Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer's Apostles Episode 12

The door opened to Sally’s room before he walked in. She smiled, and then she winced as the pain hit her brain. “Hello, Snake”, she said.

“Hey yourself, how are you feeling? That’s a stupid question”, Snake replied.

“I’ll have to agree with you on that. It can only get better. I’m usually a glass-half-full girl”. Sally patted the side of the mattress next to her. “Come and sit”, she said.

He was taken aback. He never expected her to say that. He went and sat next to her, fidgeting the stun gun in his hands whilst looking down at his shoes. It was like he was talking to a girl for the first time as a teenager. “Okay” was all that would come out of Snake’s mouth.

“Anyone would think you were chained up and I had the taser. Relax a little, please. What’s the date? I think it’s the fifteenth, but I’m not sure”, she asked.

He sat next to her, thinking of what the date was. Unless it was written regularly, keeping track of dates was not always easy. Luckily, he had been marking dates off on a calendar in the shed. “You’re 100% correct, it is the fifteenth of January”.

“I’ll be 25 tomorrow. I know that you’ll say that my presents are in the mail. I’m just letting you know I can wait”, she said with a smile.

He smiled as well, his nervousness filtering away. “Well, you know what a great cook I am. Do you want me to bake you a cake? Before you ask, I can’t put a file in it for you”. Her smile was infectious. He wished he could take her face between his hands and kiss her damaged lips. Sally reached across and touched him with her chained hand. He looked into her eyes, thinking, ‘Why don’t you hate me’?

Sally said, “I would love a birthday cake. If you can’t slip a file into it, a key would be appreciated”.

He laughed hard, ‘You’re amazing’, he said in his head. Why could he not articulate the words? He could only say, “I’ll see what I can manage”. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. There was another ceremony tonight, meaning next to no sleep until after Destinee’s body had been laid out at the next destination in the morning.

Sally snapped him back to attention. “I would love to see my silky terrier. If I can’t see her, you’ll do”, she whispered while squeezing his hand. She leaned across and kissed his cheek.

He stood, not abruptly to embarrass her but slowly and kept hold of her hand. He turned and said, “I need to rest because I have to work tonight. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow. I don’t understand why you’re nice to me. If the roles were reversed, I’d hate you”.

“Get me a straitjacket. I think I’m insane”, she said with a laugh she barely recognised.

***

Katie checked her phone for what seemed like the one hundredth time today. ‘Just message him’, she thought. Just as she was about to sit it back down at her desk, the ringtone went off, making her jump slightly. She looked at the caller’s I.D. and instantly slid the answer icon. “Hi, I was just thinking about you”, she said.

“It’s been a big day, Kate”, he replied, “I’m about to head out”.

“I was thinking the same. Did you want to come around to my place for dinner tonight?” she invited. “I can get something, or there are plenty of leftovers are in the refrigerator”. Was she being too pushy?

“I would love anything. Is the offer still open for me to stay in your spare room? If not, that’s okay”.

Her face lit up. She was relieved he could not see her excitement. “Of course, it is. You should go home and get a change of clothes, your toiletry bag, and some pyjamas. I desperately need a bath. I will have a soak, and when you come over, we can heat the leftovers. If I am still in the bath when you get to my place, I will leave a key over the door sill”.

Arriving at his own apartment, Tank showered for the second time that day. He shaved again and cleaned his teeth. He packed his toiletry bag and dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. He felt under his bed and pulled out a duffle bag. He packed clothes for tomorrow. An extra pair of boxers, shorts, plus a T-shirt. He never wore pyjamas. Instead he would wear these. He put his work shoes in an environment-friendly shopping bag and slipped on sandals.

The drive to Katie’s flat took less then ten minutes. When he arrived at her door, he knocked and got no reply. He did not have to reach high to find the key to the front door. He opened it and entered the apartment. “Hello”, he said a little too loudly, “is anybody home?”

“I am in my bedroom getting dressed. Put your clothes in the spare bedroom”, Katie sang out.

Tank put his three bags on the bed. The room was decorated as well as expected for a single person who had no use for it. It had a queen-sized bed, a bedside table, and a built-in wardrobe with some paintings on the walls. The quilt cover on the bed was pink, with some gaudy flowers printed all over it. He sat on the mattress and was impressed. It was not one of those cheap mattresses where one would sink to the floor when sitting on them.

He went to the living area and saw Katie with the fridge door open, putting the containers from last night’s dinner onto the kitchen bench. “I bet you picked all the things I like”, Tank said, “If you didn’t, there’s going to be trouble”. Katie was wearing a singlet top and a pair of jean shorts. She wore no shoes, and she had her hair down. It went all the way to her hips, and it was the first time Tank had seen her wear it that way.

“Maybe I did. I have trouble remembering what I had for dinner last night”, she said with a giggle. She set two places at the table while Tank heated the food in the microwave.

“This doesn’t seem right, Katie. You told me you were going to do the cooking, and here I am working my butt off over a hot microwave”, Tank joked.

“I feel so sorry for you, digging trenches all day and then having to come home and cook. Welcome to the world of women over the last two thousand years. Seriously, Tank, can you hurry up? We have a movie to watch”, she teased.

“Did you watch it all last night, or couldn’t you hear it over my snoring?” he asked.

“I continued to watch it. The chainsaw was loud, so I turned the television up and soldiered on. I have seen it at least half a dozen times before. I can watch the other half again with you tonight. That is if you can stay awake that long”. She liked that he brought her cheeky side out.

“I have to admit that I’ve seen the animated version with my children around four hundred times”, Tank admitted.

“If I have told you once, Tank Dodge, I have told you a million times. Do not exaggerate”. They both smiled, and she continued, “You never talk about your children. How often do you see them?”

“Not often enough. I take my annual leave whenever it’s possible through the school holidays. I can’t these ones. There’s too many on stress leave. I have them every second weekend”. Tank had three children. Two daughters, Tiffany, 15, and Dahlia, 13, and a son, Aaron, who was eleven. His ex-wife Angela had custody. She lived in Wollongong with her new partner, an investigator for several law firms. “Married life with a police officer isn’t a bed of roses. Angie’s started a new life. I haven’t been on a date since we separated”.

“When I divorced Gary, it took a weight off my shoulders. I was lucky because I had no children, not for the lack of trying on my part. I had a feeling that he cheated on me all the time. When you cheat on someone, it means that there is no love. Others may argue that theory. I was confident that I could keep him. The best thing that ever happened to me was walking out of a party and catching him in the act”.

“Do you still talk?” Tank asked.

“Not at all. I do not need to. He is not a bad person. He thinks that he is God’s gift to women. I could not tell you where he lives. It is somewhere in New South Wales. Anyway, this is not putting food in our stomachs”, Katie said while she dished out the meals.

They ate and talked about childhood memories. At the end of the meal, Katie cleared the contents from the table into the dishwasher. She sat on the one end of the couch, and Tank sat on the other. She pressed the remote and found where they had left off in the movie. She then shimmied her way onto the cushion next to Tank. As she laid her head on his chest, he reached around her and rested his hand on her waist.

Katie said, “How about we cuddle while the movies are on? If you get too hot, let me know. I like the chemistry between us”.

Tank lifted her chin with one of his giant fingers and kissed her softly, “I agree”, he said. Katie put her head back down on his chest. She did not know where this was going to lead. She was happy that he was here with her at this moment in time.