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"Duct tape?"
"Yeah, duck tape You got any duck tape?"
Guthrie nodded "Couple rolls"
"Where?"
"In the cellar"
"Rope?"
"So twine in the cellar"
"Good, good"
Ruger rocked in his rocker for a little while, again pursing his lips, the s blackly at theth, "here’s the plan Val, you are going to go fetch o fetch it and coht back"
Val’s heart has in the cellar She stood up quickly and turned to go, but irabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and looked into her eyes She didn’t knohat he was seeing there, but his face seery at first, and then his smile crawled back He slowly shook his head "Uh-uh, honey You sit your pretty ass back down I was born at night, darlin’, but it wasn’t last night Sit down"
She let her gaze fall away and slowly crept back to the couch and sat down Her father handed her the ice pack she had dropped and she pressed it back it place Connie was staring at her with a total lack of understanding
"I think," said Ruger, reaching out with the toe of his shoe and nudging Connie’s knee, "that I’ll let the Stepford Wife go"
"M…er mocked, "y…you"
"Down the cellar?"
"No, I want you to run down to the drugstore and fetchcellar Don’t you pay any attention?"
"For rope?" Connie said in a five-year-old’s voice
"And tape You get theht back up here No tricks, no stalling Just get the stuff and co a hard tier rolled his eyes "Jeez, can you really be this fucking du the pattern of the rug on the floor He sighed "Okay, so you probably are this fucking duht back"
Connie backed away fro nuainst the door fraer saw her open the door at the far end and listened to her feet clattering on the wooden steps He leaned against the door fraa to Guthrie, he said, "She isn’t too bright, is she?"
"She’s just scared"
"What about you?" he said to Val "Are you scared?"
"Of course I am," she said bitterly
"Maybe, but you aren’t scared stupid like your sister"
"I’e of the EPT test kit upstairs in the medicine cabinet flashed into her brain, unbidden and immediate Her eyes wavered and fell away, down to her hands twisting in her lap
Ruger looked at her,her "Good," he said after a slow moment
In the cellar, Connie traun cabinet, past the workbench with its collections of awls and screwdrivers and utility knives, past the wall phone, and made a hectic beeline for the closet where the clothesline was kept She snatched up two plastic-wrapped fifty-foot lengths, and froray duct tape For some reason she clutched them to her chest as if they were sacred objects, spun on her heel, and fled back upstairs She turned off the light and bathed all of the actual objects of salvation in useless darkness
"Good girl, now go sit down"
Connie went obediently to the couch, turned, and sat down, s her skirt around her She sat with her hands folded in her lap, ankles together, eyes downcast Ruger looked at her as if she were so from another planet, which, in a way, she was, if he was typical of the world that he caer held the roll of tape, tossing it lightly into the air and catching it one-handed
Val glanced at Connie, feeling sorry for her sister-in-law It was apparent to Val that Connie had retreated--fled--into herself Beyond the last na in corown up wealthy, soft, and sheltered She was ood-hearted, truly loved Mark, aspired to no heights beyonda household, and apparently spent very little tihts Generally her chatter was borderline inane and Val routinely tuned it out when she could, and for the h, she loved her and wanted to hug her and shelter her
She was also assessing Connie, wondering if maybe she had placed a 911 call downstairs, or had secreted a knife somewhere in her clothes, but as wonderful as that would be, Val doubted if it was true Connie just wasn’t like that As far as Val could see, if Connie had strength of any kind--either wit or courage--it was so deeply suber, pouring another finger of bourbon, "anyone want to guess why I had Miss Polly Purebred fetch this stuff?" He took a sip, then knocked it back "No guesses? Well, I can see it in your eyes If you think that I’ht That should tell you so, shouldn’t it?"
Val shook her head