Anything Can Be Dangerous (20 page)

The two months that followed were a
painful time for Karyn. The blow she had taken to the stomach had
brought on a miscarriage, but no permanent damage. There was an
infection from the bite wound on her thigh that was slow to respond
to medication. The doctor advised against plastic surgery until the
scar had completely healed.

The police, using their new, more
sympathetic procedures for rape victims, made that part of Karyn’s
ordeal as easy as they could. Her description of the rapist led
them at once to Max Quist, the handyman, who had a record of
assaults on women. Confronted with Karyn’s positive identification,
Quist pleaded guilty.

It was psychologically that Karyn
suffered most. Twice-weekly sessions with an analyst helped a
little, and group sessions brought her together with other women
who had been raped. Still, her recovery was painfully slow. She
would wake up in the night, eyes wide and staring, and scream that
someone was biting her. Of all the violations of her body, it was
the horror of the teeth sinking into her flesh that she could not
erase. She returned to work, but her life at home with Roy
suffered. She could not feel comfortable in their
lovemaking.

The analyst suggested to Karyn and Roy
that they go away from Los Angeles for a while. Restful, rural
surroundings, he said, would be the best thing for Karyn’s full
recovery. The people at Karyn’s hotel were understanding, giving
her a six month leave of absence. Roy worked out an arrangement
with his firm, and they began taking trips out of the city to look
for a place.

A friend in the real-estate business
told them about an available house in a town to the north called
Drago. They drove up to see it, but Karyn was not enthusiastic. The
house was weathered and weed-grown, a mile outside the town, which
Karyn thought looked like a cheerless cluster of wooden buildings.
Roy, however, took to the place immediately. He assured Karyn that
the house could be fixed up so she would love it. With some
misgivings, she acquiesced.

For the next couple of weeks Roy made
the trip alone to see that work on the house was being done to his
specifications. He did not want Karyn to see it, he said. She would
be surprised. When it was time to move in, he left a day early to
see to last minute details. Chris Halloran volunteered to drive
Karyn up to the house.

It was a crisp November day when Chris
headed north on Interstate 5 with Karyn beside him in the Camaro.
In the back Lady stood with her front paws braced on the seat and
her face thrust into the wind from the open window.

They left the freeway for a two-lane
blacktop road that snaked up into the Tehachapi Mountains. The
outside air grew chill as they climbed.

“
Do you want me to roll up
the window?” Chris asked.

Karyn moved her head, letting the wind
play with her loose blond hair. “No, it feels good.
Clean.”

As they drove on the evergreen forest
pushed in closer on both sides of the road.

“
How much farther is the
town?” said Chris.

“
A few miles. Just over the
ridge up ahead and down into the valley. Don’t blink or you’ll miss
it.”

“
I don’t doubt it,” Chris
said. “I’ve lived in California all my life, and I never heard of
Drago.”

“
Neither had I,” Karyn
said. “We were lucky to find the place. The house has been empty
since the old owners died four years ago. Roy fell in love with
it.”

“
What about you, Karyn? How
do you like the place?”

“
It’s all right, I
suppose.”

“
You don’t sound
convinced.”

“
I haven’t seen it since
Roy had it fixed up. Anyway, it’s quiet and out of the way. That’s
what we wanted. And yet it’s only a two hour drive from Los
Angeles, so Roy can commute easily.”

“
You won’t mind being alone
when he comes into L.A.?”

“
Why should I? I’ve got to
learn to be by myself sometime.” The words came out more sharply
than Karyn had intended.

“
That’s right,” Chris said.
“It’s none of my business, anyway.”

They reached the crest of the ridge
and the road leveled off for a stretch before descending into the
valley on the other side. The air was pungent with the scent of
balsam. Karyn reached out and touched Chris’s hand.

“
Pull over for a minute,
can you?”

Just before the road started down
Chris eased the Camaro onto the shoulder and parked next to the
metal guardrail. Below them lay a narrow valley, thick with
evergreens. Where the road straightened along the floor of the
valley a dozen or so toy-like buildings clustered in a clearing of
the forest. Several narrow lanes branched off the main road. They
could be seen only faintly through the heavy overgrowth. Here and
there along the lanes a tiny house sat on a patch of cleared ground
reclaimed from the forest. Although the valley was in shadow, no
lights shone in the town of Drago.

“
It doesn’t look like much
from up here, does it?” Karyn said.

Chris did not answer.

“
May I have a
cigarette?”

He handed her one and lit it for
her.

Karyn took several quick puffs before
speaking. “I really do want to talk to someone, Chris. Someone who
cares about me as a person, not as a case history to read at the
next psychiatric convention.”

She mashed the cigarette into the
ashtray. When she spoke again the words came out in a rush. “Chris,
Roy and I haven’t had good sex together since that day. There’s
nothing wrong physically, but it’s just not working. Roy and I have
talked and talked about it, and God knows we do try. We go to bed
and I want it so much… I go through all the motions. That’s the
trouble, all I’m doing is going through the motions. There’s no
feeling, and Roy knows it. He can’t help but know it… he’s not a
fool. He’s been awfully sweet and patient with me, but I can’t
expect him to put up with this forever. I just don’t seem to be
getting any better.”

“
Did you talk the problem
over with your doctor?” Chris asked.

“
Oh, hell yes.”

“
Did he give you any
advice?”

“
Nothing I couldn’t
have gotten out of
The Reader’s
Digest
. Good, sound, logical advice, but I still don’t
feel anything.”

“
Give it a while,” Chris
said. “Two months isn’t much time to get over what happened to
you.”

Karyn nodded distractedly.

“
Anyway,” Chris went on,
“that’s what you’re moving out here to the woods for, isn’t it?
Rest and rejuvenation?”

