again.
Her eyes focused on him with a look of anger, not fear, on her face.
He liked her naked body stretched out in front of him, the muscles on her inner arm straining as she tested the handcuffs once more. Her stomach had hard lines he had not noticed or was it that in the days she’d been here she’d already started losing the outer layer of baby fat? He’d adjust her calorie intake to make sure she didn’t lose any more.
There were tiny burn marks where the stun gun had caught her on the side and inside thigh. It looked like a tiny vampire had attacked her in two places. The inner-thigh jolt had really affected her, and he wasn’t sure if it was the location of the shock or the cumulative effect of the two jolts.
Dremmel said, “Did you learn your lesson?”
Stacey just glared at him.
“It’ll be worse next time you act up. Once you learn that I just want a peaceful relationship, I think your life will be much more pleasant.” He could tell by her look that if she got another chance it’d be worse on him too. Man, he thought, there’s so much a good scientist could study if he only had the time and subjects. The idea of testing stun guns on naked women aroused him as much as his current lab work. He’d go through more test subjects, but it sure would be fun.
Stacey turned her head and said, “You know they’re looking for me.”
He’d seen her face on the TV, but there was no mention of what the police thought had happened to her. She was just a missing person.
“You said you lived alone, and your family was in Ohio.”
“But they expect a call from me.”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe here for a good long time.”
“Why? What will happen in all that time?”
He was surprised at her precise questions without scorn or sarcasm. “You’ll get plenty of rest.”
“What will you get?”
“Who knows, maybe the perfect woman.”
Stallings continued to drive at a reasonable speed to keep his tail near enough to continue the surveillance but not so close that the pursuer would realize Stallings was in control. There was no way he wanted to lead whoever this was to his house. That’s all Maria and the kids needed now-Stallings shooting someone on their front yard. No, he had the perfect place. Quiet, confusing, and isolated enough this time of night to allow him to do whatever he had to.
He pulled the Impala onto the interstate and drove north a few exits, then, after making sure the tail was still on him, Stallings eased off the highway and took a slow left into a shopping plaza and drove through the first row of stores. This plaza had once been a mall, but new designs had pushed the owner to break it up into five individual strips of stores with three rows running in one direction and two strips running perpendicular so that from the air the strips looked like two Hs sharing the middle building. If someone wasn’t familiar with the plaza’s layout it was easy to become trapped in the lot.
Stallings turned into the middle of the plaza and quickly pulled his Impala around and parked close to the building. He shut off the lights, drew his Glock, and waited, intentionally avoiding any speculation on who his tail was or what he wanted. Now was not the time for distraction.
The beam of a headlight passed over the lot as a car slowly made the turn toward him. Stallings knew that right about now the other driver was discovering he had fucked up. Once the Buick had cleared the building and was just in front of Stallings he hit his lights, threw the Impala into gear, and roared from his spot, forcing the Buick to the side and pinning the car next to a high curb.
As both cars came to a stop inches from each other, Stallings popped out of the driver’s side with his pistol up and on the driver of the Buick.
Stallings said, “Let me see your hands, now.” The last word was a shout. He emphasized it by bringing up the pistol slightly.
Inside the Buick a pair of hands rose and Stallings kept the gun on the driver.
“Open the door slowly and step out. Do it now.”
The door popped open and two hands immediately rose up. He could see a male’s face as he focused past the front sight of his Glock.
He heard, “Okay, Stall, you win.”
He recognized the would-be spook and still debated shooting him right where they stood.
The trauma of the evening rushed through Stacey Hines and she started to shake. Even under the wool blanket her naked body shuddered uncontrollably like she was laid out on ice. The bitter aftertaste of the water with several pills ground up and mixed in spread down her throat and up her nasal cavity. She knew what was in the cloudy glass of water. She’d even watched as William had pressed the pills under the bottom of a thick glass, then scooped the dust into a plastic cup with a few ounces of water.
After being shocked twice with that weird electric grip thing she decided she’d drink the water without complaint. Almost instantly she’d felt her system slowing down and then the shivering and shuddering started.
William leaned over her and stroked her hair as if he thought it would soothe her. “You’ll sleep for a good long time, and tomorrow night I hope we don’t have the kind of conflict we had tonight.”
She didn’t say anything but kept her eyes on him. She wanted to burn every detail of him into her memory so when the police finally saved her and needed information, she could give it to them. His thinning blond hair and pale blue eyes now made him look cold. His smile wasn’t inviting like she’d thought before; it now appeared evil. Like the bogeyman her brothers used to tell her about to scare her. Somehow it was William’s mild good looks that made him scarier than if he had a hook for a hand or a horribly scarred face.
She started to drift off, wondering how soon her parents really would start looking for her. Stacey now wished she had more of a social life so someone did miss her. She didn’t even know yet if anyone knew she was in trouble. Maybe someone at the Fountain of Youth would worry about her missing a few shifts. But would they be concerned enough to call the police?
The room went hazy and a calm, almost pleasant feeling drifted over her. William’s face fell out of focus. Then she was dreaming about kissing her mom good morning back home as she smelled hotcakes and bacon on the griddle. She tried to hold on to the dream but snapped back to reality for just a moment and thought, God, how did I get into this?
John Stallings had his pistol holstered and his arms folded, and he leaned against the hood of his car as he stared across at Ronald Bell leaning against the hood of his Buick.
“Never did much dope work, huh, Ron?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Your surveillance skills are a little weak.”
“We still follow people occasionally.”
“We, as in I.A.?
“I’ve been in the unit a long time, so yes, when I say ‘we,’ I mean the professional conduct unit.”
“No one calls it PC.”
“I know, but that’s the name of the unit.”
“If you’ve been there that long without moving up that must mean you like it.”
“Look, Stall, I know you think we exist to screw with good cops, but that’s not the case.”
“Then what are you doing following me around tonight?”
Bell sighed and wiped his handsome face down with his bare hand.
“C’mon, Ron, I got things to do. We gonna spend all night here or are you gonna spill it?”
“Two things have me looking at you. First of all there’s Franklin Hall.”
“Who?”
“The pimp you brought in for questioning.”
“Oh, Jamais.”
“Yeah, same guy. He claims you threatened him and damaged his Hummer with an ASP.”
“He make a complaint?”
“No, I was looking at another issue when it came out.”
“What else, Ron?”
