Joe R. Lansdale could make that nice life uncomfortable. But I knew I was going to. We missed Sue and talked about her for awhile, as if she had moved to Mars and taken a job with the next exploration team to Jupiter. We hadn’t been apart from her much, and it was hard. It didn’t keep us from planning a night out, though. I figured we would be locked down for a bit after word got around I had seen Will Anthony driving the hit-and-run car and that I was going to testify against him. Laborde isn’t exactly the Mecca of great restaurants, but there’s a very good Japanese place we liked. We dressed up a little fancy for a change. Kelly always looks great, and this night her jet-black hair went with the dress she wore, the classic little black dress. It was high on the leg for a kindergarten teacher, but I didn’t have any complaints. I told her she looked good enough to raise the dead while I fastened the clasp of her silver necklace. I wore some dark dress pants, a light blue shirt and a dark jacket. And if I could remember what shoes I had on I’d die a happy man. Bottom line, I thought we both looked pretty snazzy. It was about seven p.m. when we stepped outside. It was fresh dark, the street lights were on, and it was as humid as if it were midJuly. I was starting to regret the coat. I drove us over to the restaurant. I ate sushi, and Kelly ate some kind of chicken dish with rice, and we were happy as the proverbial clams, talking about this and that on the way home, the business with poor Maddy not forgotten, but at least temporarily put on the back burner. Upstairs we undressed, not bothering with pajamas, slowly began to touch one another, and it was a very good time. Afterward we kissed and fell asleep. For a while there, it seemed like the perfect night.
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