Dead Voices (25 page)

She let herself melt into Frank’s tightening hug. “You’re the one who said it was funny how life can do stuff like that to you,” she whispered huskily.

They were standing at the sandy edge of the pond. Frank gently lowered his face to hers and gave her a long, moist kiss on the lips. The tip of his tongue darted playfully against her lips, and Elizabeth opened her mouth slightly. The sensation caught her by surprised curious mixture of familiarity and strangeness, as if she had kissed this man just yesterday and as if he were a total stranger. Responding cautiously, she let her hands gradually tighten around his waist as she pressed her hips tightly against him.

Sweet Jesus, this is ridiculous! This is class-A crazy
! she thought, even as their kiss lengthened and their embrace tightened. She could feel the hardening of Frank’s crotch as it pressed roughly against her belly. She told herself, even if this wasn’t wrong, it was too soon, too fast. In spite of that, she started moving her hips gently back and forth with an easy, sensuous glide. Warm, moist heat spread throughout her body, and she had the dizzying thought that this was how it should have been all along.

Their lips separated for a moment even as their breaths washed warmly over each other’s face. Elizabeth tilted her head to one side, and with that invitation, Frank kissed a line along the edge of her jaw and down her neck. Elizabeth’s view of the sky got hazy when she felt his hands slide up and begin unbuttoning her blouse. Stars swam like watery diamonds when she felt Frank’s lips travel lower. In an instant, she was on fire, and only distantly did she blame him for remembering how she liked to be touched.

“You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed about this,” he whispered. His breath was hot in her ear as she arched her head back, letting his lips travel wherever they wanted to go ... down ... down.

“I ... I ... “ was all she could stammer as she felt him gently lean her backward and, supporting her with his strong arms, lay her down on the sand. Slowly, lovingly, he eased her out of her clothes and then, after taking off his own, covered her with a long, passionate embrace. For Elizabeth, at least, the lovemaking was almost as frightening as it had been the first time. This time, though, it was not out of fear or ignorance; it was because, as he entered her, she realized that it had been much too long since she had surrendered herself so completely to a man ... or had a man surrender himself so completely to her.

3.

“Well, so much for your word of honor,” Elizabeth said an hour later, once they were dressed and walking hand in hand up the beach, back to the car. She swung their hands playfully back and forth as she and Frank both kicked the sand in arcing fans in front of them. The slight chill of the night air cooled the sweat on her skin, making her shiver; but whenever she remembered their passionate lovemaking, she felt a warm, comfortable stirring in her stomach.

“What do you mean, I didn’t keep my word?” Frank asked. He glanced at her and smiled, feeling a rush of confidence as he tightened the grip on her hand.

“I mean —” Elizabeth began, then stopped in her tracks and jabbed his chest with her pointed forefinger. “You said you wouldn’t put it in
all
the way! Ahh ... men!” She shook her head with mock disgust.

Frank shrugged as he laughed and said, “You’re not worried, are you? I mean, you did say you couldn’t get pregnant, right?” Elizabeth felt suddenly deflated. She let her hand drop to her side and sighed heavily. Frank had told her that, other than Linda Martin, he had not been “sleeping around”; and, in spite of her own failing marriage, she had remained faithful to Doug — until tonight. at least. It galled her that his first concern seemed to be whether or not she could get pregnant, as if that was a threat hanging over them.

“Haven’t you realized yet, Frank? There are no free rides,” she said bitterly. “You have to pay for it
all
... eventually.”

“I’m sorry,” Frank said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know you didn’t,” she said. She tried to sound mellow, ut her voice took on a deep rasp as another, older pain, thankfully duller than the more recent pain of Caroline’s death, rose in her mind. After they had made love, she had told him about the “complications” that had arisen when she delivered Caroline — complications which insured she could never get pregnant again. Back then, she had thought that losing the physical potential of having more children was the worst thing she would ever have to face ...

Until the night Caroline died!

He drove her straight home this time, with no more detours; but when they pulled into the driveway of her parents’ home, he was grateful that she didn’t get right out and go up to the house.

“Well,” Elizabeth said, smiling at him in spite of the chill that had settled between them. “This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for tonight.”

