“No.”
“Then what’s the deal? Something doesn’t add up.”
Rob shrugged. “I just…well, we’ve known each other forever. Since we were kids. We’ve just always been great friends. I like being friends with her. I’d hate to ruin it by…well, you know.”
Roxie made a face. “Does she have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Rob didn’t say anything.
Roxie’s look of disgust deepened. “Jesus. You fucking moron. Anyway. I’m gonna need you to call her. Think you can come up with a good cover story for your absence?”
“Probably.”
“Good. We’ll take care of that in a few minutes. Next question. I assume you have a job. Did I cause you to miss going in, or were you off today?”
Rob opened his mouth to reply, but hesitated a beat. Roxie noticed it. Her eyes sharpened. He saw her muscles tense and knew she was on the brink of another violent explosion. He quickly decided against the lie he’d briefly considered telling. “I was off today. I work tomorrow. It’s my uncle’s company. If I don’t call him with some excuse, he’ll worry. He’s the closest thing I’ve got to a parent these days. So he’s pretty lax with me, far as the job goes. I could tell him I decided to take off for a bit and he’d probably buy it.”
Roxie unclasped her hands and drummed her fingers lightly against the back of the chair. “Hmm. Okay. So you’ll call him, too. Tell him something believable. Something to buy us enough time to change cars and get farther down the road.”
Change cars?
Rob was bewildered.
His car was the whole reason he was on the road with her in the first place. He could see her wanting to ditch the Galaxie. It was too conspicuous. But wouldn’t that mean his usefulness to her was over? Maybe not. Because it sounded like she meant to keep him around a while. He couldn’t figure it out. To what end?
Or maybe, he thought, she just put it that way to put my mind at ease while she figures out her next move.
She opened her mouth to ask another question, but a tentative knock at the door caused her head to snap around. “Who is it?”
There was the muffled sound of a throat clearing. “Uh…it’s, um…me.”
Rob didn’t recognize the voice. He frowned. “Come on, you’re not really expecting anyone out here in the middle of nowhere, are you?”
“Shut up.”
Roxie got up and went to the door. She peered through the peephole and grinned. She glanced back at Rob. “It’s party time.”
She opened the door and Rob saw the awkward, lanky desk clerk standing there. Roxie seized him by a wrist and pulled him inside. She threw the door shut and pushed the boy toward the bed.
“Hey, honey…”
Rob guessed he was “honey.”
So fucking weird.
What’s going on?
“This is Billy. He works here. I told him he could party with us tonight. You don’t mind, do you?”
Rob had no idea what to say. Not a clue what her expectations were. “Um…yeah. Whatever. I guess.”
Billy wasn’t paying any attention to him. He was too busy ogling Roxie’s tits. “Yeah…uh, I called this guy, Earl. He works here, too. Days. He came in to cover my shift. But I didn’t mention you, like you said. Told him my brother was in the hospital.” He forced himself to look at her face. “So I’m now free to, uh…party.”
Roxie beamed at him. “That’s so awesome!”
Billy grinned back. “Hell, yeah.”
His gaze went helplessly back to her tits.
So of course he never saw it coming.
Roxie punched him in the throat and he crumpled to the floor, gagging as he curled into a ball.
Rob sat up. “Jesus, not again. Don’t kill him!”
Roxie glanced at him. “Sit back like a good little bitch and watch the show. Unless you want this to be you.” Her smile was broad, a gleaming display of perfectly aligned white teeth with only the faintest hint of nicotine staining. “Is that what you want?”
The boy on the floor was crying softly.
Rob looked at him.
Then looked at Roxie-and saw the deadly eagerness in her eyes.
His shoulders sagged.
Roxie laughed. “That’s what I thought.”
She went to the table and took something from her bag. Rob saw what it was and squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to see this. Not one bit of it. He’d seen enough terrible things today.
“Watch.”
A command. Disobedience was not an option.
He opened his eyes.
Watched.
And felt another indelible stain form on his soul.
CHAPTER TWELVE
March 17
The first thing she was aware of as she returned to consciousness was pain. Her head hurt and her jaw throbbed. One of her teeth felt loose. She probed it with her tongue and whimpered at the fresh jolt of agony this triggered. Her eyelids fluttered and she saw the hazy form of a man looming in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them again, and the image crystallized.
It was him.
Her mouth opened wide.
“Scream and the lights go out again.” He cocked a fist and moved a step closer. “Maybe forever.”
Julie closed her mouth.
And in the next moment she became aware of several other things. It had all really happened. John, Karen, and Nancy Lee were all dead. She had killed a man, this psycho’s partner. And now here she was. Naked. Tied to a chair. She flexed her wrists, testing the bonds. Electrical cords or cables, felt like. He’d cinched them painfully tight, making the flesh bulge at her wrists and ankles.
She scowled at him. “Why am I naked?”
“I wanted to look at you.”
“Perv. Did you rape me?”
The big man smirked. “You’d know if I had.”
Julie’s face crinkled in disgust. “Gross. So you didn’t…right?”
The man shook his head. “I wanted to, but Lulu forbade it.”
“Who the fuck is Lulu?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” His smile was bitter, devoid of humor. “But she’s the reason I haven’t shoved a knife up your cunt.”
Julie gulped.
Yay, Lulu.
“Where is she? I want to talk to her.”
The man stared at her and didn’t say anything. He was still naked. His body was covered in dried blood. He was well into middle age, a fact betrayed by the gray hair and the deep lines in his face, but his physique was impressive. Thick musculature just about everywhere, but with a small bit of flab through the middle. She studied his face and decided it might have been sort of handsome twenty years ago, with that square jaw and those piercing eyes. But now he was old. He was one of those hard-living scumbags who looked old before his time. He had a destined-to-die-on-skid-row-in- a-puddle-of-piss kind of vibe. And he was a fucking pervert. He was licking his chapped lips and looking her up and down, his cock stiffening as he scrutinized her.
“You want me to suck that for you?”
Please say yes, you fucking freak. I’ll bite that nasty thing clean off.
His nostrils flared. “You know I do. But Lulu won’t allow it”
“Yeah. And speaking of her…you didn’t answer my question. Where is she?”
“Ya can’t see her.”
Julie stared at his swollen cock. The guy was jerking it right in front of her. She didn’t want to stare, but it sort of compelled the eye. It was huge. “Why not?”
“You just can’t, that’s all!”
Julie sighed. “Okay. Fine. Whatever. You’re in charge here.” She smiled and looked him in the eye. “Look, you can tell her I said it was okay. I wanna do it. Or if she’s not around, we just won’t tell her. It’ll be our little secret. What do you think?”
He grunted. “Hold on. Can’t think straight. Be right back.”
He trotted out of the living room, disappearing down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Soon she heard the faint squeak of bedsprings again and her stomach fluttered. He was giving Karen’s corpse another bounce.
What a sick fuck!