What the cat dragged in.

13 Deeper

She smiled a little, probably recognizing his pretense and following his lead. "No."

He could smell her anxiety receding. He couldn't say he understood why, but he wasn't going to question it either.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Somewhere in rural Connecticut, they changed vehicles again. Kelly was familiar with the process this time, so driving up to a seemingly ramshackle building in the middle of nowhere wasn't nearly as unsettling as it had been that first time. The black BMW 750i had a cherry undertone to the paint and an air of danger and power surrounding it. In other words, it had Victor written all over it. 

She tried not to stare at it as he moved the luggage and covered the Escalade, but she didn't succeed. While she tried to keep out of the way, she wondered if he changed vehicles midway through every trip, and if he did exactly how many he had. She knew they weren't all like this. The old Chevy he'd driven from the cabin wasn't-

A sharp tug on her hair broke her train of thought and pulled her off balance. Kelly stumbled back into his chest. He supported her weight with his hand on her head. He nipped the sensitive spot just under her earlobe, leaving another stinging scratch. It made whatever she was thinking about seem monumentally unimportant. She leaned back into him. He chuckled and gave her a little shove. 

"That staring's another habit I'm gonna have to break you of." He grinned and walked around to the other side of the car.

"I was trying not to stare." Kelly said when they were both inside.

"Well you were doing a shitty job of it." A little smile teased around the corners of his mouth and eyes.

"We left for Maine in a blue Impala that had seen better days. The change is taking a little getting used to."

He shrugged and backed out. "It's what people expected." He got out to close the doors and reset the codes. Kelly wondered how he remembered so many different ones.

"What who expected?" Kelly had her knitting out again, but it was sitting in her lap. She turned a little in her seat to look at him. Much of her time with Victor was spent in silence. She got the impression he liked it that way, and she didn't feel compelled to fill the empty space with meaningless chatter either. When he was in the mood to talk though, Kelly found that she would rather listen to him than do anything else.

"People in town." He maneuvered carefully on the dirt road and onto the small lane. "For the most part, people ain't really very observant, except when it comes to something that they think doesn't quite fit. They might not even know what about it seems off, but it sticks out all the same. They would take one look at this car or the SUV and wonder why I built in the middle of fucking nowhere instead of on one of the lakes. The Impala is similar enough to what most of them drive that it doesn't draw a second look or a second thought. I'm just another guy who works hard for his vacations. They forget me as soon as I'm out of sight."

"And in Maine the Impala would have stood out because people in town would have known that restoring the house was an expensive project."

"Exactly."

"The Escalade wouldn't have fit in where we're going now?"

A little smirk curled the corner of his lips. "It would have, but this was on the way."

Kelly laughed and picked up her knitting again. 

"What does Stan drive?" He asked after a few minutes.

Kelly got the impression there was more to the question than a way to make conversation. It didn't matter why he asked; it brought the image sharply to mind. "A dark green Aerostar. It had this big dent in the driver's door that was about the size of a basketball. I guess it had been there awhile, because the edges of one side of it were starting to rust. There was rust along the bottom edge of the sliding door too." She moved her fingers, as if drawing the shapes in the air. "I remember it looked like the bottom of an aquarium, with rocks and plants..."