I was going to ask for a date. Did you know that?
You didn’t, I’ll bet. I was all ready to ask for a date . . . And
then I find out you’re married and running clear across country.”
His voice got hard, cold, almost mean. He paused to collect his
thoughts. “You were my good luck-two, three, four years ago. When we
were together, everything was fine. Now you’re going to be out of
touch, out of sight . . . I knew I had to be near you, Courtney.
When I followed you to the airport and saw you leave on that 707, I knew
I’d have to follow Doyle and Colin and find out where you were living.”
She said nothing.
He drove and talked on, hoping to get a positive reaction from her, no
longer perplexed by her sudden appearance. “I had lost my job again.
There was nothing to keep me in Philly. Of course, I didn’t have money
to pay movers like this Doyle did. I had to pack and haul my own
things. So I’m driving this clumsy van with its poor air conditioning
instead of a fancy Thunderbird. I’m not having a run of luck like this
Doyle of yours. People aren’t treating me as well as they’re treating
him. But I knew I had to come out to California anyway, to be near you.
To be near you, Courtney . . .”
Pretty, quiet, unmoving, she sat there, her slim hands folded in her
lap, a nimbus of the day’s last light encircling her head.
“It wasn’t easy staying on their trail,” he told her. “I had to be
smart. When they were eating breakfast, I realized they must have a
marked map in the car, something that would show me which way they were
going. I checked.” He gave her a quick glance, grinning, looked at the
road again. “I put a wire coat hanger through the rubber seal between
the windows and popped the lock button. The maps were on the seat. An
address book, too. Your man Doyle is extremely efficient.
He’d written down the names and addresses of the motels where he had
reservations. I copied them. And I studied the maps. I know every
road they’re taking and every place they’ll stay overnight between here
and San Francisco. Now I can’t lose them. I’ll just trail along
behind. I don’t have them in sight this minute, but I’ll connect with
them later.” He talked very fast, running his words together. He was
eager for her to understand the trouble he had gone to so that he might
be near her.
She surprised him. “George, did you ever see a doctor about your
headaches, about your other problems?”
“I’m not sick, damn you!” he shouted. “I’ve got a healthy mind,
healthy brain, healthy body. I’m in good shape. I don’t want to hear
anything more about that. just forget about that.”
” Why are you following them?” she asked, changing the subject as
ordered.
Perspiration ran off his brow in several steady streams, fat crystal
droplets that tickled his cheeks and neck. “Didn’t I just tell you? I
want to find out where you’ll be living. I want to be near you.”
“But if you copied the addresses in Alex’s book, you have our new home
address in San Francisco. You don’t have to follow them to find me. You
already know where I am, George.
“Well “George, why are you following Alex and Colin?
“I told you.”
“You did not.”
“Shut up!” he said. “I don’t like what you’re implying. I won’t
listen to any more of this. I’m healthy. I’m not sick. There’s
nothing at all wrong with me. So just go away. Leave me alone. I
don’t want to have to look at you.”
The next time he looked, she was gone. She had vanished.
Although he had been momentarily confused by her unexpected and
unexplained appearance, he was not at all surprised by her
disappearance. He had told her to go away.
Toward the end of their affair, just before she broke off with him two
years ago, Courtney had said that he frightened her, that these recent