The Hidden by Bill Pronzini Read Free Book Online Page B

“Christ, that was unpleasant.”
    “You think so?”
    “Don’t you?”
    “At least it was warm in there.”
    “Don’t tell me you liked that bunch?”
    “I didn’t say that. No.”
    “I wish you hadn’t agreed to drink with them.”
    “One drink, which I needed. The fire, too.”
    “I was uncomfortable the whole damn time.”
    Of course you were, Shelby thought. All kinds of people made him uncomfortable, strangers in particular. He hadn’t always been like that. Once he’d been a people person, or tried to be even if he hadn’t always been successful. Now he shied away at every opportunity, made excuses to avoid contact with anyone except old friends like Ben Coulter. Afraid of being hurt, which in her mind translated to being afraid of living. She was just the opposite. She liked people for the most part. Found even the odd ones like the Lomaxes and the Deckers interesting, not that she’d want to spend any more time in their company. It had gotten a little unpleasant in there toward the last.
    Jay was backing out of the driveway onto the lane. “The way they kept sniping at each other,” he said. “You could’ve cut the tension with a knife.”
    “The storm, strangers showing up. Too much to drink and getting on each other’s nerves.”
    “And Lomax with that gun. Who did he think we were, home invaders?”
    “He didn’t threaten us with it, did he?”
    “You know how I feel about guns.”
    “Yes,” she said, “I know.”
    “The only half normal one was Claire,” he said. “But she didn’t really give a damn about getting to know us. Buffers. That’s why she invited us to stay.”
    “Buffers?”
    “Afraid something ugly, maybe violent was going to happen and us being there would diffuse it.”
    “You’re exaggerating, Jay.”
    “No. I’m not.”
    “All right. Whatever.”
    He eased the car along the rainswept lane. The wiper on the passenger’s side of the windshield seemed to have gone out of whack; it arced in little stuttering jerks, smearing more than clearing the glass. Another thing to be fixed, Shelby thought, another drain on their finances. Like the dryer that was about to give out, and the sink drain that kept clogging up, and the automatic garage door opener that no longer worked, and all the other little things that kept going wrong.
    Their situation wouldn’t have gotten so bad if Jay had been able to find work. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried; it was the lousy economy and the fact that he was either overqualified for this job or underqualified for that one. Worst time of year to be looking, too; even the minimum-wage jobs were taken. His unemployment insurance would run out in another six months or so, and then what would they do? She made a decent salary, but she was already putting in maximum overtime, working the graveyard shift whenever she could for the extra pay. It was enough to keep them afloat, but without some additional income …
    Jay said musingly, “I wonder what Paula meant.”
    “Meant about what?”
    “After we sat down. She said something about wackos on the loose inside and out. Inside, yes, but why ‘out’?”
    “Smart-ass remark. She and her husband made a lot of them.”
    “Didn’t sound like wisecracking to me.”
    “Well, she wasn’t being cryptic, either, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    “Not cryptic, just … I don’t know. It seemed funny, that’s all.”
    Sometimes he could be exasperating, the way he kept picking at things. First the deputy sheriff earlier and now the Lomaxes and the Deckers. “Why does it bother you so much?”
    “Part of the tension in there.”
    “That’s not what I meant. I meant why does the way the four of them acted bother you so much?”
    “I don’t know, it just does.”
    Well, she knew why. And so did he, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Being confronted with other people’s marital conflicts had sharpened his awareness of the conflicts in their marriage. Hit too close to home.