A Marked Man. Stella Cameron

took her time before she said, “It’s just I see somethin’ happenin’, or feel things. My mama was the same. And her mama. This time it’s worse—stronger. Makin’ me weary tryin’ to sort it all out. I don’t know what’s goin’ on, or what’s goin’ to happen, but it’s somethin’ terrible. And your Annie’s in the middle of it.” She paused and moved far enough back to see his face. “You, too, maybe. But what I’m pickin’ up is comin’ from her.”

      He was a surgeon, a scientist, and he didn’t buy into this drivel. “Thanks,” he said and smiled at Wazoo. Your Annie, that’s what she had said. She had no reason to link them as a couple unless Annie had said something to her, and Annie seemed as eager as he was to keep their association quiet.

      “You and Annie got something going?” Bobby said.

      Max looked at the other man who stared right back. “What?” Max said. “No, you don’t have to say any more. I don’t know who you are and I don’t want to know.” The guy was looking for trouble.

      “Of course you don’t. You’re afraid I’m competition and I reckon you’re right.”

      The tingle down Max’s spine was a natural reaction to confronting a clearly unhinged man. He composed himself. “Good night to you,” he said.

      “I plan for it to be a great night.” The innocent look slipped into a leer.

      Max glanced at Wazoo, and thought of Annie. She might or might not be alone upstairs but he wasn’t comfortable leaving while this guy was here. “It’s later than I thought,” he said, checking his watch. “Are you about to close up?”

      “In another hour,” Wazoo said.

      He looked down into the bakery case and pretended to be deep in thought. “Guess I should eat something before I go. I may not get time later. I’ll have a piece of spinach pie.”

      “That pie is collard greens with onions, red beans and boudin sausage.”

      Max didn’t like the sound of it, but he didn’t care that much, either. “Fine,” he said. “And I’ll have some iced tea, if you’ve got it. Does everything feel kind of still to you?”

      “Uh-huh,” Wazoo said. “Me, I won’t be shocked if there’s another storm.”

      “I hope you’re wrong,” Max said and returned to his table.

      Wazoo came to clean away the dirty dishes. This time she didn’t have anything to say.

      He sensed the man, Bobby, staring at him and looked back. He hadn’t expected to see a smile, but the guy smiled broadly at him.

      Max nodded, but wished Roche was with him. His psychiatrist brother’s reaction to this man might be interesting.

      “Annie doesn’t talk much about herself these days, I reckon,” Bobby said. “That doesn’t surprise me, no sir. When a body’s tryin’ to get lost it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to talk about the past. What d’you say to that? Had she told you much about where she came from and what she did?”

      “Why are you pushing this?” Max said. “Annie doesn’t owe me any explanations about her life before I met her.”

      “I bet you’ve fucked her. She fucks most men she meets.”

      Max shot out of his seat and made it to Bobby in a couple of steps. “A man, a man that is, doesn’t talk about a woman that way. He doesn’t use language like that in public places when there’s a lady present, either.”

      “Lady?” Bobby’s expression turned blank.

      “What’s the matter with you?” Max said. “Did Annie turn you down and you can’t get over it?” He stared down at him and breathed hard.

      Bobby laughed. “I don’t guess so, buddy. Oh, no. That girl was all fire between my legs, but you’d know about that.”

      “Why are you saying this?”

      “I’m lookin’ out for you, is all. Wouldn’t want a fine man suckered in by real used merchandise.”

      Max grabbed Bobby by the shoulders and tipped him until the front legs of his chair left the floor. Bobby flung out his arms and tried to grapple himself up again. Max let the chair dip lower and the man flailed.

      “Damn you,” he yelled. “You back off or I’ll call your sheriff friend.”

      “Okay by me,” Max said, jiggling the chair while Bobby made a grab at his shirt and got off a weak blow to the belly. “Do that again and you’ll be there a long time. What’s on your mind about Annie? Spit it out and let’s get it over with.” Suddenly, with a force that stole his breath, he wanted to rattle the creep’s teeth. “She doesn’t say anything negative about anyone, so what’s your problem?”

      “Whooee! That pretty girl got to you. She’s the first woman I loved, the only one, that’s my problem. Now she’s behaving like she can’t even see me. That’s also my problem.”

      “Then get lost. She’s not interested in you.”

      “I’ll get out when I’m ready. Annie Duhon owes me and she knows it. There’s things you can’t set right, but you can try.”

      Max began to haul the man and his chair upright.

      “You should have made it with her when she was sixteen,” Bobby jabbered and grinned. “Man, she was something else.”

      Max let the chair sag again. “That was what? Thirteen years ago? You’d better get a life and move on.”

      “I gotta life and I like where I am. All I want is a little respect. I suffered. And I helped her out big-time, too. But seeing her around here lookin’ like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth is something I can’t take. My folks never forgave me for bein’ with her. She’s dirty, that one. Soiled.”

      He would drop the man on the floor and beat the crap out of him. Max felt it coming.

      “She’s soiled,” Bobby yelped. “But I’m still gonna take her back. I’ll forgive her because she was young and adults interfered. I was an adult, too, but they didn’t let that count.”

      “Are you telling me you were over eighteen and having sex with a minor?”

      “Drop the fancy talk,” Bobby all but screamed at him. “I know why she’s afraid to let on she still loves me. I’m not talkin’ about that. But I am counseling you to find fresh meat.”

      “I think I’m going to kill you,” Max said, deadly quiet.

      Max let go of Bobby’s shoulders and he crashed to the floor, the back of the chair splintering around him. As he fell, his head slammed into the counter.

      “Tell Ellie I’ll be by to settle up on this chair,” Max said to Wazoo, stepping over Bobby who scrambled to extricate himself and rubbed his head at the same time. “And you didn’t hear a word he said here. Got that?”

      “You can bet your pride and joy I do,” she replied. She set a small pistol on the counter and crossed her arms.

      Chapter Nine

      Rather than turn right as soon as he was outside Hungry Eyes and appear to follow Annie, Max went to the left. He walked briskly, not so much as glancing at his car when he passed. Bobby wasn’t sitting near the windows and there was a good chance he had no idea the Boxster belonged to Max. The car was better where it was while he circled out of the square. He went around the block to look for a rear access to the dead-end alley beside Joe Gable’s law offices.

      He wasn’t about to accept an obscene attack on Annie. He didn’t believe Bobby, but he did think the man should be watched. Maybe what had been said would come up when Max reached Annie—if he did. Maybe it wouldn’t. Her safety was his main concern, that and getting an explanation for what