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"We went for a drive A nice drive I don’t mean we parked She isn’t like that We just drove around, talking, listening to music"

"Until when?"

"I took her home a little after one o’clock"

"And cauy whipping a woht I knohat I ahtstand and picked up the phone It had a long cord He brought it to Zillis "Call her"

"What, now? Billy, it’s after three in the "

"Call her Tell her how , how very special she is She won’t mind if you wake her up for that"

"We don’t have that kind of relationship yet," Zillis worried "She’s gonna think this is weird"

"You call her and let me listen in," Billy said, "or I jam this pistol in your ear and blow your brains out What do you think?"

Zillis’s hands shook so badly that hebeside his captive, the ainst Zillis’s side so he wouldn’t get a half-wise idea, Billy listened to Mandy Pollard answer the phone and express surprise at hearing from her new beau at that hour

"Don’t worry about it," Mandy told Zillis "You didn’t wake "

Zillis’s voice had a treht easily have assu at this late hour and about expressing his affection more directly than perhaps he had done previously

For a few ht--their dinner, the drive--and then he gestured at Zillis to wrap it up

Mandy Pollard had spent the evening with this man, and she was not so out with bad boys Having dinner with Mandy, Steve Zillis could not have been the freak who propped Ralph Cottle’s corpse on Lanny’s living room sofa and nailed Billy’s hand to the hallway floor

Chapter 65

Slipping the pistol into the holster at his hip, Billy said, "I’ to leave you handcuffed to the bed"

Steve Zillis looked relieved at the holstering of the weapon, but remained wary

Billy tore the phone cord out of the wall and out of the phone, knotted it, and put it in his bread bag "I don’t want you calling anyone until you’ve had plenty of ti to say"

"You’re really not gonna kill me?"

"I’m really not I’ll leave the handcuff key on a counter in the kitchen"

"All right The kitchen But how’s that gonna help one, you can work the ether by nuts and bolts, isn’t it?"

"Yeah But--"

"You can work the nuts with your fingers"

"Maybe they’re rusted--"

"You only o They haven’t rusted in six ht, torque the sections of the frame, try to wrench a little play into the connections You’ll figure it out"

"I can figure that out, sure, but I still can’t figure why the hell you did this You can’t believe I killed Judith Kesselman, like you said I know you can’t believe that What was this?"

Putting the can of Mace in the bread bag, Billy said, "I’ to explain, and you don’t want to know Believe me, you don’t"

"Look atin a puddle, for God’s sake This is huun, you cut my scalp, you hurt me, Billy"

"It could have been worse," Billy assured hi to interpret those words as a threat, Zillis becaht Okay I hear you I’ht the bolts are, you’ll need at least an hour, probably two, to get loose of the bed The cuff key will be in the kitchen After you use it, start packing"

Zillis blinked "What?"

"Call Jackie, tell hi"

"I don’t want to quit"

"Get real, Steve We aren’t going to see each other every day Not hat I know about you and not hat you know aboutto move on"

"Where?"

"I don’t care where Just not in Napa County"

"I like it here Besides, I can’t afford to et your last paycheck," Billy said "I’ll leave an envelope for you with Jackie It’ll contain ten thousand in cash That’ll get you started soets turned upside down? This isn’t fair"

"You’re right It isn’t fair But it’s the way it is Your furniture isn’t worth crap You can junk it Pack the personal stuff and be out of town by Friday night"

"I could call the cops, I could press charges"

"Really? You’d want the cops to see the scene of the crie pornos, those h still scared, Zillis found sufficient self-pity to pout "Who died and made you God?"

Billy shook his head "Steve, you’re pathetic You’ll take the ten thousand, be glad you’re alive, and get out Plus one ain"

"Wait a minute You can’t--"

"Don’t call her, don’t see her Not ever"

"Billy, she could irl She’s a decent girl"

"That’s what I ood woman can turn a man around," Billy said "But not a man who’s as far down the rathole as you are If you call her or see her, even just once, I’ll know And I’ll find you You believe that?"

Zillis said nothing

"And if you touch her," Billy said, "so help ht," Zillis said

"Do you believe me? You better believe rip of the holstered pistol, Zillis said,

"Hey All right I hear you"

"Good I’ now"

"This place sucks anyway," Zillis said "Wine country is just another word for farm I’m not a farm boy"

"No, you’re not," Billy said from the doorway

"There’s no action around here"

"There’s no zing," Billy agreed

"Screw you"

Billy said, "Happy trails, Kemosabe"

Chapter 66

By the time that he’d driven only half a mile from Zillis’s place, Billy had the shakes so bad that he had to pull to the curb, put the Explorer in park, and get control of hi he most despised For a while, he had beco Zillis ten thousand bucks didn’t make Billy any less like Palmer, either

When the shakes subsided, he didn’t put the SUV in gear because he didn’t knohere to go from here He felt that he was at a brink You don’t drive over a brink