Page 138 of Putting Out
“You know, I knew that! I knew we would connect! When I first saw you, you were playing in a golf event in the same town I ultimately… well… broke up with Carol. I was sitting in my hotel room watching the news and they showed you hitting the ball and talked about how you were in the lead by so many strokes. I fell in love. I have an eye for talent. I always have. I knew you would be next. I followed you for a while and thought about asking you out. I was going to be a sales rep for Nike. Then everything changed. All of a sudden, the new ranking came out and you were going to play in the American, and I just hated it!”
He banged his open palm on the steering wheel in front of him so many times Reilly thought he might have seriously hurt himself.
He stopped and she could hear his heavy breathing.
“I hated the idea of you giving yourself to all of those people. You were mine. Mine. I couldn’t breathe for wanting you.”
Breathe.
“Oh, my God,” Reilly whimpered. “It was you. You were the caller.”
“Of course I tried to reach out to you. To make you understand. I wanted to stop you in Nebraska. I thought it was you driving that day, but it wasn’t.”
Reilly thought back to the accident that had driven them out of Little Creek. Her grandparents.
“Then you left and I had to follow you. I tried to scare you again but that didn’t work. Neville was supposed to paint the mark on the doors. I didn’t realize until later he got inside. Even that wasn’t enough to stop you. So I decided to let you play in the American.”
He let her. For his condescension alone, she hated him. Hate was good. It was better than the fear.
“You used Neville. Then you shot him. Not the loyal sort, are you?”
He turned his head back around to look at her, his expression fierce.
“I am very loyal! You’ll see, Reilly. I will be your dedicated servant from this moment forward. Your every wish…”
“I wish you would stop this car and let me out.”
He turned back to the road in front of him.
“I can’t do that,” he said tightly. “You shouldn’t feel sad for Neville, though. He was a very sick man. He thought I was his guardian angel. A total nut job.”
There was a horrific example of the pot talking to the kettle.
“Why did you tell him to hurt Kenny?”
“So I could save the day, of course. Wasn’t that perfect? I snuck him into the event and told him to attack Kenny so I could shoot him. I saved you and your brother. I was a hero.”
“You weren’t,” Reilly said. “You were nothing more than a murderer.”
“I was a hero,” Mark countered. “So much of a hero you weren’t even nervous about coming with me in the car. Were you?”
No. He was right. They’d all been fooled by the badge. Pierce, Odie, Kenny. Even Luke. Luke might not have liked him, but he trusted him. He looked so damn normal.
“You should know I have the means to take care of you. I’m rich. Don’t let this van fool you. It’s good camouflage. Mommy and Daddy will give me anything I ask for. I write to them I need money and they wire it to me. Although I can’t live with them anymore because they’re always on my case about therapy.”
“Maybe they’re trying to help you.”
She saw his head tilt as if she’d said something ridiculous.
“Help with what? I love deeply. Intensely. That’s not a crime. When I see something I want, I take it. They taught me that. It makes sense if I see someoneI want that I should take her, too. So I do.”
“Okay. You took me. Now what?”
“Now we’ll go someplace where we can be together. We’ll eat and drink and make love and be happy. What else would we do? I will have to punish you,” he added. “For being with Luke.
That hurt me. Watching you at the farmhouse. Letting yourself be exposed like that. You’ll have to pay, but then we can make up.”
The panic she felt she’d done an admirable job of suppressing started to well up and overtake her.
