Endless Night Part 38

"Just water."

"That's okay." He hurried past Jody, limping slightly-not much, though. Apparently, his knee had improved during the past few hours.

Jody followed him past the ends of the beds, toward the long counter adjacent to the bathroom door. When he flicked a switch, bright fluorescent lights came on above the counter.

In the mirror, he looked very small and young and filthy and vulnerable. Like some sort of street urchin out of a d.i.c.kens novel. Jody looked so much more adult and ... she'd known that her white nightshirt was too small. But when she'd stood in front of the mirror earlier to brush her teeth and wash, she'd been wearing her robe over it. Now, she was without the robe. The mirror reflection showed her nightshirt to be horribly short and tight: so short that she could see the bandage Sharon had used to cover the bullet scratch high on her thigh; so tight that it grasped every mound and hollow. She could even see the darker color of her skin where her nipples pushed against the fabric.

Oh, wonderful, she thought. Andy's been getting a real eyeful.

Her face flushed to a deep shade of red.

As Andy bent over the sink, she hurried to her travel bag. Her robe was draped over the top, where she'd tossed it before getting into bed. She put it on and tied its sash.

"You're gonna get hot in that," Andy said.

"I'll manage, thanks." She stepped into her moccasins.

"Shoot."

Hearing him say the word, Jody was tempted to tell him about the sniper who'd murdered those two people (and a baby, a baby that hadn't even been bom yet) and then shot at her.

But Andy would want to see the wound.

She could tell him about it later, maybe. Sometime when she was dressed.

She watched him drink some more from the faucet. For a while, he remained bent over the sink, cupping water into his mouth.

At last, he shut off the faucet and dried his mouth on a towel. "Anything to eat around here?"

Jody shook her head. "You can't be that hungry. You ate the same time I did."

"It takes up a lot of energy, being a fugitive."

"Boy, Andy. They've got cops out looking for you."

"You're telling me."

"You must've lost all your marbles." She sat down on the edge of her father's abandoned bed. "I mean, running away from your uncle."

He grinned. "It was easy."

"Jeez."

He dropped onto the edge of the bed across from her. "Wanta know how I did it?"

"I know. You pretended like you had to take a leak. When you got to the john, you ran off."

"Oh, yeah? Where'd I run to?"

"I don't know, but ..."

"That's because 1 didn't run." He leaned forward, planting his elbows on his thighs, and gave her a sly grin. "I climbed."

"What?"

"I climbed up onto the roof of the gas station."

"You're kidding."

"I thought I'd just run away, you know? Run off and hide, just to get good and far away from that turkey, then figure out some way of getting back to L.A. after he gave up looking for me. Maybe hitch a ride or buy a bus ticket, you know? But what happened, I saw how the door of the john was propped open and it looked like it was just begging for me to climb it."

"You climbed the door?"

"Sure. What you've gotta do, you hang on to its edge and get your knees on the handles. Then you stand on the handles and grab the top and boost yourself up. Once you're on top of the door, you can reach the roof easy."

Jody shook her head, amazed. "You were on the roof the whole time?"

"Yep."

"And n.o.body ever saw you?"

"It's got like a wall around the top. A couple of feet high, you know? So as long as I stayed low, n.o.body could spot me from the ground."

"Wow."

"I really thought I'd had it when all those cops started showing up. Man, I never figured ol' w.i.l.l.y would call the cops."

"He didn't, exactly," Jody explained. "He called Dad. But Dad was gone, so I talked to him. Then I put Sharon on the phone. w.i.l.l.y wanted to just leave, but ..."

*That's what I was hoping he'd do. I thought he'd be glad to have me out of his hair, and he'd just boogie on home, you know?"

"He sure wanted to," Jody said, "but Sharon made him stay. Then she was the one who got the local police into it. They were all looking for you. The Indio police, the Highway Patrol, w.i.l.l.y, us ..."

"I know, I know. And n.o.body got around to looking on the roof. Not even you."

"Did you see me?"

