The sirens are closing in. She does have a fucking panic button. Now I must decide. Finish what I started with the poison, or get out before the Keystone Cops arrive, grab my kids and start over. Because clearly, she hasn’t thought of everything. Our kids, our precious boys, are at home asleep. Blissfully unaware of all of this strife, like little lambs just waiting for their shepherd to save them.
Red and blue flashes are lighting up the street. I’ve got to get out of here.
“This isn’t over, Mia, but for now, good night, honey. Sleep tight. We’ll see each other again soon. Perhaps when you least expect it,” I say before turning and running out the back door, through the yard to my car. The cops drive past me as I sit low in my front seat, flying into our driveway at speeds that could only be considered excessive. You’d think there was an actual crime taking place inside. Instead they’ll find a crazy woman huddled by the front door with a tiny knife, and eventually, a former special ops guy knocked out by his precious strawberry plants. Losers. Both of them.
My poor little wife. She thinks she is so clever. Outsmart Paul Strom? Never.
I push the gas and drive by quickly. Decision made. I find myself constantly checking my mirrors, rearview and side, until I escape through the Lakeside gate.
I know I’m driving too fast, even if all of the cops from this entire little township are busy at my cottage for now, and I pull my foot back from the gas pedal. I need to conserve fuel until I make it to a bigger town where there will be an open gas station. It would not be prudent to run out of gas somewhere in the middle of these dark country roads tonight. I have too much more to take care of for that.
1:45 a.m.
29
I haven’t noticed another car on the road with me for miles, and believe me, I’ve been looking. At night, if you are aware, you can spot a tail. It’s easy when you have to keep your lights on to see. And out here in the country, you need your headlights. If Buck or his people were following me, they aren’t anymore. I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, remembering how Buck’s people followed me around Grandville, spied on my life. How could I have missed them?
The gas station is a still life. Pumps ablaze in too-bright fluorescent light, but everything is eerily motionless except for a large moth diving in and out of the scene. I roll to a stop and climb out of the Flex. It’s interesting to me how much my palms are sweating, although I hadn’t registered in my mind anything like fear. My body feels tense, on edge. I remind myself to breathe as I look around. I’m the only one here, except the person working in the station.
As I walk toward the silhouette of a man sitting behind the counter, I smile and notice the camera. That’s fine, too. We are all being videotaped all the time now. If anyone cares to retrieve that tape it will simply prove that I decided to drive home instead of spending the night in the musty inn. No crime there.
The gas station door is locked. I shake the handle as the employee, a burly man whose other job could be biker, leans forward and presses a button.
“Need gas?” the voice booms through a speaker.
No, I just wanted to stop by and say hi, my busy mind thinks. I wonder why I don’t just move to another country. People here are such simpletons. His brother is probably one of the cops assigned to protect Mia. Equally effective. So stupid, all of them.
“Yes. Pump 1. Forty dollars,” I say. I’ve located the after-hours pay drawer. I pull out my wallet as he slides the drawer open. I place two crisp twenty-dollar bills in the drawer and he closes the hatch.
I wonder if he feels safe, locked inside a fully lit glass building. He shouldn’t.
“Pump 1 is on,” he says. His voice is impatient, as if he has better things to do than supply gas to late-night drivers. But that is his only function. I shrug him off. I’m the one in a hurry, I remind my tense body.
Turning my back to the thug, I return to my car and begin pumping gas. I’m now standing in a pool of light, exposed to anyone who drives by on the country road. But who would be looking for me now? Buck and Mia have handled everything, they think. Meanwhile, Buck is watering the backyard with blood and Mia is cowering with a knife. The authorities either know I’ve left Lakeside, or they think I’ve checked into the inn. Or, they think I’m lurking somewhere in the darkness, ready to strike again. No matter what, they are wrong. All of that extra police security is totally unnecessary. I’m here, pumping gas at a desolate country gas station. I’m a tired man just hoping to make it home to his boys soon. Sunrise isn’t until about 6:45 a.m. I have plenty of time.
My boys. The joys of my life. Mikey and Sam will be so happy to see me. I might even sneak into their bedrooms, give them each a fatherly hug. They loved having me take them to school this morning, begged me to take them to the lake, too. Their disappointed little faces haunt me a bit right now. I’ll make it up to them. Maybe a trip to Disneyland? Gretchen would like that, too. Maybe I’ll bundle them up and put them in the car and take them to her apartment tonight. It would be such an adventure, way better than Lakeside. We could get on the road before sunrise. I smile at the thought. The four of us, Gretchen, the boys and I, headed to the happiest place on earth. The boys would be thrilled.
The pump stops. I pull out the nozzle, screw the gas cap on and hurry into the car. As I pull out of the bright white light of the gas station and back onto the country road, I wonder if it’s too late to call Gretchen. She has called me four times since I left on my trip with Mia. That’s not like her. For my part, I’ve been declining her calls. She knows better than to leave me a voice mail. It’s against our rules.
As I pull onto the interstate, I feel a flood of relief wash over me. I’ve escaped the country bumpkins. No one has followed me. I sigh, relaxing. I know it’s late, but I call Gretchen. The phone rings loudly over my car’s Bluetooth system. One ring, two rings.
“Paul?” Gretchen says. She sounds sleepy. I wish I were in bed next to her.
“Hi, my love,” I say. It’s important to have different terms of endearment, I’ve learned. Mia ishoney. Gretchen ismy love. Caroline, well, she is now the bitch. Before, she wasbabe. Lois wassweetie, until she wasn’t. Buck talked to Lois, my busy mind recalls. I need to deal with Buck. I should have killed him in the backyard of my cottage earlier. Soon I’ll finish him off. He thinks he’s so cool, so tough. He’s not. Did you notice how fast I took him down? He dropped like a rock. All talk, no substance.
“Why didn’t you take any of my calls today?” Gretchen asks.
“You know why, love. I had to be with Mia,” I say. “But I’ve got some good news. I’ve left her. Everything you’ve dreamed of for the two of us can come true now.”
“Paul, some man came to see me early this morning. He said his name was Buck. Said it was urgent that we talk. So I let him in,” she says. Her voice is sounding awake now. Urgent. I should have taken her calls. “He wanted to talk about you. He... Paul, he said such ugly things. And he had photos of a woman’s face all beaten up. Said you did it.”
Fine. The bastard tried to convince her I’m evil. I will convince her otherwise.
“Oh, love, I’m so sorry. Buck is crazy. The guy is totally jealous of me. He’s our neighbor up at the lake, and he is not right in the head. It seems he’s developed a fixation with me. He actually wants to ruin my life with lies and innuendos. Please don’t think twice about it. You know I would never hurt a woman. No one loves women more than I do. No one loves you better, right?” I say. My hands grip the steering wheel once more. I want to turn around, drive back to the lake and kill Buck, even though I’m not that kind of guy. It takes everything inside of me to keep heading home to my boys and Gretchen. “This is just some cruel game Buck is playing. He’s twisted. You don’t actually believe him, do you, love?”
“I don’t want to, Paul,” she says. Now her voice is shaky. I imagine her sitting in bed, knees pulled up under chin. She’s naked. Maybe I’ll drive there first, pick her up and bring her to my house. “I just don’t know what to believe.”
What I cannot believe is how Buck and Mia have messed with my life. They will not get away with this. As much as I want to go comfort Gretchen, and I may still, I realize the true power play is back at home, asleep in their beds waiting for their beloved dad to come home.
