“But you came to my rescue in the end, just like a knight in shining armor.”
I laughed. “If you’re confusing me with a knight, you definitely need to take some time to think things over. When Carrie was seventeen, she fell in love forever at least once a month.”
“Did you?”
“By the time I was seventeen, I was an ex-drug addict, an ex-thief, and an ex-husband. And an ex-father-to-be. I wasn’t innocent enough to fall in love easily. I’ve done a lot of things in my life that aren’t particularly admirable, Allison.”
“That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you slept with the lesbians one at a time or both together.”
I opened my mouth, closed it again, and finally said, “I think I’ll take the Fifth on that one.”
“Both together.” Allison gazed over my shoulder with a funny look on her face as if she were trying to picture that scene and finding it hard to do. She looked back at me, smiling. “Are you saying you’re too corrupt for me?”
“I’m not sure corrupt is the word I would choose but, yes, something along those lines.”
“I think the real problem is that you’re afraid you’ll be left again.”
“I think the real problem is that you’re too old for me.”
“What would you do if April came back?”
“I don’t even know April any more. I don’t want her back. I’d like to know why she left. I’d like to know… that it wasn’t my fault.”
We sat quietly for a moment, then Allison said, “Okay. I’ll go home. For a while.”
I made her travel arrangements the next morning, booking a flight out of Portland so I wouldn’t have to worry about her making a connection if I sent her off on a puddle-jumper out of Pendleton. Tom and Carrie had wisely refrained from questioning me about Allison’s plans but I had intercepted a lot of worried looks passing between them. After I told them she was going home, they treated me with the stifling oversolicitousness usually accorded only to the terminally ill.
Phil Pauling told me I was crazy if I let her go and crazier if I let her stay. I already knew that.
Nineteen days after we met, I drove Allison back to Portland. For what were, no doubt, very good reasons of her own, she wore her blue dress. It wasn’t necessary. The trunk of the Camaro was loaded down with luggage. She had arrived in Oregon with a nightgown stuffed in her purse and was leaving with excess baggage. Among other things, she had three of my white T-shirts. Mr. Smith rode to Portland on her lap. We held hands across the seat and spoke only of unimportant things.
At the airport, we stood close together with our arms around each other until it was time for her to board. I walked her down to the end of the boarding tunnel. She hugged me, whispered in my ear, kissed me quickly, and was gone.
I waited long enough to see the airplane safely off the ground then I retrieved the Camaro and headed home, holding tight to the last words she had said to me.
“I’ll be back.”
I drove all the way back to Mackie with my fingers crossed.
The End
Other Books by L. L. Thrasher
DOGSBODY, INC.
A Zachariah Smith Mystery
“Dogsbody, Inc. is not your average PI novel, but a step above.”
—The Drood Review of Mystery
"This is thought-provoking stuff with a puzzle that will intrigue you to the end."
—The Oregonian
“Thrasher’s work reveals a talent for brisk prose, spirited action, and energetic plotting. A solid addition to any collection.”
—Library Journal
CHARLIE’S BONES
A Lizbet and Charlie Mystery
“Thrasher spins a charming, and surprisingly logical, series of complications out of her supernatural game of musical graves.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Lizbet has a refreshingly witty narrative voice in a wry and amusing tale that avoids the predictable.”
—Library Journal, “Word of Mouth” column by Dean James
“Though seemingly farfetched, the unusual plot, gentle humor, and unlikely heroine ultimately prove captivating.”
—Library Journal
CHARLIE’S WEB
A Lizbet and Charlie Mystery
“Lizbet Lange thought Charlie was gone from her life. Alas, but much to our delight, the friendly ghost has returned to haunt the likeable Lizbet.”
—The Drood Review of Mystery
“The mystery is adroit, but the oddball love-hate relationship between the two detectives is what holds your interest.”
—The Oregonian
NO TURNING BACK: SIX SHORT STORIES
In each of these stories, someone sometime somewhere for some reason chooses a course of action from which there can be no turning back. (Includes “Sacrifice,” which was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Short Story in 1999.)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Cat's-Paw, Inc. Page 30
