CHAPTER 13
Tony pulled the car to a halt down the road a ways from Walter’s Grocery and Dock. “I’m going to let you off here,” he explained, pointing to the thick woods near the car. “I’ll go hide the car where nobody will find it. If they can’t see it they won’t know for sure where to look for us.” He reached out and touched her wrinkled brow gently. “Don’t worry. I’ll ditch the car, make the phone call to Cliff and be back here within an hour.”
“I’ll go with you,” she protested, and he knew she didn’t want to be left alone in the woods again.
“Libby, that isn’t practical. Those men could find us at any moment. It’s obvious they have a network of people working with them. I can move faster on my own and I’d feel better if I knew you were here, safe and sound. You wait here for me. Stay off the main road and stay out of sight,” he instructed as he reached across her and opened her car door.
“Hurry back,” she said softly, then turned to him and kissed him fully on the lips.
Tony held back only a moment, then he kissed her hungrily, returning the fervor, the intensity. He finally pulled away from her, looking into the blueness of her eyes. “I’ll hurry back.” He smiled softly. “Don’t you remember? I’m one of the good guys.”
She nodded, pressing her lips against his scruffy, whisker-darkened cheek.
Tony held her close for a moment longer, feeling the tightening of his muscles as passion fought against cold, common sense. He would have loved to linger here, take her into his arms and make love to her in the back seat of the car. But he had to go now…before the albino caught up with them. He needed to get in touch with Cliff immediately and get something set up. He couldn’t afford to dally. Time was of the essence.
“Libby,” he said gently, breaking their embrace. “I’ve got to go.” He pulled the necklace out of his pocket and fastened it securely around her neck. “I don’t want anything to happen to this. If I don’t return, you go down to Walker’s Grocery at dawn tomorrow morning. Somebody will meet you there.”
“You’ll be back,” she said firmly, as if the idea of his not returning was totally intolerable. Without another word, she got out of the car and, blowing him a kiss, she disappeared into the thick brush at the side of the road.
What a woman,Tony thought as he put the car into gear and took off down the dusty, gravel road. No scenes, no tears; she had accepted the fact that he had to leave. She would have made a mighty fine policeman’s wife. He sat up straighter in the seat and frowned. But he was no longer a policeman and the very last thing he needed to be thinking about was Libby’s qualifications as a candidate for a wife. He didn’t want a wife.
It was better to hurt a little now and stop the love that had flowered between them before it burst into full fruition, then rotted from neglect on the vine.
Tomorrow the necklace would be handed to the proper authorities, and they would go back to Kansas City. Libby would go back to working in her pawnshop, and he would immerse himself in his work.
“It’s best this way,” he muttered to himself, pulling up in front of Walker’s Grocery. He shoved all thoughts of Libby to the back of his mind as he spied the pay phone on the side of the little store.
* * *
Libby looked around with satisfaction. She had found the perfect place for her and Tony to spend their time until morning came and they could unload the necklace. She had stumbled on the small hiding place quite by accident.
When Tony had let her out of the car, she had walked for several minutes, wading through tall weeds and fighting thick underbrush. Finally, knowing she was far enough off the road for safety, she’d sat down to wait his return.
Ahead of her was a grove of evergreen trees. The trees grew straight and tall, but the bottom of their trunks were obscured by tangled vines and thick brush. She’d been sitting, staring at them blankly for several moments when she realized there was a small break in the undergrowth that looked like a small, inviting door.
On impulse, she scrambled to her feet and made her way to the small, nature-made doorway. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled through. She sat back on her haunches and looked around, satisfaction welling up in her heart.
It was like being in a very small room, with the overhanging boughs above forming a ceiling and the thick bushes and tangled underbrush forming walls. The floor of the tiny area was covered with brown pine needles that had fallen throughout the winter months and now made a comfortable, soft carpet beneath her knees.
She lay down on her back on the carpet of soft needles, gazing upward, where glimpses of the brilliant blue sky could be seen through the overhanging pine boughs.
It was a beautiful day, but the beauty was somehow tainted by the knowledge that this would be her last day and night spent with Tony. Tomorrow, if all went as planned, they would return home to Kansas City. And what would happen then? What would happen to the tenuous connection she and Tony had made? Would they lose each other when they got back to reality…away from the surreal world they’d existed in for the past couple of days?
She closed her eyes, remembering the lovemaking they had shared the night before. They had fit together as if they were two halves of a whole, as if they belonged in each other’s arms.
Even now, just thinking about the magic of his kisses, the mastery of his caresses, that moment when he’d entered her with all his heat and strength, she felt an answering response in her own body. She sighed, a soft whisper of longing. Could this love she felt for him override the fear his parents’ marriage had built in him? Could she make him forget fear and learn to trust in love and the concept of forever? For she couldn’t settle for less than that. For her, it was either all or nothing. She’d never given herself halfway to anything in her life, and she wasn’t going to do it with Tony.
Her hand reached up and touched the necklace that lay cold and alien around her neck. She wanted to hate its very existence for all the greed and death it represented. Yet, how could she hate the very thing that had brought Tony to her?
Would it also be the thing that put an end to their love forever? A stab of cold, harsh fear coursed through her at the thought. What if the albino and that other man caught up with Tony before he had a chance to ditch the car and get back to safety? She knew Tony would die before he told them where she was, but this thought brought no comfort.
If she and Tony went back to Kansas City and she never saw him again, she could accept that, knowing he was alive. But if something happened to him and he didn’t make it back to her now, she knew she would live with an empty ache deep inside her for the rest of her life.
“He’ll be back,” she said softly with calm reassurance. After all, the good guys always returned.
* * *
Tony hid the car in a ravine about two miles from where he had left Libby. He’d made his phone contact with Cliff and set up a rendezvous for dawn. He was confident Cliff would know who could be trusted. As he jogged down the gravel road, he looked down at his wristwatch. Almost one o’clock. Approximately sixteen hours before they would meet Cliff and his associates.
