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He looked over the fridge door, checking to make sure Lu was still in the living room. We could both see her feet, propped up on the coffee table beside the plate of chips. I watched Dave decide that the coast was as clear as it was going to get.
“Someone called for you,” he said. “It was some guy who claimed he was a friend of Harry’s. ”
“Oh. What did he want?”
“To talk to you, I imagine. It’s the third time this month the same guy has called. Is there anything you feel like you ought to tell me, kid?” He leaned on the door, eyes still holding the partial scene in the living room.
“No,” I said in perfect truthfulness. I most certainly did not want to tell him that I’d warned Malachi to quit calling my cell phone, and that it now appeared the bastard was obeying the letter of the command, if not the spirit.
“Eden, are you in some kind of trouble? Because if you are, you can tell me, and if you want, I’ll keep it quiet. ”
“Dave, I appreciate the offer, but I am not in any trouble whatsoever—not to the best of my knowledge. ” Again, I answered with pure honesty. “I’ll call down to St. Augustine tomorrow and ask Harry what’s up. I’m sure it’s no big deal. If something was wrong I’m sure my mystery caller would have left a message. ”
This too was true, though I also planned to give Harry full permission to beat Malachi senseless the next time he thought about phoning.
“What are you two doing in there?” Lu hollered.
“Where’s the sour cream?” I shouted back.
“We’re out. But there’s some salsa behind the milk. Grab that and some napkins—and come back in here. Let’s start this movie, already. ”
I reached around Dave to seize the salsa and the opportunity to flee, before he could interrogate me further.
So far as anyone officially knew, my half-brother and cousin Malachi was dead—murdered by the crazy old man who had lived at the clapboard house in the swamp. Not much in the way of remains had survived the fire, but I’d insisted with great fervor and earnestness that he’d been there in the hopes that it would keep the cops from trying to locate him elsewhere. In retrospect, I’m not entirely sure why I went to such lengths to protect him, but that’s how family works sometimes. Even when they don’t deserve it, you cover their asses.
Maybe I should have told Lu and Dave what really happened down in Florida, but I hadn’t, and I couldn’t imagine a situation where I could bring it up. I didn’t want to have to defend myself to them—and I would certainly have to, if I came clean—until I had a better excuse than “It sounded like a good idea at the time. ”
Malachi wasn’t exactly making it easy for me.
He’d called my cell phone every week until I finally switched it out for another model with a new number. The new number hadn’t stopped him though. I don’t know how he got it, but he did, and he called it like clockwork. About one time out of every four I’d answer, and we’d verbally hopscotch through an awkward, meaningless conversation that served no purpose other than to make us both uncomfortable.
He’d sometimes hinted that he wanted to come up here, but I kept telling him not to.
“Let things die down,” I’d tried to tell him. “Give it a year or two. Then we’ll meet up someplace in Georgia and do lunch, if that’s what you want. ” But he always wanted more than lunch. He wanted a family.
I bet he was driving Harry nuts. But that’s what the old guy gets for taking Malachi down there to St. Augustine. If Harry’d had any sense, he would have left my brother for the cops; instead, he let me talk him into taking Malachi to Florida and hiding him in the monastery there.
But that night I tried to put them both out of my head, because I had nachos in the living room, Lu and Dave on the sofa, and Young Frankenstein in the DVD player. Everything else could wait.
The next day, Lu and Dave drove down to Athens, Georgia, to catch a concert. I ordered them to make a romantic weekend of it, but they were way ahead of me: Hotel reservations and a room service menu had already been secured. I was a little surprised by my relief at learning that they’d be gone for so long; or perhaps I was only glad to know that they were far enough away that I could make a phone call in peace.
The call itself began easily enough. I dialed Harry’s cell and wondered idly if his ring-tone was set to any particular music.
“Harold here,” he answered, and I was glad. I’d half expected Malachi to pick up, just because I didn’t want to talk to him and the universe occasionally allies against me that way.
“And Eden here,” I responded. “How goes it down there, old man?”
He laughed a little and cleared his throat. “Oh, more of the same. But what brings you to the phone? Malachi says he can’t get you on the line to save his life these days. ”
“I’m glad to hear he’s noticed. ”
“Not taking the hint, huh? I thought you might be avoiding him. I told him to give you some breathing room, but he’s so damn eager to make friends, he won’t listen. ”
“He’s started calling me at home, Harry. You’ve got to make him stop. When it’s just the phone I’ve got in my purse, I can ignore him till the cows come home; but if he keeps looking for me here, I’m going to have a whole lot of elaborate lying to do. As it is, Dave already suspects something. ”
“What have you told him?”
“Nothing, except what we agreed on. I’ve got my fingers crossed that he thinks I’m hiding a boyfriend, but I’m probably wrong and he’s half an idea closer to the truth. I don’t think he ever bought the story as we laid it out, not one hundred percent. Even if he doesn’t think I’m lying, he might suspect that I don’t know the whole story. When I logged on to the Internet here the other day, there were some links in the history folder that suggested one of them had been looking to dig up news stories about last year. It might’ve been Lu, but my money’s on Dave. ”
