Free Retirement Plan by Martha Miller Page B

coming.”
    “Oh, dear.”
    “By the time I had the rifle in place, he was standing, looking toward the river—away from the road. I should have stopped right there. My gut told me to, but I just didn’t want to have to go back again the next night.” Lois let out her breath slowly. “I’m tired. I remember how to handle the rifle, and I’m still a good shot, but I’m an old woman. The cold and dampness make my joints ache. I usually have to pee at least once during the wait.” Lois shoved a whole cookie in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, then said, “You try that some time without leaving any evidence.”
    “I’m sorry,” Sophie said.
    Lois went on. “From where I was, I couldn’t see anyone else. So I aimed and fired. Hit him in the head and he went down. Then I heard a scream.” Lois whispered, “A woman’s scream.”
    Sophie exhaled. “Damn.”
    “He must have been standing in front of her. I only got a glimpse as she ran, but I’m pretty sure it was the hooker.” Lois picked up another cookie and stared at it. “She probably had blood and brains all over her. Anyway, she ran.”
    “Maybe she thought she would be next.”
    “If I were in her place, I’d just get the hell out of there,” Lois said. “Of course, she’d need to be killed too, with your standard contract killer.” She set the cookie on a napkin.
    “We won’t hunt her down,” Sophie assured her. “I doubt if she’ll be any trouble unless someone offers a reward for information. I don’t think anyone will for this guy.”
    “What if she saw me?”
    Sophie closed the cookie package, stood, pulled Lois’s head to her breast, and held her that way. She kept her voice calm. “Then we’ll have three meals a day and free medical as guests of the state of Illinois.”
    Lois put her arms around Sophie. “I love you. I’d do anything for you.”
    “You don’t have to do a thing to earn my love.”
    “We should lay low for a while. Just until things settle down.”
    “We could quit if you want. We’d manage somehow.”
    Lois looked up at her and shook her head. “No. I don’t want to. I’m sick of feeling helpless. I’m sick of being swept along in poverty. This empowers me.”
    The dimly lit kitchen breathed around them.

    *

    That night Sophie lay awake long after Lois had fallen asleep, wondering how she could tell Lois about visiting Ruby in prison. In the morning darkness, she got out of bed and crept to the kitchen. There, she put a cup with water and a tea bag into the microwave. Chamomile might help. Retirement was nice because, when she had a night like this, she could sleep in. She carried the cup to the table and sat down. Outside the kitchen window, the sky was turning gray. The early mail train rumbled as it passed Tenth Street, two blocks away. The whistle blew at every intersection. She was close enough to hear the clacking of the rails. This night her mind wouldn’t shut down, and worrying about Ruby didn’t help.
    The visit with her had been two weeks ago. While she was worried about helping Ruby again, she felt obliged to. Telling Lois would take some finesse. Lois was still angry with Ruby, not only about the money she stole, but she blamed Ruby for Matt’s death. She’d tell Lois that money can be replaced, but people can’t. Of course, it was easier to say money could be replaced now that they had some.
     The last time Ruby had stayed with them, it took her three months to clean out their savings account. Sophie thought that showed a little restraint; Lois didn’t buy it.
    Yet one thing that first attracted Sophie to Lois had been her fierce love for the girl. Although Sophie had loved children all her life, she had accepted that she would never have her own long before the day she and Lois met. But as it turned out, she helped Lois raise two children, and she felt they were as much hers as Lois’s.
    Ruby had been a sensitive and intelligent child. One day when she was eight, she’d come home