day?” Max asked.
This impossible encounter was a nightmare. No…she would not even think about nightmares. It was up to her to change what was happening.
“Annie?” Max said. His smile did not disguise tension. He’d not only heard every word Bobby said, he must have drawn conclusions she couldn’t bear to think about.
She breathed in through her nose and concentrated. “Hi, Max.” If she was lucky, she sounded more cheerful than she felt. “This afternoon was great, thanks. Business is steady and that always makes me happy. Kelly came in. He knows how to make a person feel good.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Max said but nothing about him relaxed.
He was worried about Bobby, she could feel it.
“I came here to meet with Spike. There’s still no news on Michele Riley.”
Of course, Michele. His concern for her made him anxious and that’s what she was picking up on. “I’m so sorry,” Annie said, constantly aware of Bobby listening. “Kelly talked about it, too. All of you have to be upset.”
Max’s dark, dark eyes flickered away for a moment. “We are,” he said.
Annie looked at his mouth. The corners turned up even when he was troubled. “What are they doing to find her?” she said.
“Searching,” he said. “And checking with friends. The usual procedure, I guess.”
“How about that coffee?” Bobby said with a forced laugh. “Guess you aren’t in so much of a hurry to leave after all.”
She continued to look at Max and said, “Bobby’s right. I’d better get on. ‘Bye.”
Max turned his head to see where Annie went. She got into the Volvo and drove out of sight, but didn’t appear to head back down Main Street. Out of sight from the shop windows, one small street cut to and from the square. Annie might have taken that but she could just as well have used the alley that led to parking places behind this building. He wanted Annie to have gone home rather than set off to drive aimlessly.
He didn’t want to look at Bobby and even more, he didn’t want to talk to him. The sensation that he’d like to slam him against a wall and demand to know why he was bothering Annie unsettled him. Max got up and went to the counter. Wazoo stood opposite him at once and kept her voice way down. “There’s really big trouble,” she said. “That Annie, she is in danger.”
“What kind of danger?” Max leaned to bring their heads closer.
“I get these notions. Folks laugh at me, but they not thinkin’. Too many times I see things that’s goin’ to happen. Sorta see ‘em.”
Max waited for her to continue.
Wazoo took her time before she said, “It’s just I see somethin’ happenin’, or feel things. My mama was the same. And her mama. This time it’s worse—stronger. Makin’ me weary tryin’ to sort it all out. I don’t know what’s goin’ on, or what’s goin’ to happen, but it’s somethin’ terrible. And your Annie’s in the middle of it.” She paused and moved far enough back to see his face. “You, too, maybe. But what I’m pickin’ up is comin’ from her.”
He was a surgeon, a scientist, and he didn’t buy into this drivel. “Thanks,” he said and smiled at Wazoo. Your Annie, that’s what she had said. She had no reason to link them as a couple unless Annie had said something to her, and Annie seemed as eager as he was to keep their association quiet.
“You and Annie got something going?” Bobby said.
Max looked at the other man who stared right back. “What?” Max said. “No, you don’t have to say any more. I don’t know who you are and I don’t want to know.” The guy was looking for trouble.
“Of course you don’t. You’re afraid I’m competition and I reckon you’re right.”
The tingle down Max’s spine was a natural reaction to confronting a clearly unhinged man. He composed himself. “Good night to you,” he said.
“I plan for it to be a great night.” The innocent look slipped into a leer.
Max glanced at Wazoo, and thought of Annie. She might or might not be alone upstairs but he wasn’t comfortable leaving while this guy was here. “It’s later than I thought,” he said, checking his watch. “Are you about to close up?”
“In another hour,” Wazoo said.
He looked down into the bakery case and pretended to be deep in thought. “Guess I should eat something before I go. I may not get time later. I’ll have a piece of spinach pie.”
“That pie is collard greens with onions, red beans and boudin sausage.”
Max didn’t like the sound of it, but he didn’t care that much, either. “Fine,” he said. “And I’ll have some iced tea, if you’ve got it. Does everything feel kind of still to you?”
“Uh-huh,” Wazoo said. “Me, I won’t be shocked if there’s another storm.”
“I hope you’re wrong,” Max said and returned to his table.
Wazoo came to clean away the dirty dishes. This time she didn’t have anything to say.
He sensed the man, Bobby, staring at him and looked back. He hadn’t expected to see a smile, but the guy smiled broadly at him.
Max nodded, but wished Roche was with him. His psychiatrist brother’s reaction to this man might be interesting.
“Annie doesn’t talk much about herself these days, I reckon,” Bobby said. “That doesn’t surprise me, no sir. When a body’s tryin’ to get lost it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to talk about the past. What d’you say to that? Had she told you much about where she came from and what she did?”
“Why are you pushing this?” Max said. “Annie doesn’t owe me any explanations about her life before I met her.”
“I bet you’ve fucked her. She fucks most men she meets.”
Max shot out of his seat and made it to Bobby in a couple of steps. “A man, a man that is, doesn’t talk about a woman that way. He doesn’t use language like that in public places when there’s a lady present, either.”
“Lady?” Bobby’s expression turned blank.
“What’s the matter with you?” Max said. “Did Annie turn you down and you can’t get over it?” He stared down at him and breathed hard.
Bobby laughed. “I don’t guess so, buddy. Oh, no. That girl was all fire between my legs, but you’d know about that.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“I’m lookin’ out for you, is all. Wouldn’t want a fine man suckered in by real used merchandise.”
Max grabbed Bobby by the shoulders and tipped him until the front legs of his chair left the floor. Bobby flung out his arms and tried
