Rescue

can’t all stay here anymore, because of what happened.“
    “But that was way far away from here, where the bad people were. We ran away in Howard’s boat.“
    I hadn’t thought of Eddie’s orientation. All the time we spent on the water, I knew we’d just been circling Mercy Key, but he, of course, wouldn’t.
    Doris said, “We’re going to get far away, Eddie, maybe visit my sister in New York for a while. The only thing we need is your okay on it“
    Eddie looked from her to me and back again. “My okay?“
    “Yes,“ she said. “You get your say, too. So, John and I have been thinking, and we’d like you to live with me up north.“ He seemed relieved. “Okay.“
    I said, “Okay?“
    Eddie looked at me strangely. “Yeah. Okay. I mean, I can’t live with you, you’re a private eye, always off doing things and helping people. You’d never be around, right?“
    I tried to keep my mouth from falling open.
    Doris said, “So, it’s settled then.“
    Eddie nodded to her and me separately.
    She pointed at the television. “Back to Donald Duck.“
    The boy gave her a twisted grin. “He’s Disney, Doris. Daffy is Looney Tunes.“
    As he drew the bowl of popcorn onto his lap, Doris whispered to me, “You could have learned so much,“ and walked back into the kitchen to call her sister.

    After a particularly rough jolt, I said to Eddie, “You okay?“
    “Yeah. This is kind of fun.“
    I thought it was kind of darkly miserable, the Thursday morning sun throwing heat if not light into the trunk. I tried to keep track of the miles on my watch, figuring Doris was doing fifty or so. After forty-six minutes, the Lincoln slowed, the pebbles from the highway shoulder pinging off the undercarriage as the car pulled over. I tensed, trying to smile for Eddie, even in the dark. The driver’s side door opened and chunked solidly closed, but I didn’t hear any vehicle pulling up behind us.
    Then it was as though a star had exploded overhead.
    Through my blindness, Doris said, “Hop out. No roadblocks after all, and I haven’t seen a cop since we left the carport.“
    Eddie got into the backseat, me into the front. Doris had thought to bring baseball caps and sunglasses, to hide my identity and Eddie’s shaved head and birthmark in a way that didn’t single him out. I guided Doris as best I could, from the Florida Turnpike to the airport area to the road I thought Pepe had used to take me to the rent-a-car place. Fortunately I spotted the pink skyscraper as my landmark for turning toward Justo Vega’s house.

    Pepe answered the gate again, the little remote box like a Star Trek toy in his palm.
    “Hey, John Francis, how you doing, man?“
    “Tine. Pepe, meet Doris and Eddie.“
    “How do you do, Pepe.“
    “Hi, Pepe.“
    Pepe smiled at both, bending at the knee to shake Eddie’s hand. Straightening, he said, “You want Mr. Vega, he no gonna be back for hours. Had to fly up to Tallahassee, some kind of business.“
    Doris said, “I think we should take off then. We have a lot of driving to do.“
    “Doris, I—“
    She waved her hand at me. “Don’t say anything stupid,
    okay?“
    “Okay.“
    “A hug, now, that’d be all right.“
    We did.
    Breaking off, I saw Eddie crooking a finger at me shyly, and I bent down the way Pepe had.
    Eddie said, “You kept your promise.“
    The voice of a young MP lieutenant said, “I tried to. And I wanted to.“
    Lip between teeth, more quietly. “Nobody ever did that before.“
    “Doris will.“
    A grave nod, as small as the voice.
    I said, “And you will.“
    Another nod. Then, “When you helped Melinda and me on the road, back before that Axel man caught us, I memorized your name and stuff from the thing you showed me.“
    My identification holder. “That was good, Eddie.“
    “But I never said anything to those bad people about you. I didn’t want them... to hurt you, too.“
    I felt something rise in my throat. “And because of your being so smart that way, they didn’t.“
    “Only thing is, can you write everything down, just in case... Doris needs you sometime, too?“
    The look on his face nearly broke my heart.
    A little quickly, I said, “I’ll mail it to you, once Doris tells me where to send it“
    A better nod. “Promise?“
    “Promise.“
    A grin, and he threw his arms around my neck, like he had the night before with Doris. Into my ear, he whispered, “Thank you, John Francis Cuddy,“ and then took Doris’s hand and walked to