Flamethrower - Maggie Estep [64]
The dark green walls didn’t exactly cheer the place—and it wasn’t a hotbed of cheer to begin with. There was snarled dirty clothing and take-out containers. The only light came from an incongruously large TV tuned to The Weather Channel.
“Mind if I sit?” Ruby asked, motioning at the lone chair in the place, a metal folding chair with clothing draped over the back.
“Go for it,” Jody said.
Go for it?
“Why did you come here?” Jody asked. She kept looking past Ruby.
Ruby turned her head to see what was so fascinating. The only thing there was a sink. She sat down and tried to get Jody to meet her gaze.
“Jody,” Ruby said softly, “what are you doing here? What’s all this about?” She motioned at the dingy room. “You’ve run away from home? With Violet’s groom?”
“I’m very tired,” Jody said.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” Ruby had pulled her chair a little closer.
“Embarrassed? About what?” Jody cocked an eyebrow. It was the first sign of animation Ruby had seen.
“About me seeing you like this?”
“I look that bad?”
“I’ve seen you look better.”
At first this seemed to worry Jody. Then she shrugged slightly and pulled the covers all the way up to her chin. She looked like a psychotic twelve-year-old.
“What does Toby want me for?”
“He’s worried about you.”
“He wants some money. That’s more like it,” Jody said it resentfully. “Do you know how tired I am of all this?”
Ruby decided she wouldn’t even try to answer that. “Tobias paid me to find you, and I needed money so I did it. Now I’ve found you. I’ll tell him where you are. He really is worried about you,” Ruby said.
“Yes. Everyone has always been worried about me,” Jody said, running her hand over her forehead as if brushing a fever away. “And I’m tired of that too.”
Ruby wondered if there was anything Jody wasn’t tired of. Then she got back to worrying about Spike. The dog had been confined for twenty minutes now.
“Are you a dog person?” she asked Jody.
“What?”
“I have a dog. A puppy. I just got him. He’s locked in my car. I’m worried about him. Can I bring him in here?”
Jody blinked. Her mouth opened slightly then closed again. She was resting her hands outside the covers now, and Ruby saw that the cuticles had been bitten raw.
“Sure,” Jody shrugged, “bring the puppy, yes.”
Ruby rose from the metal chair. “I’ll be back in two minutes,” she told her, wondering if Jody would let her back in.
Ruby walked back around Nancy Cooley’s shed row to where she’d parked the Mustang. She was dazed and a little light-headed. She didn’t want to think about what she’d just found in the bungalow, about the demise of a woman Ruby had trusted to be stable, steady, and constant. It was almost funny.
Spike acted as though he hadn’t seen Ruby in months. He licked and wiggled and bounced. Ruby snapped the leash on and tried to get him to walk at her side. He kept running ahead, nearly pulling Ruby’s shoulder from its socket. A hotwalker was leading a horse by, and Ruby looked down to see if Spike was going to bark or scare the horse. The puppy dropped down to his belly, flattening himself out submissively for what he thought was a giant, dominant dog. The horse walked by. Spike slowly got up and stared after it.
Ruby knocked at Jody’s door. No answer.
“Jody? I’m coming in.” Ruby turned the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. As she opened the door and walked in, Spike bounded forward into the room.
Jody Ray was standing in the middle of the small room, her soiled pajamas were hanging off her, her hair was in her face, and she was laughing hysterically.
19. FLAMETHROWER
Jody was so skinny the laughter shook her body like wind through a bag of sticks. Excited by the laughter, Spike ran over and jumped on Jody, putting his front paws on her thighs.
“Spike, off,” Ruby yelled. Jody looked whacko enough to do something bad to the dog.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Jody said sharply. The laughter was all gone,