Betrayed by Melinda Metz - Fingerprints - 5 Page B
Authors: Melinda Metz - Fingerprints - 5
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can recover. She took a step closer to the rent-a-cop, and his eyes did a fast-so fast, you could hardly see it-sweep over her enhanced breasts. Good. Ick, but good, Rae thought. She and Jesse would take any kind of advantage they could get.
"Here's the situation," Rae told him. She lowered her voice a little. "You know how there keep being those stories on the news about a kid going psycho at a school and blowing people away?" Rae continued on without waiting for an answer. "Well, it's completely disturbed my brother. I mean, he has nightmares almost every night. His room is across from mine, and the screams-God, I wake up with my heart going a million miles an hour." She moved a step closer, lowered her voice a little more. "He's even started wetting the bed. I'm sure he wasn't trying to jerk you around. He just gets scared sometimes, you know?"
"All right. Go on. Get out of here." The rent-a-cop turned to Jesse. "Next time be a lot more sure of what you saw."
"He will," Rae answered for Jesse. She grabbed him by the elbow, turned him around, and tugged him down the hall.
"I can't believe you said I wet the bed," Jesse muttered.
"Hey, it got us out of here, didn't it?" Rae answered as they headed out the main exit.
"Yeah, but it's not like it's the only thing you could have said," Jesse complained. "So what'd you find out?"
Rae filled him in as they cut across the parking lot and started down the sidewalk toward the bus stop.
"We should start working on a plan to get ourselves into that room and-" Jesse broke off abruptly. "Anything seem strange to you about that blue van across the street?"
"Like that it's going extremely slowly," Rae answered, struggling not to stare at the van with the tinted windows.
"Yeah. And that it's staying almost right across from us," Jesse said.
Without consulting each other, they both passed the bus stop and made a right at the closest corner. "Is it still there?" Rae forced the words through her sandpaper throat. "Yeah," Jesse answered. And they both began torun.
Rae heard the van pick up speed behind them. A rushing sound filled her ears as she pushed herself to go faster, pumping her arms and legs.
"At the corner fake like you're going right," Jesse called. "When they start to turn, we'll cut-"
It took Rae several feet to realize Jesse was no longer beside her. She skidded to a stop and spun around to face him. He lay on the sidewalk, eyes staring straight up, his mouth open wide enough to show his lolling tongue.
"Oh, God. Oh, no." Rae bolted over and fell to her knees next to Jesse. She slapped him lightly on the face. "Jesse, come on, talk to me." He didn't move.
Her hand trembling, Rae felt his neck for a pulse. Her fingers brushed against something sharp, and she looked down. It took her brain a moment to process what she was seeing. A tranquilizer dart.
Chapter 8
Anthony wandered through the mall. He hated malls. All malls. He hated shopping. But he wanted to get Rae a good birthday present for tomorrow night, something to make her… well, he just wanted to get her something good.
So he wouldn't look like an idiot with her dad there and all.
He passed The Body Shop, hesitated, then turned around and stepped inside. There were bottles of who knew what everywhere, way too many bottles. On tables. On shelves. On counters. If he made one wrong move, he could smash half a dozen of them at a shot. Carefully Anthony picked up a squat glass jar of something called a sugar scrub. Sixteen bucks. So if he knocked over a table, it would cost him131
"Those brown-sugar scrubs are amazing," a salesclerk with her hair in ponytails gushed as she headed up to him.
"They exfoliate all the dead skin cells, and they hold the moisture in. They come in vanilla, lavender, Indian gardenia, and citrus."
Citrus. Rae'd like that. It would go with that perfume she already wore. Suddenly Anthony's mind got very busy imagining Rae in the shower, rubbing the sugar stuff over Crap. What was
"Here's the situation," Rae told him. She lowered her voice a little. "You know how there keep being those stories on the news about a kid going psycho at a school and blowing people away?" Rae continued on without waiting for an answer. "Well, it's completely disturbed my brother. I mean, he has nightmares almost every night. His room is across from mine, and the screams-God, I wake up with my heart going a million miles an hour." She moved a step closer, lowered her voice a little more. "He's even started wetting the bed. I'm sure he wasn't trying to jerk you around. He just gets scared sometimes, you know?"
"All right. Go on. Get out of here." The rent-a-cop turned to Jesse. "Next time be a lot more sure of what you saw."
"He will," Rae answered for Jesse. She grabbed him by the elbow, turned him around, and tugged him down the hall.
"I can't believe you said I wet the bed," Jesse muttered.
"Hey, it got us out of here, didn't it?" Rae answered as they headed out the main exit.
"Yeah, but it's not like it's the only thing you could have said," Jesse complained. "So what'd you find out?"
Rae filled him in as they cut across the parking lot and started down the sidewalk toward the bus stop.
"We should start working on a plan to get ourselves into that room and-" Jesse broke off abruptly. "Anything seem strange to you about that blue van across the street?"
"Like that it's going extremely slowly," Rae answered, struggling not to stare at the van with the tinted windows.
"Yeah. And that it's staying almost right across from us," Jesse said.
Without consulting each other, they both passed the bus stop and made a right at the closest corner. "Is it still there?" Rae forced the words through her sandpaper throat. "Yeah," Jesse answered. And they both began torun.
Rae heard the van pick up speed behind them. A rushing sound filled her ears as she pushed herself to go faster, pumping her arms and legs.
"At the corner fake like you're going right," Jesse called. "When they start to turn, we'll cut-"
It took Rae several feet to realize Jesse was no longer beside her. She skidded to a stop and spun around to face him. He lay on the sidewalk, eyes staring straight up, his mouth open wide enough to show his lolling tongue.
"Oh, God. Oh, no." Rae bolted over and fell to her knees next to Jesse. She slapped him lightly on the face. "Jesse, come on, talk to me." He didn't move.
Her hand trembling, Rae felt his neck for a pulse. Her fingers brushed against something sharp, and she looked down. It took her brain a moment to process what she was seeing. A tranquilizer dart.
Chapter 8
Anthony wandered through the mall. He hated malls. All malls. He hated shopping. But he wanted to get Rae a good birthday present for tomorrow night, something to make her… well, he just wanted to get her something good.
So he wouldn't look like an idiot with her dad there and all.
He passed The Body Shop, hesitated, then turned around and stepped inside. There were bottles of who knew what everywhere, way too many bottles. On tables. On shelves. On counters. If he made one wrong move, he could smash half a dozen of them at a shot. Carefully Anthony picked up a squat glass jar of something called a sugar scrub. Sixteen bucks. So if he knocked over a table, it would cost him131
"Those brown-sugar scrubs are amazing," a salesclerk with her hair in ponytails gushed as she headed up to him.
"They exfoliate all the dead skin cells, and they hold the moisture in. They come in vanilla, lavender, Indian gardenia, and citrus."
Citrus. Rae'd like that. It would go with that perfume she already wore. Suddenly Anthony's mind got very busy imagining Rae in the shower, rubbing the sugar stuff over Crap. What was
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