Come Out Tonight 7 страница

He jerked her toward him, let go of her arm and snatched the knife out of his teeth. Still squeezing the back of her neck, he pressed the flat of the blade against her chest just below her left breast.

“I’ll slice it off for you, ” he hissed. “Want me to? ”

“No. ”

“Drive. ”

“I can’t. ”

“Key’s under the seat. ” He took the knife away from her breast and thrust her head down.

Face against the steering wheel, she spread her knees and reached down and fingere

d the floor mat.

“Come on, come on. ”

“I’m trying. ” She swept her fingertips back and forth over the rubber mat. “Are you sure it’s here? ”

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s just the ignition key, not the whole bunch. ”

As she reached farther back, she brushed the key with a fingertip. It slid away, but she found it again and peeled it off the mat. “Got it, ” she said.

Toby let her sit up, but didn’t release the back of her neck.

“Get us out of here, ” he said.

She tried to fit the key into the ignition slot, but her hand trembled too much.

“Nervous? ” Toby asked.

She got it in, twisted it and gave the gas pedal a push. The engine roared to life.

“Let’s go. ”

She put on the headlights, released the emergency brake, and backed out of the space.

“Figured you were long gone, ” Toby said.

Saying nothing, she headed for the driveway. As she approached the gate, it began to rise automatically. She drove out, and up the slope. At the edge of the road, she stopped the car. In the side mirror, she saw the gate begin to lower.

“Go left, ” Toby said.

She kept her foot on the brake.

“Come on, move. ”

“Let me make a call first. Okay? Just let me call so they’ll send an ambulance for Jim. Then I’ll go with you. ”

“You’ll go with me, all right. ”

“Please. What’s it going to hurt? ”

“What good’s it gonna do me? ”

“Let me call, and I’ll be good. ”

“Sure. ”

“I’ll cooperate with you. ”

“Right. You think I’m a moron? ”

She turned her head and looked at him. “If you don’t let me call, it ends here. ”

“Yeah? ” He squeezed the back of her neck, reached across with his other hand and pushed the long edge of his knife against the underside of her breast.

“Go ahead and do it, ” she said. “Kill me and throw me in the back with Duane. I’ll be a lot of good to you then. ”

The blade slit her.

Chapter Nineteen

Sherry winced and arched her back and felt blood start to slide down her skin. The cut burned. It felt very shallow, two or three inches long. Though she wanted to grab it, Toby’s knife was still there. She kept her hands on the steering wheel as blood slid down to the waistband of her skirt.

“Drive, ” Toby said.

“No. ”

“You wanta die for that bastard? Isn’t he the creep from the taco joint? ”

“He’s not a creep. ”

“He’s probably dead by now. ”

“Let me make the call and I’ll drive us anywhere you want. ”

He took the knife away and rested it on his thigh. “Go on and call. ”

“Thanks, ” she muttered. With one hand, she bunched up the left front side of her blouse. She pressed the wadded fabric against her cut.

The phone cord was still plugged into the dash. The phone itself had fallen to the floor. Toby kept hold of Sherry’s neck as she bent down and picked it up with her right hand.

Needing both hands for the phone, she used her left wrist to hold the wad of blouse against her wound. Then she flipped open the phone and thumbed the power button. With a beep, the screen came to life, glowing pale green. She tapped in 911, then pressed send. Holding the phone to her ear, she heard ringing.

“Start to drive, ” Toby said.

She drove onto the road, turning left.

“I hate assholes who talk on the phone while they drive, ” Toby said. “Oughta be against the law. ”

A recorded voice said, “You have reached the nine-one-one emergency dispatch number. If you are calling to report an emergency, please remain on the line. Our first available operator will answer your call. ”

“What’s going on? ”

“I’m on hold. ”

Toby chuckled. “Good thing this ain’t an emergency. ”

She kept driving. The recorded voice kept repeating itself.

“Still on hold? ” Toby asked.

“Yeah. ”

“Pull over and stop. ”

As she stopped the car in front of a driveway, she heard ringing again. There were clicks as a connection was made. A woman’s voice said, “Nine-one-one emergency, Mable speaking. What’s the nature of your emergency? ”

“We need ambulances, ” Sherry said, and quickly gave the street address of Duane’s apartment building. “There’s an injured man in room two three six. ”

“And what is the nature of his injury? ”

“Multiple stab wounds. A woman’s in the hallway, too. Stabbed and…”

Letting go of Sherry’s neck, Toby snatched the phone out of her hand. He jabbed the power button. The phone beeped and went dead. He dropped it to the floor in front of him, then reached out and plucked the cord out of the cigarette lighter. “You’re welcome, ” he said.

