He shook his head. “Me neither, anymore. I would have sworn I heardbells. God. Add hallucinations to the list of symptoms that undiluted O’Leary mightcause.”
“Undiluted O’Leary?” Irepeated.
“Mmm. Like on those medicine commercials? Exposure to undiluted O’Leary may cause chills, Ebola, prickly heat, increased appetite for sweets, sudden interest in football, and…hallucinations.”
“Whoa. What the hell does itcure?”
Ev gave me a wry look. “I haven’t figured that out yet.” He sighed. “And this isn’t even the first time I’ve imagined something. I thought I saw a ghost the night of myaccident.”
“What?” I hadn’t realized he believed in that kind of stuff. It was weird in the most adorableway.
“Yeah.” He grimaced. “When I said I saw a moose I actually, um… maybe… meant… aman?”
I frowned. “There was a man on theroad?”
“No! No, that’s what I’m saying.” He shook his head. “It was a trick of the light or something, but it happened so fast, I’d already swerved to avoid it… him…whatever.After I crashed, I grabbed my flashlight and searched the road, but there was no one.” He grimaced. “Total.Hallucination.”
“God, Ev. That's… scary,” Idecided.
“I know. I mean, in my own defense I was exhausted and a little hung over,but…”
“But you blame undilutedO’Leary.”
“It’s a hell of a drug,” he deadpanned. “You’re probably immune to it by now, but trustme.”
Something about the cement-block fire pit Frank had laid in the middle of the clearing caught his attention and he crouched down to look. “Hey! River rocks." He picked up a stone from a pile on one side of the pit. “Wonder how these gothere.”
“No shortage of rocks in the woods,Ev.”
“Yeah, but these are smooth. See?” He held one out to me and I took it, startled by the warmth of the thing as it landed in my palm. He stood and took my hand in both of his, guiding my thumb to stroke the flat surface of the rock. It was one of the most erotic things anyone had done to me in thirty-eight years on thisearth.
I needed to getlaid. JesusChrist.
I cleared my throat and closed my hand, trapping thestone.
“People collect them for good luck sometimes,” I said hoarsely. “There’s a river not far from here. Maybe half a mile east? We’ve even got ourselves awaterfall.”
His eyes lit. “No way! A bigone?”
“It’s not Niagara, but yeah. Unfortunately, access is on the part of the property that’s going to thestate.”
His mouth curled up in a rueful frown. “No wonder Frank and Myrna areupset.”
“Yeah. Sucks for them, but it’s good for visitors. And Frank and Myrna will still be able to hike there anytime theylike.”
“But it won’t be theirs.” Ev shrugged, picking up another of the rocks and smoothing it under his thumb. “It’s not selfish to want something that’s yours, isit?”
It sounded like an honest question, so I answered it honestly. “There’s not a thing wrong with wanting that. But like I told Frank, you have to play with the hand you’re dealt. There’s no… I dunno, higher moral ground, or whatever… in staying angry all the time. Not everything in life has to be a struggle, Ev. Sometimes you can just letgo.”
He sucked in a breath and stood abruptly. “Can we see thewaterfall?”
“Uh. You want to? It’s a bit of an uphillclimb.”
He shrugged and tossed his stone back to the ground. “I mean, I’m guessing we didn’t come out here just to poke around this empty site,right?”
I nodded. “I was gonna pick some flatter terrain, but the waterfall trail is great. Definitely one of the more likely places John Carpenter could have headed.” Then because I was maturing in reverse, I added, “Betcha the view beats anything you had backEast.”
Ev smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Says who?You?”
