Death Angel (43 page)

He set her down. Heart pounding in her
ears, she kept her head bent, praying that he’d leave her alone, but his left
hand circled around her neck, holding her in place. She felt the point of the
gun scrape against her neck and looked down.

The chain of her necklace was looped
over the barrel of the gun. Mike raised the gun and the angel charm swung free.
It twirled and twisted, the reflected sunlight sparkling on the gold surfaces.

Mike sighed, the sound a soft, drawn-out
hiss. His grip on her neck shifted, thumb jammed beneath her chin. He forced
her head up until he could see her face. His rasped breath touched her, and she
closed her eyes.

“Open them.”

He didn’t shout at her, just squeezed
her throat until she obeyed. Dropping the necklace, he raised the gun and
touched the barrel to her temple. He grinned when she tried to pull away. He
slid the gun to her ear then down her jawline to her chin. Retracing the path,
he stroked down her neck to the shoulder then down her arm and across her
waist. At her bellybutton, he paused.
 

His breathing was more ragged as he
started upward, circling her breasts then teasing the nipples with the point of
the gun. Kate whimpered and he cocked his head at the sound. He stared at her
face, eyes focused on her trembling mouth. He raised the gun and pressed it
against her lips.

“Open your mouth.”

Despite the restraining hand at her
throat, she managed to shake her head. His nostrils flared at her defiance. He
tightened his fingers, cutting off her air until she started to lose
consciousness. Her mouth opened as she fought for air.

He shoved the gun inside.

At the touch of the cold metal, she
squeezed her eyes shut. Knowing she was going to die, she prayed silently.

“I’m not going to kill you, Kate.” His
whisper was close to her face, moist breath touching her skin. “Let me see your
eyes. I need to see them.”

She didn’t respond immediately, and he
tightened his grip on her throat. Afraid of losing consciousness, she gave in.
Above her, Mike’s face was covered with sweat and his eyes glistened with
excitement.
 

His gaze intensified and he moved the
gun.

He pulled it back until only the end of
the barrel was between her lips then he slid it back inside. When the trigger
guard bumped against her mouth, he began to pull it out again. He stroked the
gun back and forth in her mouth. His breathing quickened. He moved faster,
finally pulling the gun out and clutching her against his body as he bucked in
orgasm.

When he released her, Kate slid to the
floor. She breathed through her mouth to keep herself from throwing up. Her
tongue was cut. The salty taste of her own blood made her gag and she spit the
red-streaked saliva onto the floor.

“What am I going to do with you,
Kate?”
 

It was a quietly spoken rhetorical
question. Even if she’d wanted to respond, she couldn’t. She curled herself
into a ball and remained on the floor. He moved away, padding across the floor
in his bare feet. When he returned, he nudged her with his foot.

“Get up.”

Afraid his next kick would be more
violent, Kate pushed herself into a sitting position. Mike stood over her,
hands behind his back. He jerked his head toward the chair.

“Sit down.”

Avoiding any contact with him, she
inched onto the seat. He moved closer and she pressed against the back of the
chair, relieved when he walked past her.
 

It was only when she spotted the gun on
the table that she realized her mistake. It was too late. The rope dropped over
her head and tightened around her neck. Her hands flew to her throat, clutching
at the rope.

“Oh, God, don’t tie me! Please don’t tie
me up!”

“Shut up.”

He pulled the rope behind her head,
tying it to the back of the chair. It was not tight enough to choke her, but it
confined her movements. She couldn’t bend over, stand, or move from side to
side. She gasped for breath, her fingers tearing at the rope in a futile attempt
to loosen it.

Coming around in front of her, Mike
stood over her, watching her frantic movements with amusement. He didn’t even
notice when she raised her leg and lashed out, a direct hit to his knee. He
staggered backward, falling heavily against the table.

She felt a momentary jolt of
satisfaction, but when he roared to his feet, she knew it would cost her. He
struck her across the face. Her head slammed against the back of the chair.
First a flash of light and then darkness.

Kate woke up to pain. Her head pounded and
one side of her face stung as if she’d been burned. It was an instant or two
before awareness clicked in, and at the returning memory of where she was, she
had to bite back a cry of despair.

She was no longer in the chair but lying
on the floor, her back against the wall to the left of the door. Her hands were
tied in front of her. Her feet were also tied and it didn’t matter now that the
rope was no longer around her neck. She lay on her side, knees pulled up to her
chest. As far as she could tell, Mike hadn’t hit her again, only tied her up.

Motionless, she assessed her injuries.
Aside from a sore, swollen cheek, a bump on her head, a split lip, and various
minor aches and pains, she was all right. At least for the moment. She had few
illusions as to her fate.
 

Mike would kill her. But first, he’d
rape her. Just like Jenny.

Keeping her breathing even, she opened
her eyes a crack, shuddering at the sight of him seated at the table. While she
was unconscious, he’d changed into a maroon short-sleeved shirt, navy Dockers,
and boat shoes with no socks.
 

She was glad he hadn’t shaved. The beard
stubble made him look seedy and she could pretend he was a stranger. In truth,
this was a man she’d never known. He was eating some bread and cheese, a can of
beer close at hand. Two crushed cans littered the floor along with an empty bag
of potato chips.
 

Staring at Mike, hatred formed in her
heart. The paralyzing fear disappeared. Since failure meant death, she no
longer had anything to fear. She’d have to watch for an opportunity because
she’d only get one chance. In the meantime she’d have to find a weapon. Mike
was physically stronger. She couldn’t fight him. She’d have to kill him.

