Hour Game

He pulled into his parking lot, slammed the door on his Jeep and hurried up the steps. It was after one o'clock in the morning, and he had nothing to show for the lost sleep. But he'd get even. He had what she wanted, more drugs. He would turn the tables on her. He'd go to the Aphrodisiac. If she worked there, he'd find out who she was. And if not, he'd go to the room, confront her, feign retreat and then wait for her to leave the club. He'd follow her home and find out her identity. With that information in hand he'd put the squeeze on her. If she could afford a thousand bucks for fifty dollars' worth of drugs, she could afford to pay a little quiet money.

By the time he opened the door to his apartment, he had most of the plan worked out. He'd commence execution of it tomorrow.

He went to his bedroom and turned on the light. Only it didn't come on. Damn bulb again. Then he noticed the movement by the bed. It was her! Here at his apartment. She was lying on his bed, only a sheet over her. Even in the darkness he could make out the scarf and the glasses she always wore.

"What the hell are you doing here? I waited at the motel for almost an hour." It didn't occur to him to ask how she knew where he lived.

In answer she sat up, let the sheet fall slightly off her shoulders, which were bare. This got his blood going and all his anger quickly dissipated. Then she seductively pulled the sheet far up her thighs, which were also bare. Kyle felt himself growing aroused as she motioned for him to join her on the bed.

"No guns this time, okay?" he managed to stammer.

She nodded her head and then pointed to the bureau against the wall. Kyle went over and saw the money spread out there.

When he looked back at her, she'd risen and was standing in front of him, the sheet barely covering her. She motioned with a flick of her hand for him to go over to the bed.

He did so smiling. She circled behind him. He turned to face her, his back to the bed.

The sheet dropped.

Her hand came up and Kyle froze. It looked like a gun that she was holding. When she fired, he put up his hands, as though to ward off the bullet.

The air-propelled twin darts attached by fifteen feet of wire to the Taser gun shot out and pierced his thin shirt. With one terrible jolt fifty thousand volts hit him dead in the chest, easily enough to drop a three-hundred-pound NFL lineman much less a scrawny morgue tech. The surge instantly overrode his central nervous system, and he fell backward onto the bed, where he curled into a fetal position as his muscles contracted.

Even though he'd be incapacitated for some time, the woman rushed forward to the bed and pulled the darts free. She put the Taser gun into her bag, which was lying on the floor, and slipped on a pair of gloves. She next pulled out a syringe.

Kyle looked on fearfully as she turned over his paralyzed arm, pulled up his sleeve, put a rubber tourniquet around his forearm to pop up his veins, found a good one and plunged the syringe contents into it. She quickly undid the strap and placed it and the syringe on the nightstand next to the bed.

As Kyle lay twitching on the bed, she stared down at him. What she'd shot into him was already taking effect. He was starting to convulse more, but it wasn't enough. She took the pillow, held it over his face and pressed down. Two minutes later it was over. She removed the pillow and looked down at him again. She felt for a pulse and found none. Kyle was dead.

Despite appearing to be naked, she was actually wearing panties and a bra. She pulled a sweat suit from her bag, donned it quickly, grabbed the money, searched Kyle's pockets and found the note she'd written to him. She stuffed the note and the bedsheet she'd wrapped around her into the bag. She made sure she'd left nothing behind other than the syringe and rubber tourniquet and left the building.

As she sped away from the dead man's apartment, she took comfort in the fact that she now had one less problem to deal with.

CHAPTER 56

KING AND MICHELLE DROVE OVER to see Remmy the next morning.

King filled in Michelle on his conversation with Sylvia. "I spoke with Todd earlier this morning. He's going to pick Kyle up today."

"Any idea who the mystery woman is?"

"I guess the easiest thing to do is go to the club and ask. If she's a regular there, or works there, someone has to know about it."

In turn, Michelle filled in King on the reenactment. "It was amazing, hundreds of people with so much going on all the time. I mean, it was utter chaos, like watching a real battle. Eddie thinks they may show some of the film they took on the local PBS station," she said.

"I've actually been to a couple of those. A woman I used to date when I was in the Service had a brother who was big into them. Had a whole museum of memorabilia and stuff from the Civil War. Muskets, uniforms, swords, even an amputation kit."

"Eddie did a great job. The man has amazing skills and yet his self-esteem is rock-bottom."