Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues Read Free

hurt him.”
    She wasn’t tied up. The seatbelt slipped from her quickly, and she scrambled out the back door.
    “Yeah. Like I believe that.” My seatbelt was stuck. It was one of the old kind that was just a lap belt. I cut it with the Swiss Army knife I always kept in my pocket, the material easily giving way.
    My door was another thing. It was too crushed to open.
    “What are you gonna do?” Debbie asked as she stumbled into the backseat. Her door was pinned closed against the building. She couldn’t get out that way. “You can’t kill her.”
    Debbie and I got out the back door. Jane was making good on her promise to stop her husband. She stood between the van and his car, silhouetted in the bright headlights. Even though she was keeping the car from hitting the van again, that didn’t mean her protection would last.
    “The plan hasn’t changed,” I told Debbie. “We’re still a few blocks away from the mortuary. We’ll get her and walk.”
    But it appeared Jane had changed her mind. Once she convinced her husband not to slam his older Mercedes into the van again, she climbed into the car beside him, and they took off.
    “She’s gone,” Debbie sighed. “How are we going to find her again in this traffic?”
    “Call Abe and let him know there’s been a snag.” I spied a motorcycle parked on the side of the street close next to us. It took me a few minutes, but I hot-wired it and got behind Jane and her husband in the heavy mass of cars.
    Despite their lead time, it was easy to catch them and keep up. Cars and trucks were bumper to bumper as police tried to clear an accident. I stayed with them, waiting for traffic to slow and stop as it reached the blue and red flashing lights ahead of us.
    I impatiently wiped the blood still running down my face. This might be a messy pickup, but Abe better have a bonus waiting when I got Jane back to the mortuary.
    Horns blew, impatience bringing out the worst in everyone. One good thing about a motorcycle was being able to weave in and out of traffic. I got up beside the Mercedes on the sidewalk. As soon as it stopped for the accident, I abandoned the motorcycle for a more direct approach.
    Walking up to the side of the car, I shot out both tires on the passenger’s side. They weren’t going anywhere now.
    Jane yelped when I opened the car door and pulled her out. “I understand why it’s important for me to go back to Abe. I just can’t convince my husband.”
    It was a weak excuse, but I could see the terror in her eyes. It ended up being a diversion as her husband got out of the Mercedes and stalked around to us with a pistol in his hand.
    “Leave her alone. Let her go—or I swear I’ll kill you.”
    I stared into his terrified eyes. “You can’t kill me. I’m already dead, just like your wife. You have to let this happen. You don’t have any choice.”
    He was desperate enough to shoot me. I didn’t want him to do that even though I’d heal. It still hurt. I didn’t want to shoot him either. And it wasn’t only because I’d lose my bonus.
    People were starting to notice what was happening even with the heavy traffic. It wasn’t long before we heard sirens approaching.
    “Good,” he mocked me. “The police will sort this out. I don’t think they’ll believe that my wife is dead. But they’ll believe that you attacked us without provocation.”
    I felt sorry for the Darcys. They had no idea what was going on and probably believed the police would get them out of this. But Abe had people everywhere. There was no going back to the life they’d known.
    I holstered my weapon and raised my hands as the police officers swarmed over us. They took all of us to the nearest police station. We were separated, and I was detained in a small room by myself.
    There were voices in the hall, and phones were ringing. They’d taken my cell phone so I amused myself by reading the scribbling on the walls for about thirty minutes. I knew it wouldn’t be long