The Last Innocent Man Read Online Free PDF

laughed and pulled a cheap rabbit coat out of the trunk. Darlene was wearing a fire-engine-red sweater that left her little room to breathe. She kept the coat open so the sweater showed. Black panty hose and high black boots completed her official whore uniform. She checked herpurse to make sure she had not forgotten her service revolver.
    Ortiz had picked a darkened parking lot for his surveillance post. An office building occupied the other half of the block on the same side of the street. There was a jewelry store, a shoe-repair shop, a beauty salon, and an all-night café across the way. The only illumination came from a series of evenly spaced streetlights.
    “What’s the plan?” Ortiz asked, suddenly all business.
    Darlene looked up and down the street. It was a one-way street going south.
    “I’ll walk down the block to the corner, across from the café. That way I can get the traffic on both streets. Will you be able to see me from here?”
    “Yeah. Just stay under the streetlight on the corner. This building blocks a little of my view.”
    “If I get a proposition that’s good enough for an arrest, I’ll pat my wig. Then I’ll have the trick come to the lot.”
    “How are you going to do that?”
    Darlene hadn’t thought about the story she would use to lure the trick to Ortiz. Ortiz leaned against the side of the car watching her.
    “I’ll tell him I have a car in the lot and the keys to my room are in it. How’s that?”
    Ortiz stood up and stretched.
    “Good. There’s enough shadow here to keep me Kidden until you’re almost to the car.”
    “Okay,” Darlene said. She turned her back to Ortiz and started across the parking lot. There were butterflies in her stomach, and she had a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. She always did when she was nervous, and she was suddenly nervous and a little scared.
    “Darlene,” Ortiz called after her, “don’t take any chances.”
     
    D ARLENE HAD BEEN standing near the corner for fifteen minutes when the beige Mercedes drove by the first time. She got a fast look at the driver as he went by. Blond, good-looking. He had smiled at her. Darlene had smiled back, hoping he would stop, but he hadn’t. Darlene had no idea why she had brought the rabbit coat along. It was way too hot for it. If she didn’t get a nibble soon, she was determined to take it back to the lot. She glanced back toward Ortiz but couldn’t spot him in the shadows.
    The Mercedes drove by again and pulled to the curb across the street. The man signaled to her and she walked toward him, remembering to swing her hips as she went. She had to concentrate to keep from stumbling in her high-heel boots.
    “Nice night,” the man said. He was a little nervous, but trying to be cool, Darlene thought.
    “Nice enough,” she said. “What are you doin’ drivin’ around in this big old car all by your lonesome?”
    The man smiled. Probably married, Darlene thought. Where was the little woman while Papa was out cavorting? Bridge club? Maybe home watching TV while hubby is at a “business” meeting. She could imagine how that pretty face was going to look when Papa had to explain to Mama that he had been arrested for prostitution.
    “I’m just driving around, looking for a little fun. How about yourself?”
    “I’m just hangin’ around, sugar. Lookin’ for a little fun myself.”
    “I know a place where we can have a lot of fun. You want to come along?”
    Darlene leaned over and rested her elbows on the window of the car. The top buttons of her sweater were open, and the blond man couldn’t keep his eyes off her cleavage. This close, she could smell the liquor on his breath. He had been doing some heavy drinking, but he appeared to be able to hold it.
    “I’d love to have some fun, sugar. What kind of fun did you have in mind?”
    “Fun. You know,” he said evasively.
    The trick was getting more agitated. Maybe he was new at the game. Darlene was beginning to get impatient. She