The Truth of the Matter by John Lutz Page B

him, and the rest of the week with Ellie at the cabin was the most enjoyable week he’d ever experienced. Ellie soothed him with just her presence, as the glittering lake and rolling green scenery soothed him. Roebuck could rise now in the morning, dress quickly, drink a strong cup of coffee and step outside to breathe fresh air instead of fear. Who would think to look for them here? Let the police, let Benny Gipp continue their wild pursuit while Roebuck fished, basked in the sun and made love in his lakeside paradise.
    In time Roebuck even came to enjoy sitting for hours with Ellie before the hypnotic flames in the fireplace. He always built a small fire, for effect rather than heat, for the days were healthy, sweltering hot and the nights were warm. But Ellie loved to sit curled on the worn hide-a-bed sofa before a fire, sipping a sweet soda highball, and it was Roebuck’s pleasure to see her happy.
    Roebuck occasionally wondered why this was so. Why did Ellie appeal to him and intrigue him more than any woman he’d met? Curiosity was part of the answer. Ellie possessed a calm strength and equilibrium that he did not quite understand. It seemed the more she was called on to do, the greater was her quiet, single-minded resourcefulness. She was self-possessed, and Roebuck possessed her. Did opposites attract in that manner?
    The second week at the cabin was almost over. Roebuck and Ellie had lived an almost solitary existence. They had a waving acquaintance with a few of the other fishermen who passed them sometimes on the lake in rowboats or flat-nosed john boats with quiet outboard trolling motors. Once they had even shared some cold beer in the middle of the lake with a couple from a cabin on the opposite bank. But that couple had gone back to Nebraska now, and Roebuck’s and Ellie’s anonymity was again complete.
    On Friday of the second week they had a long talk at breakfast and decided to rent the cabin for another two weeks. It suddenly occurred to them that their refuge might be reserved for the week after their scheduled departure, so immediately after breakfast Roebuck tucked his wallet in the hip pocket of his comfortable jeans, put on a clean sport shirt and set out to find Hobey as quickly as possible to make arrangements for the cabin.
    It was best to leave the station wagon where it was parked, he thought as he stepped outside. The car was seen enough on Ellie’s occasional trips into Danton, the nearest town, to buy groceries and liquor. Whistling under his breath, Roebuck climbed into the boat, pushed off and began rowing across the lake. The ascending sun felt marvelous on the back of his neck.
    A half hour later Roebuck returned and called to Ellie as he pulled the boat part way up onto the bank and secured it with a loop of rope about a gnarled tree trunk.
    “We’re good for another two weeks!”
    “Wonderful!”
    They looked at each other in surprise at the sound of a car making its way up the dirt road to the cabin.
    Roebuck felt the fear close on his heart. He turned instinctively to get back in the boat and push off into the lake, but he realized the car would emerge from the woods even before he managed to get the boat in the water. He moved toward the cabin, then froze in mid-step as a shining two tone police cruiser with a huge red light flanked by two loudspeakers on its roof came bouncing slowly up the road, made a right angle turn and braked to a precision stop facing the cabin.
    No place to go, no place to run. Roebuck and Ellie stood motionless. There was one man in the car, and with racing heart Roebuck read the letters on the oversized gold shield painted on the door: SHERIFF’S CAR, CLARK COUNTY.
    The man sat quietly behind the steering wheel for a moment before getting out and slamming the lettered door neatly behind him with an automatic, backward motion of his arm.
    He stood straight and still in his spotless khaki uniform, looking at them unsmilingly for a second before walking