She glanced at him. “Thanks. ”

“I let you make the call, right? ”

She nodded.

“So now you gotta keep your word and cooperate. ”

“I will, ” she said.

“You better. ”

“Where do you want to go? ” she asked.

Toby was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, “I’ve gotta think. ” After another pause, he muttered, “What’d you wanta go and shut the door for? ”

“Duane’s door? ”

“Yeah, Duane’s door. My clothes were in there. ”

“Your wallet, too? ”

“Yeah, my wallet. ”

“Too bad, ” Sherry said.

“I had twenty bucks in there. ”

“And your driver’s license? ”

“You wish. ”

“Your license wasn’t in your wallet? ”

“Shit, no. You think I’m stupid? I read about this serial killer—Greenwood? —he lost his wallet at the scene of a crime and that’s how the cops got him. I didn’t have nothing in mine. Just the twenty bucks. ”

“Well, ” Sherry said, “that’s lucky. ”

“They can’t get me from any of that. ”

“What about your keys? ”

He suddenly punched her in the upper arm.

“Ow! ”

“That’s for my keys. ”

Rubbing her arm, she said, “I’m sorry. ”

She thought, fantastic.

“Sid’s gonna kill me. ”

“Sid? ”

“None of your business. ”

“Did you try to get back into the room? ” Sherry said.

“You locked the door! ”

“Well, I shut it. It locked automatically. ”

“Same difference. You locked me out. Man, all my keys are in there. The car, the house…” He punched her again, his fist slamming against her arm just below where he’d struck her before.

“I’m sorry! ”

“You oughta be!

“Did…did you have an ID with your keys? ”

“Hate to disappoint you. ”

“That shouldn’t be so bad, then. I don’t think some keys will tell the cops who you are. ” “I should’ve burned the fucking place to the ground. ”

“Why didn’t you? ”

“With what? My lighter? It’s in my shorts, and they’re in your loverboy’s bathroom. And the door’s locked! ”

I really did screw him up, Sherry thought. But not nearly bad enough. If only he’d had his driver’s license in his billfold…

“Get moving, ” he said.

“Where? ”

“Never mind. Just drive. I’ll tell you when to turn. ”

She checked the side mirror, saw no traffic, and swung into the lane. She steered with her right hand, using her left to hold the wadded blouse front against her cut.

“Thanks to you, ” Toby said, “We’re stuck with this stinky van. ”

“Where’s your car? ”

“None of y

our business. But it’s no good, anyway, without the keys. ”

“Can’t you hot-wire it? ”

“Yeah, sure. You know how? ”

“No. Don’t you? ”

“You gotta be kidding. How am I supposed to know how to do that? ”

“I don’t know. I thought guys like you knew that sort of stuff. ”

“Guys like me? ”

“Yeah. ”

“You think I’m some kind of experienced criminal? ”

“Aren’t you? ”

“You gotta be kidding. I’ve never done shit like this before. Didn’t plan on doing it tonight, either. Things just happened. ”

“Things just happened? You murdered Duane and…? ”

“Like, one thing led to another, you know? I was just following you the same as I been doing. All I wanted was just to watch you. Never figured I’d get a chance to…be with you, you know? Didn’t plan to waste anybody, either. Stuff just worked out that way. ”

“Your lucky night, ” Sherry muttered.

“Thing is, I was parked across the street when loverboy’s van came up the driveway, and I couldn’t see through his windshield too good. So I thought you were both in there. That’s how come I followed it. I was just hoping to see you, you know? So I follow it to the Speed-D-Mart, and he parks it around the side, but he’s the only one that gets out. Come to find out, you’re not even there. He must’ve left you back in his apartment. And that’s when I start to think. Just suppose he doesn’t come back? You just gonna wait for him all night? With the Speed-D-Mart only a couple of blocks away? Huh-uh. I figure, give you a while, you’re gonna start wondering what happened to him. An hour or two, maybe you’ll walk over to look for yourself. ”

“Guess you had me figured, ” she muttered.

