Love in a Small Town (34 page)

“I think everything’s fine, but make certain you lock the doors anyway,” Tommy Lee said.

“I will. I promise.”

Molly’s heart swelled at his attentiveness. She looked at him, then laid her head against his shoulder.

“I don’t know what I would have done without you tonight.”

Tommy Lee said, “You’re my wife, and she’s your sister.” But he said more by putting his hand into her hair at her neck and pressing her against him.

There were so many emotions swirling inside her. Molly held on to Tommy Lee and willed herself to savor the bond that burned bright and shining between them in that moment. In that moment she experienced a feeling of total rightness, so pure and precious she wanted to stay in it forever.

Then Tommy Lee put his hand beneath her chin and lifted her face and kissed her, sweetly and seductively. Her head was spinning when he drew back. They gazed at each other for a long minute.

“You’ll be okay here,” Tommy Lee said. “Just lock the doors like I said. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He slipped away from her. She reached for his hand. “Tommy Lee . . ." The words were confused inside her. She didn’t truly know what it was she wanted to say.

He bent and kissed her cheek. She felt his smile in the darkness. “Me, too,” he said. “Now get on inside. Get some sleep.”

She let him go reluctantly, squeezing his hand one last time before he broke away. She watched as he got into the Corvette and turned it around. Before the taillights disappeared, she walked back to the house. Mama was making them all hot chocolate. She had turned the air conditioner up, “So we can really enjoy his cocoa,” she said. Then, at Molly’s look, she added, “These packages have been in the freezer. I’m sure they are fine.”

* * * *

The way Tommy Lee saw it, he had little choice but to go up and do what he could to take care of Eddie Pendarvis, and the sooner the better. He didn’t think going the legal way was going to produce quick, satisfying results.

His main worry was that Molly might take it into her head to go after Eddie Pendarvis. He knew Molly; once she got wrought up there was almost no limit to what she might do to protect her own. Also, if Pendarvis came after Rennie, he was likely to get Molly, too, because Molly was certain to stick to Rennie like stink on a skunk. Molly’s life was tied to Rennie’s; whatever harm came to Rennie would come double to Molly . . . and would turn Tommy Lee’s life more inside out than it already was. The more Tommy Lee thought about this, the angrier he got at Eddie Pendarvis for wrecking his life.

Sam came with Tommy Lee. They didn’t really have to talk about it. Tommy Lee said he was going, and Sam said he thought he would, too, and came right along while Tommy Lee went to his own house, parked the Corvette, and got his old Chevy pickup. Sam smeared mud on the license plate.

“What did you do that for?” Tommy Lee asked, getting uneasy. Sam doing that made Tommy Lee begin to feel like a criminal. Just because what he was fixing to do could be construed as a criminal act, he didn’t think he needed to start acting like one.

Sam said, “So no one can read it and identify us. Saw it on
Matlock
—you
know that murder mystery show with Andy Griffith.”

The mention of murder startled Tommy Lee. “I wasn’t thinkin’ of killin’ Pendarvis.”

“Oh, I didn’t think you were,” Sam said quickly, and a little relieved. After a minute, he added, “I figure you just plan on goin’ in and scaring him real good.”

“Me? I thought you were comin’ along.”

“I am. I’ll be right behind you, backin’ you up. I hope you don’t plan to beat him up, though. I can’t risk ruinin’ my hands.”

“I’m not certain what we should do,” Tommy Lee said.

He kept thinking about facing Pendarvis. He didn’t like the idea. For one thing, he was afraid he might get shot. And it was funny, but he would really be embarrassed, dead or alive, when Molly found out he got shot trying to face Pendarvis.

Tommy Lee didn’t say it, but he was relieved that Sam was going along. Tommy Lee would have gone alone, but it would be easier with Sam. Just then it occurred to him that only five short days ago, he and Sam had come to blows over Sam’s going after his wife. Now here they were together, Tommy Lee relying on Sam, as if their fight had never happened. It didn’t really seem as if it had ever happened.

After a bit more mulling, Tommy Lee had to say, “I don’t want to get you into trouble, buddy. We aren’t kids anymore. You’re an artist, Sam.”

“And you’re a . . . well, what are you Tommy Lee? Are you a mechanic? Does a mechanic build engines, or just repair them?”

“Both, I guess. But neither of us go around bustin’ heads.”

