FURNACE

by Muriel Gray

  Maybe.

  This was worse than before. She was soaking now, and in this small strip of parking there was no shelter whatsoever, unless she chose to run to the scrub trees at the edge of the highway and crouch like an animal. But what was the point? Her clothes were wet through to her skin: what she needed now was to get a ride and get somewhere dry.

  Griffin glared at the cheery sign nailed to a post at the end of the rest area.

  ADOPT A HIGHWAY. BARRAS COUNTY LION CUBS BOYS TEAM.

  As she read it, cursing the jerks who thought picking up litter was recreation, water dripped from her nose and disappeared into the sponge that had become her sweatshirt. Even if there had been a slicker in her pack, she doubted it would have been effective in this downpour.

  But she hadn’t thought to pack one. Not in the rush to leave. She had, after all, been heading south. Surely it didn’t rain like this in the south.

  The stream of traffic was relentless, throwing up spray that made the tailing vehicles practically invisible, and Griffin had long since given up even putting her thumb out. The only hope was that a car or truck would stop in the bay and she could approach it personally and beg a ride. It had worked in the mall lot, but like last time the ride only took her a meagre fifty miles before the guy announced he had to make a west turn onto 64 at Lexington. So she made him drop her here, and now she was sorry. Maybe going west would’ve been good.

  She sat and mulled that one over for a moment, and as she imagined what the sun might feel like on her face, a roar of spray and thunder pulled into the rest area alongside her. Griffin jumped back as the great truck squealed to a halt, and in case the driver had time to think about driving off again, she bent down to snatch up her pack and ran along the trailer to the driver’s window.

  He watched her coming in the mirror, studied her face and body as she started to recognize the rig and hesitate. Josh didn’t give her the opportunity to change her mind. He opened the door, stepped down into the rain and stood facing her.

  Griffin’s short hair was matted to her face, and as she blinked at him through the water, blowing a drip from her nose, Josh’s heart leapt at the creamy beauty of her angular face. They stood looking at each other for a moment, and as they stared silently, letting the rain soak them, their intense gaze was broken by the swish and roar of another truck entering the bay.

  Griffin twisted her head around, glanced quickly at the Mack that had pulled up hard behind Jezebel, then flicked her green eyes back to Josh.

  “ ‘Bye.”

  Before she could turn to leave, Josh’s hand was around her wrist. She tried to pull away, but his grasp was strong and insistent, only a fraction away from pain. Griffin opened her mouth a little and stepped back. Behind her, Josh could see the driver of the Mack watching from his seat. His heart raced a little more. From up there, this must look bad. Griffin’s voice was as low as it could be over the roar of two truck engines and a stream of spray-washed interstate traffic.

  “I suggest you let go.”

  “I just want to talk to you.”

  Griffin tried and failed again to pull her wrist away, more obviously this time, with a glance over her shoulder to the other driver. He was getting out of his cab. Griffin turned back to Josh.

  “We don’t need to talk.”

  Josh looked deep into her heavily lashed eyes. His own were pleading.

  “Please.”

  The man was walking through the rain towards them. He looked mean and not a little pissed off. Josh let Griffin’s wrist go and she rubbed at it with her other hand. It hurt.

  “This fucker botherin’ you?”

  Josh stood up straight and wiped the dripping rain from his eyes. Griffin had turned away from the man and was looking directly into Josh’s face. He stared back and saw a number of things. Her eyes were soft, but they betrayed pleasure in the childish power she had over him at this moment. Behind that there was something he had grown accustomed to in the last two days. Fear. Not the fear the other driver might have expected a young girl to feel when a man twice her size grabbed her by the wrist in a wet rest area. But fear of something else. The man shouted this time.

  “You hear me?”

  Josh looked up at him. “She hears you. What’s your problem?”

