A Killing Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

her over and out his door. They were in one of those deep kisses that always set her spinning and he was pressed into her up against the rear quarter panel of the car. They both came up for air and she leaned back and looked up into a dark sky and they were far enough away from the city lights to let a sprinkle of stars shine through.
    “God that speed was something,” she said, realizing that her heartbeat hadn’t tripped down since he’d first asked if she wanted to drive.
    “You like that don’t you, baby?” he said in her ear, and she felt his hand slide up under the back of her shirt, fingers rolling over her spine and searching for her bra fastener. She knew he was no fumbler, but she’d thrown a fashion changeup at him.
    “It’s in the front, dummy,” she said and pushed him away and reached up herself and unsnapped her bra and then pulled the tight top up over her small breasts. His mouth was on her and they both slid her jeans off and she heard the creak of his leather belt and she opened herself to him. She knew she always came too soon for him but she couldn’t hold herself back and was whispering, “I got you, I got you, sweetie,” when she did. He held her while she quivered and then kissed her neck and backed away. She kept her eyes closed and could feel the night air on her damp skin and was about to apologize when he took her shoulders and started to turn her. It took a second to clear her head and he pushed her chest down on the trunk of the car and she felt him step up behind her.
    “Come on, sweetie. You know I don’t like this,” she said, but she could feel his knees pushing out on the inside of her own.
    “And you know I do.” The hint of a growl had come into his voice.
    “Please,” she said and tried to turn her shoulders and then suddenly he had a fistful of the long hair he liked her to have down and he pushed her hard onto the trunk. She could sense the heat jumping from passion to anger but she fought him just like she had before.
    “What? You’re not running the show? Is that what you don’t like?” he barked, and she felt his other hand pull at her, trying to open her.
    She thought about letting him. Then she thought about the assault classes she’d taken from an old paranoid bar manager. She relaxed her legs as best she could and tightened her arm muscles at the same time and waited until she felt him start to probe her.
    “That’s a girl,” he said. “Just relax and…”
    She snapped her right elbow back as hard and as high as she could and felt the point hit something that went concave and then stop solid against a jagged edge. When she felt him roll with the blow she twisted out from under him but lost purchase on the slick grass and went down.
    “You fucking bitch!” he growled, and she was on her hands and knees groping for her jeans and cussing him back when she looked up.
    In the light of the teacup moon she saw him step forward. With one hand he was pulling up his pants and with the other he’d come up with a small silver-plated handgun.
    “Think you’re the tough one now, Suzy?” he said, and his eyes were flat and hard.
    The last thing she ever recorded was the glint around the .22-caliber black hole pointed in her face. Her brain did not have time to even register the flash.

CHAPTER 3
    I met Richards for a late breakfast at Lester’s. Turns out, neither of us would end up eating. Settled alongside of what used to be the main highway into Port Everglades, Lester’s is one of those old chrome-sided diners where the coffee comes in huge ceramic mugs and the waitresses are as chipped and sturdy as the glassware. It used to be the spot for truckers hauling fuel and whatnot from the port to points north. Later it was the shift change hangout for cops when the sheriff’s office headquarters was nearby. Remnants of both pasts still walked in on a regular basis. I got there early and took a booth near the back. The new vinyl crackled under me when I slid