[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
save her."
"So she isn't dead?"
"Not necessarily. Pull over and stop the car. Make it someplace abandoned.
Then tell me where you are, and I'll help you find her."
I pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall, and then drove behind the
buildings. I stopped next to a garbage dumpster and shut off the engine.
"Okay, I'm parked."
"Where are you?"
"Don't you know? I assumed you had helicopter surveillance or something."
"Do you want to find her or not?"
"I'm behindtheParnola mall."
Page 103
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Muchbetter.You picked a good place. She's very close. Now here's the
game. There are five quarters hidden in Roger's car. Each one has a different
date. In ten minutes, I'm going to call you back, and you're going to tell me
all five of the dates."
"And what's the penalty in this little game?"
"Death.Foreach quarter you miss, one of the prisoners dies."
Like I needed any morepressure."Yousaid they'd be released if I kept
quiet!"
"No, I said you had to play along. So play along. Jennifer will help you."
The killer hung up. I cursed loudly in multiple quantities, and then
checked my watch. 1:47 A.M. Okay, fine, I'd play along. How hard could it be
to find some quarters?
I turned on the overhead light, then did a quick visual search of the
front and back seat and saw nothing. I pulled down each of the sun visors in
case quarters were taped to them, but no luck. I opened the glove compartment
and two half-empty bottles of aspirin fell out, along with a woman's severed
hand.
"Oh, shit!" I screamed, recoiling against the driver's side door to get
away from it. The hand rested on the floor, palm down. Some specks of blood
had dried on the wedding ring.
I sat there for a moment, unable to move. Okay, get over it, I finally
told myself. If you sit here trembling some people will die. Find those
quarters.
I thought I'd caught a glimpse of silver as the hand fell, so I reached
over with my foot and used the toe of my shoe to flip it over. In the palm
rested a quarter. I tried to slide it off, but it was clearly glued on. I
leaned down to get a closerlook.Tails . To see the date, I was going to have
to pull it off.
Page 104
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
There was absolutely no time for squeamishness, so I ripped the quarter
off and placed it on the seat. A tiny piece of flesh came off with the
quarter, but I put that way the hell out of my mind and rummaged through the
glove compartment until I'd searched it completely. No other quarters.
Under the seat was a good possibility.
Not that I'd be able to see where I was reaching.
Oh, I couldthinkofso many things I'd rather be doing.
Still using my foot, I pushed the hand as far out of the way as possible,
then leaned down and tried to look underneath the passenger seat. I couldn't
see a thing.
I reached underneath, moving my hand slowly, praying I wouldn't find any
more of Jennifer. The thought that the killer might have placed something like
a mousetrap under the seat also occurred to me, in case the first thought
hadn't been bad enough.
My hand slid against something wet.
I nearly tore the skin off my fingers in my haste to yank my hand out of
there, and I nearly bit my tongue off in my effort not to shriek.
Doing my best to ignore the scarlet streak on the side of my hand, I
checked my watch. Two minutes had already passed. I had to get over my
reluctance and find those quarters right away. I could always find a nice
comfy padded cell later.
I reached back underneath the seat, wishing that I were a boring,
unimaginative person who was unable to visualize all the possibilities for
what my hand was exploring.
Then I let out a small yelp as something bit me.
Page 105
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
After yanking my hand free once again, I realized my mistake. It hadn't
been a bite. I'd just poked myself on something a protruding bone, most
likely.
If there wasn't a quarter underneath the seat after all this, I was going
to be seriously irked.
Once again I began the search. I felt my way around for a full minute
before locating the quarter, which was hidden way in the back. I pulled my arm
out and resisted the urge to wipe my hand on Roger's upholstery.
I moved to the other side and reached underneath the passenger seat. My
hand made contact with something, and this time it was easy
toidentify.Afoot.Two feet, actually, as I discovered when I moved my hand to
the right. This wasn't nearly as bad as whatever had been under the other
seat, and I found the quarter wedged between the little piggy who had none and
the little piggy who wentweeweewee all the way home.
I looked at my watch again and realized that this had taken longer than I
thought. Only four minutes left.
Okay, there was a definite motif here, so the quarters could only be
hidden someplace large enough to hide a body part. The trunk was a logical
place to check. I pulled the trunk release, got out of the car, and lifted the
lid.
It was filled to the top with confetti.
Without hesitation, I thrust my hands inside and began searching through
it as rapidly as I could. I found the spare tire right away, but shortly after
that my hand brushed against somehair.Long hair. I grabbed a fistful of it and
lifted Jennifer's severed head out of the confetti.
I couldn't let the fact that I was holding a head distract me. I turned it
all around, searching for a quarter that might be glued toit.Nothing . I ran
my fingers all through her hair, and found nothing there, either. I checked
the ears, in case it were some demented variation of the magic trick my uncle
always liked to show me, but that was also unsuccessful.
A possible hiding spot occurred to me.
Page 106
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I shook the head violently, trying to jar loose anything that might be in
its mouth. Nothing fell out.
It looked like I was going to find out how long it took a dead tongue to
dry out, after all.
I reached inside her mouth. I can't describe what it felt like, because my
hand went completely numb. But I quickly found the quarter, underneath her
tongue. It had been wrapped in cellophane, which was nailed down to keep it in
place. I tore it free, dropped the head back in the confetti, and shut the
trunk.
Four out offive.The fifth one was probably either under the car or under
the front hood. I hurried back to the front seat to pop open the hood.
The phone rang.
I quickly scooped up the quarters I'd placed on the seat and picked up the
phone. It rang again, but I didn't answer. I pulled the lever to open the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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save her."
