Flamethrower - Maggie Estep [60]
“Yes,” she said.
“Hello,” Tobias said.
He’d gotten presumptuous enough to assume that Ruby would know his voice.
“Who’s this?” Ruby asked, to irritate him.
“Tobias,” he said impatiently.
Ruby gently pushed Spike off her lap then got up to walk outside for some privacy even though Dolly hadn’t stirred.
“Still no sign of your wife,” Ruby said, closing Jody’s front door behind her. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk. “I’m at her house right now.”
“What’s it like?”
“It’s a mess. There’s a neighbor who thinks maybe Jody went to Delaware Park.”
“The track?”
“Yeah.”
“Alone?”
“Doesn’t sound like it.”
“Oh,” said Tobias.
“You’re still not going to tell me where you are?”
“Why should I?”
“So I could call you with updates.”
“Our current system is working for me just fine.”
“Ah.”
“I’m sorry if this is a burden to you.”
“It’s okay. I agreed to it.”
“Yes. You did. Well,” Tobias paused, “I’ll check in with you later?”
“Sure,” Ruby said.
He hung up. Ruby closed her phone. She went back inside and found both Spike and Dolly standing in the kitchen.
“Where’d you go?” Dolly asked, speaking for both of them.
“Had to take a call. Didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Uh,” Dolly grunted. “You gonna keep hangin’ around here or what?” She put her hands on her hips.
“I guess I’ll go to Delaware Park. Try my luck there.”
“Uh,” Dolly grunted again.
“How far is it from here?” Ruby asked. She had a vague idea that Delaware abutted Pennsylvania at some point, but she didn’t know where.
“About an hour. You got a map?”
“Yeah,” Ruby nodded, “in the car. Wanna show me?”
“Sure,” Dolly shrugged. She looked around the place one last time then walked outside.
Ruby locked the doorknob lock then pulled the door shut behind her. She got her MapQuest printouts out of the car and spread them on the hood.
“What’s this?” Dolly frowned so hard her eyebrows became one.
“MapQuest.”
“Uh. Well. Delaware Park ain’t on here.”
“I know. Just show me the right direction.”
Dolly did as Ruby asked.
“Well,” Ruby said when she’d made a few notes.
“You want some chicken for that dog?” Dolly asked out of the blue.
“What?” Ruby wasn’t sure she’d heard right.
“Chicken. I got some spare chicken. You want some for the dog for the road?”
“Uh, sure, yes, thank you,” Ruby said.
“Meet me at my house,” Dolly said. She opened her car door and slowly lowered herself onto the seat.
Ruby put Spike in the Mustang then got in.
It took Dolly a few tries to get out of her car, and Ruby felt bad for her. Dolly had started reminding Ruby of Stinky, who was overweight for mysterious reasons. For the most part, the big cat got along fine, even seemed proud of his size, but sometimes he struggled to jump up onto things, and he always looked horribly embarrassed by any lack of grace he might exhibit.
Ruby left Spike in the Mustang and followed Dolly up onto her porch.
“Wait here,” Dolly said.
Ruby waited, wondering if Dolly had something in there she didn’t want Ruby to see or if she was just a keenly private person.
After a few minutes, Dolly came back out onto the porch. She was puffing as though she’d just climbed Everest.
“Here you go.” Dolly handed Ruby a big hunk of chicken wrapped in plastic.
“This is great,” Ruby said. “Thank you, Dolly.”
“No problem,” the large woman said.
“Would you mind calling me if you see Jody come back?” Ruby had written her cell phone number on a sheet of paper from a small notebook in her glove compartment.
“I got a feeling she ain’t coming back,” Dolly said.
“Why?”
“Just a feeling I got.”
“You mean she’s gonna sell her house?”
“No,” Dolly frowned. “Just not coming back.”
It sounded so ominous that Ruby left it alone.
“Take care, and thank you,” Ruby said.
“You too,” said Dolly. She looked sad. She had been so gruff with Ruby for the first half hour of their acquaintanceship, but now that Ruby was leaving, Dolly seemed melancholy.
Ruby tried to come up with something soothing to say, could think of nothing, and got back into her car. Spike jumped into her lap and licked