Toby chuckled. “Turned out just like I hoped. The first part, anyhow. ”

“Did you have to kill him? ”

“That was the fun part. Only thing is, now we’ve gotta dump his body. ”

“Why do we have to dump it? ”

“You happen to notice it doesn’t exactly smell like lilacs in here? ”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of the whole van? ”

“Yeah, sure. And that’s just what we’d do, only you screwed me out of my car keys. So how’re we gonna get home if we ditch the van? ”

“Home? ”

“Yeah, home. ”

“You want to take me home? ”

“That’s what I said. And we can’t exactly hike there, can we? Maybe if you hadn’t locked up my clothes…” He punched her arm again.

“Ouch! Shit! Would you stop that? ”

“I’ll do whatever I want. You’re lucky I haven’t killed you. ”

“I won’t be nearly as much fun if I’m dead. ”

“Who says so? ”

Sherry turned her head and glared at him.

Toby smiled. “When you’re dead, I’ll eat you. If you give me any shit, I’ll eat you before you’re dead. ”

Her insides seemed to turn cold and shrivel.

“I liked it. ”

“Huh? ”

“The taste. Duane’s taste. ”

I’m gonna be sick.

“What I figured, I’d chew the skin off his fingertips so nobody’d be able to get prints off him. Only thing is, I liked it. So I kept on eating. After his fingertips, I worked on his face for a while. ”

“Shut up. ”

He punched her arm again.

“I sampled him all over. Know the best part? ”

Gritting her teeth, she shook her head.

“The weenie. ”

She slammed on the brakes. As the van skidded to a halt, she threw open the door and leaned out.

“No you don’t! ” Toby yelled, grabbing her arm.

She choked and gagged, wracked by heaves, but not much seemed to come up except thin, hot fluid. Her throat burned. Her eyes watered. She felt as if her lungs and heart were being wrenched from her body.

Behind her, Toby laughed.

Then he said, “Just kidding about the weenie. You really think I’d bite a guy’s dick? No way. What do you think I am, some kinda pervert? ”

The moment Sherry finished vomiting, Toby pulled her arm. She sat upright and shut the door.

“Get any on you? ” Toby asked. He sounded merry.

“I…don’t think so. ” She’d forgotten about the wound beneath her breast, but now she felt blood trickling out of it and dribbling down her midriff. She looked down. Her breast was bare. She drew the blouse over it, then pressed her left hand against the wet fabric.

“Get driving before somebody comes along, ” Toby said.

He still clutched her right arm.

“Let…go of my arm. ”

He released it.

Sherry wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she wiped her wet mouth and chin.

“Let’s move it! ”

She put both hands on the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

“See that alley up ahead? Let’s give it a try. Maybe we can find a nice home for Duane. ”

“In an alley? ”

“In a dumpster. ”

Chapter Twenty

Sherry steered into the alley. The straight, paved lane was bordered by block walls, fences, and the doorless carports of apartment buildings. Each building seemed to have four to eight carports in a row, with a couple of dumpsters near one end or the other.

Though patches of darkness were scattered down the length of the alley, the areas near the dumpsters were mostly well lighted.

Nothing moved except windblown scraps of paper and foliage, and, far ahead, an empty shopping cart that drifted toward them as if steered by an invisible derelict.

Sherry saw no people.

But most of the apartment buildings had second stories with windows—and sometimes balconies—overlooking the alley. Not many of the windows were illuminated.

Toby, hunched forward in the passenger seat, twisted his head this way and that as if searching for snipers. “I don’t like this, ” he said. “Somebody picks the wrong time to look out a window…”

“Everybody’s probably asleep. ”

“Not everybody. No telling who might be watching us. ”

“So what do you want to do? ”

He was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, “See if you can find an empty place in one of these garage things. ”

“Then what? ”

“Pull in. Gonna let that thing hit us? ”

“Guess not, ” Sherry said, and veered right to avoid the shopping cart. As it clinked and rattled past her side of the van, she saw that it wasn’t entirely empty. It held a single, white sneaker.

A sneaker very much like the one she had lost.

But that was miles from here.

It can’t be mine, she told herself.

“Did you see that? ”

“Huh? ”

“A shoe in the shopping cart. ”

“So? ”

“I’m missing a shoe. ”

“So? ”

“Can we get it? ”

“You outa your mind? ”

She stopped the van.

“Keep moving. ” Toby grabbed the back of her neck. “You don’t need a shoe. You’re lucky you’ve got one. Look at me. Thanks to you, I haven’t got shit. ”

“Should’ve kept your clothes on. ”

“You’re the one locked the door. ”

“I didn’t lock it. I just shut…Ow! ”

“Get moving. ”

She took her foot off the brake and drove slowly forward.

