[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
perfectly. She had never felt so safe, or so good.
And as she teetered on the edge of dreams, she heard his voice in her ear one
more time, a low murmur that she just barely caught before she faded entirely.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (237 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Danci...20Dancing/
Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html
"Please tell me I get to keep you."
Page 102
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (238 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Danci...20Dancing/
Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html chapter 11
Hank brought in a paper from the newspaper rack outside of her apartment when
he came back with her Hardee's biscuits. He wished he'd seen it after
breakfast;
now his appetite was gone.
"Hey," she said, when he came through the door. She spotted the biscuits and
smiled hugely, and walked over and threw her arms around him and kissed him.
Half of him wanted to scoop her up in his arms and haul her back to bed, and
the other half wanted to run with her down to his car and get them the hell
out of
Atlanta. "God. I was sure they were going to wrap this up last night," he
said.
"Maybe we should have held out a little longer."
She frowned. "No. No. No. Not holding out was the best thing that's happened
to me in ages. I wouldn't go back and undo last night for anything."
He put the newspaper down in front of her.
STRIPPER KILLER STRIKES FOUR TIMES? EYEWITNESS OFFERS
IDENTITY OF POSSIBLE SUSPECT
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (239 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Danci...20Dancing/
Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html
"The killer left the body right where I told them he would," Hank said. "Jim
promised they were going to keep her safe."
Jess leaned over the article, reading. Frowning. He watched her scanning the
paragraphs, and saw her freeze at one point as a look of pain washed over her
face.
"What?"
" 'Following notification of the family, the victim has been identified as
Millie
Hantumakis,'" she read. And then she looked up at Hank. "That was
River
. I
talked to her. She was really nice to me, and she had a little girl; she was
stripping so she could make enough money to live on and still be able to go to
her daughter's school plays and PTA meetings, for God's sake." He could see
the shine in Jess's eyes that betrayed tears, and could see her blinking them
back. All the life and color drained out of her face. "River had heard about
the killings.
She was talking about picking up and moving, getting out of Atlanta." Jess
looked down at the paper, lips pressed in a thin line. "She should have."
"Which one was River?" he asked.
"You saw her. She came out first yesterday. Had on a schoolgirl uniform."
Hank had a sudden sharp memory of the short, bouncy, dark-haired girl with the
awful taste in music. "
Her
?" he said. "Not the redhead in the harem costume?
Page 103
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (240 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Danci...20Dancing/
Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html
You're sure?"
"Positive."
But the killer hadn't touched River. Not recently enough to show up for him,
anyway.
But that was the problem with trying to read living people. Influences
overlaid each other quickly, as people hugged, shook hands, brushed past each
other, washed and showered, moved and changed focus over and over. The focused
intent in the touch of the killer a few hours earlier could disappear in the
events of an ordinary day.
Conversely, inanimate objects and corpses held on to impressions.
Sometimes for a very long time.
Hank closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with one hand.
"Piedmont Park," he said. "Where I told Jim the guy was going to dump her
body. But the girl who the killer wanted called herself Ginger Rose. When I
touched her, I got a clear image that she was going to be the next one. And I
read the killer's decision to dump the body exactly where he did."
"Is this thing of yours an exact science?" Jess asked. "Have you made mistakes
before?"
"Of course I've made mistakes. I'm as prone to misconception and error as you
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (241 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Danci...20Dancing/
Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20Girl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html are. Or anyone else
is. My fuckup has never cost someone else her life, though.
And I never cost some kid her mother." Hank put the biscuits on the table.
"There's a dead dancer on the bridge, right where I said she'd be. But she
isn't the woman I said she would be, because the cops were watching the wrong
girl all night. Because I told them to. How did I screw this up so badly?"
"Maybe you didn't. You said& Ginger Rose. I remember her. Her boyfriend had
just gone apeshit on her. Maybe that's what you were sensing. Maybe he
intended to kill her, and you saved her life by having the cops watch the
place."
"That's possible only if her boyfriend is the same killer who's slaughtered
the other dancers. I waved Ginger Rose over, stuck money in her costume, and
got so sick from the feedback of the murderer that I had to go throw up. When
I
came back out, I called Jim and told him what I'd discovered."
"Wait, wait, wait. You touched her costume?
Only her costume? Belly-dancing costume? Kind of an /
Dream of Jeannie thing? Blue?"
"Yeah."
"That wasn't her costume," Jess said. 'That costume be-longed to River Ginger
Rose's whacked-out ex-boyfriend diced all of her costumes in an attempt to
force her to quit. So River let her borrow a costume she wasn't going to
wear."
"And I touched the costume, not the girl. Because inanimate things give me
more accurate readings. I sent everyone in the wrong direction from the very
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Holly%20Lisle%20-%20Last%...y%20Lisle%20-%20Last%20G
irl%20Dancing%20(v1.0).html (242 of 435)8-12-2006 22:49:19
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]