Part 14 (1/2)
”I thought it would be better if you didn't know what I did for a living.” Jed's voice was low and remote.
He followed Amy's gaze toward the harbor.
”Better? Or was it just easier for you if I didn't know?”
”You never asked any questions.”
”Maybe I didn't want to know the answers.”
”Why open up the subject now?” Jed asked calmly.
”I told you. After what Dr. Stearn said, it would be a little difficult to ignore it. Good thing for you I didn't visit Dr. Mullaney after you went to him to have him check your wounds, wasn't it? It might have been Mullaney who gave me the advice about keeping you away from knives and guns.” Amy's fingers clenched and unclenched nervously. Dear G.o.d, Jed might have been killed. She might never have known what happened to him.
”Mullaney bought my story about the car accident. He didn't ask any questions. But Stearn apparently did a stint as a surgeon in Vietnam. He knew what he was looking at right away.”
”So here we are with the subject of your employment opened for discussion.”
”What if I choose to go on ignoring it?” He sounded only academically curious, as if he were testing alternatives.
Amy thought about it. ”I suppose we could go on as we are.”
That seemed to startle him. ”You think so?”
She said cautiously, earnestly, ”It might work. It's worked this far, hasn't it?”
He smiled faintly. ”You're lying to yourself and you know it. You'd probably try to ignore your own questions, but I don't think you could do it. Not now that we're more than friends. And not now that the subject is out in the open. You'll start pus.h.i.+ng for answers sooner or later.”
”You think you know me very well, don't you?”
”I'm learning.”
She nodded, accepting the fact that their relations.h.i.+p was changing almost daily and that he was a perceptive man. But before she could speak again she was interrupted by the approach of a huge bear of a man. He bore down on the table, a big grin slicing through his full beard. His beard had once been red but it was heavily streaked with gray these days. The man's shrewd brown eyes were as vital as ever, though, and Amy found herself smiling in return in spite of the tension that had been gripping her.
”Amy, girl, where've you been? Haven't seen you for ages. Your dad said you'd postponed your trip to the island for a couple of months.”
”I did.” Amy got to her feet and was promptly enveloped in a tight hug. ”How are you doing, Hank?”
”Same as ever.” He chuckled, the sound a rich, deep rumble in his chest.
”And Rosie?”
”She's around here somewhere. Probably in the kitchen. You two staying for dinner? She'd like that.”
Without waiting for a response, Hank forcefully clapped Amy on the back. ”Introduce me to your friend.
Heard you had a visitor with you.”
”Jed, meet Hank Halliday. He and his wife, Rosie, own this place. They've been running it since before I was born. Hank, this is Jed Glaze. He's... a friend.”
Hank stuck out a paw that was as big as Jed's. ”Glad to meet you, Glaze. Any friend of Amy's and all that. How long you staying?”
”Amy and I are going to be here a few more days. We haven't really made any decision about when to leave, have we, Amy?”
She caught the cool challenge in his voice. ”No, we haven't made any decision.”
”Careful. That's what Rosie and I told ourselves thirty years ago. Kept putting off the decision to leave and look what happened. Let me get you two something to drink. I hope you're not still drinking that water you call white wine, Amy, 'cause I don't have any on hand.”
”Actually, I was thinking of something a little stronger tonight,” Amy replied dryly.
”How about one of Rosie's guava juice c.o.c.ktails?”
She gave in to the inevitable. ”All right, I'll take a chance.”
Hank looked inquiringly at Jed.
”Scotch,” Jed said. ”On the rocks.”
Hank nodded. ”I'll be back in a few minutes. And I'm going to tell Rosie that you're both staying for dinner, okay?”
Jed answered before Amy could. ”Sounds good, Hank, thanks.” He waited while the older man headed back toward the bar on the other side of the room. When he was out of hearing, Jed said calmly, ”Where were we?”
”I believe you were telling me you didn't think I'd be able to keep my questions to myself.” Amy looked directly at him. ”I think you're right. Things have changed, just as you said.”
He nodded. ”I knew it would come to this sooner or later. I guess I hoped it would be later.”
”Why?”
He shrugged, leaning back in the scarred rattan chair. ”Because I've always a.s.sumed that when you found out the truth, you'd call a halt to our relations.h.i.+p. You're not going to like what I do for a living, Amy.”
”I may not like it, but I don't think I'll end things between us because of it. Just tell me, Jed.”
He seemed to come to some inner decision. ”All right. I work for the government on a kind of unofficial, free-lance basis. The job with the engineering consulting firm is a convenient cover because I used to be an engineer. Now I go places and do things that have very little to do with engineering.”
”And you also build bird cages,” she said softly.
Jed paused. ”And I also build bird cages,” he agreed.
An unofficial, free-lance government agent who built bird cages in his spare time. Amy let the information wash through her as Hank returned with the drinks. She listened to the casual flow of conversation between the two men, marveling at the easy way Jed s.h.i.+fted gears. Jed definitely had a talent for showing people the side of him they either wanted or expected to see. She was thinking about how smoothly he had handled her parents efforts to treat him as if he were a potential husband when Hank turned to her.
”Hey, Amy, girl, you going to take him out to dive that old B-25? Most folks get a kick out of that.”
Hank grinned at Jed. ”Orleana Island's one big scenic attraction, I guess you'd say. A bomber went down during the war when the Marines took the island back from the j.a.panese. It's not far off the north sh.o.r.e in fairly shallow water. The few tourists we get around here are usually into diving and they always want to see it.”
”I'll have to get Amy to show it to me one of these days,” Jed replied, glancing at her.
Amy thought of the dark interior of the old, shattered fuselage. It would be a little like going into a cave.
She s.h.i.+vered and said nothing.