“Oughta make you wear this shitty robe, see how you like it. The bitch got her blood all over the back of it. Makes me itchy. ”

Not wanting to be punched again, Sherry kept her mouth shut.

Near the end of the block, Toby pointed through the windshield and said, “There! ”

At first, the space appeared to be empty. As Sherry drove closer to it, however, the rear end of a tiny sports car came into view.

“Keep going, ” Toby said.

They came to the end of the block without finding an empty carport.

Sherry stopped at the cross-street. No cars were approaching from any direction.

“Keep going, ” Toby said.

She drove across the street and entered the alley on the other side. It seemed no different from the alley they’d just left behind.

But this one had an empty carport—one of four stalls in a row beneath the second apartment building on the right.

“All right! ” Toby blurted.

Sherry swung in and stopped the van.

“Kill it, ” Toby said.

She shut off the headlights and engine. “Now what? ” she asked.

“I don’t know. I gotta think. ”

They sat quietly in the darkness.

What I’ve gotta do is get away from him, Sherry thought.

Right, and get how many more people killed?

In her mind, she saw Duane’s severed, partly eaten head rolling off the bed pillow. Then she saw Toby hunched over the woman in the hallway, slamming his knife into her back.

She saw the look on Jim’s face when Toby pounced on him and stabbed him.

And she wondered if Jim was still alive.

She pictured him on a gurney being wheeled out of the building into a chaos of police cars and flashing lights and into the rear of an ambulance.

I’ll never find out about him till I get away from Toby.

If I don’t get away, he’s gonna kill me. Sooner or later. He sure can’t let me go.

Wants to eat me?

Take it easy, she told herself. He isn’t about to kill or eat me. Not for a while. He hasn’t even made it in yet. He’ll want to keep me alive till after he’s done that, at least.

Unless I try to escape again and he rips me up with that knife.

Next time I make a break for it, she thought, I’d damn well better do it right.

I sure can’t try it here.

“What’re we going to do? ” she asked.

After a few more moments of silence, Toby said, “I want to take you home. But I don’t know how. ”

“Where’s home? ”

“None of your business. ”

“Do you want my help? ”

“You’ll just try to mess me up. ”

“I owe you, Toby. You let me call the ambulance for Jim. ”

“After I stabbed the shit out of him. ”

“You didn’t have to let me call. But you did. I told you I’d cooperate if you let me do that. I can’t be much help, though

, if you won’t discuss it with me. ”

“Thing is, ” Toby muttered, “I just don’t know about driving home in this thing. Even if we get rid of the body, it’s still his van, and it’s all fucked up inside with his blood and everything…” Toby shook his head. “I can hide it in our garage so the cops won’t find it, but then Sid’s gonna see it and start asking questions. ”

“So the thing is, ” Sherry said, “you want to take me to your house but you don’t want Sid to see the van? ”

“Yeah. ”

“Why not? ”

“Are you kidding? He’d go apeshit. ”

“What’ll happen when he sees me? ” Sherry asked.

“That’ll be okay. I’ve got that all figured out. I’ll just tell him I found you. I’ll say you were in an accident and I brought you home to take care of you. ”

“And he’ll believe that? ”

“Sure. Why not? ”

For godsake, don’t argue!

“No reason, ” she said. “Sounds good to me. ”

“Only what about the van? ” Toby asked.

“You could tell Sid it’s mine. You and I had a collision. I was driving the van and crashed into you, how’s that? ”

“I don’t know, ” Toby mumbled.

“Your car was knocked out of commission, so I was nice enough to drive you home in my van. ”

“How come you don’t just drop me off? ”

“Because I’m hurt. I am hurt. ”

“Yeah, ” Toby said. “You are, all right. ” Though Sherry couldn’t see more than the dim shape of him in the darkness, she was sure a smile must be lurking at the corners of his mouth. He was probably thinking about the slit below her breast.

“I’m hurt and I don’t have anyone to look after me, ” Sherry explained. “You felt sorry for me and offered to let me stay at your place till I get better. ”

“How come I didn’t take you to your place? ”

“Because…I can’t go home. Because…I’ve got it! Spousal abuse! My husband’s the one who beat me up and ripped off my earring and cut me! I ran away from him tonight. I jumped in the van and sped away…Next thing you know, I crashed into you. ”

“So you’ve gotta stay with us because you’re hiding from your husband? ”

“Exactly. ”

After a small silence, Toby said, “That’s pretty smart. No wonder you’re a teacher. ”

“Do you think Sid’ll buy it? ”

“Sure. It’s a great story. ”

“To make it work, ” Sherry said, “we’ll need to do a few things. ”

“Like dump the body? ”

Grimacing, she nodded. “That’s number one. Next, we’ve got to really crash the van into something. ”

“So it’ll have dents and stuff, ” Toby said.

