I'll Be Watching You Read online

  “He has a ranch, but they’ve got gators instead of cows and horses. Zell may not have a horse, but he’s got that sexy airboat. That’s his horse. He goes out hunting alligators and has to wrangle one at the farm once in a while, too. I saw it once. You’ve been to the big gator house, right?”

  Kim was ashamed to say she hadn’t, not once in the two years she’d lived there. She merely shook her head.

  Amy had the sense, job-wise, not to call her a scaredy-cat, but she did give her the look. “Well, the main door is cut in halves, see, and you always open the top half and take a look to make sure no gators have gotten out of the holding areas. On one harvest night, Owen just walked right in without checking first. He was so excited to be part of it, I guess. I was pretty excited to be there, too, so I can kinda understand. Anyway, Owen, he walked right past a six-footer.”

  Smitty added, “Them’s the nastiest gators, even more so than the big’uns. They’re big enough to do damage and agile enough to whip around you real fast-like.”

  “Owen didn’t even see the guy until Zell told him to move back slowly. He panicked and jumped, and the gator lunged at him. I swear, I thought my heart was going to shoot right out of my chest. The gator had its mouth open, hissing, and was moving right toward Owen. Zell just swore, pushed back his sleeves, and walked in. He straddled the gator quicker than spit, grabbed hold of the gator’s mouth and pulled it up and back toward him. By then, Charlotte had grabbed a rope and she wrapped it around the gator’s mouth.”

  Smitty interjected again, “A gator’s got tons of power to close his jaws, but not much to open ’em.”

  Amy didn’t seem to mind the interruptions. “Zell led the gator out the back to the slaughterhouse.”

  “No wonder he didn’t seem crazy about letting Owen go egg hunting in Dougal’s place,” Kim said. “How do they kill the gators?”

  Amy said, “Well, as Charlotte likes to say, ‘you stick the knife in their head right behind their eyes and pop out their brain’.” She demonstrated with nails as long and dazzling as Charlotte’s, holding up the pointer finger and giving it a knife-like twist. “She does the killing herself without batting an eye. It’s very humane. Severs all function instantly.” She snapped those fingers. “Just like that.”

  Kim said, “As charming as this conversation is, I must pull myself away. I’m beat. Come on, Oscar!”

  The pig trotted to the door and waited with his tail wagging like a dog. Kim’s mouth tugged into a smile.

  “Course,” Amy added, “the hardest test would be having Charlotte as a sister-in-law.” She hooted and slapped her knee.

  Kim couldn’t help but smile, though she didn’t comment. Sometimes it was better to keep your opinions to yourself. She didn’t know where loyalties ran yet.

  Smitty hit the lights at the bar, and the three of them walked out in the heavy night air. The moon was blazingly bright above them, lighting up the river and the mangroves. The parking lot had a few lights at the corners; Kim was going to have three more installed to cover every inch. They all took a moment to check the surroundings. She had her tear gas ready at her side. Smitty walked Amy to her car, and then walked Kim to hers.

  “Gonna have to get yourself an American car now that you’re staying,” he said.

  “I know. It was cheap, what can I say? I’ve always wanted a truck. Like an F-150, something like Zell’s, shiny and cool-ish.” Before she closed the door, she said, “Do you think I’m crazy to stay?”

  “Yeah, but crazy’s all right. Worked for me all these years. Comes down to whether you can stand the fallout. G’night, young’un. Call me if you need anything.”

  She had a crazy urge to get out and hug him but figured that was probably a little too crazy. “Thanks,” she said instead.

  She knew what he meant. If she had trouble at home. She didn’t want to think about someone coming to her home (her home, wow, did that sound incredible?) and hurt her. Or damage her home.

  When she drove up to the house, she took an extra couple of minutes to scan the area. She kept her canister in hand as she let Oscar out. She took another look, and this time noticed the way the moonlight dappled the ground through the leaves. It pooled over the house and made it look like something out of a fairy tale. All around her sang the symphony of frogs happy to be alive on a summer’s night. It was so beautiful her heart started beating faster. She slapped at the swamp suckers and continued to take it all in while she turned in circles. Though she’d hated the mugginess down here, it wrapped around her like an old, favorite blanket. The moon was overhead now, still as bright and detailed as before. Brighter than she remembered. The stars looked brighter, too. It wasn’t her imagination, wasn’t because she’d missed this place so much. The stars didn’t have to compete with city lights and pollution.

