Perfect (Second Opportunities 2)

"Every convict claims he's innocent."

"Yes, but are you?" she persisted, dying for him to say he was so she could pretend to believe him.

"The jury said I was guilty."

"Juries have been wrong before."

"Twelve honest, upstanding citizens," he replied in a voice suddenly iced with loathing, "decided I was."

"I'm sure they tried to be objective."

"Bullshit!" he said so furiously that Julie's hands tightened on the steering wheel under a fresh onslaught of fear and dread. "They convicted me of being rich and famous!" he snapped. "I watched their faces during the trial, and the more the district attorney raved about my privileged life and the amoral standards of Hollywood, the more that jury wanted my blood! The whole damned, sanctimonious, God-fearing bunch of them knew there was a 'reasonable doubt' I didn't commit that murder and that's why they didn't recommend the death penalty. They'd all watched too much Perry Mason—they figured if I didn't do it, I should be able to prove who did."

Julie felt the perspiration break out on her palms at the rage in his voice. Now, more than ever before, she realized how imperative it was to make him believe she sympathized with him. "But you weren't guilty, were you? You just couldn't prove who really murdered your wife, is that it?" she persevered in a trembling voice.

"What difference does it make?" he snapped.

"It m-makes a difference to me."

For a moment he studied her in frozen silence and then his voice made one of its abrupt, compellingly soft turns. "If it truly makes a difference to you, then no, I didn't kill her."

He was lying, of course. He had to be. "I believe you." Trying to heap more reassurances on him, she added, "And if you are innocent, then you have every right to try to escape from prison."

His answer was an uncomfortably long silence during which she felt his piercing gaze examining every feature on her face, then he said abruptly, "The sign said there's a phone up ahead. Pull over when you see it."

"All right."

The telephone was beside the road and Julie pulled off into the drive. She was watching the outside rearview mirror in hopes of seeing a trucker or some other driver she could flag down but there was little traffic on the snowy road. His voice made her snap her head around just as he pulled her car keys from the ignition. "I hope," he said in a sardonic voice, "you won't think I doubt your word about believing I'm innocent and wanting to see me escape. I'm simply taking the car keys because I happen to be a very cautious man."

Julie amazed herself by managing to shake her head and say convincingly, "I don't blame you." With a brief smile, he got out of the car, but he kept his hand in his pocket with the gun as a deliberate menacing reminder to her, and he left the passenger door open, undoubtedly so he could see what she was doing while he made his call. Short of trying to outrun him and a possible bullet, Julie had no hope of escaping right now, but she could start preparing for the future. As he stepped into the snow, she said with all the meekness she could muster, "Would you mind if I get a pen and paper out of my purse so that I can make some notes while you're on the phone—you know, jot down feelings and things so that I can use them in my book?" Before he could refuse, which he looked about to do, she reached cautiously for her purse on the back seat while pointing out reasons he shouldn't deny her request. "Writing always calms my nerves," she said, "and you can search my purse, if you like. You'll see I don't have another set of keys or any weapons." To prove it she opened the purse and handed it to him. He gave her an impatient, preoccupied look that made her feel as if he didn't believe her story about writing a novel for a moment and was simply going along with it to keep her docile.

"Go ahead," he said, handing the purse to her.

As he turned away, Julie pulled out a small note pad and her pen. Keeping an eye on his back, she watched him pick up the telephone and put coins in it, then she quickly wrote the same message on three different slips of paper: CALL POLICE. I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED. From the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her and she waited until he turned away to talk to whoever he was calling, then she tore off the first three sheets, folded them in half and tucked them into the outside pocket of her purse where she could easily reach them. She opened the notebook again and stared at it, her mind frantically searching for ways to pass the notes to people who could aid her. Struck with a plausible idea, she stole a glance at him to be sure he wasn't looking, then she quickly took one of the notes from her purse and folded it into a ten-dollar bill from her wallet.

She had a plan, she was executing it, and the knowledge that she was now taking some control of her future banished much of her lingering fear and panic. The rest of her newfound calm owed itself to something besides having a plan in mind. The feeling came from an instinctive but unshakable conviction that one thing Zachary Benedict had said was true: He did not want to harm her. Therefore, he wasn't going to shoot her in cold blood. In fact, if she tried to escape now, she was certain he would chase her, but he wouldn't shoot her unless it looked as if she were going to flag down a passing car. Since there were no cars coming, Julie saw no point in flinging open her door and making a break for it right now—not when he could outrun her, and all she would gain was to put him permanently on his guard. Better by far to appear to cooperate and lull him into relaxing as much as possible. Zachary Benedict might be an ex-con, but she wasn't the gullible, easily intimidated coward she'd been acting like until now. Once, she'd had to live by her wits, she reminded herself bracingly. While he was a pampered teenage movie idol, Julie was lying and stealing and surviving on the streets! If she concentrated on that now, she'd be able to hold her own with him, she was absolutely positive! Well, almost positive. So long as she kept her head, she had an excellent chance of winning this contest of wits. Taking her notebook out, she began jotting down saccharine comments about her kidnapper in case he asked to see what she'd written. Finished, she reread her absurd commentary:

Zachary Benedict is fleeing from unjust imprisonment caused by a biased jury. He seems to be an intelligent, kind, warm man—a victim of circumstances. I believe in him.

The commentary was, she decided with an inner grimace, the worst piece of pure fiction ever written. So engrossed was she that she experienced only a momentary jolt of dread when she realized he'd finished his call and was climbing into the car. Quickly closing the notebook and shoving it into her purse, she asked politely, "Did you talk to whoever it is you're trying to call?"