“That’s right. ”

“You really are smart. ”

“Can you guess what else we need to do? ”

“Clean all the blood and shit outa the van? ”

“Sooner or later, yeah. Come on, think. You read books about serial killers, don’t you? ”

“Yeeeahh. I know! Get rid of the license plates! ”

“That’s it! ”

“Switch ’em with some other car. ”

“Right. ”

The excitement draining out of his voice, he said, “Only I’d need to have tools or something. ”

“A screwdriver is all, ” Sherry said. “Then just switch the plates with any car that’s handy, throw away Duane’s registration or whatever, and Sid’ll never have any reason to think the van isn’t mine. ”

“That’d be so great. But where’m I gonna get the screwdriver? ”

“Speed-D-Mart. ”

“You mean like walk into a store? In my robe? ”

“I’ll go in, ” Sherry said.

“Oh, sure. You oughta see what you look like. ”

“I can clean myself up a little…”

“Besides, how do I know you won’t tell on me? ”

“Take my word on it? ”

“Oh, sure. Anyway, we can’t buy anything even if we did go in. How much money have you got on you? ”

“None. ”

“Same here, ” Toby said. “Wanta take a wild guess at where my money is? ”

“Locked in Duane’s apartment? ”

“That’s about the size of it, thanks to you know who. ”

“Sorry about that. ”

“Sure you are. ”

“But I might know an easy way to lay our hands on some cash. ”

“Yeah? ”

“Unless you already did something with it, there should be a wallet back there. ” She jabbed her thumb toward the rear of the van.

“Huh? ” Toby asked.

“Has Duane still got his clothes on? ”

“Yeah! Told you, I ain’t a pervert. ”

“When he left his apartment tonight, he had a wallet in the back pocket of his shorts. It probably has lots of cash in it. ”

“Holy shit, ” Toby said.

Chapter Twenty-one

“You gonna stay put? ” Toby asked.

“Whatever you want, ” Sherry told him. “Do you need me to help with something? ”

“Just don’t try running away. ”

“I won’t. ”

“Maybe you better stay here. ”

“All right. ”

“Put on your seat belt. ”

Sherry pulled the seat belt down across her chest and lap and snapped its buckle into place.

Toby plucked out the ignition key. With the key in one hand and his knife in the other, he climbed between the seats. He stepped behind Sherry and said, “I’m just gonna put this around you. ” A strap of some sort dropped past her eyes, fell onto her shoulders for a moment, then closed softly around her neck.

It seemed to be a cloth belt. Probably from the robe Toby was wearing.

“I’m just gonna tie it to the headrest, ” he explained. “It’s for your own good. ’Cause if you try and run away again, I’ll have to kill you. ”

“I won’t try to run. But if this makes you feel better, fine. ”

“There. How’s that? ”

“Fine. ”

“Not too tight? ”

“No. ” Leaning forward slightly, she felt the belt press against her throat. She settled back in her seat and the pressure went away. “It’s okay, ” she said.

“Good. I don’t want to hurt you. ”

Oh, that’s obvious.

Toby’s hand came over the top of the seat back and patted her right shoulder. Then it moved downward, pressing her gently through her blouse, until his fingers covered her breast.

Sherry wanted to shove his hand away.

She resisted the urge.

I try to stop him, he’ll do something worse.

He slid her blouse to the side and his hand drifted over the bare skin of her breast.

The feel of it gave Sherry gooseflesh. As the bumps crawled over her body, her nipples grew hard and stiff. Her right nipple prodded Toby’s hand. Moaning, he rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger.

She grabbed his wrist. “Stop it, ” she said.

“Let go. ”

“You let go. ” She tried to pull his hand away.

He twisted her nipple and she yelped with pain, but then he let go and she released his wrist and he swatted the side of her face.

Not saying a word, he went away.

The pain quickly subsided from Sherry’s nipple and face, leaving them hot and tingly. She blinked tears out of her eyes. As they slid down her cheeks, she took deep, trembling breaths.

Stupid! What’d I try to stop him for? All it did was give him an excuse to hurt me.

He probably liked it, she thought. Hell, he probably loved it.

Next time, just let him do what he wants.

“All right! ” Toby blurted from the rear of the van. “Got it! ”

“Go to hell, ” Sherry said.

