Free Where Serpents Lie (Revised March 2013) by T. Jefferson Parker Page A

crawled down his neck and died. He hoped she wouldn’t notice. He dug the breath drops out of his coat pocket and lost his face behind the camera as he squeezed a bunch of it onto his tongue. Cinnamon. It was amazing, he thought, that anything could live in that body of his, considering all the tequila he drank.
    “ Start off with a massage, and maybe a glass of champagne. I mean, he’d get one, too. Then, when we were totally limp, we’d get all dressed up and go for dinner at the Ritz-Carlton. Lobster for me, and a bottle of Chardonnay. Then we’d take a long walk on the beach with our shoes off. His tuxedo tie would dangle and my nylons would get damp … I mean the feet would …”
    God, what an airhead, Hypok thought, smiling his best. Wait ‘til the kiddy netters hear this. Wait ‘til the Friendlies get a load of this one. She colored but recovered nicely.
    “… but it wouldn’t matter because it would be summer and eighty degrees out and just perfect. Then, we’d go back to the hotel … have dessert … maybe a decaf espresso … then … well, the rest of it’s … confidential …”
    She giggled and threw her hair back again.
    “As well it should be, Abby! Thanks for talking with us today, and we wish you all the best bright tomorrows.”
    Hypok turned off the recorder and hit the rewind control. “I think that was real good. Natural. Easy. A good sense of who you are.”
    “Oh, God, I’m such a spaz. I can’t look.”
    “Well, you really should. We’ll play it back and if you don’t like it, we’ll do it again.”
    “That would be even worse.”
    “No, really. Everyone’s afraid until they see the tape. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You’re really very good on camera. Here.”
    He plugged the camcorder into a monitor on the desk beside them. Abby leaned forward in anticipation, and Hypok leaned back. He always liked to see their reactions, liked to see the way they accepted the inevitable, even if it was just three minutes of video. You could tell a lot about a person by how they accommodated an uncomfortable situation. He blinked a couple of times in rapid succession: the new contact lenses made his eyes dry.
    Abby smiled and shook her head and blushed a little, as he knew she would. But she watched very closely, fascinated by her self, her image, her being. Now she’ll say how strange it is to—
    “—It’s really weird to see yourself on TV,” she said. “But I don’t look as nervous as I felt.”
    “I told you, some nervousness isn’t a bad thing. I think you handled this romantic evening question real well. I always try to do at least one thing that’s spontaneous. Let the reflexive personality show through.”
    “ Gawd. ”
    She was watching herself wriggle out of the damp nylons statement.
    “I’ve got a little one myself,” he said. “Ashley. She’s four, and I know what you mean about girls and bikes. I wonder if it means they’ll like horses someday.”
    “Isn’t four a fun age?”
    “They’re all fun ages, if you ask me. Michael is seven, going on thirteen—a real terror.”
    “Takes after his dad?”
    Hypok blushed. When a woman came right at you, that was the hard pitch to handle. He had to blink again to wet his eyes.
    “His mom, to be honest. Look at me, I’m kind of an indoors artsy type, but Michael, all he wants to do is prowl around in the hills and catch lizards and snakes.”
    “Eeew.”
    “That’s kind of what his mom says, too. When I tell her what we did … I mean … we’re divorced, so we don’t talk every day. But it’s boy stuff, so I take him out when I can and we rummage around in mother nature, see what she’s got to offer.”
    Abby smiled, but hadn’t taken her eyes off the screen. “I’d like to have a little boy someday.”
    “You’ve come to the right place to find good guys. You’ll get chosen a lot—believe me.”
    “Thanks. I mean, I hope so.”
    “It’s difficult raising them alone, but it has its