Night Mask Read Free Page A

contract, Stacy.”
    â€œThat’s right, Dickie,” she said with a smile. “So the next move is yours.”
    Dick did some quick math. As usual, he got it wrong, but he came close enough. He swallowed hard. “There will come a day of reckoning, litt—Stacy. Bet on it.”
    Tally’s smile changed, becoming hard and mean. “I’m looking forward to it, Dick. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.”
    â€œGet out of my office, you—cunt!”
    She laughed and flipped him the rigid digit, then walked out, slamming the door behind her.
    â€œYou bitch!” Dick fumed at the closed door. Then he took his anger out on his secretary. “Bring me a cup of coffee!” he shouted over the intercom. “And do it right now!”
    â€œSorry, Paula,” Tally said to the receptionist. “I got him all stirred up.”
    Paula Darling smiled her understanding as she stood up and moved to the coffeepot. “One of these days I’m going to work up the courage to pour this on his head.”
    â€œGet it good and hot and dump the whole pot on his crotch,” Tally suggested. “That’ll really get his attention.”
    * * *
    Gil Brown, the Windjammer, called in sick that day. Said he had a sore throat. Everybody extended their air time one hour and covered for him.
    * * *
    Instead of driving straight back to her apartment, as was her custom Monday through Friday, Jessica Kress pointed the nose of her Toyota north, toward the northernmost knuckle of Puno Bay, up in the hills. Before leaving work, she had called KSIN and asked the DJ to play a song for her at precisely five-thirty that afternoon. At five thirty, right after the ID, one of her favorite oldies pushed through the speakers in her car.
    â€œYes,” she said several times while the music drifted all around her. “Yes. That’s right.”
    She turned off onto a blacktop road, followed that for a few miles, then turned onto a gravel road. She parked by a field and sat for a time. Then she got out of the car and walked over to a stand of trees.
    â€œHello,” the voice came from behind her.
    Jessica turned around, a smile on her lips. The smile faded as her eyes took in the horror standing before her. Reality returned in a wild rush. She looked around her. She did not know where she was or how she got there. Then she began screaming.
    * * *
    â€œUp and at ’em,” Leo Franks told his partner. It was a warm and pleasant morning. “Time to go to work.”
    Lani Prejean looked over the rim of her coffee cup. “So early in the morning?”
    â€œWe’ve got another disappearance.”
    â€œDamn!” Lani sat her cup down on the desk.
    â€œCity wants some county help on this one. Same MO as the others. Woman leaves work and vanishes. This one is a Jessica Kress. Left work yesterday afternoon, and drops off the face of the earth. She was supposed to see her fiance last evening, both of them to meet with the priest, to go over marriage plans. She never showed up.”
    â€œCold feet, maybe. It happens, Leo.”
    â€œNot this one. Bet on it. Very devout Catholic. Homebody. Real good kid—”
    The intercom on Lani’s desk buzzed. “Yeah?”
    â€œCHP just found the car belonging to the Kress woman. Just off One North on County 45. You two get up there. And don’t do it on a full stomach.”
    Lani looked at the remnants of a sweet roll on her desk. She’d already had two that morning. “Why, Captain?”
    â€œBecause Jessica Kress is scattered all over a field. Her heart was cut out of her chest and nailed to a fence post.”

Chapter 3
    Neither detective had ever seen anything like what greeted them in the meadow. They were both seasoned cops, with years of witnessing the worst in human behavior. But this topped it all.
    After recovering from her shock, Lani said, “Where the hell is her