Devil's Touch (25 page)

“Hi. Did you get to see everybody?”

The girl smiles and nods eagerly.

“Yes, everyone. But I like you the most.”

Evy gives her another hug.

“I have to go now. My mom is probably mad at me for not coming home.

The girl runs off as she waves to Evy.

Evy looks after her until she disappears around the corner.

A metallic sound catches Evy’s attention, and she spins around only to look into the eyes of the driver at the same time as she feels him grabbing her upper arm. She screams but he just holds on tighter.

"No need to scream. I’m just here to take you home."

Evy shakes her head.

"You’re not taking me home."

"Yes, I am. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing my job."

He lets go of her and then puts his hand on her shoulder and squeezes. She screams again when she feels the pain flowing through her, and collapses in front of him as he follows her all the way down maintaining his pressure on her shoulder. Her arm is going numb and the pain makes her vision blurry. She stares at him and slams the heels of her shoes into his hand as hard as she can. He gasps, his eyes go wide, and he swallows. She hits him again with her heels and this time he lets go. She jumps up and runs toward the street at the end of the alley with her dress pulled up almost to her waist.

"Stop!"

She hears him yelling, but she only runs faster.

"It doesn’t end here, Evy – and you know it!"

She can feel her arm again, and, when she has almost reached the corner, she stops and gives him the finger. She laughs when she sees how mad he is.

”Are you laughing at me?”

He runs but stops again. Then she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“You almost knocked the camera out of my hand. You don’t know how hard I’ve had to work to get that. By the way, I have some amazing pictures of you. Let me show you.”

Marc stands next to Evy and holds up the camera so she can see. Evy looks back over her shoulder and hears someone running toward them.

“Are you in a hurry?”

“I. I’m… I…”

Evy shakes her head and takes a step back. Suddenly she feels Marc pulling her arm and she falls over. He catches her and holds her close as he presses his back against the wall. With her back to the sound, she hears breaks screeching. Then it’s quiet for a moment and Evy lifts her head over Marc’s arm and looks into the eyes of the driver. Evy tries to swallow but she can’t because of Marc’s arm. Then she loses eye contact with the driver when he looks at the car in front of him. He takes a few steps back. Then he runs back into the alley. She hears how the car speeds up and drives away. Marc lets go of her so quickly that she loses her balance and finds herself sitting on the sidewalk. He runs over to the corner and sees the car disappear before turning back to face her.

“Oh, sorry.”

He quickly walks back and squats down in front of her.

“Are you OK?”

Evy nods.

“That’s good. Let me help you up.”

He gently takes hold of her arm and lifts her back on her feet. She holds on to him and looks him in the eye.

“What do you know about me?”

“Too much. I’ve known you for longer than you can imagine.”

They look at each other for a long time without saying anything, before Marc finally lets go of her and takes a step back.

“I’ll call the police to report this.”

“I threw away your card. Can I have another one?”

He examines her face for a while before he puts his hand in his pocket and takes out a card. He takes her hand and place the card in it.

“I’ve changed my number.”

She looks at the card.

“Photographer?”

“Hmm. I’ve seen too much as a private investigator.”

Then he looks past her and nods his head in the direction of the alley.

“Something tells me this won’t end well. I got part of the license plate number. Maybe the police can use that.”

Evy nods and straightens her dress. Marc gets out his phone as he examines his camera. He looks at her.

“It’s OK.”

Evy looks up from her dress and looks at him dialing the number. She keeps looking at him as he introduces himself and starts walking toward the alley before disappearing around the corner. With a sad look on her face Evy looks down at the shoes in her hand, and then she looks back toward the alley.

“Maybe he knows me too well.”

She looks back at the corner again, but she can’t see him. Only hear his voice. Then she runs. This time she feels the small stones every time her feet hit the pavement.

Chapter 30

"Hi."

Evy’s voice is confident and her make-up is fresh.

"Hi."

Evy can smell him again. In the street light he’s even more attractive than he was inside.

"I need a place to sleep."

"Somehow, I don’t believe you."

He laughs.

"But OK. If you need an excuse."

