Soul Hostage Read Online Free PDF Page B

words he had just spoken perfectly matched a thought which had run through my head many times since I had met Joey.  The shock of hearing my thoughts voiced aloud froze me.
    Before I could recover from my verbal paralysis, Stoaffer continued, “This could be your last chance to save yourself.” 
    I was still staring at Stoaffer when Joey yanked open the rear passenger door and got in. 
    “The clerk in the store was watchin’ TV.  Looks like our friends at the store got loose and are talkin’ to the police. Didn’t hear nothing about a description.”
    I stared at Stoaffer for a few more seconds before looking toward Joey and saying, “Well, we’ve got to decide what exactly what we’re doing next.  It’s not a real good idea to be just cruising around like this.”  The irritated tone in my voice was not missed by the others.
    “Thomas, you need tuh lighten up.” Joey         grinned at me.  “Everythin’ looks okay.  Now we’re headin’ south with our new best friend.  Right, Lou?”
    Louis Stoaffer gave me one of those looks that say this is exactly what I’m talking about .  With his mouth, he said, “Right!  Let’s go to San Pietro!”
    The enthusiasm bubbling up from the backseat was too much to resist, and I found myself smiling against my will. But even as a smile came to my face, a sense of  dread was rising inside of me. 
    I spun the car around and headed south back the way we had come.   
    As we got closer to the scene of our recent crime, the car grew quiet. None of us could resist turning to gaze down the street leading to the grocery store.  About a quarter of a mile down the street was a mass of cop cars, ambulances, and blinking blue and red lights. 
    As I stared in that direction, a clear picture of a dark-haired, middle-aged woman with blood oozing from holes in her chest and cheek shoved in the space beneath the cash register floated into my head.  I resisted a sudden strong urge to press the gas pedal to the floor and speed far away from the place as fast as possible.  Apparently my temptation was obvious as Joey’s hand touched my shoulder as if to let me know I need to stay calm.
    “I think we cud all use a little distraction.”  Joey commented.  “Lou, keep goin’ with yer story.”
    Louis smiled as if he had just gotten a huge compliment.  “Well, let’s see, where was I?”
    “You went to dinner at your partner’s house.”  I offered quickly in hope the old man’s story would indeed distract me enough to keep images of corpses out of my brain.
    “Thank you, Thomas.  Yes, Theresa and I had gone to have dinner at Gary’s home.  It was just about ten minutes away in the hills above San Juan Capistrano.”  He smiled at the memory.  “It was a lovely place.”  His smile twisted. “Turned out to be a little piece of hell for me though.  As soon as we got there, I felt something wrong.  I couldn’t put my finger on it right then, but I’ve had plenty of time to play things over and over in my mind.”  His eyes looked as though they were staring off at something in the distance.  “Plenty of time to play things over and over in my mind. So much time in fact maybe  it’s driven me crazy.”
    His eyes suddenly became clear again. They jumped around the car as if seeing his surroundings for the first time.  Stoaffer’s eyes eventually rested upon the rearview mirror, and eye contact with me seemed to calm him.  He gave me a broad grin before continuing his story.
    “As I was saying, something didn’t feel right that night.  Even on the short drive over, Theresa was unusually cheerful.  She had never hesitated about voicing her negative opinion of Gary and Linda or ‘Gutless Gary and the mouse’ as she referred to them.  On this night, I remember that she had only complimentary things to say.  This was another strange thing which I did not think about until much later.
    “From the moment Linda met us at the door, she