Chapter 35

Wednesday July 7 to Friday, July 9

The next three days became a somewhat tedious rerun of the first day's fishing expedition. Following Sam's schedule, Madeleine varied the sequence of her visits to the small city's meager commercial establishments, continuing to make modest purchases of necessary and unnecessary items. Some of these, by prearrangement, were picked up periodically from her room by an auxiliary police officer, who returned them to the stores for refunds.

As on the first day, Madeleine's beauty and her provocative clothing combined to attract the attention of men and boys of all ages. None of them, however, attempted to molest her, other than with his eyes.

On Wednesday, outside Roseton's second restaurant, Sam was effusive in his praise of the newly purchased one-piece short set Madeleine had worn that afternoon. "Holy smoke, Mad," he exclaimed. "That's sensational!"

"Yep. Tight shorts are overrated, Ben. It's a little-known fact -- but these one-piece shortsuits are where it's at. This one's about a size too small, but the legs are cuffed and cut loosely, so they flair out.

Notice that the middle button here, up front, has inadvertently come undone -- in accordance with your specifications, Chief Deputy. I'm not that big up there, and that makes your desired peek-a-boo effect even more evident when I'm standing up straight. But here's the real genius of these one-piece wonders, Ben. I am going to turn around and bend over a bit.

"Now -- imagine I'm in Penney's, reaching down to inspect a turtleneck on a lower shelf. You stand where you are, my good man, and keep your hands where I can see 'em."

"Whooo!"

"Yes, the top does have a tendency to draw up the bottom, doesn't it?... Regions hitherto unexplored, as they say on the Discovery Channel."

"Lester was right, Mad. The Mayor may try to follow you home! What else have you got picked out?"

"You'll have to wait and see, you animal. If I ever attract this nut case, I want to be sure he's not the only one watching my ass!"

Late Thursday afternoon, it was Hugh Fulcher, instead of Sam, who gave the all-clear on the highway and met Madeleine at the restaurant in Roseton. Fulcher was surprisingly easy and upbeat with the near-stranger from Greensboro. He displayed a sense of humor and a positive manner that belied his dour appearance. He belatedly described for Madeleine the excessive reaction her presence in the Best-Buy Supermarket had evoked from its lecherous manager, Ransopher, on the first day of the stakeout.

"The guy was terrible," Fulcher told her, shaking his head. "He got up on his damned chair to get a better look at you, even though he was already eight feet up in the air overlooking the store! Christ! I had to drag him down by his belt buckle!"

Madeleine was laughing appreciatively as Fulcher continued. "Then yesterday, when you wore that little short-set thing? You were doing the Big Lean-Over down by the bakery goods... when that professor-type was following you around? Remember?

"Well, Ransopher's little office wasn't too well-situated to see you from there, and when you leaned over facing away from his perch, he was pressing his whole body up against the edge of the far wall of that lil' crow's- nest office up there, trying to get as much of an angle on you as he could. -- Next thing, I hear this kinda cracking noise, and it's the lil' plywood wall of his office, starting to give way under his weight! I had to grab the little bastard by the elbow to keep him from spilling out down onto his own Deli counter -- wall and all -- right into a glass cookie case!"