With an encouraging smile, he started
the car, pulled back onto the road, and drove down into the valley.
As they descended, the mountain loomed up behind and cut off the
sun. The air grew cold, and they rolled up the windows. When the
road leveled out into the main street of Drago, Chris switched on
the headlights against the gathering gloom. They drove slowly
along, past the buildings, which had a dusty, unused look. There
were a couple of stores, a café, a gas station, a tavern, and a
theater with an empty marquee. The only sound they heard was the
singing of their tires over the pavement.

Karyn shivered slightly in the cool
dusk of the tree-lined street. In the backseat Lady whined softly.
Karyn reached back without turning around and rubbed the soft fur
at the dog’s throat.

“
Where is everybody?” Chris
asked. His eyes ranged along the blank fronts of the
buildings.

“
I don’t know.” Karyn
shivered again.

“
Is your house on this
street?”

“
No, it’s up one of these
little cross streets. They all look alike, though, and I’m not sure
which it is. We’ll have to ask someone.”

Chris eased the Camaro along for a
hundred yards, then braked to a stop as a powerful looking man in
khakis and a Stetson appeared from the shadows.

Karyn rolled down her window and
smiled at the man.

“
Hello, there. I wonder if
you could tell us how to get to the old Fenno house?”

For a moment she thought the man had
not heard. He did not answer her smile, nor did he make any move to
respond. His eyes continued to watch from the shadow of the
Stetson. Then the man came toward them, moving with a deliberate
measured gait. He planted both hands on the windowsill and looked
in. Involuntarily, Karyn drew back in the seat.

“
You want the Fenno place?”
the man said. His voice rumbled up from the deep barrel
chest.

“
Yes. I’m Karyn Beatty. My
husband and I are leasing the house, and I can’t remember which of
these side roads it’s on.”

The man thumbed his hat brim up a
fraction, and a faint smile twitched on his mouth. “Pleased to meet
you. I’m Anton Gadak. I’m sort of the sheriff here in Drago. Fact
is, I’m sort of the whole police force. But then, we don’t need all
that much policing.” He looked pointedly past Karyn at
Chris.

“
This is our friend Chris
Halloran. He drove me in from Los Angeles. My husband is waiting at
the house.”

Anton Gadak nodded, apparently
satisfied. “The Fenno place is up the last road that turns off to
the left, just before you start up into the hills
again.”

Karyn thanked him and Chris started
away from the curb. He found the last turnoff with some difficulty.
It was little more than a wide weed-covered path into the
woods.

“
As I remember, it’s up
here about a mile,” Karyn said.

They passed two weathered old houses,
dark and nearly hidden from the road by the brush. At each Chris
looked over at Karyn, who shook her head. They came at last to a
small clearing with a white frame cottage trimmed in apple green. A
fireplace chimney trailed a ribbon of pale smoke across the
slate-gray sky. Lights shone in all the windows, pushing the forest
back. Chris pulled onto the clearing and parked behind Roy Beatty’s
Galaxie.

Karyn clapped her hands delightedly.
“What an improvement! You wouldn’t believe the dismal brown color
the house was when we first came out. And the whole place was
strangled with brush and weeds. Roy’s done a marvelous
job.”

Chris got out of the car and walked
back to open the trunk. As he brought out Karyn’s bags the front
door of the little house swung open and Roy Beatty came out. He
shielded his eyes against the headlights for a moment, then waved a
welcome and hurried toward the car.

Karyn jumped out and ran to his arms.
“Roy, it’s… it’s beautiful.”

“
Didn’t I tell you it had
possibilities?” said Roy. “Wait till you see the
inside.”

With his arm around Karyn, Roy walked
back to the car. “Come on in, Chris, and take a look at how us
rural folk live.”

“
Thanks, but I’ve got to
get back to the city.”

“
Are you sure? There’s
steaks in the freezer, and the martini makings are already set
out.”

“
It’s tempting, but I’ll
pass this time.”

“
Got a date with a live
one?”

Chris smiled and gave a noncommittal
wave of his hand.

“
Bring her out some
weekend,” Roy said. “We’ve got an extra bed and plenty of
blankets.”

“
Maybe I’ll do
that.”

Roy hefted Karyn’s two suitcases, then
looked around, puzzled. “Where’s Lady?”

“
She’s been acting funny,”
Karyn said. “I don’t think she knows what to make of the
woods.”

At that moment the dog put her nose
out for a tentative sniff of the surroundings, then bounded out of
the car and frolicked happily around Roy’s feet. He knelt and
scratched her ear.

While Roy and Karyn watched the dog,
Chris slid into his car and pulled the door closed. Roy walked over
and reached through the window to shake his hand.

“
Thanks for bringing the
family out, buddy,” he said. “Sorry you can’t stay.”

“
Maybe next time. I hope
the place works out for you, Roy.”

“
It will,” Roy assured
him.

Karyn came over and kissed him lightly
on the cheek. Chris backed out onto the narrow lane and drove back
the way they had come. Soon the glow of the Camaro’s taillights was
lost among the trees.

“
I wish Chris had stayed
for dinner,” she said as they started toward the house. “I think
he’s lonely.”

“
Are you kidding? A
handsome thirty-year-old bachelor with a good paying job and an
apartment at the marina? You call that lonely?”

“
You sound a little
jealous, mister.”

Roy set down one of her bags, and gave
her a swat on the bottom. “That’s right, I can hardly wait to dump
you so I can grow a mustache, buy a Porsche, load up on stereo
equipment, and be a swinging bachelor.”

Laughing together, they continued up
to the front stoop. Roy stood aside and gestured her into the
living room.

Karyn started in, then hesitated. She
ran her fingers down the surface of the heavy wooden door. Under
the fresh green paint a series of deep vertical grooves like scars
slashed the panel at about shoulder height.