kids, and the entire place was vacant save a few stragglers that dotted the grass-filled landscape.
Sam laced up his tennis shoes and stepped out his car door and closed it behind him. He walked over to the dirt track that surrounded the perimeter of the park and set off into a sprint. He rounded the corners, looked around, and sized up the selection. The woman who jogged ten feet in front of him had potential. He amplified his speed until they were side by side and then struck up a conversation, but it didn’t take long for him to notice something off about the way her long dark hair moved when she ran. It didn’t. It was thick like it had been coated with the firmest brand of hairspray and then ironed down in place, but that wasn’t all; it was fake—a wig, and beneath it he saw patches of dirty blond that looked like it hadn’t seen the inside of a hair salon in years. Upon closer inspection, he clued in on something else: her stiff breasts were fake too, and he wondered how much work she’d done on the rest of her body. This repelled him like he was a mosquito and she was doused in bug spray, and he knew she wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t do at all.
It didn’t take long for Sam to notice someone else who would. A woman, with the looks of a young girl still in college, sat alone on a bench with a book in her hand and headphones in her ears. She read in silence, unaware of the element of danger that existed around her. Sam took refuge under a majestic oak tree and pulled a weathered and worn paperback book out of his pocket and pretended to read it. He waited for the sun, and after a time it lowered itself behind the mountain and produced a glare on the woman like a spotlight which lit her up like the soft glow that protruded from a lighthouse. Sam’s heart skipped a couple beats. She was the one.
Thirty minutes went by, but the park was still occupied by four visitors. With every moment that ticked by, Sam’s appetite to claim his prize grew more insatiable, but he knew if he persisted that in time it would pay off. And ten minutes later it did. There were only two people left in the park now, himself and the gorgeous brunette on the bench. And soon there would be none.
CHAPTER 15
The next day I sat at my desk at my office. My eyes bored into the business card I held in my hand. It didn’t contain a name or an address or the title of a business even. In fact, there was only one thing on it: a phone number. The card had been given to me several months back by a man named Giovanni Luciana. I’d helped his sister out of a bad situation and he’d tracked me down and offered me his card in case I ever needed him for anything—like some sort of you helped me so now I need to return the favor kind of thing, but I knew nothing about the man except how I felt when we first met. There was something about him that was unique; he was different than other men I’d been around in the past, and in the brief moments we spent together he had a big impact on me; there was a certain magnetism between us that pulled us together. My emotions at the time of our quick rendezvous had been a mix of nervousness and some kind of strange attraction. Or maybe I was beguiled by him, but I didn’t know why. Whatever it was, part of me wanted to run that day and get far away from him, but there was another side of me that was curious and hoped I’d find a reason to see him again one day.
I dialed the number listed on the center of the card into my cell phone and waited. It rang once and then a second time, and then my office door opened and Maddie sauntered in. She plopped down on the chair across from mine and gawked at me.
“So why’d you call me down here then?” she said.
I hit the end call button on the phone and met her gaze. Maybe it was a sign, and I didn’t need his help after all.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said, “but first I want to know more about the finger.”
“Well, he did a good job of
Sam laced up his tennis shoes and stepped out his car door and closed it behind him. He walked over to the dirt track that surrounded the perimeter of the park and set off into a sprint. He rounded the corners, looked around, and sized up the selection. The woman who jogged ten feet in front of him had potential. He amplified his speed until they were side by side and then struck up a conversation, but it didn’t take long for him to notice something off about the way her long dark hair moved when she ran. It didn’t. It was thick like it had been coated with the firmest brand of hairspray and then ironed down in place, but that wasn’t all; it was fake—a wig, and beneath it he saw patches of dirty blond that looked like it hadn’t seen the inside of a hair salon in years. Upon closer inspection, he clued in on something else: her stiff breasts were fake too, and he wondered how much work she’d done on the rest of her body. This repelled him like he was a mosquito and she was doused in bug spray, and he knew she wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t do at all.
It didn’t take long for Sam to notice someone else who would. A woman, with the looks of a young girl still in college, sat alone on a bench with a book in her hand and headphones in her ears. She read in silence, unaware of the element of danger that existed around her. Sam took refuge under a majestic oak tree and pulled a weathered and worn paperback book out of his pocket and pretended to read it. He waited for the sun, and after a time it lowered itself behind the mountain and produced a glare on the woman like a spotlight which lit her up like the soft glow that protruded from a lighthouse. Sam’s heart skipped a couple beats. She was the one.
Thirty minutes went by, but the park was still occupied by four visitors. With every moment that ticked by, Sam’s appetite to claim his prize grew more insatiable, but he knew if he persisted that in time it would pay off. And ten minutes later it did. There were only two people left in the park now, himself and the gorgeous brunette on the bench. And soon there would be none.
CHAPTER 15
The next day I sat at my desk at my office. My eyes bored into the business card I held in my hand. It didn’t contain a name or an address or the title of a business even. In fact, there was only one thing on it: a phone number. The card had been given to me several months back by a man named Giovanni Luciana. I’d helped his sister out of a bad situation and he’d tracked me down and offered me his card in case I ever needed him for anything—like some sort of you helped me so now I need to return the favor kind of thing, but I knew nothing about the man except how I felt when we first met. There was something about him that was unique; he was different than other men I’d been around in the past, and in the brief moments we spent together he had a big impact on me; there was a certain magnetism between us that pulled us together. My emotions at the time of our quick rendezvous had been a mix of nervousness and some kind of strange attraction. Or maybe I was beguiled by him, but I didn’t know why. Whatever it was, part of me wanted to run that day and get far away from him, but there was another side of me that was curious and hoped I’d find a reason to see him again one day.
I dialed the number listed on the center of the card into my cell phone and waited. It rang once and then a second time, and then my office door opened and Maddie sauntered in. She plopped down on the chair across from mine and gawked at me.
“So why’d you call me down here then?” she said.
I hit the end call button on the phone and met her gaze. Maybe it was a sign, and I didn’t need his help after all.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I said, “but first I want to know more about the finger.”
“Well, he did a good job of
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