We Begin at the End(67)
“Yes, Duchess.”
She met his eye, he looked old then, capable but she knew the toll and its cost. She thought of her mother, of Sissy.
“I’m not sorry, for everything I’ve said to you.” She swallowed. “I just …”
“It’s alright.”
“It’s not. But I think one day it might be.”
“You go on now. Try and have fun. Smile for the cameras. Both of them.”
She flipped him off but added a smile to it.
The glitter ball spun and Duchess watched light shards over the crowd. The theme was Wonderland and she stared at the cotton snow and frosted flowers. Above them balloons hung in white and blue, painted stars and cardboard trees circled a dancefloor made to look like ice.
She fiddled with her corsage. “It itches. Did you find it in a Dumpster?”
“My mother picked it up.”
They hung at the back. She saw girls in fancy dresses and heels, teetering. She said a silent prayer they would fall.
Thomas Noble wore a dinner suit, a size too big so his bad hand withdrew into the cuff. Draped behind was a silk cape, so fantastically bizarre she could not tear her eyes from it.
“My father said a gentleman always sports a cape to a formal event.”
“Your father is a hundred and fifty years old.”
“He’s still got moves. I have to go in the backyard when they make love because the noise is deafening.”
She stared at him, suitably horrified.
The music started up and Duchess watched a group of girls run at the dancefloor.
Thomas Noble fetched them a juice and they found seats at a table by a heart-shaped stage and photographer.
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“You already said that eighteen times.”
“You want cake?”
“No.”
“How about some potato chips?”
“No.”
They played something fast. Jacob Liston cleared a space and broke out his best moves while the girl he was with clapped awkwardly.
Duchess frowned. “I think he might be having a fit.”
The song switched to something slow, the floor thinned.
“You want to—”
“Don’t make me say it again.”
“Nice suit, Thomas Noble.” Billy Ryle and Chuck Sullivan. “At least it hides his cripple hand.” Laughter.
Thomas Noble sipped his juice and kept his eyes on the dancefloor.
She reached over and took his bad hand. “Dance with me.”
As they passed she leaned over and said something to Billy. He moved away quick.
“Keep your hands away from my ass,” she said, as they reached the floor.
“What did you say to Billy?”
“I told him you had a ten-inch cock.”
He shrugged. “That’s a quarter-truth.”
She laughed, so much and so hard she’d forgotten how good it felt.
She held him. “Shit, Thomas Noble. I can feel every rib.”
“And that’s in clothes. You wouldn’t want to see me topless.”
“I can imagine. I once saw a documentary about famine.”
“I’m glad you came here.”
“You wore me down with relentless pressure. Your father would be proud.”
They bumped into Jacob Liston and his date. Jacob was wriggling like he needed to piss. Duchess shot his date a compassionate smile.
“I mean here. Montana. I’m glad you came to stay.”
“Why?”
“I just—” He stopped moving and for a wretched moment she thought he might try and kiss her. “I just never met an outlaw before.”
She stepped a little closer and moved with him.
*
Walk sat in his office, blinds drawn but town lights cut the dark. He cradled the phone on his shoulder, made notes as he spoke to Hal. He rested his feet on a stack of papers, saw his tray fit to burst. He’d get to it all, the mess bothered everyone but him.
He checked in each week, same time on a Friday night.
It was usually quick, a catchup about how the boy was doing alright, still seeing the shrink. And then on to the girl. Sometimes they’d speak five minutes, just long enough for Hal to tell of something bad she’d done, and how he’d had to check his laughter till he was done being pissed. Walk knew that act well.
“It’s slow,” Hal said. “With Duchess it’s slow, but she’s getting better. It’s getting better.”
“That’s good.”
“Tonight she’s at the school dance.”
“Wait a minute. Duchess is at a dance?”
“It’s the winter formal. They go all out. The whole of Evergreen Middle is lit up, you can see the spotlight from Cold Creek.”
Walk allowed himself a smile. The girl was doing alright. Against the odds, and they were stacked, she was living a life.
“And Robin. I think he’s starting to remember.”
Walk dropped his feet down again and pressed the receiver so tight he could hear the old man breathing.
“Nothing concrete.”
“Did he mention any names? Darke?”
Hal must have heard the desperation there because he spoke the next lines softly. “Nothing concrete, Walk. I think he’s slowly opening himself to the fact that he might have been there when his mother was murdered. The shrink is good, she doesn’t ask or pry or try and guide him anyplace at all.”