He glanced back to the concession
counter to confirm that he had been heard. He looked back to Caitlin, who sat
stiffly with a shocked expression on her face. She looked as if Paul had just
slapped her and Paul decided that this was better than hitting her. Almost all
the color had drained from her face, her mouth was moving but no sound escaped
from her lips. Her right hand worked a class ring around her index finger in
rapid twists. She blinked and then blinked again. Paul looked back to the
concession stand to find everyone, three employees, an assistant manager and a
customer staring back. Steven, the manager was in his office with a phone call,
but had stopped midway and stood with the phone dangling in one hand as if
deciding what to do. Paul then turned back to Caitlin.
“Are you listening
to me!” Paul said as he turned back to face her. He heard the door to the
office close behind him. “I will ruin you.”
Caitlin did not
answer. Her right hand kept twisting the ring. She appeared to be caught in the
moment. Then the color began to return to her face. She looked at Paul with
newfound hatred.
“Now if you’ll
excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to.” Paul said as he glanced
once more to the concession stand and noticed that the manager had joined them.
Paul noted that he wasn’t coming over and relaxed.
He looked back at
Caitlin. To his surprise, she made a quick movement and her right arm blurred.
Paul barely had time to blink before Caitlin’s right hand struck his jaw with a
resounding smack and a searing pain stabbed his face. She literally knocked the
words out of his mouth, slapping him so hard that his saliva hit the wall. Paul
toppled off the bench and rolled to the floor with a thud. He lay there in shock as Caitlin rose to her
feet. She looked at him, then at her hand, as if seeing the ring for the first
time. A look of realization flooded into her face as she eyed first her hand
and then Paul’s face.
Cheers
erupted as the employees and a customer broke the silence. Caitlin looked back
at Paul, somehow knowing what he would do now. She looked over to the
concession stand to find both Steven and his assistant on the phone.
“Cops,” she
murmured, “no, oh not that.” She turned away from Paul and fled the theater out
into the night and the rain.
Note: I like this scene, it's where we see that Caitlin Marshall is made of firmer stuff than what Paul Murray has decided she is. I want to someohow rewrite it in order to enhance her femininity while keeping her human. There must be some measure of the sexiness/lust/mix that Paul feels for her there but at the same time a hidden strength that he has not seen or at least taken notice- I I feel it is important since Caitlin will be the prime suspect for awhile in the early part of the book. As Sam Waterton would say- it points to motive, and motive is all.
