here, are we?” I looked long and hard at Jasper.

“It’s not you,” he admitted. “I’ve got something on my mind. It’s not anything I can talk about. Can you cut me some slack?”

I was going to make a snide remark. It was just on the tip of my tongue. But there was a look in those green eyes that begged me to go easy on him. Jasper was wrestling with something from his past, something that didn’t involve me. Maybe he got a call from his girlfriend. Maybe she sent him at “Dear John” text.

“Sure.” I turned my attention to the menu, glancing at the day’s lunch specials.

“Suzanne?” There was a small plea in Jasper’s voice. I heard it. It wasn’t my imagination. I looked up at him. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes things can sound worse than they really are.”

“Oh?”

“I just want you to know I respect you as a woman.”

“Great,” I smiled.

“I do. You’re smart and funny and sweet, underneath the frayed jeans and tee shirt.”

“Even with them,” I corrected him.

“Just remember what I said.” His eyes were on me, fastened tightly, as if he didn’t want me to look away until he was certain about me.

“I will,” I promised.

“Good.” With that, he turned his attention to the daily specials. “I think I’ll have the tuna wrap. How about you?”

The mood lifted after that. We went back to bantering about Glendale, about running, about the Sea Ray Sundancer he kept at the marina. By the time I bid him farewell at two o’clock, he seemed more like his old self. We made plans to get together right after the closing, so he could have a tour of the interior of the house.

In the time that followed, I checked on another property we had going over in Lincoln Valley, just about completed and ready for the market. The bathroom floors, tub surround, and kitchen backsplash were ready for installation, so I got busy laying tile and grouting. One of our painters was out sick with a bad case of poison ivy he got when he was working on the outside of the house, so I did some interior painting. The crew was ready to add the finishing touches on the house we knew would be a real hit with buyers. It was a good-looking property, and before the last of the annuals went into the flower boxes, we had two offers on it. Ned was happy, because one was $10,000 over asking.

The moment Ned got back to the office with the keys to the Glengarry Court bungalow, I dialed Jasper and made arrangements to take him through.

“How does five-thirty grab you?” He asked.

“Uh...” I hesitated. How do you tell someone you really need to go for a run? I wanted to kick myself for the long pause. After all, Jasper was serious about the property, and that really should be my priority.

“Were you going for a run?” he asked with a laugh.

“Well, it’s kind of my normal routine,” I acknowledged. “Get out of work, go for a run, have dinner.”

“I wouldn’t want to disrupt that,” he responded. “How about I meet you at your place, we do a run to the bungalow, check it out, and run back. I’ll take you to dinner.”

“After a run, I usually take a quick shower.”

“Is that an invitation?” Jasper wanted to know.