When Jillian heard the door rattle, she moved to a corner of the room. As she positioned herself, her hand covered a piece of broken cement about two inches long and an inch wide. Wondering if she could use this as a weapon, she stuck it in the pocket of her robe. She hurried and got into the lotus position and began to hum softly. She hoped this was something a voodoo witch might do.
The door opened and Stan peered around it. “I brought you some breakfast.”
She did a little twist with her hands and stood. “It’s about time. I’m hungry.”
He handed her a MacDonald’s coffee with one hand and a bag with the other. “I hope you like sausage.” His eyes were wide and questioning.
“I can make do.” She took the coffee, set it on the cot beside her then removed the biscuit. “I hope you asked for cream and sugar. I like both.”
He nodded. “I thought you might, so I got both.”
“Good.” She moved to the bed and sat down. “Why are you not eating?”
“I ate on the way back.”
She looked at him and noted he seemed to be getting some of his swagger back. This wasn’t a good sign. She didn’t want him to lose his fear of her. She put her biscuit on the bed beside her and took a drink of coffee. When she sat it aside she stared at him. For a minute she didn’t move her body, but she did wrinkle her brow as she stared.
“What are you looking at?” He frowned back.
She didn’t say anything until he looked as if he was going to come toward her. “Someone in your family upset a friend of mine.”
He stopped and his eyes got bigger.
“A man I think,” she went on with her eyes half closed.
He looked shocked. Jillian knew she was hitting a nerve. She decided to go one more time. “An older man, I believe.”
“My grandfather wasn’t thinking. It was an oversight.”
She stared at him. “He was not wise.”
“Don’t punish me for something my grandfather did. He didn’t mean not to wipe his feet or take off his hat.”
Jillian almost laughed and he stared at her. She decided it would be best not to hide the fact that it tickled her. She decided to turn it on him. “Isn’t it funny the way people’s stupidity can ruin their lives? It makes me laugh at them.” He looked frightened. She added, “Your grandfather did a stupid thing and he paid for it. My advice to you is not to do a stupid thing.”
“I won’t. I promise. Just don’t put a hex on me.”
“I’ll think about it.” She sat back, picked up her biscuit and began to eat. All the time she kept her eyes on him. “You’d better be careful.”
He nodded and backed to the door.
“Where do you plan to go?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to stay here.”
“Stop.”
He stood as still as possible. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Have you ever killed anyone before?”
“Yes. But I didn’t mean to this time. She made me mad.”
“Oh? How can it be that you didn’t mean to kill?”
“She wanted to…she didn’t do what I wanted.”
“Is that a reason to kill someone?”
“Probably not.” He was shaking.
“Why do you want to kill me?” She squinted at him to make him think she was reading his mind.
“I’ll not kill you. I promise.” His voice was high pitched and terrified.
“Why do you want to rape me?”
He looked confused, but stammered, “I wanted you because you’re beautiful, but I’m not going to rape you. I know you’d put a curse on me if I did. I promise I won’t rape you.”
“Good. I’m glad you changed your mind about attacking me. You would be sorry if you did. A man must never try to rape a woman like me. It’s not a good thing.” Casually, she nibbled on her biscuit.
“What do you mean?” he stammered.
She made herself laugh. “Once a man wanted to rape me. It angered me so that I made it fall off. It slid down and out his pants’ leg. I laughed and he cried.”
He looked terrified. “I won’t rape you,” he mumbled. “I swear by all that’s holy. Please believe me.”
She changed the subject and in an abrupt voice asked, “Are you going to let me go home?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
There was a long pause then she said in an even voice, “Very well, you may go.”
He flew out the door.
Jillian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She hoped he would let her go soon, because she knew she couldn’t keep up this voodoo business much longer. He might see through her act and this man was a confessed killer. He could be volatile and turn on her at any moment. Maybe she’d try to get him to tell her who he’d killed, then she’d insist he let her go. She wished she really did know how to put a hex on him. Why didn’t she pay more attention to that sort of thing when she was in New Orleans a few years ago?
