In Search of Fate
Chapter 5: The Therapy Session
When they arrived at Evelyn’s apartment
complex, Questor asked the cab driver to wait as he walked Evelyn to the front
door. She turned at the door and threw herself into his arms. Questor buried
his face in her hair and whispered, “As much as I don’t want to leave, I must
carry out our plan. You’ll be safe inside.” They separated. Evelyn’s eyes were
filled with tears. Questor became worried. “My god, I’ll never forgive myself
for exposing you to this danger.”
“Adam, my dear fool, I’m not crying because I’m
afraid, though I won’t deny that I am, for both of us.”
The sense of what she said slowly dawned on
Questor. He took her face in his hands.
Their eyes were fixed on each other as he moved close. Ever so softly he kissed
her on the lips. “You must go now. I don’t know if I have the strength to pull
away from you.”
Evelyn broke into a burst of laughter. She
reached for the door and slowly opened it. “I wouldn’t want my hero to lose his
strength.”
“Here,” Questor handed her his business card,
‘Call me on my cell as soon as you lock the doors behind you, okay?”
“Okay, my hero.” Evelyn was through the door
before her glazed eyes fell upon the security guard.
He sheepishly looked away as he said, “Good
evening, Miss Wyman.”
Evelyn was not embarrassed at all. She lit up
in a broad smile. “Good evening, Mr. Haroldson. It is
an incredibly good evening indeed!” She walked briskly past his desk towards
the elevators.
Questor, in the meantime, had returned to the
cab. More time had elapsed than he realized, but the cab driver had not moved.
As he dropped into the rear seat, he felt the weight of his body for the first
time within the last hour or so.
“Where to, Mr. Double Agent?”
Questor saw a smiling face in the rear view
mirror. “I need to mail something at the nearest post office. But I don’t have
it packaged or addressed yet. And I don’t imagine there’s a post office open at
this hour. I guess I’ll have to settle for a mail box. Do you have any ideas?”
Mista’, I
surely do. You just happen’ to get yourself into the right cab tonight. UPS is
open ‘til 10:00 PM at the airport. That’s where my wife works. Hell, she’d be
happy to help with the packagin’ too.
. . especially when I tell her it’s for a double agent and all.”
Questor’s cell phone rang. “To the airport then . . . and thanks.” He brought the
phone to his ear. As soon as he heard Evelyn’s voice, he felt gratefully relieved.
He could almost feel her breath on his face as she told him she was safely
behind locked doors and that her apartment appeared normal. The intimate tenor
of her voice reawakened the glow of their recent parting. Once again, he told
her that he didn’t want to leave her, but knowing that she was safe would make
it easier for him to do what he had to do. After he closed the cell phone and
returned it to his pocket, he noticed the smiling face in the rear view mirror.
Addressing the driver, he said, “It would be best if you forget about this
evening. I doubt that anybody would ever ask you about us. But it wouldn’t be
good for either of us if you got involved.”
“I ain’t
seen nothin’. Whatever I read in the paper
tomorrow about break-ins and such will be just as big a surprise to me as any
other dude. Tonight, I’m just glad to be helpin.’ You
two are the most smittin’ folks I ever did see. My
wife and I would be honored to do what we can for y’all.”
After her brief phone
call with Questor, Evelyn proceeded to her bedroom. Languorously, she began to
undress, spent as she was from the emotional rollercoaster of her day. Although she had checked her apartment for
anything out of place, she had not noticed that the door to her balcony was
unlocked and slightly ajar. She never used to lock it since she lived on the
eighth floor. But recently she began to lock it before she left the apartment,
as she had done on this day. Normally
she would shower after disrobing. Tonight she just wanted the comfort of her
bed. She put on her flannel nightgown, threw back the blankets and propped
herself up with pillows. Her body felt warm all over. She pulled her knees up
to her chest, letting her nightgown slide down to her waist as she reached for
the book on her night stand. Her mind was racing with the remarkable images of
her evening. Maybe her regular routine would settle her mental state and
prepare her for sleep. She opened the book. As the pages fluttered open, she
thought she heard a slight swishing sound elsewhere. It was hardly noticeable,
like the slight wafting of a curtain before a soft breeze. Evelyn looked up
from her book momentarily, and then dismissed what she thought she heard. Her
mind was still caught up with events, making it almost impossible to focus on
anything. The thought of her building’s super crossed her mind. She put the
book down and rose from the bed. As she walked toward the phone in the other
room, she passed the sliding door to the balcony. Unguarded and unsuspecting,
she was not prepared to resist the strong arm that grasped her about the neck.
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