  The man put his hands on his hips, shook his head and let out a hollow laugh. “Apart from your pervert ass cuttin’ me up on that highway like you was on fire? Yeah? That sound like you? Well, besides that, I got a real problem with you jumpin’ this lady here, that’s what.”

  Josh looked back into Griffin’s eyes. She was wrestling with something Josh couldn’t fathom and masked the fear Josh had glimpsed as she turned slowly to the man and wiped the rain from her face with a wet sleeve.

  “It’s okay. I know him.”

  The driver and Josh looked at each other through the slashing rain, until, shaking his head again, the man turned and walked back to his rumbling cab. As he stepped up onto the running board he pointed a finger at Josh.

  “I got the time, the place, the date of this, you hear? There even a sniff of trouble I’m onto the state bears like you wouldn’t believe, mister.”

  Josh stared him down and both he and Griffin stood perfectly still, like animals waiting for a turn at a watering hole, watching the Mack crash some gears as it pulled back onto the highway.

  He looked down at her.

  “Want to dry off?”

  She looked at her feet, and he could see she was breathing very fast, her chest rising and falling as though she had been running, and when she spoke she did so to the puddle they were standing in.

  “Sure.”

  He held out an arm in invitation and she walked in front of him to the truck like she was going to the electric chair.

  25

  “Yeah? If you don’t like it, then step on the gas, jerkoff.”

  Eddie muttered into his beard as he watched the pickup in his mirror peek out from behind the cloud of spray at his tail again. He was keeping King Kong at crawling pace in the right-hand lane, and it was pissing off a lot of drivers. But he had no choice. If Josh had pulled over ahead. Eddie didn’t want to pass him. He’d stayed about three miles behind for the last sixty, and now was no time for Josh to realize he was being tailed by a friend concerned for his sanity. But there had been nowhere to pull off the highway and maintain the gap. He’d listened to the CB and knew instantly that it had been Josh asking about the hitcher, and whether it turned out to be the Looney Tunes logbook ripper or not, he also knew that Josh wouldn’t pass up a chance to find out.

  The difficulty was, he was gaining rapidly on the rest area that the thermos driver had described, and if Josh was still there it would be hard for him to miss Eddie’s truck rolling by, even in this downpour.

  He braked some more and received a horn blast from the pickup. Eddie raised a hand, palm up to the sky. “Aw, get to fuck, you pussy.”

  He shook his head and sucked at a rogue hair that was curling into his mouth. He was no good at this spying shit. It made him nervous. Made him feel bad. In fact, Eddie Shanklin was feeling bad about the whole damn thing right now, and he didn’t like it. He glanced in the mirror and saw the heavily loaded pickup about to make its play to pass. As it started to draw level with King Kong’s sleeper, Eddie smiled for the first time in an age.

  “Aw, what the heck.”

  He stepped on the gas.

  They sat staring ahead through the windshield, as the whir of the cab heater at full blast competed with the engine and the beating rain. Griffin was the first to break the motionless tableau by lifting her arm and running a hand through the wet strands of her hair. Josh turned to her.

  “Goin’ home, huh?”

  She looked out her passenger window, face turned from him. “No.”

  “No? Well, south’s that way. You just follow the sun.”

  Although she wasn’t watching, Josh made a gesture over his shoulder with his head. She turned to him and her eyes flashed m
omentarily with childish indignation.

  “I got a bum ride, okay? I wanted to go west and this is where I ended up.”

  Josh nodded and looked out front again. He cleared his throat.

  Griffin shook her head and blew an exasperated whistle out of pursed lips. “You guys been talking about me on the CB? That how you found me?”

  “You surprised?”

  “After the rides I’ve had, nothing would surprise me about truckers. Jesus. Missing link? It’s on the highways.”

  “I wasn’t lookin’. I just heard you were here.”

  “And you raced that ape.”

  “Yeah.”

  Her voice was smaller now. “Yeah? Well, I guess I wouldn’t have enjoyed his company much.”