Keeping her actions slow, she tried to
move her wrists. The rope wasn’t cutting off her circulation, but it was tight
enough so she couldn’t get loose. She took a quick peek at the knot to see if
she could use her teeth to untie it. A definite maybe. Next, she tried her
ankles. She strained at the ropes and her shoe scrapped against the wall.
 

The sound was loud enough to alert Mike.
He shoved his chair back and hurried over.
 

“Welcome back,” he said. “You were out a
long time.”
 

She bit back a shriek when he reached
for her. He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and set her on the chair
beside the table. He handled her with a familiarity she found repugnant but she
tried to hide her feelings, aware if she angered him, she would gain nothing
and might precipitate more violence.

“I’m hungry and thirsty,” she said. “Can
I have something to eat?”

Her words surprised him. He narrowed his
eyes as if expecting some kind of a trick. She hoped she hadn’t overdone the
whine in her voice. After a quick glance at the table, she hung her head and
waited. The gun was nowhere in sight.

“Say please.”

She cleared her throat to force back a
flash of anger. “Please. Please, may I have something to eat?”

“That’s better.” He set the loaf of
bread in front of her. The cheese was a block of cheddar, and she stared
longingly at the small knife beside it. “And I suppose you want me to untie
you.”

“Please,” she said without prompting.

She set her hands on the table,
motionless as he untied the knot. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to
snatch up the knife and stab him, but she knew he’d be expecting something like
that. He must have read her thoughts because he grabbed her face and jerked her
head backward until she was staring up at him. His fingers dug into her cheeks.
She cried out at the pain.

“If you do one thing I don’t like,
you’ll regret it. I won’t just kill you, Kate, I’ll hurt you in ways you can’t
even imagine.”

Her body trembled in reaction to his
words. He released her. Purposely turning his back on her, he went over to the
cooler. With her ankles tied, she wasn’t much of a threat. She focused on her
breathing, and was calm by the time he returned with a can of Diet Coke. He sat
down across from her, eyes intent on her every movement.

The thought of food made her nauseous.
But she needed strength. She cut several slices of cheese for a sandwich. She
took a bite, chewed it to a pulp and washed it down with a sip of the Diet
Coke. She kept her voice neutral as she asked the question uppermost in her
mind.

“How did you manage to kill Richard when
you were at the Hilton all day?”

Mike grinned. “You’ve been watching too
much television, Kate. It’s the old let’s-get-the-killer-talking ploy.”

She shrugged her shoulder as if it were
of little importance and went back to eating. It needed all her concentration
to chew each bite and swallow without gagging. Mike fiddled with the beer can,
sliding it around on the table top, then tipped his head back and finished it
off. He crushed the can in one hand, tossed it on the floor, and crossed to the
cooler to get another.

“Could I have another Diet Coke, too?”
she asked, hastily adding, “Please?”

Kate gritted her teeth at Mike’s
chuckle. When he turned his back, her eyes darted around the room. Her heart
skipped a beat when she spotted the gun, lying beside the Coleman stove. She
kept her expression carefully bland when he returned to the table. He made no
comment, but slid the can of pop across the table and opened the new can of
beer.

“It was sheer luck that everything
worked so well.” Kate jumped as Mike’s voice broke the silence. “I had a tight
timetable. Actually Richard helped me figure out the timing of everything.”

“That can’t be true.” She kept her voice
calm, knowing any criticism would be met with anger.

“Do you remember the night before he
disappeared, we went to see the lawyer?” She nodded and Mike continued. “That
was just an excuse for Richard to get out of the house. He was positive that
his arrest was imminent, so we went to a bar to consider his options. I
convinced him that leaving town was the only way to stay out of jail.”

“Richard would never have left without
telling me.”

“I told him if he told you ahead of
time, you could be arrested for aiding and abetting. I said I’d tell you the
moment he got away safely.”

At the casual way Mike spoke, hatred
rose like bile in her throat. She twisted her feet to loosen the rope. It would
be insanity to try anything with her ankles tied together. She took a sip of
the Diet Coke, swallowing with difficulty. She had to keep him talking.

“H . . . how did you do it?” she asked.
 

As reluctant as she was to hear the
details, she sensed that Mike was eager to tell her. He set his elbows on the
table and leaned forward.

“The symposium was scheduled for all day
Wednesday at the Conrad Hilton. Since I was a highly visible part of the event,
I knew if I planned carefully, I would have an unbreakable alibi. The night
before the conference, Richard and I drove up to the Touhy Avenue beach. I
parked my car on the street about a block away. I gave Richard the keys to my
car, and he drove me home.”

Kate could barely stand to listen to
Mike, let alone look at him. Watching the animation on his face, she couldn’t
believe that he was the same man she’d known for years. Did he always have a
dark, bestial streak that none of them had seen? Could someone be a good, kind
person one minute and a heartless killer the next without any noticeable
transition? She understood the concept that good people could do bad things,
but Mike’s actions were far more complex.

“Pay attention!”
 

Kate jumped at Mike’s shout. She hurried
to appease the anger evident in the tightly clenched fists.
 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was just
thinking if I hadn’t gone to bed early, I would have seen Richard when he came
in. He might have told me what you were planning.”

“I doubt it. I convinced him that he had
to keep you out of it for your own safety. He came over to my place at the
crack of dawn so we could finalize the plans. Everything was timed to the
minute.”
 

Pleased to have an audience, Mike was
almost gloating. Yet he was full of nervous tension, fidgeting with the objects
on the table. Too restless to sit, he began to pace, watching for her reactions
as he continued.