CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

 

“Where have you been?” Claudia asked sharply, a bead of perspiration dampening her brow.

“Out,” Manuel said simply, not in the mood to argue. He’d had a good buzz and now just wanted to sleep. He walked by her, getting a whiff of pungent body odor masked only slightly by cheap perfume.

“The police came to the office,” she told him nervously.

“So...” He looked at her.

“They asked about you...and one of them gave me this.” She held out a business card.

Manuel took it and read: Detective Stone Palmer, Homicide, Wilameta County Sheriff’s Department. There were two phone numbers and a fax number on the card.

Manuel felt a twinge of panic, but fought hard not to show it. “What did this Stone Palmer want to know?” he asked nonchalantly.

“They’re investigating the murder of Adrienne Murray,” Claudia said, as if he knew the woman.

“Who the hell is she?” He lifted his brow as though not a clue.

“Adrienne worked for me,” Claudia said tautly. “You met her at the office.”

Manuel shrugged. “If you say so.” He rubbed his nose. “Why do the cops wanna see me?”

Claudia swallowed hesitantly. “They think you may have had something to do with Adrienne’s death.”

Manuel narrowed his eyes. “What do you think?”

Claudia brazenly got up in his face. “You tell me, Manuel, that you did not murder Adrienne,” she demanded. “Not someone I worked with, a friend... You couldn’t have—”

“I didn’t murder no one,” he said coolly. “Why do you even listen to them? You know me. I’m no killer!” He stepped back involuntarily.

“I’m not sure I do know you, Manuel,” she spat angrily. “You think I’m stupid? I know you’re still doing crack. I can see it in your red eyes.”

He saw no use in denying it. “That don’t mean I killed Adrienne whatever her name is—”

Claudia gave him a mistrustful appraisal. “No? Then where’d you get the watch?”

“What watch?”

“The one you gave me last week for my birthday! You said you bought it.”

Manuel knew he’d backed himself into a corner, but was not about to remain trapped in it. “Okay, so I lied. I found the watch, all right?”

“Found it where?” she asked warily.

“At the park,” he replied with a straight face. “It was there on the grass. I figured someone probably had no more use for it and tossed it. I cleaned it up and wanted you to have it. That’s the truth, baby.”

When Manuel put a hand on Claudia’s rough cheek, she winced as if he’d struck her. “You had blood on your clothes that night Adrienne disappeared,” she recalled. “It was her blood, wasn’t it? Not fish blood.” When he did not respond she shouted at him, “Tell me the truth, Manuel—”

His first impulse was deny, deny, deny. But since she didn’t want to take no for an answer and it was too late for that at this point, he decided what the hell.

“Yeah, it was that bitch’s blood,” Manuel admitted tersely. “Happy now?”

Claudia was trembling. “Why, Manuel—?” Her eyes filled with tears. “What did Adrienne ever do to you?”

“She got what she deserved—okay!”

“No, it’s not okay, Manuel,” she huffed. “How could it be?”

“Because that’s over and done with, baby,” he said. “Just forget about it.”

Claudia closed her eyes, squeezing out tears, and opened them wide. “They think you killed a prostitute, too.” She sighed. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

Again Manuel wanted to deny any such involvement. But it was obvious that she’d already had her mind made up from the beginning. Big mistake.

“Yeah, I killed the whore,” he confessed. “It was just something that happened. We’ll go someplace else and start over.”

Even as he spoke, Manuel never believed she would go along with it. She couldn’t. No more than he could now that the cat had been let out of the bag.

They had suddenly reached a turning point in their rocky relationship and Manuel knew there was no going back.

“You have to turn yourself in, Manuel.” Claudia’s voice shook. “It’s the only way to make things right.”

“Things can never be right again,” he told her. “Not between us—”

The empty look in her eyes confirmed it.

He faced her squarely and, without giving it another thought, took out his knife. Just as quickly, Manuel released the switchblade from its holder. Claudia stared at the shiny blade open-mouthed, as if it were an object from another planet. He thrust the knife into her stomach, feeling it slice through her.

Then again.

Again.

And again.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Manuel cried, holding her in his arms as he continued to ram the blade into her. “There was simply no other way. I can’t go back to prison. They do bad things to people like me in there.”

When he finally released her, Claudia’s bloodied body crashed to the floor. He closed her lifeless eyes and kissed her goodbye.

I’ve got to get the hell out of here. Manuel freaked out more about his latest kill than the others. They would come back looking for him.

But by then he would be long gone.

He took whatever money Claudia had in her purse. Then he took her car, knowing she wouldn’t be needing it ever again.