Call Me! by Dani Ripper Page B

But you said it yourself. He turned the alarm off by mistake.”
     
    “What if I killed Ben by mistake? Would you forgive me?”
     
    “Not at first, probably. But eventually? Yes, I think so.”
     
    He gives me a doubtful expression.
     
    I shrug. “I can’t guarantee it,” I say, “but I like to think that after all this time—”
     
    “Well, you’re obviously a better person than me,” he says.
     
    I note the disgust in his voice. “I’m sorry for what happened, Roy.”
     
    “No need for you to be sorry, Mindy.”
     
    I sigh. “I’m not Mindy. But I am sorry. Sorry for what Ben did to you all those years ago, and sorry you feel the need to punish him through me. But here’s what I don’t understand. Say I am Mindy Renee, and you make it public knowledge. How does that punish Ben?”
     
    He shrugs. “When I hurt you, I hurt Ben.”
     
    “You’d do that to me, knowing what I went through?”
     
    He smiles. “You mean, hypothetically?”
     
    “Of course.”
     
    “The answer is yes. I’d do that to you in a heartbeat.”
     
    “Why?”
     
    “Because I don’t give a shit what happens to you.”
     
    “Okay then.”
     
    “Okay what?”
     
    “Go sell your story.”
     
    “Would you like to know what it would take to keep me quiet?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “Really?”
     
    “Really. I’m not Mindy Renee, so your revelation won’t affect me in the least.”
     
    He points to the gun. “Am I free to go?”
     
    I lay the gun sideways on my desktop, but hold it just in case. He chuckles, then gets up and leaves. I wait ten minutes to make certain he isn’t standing in the hallway, then I put my head on my desk and sob like I haven’t sobbed in years.
     

“JEREDITH,” I SAY, “This is…”
    Dillon gives me a look.
     
    “This is what?” Jeredith says.
     
    “Captain Spaceship,” I say.
     
    Dillon bows.
     
    “You’re a captain?”
     
    “That’s right,” Dillon says. “Captain Spaceship.”
     
    “What branch of the military?”
     
    Dillon sneers. “What do you mean, branch ?”
     
    Jeredith frowns. “I’d cut that hair off if you were in my barracks, mister. And I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about your rank, neither. I’d do it in the middle of the night. Put some bars of lye soap in a burlap bag, and smack you in the head, and knock your ass out. Then I’d cut that nasty hair off your filthy head!”
     
    “You got any Lucky Charms?” Dillon says.
     
    Jeredith looks at me and says, “Is he retarded?”
     
    “Dillon likes to eat sugary cereal while he works.”
     
    “I’m a tweaker, man,” he says.
     
    “You’ll fire up no crystal meth in my house,” Jeredith says. “Nor snort it.”
     
    Dillon and I look at her in total confusion.
     
    She says, “I know what tweeking is. I watch cop shows on TV.”
     
    I look at Dillon.
     
    He says, “That’s tweeker with two e’s. I’m a tweaker with an a.”
     
    Jeredith gives me a look.
     
    “He’s brilliant,” I say. “He just loves his sugar.”
     
    “You,” she says to Dillon, giving him a wary look.
     
    “What?”
     
    “Stay out of my pantry. I won’t be a party to your addiction.”
     
    She stands aside to let us enter the house. To our left is a small dining room. To our right, an office.
     
    “Is that Burt’s computer?” I say.
     
    “Try not to leave evidence,” she says.
     
    Dillon parks himself in Burt’s chair and fires up the computer. Jeredith and I head to her kitchen to chat. We sit at her table and talk a few minutes.
     
    At one point she asks, “Where are your people from?”
     
    Before I finish answering, Dillon joins us, holding a sheet of paper in his hand. In a very matter-of-fact voice, he says, “Burt’s fucking Amy.”
     
    I glare at him while saying, “Jeredith, I have to apologize for Dillon’s lack of tact.”
     
    She says nothing.
     
    “Do you know an Amy?” I say.
     
    “Only Amy I know is his Aunt Amy. But she’s