I was panting like I’d finished a race as he slid out of me. We lay together in silence for a few peaceful moments.
“Lizbeth,” Eli said, his voice real quiet. “You good?”
“I think you could tell I was ‘good,’ ” I said, not able to hold back a big smile. “You sure were.” It was hard to say something so personal, especially something about sex, but I wanted to give credit where it was due.
Eli looked a little embarrassed, and a lot pleased.
I wondered if Eli would say something more about missing me, because that had really surprised the hell out of me. But if he thought about it, he decided against it. Which was probably for the best, because we had a job to do.
“Lizbeth,” he said ten minutes later, in an entirely different tone. He had showered and he was toweling off. I was brushing my teeth. I turned, raising my brows, since my mouth was busy.
Eli was looking at me silently. He couldn’t seem to go on with his sentence.
As the silence grew in the little room, I even thought of saying, Someday maybe we’ll see each other when we’re not working. But the differences between me and Eli made such a wide chasm, you couldn’t begin to reach across it. It was real silly, real stupid, to even let such a thought in my head.
Eli bent down to me and kissed my forehead, something my mother hadn’t even done when I’d been little. “What do you want to do first today?” he said. If he’d been going to say something different, he’d made up his mind not to.
There were things we had to do, he was right. And they were things I knew how to do.
I said, “First, we need to get Jake’s boyfriend’s name and address from Maddy. We got to send him a telegram about the body. Charlie’s family, too. Also, we need to go around the hotels to see if we spot the gunnie I met on the train, Sarah Byrne. Maybe she saw something while she sat by me on the grass. I got to talk to Harriet Ritter and Travis Seeley. And maybe spot Rogelio.” I had no other ideas. I was counting on some cropping up. “What about you, you got a list?”
Eli looked kind of shifty, which he did when he wasn’t supposed to tell me everything. It was a timely reminder that Eli had an allegiance that trumped any other.
“First, we need to eat and we need some coffee,” Eli said.
So we ate breakfast at a table on the big screened-in porch: sliced peaches in cream, bacon, and pancakes. It was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had.
“Would you like some more coffee, Mrs. Savarov?” our waiter said. For a minute, I didn’t realize he was talking to me.
“Thanks, please pour me some,” I said after an awkward pause.
“And you, Mr. Savarov?”
Eli nodded. “Please.”
The waiter, a short man with gray hair cut close to his scalp, eyed Eli real closely. While the man poured our coffee, Eli put his hand over mine on the table.
I started to pull back, startled, but I remembered we were supposed to be married.
We had sure done some of the things married people do.
I didn’t know what to do with that idea—whether to laugh, or feel wicked.
I didn’t have to pick, though, really. I would always laugh. I didn’t have much respect for a God who would watch you in the bedroom and judge on that. If you weren’t hurting each other, and if neither of you was married to someone else, you were okay having sex. It was a free pleasure, in a world that didn’t have that many.
I managed to smile a little at Eli. He smiled right back, keeping his hand over mine. Mr. Mercer strolled through the tables, talking to guests. He noticed our hand-holding. So he had to see the rings. But we were not among the favored.
I was fine with that.
A young woman was trailing in Mercer’s wake, dark-haired and narrow-faced like him. A daughter, for sure. She was learning how to greet guests herself. We didn’t make her personal greeting list either, but she sure had some eyes for Eli. It was hard to tell from her staring if she liked what she saw or if she thought he’d sprout horns. I saw her speak to our waiter before she strolled back into the reception area.
When the waiter came with our bill, Eli signed it and asked that the charge be put on his room account.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the waiter said. He was trying not to look embarrassed. “The management asks that you settle each charge as it comes up.”
Eli got out his billfold with more calm than I could have shown and gave the waiter cash. In fact, he told the man to keep the extra as a tip.
“That is petty harassment,” Eli said, just loud enough to hear, as we passed Miss Mercer at the desk on our way to the stairs.
We still had an hour before visiting time at the hospital. We’d spread Jake’s papers out to dry the night before, anchoring down the corners with ashtrays and Bibles so the fan wouldn’t blow them around.
The most bloodstained paper was the one that had been in Jake’s chest pocket. I puzzled it out slowly, reading each word out loud to Eli. “Dear Jake, I already miss you and you are just leaving. I bless the day I met you. You are a handsome man inside and out. You have honor and integrity and a beautiful cock.” I decided to read the rest to myself. “More of the same,” I told Eli, trying to sound matter-of-fact. “It’s signed ‘Burke.’ ”
Eli said, “Burke was in love.”
“That makes me sad.” Burke would want to know, as soon as I could get his full name and hometown from Maddy.
There were receipts, too, but I knew where we’d been so they weren’t that interesting. Eli unfolded the other note with his long fingers, the one that had been in Jake’s boot. Eli read it out loud in a voice just above a whisper. “Mr. Tutwiler: When you get to Sally, a representative of mine will meet you and assume responsibility for the cargo. Once you have handed it over, you can return to Texoma. My representative will say ‘Let my people go.’ If you’re approached by someone who doesn’t say that, he’s a thief. Act accordingly.”
It wasn’t signed. This was so aggravating.
“How’d Jake know this letter was actually from your employer?” Eli said.
“Maybe something was enclosed. Or maybe there was something on the envelope. Or maybe he knew the person who handed it to him.” I was ready to learn something solid. You needed to know who your enemies were. That was even more important than knowing your friends. “I don’t like maybes.”
“I knew that about you,” Eli said. He was smiling, just a bit. “I don’t either.”
Mr. Mercer’s shadow of the morning was at the desk as we walked by on our way out. As I’d guessed, her name tag read MISS MERCER.
“Mr. Savarov,” she said, kind of cooing. “A moment, please.”
We went to stand in front of the desk. She looked almost pretty and round in a light green dress with a dark green scarf at the neck.
“Will you be staying with us longer, Mr. Savarov?” she asked, not even bothering to look at me.
“I made my reservation for three more nights,” Eli said. “Was that unclear?”
“No, sir.” Miss Mercer couldn’t think of a lie quick enough.
Eli looked puzzled. “Then there’s no problem,” he said carefully, trying to figure out what was going on.