Dark Places Read Free Page A

gold lamé purse. Maybe I’m a woman who isn’t unconscious, and that’s the extent of their requirements. On second thought, consciousness in a woman probably didn’t factor in their love life.
    I strutted toward him as best I could. Truth is, I strut better in wool socks and hightop Nikes than in fishnets and black-patent stiletto heels. Nose Ring opened the door and stepped out under the streetlight to meet me, obviously an eager beaver. “Just how much’s that nice warm room and hot little bod gonna cost us?”
    Let me see, what am I gonna cost these two yokels? Donald Trump’s entire wealth added to all Queen Elizabeth’s palaces, with Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and his best polo pony thrown in. Not nearly enough. I observed them critically. They weren’t exactly the aforementioned The Donald. Cash was not bulging from their pockets with nowhere else to go. They were hoarding Big Mac crumbs for minisnacks. Not wanting to scare them off, I said, “Twenty bucks each? How ’bout that?”
    They both looked shocked, and the driver had not turned off the ignition. Uh-oh, maybe I had overrated my appeal. But I knew all was well when Billy Goat One beamed and squealed like Howard Dean at the Iowa caucus. “Hell, yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
    Hell, yeah, and get out your lawyer’s telephone number. I presented my pearly whites in a sexy, sly smile and jutted my right hip out of my white fur, to clench the great deal they’d just made. Actually I was smiling because I was going to get to go inside and sit on the radiator where four happy-go-lucky, grinning deputies were gathered in the bathroom, guns drawn and all excited. It wasn’t fair, they got all the fun of frisking and gloating and watching the looks of horror when they burst into the room. I just got to strut. I motioned at the motel. “You follow me, boys. Heaven’s right next door, and I’m taking both of you with me.”
    The guy’s doubled fist came so quick and hard against my cheekbone that it caught me off guard. My knees buckled and white stars exploded behind my eyes as he grabbed the front of my coat and heaved me headfirst into the front seat. He jumped in after me and slammed the door.
    The driver yelled, “What the hell you doin’, Leroy?”
    Leroy said, “Shut up and floor it, Ethan!” He grabbed me by the hair and said, “You goin’ with us, baby, and you ain’t never gonna forget us.”
    That brought me to my senses real quick, and I began to fight and kick as Ethan stomped the gas pedal and screeched off, laying rubber on the pavement. Halfway down the block, Leroy got me by the throat and slapped my face, but I fought harder, desperately trying to get to the weapon in my purse. Ethan was swerving around and yelling, “Why you doin’ this, Leroy? Don’t hurt her too bad! She ain’t done nothin’ !”
    I got Leroy a good one in the mouth with my fist. He cursed and tried to ram the top of my head against the dashboard, and that’s when I saw the stiletto that had come off my foot in the fight. I grabbed it and drove the four-inch spiked heel down into the driver’s crotch as hard as I could. Ethan’s scream was as high pitched and girly as Beverly Sills in Aida. Then he lost control of the truck, screaming and writhing in pain until we slammed headfirst into a parked car. The impact threw me to the floor and Leroy against the windshield, bloodying his forehead. He fell back against the seat, and I had my weapon out and between his bleary eyes before he could blink.
    â€œYou aren’t gonna forget me either, dirtbag,” I gritted out, but then both doors flew open and about twelve of my fellow officers were there jerking my two assailants out and spread-eagling them on the ground.
    Then Bud was beside me. “You okay, Claire? Man, that happened so