Man at Work by Elaine Fox

Author:Elaine Fox
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

Arthur looked at the ground and scuffed one shoe

against an oil stain on the cement floor. “She’s awright.”

“That sure was a good dinner we had that night. And

I thought we had a good talk. How come you lied to me,

Arthur?”

Arthur looked up, angry again. “I didn’t lie. You did.

And I don’t remember no deal.You told me you was givin’

up on her, givin’ me a clear shot. That’s why I wanted to be

sure she wasn’t your girlfriend or nothin’. I didn’t wanna

be steppin’ on any toes. But now here you are, with her. I think you’re steppin’ on my toes now, Harley.”

Truman looked around the garage, then back at

Arthur in his black, three-piece suit. “We were both

supposed to give up. That was the deal, Arthur.”

“If that was the deal, then you broke it too.” He

jabbed a fat finger through the air toward Truman, the

kind of motion that usually poked one in the chest but

Arthur was too timid for that, Tru knew. “ ’Cause here

you are. But I still don’t remember no deal. I remember you givin’ up and tellin’ me I had a clear shot. That’s

what I remember. This ain’t fair.” He looked at Truman’s

tuxedo. “That’s a nice suit,” he said finally.

Truman tilted his head.“Thank you. But I’m pretty sure

I didn’t say anything about giving you a clear shot. I think I would have remembered saying that.” He studied Arthur’s

face, noting the mottled red color on his cheeks and what

there was of his neck. “Arthur, were you by any chance in

the parking garage at Marcy’s office about a week ago?”

MAN AT WORK

285

The red in his face got deeper and his head sunk

lower. His chin was resting on his chest as he worked his

shoe around the oil blotch again.

“What were you thinking?” Truman asked, though

not in a rough tone of voice. “Did you knife her tires to

scare her?”

“No,” Arthur protested, like a kid who’s been accused of doing exactly what he did. “I just wanted to give her a

ride home. Get a little alone time with her, ya know.”

“And you thought that by slashing her tires . . . what?

She’d realize your affection for her?”

“No. If her tires all gone flat then she’d need a ride home, wouldn’t she, smart ass?” he asked, looking at

him as if he were an idiot.

Truman’s brows lowered. “Art, didn’t you think she’d

be suspicious? I mean, she comes out, her tires have

been flattened, and there you are ready to give her a ride

home. She’s pretty smart. Don’t you think she’d put two

and two together?”

Arthur hung his head again. “I know. I suddenly

thought a that when she came out the door. I was tryin’

to come up with something to tell her what happened,

you know, so she wouldn’t think it was me, but I didn’t

get no chance. She was with some other people and

they give her the ride home I wanted to give her.” He poked one of those fat fingers at his own chest with the

words.

“Arthur, she thought you were threatening her be-

fore,” Truman said reasonably. “Remember, I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.