Ted Dekker - The Bride Collector

“They have the body in the kitchen?” She was dumbfounded. It would mean going back through the hub! Jonathan must have seen the look of concern on her face.

“Come on, I’ll take you around through the delivery entrance.”

“It goes by the fence,” she said.

“It’s either around the wing or through the hub. Your call.”

“Fine, around the wing.” But she never liked being so close to the fence, the only thing between her and the outside world.

Jonathan led her back across the lawn, around the building, and unlocked the entrance used for deliveries. “You know where you’re going from here?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, see you around.”

“Yeah. See you.”

At the moment she felt like anything but a ghost reader. She’d make a complete fool of herself.

Paradise walked down a hall littered with boxes of olive oil and soups, a few crates of onions and potatoes. She stepped through the kitchen’s back door and studied the scene before her.

The kitchen had a large center island covered in stainless steel, which was used for food preparation. Utensils and pans hung from a rack overhead. The stoves lined the far right wall; a large walk-in fridge opened on the left. There was no sign of a body anywhere, so Paradise assumed they put it in the refrigerator to keep it cool.

Brad Raines was talking quietly to Allison, both of them with their backs toward her. Something about the funding behind the center and cost of operations. He stood a full head taller than Allison, blond hair neatly trimmed around his ears, above his collar in the back. He wore a white shirt with sleeves rolled up. Black slacks and shoes. A belt. Very neat, very ordered.

Paradise stood still, aware that they hadn’t expected her to come through the back. She could turn and sneak out, avoiding the embarrassment of talking to him again after running away. Did he think she was crazy? Surely, he did. She’d lectured him and then fled at his mere mention of leaving her safe haven.

Maybe she really was crazy. But she wasn’t, she knew that. She was, however, intimidated by the man who stood across the room. He completely outclassed her. He, the specimen of perfection, standing head and shoulders above her.

He had watched her with sincere interest. And honestly, that was the real irony, wasn’t it? He had no business looking at her with any kind of interest, because she neither deserved nor wanted it. She was dirt in his world.

Paradise had no adult experience in that world, and looking at Brad now, it occurred to her that the only way to cope with him was to bring him down to her level, even if just a little. Not by being mean to him, but by pretending to be his equal, maybe even his superior in some respects.

Wasn’t that what she’d done during most of their first meeting? She’d protected herself by coming off distant and in command of the situation. She had to do that again or risk falling apart in front of him.

She couldn’t let him know how much she liked him.

Paradise gasped and jerked back into the hall. How could she think such a thing? It wasn’t true, of course, not in the faintest. She liked him, but not in that way.

Allison called out. “Paradise?”

The thought that she might actually be attracted to this man terrified her. It made her feel like a worm, knowing that he couldn’t ever, under any circumstances, bring himself to return any affection for a piece of waste like her.

“Are you there?”

She had to control herself!

Paradise took a deep, calming breath, absently smoothed her hair, and stepped out. They were both looking in her direction. She thought she should say something that demonstrated anything but the fear she felt, but instead she stopped and stared at them.

Mr. Raines (she couldn’t call him Brad any longer) smiled. “Hello, Paradise.”

“Hello.”

“Thank you for coming.”

The way he was looking at her… She knew it was just normal and friendly. After all, he needed her help, so he was being nice. But it was so easy to misinterpret his look as something more. As interest. She had to gain control!

“Well, I doubt I can be of any help,” she said walking forward, hoping that he didn’t see the slight shake in her hands. “But so that you can get this off your mind and move on, I’ll do my trick for you.”

“Trick?”

“Trick, show, whatever. I’ll be your monkey in this little zoo you’ve set up so you can get down to real work.”

“Paradise…,” Allison warned her.

“Sorry, but it’s true, isn’t it?”

Mr. Raines looked tongue-tied, and that gave Paradise a moment’s encouragement. She might be nothing in his world, but here she could still be somebody. And was. Roudy and Andrea might even be proud of her.

“So where’s the body?”

The walk-in refrigeration unit was around the wall to the right, and Mr. Raines called to someone. “Steve?”

A few moments later, a paramedic wearing a stethoscope wheeled a gurney around the corner. The body was covered in a white sheet, but the woman’s form was unmistakable.

Paradise stared at the body and let her mind go where it wanted to go, into the hidden folds of story behind what her eyes saw.

I see the woman rising from the sheet, swinging off the gurney, stepping backward toward the door. The sheet becomes a dress on her fair frame. Back through the door, then fast through the city to her own house and inside, where a man is waiting for her. She is kissing the man, turning in circles like they are lovers dancing. But then he comes around again, and I see that he isn’t a man at all. The woman is kissing a gorilla who suddenly bares its fangs and…

“Paradise?”

She looked at Allison. “What?”

They just looked at her. She had to get back on track. She felt panic crowding her mind, but managed to push it back.

“There’s too many people here.”

The paramedic glanced at Mr. Raines, who nodded. “I’ll just step outside,” the medic said, then left the three of them with the body.

“Is that better?” Allison asked.

Mr. Raines-Brad to those closer to him, to his friends, his peers, and his lovers-was watching her. She had to stay strong.

“Yes, that’s better,” she said, moving forward. “So what exactly do you want me to do, Mr. Raines? Fondle a dead body in front of you?”

“Paradise!”

“You’re right, that wasn’t called for,” she said, horrified at her choice of words. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant.”

“No need to apologize,” Mr. Raines said. “Trust me, I’m grateful that you’ve agreed to try to help us out. I realize that this is unprecedented. I feel a bit awkward myself.”

“Why, because you’re not used to working with monkeys?”

“Well, no, that’s not what I was thinking.”

“But it’s at least partly true. You could never feel comfortable in the company of people like us. We’re all just too weird for you.”

Allison tried to steer her right again. “Please, Paradise, this isn’t time for-”

“For transparency?” she interrupted. “No, not in front of real people.”

Even as she spoke, Paradise heard the unkindness of her own words and wanted to take them back. They even seemed to jolt Allison. For a long time she stared at Paradise while Brad shifted his eyes between them.

“You’re right,” Allison said. Then, turning to Mr. Raines, “She’s right. This whole thing is absurd. You’re using her for your own selfish purposes without rightly respecting her own needs. I think this is all a mistake. Maybe you should just leave.”

What? No! Not yet.

“I’m sorry.” Brad-Mr. Raines-looked dumbfounded. The poor man must be thinking he’d entered the twilight zone. “I thought we had an understanding. We went to considerable trouble bringing the body here.”