The Anatomy of Violence Read Online Free PDF Page B

fight with Jules. No, I admired him for that, but it was crazy. Jules owned the paper Rich worked on.
    Would he lose his job? I’d talk to Jules tomorrow.
    I heard a car slow behind me, then surge forward. The tail lights flared, then the car disappeared around a corner.
    My mind wandered as I walked, I looked at the sky; I threw back my head and laughed at the fuzzy halo around the moon. A halo meant rain, didn’t it?
It rained when Eileen was killed, a year ago tonight.
I shook my head to clear it, but the picture of her lying in the pool of rain water remained.
    My steps quickened. Here the houses thinned out; ahead they ended and the street was bracketed by the empty ballpark and an abandoned lumberyard. I crossed the dim yellow perimeter of a street light, clicked rapidly through a block-long shadow, and entered another.
    My shadow loped up from behind, lay beside me for an instant, then darted forward. It raced dimly along the board fence of the ball park. I heard a rustling noise as I passed the black shadow of the entrance.
    Then a hand clamped over my mouth. I heard a grunt and smelled stale tobacco. I curved my fingers and twisted, trying to face him. But his arm was a steel clamp holding me to him. Like a striking snake, his hand darted upward beneath my dress. I heard the top of my panties give with a rubbery tear, and a fingernail raked my stomach.
    I jerked my head and bit on an acrid finger. I lashed backward with my foot, and heard a grunt as it struck something. Then my legs were jerked from beneath me and I fell to the sidewalk, striking my head. I strained to hold my consciousness but it slipped away.
    The next thing I knew was the pain going down my legs and up my back. It had the rhythm of a headache—the constant ache, then the sharp stab of pain with each heartbeat.
    I opened my eyes and saw a mottled shadow above me, barely visible against complete blackness. Each thrust of pain, I noticed, was marked by a movement of the shadow and a hiss of breath. I caught the sick-sweet smell of liquor and understood what was happening.
How long would it take?
    I tried to scream, but there was something over my mouth. I tried to move my hands, but they were taped together beneath me. I dug my heels into the dirt and pushed myself backwards. Movement ceased above me and a strained, muffled voice sounded in my ear. “Please don’t move now.”
    I pushed harder and twisted. His arms went under me and tightened, forcing the air from my lungs. My ribs popped, and pain laced my brain like red cobwebs. The breathing quickened.
    Then the weight was gone, and the voice sounded in my ear. “Do you know who I am? Please nod your head yes or no.”
    I felt his hand against my cheek. He sounded like a child, but I knew it was a man, talking in the precise spaced words of a young boy reading aloud in class. He was disguising his voice, which meant I might have recognized his real voice. I shook my head from side to side against his hand.
I don’t know you, but I will …
    “Then I will turn you loose, if you promise not to tell what has happened. Do you promise?”
    He thinks like a little boy, too. What good is my promise now?
I nodded against the hand Then his hand was beneath me, ripping off the tape. I lay without moving. They were nearly free when he stopped. “Maybe you plan to follow me.”
    I shook my head violently from side to side.
    “Yes, you would. I’m sorry, Laurie.”
    I tore my hand free and clawed at his face. My fingers caught in a cloth he’d tied over his face and I ripped it off. Then something smashed against my jaw.
    Half-conscious, I heard the rip of tape and felt him bind my hands against my ankles. I tried to struggle, but my muscles wouldn’t work, and I felt consciousness slipping away again.
Oh, God, he’ll do it again. And I can’t stop him, can’t stop …
    Then the crushing weight returned, and his hand squeezed my throat. “I’m sorry to kill you, Laurie. I really am sorry,