Cat Chaser Part 11

He said, "Yes?"

She hesitated. "Do you know why I stayed an extra day?"

"Tell me."

"I toured Santo Domingo. Saw all the old places."

"Yes, did you like it?"

"My driver told me about the war..."

"Oh? What war is that?"

"A few years after you left, the revolution."

He seemed in no hurry now as he ate, his eyes heavy lidded in the candle-glow, watching her.

She said, "I remember vaguely reading about it, seeing pictures in Life Life magazine. You were here then, but you must have followed it closely." magazine. You were here then, but you must have followed it closely."

"I know all those people."

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"So you must've leaned toward one side or the other."

"Did I lean?" Andres said. He held his fork upright, his arms on the table. "Do you know the difference between a loyalist and a radical insurrectionist?"

"Well, the driver explained some of that, but his English wasn't too good."

"Or your Spanish wasn't good enough."

"You're right. I shouldn't blame the driver."

"You want to know about it, ask your friend George Moran," Andres said, watching her in the candle-glow. "He was there with the United States Marines. Didn't he tell you that?"

She managed to say, "I can't recall he ever mentioned it. Are you sure?"

Andres seemed to smile. "Why would I say it if I'm not sure? The first time I met him, we were playing golf, he told me that. Very proud of himself. I bought a drink for him, because at that time he was on the side of the loyalists. Maybe he didn't know it, but he was. Now I think loyalty doesn't suit him. He believes only in himself."

Mary waited, not moving. She watched Andres raise his gla.s.s, a gesture, a mock salute.

"Good luck to him. May he become loyal again."

In darkness she pictured the drive from Cutler Road into Matheson Hammock Park, through the dim tunnel of mangrove to the booth where you paid the attendant a dollar and went on, suddenly entering the cleared expanse of crushed coral that reached to the ocean. She saw their cars standing alone at the edge of that open s.p.a.ce, as far as they could go, cut off; one way in, one way out.

It was close to two in the morning when she called Moran, heard him answer sleepily and said to him, "He knows."

There was a silence and when he spoke again he was fully awake though his tone was subdued. "What did he say?"

"He knows you were down there."

There was another silence before he said, "The day Andres was here, I was packing to leave."

She said, "We can't meet at the park. It's too out in the open."

He said, "But I can't wait to see you. I can't sleep."

She smiled at that. "Yeah, I could tell." She was within the sound of his voice and for the moment felt secure, as though they could go on talking and say whatever came to mind. "I'll think of a good place and call you tomorrow, before noon."

"Why don't you come here?"

"I'm afraid to. Not yet." She lowered her voice 145.

to almost a whisper. "I've never done this before, George. I don't know the ropes."

"How's it going otherwise?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Go back to sleep."

She hung up and lay back on her pillow in the dark, beginning finally to relax as she listened and heard only silence. She needed to see Moran, his face with the soft beard, and feel his arms around her. Just being held made everything else go away.

She called at eleven-thirty and said, "The Holiday Inn on Le Jeune Road. Do you know where it is? This side of Flagler."

He said, amazed, "The Holiday Inn?"

She said, "I've already made a reservation under Delaney. Okay? I'll see you about one."

It made him think of Nolen's salesman, scoring at the Holiday Inn in Findlay, Ohio.

But he told himself it wasn't like that and when he got there and he was holding her, moving his hands over the familiar feel of her and saying how much he missed her, barely bringing their mouths apart, he was sure it wasn't anything like Findlay, Ohio. They made love and drank iced wine in bed, in the stillness of the room. Touching each other. Looking at each other. Gradually getting to things they needed to talk about.

He said, "Come live with me. It doesn't matter what he thinks."

She said, "Why didn't I tell him before this? If I bring it up now he's gonna blame you, because you're on his mind. He knows knows we were together." we were together."

"All right. What do you want to do?"

"Wait a while."

"How long?"

"I don't know know how long." how long."

He eased off. "I'm sorry. You have to do it your way. I understand that. I'm anxious, that's all..."

She said, "G.o.d, I don't want to lose you ...But I have to wait for the right time. A month ago I felt sorry for him. Now I'm afraid of him-I don't know how he'll react. But I know if he wants to make it difficult ...well, we have to be very careful." Her tone was thoughtful as her mind sorted through images of her husband. "The right time will come. I don't know when but I'll feel it and I'll ask him for a divorce. I'll tell tell him I'm gonna get a divorce . . . or if he wants to file, that's fine, if it's a pride thing with him. He'll understand if I do it right, if I can keep you out of it." She gave him a weak smile. "I don't want to beat this to death, but more than anything I want you to understand." him I'm gonna get a divorce . . . or if he wants to file, that's fine, if it's a pride thing with him. He'll understand if I do it right, if I can keep you out of it." She gave him a weak smile. "I don't want to beat this to death, but more than anything I want you to understand."

He held her in silence.

"What're you afraid of?"

"Him. I don't know what he'll do."

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"Do you sleep with him?"

"I don't know how to handle that either. Not since we got back," Mary said. "But do I lock my door? We've never even had an argument; but how can we if we don't talk? Do you see what I mean? I want to be fair."