  She could hear Oscar rooting around in the shadows. At least she hoped it was Oscar.

  “This sucks, being afraid. That’s what they want, for me to run away with my tail between my legs. Well, that’s not going to happen.” She wanted to yell it out, but there was no point in scaring the wildlife. She felt a surge of that Lyons’s orneriness. Before it could really take hold, a scream like a newborn’s rent the night air. Just as suddenly, it died to silence. Even the frogs ceased for a few moments before resuming again as though nothing had happened. Kim had frozen, staring into the darkness of the trees.

  “Oscar?” she managed through a tight throat.

  She heard a splash in the near distance. Closer, footsteps pounded on the damp earth. Where was that orneriness now when she couldn’t move? The steps grew louder, and then a shadow separated from the background darkness. Oscar rushed past her toward the porch and eased through the dog door with a scraping sound. Only then could she step backward and grab for the door handle.

  Once on the relative safety of the porch, she turned back toward the darkness. Her mind did a search on that eerie scream that had died so suddenly and found a match. A raccoon had gone down to the water’s edge for a drink and had become a meal for an alligator. Probably the one that had left the tracks.

  She shivered. That’s how it was here in the wetlands. Life and death, hunter and hunted. She hoped she didn’t become part of that cycle anytime soon.

  Tullie had heard her mama come back from the bar and had gone downstairs. She saw Charlotte tap on Grandpa’s door and then step inside. Tullie hovered in the hallway to listen to their conversation.

  “What the hell are you doing waking me up in the middle of the night?” he’d said, grumbling like a bear.

  “I got gossip. First off, Amy’s working at the bar now.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. That girl’ll do anything for money. Lying on her back would be a more respectable way to earn it, though.”

  “There’s something even bigger. Kim’s staying in Cypress. She made an announcement tonight, right in front of everybody. She said we could boycott the bar and even run it out of business, but she knows Southern Comfort’s the only place in town folks like to go. Some folks left, and those two creepy cons of Buck’s stalked right out. Then they beat up on Zell.”

  “What?”

  Her mama said, “Well…he did applaud when Kim finished her speech. You should’a been there. It was quite the show.”

  “She won’t last.”

  Her mama’s voice changed from the sharing-gossip tone to low and serious. “What if she does? You know how determined she can be. Do you think she’ll cause trouble?”

  “I hope not.”

  “I’ll make things right, Daddy. You know I will.”

  “Now, Charlotte—”

  “Won’t hurt to keep an eye on her. Just in case.”

  Tullie crept back to her bed in case Mama finished the conversation and stuck her head in her bedroom to check on her. Sometimes she did, but a few minutes later she drove the truck to the farm to get the incubators ready for the eggs. Her daddy was already out there.

  Kim was staying, and Uncle Zell g
ot beat up. Mama and Grandpa were worried. About what? Could Kim hurt them in some way? Her bad feeling was coming true. The problem was, she liked Kim, though she’d never tell anyone. She’d expected not to like her at all when she’d offered to take her to Uncle Zell, but she wanted to find out for herself, to see if she could feel her badness like she could with some people. There was a good feeling about Kim instead.

  There were other people whose badness she picked up on. It scared her.

  She slid out of her canopy bed and crept down the stairs. Grandpa’s workout room door was open and light spilled out of the opening. When she peered through the opening, she saw that it was the moonlight, so bright and silvery, it didn’t look real.

  Grandpa Winn was struggling to pull up his legs on one of the machines. Tullie would have knocked softly on the door then, but there was something in his face that stopped her. He looked like he was in pain, and there was a darkness in his eyes that gave her that bad feeling. Maybe it was the light and shadows. Still, she went back to her room.

