Into the Inferno - Earl Emerson [128]
“We don’t have proof.”
“I don’t need proof.”
“Besides, if it’s Jane’s, those two are probably just errand boys. The real culprits are a thousand miles away.”
“You’re right. I’ll fly to California.”
“Jim . . .”
“I’m kidding. Let’s find a place to stay.”
“Jim? I love you.”
“Where did that come from?”
“We might not have a lot of time. I wanted to say it.”
I could have returned the sentiment, but right now I didn’t feel anything but relief that my daughters were alive and an irrepressible anger at the men who’d tried to take them from me.
“I wish things were different for you.”
“I’ve got one day left. A day is all I need. Most people don’t really live twenty-four hours. I never did. One day will be plenty.”
She didn’t say anything else, but it wasn’t too much later before I heard her crying in the dark.
DAY SIX
54. A BREEDING GROUND FOR NEUROTICS
In the morning I found her watching me with something akin to amusement in her dusty-blue eyes. There was no telling how long she’d been awake. I remembered we’d taken a suite at the Warwick in downtown Seattle. We’d situated the girls in a king-size bed in the other room in front of a television and an episode of Love Boat, one of their favorites; they wanted so much to believe in romance, particularly after the failure of mine with their mother. And also perhaps after the failure of mine with a long line of women after Lorie. Still, they were both asleep inside of a minute.
Stirring under the sheets, I quickly became aware that pajamas for the adults hadn’t been on the “to buy” list the night before. I glanced at the clock: nine-thirty. I was waking up later each morning. Tomorrow was day seven. I might not wake up at all tomorrow.
Stephanie’s skin was like liquid silk, her body warm when she rolled onto me, warm everywhere except her cold feet. Our lovemaking was ferocious, even more so than last evening at the Sunset Motel. This morning we had the added impetus of being on the run as well as the knowledge that time was running out. Afterward as I lay there recovering from the exertion, I said, “Me, too. I love you, too.”
She rolled her head over to look at me. We were lying side by side. “You don’t have to say it.”
“I’m a guy. Believe me, I know I don’t have to say it. I want to say it.”
“You know, you’re a lot nicer than you think you are.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“But you are.”
My ears were ringing louder than ever today. Besides the burns, there was a tweak in my right knee and another in my lower back. Minor quibbles. Except for these, I felt like a million bucks.
“Jim, I’ve been thinking. Do you still want to spend the whole day with your girls?”
“I do and I don’t. We need to work on this if there’s still a chance, but I can’t let my girls down, either. They need time with me. Especially if this is my last day.”
“Let me call Donovan and my aunt. This is Saturday, but I have cell phone numbers for both of them.”
“When you talk to Donovan, find out if he has Achara’s papers or if they were with her in the fire. I think she was on to something before she died. She gave me a string of numbers to memorize. They may be part of a chemical formula, maybe for an antidote. And I need to call Steding in Tennessee. He must have proof by now that JCP, Inc., was involved there. For me, that’s the final part to the puzzle. If Jane’s knows all about this, maybe there’s an antidote and they have it.”
“If they haven’t given it to us by now, they’re not likely to.”
“No.”
“Can I ask a favor, Jim?”
“What?”
“I know a lawyer here in town. I treated his son in Tacoma at the hospital. I’ve called him and he’s agreed to come out and write up some papers for us to sign.”
“What sort of papers?”
“I know how worried you are about your girls. . . . Well, if you don’t make it. I’d like you to assign me as their guardian.”
“You’d do that?”
“Listen. I’ve lived my life pretty much in a vacuum. I don’t go out. I don’t see people. I work and then I work some more. It’s been like that since high school, when my parents died. It