He takes her hand and hails a cab. Without realizing it Evy presses herself against him, and she’s filled by a warm feeling. He turns to her and kisses her. She pulls away a little and looks intensely at him.

"You said earlier that you didn’t make much money. Would you like me to pay?

He laughs again.

"No, tonight is my night off. I’m Pat by the way."

A movement wakes Evy up and she slowly opens her eyes. She doesn’t recognize the room and the furniture looks worn, but it’s clean and things have been placed in the room with care. The sheets crackle and she can hear someone snoring faintly. She can see herself in the mirror on the closet doors. For the first time since the incident with James, she doesn’t mind her own reflection. For the first time it confirms that she is strong. Behind her there’s a man, well-built, tall and muscular, and for the first time in a long time she doesn’t feel threatened or nervous. She looks at her reflection for a long time before she turns around and sniffs.
”The scent is still there. Hmm. Only a little different.”
She smiles,
”smells a little more masculine than last night.”
She smiles,
”more authentic somehow.”
She looks around.

"I’m taking part in life now. Not just being a spectator."

She whispers as she lies there without moving. Afraid to wake up and find out it was just a dream.

"Good morning."

He looks at her in the mirror with curiosity.

"Good morning."

She speaks slowly and almost finds it hard to get the words out. He turns toward her and brushes a hair away from her face.

"Sleep well?"

She presses her cheek against his hand and the scent fills her with memories from their night together. He looks at her and smiles as he moves closer to her and kisses her. His finger moves over her chin and over her scar.

"I’m glad they didn’t succeed."

Evy looks away.

"Don’t ask. Not now."

"But I still have one question."

She pulls away from him.

"I really don’t want to tell that story right now."

"You don’t have to. Don’t you recognize me?"

He smiles and pulls her closer.

"Hmm, I guess not. I kept you waiting in an old, rusty car for over an hour."

She looks more closely at his face.

"Before I took you home."

He kisses her passionately and she kisses him back before pushing him away.

"That was you?!"

"Hmmm."

He covers her mouth with his lips again and after a while she kisses him back.

Chapter 31

The morning quickly turns into noon and a lunch consisting of a cup of coffee. Evy’s thoughts start focusing on James.

"I have to go now."

"Why?"

She looks at him for a long time. Behind his back she catches her own reflection. She feels an intense anger and recognizes it in the mirror. Her eyes are no longer empty, but contain something she can’t find the words for.

"I just have to go."

"That’s strange."

"Strange?"

He shrugs and looks at her. She thinks of her reflection and looks down, hoping that he hasn’t seen it too.

"There’s something I have to do."

"Can’t it wait?"

"No."

He shrugs again and looks away. Evy looks up and meets her own eyes in the mirror once again. They stare back at her with a fire she has never seen before.

"There’s something I have to do."

She straightens her purple dress as she watches herself in the mirror. He’s also looking at her, but she doesn’t care. Doesn’t care at all. She buttons the rest of her buttons and looks at him.

"Goodbye."

He stares at her but she walks over to the door without looking at him. She has a strange feeling that she’ll never see him again. The door closes with a click that reverberates in the building, and the sound of her heels follows her until she reaches the door to the street. Evy stops outside the door and looks down the street when she suddenly realizes that she knows the neighborhood from her childhood. A neighborhood she had felt at home in. She looks up.

"I’m home."

Surprised, she looks down the street again before looking at her watch. Then she hails a cab. In the cab she kicks off her shoes and pulls her leg up under her. It’s only a five minute drive and then she’s in front of the yellow house. She smiles, pays the cab driver, and puts her shoes back on. Standing on the sidewalk she suddenly feels out of place. She’s wearing her evening dress and her high heeled patent leather shoes. She looks around. The trees are taller, the neighbor has felled an apple tree that used to stand next to the garden gate. She hears footsteps and the neighbor walks up to her with his dachshund whose walk is slow, matching the grey spots in its fur.

"Good morning."