  Her alligator was stirring in his tank. Mama had given it to her a few months ago; the gator wasn’t growing fast enough and would have probably died from starvation. She’d told Tullie not to name it, because when the gator was big enough, it would go back to the farm and become a meal and somebody’s purse. Tullie had secretly named him Runt. She tapped on the glass in greeting, and Runt lifted his head in interest.

  Tullie had other things on her mind tonight. She climbed onto her window seat and looked out over the front yard. She loved full-moon nights, loved how the world looked magical. Tonight she couldn’t enjoy it. The feeling was getting bigger inside her. Since Uncle Zell was going to be up until about four in the morning, she’d have to wait until mid-day to check up on him. It was her mama and Kim she was worried about, though. She felt like she was crossing her mama by liking Kim. Maybe she’d talk to Uncle Zell about this. She could tell him anything, but how could she tell him something she couldn’t explain to herself? The dark, scary feeling that someone she knew was going to die. That it might be her.

  JoGene pulled up to one of the hunting cabins he called his own. If his father had heard Kim’s speech, would he give her credit for standing up there and announcing her decision to stay? Nah, probably not. As much as he hated her, he’d have thrown a bottle at her.

  JoGene looked at the small front porch—where his dad was waiting for him on the rocking chair. He looked mean and drunk, which was typical for this time of night. JoGene took his time getting out of the truck, but that didn’t ease the lump in his throat. Damn, he was a grown man. He shouldn’t be afraid of his dad anymore.

  “Heard you were at Southern Comfort tonight,” Buck said.

  JoGene leaned against the column, making sure to keep his back straight and look him in the eye. “Yeah, so what? It’s the only real bar in town. ’Sides, Smitty’s there.”

  “Well, Smitty ain’t any better than the rest of ’em. But you, you’re my son. You got no business hanging around that woman. She’s the enemy.”

  “I have a plan, that’s why I was there.” He hadn’t told Buck about his intention of buying the bar and finally getting out from his control.

  “Well now, what plan might that be? Getting in her pants? You’d screw anything with a hole in it.”

  JoGene’s jaw clenched so hard, he felt a muscle pop. “I’m trying to scare her a bit so she doesn’t get too comfortable here. I put a dead rat on her porch. I got her good when she was poling around the mangroves.”

  “Yeah, and that worked real well, now didn’t it?”

  “Look, I’m working on it. I’m trying to be careful, doing things that can’t be traced to me.” As soon as Kim was out of the way, he was going to get that bar, and by the time Buck knew anything about it, he’d own it outright. Wharton had been sworn to secrecy; JoGene had reminded him about the lawyer-client confidentiality, just in case.

  Buck stood and hitched up his saggy jeans. “Wail, all right, but don’t get too friendly with her. And don’t take too long, or I’m going to take care of Kim myself.”

  For the first time, Kim slept in Elva’s bed. Her bed now. She was having an interesting dream about kissing the cut on Zell’s lip when a cold, wet something prodding at her dragged her right out of the dream. She opened her eyes to find a dark, ugly face peering at her from the side of the bed. Early morning light peeked in through the crack in the closed curtains.

  “Oscar,” she whined, rolling to the other side. A minute later, she heard a sound from that side and opened her eyes again. The face was still looking at her.

  “You must have to go out.” She pushed herself up. “Well, you’re sort of like having a dog.” She scratched his head and swore the pig was grinning.

  She didn’t even brush her hair. There was no Simon, after all, to tell her that she looked like a ragamuffin. Since that reminded her of him and that unfortunate task, she left him a message and walked around checking the outside of the house while Oscar attended to his pig pellet duties. Nobody had been up to mischief while she’d slept. No new gator tracks marred the yard either: another bit of good news.

  She walked through the hothouse next and misted the orchids like Zell had shown her. She was sure Elva had a care book around the house, and Kim intended to find it. When she returned to the house, she called her boss and put in her resignation. He gave her a hard time and said he wouldn’t miss her, but she knew he would, just a little. Who else could he harass and get away with it?

  Afterward, she set out to make this place a real home. She cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the floors, and purged the refrigerator of several unidentifiable containers and sale items Elva had overbought.

