Along Came a Spider - James Patterson [95]
“You didn’t tell me you were landed gentry,” I said as we sped down a picturesque winding road toward the cottage.
“Hardly, Alex. My grandfather left this place to my mother. Grandpop was a local scoundrel and thief. He made a little money in his day. The only one in our family who ever did. Crime seems to pay.”
“So they say.”
I hopped off the bike, and immediately stretched out my back muscles, then my legs. We went inside the house. The door had been left unlocked, which stretched my imagination some.
Jezzie checked out the fridge, which was generously stocked. She put on a Bruce Springsteen tape, then she wandered outside.
I followed her down toward the shimmering, blue-black water. A new dock had been built on the water. A narrow walkway went out to a broader deck set up with bolted-down chairs and a table. I could hear music from the Nebraska album playing.
Jezzie pulled off her boots, then her striped-blue knee socks. She dipped one foot in the perfectly still water.
Her long legs were wonderfully athletic. Her feet were long, too, nicely shaped, as beautiful as feet get. For the moment, she reminded me of ladies who went to the University of Florida, Miami, South Carolina, Vanderbilt. I hadn’t found a part of her that wasn’t special to look at.
“Believe it or not, this water’s seventy-five degrees,” she said with a big slow-motion smile.
“On the dot?” I asked.
“I’d have to say so. On the button. Are you game, or are you lame?”
“What will the neighbors say? I didn’t pack my bathing suit. Or anything else.”
“That was the basic plan, no plan. Imagine. A whole Saturday with no plan. No trial. No press interviews. No missiles from the Dunnes. Like Thomas Dunne on Larry King this week. Complaining about the investigation leading up to the trial, peppering my name everywhere again. No earthshaking kidnapping case to weigh down on you. Just the two of us out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“I like the sound of that,” I told Jezzie. “In the middle of nowhere.” I looked around, following the line where the fir trees met clear blue sky.
“That’s our name for this place, then. In the Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina.”
“Seriously, Jez. What about the neighbors? We’re in the Tarheel State, right? I don’t want any tar on my heels.”
She smiled. “There’s nobody around for a couple of miles at least, Alex. No other houses, believe it or not. It’s too early for anybody but the bass fishermen.”
“I don’t want to meet a couple of backwoods Tarheel bass fishermen, either.” I said. “In their eyes, I might be a black bass. I’ve read James Dickey’s Deliverance.”
“Fishermen all go to the south end of the lake. Trust me, Alex. Let me undress you. Make you a little more comfortable.”
“We’ll undress each other.” I surrendered and gave myself over to her, to the slow-down pace of the perfect morning.
On the dock of the bay we undressed each other. The morning sun was toasty warm and I was aware of the lake breeze fanning our bare skin.
I tested the water with my foot, my own well-turned ankle. Jezzie wasn’t exaggerating about the temperature.
“I wouldn’t lie to you. I never have yet,” she said with another smile.
She dived in perfectly, then, making almost no splash on the water surface.
I followed in the light trail of her bubbles. As I penetrated the underwater, I was thinking: a black man and a beautiful white woman swimming together.
In the middle South. In this Year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety-three.
We were being reckless, and maybe just a little crazy.
Were we wrong? Some people would say so, or at least think it. But why was that? Were we hurting anyone by being together?
The water was warm on top. But it was much colder five or six feet down. It looked blue-green. It was probably spring-fed. Near the bottom, I could feel strong undercurrents striking my chest and genitals.
A thought struck