"Sure. What happened, I heard your dad talking to Wee w.i.l.l.y. That was after I'd been up there a long time. Hours. I couldn't make out what anyone was saying, but your dad has a really different sort of voice and I knew it was him. So I peeked down and saw both of you. You were almost right under me. Man, I couldn't believe my eyes."

"Why the heck didn't you just come down?"

"Yeah, sure, and have w.i.l.l.y take me away."

"He left right after we got there."

"He did?"

"Weren't you watching?"

"No! Somebody might've looked up and seen me. All I did was take a little peek down every once in a while. I never even saw that woman ... Sharon?"

"She was with us the whole time."

"Couldn't have been."

"Well, she wandered around some. And went to check the bathroom and stuff."

"I never saw her till your dad went to her room."

"So what did you do, follow us over here to the motel?"

"Yeah. I heard a car start and thought it might be yours, so I took a chance and looked down and saw it drive off. I thought I'd really blown it, you know? Because w.i.l.l.y'd taken off by then-I couldn't see his car anywhere. And all the cops were gone, too. I almost wanted to jump down and run after you..."

"Good thing you didn't. Probably would've crippled yourself."

"Yeah. I've done enough jumping. But anyway, I kept my eyes on your car and watched where it went. I couldn't believe it when you guys pulled into this motel right across the street. It was like a miracle."

"We did it on purpose in case you might be hiding somewhere nearby and see us. But jeez, I never thought you'd show up. You were right there the whole time? Man! Right under our noses."

"Above your noses."

Jody smiled. "I told them you wouldn't get found unless you wanted to be."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Her smile faded. "I guess now we'd better tell Dad and Sharon that you've turned up."

Andy bared his teeth. "Ewwww."

"We've got to."

"Can't it wait?"

"I don't think so. There are still a lot of people looking for you and it isn't fair to let them keep on wasting their time." She stood up. "Come on."

Andy looked agonized. He didn't move.

"Let's go."

"They're gonna hate me."

"No, they won't. They're on your side. Why do you think they drove all the way out here in the middle of the night?"

"Maybe they want a promotion for busting me."

"Oh, bull. Come on."

Andy shook his head.

Jody grabbed his arm and pulled him off the bed.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." He quit struggling, and walked beside her to the door. "You don't have to hang on. I'm not going anyplace."

"You're going someplace, all right. To room 238." She opened the door. They stepped out onto the balcony.

"Your dad isn't gonna like this. You know what he's doing in there, don't you?"

"Nope."

"He's boinking that Sharon babe."

"Maybe he is and maybe he isn't."

They walked past several rooms before they came to 238. The curtains were shut. And dark. There seemed to be no lights on inside the room.

Uh-oh, Jody thought.

She stopped at the door.

"You'd better not," Andy whispered. "You'll be sorry."

Jody realized that her heart was thumping fast. She had a nervous feeling in her stomach.

This could get awfully embarra.s.sing, she thought.

What're we supposed to do, wait till they get done?

She went ahead and knocked.

Before her knuckles could strike the door a second time, it flew open. Light suddenly filled the room.

Dad smirked out at them.

He wasn't wearing his chamois shirt. But he still had on his Yosemite Sam T-shirt, jeans and shoes. He even wore his shoulder holster.

So much for him boinking Sharon.

"Welcome back, Andy," he said. "Glad you dropped by. Come on in."

He stepped backward. Jody and Andy entered the room, and he shut the door.

The back of a chair was only inches from the door. He must've been sitting there in the dark, on his side of the small round table, his shoulder only inches from the window curtain. His gla.s.s held an inch of amber liquid. In the middle of the table stood a bottle of Irish whiskey. There was no gla.s.s on the other side of the table. That gla.s.s was in Sharon's hand. She was settled back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, her slightly disarrayed robe showing a hint of cleavage and a lot of thigh.

She raised her gla.s.s as if ready to propose a toast, and said, "Andrew Clark, I presume." She winked, then took a sip of whiskey.

Andy blushed.

"Officer Sharon Miles," Dad introduced her.