Idiot! Don’t piss him off!

“What’s wrong with y

ou? ” he asked.

“Nothing, ” she muttered.

“Want me to come up there? ”

No!

Afraid to answer his question, she asked, “How much money did you find? ”

“I don’t know. I can’t see. But there’s some. ”

“What about his clothes? ”

“What about them? ”

“Are they okay to wear? ”

“Wear? Who? ”

“You. ”

“No way. You gotta be kidding. It’s like he exploded in ’em. ”

What did you do to him? She almost asked, but didn’t dare. She didn’t want to know. She knew too much, already.

“I’m gonna try and get him outa here, ” Toby said. “Stay put. ”

Eyes forward, Sherry heard the rear doors squawk open. The van shook slightly. Then she heard quiet, sliding sounds, a little like a wet mop, but heavier.

Duane.

She supposed that Toby was standing behind the van, dragging Duane’s body out by the ankles.

The van lurched.

Then she heard a heavy, moist whop! Duane’s body hitting the concrete? She expected the whop! to be followed quickly by the thunk! of his head.

The thunk didn’t come.

Oh, yeah, Sherry thought.

She suddenly felt very much like screaming.

Don’t! For godsake, don’t!

The van’s rear doors squawked and banged shut.

In the side mirror, she saw Toby behind the van. He wore the pink robe. Without the belt, it hung open like an overcoat. He was walking backward, bent over, dragging Duane by the ankles. Duane’s legs were bare, his shorts rucked up high around his thighs. The lap of the shorts was soaked with blood. The belt was unfastened, the waist open, the zipper down.

Sherry turned her head away and shut her eyes.

What did he do?

Her mind suddenly shrieked, I’VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!!

She reached down and clawed open her seat-belt buckle, then hooked both hands under the cloth belt at her throat. She tugged it. The cloth stretched and made quiet sounds like groans, but didn’t break.

STOP IT! DON’T DO IT!

She quit straining at the belt.

I’ve gotta be smarter than this. If I just leap out and make a run for it, he’ll nail me.

She released her grip on the belt and lowered her hands to her lap.

What I’ve gotta do, she told herself, is go along with everything. Stop fighting him. Stop trying to get away.

She drew down the seat belt and snapped its buckle into place.

Stay calm and wait for the right time.

She turned her head and again looked at the side mirror. Toby and Duane were no longer in sight.

How long have I got? she wondered.

No way of knowing.

Enough time to make a call?

But Toby had jerked the phone’s plug out of the cigarette lighter and thrown the phone to the floor. It was probably in front of the passenger seat somewhere. In the darkness, it would be hard to find.

And she couldn’t even try without freeing herself from the belt around her neck.

And if she did manage to find the phone and plug it in, the damn thing wouldn’t work anyway without the engine going—and Toby had taken the ignition key.

Forget it, she thought.

What about honking the horn?

With the engine off, it might not work, either. But even if it let out a blast loud enough to wake the dead, it’d probably do her more harm than good.

In an area like this, people learn to ignore such late-night sounds as car horns, burglar alarms, gunshots, shouts and screams. The chances of anyone coming to the rescue were slim to none.

More than likely, Toby would be the first to respond.

The hell with that, Sherry thought.

She checked both the side mirrors, then opened the console to the right of her seat. She knew it was where Duane liked to store his cell phone. She also knew he kept a coin purse, a few maps, and some napkins inside it.

But what else?

She took out several napkins and dropped them onto her lap. Then she thrust her hand into the deep compartment and felt around.

Ever since the ’92 riots, a lot of LA people carried handguns in their cars. Sherry did. So did most of her friends. It was illegal, but they figured they would rather face a jury than a funeral. So they hid a firearm in their glove compartment, in their console, under their seat, or even in a special holster secured out of sight beneath the dashboard.

Not that Duane’ll have one.

Unless he’s the biggest hypocrite on the face of the earth.

Was.

He used to call Sherry a “gun nut” and argue, “A gun never solved anything. ”

Doesn’t mean he hasn’t got one, Sherry told herself as she rummaged through the console. Every so often, it turned out that some of the biggest anti-gun activists in the country were packing firearms in secret. They wanted to take away everybody’s guns except their own.

If Duane had one, though, he wasn’t keeping it in his console. Not a gun, no weapon or tool of any sort. Not even so much as a can opener.

Sherry lowered the lid.

With the belt around her neck, she couldn’t reach the glove compartment. She couldn’t reach under her seat, either.

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