to take a step they would normally not have taken?
He'd been prepared for some violent mood swings. Maybe even a few crying jags he could blame on some old movie, but not the sweating and shaking and stomach cramps.
Not the crawling out of my fucking skin.
Not the desperate need to move, to do something, anything.
Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.
Chewing on his knuckle.
This is like trying to kick heroin.
Not that he personally knew what that was like, but he'd seen Trainspotting, and he was expecting a baby to start making its way across the ceiling at any moment.
'I can't sleep. I haven't slept in three days.'
He couldn't wind down.
He'd already run ten miles. Should he run ten more?
'Have you been drinking? Your voice sounds slurred. You aren't supposed to drink when you're taking either of your medications.'
Too late. Desperation had come knocking. 'Everybody knows that, Doc.'
From his position on the floor, David looked up at the kitchen counter at all of the empty beer bottles. He didn't have a lot of experience with overindulgence. He'd planned to drink only one or two beers. Just to take the edge off. After six, the edge was still there, and he was feeling like a drunk on speed.
Jiggle, jiggle.
'You've probably built up a resistance to the Val-ium. I'd tell you to double your dosage if I could be sure you haven't been drinking,' she said.
He tasted blood and realized he'd gnawed through the skin on his knuckle. He sprang up off the floor and grabbed the bottle of tranquilizers from the counter.
Had he taken one? Or two?
He squinted at the pills inside, as if they might be able to tell him something. And how long ago? Minutes? Hours? Couldn't remember.
'David, if things get worse, go to the hospital. Do you hear me? Or call your partner. I have an idea. Why don't I call her for you? Would you like me to do that?'
'No!' Jesus! 'I have a reputation to maintain.' Jesus.
His laptop was in sleep mode next to the beer bottles. He touched a key and it came to life. He opened the drop-down menu and scrolled to a bookmarked Savannah Web site, spotting something he hadn't noticed before.
Savannah Legal Escort Service.
Hmm.
The picture got fuzzy.
His head suddenly felt heavy as hell.
He let the cursor hover over a small photo of a dark-haired woman, clicked to enlarge it.
The antidepressants had made him almost asexual. He'd hardly thought about sex in almost two years. Now he was feeling horny. Maybe sex would make him sleep. Used to work. Years ago.
Bracing the receiver between his shoulder and ear, he typed his address into the form on the computer screen and ordered a girl.
Just like that. With a few keystrokes.
'Isn't the Internet amazing?' he asked around a thickening tongue, fighting the impulse to drop to the floor, thinking he'd better wait until he was off the phone.
'Oh, yes,' Dr. Fisher agreed. 'I never dreamed we'd be able to do the things we can do with it.'
David stared at the blurry face on the screen. 'Me either.'
Flora Martinez drove through the deserted Savannah streets, the directions she'd printed from the Internet on the seat beside her. The wipers beat quickly, but with each sweep heavy dew reappeared.
Normally she didn't take cold calls. It was dangerous, and you never knew what kind of freak or freaks you might run into. But business had been slow, and she had a lot of bills to pay, so she'd had her photo put up on the escort service's Web site.
Escort service.
They'd been taught to always call it that, no matter what. A couple of girls had actually come across some naive gentlemen who'd thought it was an escort service.
Rent a date.
They'd just wanted to rent an attractive girl to decorate an arm at the company party. Sad and funny. A lot of things were sad and funny.
She located the address.
Mary of the Angels.
Shit.
She pulled to the curb, dug her cell phone from her purse, and called Enrique. 'You know the job I just got? You won't believe where it is.' She craned her neck to look up at the four-story stone building. 'Mary of the Angels.'
Enrique inhaled loudly. 'No way.'
'I'm looking at it right now.'
'Don't go in. Only a crazy person would live there.'
Anybody who'd been in Savannah long enough had heard of the place. There was supposed to be a tunnel that ran from the old Candler Hospital to a nearby cemetery. Years ago, the tunnels had been used to transport yellow fever victims straight from their bed to the ground so people wouldn't freak out over the high number of deaths.
The bodies were supposedly piled in the tunnels until they could be buried under cover of darkness. She'd heard that sometimes the piles moved, either from rats rummaging through the carcasses or because someone had been pronounced dead a little prematurely.
The building was haunted. That's what people said.
Flora believed it, because she believed in ghosts and if any place was haunted, it would be Mary of the Angels.
'Maybe he's new in town,' she said into her cell phone. 'Maybe nobody told him about it.'
'Don't go, Flora,' Enrique begged. 'Come home.'
She smiled. It was sweet of Enrique to worry about her.
'I'm going to check it out. If anything seems weird, I'll leave.'
'Keep your phone handy.'
She told him good-bye, and tucked the phone back in her purse, leaving it open for easy access.
David was the customer's name. She'd written it in her schedule book under the date.
She found his apartment number taped to the intercom system. Nearby, the heavy scent of tangled wisteria begged her to stay outside.
She pushed the button and the door buzzed. She entered and took the stairs to the correct floor.
She didn't have to knock. He was waiting for her, door ajar.
Dressed in faded jeans. Barefoot. Shirt unbuttoned, tails untucked. His hair was sticking up in every direction, as if he'd been raking his hands through it again and again.
'Don't let the cat out,' he said thickly, stepping back as she entered.
She closed the door behind her, listening for any sound beyond the living room and kitchen. 'Anyone else here?'
The place smelled like a litter box. But at least the guy had a cat. A guy with a cat was harmless, right?
He frowned, as if he didn't get the question or its purpose. He shook his head.
'I like to ask,' she explained, dropping her purse on the counter. 'If there's more than one person, I don't stay. You know what I mean?'
'That you're a one-guy woman?'
'That's right. One at a time.' More than one could get ugly. More than one could get dangerous.
