And There He Kept Her (Ben Packard #1)(63)

Emmett moved his mouth but no sound came out. He forgot about his pain. Forgot about his dislike for Ruth. He felt like he’d all but confessed to having a high school girl locked in his basement.

Ruth walked away, saying something about another option, and he followed nervously. They went back to the main desk and she told him to wait there and then disappeared through a door. She was gone for several minutes. He got more nervous when he saw a stack of yellow flyers beside Ruth’s computer with pictures of the boy and the girl on them and the word MISSING.

He’d walked into a trap. The girl had tricked him by making him come to the library and request the book. Ruth was probably calling the police right now. They’d probably warned Ruth to be on the lookout for suspicious characters with a sudden interest in Dickson or Dickerson or whatever his name was.

He was about to flee when Ruth finally came back with a paperback in her hand that she slid across the counter to him. It said DAVID COPPERFIELD on the cover over a painting of a timid-looking boy sitting in a large chair with his hands folded.

“I remembered seeing this come in the donation bin for next month’s book sale. Usually we charge fifty cents for a paperback but since the sale isn’t on, you can have it. Just come back and tell me what you thought. If you like it, I’ll recommend something else for you.” She took one of the yellow flyers, folded it in half, and stuck it in the book. She smiled at him without a hint of suspicion in her expression.

Emmett was still unnerved, almost delirious with the feeling of exposure. He’d seen Myra for the first time in almost twenty years. She was old and sagging, her hair buzzed to nothing. And tattoos? Now Ruth, who had been good friends with Myra before she left him, was giving him the book the girl had requested with her photo on the missing person’s flyer tucked inside. He didn’t know whether to back away slowly or shit in his hat. The only word he could get out was Myra.

Ruth said, “Pardon me?”

He said it again. “Myra. I saw her. Have you seen her?”

Ruth pulled back slightly. She scratched her scalp and licked the back of her teeth. She said, “She’s…well. Yes, I talked to her a couple of days ago.”

“Where?”

“She came by the house. We had a nice visit.”

Emmett saw black flashing lights at the edges of his vision. The idea of Myra being so close to the house made him dizzy. He thought she hadn’t been back to Sandy Lake since the day the moving truck drove away with all her things inside. Why now?

“Why is she here? What does she want?”

“She doesn’t want anything, Emmett. She comes back every couple of years. Haven’t you seen or heard before now?”

“No, I never.”

“She comes with her lady friend, Connie. They stay at a cabin on another lake. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t recognize her. She—”

“You tell her to keep away from my house,” Emmett said through a jaw clenched tight.

“Now, Emmett, she’s not—”

“Tell her to stay away. There’s nothing of hers left there. I burned it all. I signed those papers she sent so she’s got no right. If I even see her looking over from your place—”

“Emmett! That’s enough. You’re talking nonsense. She hasn’t even once so much as asked about you, and that’s the truth. Now take the book before I change my mind.”

He palmed the paperback and headed for the door. Every step hurt. He was aware of all four hundred of his pounds and the effort it took to move them.

He pushed through both sets of doors into the late afternoon sunlight. He couldn’t get home fast enough. So many things could go wrong. Things he hadn’t even considered until now. Myra showing up. Carl coming back while he was out of the house. Ruth calling the police because of his sudden interest in David Copperfield.

He opened the car door and tossed in the book and backed ass-first into the front seat, half in, half out of the car, while he lit a cigarette and tried to take a deep breath. He needed a minute. Just a minute and then he’d go home and check on the girl. In just a minute.

***

Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Emmett came up behind a black Dodge Charger a couple of miles from home. It wasn’t marked but he could see the emergency lights in the back window. Some kind of law enforcement for sure. It made all the same turns he planned to make. The chance of it going anywhere but his house decreased with each one.

He followed the black car on the gravel road that went by Ruth’s house and then his. At the end of the two ruts of his driveway, the car pulled ahead and let him turn first, then backed up and followed. It stayed far enough back that he couldn’t make out who was driving. Just a pair of mirrored shades that reflected the pattern of light and leaves from the windshield.

He felt strangely relaxed. Now that the worse thing he could have imagined was happening, he felt more clear about what had to be done. The first thing was to stay calm.

Emmett pulled past the garage, closer to the house but not too close. He turned off the engine and felt in his pockets. He had his knife. The cop would have a gun. He looked at the painted portrait of the child in the oversized chair on the cover of David Copperfield and wondered again if the girl had tricked him. The folder flyer with the word MISSING just visible felt like a confession. It was Ruth. She called the police before or after he left. Why else would they show up just now?