Evy manages to make her voice sound friendly. The neighbor looks at her and hesitates before he answers her with a mumble. He walks through his garden gate looking back at her. She turns around and starts to walk up the garden path. When she stops, she sees that the neighbor is still looking at her, but then he pulls at the dachshund and disappears around the corner with the dog in tow. When she was little she used to sneak over to the neighbor to look at the large rock in their backyard. She had felt a strong urge to touch the rock that she could see through the hole in the hedge. He had never discovered her and the rock had been soft and warm in spite of its rough surface. The innocence of childhood. She smiles sadly before she turns around and looks at the house in front of her.  The garden path is almost totally overgrown and the yellow paint is peeling off. Some of the boards on the porch have turned rather fragile, but the house still has some pride. The same pride that her mother had carried for all of them until Linda’s death. Then she had fallen apart, but the house had stayed with a minimum of decay. It’s obvious that no one has lived in the house for a while and the bank had been thrilled to sell it to her. She looks at the house for a long time.

"It’s almost as if it’s been waiting."

She takes off her shoes and steps out on the cold grass. A feeling of joy fills her at the sensation of her bare feet against the grass. She smiles when she sees that someone has fixed the swing. It’s no longer bright red and yellow but dark green and the paint is peeling. Slowly and cautiously she opens the little gate and gets on the swing. It doesn’t break even though the ropes complain a little. She sits there for a long time, silent and withdrawn as she peels of some of the paint so the bright red and yellow colors shine through in some places. There’s a bird in front of her searching for food. It looks up at her from time to time before it searches on. Evy finally opens her bag and takes out her phone. It takes a while before she finds the business card that Marc gave her the night before. She dials his number. A few seconds pass and then she recognizes his voice.

After a while, she clears her throat.

“Hello. Who is it?”

She stares straight ahead.

“Evy?”

Startled, she takes the phone away from her ear.

”Evy. Where are you? Are you in trouble?”

She slowly puts the phone back to her ear.

“How did you recognize my voice?”

“Evy, don’t you remember how I’ve made a living all these years?”

Evy nods.

“You don’t just forget that.”

Evy is silent as she watches a bird land a few feet away.

“Are you still there, Evy?”

“Hmm.”

It’s quiet again and Evy can hear the neighbor’s dog barking.

“Marc, I want to thank you for helping me last night. It’s important for me to know that you know that I’m grateful to you.”

“Thank you, Evy, but I knew that already yesterday.”

“I would like to give you something to express my gratitude.”

“You don’t have to do that, Evy. I’ll be OK.”

“Hmm.”

She watches how the bird takes off and flies away.

“But still. Since you know so many things, you probably also know that I inherited Nathan Wilkins, and I saw how nervous you were about your camera last night.”

“But nothing happened.”

“No.”

She’s quiet again.

”Marc, what do you want most of all.”

Marc laughs.

“I want to move to Italy, to Tuscany. I want a house. I want to take pictures of happy colors. I want to make art, eat good food, and drink good wine. Sit on a bench and do nothing.”

He stops talking.

“I’d like to make sculptures.”

Evy scratches her cheek.

“OK. Make an invoice with a returns address. Make it out for a sculpture to be delivered in… let’s say 25 years. Send it to my lawyers. They’re on stand-by at the moment.”

The line goes quiet again.

“Marc, there’s a way to make your dreams come true.”

“I don’t think so, Evy. I can’t do that. All my life I’ve had to work to get the things I want. I can’t just change that.”

He’s quiet again.

“You can’t buy me. I’ve seen it before. When you have accepted it once, you are trapped. No, Evy, I’m not falling for that.”

There’s a click and Evy realizes that he has hung up on her.

“Marc…?”

She lets her hands fall helplessly into her lap. She looks back at the yellow wood of the house, and she can see flakes of yellow paint lying on the porch.

"It needs a paint job."

She pulls up one leg in the double swing and thinks back on all the dreams she and Linda shared in that swing.
”Will any of them ever come true? Yes, I have money now, but what about all the rest?”
She pushes off with the other leg and then also pulls that up in the swing. She leans her head against one of the ropes and enjoys the rocking feeling. Her thoughts return to flying carpets, and she sees the most wonderful landscapes flying by below her.