* * * *
“Well, Quinton, I’ve been doing some snooping.” John joined Quinton on the patio after lunch. Marilyn was somewhere in the house.
“What have you found out?”
“The police think the same person killed both Maddie and Norman Blackburn.”
“What makes them think so?”
John sat in one of the wicker chairs facing Quinton. “Both victims were beaten in the same way. They think the killer has some kind of fetish about the way he kills. He knocks his victims out, strangles them then beats the crap out of them after they’re dead.”
Quinton frowned. “Sounds demented.”
“I’m sure he is.”
“You keep saying he. Do they know the killer is a man?”
“They do. I think they’ve come to realize Jillian wasn’t strong enough to kill a person in this way.”
“Of course she isn’t.” Quinton looked upward. “Where could she be, John?”
“They’ll find her, my friend.”
“The balcony above is the one off our bedroom. That’s where I planned to meet her.” He gave a sad chuckle. “There was a bottle of wine sitting in the melted ice on the table. She’d put it there for us.”
“You’ll get to share that bottle of wine yet.”
“If she’ll have me back.” He glanced at his friend. “At least you and Marilyn are on the right track.”
John grinned. “Can you believe it? After twenty-five years, I’m falling in love with my wife.”
“I’m sure you always loved her, John.”
“Maybe part of me did, but I married her for her old man’s money. She knew that, but she married me anyway. It was her way of thumbing her nose at the Ivy League graduates her parents threw at her. Her father thought that a man had to graduate from Harvard or Yale to be worth anything.” He chuckled. “When you hired me, his firm tried several times to buy mine. It’s fun to turn up my nose at them.”
“And to think I hired you because you were barely hanging on to your practice.” He shook his head. “Of course it wasn’t out of the goodness of my heart, either. I knew you were a damn good lawyer and it was my way of showing my father I could go against the team he’d always counted on and still make money. His old law firm was too conservative.”
“And look at us now. I have a firm where Harvard and Yale graduates beg me for jobs and you run a powerful business. We’re the envied, hated and sometimes loved by a lot of our peers, as well as the younger generation.”
“I know. We’ve had our share of all of it. The money, the women and the excitement. We’ve impressed a lot of people, but now there’s only one person I want to impress.”
John grinned. “I never dreamed when we interviewed that nice, shy, woman in Greensboro you’d end up in love with her.”
“It was far from my mind, too. After our first dinner, I thought she’d be nice to have around, but I was anxious to get back to Maddie and the wild sex she offered. Then the morning I picked Jillian up to go to the airport, I noticed she was prettier than the day before and on the plane Gilda couldn’t hide her jealously. She saw Jillian as competition, though she was several years older.”
“Where is Gilda now?”
“She’s engaged to my pilot’s cousin.”
“Does he know about you and Gilda?”
“I’m sure the pilot does because Gilda and I used to keep the bedroom hopping, even on short flights. I don’t know if he’s said anything to his cousin or not, but I doubt it. They don’t get along. Anyway, Gilda has turned in her notice and plans to settle down in Oklahoma.”
“Are you going to miss her?”
Without hesitation Quinton said, “No. I realized when Jillian and I were on our way back from Las Vegas that Gilda was just like all the others to me. A good romp in the bedroom and that was it.” He glanced at his friend. “I’ve not been a very nice person, John. I’ve used a lot of women, many of whom probably thought they loved me, and without a second thought I’ve tossed them aside just like an old suit of clothes. I can’t even remember most of their names.”
“You don’t have to tell me this. You know I arranged for many of them when you traveled. Of course I arranged some for myself so I’m right there with you on the nice man scale.” John shrugged. “Neither of us deserves a second chance, but thank God it looks like we’ve got it. Why don’t we make a pact not to blow it this time. It could be our last chance.”
“One more chance with Jillian is all I ask.”