He Took Me to Catch the Rat, But the Rat Was Him novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Corner

On the twenty-ninth of December, Cathal walked me to his front door and opened it.

He stood aside with one hand on the frame.

"There's no key to this house," he said.

"There never was one."

"I've been telling myself that since Christmas," I said.

"Then go and find out," he said.

"Walk to the corner."

I went down the three stone steps in my coat.

The street was gray and wet, and the Lincoln stood where it had stood all week with its engine off.

The man in the gray topcoat got out and tipped his hat.

"Miss Mulcahy," he said.

"Mr. Phelim says if you'd like a ride anywhere, you've only to say."

I looked back.

Cathal stood on the top step with his hands in his pockets.

He did not come down.

He did not call after me.

I walked to the corner of Almond and Tilton, and the man in the gray topcoat walked two paces behind me.

A second man leaned on a lamppost at the corner, and he straightened up when I came near.

"That's far enough, Miss Mulcahy," he said pleasantly.

I looked at his hands.

He wore leather gloves, and he was in no hurry.

I turned around and walked back the same way, and the man in the topcoat followed me to the foot of the steps.

"They're not yours," I said to Cathal.

"No."

"The Buick across the street is yours."

"It is," he said.

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Because you needed to see it," he said.

"If you'd walked off this block, they'd have put you in the Lincoln.

"I'd have gone after you, and a lot of people would have gotten hurt."

"I'd have let you go if you'd wanted to go."

I climbed the three steps, one at a time.

The man in the topcoat watched us, and I turned and smiled at him.

"Happy New Year," I said, loud enough for the whole block.

Then I walked past Cathal into the house and shut the door myself.

"I'm not staying for you," I said in the hall.

"I know."

"I'm staying because I hate that smile," I said.

"I know that too."

He looked at my hands.

They were shaking, and I put them behind my back.

"I'll run you a bath," he said.

"I don't need a bath."

"Your hands are cold," said Cathal.

"Let me do one thing for you, Aisling."

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