  He cleared his throat again. “Griffin. I’m sorry about what happened. I didn’t plan it.”

  He could feel her eyes boring into him, and he turned to meet them as she answered in a voice of surprising tenderness. “I’m not sorry. I enjoyed it.”

  “You left kind of sudden.”

  “It was tricky. I couldn’t think of anything to say.”

  Josh moistened his lips. “So you left a callin’ card instead?”

  Griffin ran her hand through her hair again and narrowed her eyes quizzically, catching the hardening of his voice. “What do you mean?”

  He held her gaze. “The creative knifework.”

  She was studying his face for clues, and as her eyes searched and her mouth opened fractionally. Josh knew instantly she had no idea what he was talking about. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the seat. He covered his face with his hands and let out a groan of despair. A hand touched his arm gently.

  “Hey.”

  He shook his head beneath his fingers and she withdrew her hand. It took him a long time to compose himself and let his hands drop to his lap, but when he did, Griffin was looking at him with a mixture of confused concern and wariness. Josh blinked at her. Her returned gaze was unfaltering.

  “What is this about?”

  “You didn’t touch my logbook, did you?”

  She shook her head slowly, her eyes still uncomprehending.

  Josh’s voice was low, almost resigned. “No. I guess you didn’t.”

  Griffin shifted in her seat, stirring the smell of wet hair and warming damp cotton. She picked nervously at a fingernail. “I’m not understanding this, Josh.”

  “There’s no reason you should. I don’t understand it either.”

  “Are you going to stop talking in riddles and tell me what I’m supposed to have done?”

  Josh massaged his mouth and chin with a hand and looked out front again. “I’m sorry. None of this has got anything to do with you. I guess I’m clutching at straws.”

  “Can I hear about it?”

  “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “I already think that.”

  He looked at her and nearly smiled. Nearly, but not quite. “Sure you want to?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I think somethin’s followin’ me.”

  Griffin widened her eyes. “Some ‘thing’? What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. It’s invisible.”

  Griffin opened her mouth to match her eyes, but now her eyebrows were also raised and her face started to register the first hint of mirth. “Invisible?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then how exactly do you know this ‘thing’ is there?”

  “I can feel it. Sometimes I can see where it’s been.”

  This time, Griffin laughed out loud, a staccato bark of derision. She held up a slim hand. “Whoa. Is this a joke?”

  Josh shook his head once, and his expression reinforced the answer.

  “It ripped my logbook up and left a message.”

  Griffin stared at him, and although the mocking smile was still curving her open lips, Josh saw something change in her eyes. Something like the reluctant beginning of fear.

  “What message?”

  “A scrawl. In my own handwriting.”

  “Saying what?” She sounded impatient.

  Josh swallowed. Her sudden interest was making him more uncomfortable than her contempt. He watched her face carefully as he spoke. “It said I had three days alive permitted.”

  The muscles around Griffin’s eyes twitched almost imperceptibly and her smile faded. She looked away, rubbing at her nose in an amateurish attempt to conceal her feelings. Josh watched the side of her face as he continued.

  “And I found this.”

  He pulled his wallet out from under the wheel, unzipped the small ticket compartment and teased out the strip of paper with a careful thumb and forefinger. Griffin turned her head slowly, first looking into his eyes and then letting her gaze drift down to what he held in his hand.

  The violence of her reaction made Josh jump in his seat. She slammed herself against the passenger door with a throaty scream, her arms held in front of her face and her legs pushing uselessly at the cab floor as though their continued pressure would help her body dissolve through the door.

  Josh gaped and clumsily held out his hands to her, his right one still clutching the paper.

  Her eyes widened further with terror and she screamed at him, pointing at it. “Jesus. Jesus. Jesus! Put it away. Get that fucking thing away!”

  Josh patted the air gently, trying to reassure her, and slowly folded the strip and placed it back in the zipper compartment of his wallet. “It’s gone. Calm down. It’s okay. See? It’s okay.”

