bad road to the dead river - 32. strangers in the night

by nick nelson

part thirty-two of thirty-two

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anne greenleaf kicked off her shoes and leaned back on the couch in her apartment. two stiff drinks sat on the coffee table between anne and rutherford b hayes, who sat up straight on the edge of a big armchair, looking neither particularly interested nor particularly bored. rutherford’s drink was stiffer than anne’s. anne was determined to get him drunk, and do whatever else it took to get him to tell her who and what he really was. “drink up,” anne invited rutherford. riurherford took a healthy swallow of his drink. if he thought it strong, he did not show it. anne took a sip of hers. “now, rutherford,” she told him. “the time for silly games has past. why don’t you really tell me all about yourself?’ ‘i already did.” “i don’t think so. do you really expect me to believe that a person with no i d, and no memory of who he is, and no luggage , can stay nice and clean and healthy looking in this evil city, just by finding people to give him money every day and letting him sleep in their apartment?. and never have a run in with the police, who are everywhere?” rutherford shrugged. “but i just did, didn’t i?” “with the secret service? they are not exactly the police. i think that is how you slipped up somehow. though i can not figure how.” rutherford looked around anne’s small but tastefully furnished apartment. “this is a nice place.” “yes, it is.” “can i stay overnight?” “of course.” “there you have it.” * grundy turned the key and pushed open the door to his apartment. it was dark except for the light from the television. his mom was watching jerry perkins. jerry perkins was a long running tv show about a bartender who solved murders and other crimes in his time off. “were you worried about me?” grundy asked. “no, i could feel you were all right. you are kind of late, though. anything exciting happen?’ grundy thought of telling her about rutherford b hayes,, which was kind of weird if not exactly exciting, but decided he probably could not get her to understand how weird it was. besides, he knew she really would rather watch jerry perkins. “no, “ he said. “ we just had to wait on this guy. it was nothing special.” he went into the kitchenette and took a bottle of seltzer water out of the refrigerator. the end of "bad road to the dead river"