“Have you ever been poor, Wes? I don’t mean tight, I mean don’t know where the next meal is coming from poor?”
I shook my head and she continued. “Well I have. After Alvin kicked us out my mother had a hard time making ends meet. She was too old to be stripping and eventually too old to be turning tricks.”
“You’re not your mother,” I reminded her.
“No, I’m not. And I can make some pretty good money stripping for another couple of years. But the younger girls are already getting the prime customers. I saw the diamonds as my way out and I still do.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I said.
Destiny cocked the revolver like she’d done it a hundred times before. “Don’t make me shoot you Wes. Now take your shorts back off.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Moisture began to bead on my forehead, and I considered jumping her. She must have sensed something in my demeanor, because before I could move she raised the gun and pointed it at my chest.
“Take them off,” she repeated. “Now. One of my mother’s boyfriends was a cop. He taught me how to shoot a pistol. After that, he took me back to my mother’s apartment and while she was off turning tricks, he taught me all sorts of other things.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You don’t have to be. He wasn’t the first, or the last for that matter. Actually, he was pretty nice to me when he wasn’t pawing me. Now, I’m not going to tell you again. Take your damn clothes off.”
I looked at the gun, studied the determination in her face, and stripped off my shorts. After I dropped them on the floor, she tossed the roll of duct tape in my direction.
I caught it, and she said, “Wrap it three times around your right wrist.” I followed her directions and when I’d finished she added, “Now turn around, face the bed and put your hands behind your back.”
She moved up behind me and placed the muzzle of the gun against the back of my head. “I don’t want to shoot, Darling. But I will if you make me. Right now I’m going to tape your hands and feet, and then I’m going to take my diamonds and get out of here.”
“Frankie will find you,” I said, while she ran the tape around my wrists. “It’s still not too late to go to the cops.”
She tapped my head lightly with the barrel of the gun. “Shut up, Wes. You’re beginning to piss me off. Now roll over onto your back.”
I did what she asked, and she kneeled on the bed, pointed the gun between my legs, and said, “Lift your legs and hold them real steady. We don’t want the pistol going off now, do we?”
My body was covered with a fine layer of sweat by the time she finished taping my ankles. She ripped the rest of the roll from the tape, tossed it across the room and slid over alongside of me.
“Things could have been much more pleasant than this if only you’d stayed in bed in the first place,” she said
“I guess I made a mistake.”
“Big time.” She lay the gun down on the bed, reached out and touched my cheek, and then she bent forward and gave me a soft lingering kiss. While I caught my breath, she reached out and ran her fingertips along my stomach.
I quivered, and despite the awkwardness of the situation, I felt myself stir. This seemed to amuse her and she let out a bawdy laugh.
“Well at least I know you’re not gay,” she said. Climbing off the bed she picked up the gun and walked over to the door. “You take care now, Darling,” she added, before walking out the door.
Chapter 18
I struggled for several minutes after Destiny left, but all I did was work up a nice sweat. This woman was pissing me off. It was obvious she had been lying to me from the start. Like an idiot I’d let my good intentions and her good looks cloud my judgment. Along with the lies, she’d set me up with Frankie. If I wasn’t careful, the next body Detective Davies came across was going to be mine. All of this reinforced my decision to leave the agency for good. It was becoming clearer by the day that I wasn’t cut out to be a detective.
The only good thing about meeting Destiny was that she’d brought me closer to Tanya. Of course, because of her I’d lost all interest in lending a helping hand to defenseless females. I swore right then and there that the next time my mother tried to guilt me into helping her with a case, I was going to hang up the phone and change my number again.
It was about ten minutes later when the front door opened and I called out, “I hope it’s you Tanya.”
“You were expecting someone else?”
I left the question unanswered for the moment. I was very aware of the muted sound of her feet moving through the house and I wondered how Tanya would respond to my situation. I could feel my face turning red, and a band of sweat formed across my forehead when I realized she was heading for the bedroom.
When Tanya stepped through the doorway her eyes widened, a look of horror swept across her face, and her jaw dropped as she took in my plight. For a moment I was afraid she was going to turn and flee. Instead, she stood there shaking her head in disbelief.
“Think you could give me a hand here?” I asked.
Tanya nodded, and started toward me. Her steps were hesitant, and she turned her head back and forth while she made her way across the room. It was almost as if she expected Ashton Kutcher to step out and tell her she’d been punked. When she reached my side, she dropped to her knees and began to fumble with the tape holding my hands. “What the hell happened?”
“Destiny happened,” I said.
“Gail did this to you?”
“I didn’t tie myself up.”
She stopped tugging at the tape and gave me a quizzical look. “Why would she do this? What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything. It’s because I refused to have sex with her.”
A smile flitted across her face. “This must be a first.”
“I’m glad you’re amused.”
I was making a concerted effort to control my temper, but the irony of my statement must have been lost on her because the smile returned full bloom. “You know what they say, don’t you?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” The muscles in my arms were cramping and I needed to scratch my nose. I was not amused when she continued.
“If you’re gonna play, you gotta pay. What the hell were you doing in bed with Gail?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I said. “Maybe if you’re finished with the humor you could go find a knife and get this tape off of me.”
“Getting a little testy, aren’t we?” Tanya stood and looked down at me. “If you’re not nice to me I may have to leave you there.” I could see she was fighting to keep a straight face, but she couldn’t hold it back and she burst out laughing. It was a deep hearty laugh, and I would have enjoyed it at any other time. At the moment, however, all it did was add to my irritability.
“This isn’t funny,” I said.
“Of course not.” She stopped laughing, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Would you please get a knife?”
“Sure.” She reached down, opened her purse and took her phone out. “But first, I’ve got to get a picture of this.”
“I said this isn’t funny, Tanya.” To emphasize how I felt, I began tugging on my bonds. This only served to raise my blood pressure, and came damn close to tossing me off the bed. Realizing my efforts were futile, I stopped struggling and lay there trying to maintain as much of my dignity as possible while she pointed the phone in my
