“Shhh!” Jessica silenced her sister. Liz was only a moment behind in hearing a heavy tread in the corridor, moving closer: the tread of someone much bigger than the watchman, of a man unafraid to let you know he was coming.
Liz killed her flashlight, and Jessica found herself shoved away from the desk, towards her sister’s office. They might have made it, too, but Jess, unlike Dusty, could not see in the dark–both women went down in a flailing of high heels and shoulder bags.
The only sound louder than their crash was the crack of wood as the front lock was splintered from the door by a savage kick.
Jess and Liz managed to untangle themselves and face the intruder. He snapped on Ginger’s desk lamp, revealing himself in its dim light: Eddie Kubek. With the smile of a sadistic goon who overrates his wit, he cracked, “All this nice furniture and you two ladies have to sit on the floor? Real shame, a real shame.”
“That’s why we went with the wall-to-wall carpeting. So much more comfy,” Liz coolly returned.
Kubek continued to flaunt that smug, dangerous grin, while Liz carefully helped her sister up, both glad that their “gentleman” caller wasn’t about to do the honors. He did get curious when he caught Jessica looking down and trying to inconspicuously sight something on the floor.
“Looking for something, sister?”
“No, no,” Jess answered a little too quickly, hoping he wouldn’t perceive her anxiety or see that her eyes had frozen on a particular object on the floor. But she couldn’t catch a break.
“Oh this?” Kubek scooped something off the floor, and Jessica gulped.
© Sharon Healy-Yang, Touchpoint Press, 2017. Do not copy or redistribute.
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Sharon Healy-Yang 