“I told you, I’m not busting a head.” He held up his hands. “We have to convince. This takes brainpower.”

When they reached Lawton, it was well after midnight and the streets were almost bare of cars. They went to the all-night Wal-Mart Supercenter, where they bought a package of emergency flares, a Louisville Slugger baseball bat, two big, rather soft cantaloupes, two fried chicken dinners, a couple of containers of yogurt, and two soft drinks. Sam remembered they might want to leave a note, so he got a drawing tablet because he could always use one. Tommy Lee’s stomach started bothering him, so he ate a container of yogurt, using the fork from the chicken dinner, before he left the parking lot. Sam had started sketching on the tablet and kept it up as they drove down the street.

Finding where Rennie said Eddie Pendarvis lived in a bungalow in an old neighborhood wasn’t hard. Rennie said Pendarvis drove an eighties dark blue Thunderbird, and by golly one sat right in the drive, beneath an enormous elm tree. The dim, flickering glow showing through the front window indicated Pendarvis had a television going.

Tommy Lee pulled the Chevy to the curb several yards down and across the street from Pendarvis’s house. It fit right in with all the other cars and trucks parked up and down the street. From his rolled tool pouch behind the seat, Tommy Lee took out a modified table knife and a bent wire, which he unwound. He always had to be prepared because Molly had a habit of locking her keys in her car. He got a Bic lighter from the glove box, snugged one of the flares into his back pocket, and took up the other one. Sam got the two cantaloupes and the baseball bat.

They walked quickly, and their boots sounded loud on the pavement. A dog started barking, and then another, and Tommy Lee’s heart started to beat out of his chest. The Thunderbird was locked. Using the table knife and bent wire, Tommy Lee had it open in ten seconds. Sam peeked in the window of the house and sprinted over close enough to whisper that Pendarvis seemed to be asleep in a chair. Tommy Lee lit the flare, tossed it into the seat of the Thunderbird, pushed the door closed. Then he hopped up on the porch from the far side while Sam came from his.

They looked at each other and listened. There was a good glow going in the Thunderbird and the dogs were barking. A murmuring from inside, the television.

Tommy Lee knocked on the door. “Hey, Pendarvis, your car’s on fire.
”
He tried to sound frantic but not too loud.

Noise from inside, the door was flung open. A big man filled the doorway, and Tommy Lee thought,
Oh, no.
He and Sam pushed themselves at Pendarvis. They had the advantage of surprise and of Pendarvis just coming awake. They shoved him into the middle of the room, and Sam closed the door. The man croaked, “My car . . . my car!” Then he was looking wildly at Tommy Lee and Sam. And the baseball bat Sam held high.

Tommy Lee advanced on the man, who to his relief did step backward and looked fearful. Having taken the advantage, Tommy Lee kept on going, as if he were going to walk right over the bigger man. Pendarvis fell back across the arm of a chair. “I’m tellin’ you to lay off Rennie Bennett,” Tommy Lee said. “If you don’t, this is what will happen to your head.”

Sam tossed up a cantaloupe, swung hard with the bat, and smashed the cantaloupe with a sickening thud, sending cantaloupe flesh and seeds flying. Then, grinning wickedly, he did it again, and the entire time, Pendarvis stared, wide-eyed.

“Got the picture?” Tommy Lee said.

Pendarvis nodded.

“It might be good if you went somewhere else to live,” Tommy Lee added, feeling quite full of himself.

Then Tommy Lee and Sam got out of there. Glancing in the rearview mirror to see Pendarvis jerking open the door to his Thunderbird, Tommy Lee pressed the accelerator and headed the Chevy away.

Sam said, “Whooee. I can’t believe we did that.” Tommy Lee eased the spare flare out of his back pocket and grinned. He felt suddenly light-headed. “We didn’t do that—that was two knuckleheaded fools who forgot how old they are.”

“We’re older, but we’re smarter, too,” Sam said, his grin as wide as Tommy Lee’s. He popped the tabs on two of the Coca-Colas and handed Tommy Lee one. “Do you think it worked?”

“God, I hope so,” Tommy Lee answered. “It felt pretty good while we were in the midst of it, but I’m clean out of breath now.”

A little way out of town, Tommy Lee pulled over at a roadside park. He needed to unwind, and he had suddenly gotten really hungry.

Sam said, “Me, too. Threatening a guy really leads to an appetite.”

They ate their chicken dinners and recounted the events, bolstering themselves.

