The Sun Down Motel

Viv put her hand on the frame of the office door. She might be able to duck back inside and close the door on him.

“But that wasn’t good enough, was it?” Robert continued. “Not for greedy Helen. No, she had to call my wife and tell her I’m cheating on her. My goddamned wife. I came home to find her in tears, and when I told her it wasn’t true, she didn’t believe me. She’s moved into her sister’s house and taken our kids with her. All because of a fucking phone call.”

He was livid. Viv felt the chill of fear go down her spine. I made that phone call, she thought. It was me. She hoped her thoughts didn’t show on her face. She felt like they were floating in the air, the words easy to read. She pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t speak.

“I’ve got her goddamned money,” Robert said. “She told me to meet her here in room one-twelve. But you say she isn’t here. Why wouldn’t she be here to collect her paycheck? That’s what this whole thing was about, right? Helen has to be here. Unless you’re lying, you little bitch.”

He was fast. She thought she had time to duck, but she didn’t. Robert grabbed her wrist in a hard grip and yanked her forward, pulling her off-balance. He pushed her into the vinyl siding of the motel, shoving her wrist into the middle of her chest and jerking her like a doll. The back of Viv’s head knocked against the wall. She opened her mouth, but Robert already had one hand over her throat, his grip strong and male, willing to do anything.

“Don’t scream,” he said.

Viv gasped as his grip tightened just a little.

Robert’s eyes looked into hers. They were hard with fury. He didn’t look like a normal, rational man. He looked crazy.

“Tell me the truth or I’ll kill you,” he said.

Viv felt her breath saw in her throat. “I don’t know anything.”

He squeezed a little, his fingertips digging into her flesh. “You think I won’t kill you? You think I can’t? There’s no one here, bitch. I can choke the life out of you and leave you in the parking lot.”

She had left her knife in her purse in the office. Six feet away, but it might as well be on planet Mars. She was never making that mistake again. “Please don’t,” she said.

“‘Please don’t,’” he said in that mocking voice of his. “You’re pathetic. The more I look at you, the more I know that you’re covering for her. She was too afraid to meet me in person, wasn’t she? She knew how angry I’d be. She knew I’d hurt her. So she sent you instead. What did she promise you? A cut of the money? She’s a lying bitch. She doesn’t intend to give you a penny. You’re as stupid as I was. It would probably be a mercy to strangle you right now.”

“You’re wrong,” Viv managed. She had to convince him. She had to get out of his grip, get to her knife. If she could get to her knife, this would never happen again. “You have it all wrong. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

There was the hum of a car motor, and headlights appeared on Number Six Road. The approaching car slowed, and Viv realized that even through the rain, she and Robert were clearly visible under one of the motel lights, Robert with one hand on her wrist and the other on her throat, pinning her against the motel siding. Whoever was in the car could see them.

She opened her mouth to shout for help, then realized that the person in the car was Helen.

For a second, their eyes met. Robert squeezed Viv’s throat, and she gasped for breath. His back was to the road, Helen behind him. Viv stared at Helen, silently begging her.

Helen’s face held no expression. She hit the gas and the car sped away, off down Number Six Road again.

“No!” Viv rasped, struggling to get free.

“Shut up,” Robert said. He took his hand from her wrist, keeping the other on her throat. He reached into the breast pocket of his Windbreaker and pulled out an envelope. “Take it,” he snarled. “Take her fucking money. She’s your problem now, her and her husband. Tell her if I ever see her bitch face again, I’ll kill her with my bare hands. You know I can.”

He yanked at the neck of Viv’s sweater, pulling it roughly down. He shoved the envelope down her shirt, the paper cool against her bare skin, the edges and corners scraping her. The only sound was their heavy breathing and the crinkle of the envelope as he pushed it on her.

Then he used his grip on her neck to pull Viv forward. She overbalanced, and he used the momentum to shove her to the ground. She landed hard on her back, her wrist and the back of her head hitting the pavement. This is what it was like for Victoria Lee, she thought as her vision flashed white. Falling on the ground of the jogging path in the rain. She thought of Betty Graham. Betty had a lot of bruises. Like she fought hard. She wondered if cops would see the bruises on her body someday.

Upstairs, one of the motel doors flew open with a bang. Then another.

Robert White bent down, his hands out, and grabbed the front of her jacket. Viv tried to fight him off, but he was strong. She opened her mouth to scream.

“Excuse me.”

White flinched in surprise at the voice. It was male, calm, coming from a few feet away. When White turned his head, Viv pushed her heels into the pavement and scrambled away, scraping her back and her elbows. She turned to see the person who had interrupted them and went very still.

Simon Hess, the traveling salesman, was standing at the edge of the parking lot. His car was parked a few feet behind him, close to the dripping trees. He wore a dark gray overcoat and carried a small suitcase in one hand. His expression was utterly calm, only a small line of consternation between his eyebrows giving anything away.

“Are you assaulting that young lady?” he asked White, as if he were commenting on the weather.

White straightened up. His face was splotched red, his hair messed. Still, he managed to look the other man in the eye and say, “It’s a private matter.”

Hess looked at Viv on the ground, then back at White. His expression was blank. “I think she works here,” he said to Hess as if Viv weren’t there. “I need a room.”

“This is none of your business,” White said.

“Obviously not. It doesn’t change the fact that I need a room. I’d appreciate getting one and getting out of this rain. It’s been a long day, and I’m really quite tired.”

Viv couldn’t take her eyes off him. His smoothly combed hair, his large and capable hand holding the handle of his suitcase. Tracy Waters was dead in an ice-cold ditch, her family in ruins. It’s been a long day, and I’m really quite tired.

White smoothed the front of his jacket, and Viv felt a bolt of panic. Don’t leave me here alone with him, she silently begged the man who had just assaulted her. Please don’t go.