She glanced at her watch. It was a little after eleven o’clock. Her parents would be in bed by now, but they had left the front-porch light on. The glow from it faintly outlined Frank’s face as she looked at him. He had a satisfied smile, but she thought there was also a pained tightness around his eyes.

“Maybe we can do it again sometime,” Frank said. “Only next time, I’ll try to remember to throw a blanket into the backseat.”

“Frank ... “ Elizabeth said, drawing out his name because she wasn’t exactly sure what she was about to say. Before she could say more, the night suddenly echoed with a rolling, distant boom that made both of them jump.

“What in the name of God was that?” Elizabeth said, looking nervously around. “It sounded like a cannon or something.” Frank was just as confused as Elizabeth. He leaned over the steering wheel and looked up at the night sky. When the sound didn’t reoccur, he shrugged and said, “I dunno. The flight path for the jetport goes over town sometimes. Maybe it was an airplane ... or maybe just thunder.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain.” Elizabeth said, staring up at the spread of dusty starlight. They waited in silence to see if the sound would come again. When it didn’t, Frank cleared his throat and said, “Anyway, you were about to say ... ?”

Elizabeth looked at him but said nothing.

Frank was watching her expectantly, fearing what she might say. Once it was obvious she was struggling to put her thoughts into words, he took a deep breath and said, “I know, I know. You were about to remind me that you’re still a married woman, and that you don’t think you should be dating me, much less making hot, passionate love to me on the beach, right?”

“Well — sort of,” Elizabeth said. The roaring boom was still echoing in her ears, and she couldn’t stop wondering what it might have been. She looked up at the house to see if either of her parents had awakened.

“But you
are
going to be getting a divorce, right?” Frank asked.

Elizabeth nodded but said nothing as her mind roiled with things she could — and should — say.

“And once you do — well, maybe then I can start hoping we can spend some time together.”

“It’s not that,” Elizabeth finally said, her voice taking on a hard edge. “I mean, if I want to, I can go out with whomever I wish to — now. It’s just that ... “

“That you don’t want to go out with me, is that it?” Frank asked.

“Tonight was a one-shot deal. Kind of like one last time for old time’s sake, huh?”

She heard the tremor in his voice, and it hurt her deeply.

“No — I mean, yes ... I mean — I don’t know,” she stammered as confusion swelled inside her like an ocean tide. “I don’t know what to think right now. I mean, going out tonight — even what we did out at the pond ... It was good — it was
great
, but —” She held her hands helplessly up in front of her face. “I just don’t know! I don’t know what I feel or think anymore!”

“Then it isn’t because of what I said earlier?” Frank asked. “You know, about all that crap that’s been happening around town?” Elizabeth shrugged. “Sure that stuff has me worried. I can’t help but wonder if maybe it is directed at me and if —”

“If it was,” Frank said, assuming an iron-edged tone of voice, “who do you think it might be?”

Elizabeth was stunned. She sat back in the car seat and took a deep breath, letting her lungs fill to capacity before she let the air out in a long, slow whistle.

“Is this something your husband might do?”

“Doug ... ?” Elizabeth said, followed by a short burst of laughter. “No! Don’t be ridiculous!”

Frank rubbed his hands together and said, “Hey! I don’t know him. I mean, I’ve met him a couple of times, but how would I know what he could or couldn’t do?”

“Well, you can be damned sure Doug wouldn’t do something like
that
!” Elizabeth said. “No matter how upset he was about me leaving him, he just ... he just wouldn’t.”

“You’re absolutely sure of that?’ Frank asked, pressing the point. Elizabeth turned to him as she felt a rush of anger. “What the hell is this, an interrogation?”

“No,” Frank said, shaking his head. “Not at all. It’s just that ... “

“Maybe that’s what all of this has been about, huh?” Elizabeth said. “Maybe you just wanted to see me on official business, and you thought if you could lull me by taking me out to the movies and the
pond
— that you could pry some information out of me! Is that what you had in mind?”

“Now
you’re
being ridiculous,” Frank said with anger and hurt in his voice. He wanted to say more but fell silent.

Taking his feeble denial and his silence to mean that that had been his intention exactly, and that she had found him out, Elizabeth sighed sadly and said, “And to think that I let you ... that I let
myself
get suckered in!”