Evy focuses on her breathing and forces it back to normal as she stares at the phone and the last incoming call.
”I don’t understand how he ever got this number. It’s a secret number, so he must have connections.
”

She presses the screen and holds the phone to her ear.

"Yes."

It’s only one word, but suddenly she can’t breathe. She struggles to stay conscious and instinctively puts her hand to her scar. She bites her lip and when the pain fills her head she opens her mouth.

"It’s Evy Schmidt."

The line is quiet and she can almost feel how the person on the other end suddenly becomes alert.

"Yes."

"James, I know who my mother was."

It’s quiet again.

"Yes."

"Marc told me."

"Marc...?"

"Marc Jones, the private investigator."

Some time passes and this time Evy can hear this watchfulness.

"Yes."

Evy is surprised by the firmness in his voice.

"I think we should meet."

Silence.

"At ten tonight on the playground. I think you know it already?"

Scared of the answer, Evy listens intensely, but she knows that she needs an answer to the flashes her memory is sending her.

"Yes."

The air leaves Evy’s lungs and she has to hold the phone away from her while she tries to regain control.

"How?"

The line is quiet.

"You used to play there."

"You..."

It’s quiet again, but she can hear him breathing. She bites her lip.

"Stuart. He... There’s a tree on the playground where Stuart once… took me. Have you done that too?"

His breathing becomes heavier.

"No, I haven’t. I was interested in you for different reasons."

The connection is gone and only the beeping sounds fill her head. She quickly jumps down from the swing and squats in front of it, searching for something under it. Then she lets herself fall backwards and lands on the grass with a thump.

"I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t still been there!"

She can feel the cold grass against her skin when she lets herself fall the rest of the way. She looks at the house. Her stretched out body is filled with a surprising sense of peace and she whispers quietly. “But it’s going to take years before it’s completely renovated.”

"I’ll be damned!"

James throws the phone down on the table.

"Where’s the driver?!"

His voice fills the room and his secretary comes running. He usually smiles every time he sees her. Her legs seem to go on forever and she has the body of a supermodel, and the best part: no is not in her vocabulary.

"I need him now!"

"I’ll call the limo service now. I don’t think we have booked him."

"I don’t give a damn, I need him now! Stuart and I kept that company on its feet because of him."

James swallows.

"He hasn’t done his job. I asked him to do two simple things and he hasn’t done any of them. I just talked to one of them."

His secretary stops.

"Call now! NOW!"

She runs out of the office again. He is furious and turns to face the window.

"And to make matters worse, they have talked to each other. Evy and Marc. That means that none of the jobs have been done!"

His voice follows her all the way out the door. He can hear her talking on the phone in a very patient and friendly voice.

"I’ll be..."

He almost runs over to her and tears the phone from her hands.

"Where is he? I need him here now! NOW! Is that clear?!"

He gives the phone back to the secretary.

"He has left town, James."

She takes the phone and disconnects the call.

"I’ll be..."

He called work this morning. He’s leaving the country, James.

She looks at him for a while.

The police have been there all day. They’re searching the company… and want to look at the books.”

He stares at her for a long time.

"As far as I know we have made some rather substantial money transfers to them.”

“Stuart was using a private investigator called Marc. I can’t remember his last name. Can you get his number for me?”

She looks at him as if she doesn’t understand.

"The question wasn’t that hard, was it?"

He walks slowly back to his office and then he turns around calmly.

"Now! I need that information now! And close the door behind me!"

The secretary jumps up from her chair and quietly closes the door behind him. James sits down at his desk and pulls out a drawer. From the back of the drawer he takes out a wooden box and then a small cardboard one. He touches the polished wood of the box.

"James."

Her voice is sweet as honey. He looks at her while she quickly walks over to him.

"Here’s his number."

James opens the cardboard box and places the card that covers the bullets on the table. Then he takes out the bullets one by one and places them on the table with the pointed ends up. With an almost loving motion he opens the wooden box and takes out the gun. With a dreamy look on his face he lets it rest in the palm of his hand. His empty eyes are on the secretary as he slowly starts loading the gun.