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Everything I need to know about King is probably inside this phone but I can’t take it with me. And it’s an iPhone so removing the battery with zero tools on me to make it untrackable isn’t an option.
So that’s that.
With great remorse, I wipe the phone with my coat and toss it back in the car where it lands next to Peter’s head on the seat.
“Have fun burning in hell, fucker.”
I run a few fingers through the strawberry blond strands of my wig, wet with the evidence of Peter’s murder. And I look at them, smiling as I smell the copper.
The world is rid of one more pedo rapist. And I have the name of someone new which kind of makes up for having to sacrifice the phone.
And this someone will bring me one step closer to the man who killed my mother and had every intention of sending me into a world of sexual slavery.
After pulling the small water bottle from my left pocket and twisting the cap off, I splash some on my hands and use it to rinse the blood from my hair and face. Can’t hop in a cab looking like this.
Then I start walking through the darkened lot, heading east toward 24thStreet and breathing in the unusually cool night air, wondering if the Filiberto’s at this location is as good as the one near my place in Scottsdale.
Chapter 2
I take the elevator up to my condo. I hate elevators. They terrify me. When I found this place a couple years ago, I went with a two-year lease on the 7thfloor, and one of the reasons was to force myself to overcome my fear of riding them. It hasn’t worked so far. I can sit in a car with a child rapist and plunge a knife into his neck, but an elevator makes me break out in a cold sweat. Go figure. Tonight, this levitating box smells like bleach and fried shrimp. I don’t know which one of those is worse.
I get to my floor and step off the elevator, taking a quick look in my compact mirror and feeling thankful that today’s deed is done. Fuck knows it’s been a long time coming. I’m still shaking from the adrenaline rush, but some food will fix that. And then this night needs to end with some Tito’s and pineapple juice.
After showering at the YMCA where I hide my wigs and some clothes, I changed into a t-shirt and yoga pants and ditched the overcoat in the dumpster behind the building. But now I’m home, and … this is the sucky part of my kills: having to come up with an alibi. Answering thewhere have you been?question.
I unlock the door and Ritz is immediately at my feet, mewing and rubbing his face on my ankle. I bend down and pet him. “Hey, baby boy. Why are you out here, huh? You’re usually sleeping this time of night.”
I toss my keys inside the basket and walk around the corner. Boxes line the wall next to the pantry, some of them labeled with a marker.
Bedroom
Clothes
Bath
I pause. My blood freezes.
I hear Devin’s voice in the other room.
Ritz trots away, jumps on one of the boxes and starts licking his paw.
I shift my gaze to the bedroom and Devin sees me. There’s a phone pressed to her ear but she tells whoever it is that she has to go.
I tilt my head as she walks out, sliding her phone in the back pocket of her stained, ripped up jeans. I haven’t seen her dress this shabby since we met. Her pixie cut looks freshly trimmed but her body is heavy with exhaustion and glowing with defeat. If her facial expression grew any tighter, she might strain a muscle.
“What’s all this?” I motion to the boxes.
Ritz meows and jumps down to rub his face on Devin’s leg.
“This is me leaving, Tove.” She moves her foot away from Ritz.
“Oh-kaaaay. Were you going to give me some warning?”
She laughs sadly. “I think I’ve been doing that for the better part of six months.”
I blow out a breath, pinch the bridge of my nose. “I know we’ve had our problems, Dev. But I do want to work through it.”
“Do you? Because from what I can tell—from what you’ve shown me—you don’t really want to work through it. Honestly, I feel I’m doing you a solid here.”
