Liars in Love by Ian Bull

Author:Ian Bull [Bull, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

T he fire alarm blasts a wave of noise down the alley as dozens of people dash out of the building. Sam and Kath lower the bottom ladder of the fire escape, but no one looks up at them. The ringing alarm, in fact, gives them a perfect reason to be using the ladder.

Sam climbs down first with the duffel bag on his back, then looks right up Kath’s dress as she comes down the ladder after him. As she dangles from the last rung he grabs her by the waist like she’s a leaping ballerina and helps her jump down to the ground.

He tugs her hand and they run down Bluxome Alley, then turn right on 4th Street, and then they keep turning and running down the short tiny streets south of Market Street until they are on yet another short alley with a dead end. The whine of the fire engines fades in the distance, and Marjorie’s loft seems a long way away.

Sam walks up to a small purple car and finds the keys on the front left wheel, as requested. He unlocks the car, pops the hatchback, throws the bag in, slams it shut, slides behind the wheel…and notices that Kath is still standing in the middle of the street.

“That’s a 1975 Pinto. I’m not getting in that,” Kath says.

Sam looks at the odd wedge-shaped car with the sloped hatchback. “I didn’t pick it. This is Paul being cheap.”

“Well, you should have picked it!”

“I brought you here in a limo. That was the ‘date' part of the evening. This is now the ‘robbery' part. The getaway car is supposed to be cheap and anonymous, okay?"

“You don’t get it! I can never be in a Pinto! Never again!” she shouts.

Kath regrets shouting the moment she does it. She must already seem crazy to him, and she doesn’t want to confirm it all by dragging up her boring childhood. She spent years riding around in the backseats of cars like this, speeding across empty American landscapes. Her desperate yammering mom was always in the front seat, throwing herself at yet another loser behind the wheel who was somehow going to change everything for them.

Kath waits. This is the moment, she realizes, when a typical man would scream at her until spittle flew from his mouth, or throw something, or even hit her. That's what Paul would do. That's what her mother endured.

Sam gets out of the car, grabs the black bag from the back, pulls off his rubber gloves and sticks them into his jacket pocket, and heaves the bag onto his shoulder. “Let's find a taxi," Sam says and walks back up the alley towards 4th Street.

Feelings of relief and then worry sweep through Kath. Relief that Sam isn’t pressing her, and worry that they’ll now get caught because of her.

It's not even midnight yet, so 4th Street is busy. They hear police sirens but see no squad cars, and there are plenty of taxis cruising the South of Market neighborhood looking for club hoppers.

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