"Don't be too fair."

She pressed against him, trying to get closer. "I don't know what's gonna happen."

He said, "Well, you walk out with a two-milliondollar settlement, you'll still be one of the richest ladies in Coral Gables-including wives and girlfriends of dope dealers. You're not gonna have to get a job as a waitress."

"That's been on my mind too," Mary said. "I don't think I should take the money. a.s.suming he'll still offer it."

"You've got a signed agreement, haven't you?"

"I don't think that would bother Andres too much."

Moran raised her face to see her eyes, dark, questioning. "I was rich once. I thought it was more of a pain in the a.s.s than anything else. As a matter of fact the beer at the club never tasted right."

Mary said, "George, ten years ago I was making a hundred dollars an hour modeling." She gave him a quick couple of fas.h.i.+on-model expressions, mouth and eye movements from smile to pout.

"All that high-fas.h.i.+on New York-beautiful-people bulls.h.i.+t. I did lipstick, perfume, eye-makeup; I was gone before designer jeans. I quit and didn't look at myself for two years. I thought about going to law school until I worked for a lawyer and got pension plans up to here. I don't know what I want as far as a career goes; but the best thing is to just be rich and not worry about it."

He said, "Are we gonna get married?"

She raised her face, her turn to search his eyes.

"I don't know. Are we?"

"It's okay with me."

She pulled away from him. "What do you mean, it's okay? You just go along? You're not obligated, Moran. You can do whatever you want."

He brought her back to him gently, moving his hand over her, down her arm to the curve of her breast, soothing.

"Don't think so much. Let it happen. We'll know what to do when the time comes."

They met at the Holiday Inn each afternoon for the next several days, tried the Castaways on the Beach and went back to the Holiday Inn because it was familiar and they felt at home. Mary came in her tennis warmups. (Nolen Tyner asked Moran where he went every afternoon. Moran told him visiting.

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Then Nolen got a surveillance a.s.signment and Moran wondered if he was the subject; but it had to do with a child-custody case in West Palm.) They booked the Holiday Inn room for another week and brought wine and fruit. They talked about playing tennis sometime. They didn't talk about Andres or when or what if. They were together and it was enough. Mary said maybe being rich wasn't that important. Moran said not as long as you can afford motel rooms. But it was a shame to pay when he had an entire motel going to waste, the place empty except for one guy and he wasn't there during the day. Mary finally said all right, she'd come to the Coconuts. Tomorrow.

She came at one o'clock in her warmups carrying her yellow bathing suit. Moran introduced her to Jerry and showed her around; it took about five minutes. Mary said she loved it. They went into Moran's bungalow and he told her not to pay any attention to the tropical floral-print upholstery and the curved bamboo arms on the furniture, he was going to redecorate one of these days. Mary told him to forget it, his decor was back in. He showed her the bedroom next, where she could change, put on her bathing suit.

They were still in there a little after two when Jerry called. Jerry said, "There's a gentleman and a young lady here to see you."

Moran stood holding a towel around him. "Who are they?" Jerry said, "His name's Rafi Amado. He says he's from Santo Domingo."

10.

MARY WATCHED THEM from a side window: Moran standing with his thumbs hooked in the low waist of his cutoffs, the bearded innkeeper, gesturing then, yeah, this is it. How do you like it? She could almost read his lips.

The red-haired girl seemed, if not impressed, at least satisfied by what she saw. A strange-looking little thing, attractive, but all her colors wrong.

Rafi, in a s.h.i.+ny black business suit, was squinting, c.o.c.king his head as he inspected the Coconut Palms' center court-doors to a dozen rooms in a plain white facade with aqua trim facing the small swimming pool-as though if he caught the right perspective the Coconuts would become the Fontainebleu, a place with real sw.a.n.k.

It's your fault, Mary thought, but had to smile. Rafi was nodding, trying to look impressed. The red-haired girl would roll her lower lip, then lick it and roll it out again. Very strange. She wore a blue and yellow flowered-print dress-giant mutations that might be daisies-the dress tight in the bust but several inches too long, below her knees. Miss Sugarcane.

That's not nice, Mary thought.

But did she have to be nice? Moran seemed to be handling the amenities, making them feel at home, inviting them now to take a lounge chair. He came toward the house as they sat down, Rafi with a stern expression saying something to the girl.

Moran came in and closed the door.

"Not a soul here, the guy shows up all the way from the Dominican Republic."

Mary came away from the window. "Who's the girl with him?"

"Loret. That's all I know." Moran went to the refrigerator. "She wants a Seven-Up."

"Are they staying?"

"He says he's got something to tell me. Like bad news, the way he said it ...I don't have any Seven-Up. I knew I didn't have any, I don't know why I'm looking."

Mary said, "Should I come out?"

Moran brought two c.o.kes and a bowl of ice from the refrigerator and closed the door. "Whatever you think."

"Aren't you a little surprised to see him?"

"I'm very surprised. He says, 'And how is your buddy, Mary?' and gives me a wink. I said you're fine."

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"You didn't tell him I'm here?"