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Diana Hunter [Submission 01] Secret Submission [EC] (pdf)
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drive to the doughnut shop. I ll find you there.
What do you mean, get out of the house?
Sarah, I ll explain later, but right now it s important that you
Hang on, she said.
What?
Just hang on. There s someone at the door.
Sarah, don t answer the
And I heard her put the phone down. She must have been using the one in the
kitchen, not a cordless, otherwise she would have kept talking as she went to
the door.
Sarah.
Nothing.
Sarah?
Still nothing.
Sarah!
And then, a minute later, the sound of the receiver being picked up.
Sarah?
Hey, said a voice I recognized. I ll bet this is Zack.
Rick, I said.
Gotcha. Why don t you come home, bring along that ledger I think you got,
before I kill your wife.
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26
i was barely two minutes fromhome, but it was the longest drive of my life. I
stomped hard on the gas pedal of the Beetle, screeched around two corners and
through two stop signs, and drove right up onto our front lawn, jumping out of
the car without turning it off or bothering to close the door. Sarah s Camry
was in the drive, blocked in by Rick, who had parked his car behind it.
The front door was locked, so I fumbled in my pocket for my own set of keys,
got the right one into the lock after a couple of tries, my hands were shaking
so badly, and burst into the house.
Sarah!
The house was eerily quiet. I paused, just for a moment, wondering where Rick
and Sarah were. Blood pounded in my temples.
Hey, Zack! Rick called out casually. We re in the kitchen! Like he was
saying Come in for a beer.
I moved through the house slowly, wondering how I should be handling this.
The truth was, I had no idea how to handle this. I was already thinking I d
made a terrible mistake, that before I got here I should have dialed 911, or
grabbed Earl again, or banged on Trixie s door and gotten the ledger, but I
wasn t thinking all that straight. Sarah was in trouble, and all I could think
to do was get to her as quickly as possible.
And now I was here, and there she was, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs,
duct tape wound about her waist several times to secure her. Her hands were
bound behind her, and there was more tape around each of her ankles, securing
her legs to the chair. Rick stood by the sink, wielding the switchblade I d
seen him use to pick out loose pieces of caulking in our shower.
Hi, honey, I said weakly.
She looked too frightened to speak. Tears had streaked her mascara, and there
were a couple of dark trails leading down across her cheeks. But she managed
to say one word, a question.
Kids?
I nodded. They re fine. They went to stay with friends overnight.
Isn t that keen, said Rick, looking at me. I used to love sleepovers when
I was a kid. This could have been such a great night for the two of you, kids
out of the house, chance to get it on, right?
I said nothing. Rick waved the knife about, swung it into the corner of the
countertop, chipping it. He whacked at it again, taking out a chink. He was
going to whittle away our kitchen.
So, Zack, good to finally catch up with you, Rick said. I feel like I ve
been running around all night looking for you.
It s all over, I said. Your boss Greenway, and Carpington, the police are
going to be on to them in no time. Just get out of here and make a run for it.
It s not going to take any time for them to figure out you killed Spender, and
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Stefanie.
Whoa, you got that all wrong, fella.
Just go. Don t hurt us. We won t call the cops for an hour. That ll give you
time to get away.
Rick looked hurt. But Sarah here and I were hoping to get to know one
another. I feel that you and I have had a chance to get acquainted, but Sarah
and me, we don t hardly know a thing about each other. To her, he said, You
know I didn t even realize, until the second time I was here, that your
husband wrote one of my favorite books.
Really, Sarah whispered.
That s a fact. And I m not a big reader, so you can imagine my surprise when
I found out.
Of course, Sarah said.
Could I rush him? There was the matter of the knife. At least it wasn t a
gun. He couldn t get me from where I was standing. Suppose I ran? Just bolted,
went for help? Outran the son of a bitch? And while it seemed like at least a
possibility, I had some trouble with the optics of it all, of fleeing the
house, leaving Sarah behind with this guy. At least now, if he went after her
with the knife, I could try to do something about it. Try to be some kind of
hero.
In fact, I was wondering if you ve got a copy of that book, he said to me,
and if you could autograph it for me.
Of course, I said, my eyes moving back and forth between the knife and
Sarah. I d be happy to do that for you. And anything else you want, I ll give
it to you, if you ll go, and leave us alone.
Rick considered my request. Well, when I was here last time, I was really
only looking for one thing. This big book, with payments and everything listed
inside. It was very important to Mr. Greenway that I get that back. And I
still want that, no question about it. And maybe those negatives that asshole
Carpington says you ve got, although I don t really give a fuck about them one
way or another.
Sarah, in addition to looking frightened beyond her worst nightmare, had this
look of total bewilderment. Big book? Negatives?
But what I was wondering was, you said you d nearly finished the sequel to
that book.
Yes.
Is it, like, printed out on pages and everything?
Uh, yes, it is.
Terrific. I want that, too.
The manuscript.
The what?
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The manuscript. That s what the book is called.
Manuscript, he said, as though he was picturing the word in the air.
That s the title? Like, notMissionary Part Two ?
I shook my head. No, a manuscript is what you call the printed-out pages of
the book.
Rick eyed me suspiciously, as though I was trying to make him look stupid.
You fucking with me?
No, listen, sorry. Yes, you can have it.
The problem is, didn t you say you hadn t quite finished it?
That s right. There s a chapter left.
Rick nodded, thought. Well, let s deal with the most important matter first.
I want that ledger.
I don t have it, I said. Not anymore.
Where is it?
I couldn t put Trixie at risk. I couldn t send him next door. So I said, I
dropped it off on the doorstep at the police station. They ll find it, and
start figuring out what it all means.
Rick shook his head slowly. I think you re shittin me there, Zack. I don t [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
