Dead Certain - Mariah Stewart [48]
“Ms. Crosby?” The young officer touched her arm gently. “If you’d come with me . . .”
Numbly, Amanda followed, wondering what horrible nightmare she’d stumbled into, and how she could find her way out before someone else she loved died.
Vince lay in the dark, balancing the glass ashtray on his abdomen, thinking about Marian and how she’d tried to scream. Not that it would have done her any good. Weak broad like her didn’t have a chance. He shook his head. Why did women let themselves go like that? She didn’t have the strength to fight off a ten-year-old. She really should have been in some exercise program. Gone to the Y, joined a gym. She looked like she could afford to join a gym. Lifting would have been good for her.
And for me. He smiled in the darkness and flicked the ash from his cigarette.
He thought about Amanda Crosby. That one would fight. And she didn’t look like the type to scare so easy, either. He wasn’t in a hurry, though. He wasn’t finished playing with her yet.
He grinned. Shit, he’d only just begun to play with her. He had plans for Miss Crosby. Oh, yes, he surely did. If she wasn’t scared now, she would be. Before it was over, she’d be on her knees begging for mercy.
Savoring the image, he took one last drag from the cigarette before stubbing it out. He placed the ashtray on the end of the table next to the bed and turned toward the window where a nice breeze was starting to blow in. He was grateful that the heat of summer seemed to have passed. It had been too hot in this little room without air-conditioning, hot enough that he’d had to break down and buy himself a window fan. Well, if he played his cards right, he’d be out of this cheap little room soon enough and into that nice place that Dolores had a couple of blocks down. And he had just the key to that nice little place of hers right over there in that little black velvet box.
It had been nice of Marian to give him the box for the pretty necklace. He’d heard Dolores say that emerald was her birthstone, and when he’d stopped in Marian’s shop, For Old Time’s Sake, picking out a present for Dolores had not been his goal. But once inside, old Marian had started chatting away and he’d had to express interest in something. The emerald pendant cost way more than he’d ever spent on any present for anyone in his whole entire life, and the fact that he’d even consider giving Dolores something that valuable, well, that just showed what he thought of her, didn’t it?
“It’s an estate piece,” Marian had told him. “I just picked it up yesterday.”
She said it like it was supposed to mean something to him. Like she assumed he’d know. Not that he’d actually considered buying it, but still, he watched Marian take it from the glass case in which it had been locked and lay it out on the counter before him like he was some mogul looking at jewels in some fancy jewelry store. It gave him a kick to think that anyone would look at him and think he could afford to buy something like that emerald pendant. So of course, he had to act the part. He picked the pendant up by the chain. Marian had said she’d throw that in for him, if he thought his lady friend might not have one, and he was thinking for what she was asking for the pendant she could throw in a blow job, too, but he didn’t say that.
He’d flirted with her a little—nothing crude, of course; Marian was a lady, anyone could see that—and mentioned that the recipient would be his sister, not a lady friend. When she offered to set it aside and hold it for him for a few days, he’d pretended to think it over, then said, “You know, I think that’s a good idea. I’ll give it some thought and stop back tomorrow night if I decide to take it. Is eight too late?”
“I’m sorry, I close at six on weeknights. Perhaps Thursday morning?” Marian had suggested.
“My sister’s birthday is Friday, and I’m taking her to visit our mother for a few days.”
“Oh? How thoughtful of you. Won’t your mother be thrilled. Where does she live?”
“Akron.” It was the first place that came to mind, even though he’d never been there.
“Well, I