The Scorned by David Putnam

Author:David Putnam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

WHEN I PULLED the stopper, the pink-tinted water in the tub swirled down the drain. Waldo took his cue and jumped out. He shook off, spattering the walls and toilet with dog water. I used one of the big fluffy towels to dry him.

He didn’t growl once. Was that all it took to turn Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll, a semi-intimate bath?

As I came out of the master bedroom, I met Layla coming from the little kitchenette area with a cup of tea; her long raven hair hung down past her waist, the sheen reflecting the light.

“Oh,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone was here.”

I looked around. Where had Drago gone?

I followed her into the living room and sat in the chair across from the couch. Waldo sat at my feet, put his head down on my sneaker, and closed his eyes. Baths relaxed him, it seemed.

“So,” I said to Layla. “You going stir crazy sitting in this hotel room?”

She’d put the blanket around her shoulders and sipped her tea as if we were in the Alps with eight feet of snow surrounding the building instead of balmy Southern California. Costa Rica didn’t have air conditioners; people kept their windows and doors open to the warm breeze.

She blew on her tea and sipped. “No. More than anything else I’m worried about Sonny. I’m going crazy sitting here not doing anything to find him.”

“I know and we’re working on that. Have you been outside at all?”

She shook her head in the negative looking down at her tea. “You told me to stay here.”

She lied.

She’d gone out and met the woman from the Shimbuto. Why had she lied? Was it because she didn’t trust me?

I didn’t want to show my hand just yet, not about the cloned cell phone, and said, “How did you keep your pregnancy a secret from your parents?”

“Is that information really necessary?”

She’d just woken up after a long nap and looked beautiful, her skin glowing, her eyes alive with unmatched exuberance and an innocence I was finding difficult to believe. The wonderous advantages of youth.

I didn’t answer and stared her down.

She nodded as if she understood. “I found out I was pregnant and flew home. I was about three months and not showing very much. I was able to cover it with the type of clothes I wore. Then I came back here and had Sonny at the County Medical Center, LCMC. It’s not uncommon for me not to see my parents for months at a time. They’re busy and I had to study for school.”

That made perfect sense and probably happened just the way she said.

“Why didn’t you want your parents to know about Sonny?”

She sipped and watched me over the top of the cup. She didn’t answer.

I said, “Because the father is Johnny Ef?”

I mentally clocked an interrogation error: Interviews 101, you never lead the interviewee, you want them to reveal the information.

She looked away and didn’t answer.

“What places did you go to with Johnny Ef?”

“He doesn’t like that name.

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