He clenched and unclenched his hands as he watched her wiggle her way across the parking lot, his fingers itching to drag the slut from the public lot and take her where he could teach her a lesson. He forced himself to take a deep breath and relax, knowing it was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER 40
Jilly’s was crowded, but Jen and Hank found a small table on a raised platform that overlooked the dance floor. Randall was at the bar. She seemed to know the bartender and several customers, both male and female. Jen watched her talking animatedly with a couple on her left. She seemed outgoing, but not driven—friendly, but not desperate. A man approached the couple, they exchanged a few words with him and seemed to introduce him to Terri. He and Terri shook hands, and a few seconds later, they moved to the dance floor.
“How about a dance, partner?”
“Why not?” Jen stood. “Let’s just hope there isn’t anyone in here who knows your wife.”
“Nothing to worry about. Myra knows dancing is all I do with other women.”
They found a spot not far from Terri and her partner and danced three in a row. Hank had not been kidding about his dancing ability. It was fascinating to watch the staid, gray-haired cop walk onto the dance floor and morph into a modern version of Fred Astaire. Jen noted several appreciative glances directed their way as he moved to the music. It wasn’t until they were halfway through the third dance that it occurred to Jen that it might have been a stupid move to draw attention this way. The killer might very well know what she looked like, and if he had followed Terri inside, he might guess they were tailing her.
At the end of the third piece, Jen was relieved to see Terri walking off the floor with her dancing partner. Jen guided Hank to their table.
“Whew!” She collapsed into her chair and fanned herself with the cocktail napkin. “I must be getting old. Where’s the waitress? I need something cold.”
Hank flagged the waitress down, and they ordered a couple of Cokes. While they waited for the drinks, Jen voiced her concerns to Hank.
“You might be right,” he said. “Then again, he might just think we’re on a date. Or maybe he doesn’t know what you look like. Or he might be sitting in a car out in the lot waiting for her to come out or outside her house or—”
“Okay, okay.” Jen held up her hand. “I get your point. Too many unknowns, and besides, it’s too late to worry about it now.”
Hank stood.
“I’m going to run out to the car and see what’s going on with the others. Don’t run off with some guy while I’m gone.”
Terri was still at the bar, talking to the same man. He was about thirty with medium brown hair and a nice smile. He looked harmless enough, yet he fit the general description of Arthur Kelty. She looked around the room and realized that so did at least a third of the men in the place. If only age and build were considered—men could and did dye their hair and shave their heads, after all—that percentage went way up.
Hank came back to the table. Vic and the deputy had tailed Carpenter to The Palomino; apparently she was a country fan. Al and Jamie were also on the move. They had followed their girl, Molly Setters, to a house in Jefferson. They reported a man had met her at the door, and the two appeared to be on very friendly terms. The others were still at home. Jen glanced at her watch. It was early. The night was young, and a lot could happen between now and dawn.
***
He came awake with a start at the sound of a car horn blaring. Two young women in a car were leaning on the horn, flirting with two men who had just come out of the club. He sat up and shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain. He couldn’t believe he’d dozed off. That was stupid and inexcusable. She could have come out while he was asleep and left to go somewhere else, but he had been lucky. Her car was still there.
The horn sounded again, and he glared at the sluts. The young men were laughing now and arrangements to meet at a nearby diner were being shouted across the lot. Anger boiled inside him. The sluts had succeeded in tempting the men. They would make them feed their appetites, first at the restaurant where they would glut themselves on food and later in the bed where they would sate their carnal appetites with the young men’s bodies. Cannibals, he decided, cannibals and vampires, that’s what they are. No, he amended, succubi. They were like demons that used sex to drain men of their very souls. God, how he hated them!
He looked at his hands. They were trembling. The noise waking him suddenly like that had left him shaken. He had to pull himself together. He had been so thorough and careful with all of them. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake now and ruin his chance for the biggest trophy of all, the trophy that would be his in just a few days.
CHAPTER 41
Jen checked her watch and yawned. It was fifteen minutes after midnight, and Terri was still chatting with the same man. Hank seemed to be having