  When the phone rang, her heart skipped a beat. Even though breaking ties with Simon was the right thing to do, it wasn’t going to be easy. Doing it over the phone probably wasn’t the best way either, but she wasn’t going to be able to get back to Tallahassee for a week or more.

  She wiped her hands on her jeans, grabbed up the portable, and went out onto the porch where Oscar was enjoying the day.

  “Sorry I missed you,” Simon said in a casual way that meant he wasn’t really all that sorry.

  Kim knew she was trying to justify and pushed the snippy thoughts aside. “Where were you? I don’t think you’ve been home since I left.”

  He gave her an uneasy laugh. “I went out with the guys from work again. We had so much fun at the hip-hop clubs we went out again. I was sound asleep when you called. How’s it going down in the swamps with the rednecks?”

  “I’m a redneck.” He’d teased her about her language whenever she lapsed.

  “I know, but you’ve pretty much shed all that, thank goodness.”

  “I’m still a redneck, and you know what? I’m proud of it. This is my heritage, for better or worse.”

  “No need to get testy. You know I only mean it in fun.”

  “Well, you never did have a good sense of what was fun.” As it turned out, Simon launched into a coughing attack, probably brought on by the club smoke, and hadn’t heard that.

  Oscar moseyed over and shoved his butt against her for a side rub that quickly became a belly rub. Just like Smitty had said, the pig rolled right over and made a sound of pleasure.

  “Excuse you,” Simon said. “Was that a burp?”

  “That wasn’t me, it was Oscar. The pig,” she clarified.

  “You haven’t gotten rid of that thing yet? Isn’t there an animal shelter there?”

  She looked at Oscar and realized he was a better roommate than Simon had ever been, lack of sex notwithstanding. “I’m keeping the pig.”

  “Kim, we talked about this. You can’t—”

  “I’m staying in Cypress.”

  That stopped all form of conversation for a few moments. “What?” he said at last. “I must have misunderstood you.”

  “I’m staying. You know how I’ve always wanted a place of my own and my own bar. Well, I’ve got it here. I lo
ve this place, and I realized that this is home for me. Tallahassee was never home.”

  “You met someone, didn’t you? An old boyfriend I’ll bet.”

  She rolled her head back against the rocking chair. “This has absolutely nothing to do with a man.” Even if Zell did flash through her mind. “Nothing. This is about me. This is about me being able to hang up my neon lizard sign and all of my other so-called tacky stuff. This is about me being able to leave my keys where I damn well please and not getting yelled at like even my own daddy never yelled. It’s about making someplace my home.” She scrubbed her fingers through her hair. “And you know what? I haven’t even brushed my hair yet today.”

  Simon made his disgusted sound. “You even sound like a redneck, and you’ve only been there a few days. Fine, if that’s what you want. What do you want me to do with your things?”

  “Most of them are still in boxes in the second bedroom. My clothes are all in that closet, too, so my stuff shouldn’t be in your way.” It never had been, now that she thought about it. Simon had so many things that he needed his own closet. Same with the bathroom. “If you don’t mind, just stick whatever might belong to me in the second bedroom. I’ll be up in maybe a week or so, once I get things settled down here.”

  “Fine. Just let me know when you’re coming. I’m going to have the locks changed.”

  “Fine,” she said, mirroring him. He’d taken her plan to move down there as a breakup. Not once had he thought about whether he wanted to live down there. “I’ll talk to you later then.”

  After she hung up, she felt deflated. She slid down to the floor and continued scratching Oscar’s belly with abandon. He continued to make those interesting sounds. After a few minutes, she laid her head on his side. For the second time in her life, she was totally alone.

  When Zell returned from collecting eggs, the whole Macgregor clan helped with the process of checking them in. All those eggs were a beautiful sight, lined up in incubators that matched the original temperatures of the nests. Alligator nests had two chambers for two different temperatures, which determined the sex of the hatchling. The eggs were smaller than hen eggs, but longer. And in almost every one, an alligator waited to be born. The days the eggs hatched were even more exciting.