Spencerville

Five minutes before, Keith would have given himself and Annie very good odds of getting away without mishap. Now the odds had dropped to about fifty-fifty, and that wasn't a gamble he normally took.

Chapter Thirty

County Road 6 was straight and flat, and there was very little traffic on a Sunday night, so Keith kept his high beams on and pushed the Blazer up to seventy miles per hour.

Annie asked, "Is everything all right? Don't humor me."

Keith replied, "I didn't want to worry your sister."

"Everything is not all right."

"Well, the question is — how long will it take Cliff to figure it out? Maybe you can answer that question."

She thought a moment, then replied, "It's nearly eight o'clock, and I've never been out this late without him knowing exactly where I was."

Keith didn't reply.

She said, "I guess we really needed that running start."

"Takes the fun out of it."

She looked at him and saw he was smiling, so she smiled, too, but both of them knew it wasn't funny. Finally, he said, "Fun aside, this is more risk than you had to take, and I'm responsible for that. If I could get you to my farm without being seen, I'd do it and tell you to go home tonight."

"No. Even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm with you, and I'm never going back there again. And you're not responsible for me saying yes tonight. Okay?"

"Okay."

They continued east and left Chatham County, crossing into Dawson County. Keith asked her, "What will your trusting spouse do next?"

"You mean Peter, Peter, the pumpkin eater? Well, he'll call my car phone every two minutes — that's why he was so generous about having Baxter Motors install it. In between those calls, he'll call my parents, relatives, and friends, including Pastor and Mrs. Schenk, for instance. He's absolutely shameless when it comes to tracking me down, and he's not very subtle when he gets people on the phone."

Keith smiled and said, "They must all think you fool around."

"No, they think he's nuts." She added, "He thinks he's embarrassing me and punishing me for not checking in with him every time I go somewhere. But he makes a fool of himself."

"Better yet, it takes time to make those calls... what order is Terry on the list?"

"Usually second, after my parents. So he's got about a dozen more calls to make."

Keith nodded.

Annie smiled. "Terry finally did it." She mimicked Terry's deeper voice and said, "Cliff, go to hell." She laughed. "That will put him into a rage for about half an hour. He doesn't like women who back-talk him."

"Who does?"

"You do. And you love to give it right back. But you're not mean — you're funny." She added, "You still make me laugh." She put her hand on his cheek and gave him a pinch.

He smiled. They were making good time, and he figured that Interstate 75 was about ten more miles.

She picked up the teddy bear and put it on his lap. "Do you remember this?"

He glanced at the brown and white stuffed animal. "State fair," he guessed.

"County fair."

"Right."

"Shooting gallery. You were very good. Do you still like to shoot?"

"No. I think I got it out of my system."

"I can imagine."

She asked him, "Are you armed?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't intend to have a shootout with the police."

"But what if it's him?"

"We're not going through his little kingdom."

"He'd go anywhere, Keith, if he was looking for us."

"Well, are you armed?"

She didn't reply immediately, then said, "I was yesterday morning. Tonight was sort of a surprise."

He thought a moment, then asked her, "Would you have used it?"

"If he tried to stop us from being together, I would."

"Well... I would, too. To tell you the truth, I might have brought my pistol, but it's missing. I think your husband burglarized my house."

"What? You mean he went into your house?"

"I can't be certain it was him, but he's on a real short list of suspects." He added, "We don't need a gun. We'll be fine."

"All right..."

He glanced at her and said, "About two months ago, about the time I arrived, there was a firearm incident at your house, in the early morning hours. Do you want to tell me about that?"

She put her head down and stared at the floor a long time, then replied, "No, I don't."

"Okay."

"I will... but not now."

"Fine."

"How did you know?"

"It's a small town."

"People talk about the Baxters, don't they?"

"You know they do. You're always the saint. He's always Satan."

"And you're my guardian angel."

"Thank you. I'll try." He still needed more information, and he asked her, "What will he do after he harasses everyone with phone calls? Would he call his own police force?"