  She was breathing heavily, still pressed up against the door, watching him with a wild look in her eye, as though she were cornered by some beast making ready to strike.

  Josh held up his empty hands again. “Griffin. It’s okay.”

  She brought an arm up and wiped at her nose with a wet sleeve. Her eyes moved from his face to his wallet and back again, and to Josh’s relief they slowly started to lose the quality of hunted animal. She blinked at him, her voice shaky.

  “Where did you get that?”

  Josh tried to sound as calm as he could. She was still scared, and her bizarre reaction had unnerved him. “I don’t know. I found it in my wallet.”

  Her eyes darted around the cab as though the answer would be floating in space, and then suddenly, catching sight of Josh’s astonished face, she became aware for the first time of how she was behaving. He watched her body relax and she took her arm from her face and slumped back into the seat. She wiped her mouth and brow and stared at him.

  “Shit.”

  Josh stared back at her for a second and felt like laughing. Her performance had been astonishing. He’d shown her a piece of paper and she’d acted like he’d pulled out a rattlesnake. He waited until the colour started to bloom back in her cheeks, then he put a hand out towards her to touch her arm. She withdrew it as though he meant to burn her.

  Josh recoiled in mirror response. “What the fuck is this, Griffin?”

  She held the arm he’d aimed for with her other hand, cradling it as though it had just escaped injury, and studied his face. She was thinking hard, and if she was trying to conceal the process, then she needed more practice.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Oh, sure.”

  “I mean I don’t know… exactly.”

  She squinted and gritted her teeth, mentally correcting herself, trying hard to verbalize the thoughts that were so nakedly computing behind her eyes.

  “I mean… shit. This is my turn to seem crazy.”

  Josh’s voice was gentle. “Thank fuck for that. It was gettin’ lonely.” She looked at him with a seriousness that he knew as a reprimand for the lightness of his tone, then bit at her lip before speaking. “I think you’re in big trouble, Josh.”

  “Because I’ve got a bit of paper in my wallet?”

  “Because you took it willingly yet unknowingly.”

  “Want to start talking English?”

  She was thinking hard again, eyes unfocused on the rivule
ts of rain on the windshield. “I don’t know if it would do any good.”

  Josh sighed and bent his head. “Oh, man. I’m going out of my mind here.”

  Griffin continued to stare at the streaming wet glass and after an acre of silence spoke almost in a whisper.

  “That might be for the best.”

  Josh looked up slowly, and as he turned to face Griffin he watched a tear roll down her cheek and slide beneath her jawbone. “What?”

  She swallowed and brought her hand up to cover her mouth, as though the words had escaped. Griffin shook her head and her eyes continued to brim.

  Josh Spiller felt the blood draining from his head. Three days ago he might have nudged her in the ribs and laughed. But three days ago was another lifetime. He became aware of his hands feeling light and starting to tremble, and he clasped them together like a priest as he composed himself to speak. It gave him the physical demeanour of a man taking confession, and his voice took its cue from his body, acting as sombre frontman for the chaos of panic that raged in his heart.

  “Even if you’re as crazy as I am, I need to know what you know.”

  Griffin sobbed behind her hand. “Jesus Christ. I don’t want anything to do with this. Don’t you understand? I left to get away from all this.”

  Josh took a shallow breath. “Left Furnace?”

  She nodded violently, eyes screwed shut against her tears.

  “This piece of paper has to do with Furnace?”

  Her reply was swallowed. “It’s more than a piece of paper.”

  “Yeah. You kinda hinted at that.”

  Turning to him, she wiped her face with a sleeve, then stared deep into Josh’s eyes, looking from one to the other, and for the first time her body was angled towards him as she sat rigidly forward in her seat.

  She stayed like that for nearly half a minute, chewing at her lip, as Josh watched some secret decision being debated behind her green irises. He waited like a condemned man for her to announce the result.