No. Scratch that.
Yes, he could.
He wanted to be angry with her for not trusting him, but he knew how ridiculous that was. She had every reason not to trust him. “Well, I’m sorry to bother you this late, Eric.”
“Hell, it ain’t no bother. I’m just disappointed you can’t make it out. I could use a wingman.”
Dane looked down the hall through the open door of the bathroom, and Jackson scooped up an armful of depleting bubbles and made himself a big, sparkly Afro. Dane held up a finger and mouthed the words, “Wait a minute. I’m on the phone.” Jackson pushed the suds off his head and stared down at his reflection in the cloudy water as Dane sat down on the sofa. “After an entire day of getting kicked in the nuts with this case, I could use the time out, but maybe next time.”
“I thought you were working the airport homicide with Velasquez and them. Ain’t that shit figured out?”
“Sorta. August—Director O’Barr—put us on a missing kid. The dead guy at the airport has a little brother. We followed a lead up here to a farm owned by someone I know. It’s a long story.”
“A farm?” Talbott said, as if he’d never heard of such a thing. “How did it turn out? You find anything?”
“Not what I was looking for. At least, not yet.”
“Well, I can’t believe you got Roselita Velasquez to go out to a farm. That woman breaks a fingernail and goes ballistic. I can’t see her stepping a foot into a place that might get shit on her heels. She’s particular that way.”
Dane laughed. Eric was right. “It’s funny you say that, Eric.” He took another sip of his beer and pushed the screen door open. “But to tell you the truth, I like her. She puts up a pretty good front, and I guess she has to working around all us humps, but she’s good police.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like her. I said she was uptight, that’s all. You know she plays for the other team, right?” A pause on the line. “Kirby, you know what I mean?”
“She’s a lesbian, Eric.”
“Right.”
“So wouldn’t that make her a member of our team?”
Another pause on the line. “Huh?”
“Never mind, man. Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Right. Anyway, I ain’t talking shit about her or nothing. I like gay people. Chicks or whatever, I’m just saying, I can’t picture that one out in the pastures, milking cows and shit, wearing those thousand-dollar suits of hers. That chick is all about presentation.”
Dane was done with this conversation. He felt the breeze come in through the screen door. The night was going to be cold, he thought. He saw Misty’s jacket lying over the arm of the sofa and suddenly regretted everything he’d said to her. He’d told her so, but he hadn’t actually felt it until just then. If the roles had been reversed—if he’d found out she was sick and had kept it from him—he would’ve reacted exactly the same way. He hoped Jenn didn’t have her out all night. They needed to talk this out. Dane missed a little of what Eric was saying on the phone, but he didn’t care. He sipped his beer and waited for a break in whatever story he was telling to cut him off and let him go.
“Shit, Kirby, I’m just running off at the mouth, so I’m gonna shut up and get back into the game over here. And hey, you want to fuck with Rosey? Do me a favor.”
“What’s that?” Dane said as a courtesy. He had no intention of “fucking with Rosey.”
“Before you roll out of there, take her over to Black Mountain. There’s a drive-through Safari Park over there where the llamas and zebras and shit eat right out of your car window. If you think getting her to go to a farm was something, I’m telling you she will have a coronary if she gets llama slobber on one of those silk shirts of hers. That, my friend, would be awesome.”
Dane froze on the porch. “Hold up. What? A what kind of drive-through?”
“It’s a zoo—right off the interstate. The place is awesome, but Velasquez will—”
“No, I mean, what did you call it?”
“The Safari? That’s what it’s called. The Black Mountain.”
“Do they have birds?”
“I guess so. It’s a zoo.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“What? What’s happening right now?”
“Nothing. Listen, I’ve got to go. I appreciate the call, Eric, really.”
“Whatever you say, Kirby. Last chance, and this is my final offer, beers and blondes, on me. This place stays open twenty-four seven.”
Dane leaned back more on the doorframe. “Thanks, but no thanks, Eric. I’m happy with what I’ve got at home.”
“Until she fucks a dentist.”
Dane laughed. He knew he shouldn’t have. It wasn’t funny. “Have fun, man, and be safe—don’t drive.”
“Scout’s honor, Kirby. I couldn’t if I wanted to. The ex took the Malibu.”
Dane ended the call and leaned his forearms down on his knees. He sat there for a second alone on the ramshackle steps and took one last pull from the Blue Moon.
“You know, you shouldn’t be so hard on her,” Gwen said. She sat next to him on the porch, her yellow dress perfect and unsullied by the dirty stoop, her dark honey-streaked hair hanging loose over her shoulders.
“Not now, Gwen,” Dane said.
“Don’t get snippy with me. I’m not the one keeping me here, Dane. You are.”
Dane closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, uh-uh. Don’t do that,” Gwen said. “You’ve got to stop seeing only what you want to see. That girl loves you. How many people find that twice in their life?”
“She’s not you,” Dane said, his eyes still closed. He wasn’t sure, if he opened them, if she would vanish or steal his breath. He also wasn’t sure which he’d prefer.
“Of course she’s not me, silly. I’m a supernova. No one can be me—but I’m also dead. You’re not. She’s not. So why don’t you wake up and see what’s right in front of your face?”
“I don’t want to see it,” Dane nearly yelled at the empty stoop as he opened his eyes and realized he’d just wished her away. “Fuck,” he said into his beer bottle before turning it up. He took a hard swallow and nearly choked on it when Misty walked out of the shadows beside the trailer.
“Let me guess. You’re talking to her again, right?”
“Jesus, Misty, you scared the hell out of me. I thought you were going to the store with Jenn.”
“I did, but I thought I’d come back and see if we could talk like adults.”
“Where’s Jenn?”
“She’s at Granny’s.” She pointed at the empty bottle in his hand. “That’s new.”
Dane held the bottle out in front of him. When he stood, he realized the damn thing had given him a buzz. “Yeah, well, it’s been a shitty day.”
“I know the feeling. You gonna tell me who that was?”
He looked at the phone in his other hand. “That? Nobody. Just someone from work. You could’ve just asked me whose number it was instead of calling it, by the way. What were you going to say when he answered?”