She reached for the door latch. The car door clicked open, and the dome light came on; but before she could shift to get out, Frank reached across the seat and grabbed her wrist.

“It wasn’t that at all! You’ve got to believe me, Elizabeth!” he said. His grip on her arm was firm but not painful.

“I’m not so sure I do,” she snapped back. The bright light inside the car hurt her eyes, and she found it impossible to look straight at him. She was trembling with anger. “And to think that I joked with you about trying to ‘take advantage of me’! That’s
exactly
what you were trying to do. Getting laid was the easy part! Will you please let go of me!” She struggled to break his grasp, but he held on.

Frank’s voice trembled as he spoke. “If that’s what you think tonight was all about —” he stammered, but then words failed him. He wanted to pull her to him and smother her with kisses, if only to convince her that he hadn’t had any ulterior motives tonight other than the obvious. Beyond that, he wanted her to know that, even after twenty years, he
did
still love her ... more than ever!

“What the hell do you
think
I’m supposed to think, then? You tell me!” Elizabeth said, her voice hissing with anger and hurt. “You make me feel as though ... as though
everything
is a setup just to get me to talk.”

“It isn’t,” Frank said. “It wasn’t. You’ve got to believe me.” He felt a slight measure of relief when she stopped pulling away from him. Easing the car door shut enough to turn off the dome light, she leaned back in the seat and took another deep, shuddering breath. Frank let go of her wrist and settled back in his own seat, feeling flushed and confused. He hated the way she could do that to him.

“So tell me the truth. Do you suspect that Doug had something to do with what happened out there?” Elizabeth asked. “I’ll bet you do, and you think I’ll be able to help you find something out about it, right?”

Frank shrugged and looked at her helplessly. “I have no idea what leads the detectives are checking out. Look, Elizabeth, I was unfortunate enough to be one of the patrolmen who was out there that night; but after that, as soon as the detectives arrived on the scene, it was all out of my hands. I went back to the station and filled out an incident report, and that’s it as far as I’m concerned. Except ... “

“Except what?”

“Except I don’t think it’s over,” Frank said softly. “And I think if there’s even a possibility that you are in danger of ... of something, then I want to help.”

Elizabeth was still simmering, but she controlled her anger as she asked, “So then why even mention Doug? I mean-why even bring him up?”

Frank forced a tight laugh but checked his impulse to reach out and take her hand, gently this time. “Like a lot of things I’ve said to you in the past, it was just me, saying things without really thinking them through. I’m pissed at myself for spoiling tonight. I wanted it to be perfect.”

Elizabeth sniffed loudly but couldn’t deny the sincerity in his voice.

“It’s just that, as soon as I even mentioned what had happened,” Frank continued, “you said something kinda off-handed about how you thought it might be directed at you, and — quite honestly — that’s what has me worried, too.”

“Do the detectives working on the case think it’s directed at me?” Elizabeth asked. Her voice was constricted, and she looked at him with terror-filled eyes that glinted in the dark.

“They aren’t exactly forthcoming with what’s going on,” Frank said with a light laugh. “I don’t know. Jesus Christ, Elizabeth! You get me so worked up I can’t even think or talk straight. As far as I know, you don’t have anything to worry about, okay? Believe me, if I
knew
you were in any kind of danger, I’d tell you. I was just asking, casually, if you thought your husband could have done something like that-to get even with you or whatever. It was a simple, innocent question, and I should never have even brought it up.”

“But if you suspect Doug, then why don’t you suspect me, as well?” Elizabeth asked. “I mean, nothing even happened out at the cemetery until 1 came home. How do you know I’m not the one who dug up my uncle’s body’?”

“I don’t
know
it wasn’t you,” Frank replied simply.

“Oh, great ... just great! Who are you, Inspector Clouseau? ‘I suspect everyone; I suspect no one!’ “

“I don’t suspect anyone!” Frank said, his voice taking on an edge. “I filed my report, and that was the end of it for me. Look, Elizabeth, I don’t want you to think that I had any ulterior motives about tonight, all right? I just — it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, and I just wanted to spend some time with you. I want to spend more time with you because I still —”