"So she isn't dead?"
"Not necessarily. Pull over and stop the car. Make it someplace abandoned.
Then tell me where you are, and I'll help you find her."
I pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall, and then drove behind the
buildings. I stopped next to a garbage dumpster and shut off the engine.
"Okay, I'm parked."
"Where are you?"
"Don't you know? I assumed you had helicopter surveillance or something."
"Do you want to find her or not?"
"I'm behindtheParnola mall."
Page 103
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Muchbetter.You picked a good place. She's very close. Now here's the
game. There are five quarters hidden in Roger's car. Each one has a different
date. In ten minutes, I'm going to call you back, and you're going to tell me
all five of the dates."
"And what's the penalty in this little game?"
"Death.Foreach quarter you miss, one of the prisoners dies."
Like I needed any morepressure."Yousaid they'd be released if I kept
quiet!"
"No, I said you had to play along. So play along. Jennifer will help you."
The killer hung up. I cursed loudly in multiple quantities, and then
checked my watch. 1:47 A.M. Okay, fine, I'd play along. How hard could it be
to find some quarters?
I turned on the overhead light, then did a quick visual search of the
front and back seat and saw nothing. I pulled down each of the sun visors in
case quarters were taped to them, but no luck. I opened the glove compartment
and two half-empty bottles of aspirin fell out, along with a woman's severed
hand.
"Oh, shit!" I screamed, recoiling against the driver's side door to get
away from it. The hand rested on the floor, palm down. Some specks of blood
had dried on the wedding ring.
I sat there for a moment, unable to move. Okay, get over it, I finally
told myself. If you sit here trembling some people will die. Find those
quarters.
I thought I'd caught a glimpse of silver as the hand fell, so I reached
over with my foot and used the toe of my shoe to flip it over. In the palm
rested a quarter. I tried to slide it off, but it was clearly glued on. I
leaned down to get a closerlook.Tails . To see the date, I was going to have
to pull it off.
Page 104
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
There was absolutely no time for squeamishness, so I ripped the quarter
off and placed it on the seat. A tiny piece of flesh came off with the
quarter, but I put that way the hell out of my mind and rummaged through the
glove compartment until I'd searched it completely. No other quarters.
Under the seat was a good possibility.
Not that I'd be able to see where I was reaching.
Oh, I couldthinkofso many things I'd rather be doing.
Still using my foot, I pushed the hand as far out of the way as possible,
then leaned down and tried to look underneath the passenger seat. I couldn't
see a thing.
I reached underneath, moving my hand slowly, praying I wouldn't find any
more of Jennifer. The thought that the killer might have placed something like
a mousetrap under the seat also occurred to me, in case the first thought
hadn't been bad enough.
My hand slid against something wet.
I nearly tore the skin off my fingers in my haste to yank my hand out of
there, and I nearly bit my tongue off in my effort not to shriek.
Doing my best to ignore the scarlet streak on the side of my hand, I
checked my watch. Two minutes had already passed. I had to get over my
reluctance and find those quarters right away. I could always find a nice
comfy padded cell later.
I reached back underneath the seat, wishing that I were a boring,
unimaginative person who was unable to visualize all the possibilities for
what my hand was exploring.
Then I let out a small yelp as something bit me.
Page 105
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
After yanking my hand free once again, I realized my mistake. It hadn't
been a bite. I'd just poked myself on something a protruding bone, most
likely.
If there wasn't a quarter underneath the seat after all this, I was going
to be seriously irked.
Once again I began the search. I felt my way around for a full minute
before locating the quarter, which was hidden way in the back. I pulled my arm
out and resisted the urge to wipe my hand on Roger's upholstery.
I moved to the other side and reached underneath the passenger seat. My
hand made contact with something, and this time it was easy
toidentify.Afoot.Two feet, actually, as I discovered when I moved my hand to
the right. This wasn't nearly as bad as whatever had been under the other
seat, and I found the quarter wedged between the little piggy who had none and
the little piggy who wentweeweewee all the way home.
I looked at my watch again and realized that this had taken longer than I
thought. Only four minutes left.
Okay, there was a definite motif here, so the quarters could only be
hidden someplace large enough to hide a body part. The trunk was a logical
place to check. I pulled the trunk release, got out of the car, and lifted the
lid.
It was filled to the top with confetti.
Without hesitation, I thrust my hands inside and began searching through
it as rapidly as I could. I found the spare tire right away, but shortly after
that my hand brushed against somehair.Long hair. I grabbed a fistful of it and
lifted Jennifer's severed head out of the confetti.
I couldn't let the fact that I was holding a head distract me. I turned it
all around, searching for a quarter that might be glued toit.Nothing . I ran
my fingers all through her hair, and found nothing there, either. I checked
the ears, in case it were some demented variation of the magic trick my uncle
always liked to show me, but that was also unsuccessful.
A possible hiding spot occurred to me.
Page 106
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
I shook the head violently, trying to jar loose anything that might be in
its mouth. Nothing fell out.
It looked like I was going to find out how long it took a dead tongue to
dry out, after all.
I reached inside her mouth. I can't describe what it felt like, because my
hand went completely numb. But I quickly found the quarter, underneath her
tongue. It had been wrapped in cellophane, which was nailed down to keep it in
place. I tore it free, dropped the head back in the confetti, and shut the
trunk.
Four out offive.The fifth one was probably either under the car or under
the front hood. I hurried back to the front seat to pop open the hood.
The phone rang.
I quickly scooped up the quarters I'd placed on the seat and picked up the
phone. It rang again, but I didn't answer. I pulled the lever to open the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]