She had been a part of it.
“ Noooo!” her mother came shrieking into the bedroom.
Lila shot her three times in the chest, watched her body dance backward, smash into the doorjamb, collapse dead on the floor.
“ Fuckin’ hell,” the girl on the bed shouted.
“ You’re alright now,” Lila said. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“ He wasn’t hurting me.”
“ What?” Lila’s ears were still ringing with the sound of gunfire and she wasn’t sure she was understanding what the girl was saying.
“ He was paying me.”
Chapter Twelve
Izzy went from the Goodwill thrift shop to the Grocery Outlet supermarket next door. She needed a plan and she needed some time to herself to make one, some thinking time and she wasn’t going to get it on the run. She needed to hunker down. More than that, she needed to wind down and the best way to do that would be with a bottle of Cabernet.
It had been years since she’d sworn off drinking. The affair with the slimy surgeon had driven her to a couple bottles of expensive wine a night, sometimes more. She’d been afraid of becoming an alcoholic, afraid of ruining her career, so she’d quit, hadn’t touched a drop in more years than she cared to remember.
Tomorrow she’d deal with her problems, but tonight she was going to relax with a couple glasses of Cab, get a good night’s sleep and in the morning, she’d deal.
At the wine section, she picked up a bottle that looked promising, then she wandered the isles, picked up several cans of corned beef hash, got a can opener and started for the checkout. Cab for her, hash for Hunter.
Back in the car, she started for the Springfield Suites she’d seen as she’d gotten off the freeway. She pulled into the covered area for new guests, opened the door, started to get out when Hunter woofed.
“ Sorry, you gotta stay till I work this out.” Initially she’d planned on staying in one of the sleazy motels on Riverside, but she didn’t have it in her. She wanted a roachless room, clean sheets and a warm bath, which was just what the doctor ordered and she should know, she was the doctor.
“ Can I help you?” The girl at the front desk was maybe old enough to drink, had a fresh scrubbed look, a genuine smile and a nametag that said, “Emily”.
“ I need a room for the night for me and my dog.”
“ I’m sorry, no pets.”
“ I can’t use my credit card either.”
“ That’s another problem.”
“ I can pay cash.”
“ We need a card and we still don’t take pets.” The smile faded.
“ If I use my card my husband will find me. If he does that, he’ll kill me. I can’t leave the dog in the car and I’ve been on the road for twenty-four straight. I can pay cash, the dog’s well trained, quiet and doesn’t have fleas. Nobody will even know he’s here.”
“ I could lose my job.” The smile was a frown now.
“ I’ll give you five hundred dollars.” She sighed and paused for effect. “I’ll sneak the dog in, he won’t leave the room and we’ll be gone before sunup.”
“ I can’t take your money.” She opened a drawer, took out a key card. “The last room down the hall, 113, on the left. It’s been booked for two weeks, starting this morning, but the woman called and said she can’t make it till tomorrow. She comes up from Sacramento a couple times a year to visit her granddaughter, who stays with her. They stay here for the indoor pool; the kid’s a swimmer.” Her smile was back. “If you park by the back, wait till no one’s looking, you know, be sneaky about it, you can get the dog in without anybody seeing.”
“ I can pay you.” Relief flooded over Izzy.
“ No, it’s on me. Well, on the hotel actually. But since we have to hold the room anyway, they won’t be out any money. But you gotta be out before sunup, because it’ll be my ass if anyone sees the dog. Also, Mrs. Leahy will get here around 7:30 or 8:00 and I won’t be here and since the room’s clean, there won’t be any maid service. So if you need a shower, you’ll have to use the green towels from the pool and you’ll have to wipe down the bathroom and can you sleep on top of the covers-”
“ Whoa, Emily, you’re going a mile a minute. I get it, I’ll leave the room the way I find it. Mrs. Leahy will never know I was there. Neither will anybody else. Thanks a bunch, you’re a lifesaver.”
“ It’s because I know what you’re going through. I was in an abusive relationship, too. I was lucky to get out.”
“ But you’re so young.”
“ Not any older than you.”
Izzy started to disagree, then it struck her that she wasn’t seventy-seven anymore, so she said, “Yeah, I guess I just feel old. It’s been hard.”
“ I hear that.” She handed over the key card. “Good luck and keep Bowser out of sight.” Then, “You can drive round to the side. The key will unlock the door. It’ll be the first room on your left.”
“ Got it, thanks.” Izzy went to the car, drove around to the side, parked, waited till the coast was clear. Then, with Hunter at her heels, she made for her room and once safely inside, she found some paper plates inside the microwave. She opened a couple cans of hash and fed Hunter. While the dog was eating, she pulled the forty-five from her purse, set it on the nightstand, just in case, then she dropped on the mattress and was quickly asleep.
Stunned, Lila stared at the girl, who should’ve been screaming, but wasn’t. She got out of the bed, covering herself with a pillow, but never taking her eyes off the gun in Lila’s left hand.
“ You don’t have to kill me,” the girl soothed. “I’m a professional. I know how to keep my mouth shut. You can put the gun away. I won’t say a thing. I didn’t see anything.”
“ I’m not a child,” Lila said, “and I’m not crazy. So change your tone of voice. I’m a professional, too.”
“ So, you’re not going to shoot me?”
“ Of course not, though I should.” She shook her head. Of course, she should shoot the little vixen, but she couldn’t. What was happening to her? First she lets the Eisenhower woman skate, then she warms up to old Harvey and now this.
“ Is it okay if I get dressed?”
“ Yeah.”
Lila watched as the girl shimmied into her panties, pulled on a tee shirt, stepped into a pair of faded jeans.
“ Shoes are in the living room.”
“ Okay.” Lila backed out of the bedroom, smelled sex on the girl as she passed, smelled fear, too. “I said I wasn’t going to shoot you. I meant it.”
“ Good.” The girl went for the sofa, sat, picked up and put on a pair of tennis shoes. “So now what?”
“ I’m going to get on down the road, before the neighbors call the police.”
“ I got no way outta here. He picked me up. Can you drop me?”
“ No.”
“ It’d be cool if you could.”
“ Fuck. Get your shit and let’s go.”
“ Got no shit. I’m ready.”
“ After you.” Lila held the door.
“ Cool car,” the girl said.
“ Yeah.”
“ Surprised nobody’s out. You’d think with the noise your gun made, someone woulda noticed.”
