Customers started rolling in: regulars, new faces. I decided it would be smart to mention I had a vacation coming up and that the shop would be closed. I wasn’t sure how long I would have to leave town, but I wanted to be able to return to my business and resume normal life as quickly as possible.
As the end of the day approached, I set coffee and a muffin at Halo’s usual seat. As though he had been watching me, two minutes later, he was strolling through the door. He came in a little differently today. Instead of bee-lining it to his seat, he paused in the doorway and made eye contact with me. I could have sworn his eyes dipped down my body for such a brief moment that I barely caught it.
Oh, there was the nausea again. I cleared my throat and spun around, cheeks heating with embarrassment as I dropped behind the counter in a crouch, like I was looking for something.What did I expect, when I’d literally strip-teased him last night? That was what I got for being a little risque. I was being paranoid; maybe he hadn’t even seen. Itwashard to tell where he was looking. He could’ve been surveying the streets.
I grabbed a jar of something I didn’t need and stood up.
“There it is,” I said with fake triumph, setting it on the counter next to the identical jar I already had.
Halo was already seated, picking at the blueberry muffin on his plate. My eyes went to the window when I heard a car slow down, but it wasn’t the black car. I was relieved that it wasn’t here today.
“They’re not going to be back,” he said.
I turned to him, puzzled. “Who?”
“The two men who have been harassing you.”
Part of me wanted to know how he had killed them, how one of them had lost a tooth, where he had put the bodies, how he had done it without me hearing him… how he’d hadtimeto do all of that. I told myself Ididn’twant to know. It was hard for me to believe any of this was really happening. It felt dream-like, unreal.
“So… do I go out of town now?”
“Not yet.”
“I just need to prepare. I’ll have to book a room, and…”
“I’ll be taking care of all of that.”
“What?” I rounded the counter, collapsing on the seat in front of him. “You’re going to have to tell me more. You said I had to trust you, but I can’t do that if you’re just jerking me around without explaining what’s going on. You’ll have to trustmetoo.”
He studied me for a moment. I kind of hated when he did that, like he was trying to figure outwhyI was worth his time. He didn’t look at me like he liked me at all. In fact, I felt a little like an inconvenience.
“We’ll be moving around a bit at first. Once they catch on, they’ll be looking for us in full force. There are a few motels, safe houses. If we lay low, stay out of sight…”
“We? Wait a minute. What do you meanwe?”
“I didn’t go through all the trouble of not killing you just to send you somewhere I can’t protect you.”
I was at a complete loss for words. This had to be a bad dream.
“So you killed those men?” I finally asked, swallowing back the stress and dread.
He nodded. “I did.”
My eyes searched his for some hint of regret. There was torture there –Godwas there ever. He was damaged goods, but he didn’t seem like a man troubled by his actions.
“You don’t feel bad about it?”
He leaned towards me, resting his forearms on the table, and for a moment I was afraid he was going to come across the table at me. His eyes were set on mine, intense and unmoving. “No. I liked it.”
Ugh, was I turned on or disgusted?
“Where are their bodies?” I asked, just to break the tension between us.
“Gone.”
“I didn’t see the car down there last night.”
“It was after you closed your curtain.” He relaxed back into his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “A minute earlier and they would’ve gotten the show too.”