“You know you scared me, buddy,” Sam said. “God, you looked to me like you were gonna kill him.”

Tommy Lee said, “Your grin was an artful touch.”

“It was, wasn’t it,” Sam agreed proudly. Tommy Lee couldn’t quite believe he had done something like he had done. So few times in his life had he done dangerous and outlandish things. His dangerous acts had generally revolved around driving fast and doing stunts with cars, and for him that wasn’t all that dangerous. As for outlandish, well, he couldn’t really say he’d done anything outlandish. He wasn’t an outlandish kind of guy. He supposed the most outlandish thing he had ever done was hiding that bottle of vodka in Molly’s cottage, an act that had nothing to recommend it.

He sure hoped Pendarvis left Rennie alone now. He sure hoped it was over and that he and Molly could get back to the problems of their own lives. He began to feel deflated, as if what he wanted was never going to come about.

Later, as they drove on to Valentine, they discussed telling Molly and Rennie and decided not to. They needed to see how everything came out first.

Chapter 23

Deep Down

Mama called Kaye first thing the following morning. Rennie had asked her not to, but Mama had said, “Of course I’m calling your sister. She’ll want to give her support.”

And Kaye did! She came bursting into their mother’s kitchen, voicing righteous indignation as only Kaye could, damning the perpetrator to everlasting hell and Rennie, if not to sainthood, up near an innocent and misused angel.

“We won’t let this man get away with this, Rennie,” Kaye said. “We’ll sue him, that’s what we’ll do. You can hit a person hardest in the pocketbook. I’ve already spoken to Jaydee, and he’s goin’ to get started on a civil suit. We’ll teach this pervert that he can’t treat our Rennie like this. Here, let me get you another cup of coffee. . . . You are wrung out.”

Good Lord, would wonders never cease? Watching Kaye’s solicitous expression, hearing her righteous words, Molly felt great surprise and even greater relief.

Lillybeth and Season were called and came straight down, and then there they all were in Mama’s kitchen, and Rennie was basking in their attentions. The more of a fuss they made over her, the more she came out from beneath her guilt and shame. Molly hadn’t seen it before, but she saw it now, how Rennie’s shoulders had been drooping and how now she was like a flower hit by sunshine after rain, straightening and opening up.

“A suit is just the thing,” Lillybeth said, agreeing with Kaye for the first time this century. “We can get him for mental anguish like he’s never been gotten before. We’ll teach him he can’t play around with the Collier girls.”

“But court cases take money,” Rennie said, looking worried again. “And can you sue without evidence?”

“A person can start a suit for anything,” Lillybeth said airily. “Don’t worry about the money. I have a lawyer friend who will do it for little or nothin’.”

Kaye put in, “Walter and I will handle the cost, Rennie. I am not going to let this thug get away with terrifyin’ my little sister.”

“What if he just runs away and starts stalkin’ Rennie from a hidden place?” Season said, her eyes wide and round and worried. “What if he stops on Rennie and starts on some other unfortunate woman?”

Molly hadn’t thought of that, and in looking at her sisters, she saw neither had they. Rennie began to hunch over again.

Season continued with her dire scenario. “Starting a lawsuit against him may just set him off and make him come right after Rennie. It won’t be hard to find her down here. Everyone knows us and . . ."

“Season,” Molly broke in, "we're not helpless. We’ll deal with him, one step at a time.”

Then Kaye said, “Well, we’ll just have to go after him. There’s five of us, and only one of him.”

Kaye saying that, and in the tone she used, was surprise enough, but then Mama said, “I know someone." They all turned to her. “Well, I don’t
know
this person, and it
was
years ago, too, but I know someone who knows a person who can be engaged to handle unpleasant people.”

“Mama?”
they all said at once, but, gazing at her mother, Molly wasn’t really surprised. Mama had led a wide and varied life.

And the important thing was that they were for once in agreement, all of them together. Molly glanced around the room, at all of them around the table, Season on the high stool she always preferred, the table covered with china breakfast dishes and the leavings of breakfast Kaye had brought from Hardee’s.

There had been a threat, Molly thought, and they had circled the wagons, and now Rennie was being drawn tight into the circle. Molly hadn’t realized until that moment how much Rennie had been hurting, feeling the odd one out. It was seeing her sister being drawn in and glowing that made her see how it had been. Rennie had been dying on the vine!