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Kevin stopped, panting and feeling ill. As she’d rounded the
corner, her profile had flashed in the bright light and he thought
again that she was beautiful. She’d always reminded him of a
delicate flower, so pretty and refined, and he remembered that
he’d saved her from being raped by thugs after she left the casino
and how she used to tell him that he made her feel safe but even
that hadn’t been enough to keep her from leaving him.
Gradually, he began to hear the voices of people walking on either
side of him as they passed by. Chattering about nothing, going
nowhere, but it jolted him into action. He started to jog, trying to
reach the spot where they’d turned, feeling like he was going to
vomit with every footfall under the blazing sun. His palm felt slick
and sweaty around the gun. He reached the corner and peered up
the street.
No one in sight, but two blocks up, there were barricades blocking
the road for the street fair. They must have turned on the street
before it. No other choice. He figured they had turned right, the
only way to leave the downtown area.
He had a choice. Chase them on foot and risk being spotted or run
back to the car and try to follow them that way. He tried to think
like Erin and figured they would go to the house where the grayhaired
man lived. Erin’s house was too small, too hot for the four
of them, and Erin would want to go to a pretty house with
expensive furniture, because she believed she deserved a life like
that, instead of appreciating the life she had.
Pick and choose. Follow on foot or in the car. He stood, blinking
and trying to think, but it was hot and confusing and his head
pounded and all he could think was that Erin was sleeping with a
gray-haired man and the realization made him sick to his
stomach.
She probably dressed in lace and danced for him, whispered
words that made him hot. Begged him to let her please him, so she
could live in his house with fancy things. She’d become a