Illusion of Luck (19 page)

The heel made direct contact with his nose
and kicked his head sideways. His body followed, but not quickly
enough. It was like a failed hanging attempt—the sudden jerk to the
neck, stretching it a bit longer than nature intended before the
faulty rope gave way.

“
You’re gonna be sorry you
did that.”

She thought he was about to beat her to
death.

But instead, he turned and walked back
through the doors to the other room.

Maybe he’s going after his gun…or the watch
bomb remote.

He was even angrier when he came back.
“She’s gone!”

Good, thought Cynthia. She didn’t know what
had attracted Chaucey to him, but it had quickly become clear that
she regretted it. Cynthia had heard her tell him ‘No,’ but Larry
would not have stopped. He would have raped her. And then killed
her. Maybe Cynthia couldn’t save herself, but at least she had
saved Chaucey.

Then Larry did something unexpected. He went
out the door and locked it without saying another word. She heard
him get into his car and drive away.

Would it be wrong for her to pray for his
death? She pictured him driving down a two-lane road. He would be
smoking his pipe, thinking about how lucky he was when he dropped
the pipe and it fell to the floorboard. After reaching down to get
it, he would look up to realize he had drifted into the other lane,
putting his car directly in the path of a dump truck.

He would only driving 55 mph, but so would
the trucker. He would pull the steering wheel hard to the right,
causing the Jaguar to skid down the road sideways for a split
second before the truck slammed into the driver’s side of the car.
It would be like hitting a battleship at 110 mph—if the Jaguar had
been seaworthy. But either way, he’d be sunk.

It didn’t seem likely Larry would get
himself killed before returning. But thinking about the various
ways he could die helped her ignore the squeaky springs in the room
above her.

**********

Greg, Sandy, and Rebecca were on their way
to Sugar Land in the Bonneville.

“
By the way,” said Sandy,
“have you talked to Cynthia’s mother?”

“
No,” said Greg. “She called
my cell earlier while I was checking parking lots for Larry’s car,
but I didn’t answer.”

“
So, she doesn’t even know
her daughter has been abducted?” said Sandy.

“
No. But I’m sure she thinks
we just left our phones in our hotel room, and that we’re having a
ball at Disney World. Her cruise ship took off from Galveston this
afternoon.”

“
Well, don’t you think she
has a right to know?” said Rebecca.

“
Yeah, I do. And I feel bad
about not telling her. But she would have skipped the cruise. And
there’s not a thing she can do to help right now.”

**********

Crow enjoyed reading the newspaper. His
reading ability had improved dramatically since high school because
of his paper reading habit. He always tried to read every word in
every section—even stuff he wasn’t interested in, like the
obituaries.

He picked up his paperback
dictionary from the coffee table and looked up the word
substantive
. He was
pretty sure he knew the meaning. Yeah, he thought. It’s almost the
same as substantial. Why do lawyers always say
substantive
when they could
say
substantial
, like everybody else?

The page fell out and glided to the floor.
He picked it up and put it back in its place. He would buy a new
dictionary soon. They had a nice one at the store.

His concentration was weaker than usual
tonight because he was worried about Chaucey. He had upset her and
she had gone somewhere. He couldn’t imagine where she went dressed
that way. She rarely ever went out at all—especially at night.

Maybe he’d been wrong to
tell her how he felt. But he was only telling the truth. Now it
seemed like she didn’t
want
to know the truth. Before
he had told her, everything had been fine. They had spent time
together almost every day.

He should have just left
well enough alone. But he really wanted to hold her in his arms. He
wanted to marry her and make love to her. Not that he knew
how
. He was a
virgin. But he was sure he could figure it out. And she would help
him. Chaucey always helped him with stuff. She was always patient
with him. It was just one of the many things he loved about
her.

The wall clock said 9:29. He hoped she would
get back soon.

Then he heard her door opening. She was
being so quiet that he almost missed it. She probably didn’t want
him to know she was back because she thought he would bother her.
But he wouldn’t. He would give her time to think. Time to realize
that she loved him too.

Chapter
25

Chaucey heard a knock at the door.

She felt bad about the way she had walked
out on Crow earlier in the evening. He had been so sweet to
prepare a special meal for her. She shouldn’t have reacted that
way when he said he loved her. She already knew it, but didn’t want
to hear him say it out loud.

“
I’m sorry.” She opened the
door.

“
Good.”

He stepped in. But it wasn’t Crow—it was
Larry. He had a knife in his hand and she didn’t doubt he would use
it.

She stepped back.

He closed the door, locked it, and hooked
the safety latch. “Why did you leave? It was just about to get
fun.”

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
lead you on. I should never have agreed to meet you.”

“
But you did. And you got me
all hot for you.” He unbuckled his belt. “Take your clothes
off.”

“
No, please…”

“
I’d rather have sex with
you than stab you. But it’s your call, Honey.”

“
You don’t have to do this.
Just leave now. I promise I won’t call the police.”

“
Apparently I’m not making
myself clear. You will either strip naked and get down on the floor
with me right now…or you will die. Your choice.” He held out the
knife, ready to use it.

She began to unbutton her blouse.

He took off his shirt and threw it on the
back of the couch. “Hurry it up.”

She took off her blouse and began to
cry.

“
Shut up,” he whispered
loudly and looked around as though he could see the neighbors
through the walls.

She couldn’t stop crying, but managed to
muffle the sound. She took off her high heels, then the mini skirt
and the fishnet stockings. She had hooked up with a stranger she
met on the internet because he seemed intelligent, well-spoken, and
sexy. It had been so exciting. And so stupid. Here she was,
standing in her underwear, about to be raped in her own
apartment.

“
Now we’re getting
somewhere,” he said. “Keep going.”

Suddenly the locked door exploded.

Before Larry could turn around, something
big and heavy collided with his back, hurling him toward the
kitchen bar. It was like a monster sack of an NFL quarterback. But
the floor was harder than a football field.

Larry managed to roll Crow’s body off of
him. The behemoth had apparently hit his head on something that
knocked him out.

Adrenaline gushed through Larry’s
bloodstream, producing an all-powerful rage. Just when he was about
to enjoy doing anything and everything with Chaucey’s sexy body,
this ogre had butted in. And now he would die. Larry would stab him
in the gut so many times that his organs would be
indistinguishable.

He would lift the knife far above his head
and—. Then he realized the knife was not in his hand. Where was it?
He frantically looked all around the room. Then he saw it—two
yards to the right, on the floor.

He was about to dive for it when he saw
Chaucey. She had run into the kitchen and grabbed an iron skillet.
He turned to check the status of the giant, and saw that he was
beginning to wake up. Larry jumped up, grabbed his shirt off the
back of the couch, and ran out the door.

Chaucey heard him race down the hallway and
out to the stairs. She set the skillet on the bar, rushed to Crow,
and knelt down beside him. “Are you alright?”

“
I think so. Got a headache
though.” He looked up at her through blurry eyes. As his vision
focused, he saw that she was wearing only a bra and panties. “Oh,
I’m sorry.” He put his hand over his eyes.

“
It’s okay.” She pulled his
hand down. “I don’t mind.”

“
You’re so beautiful,
Chaucey.”

She was surprised how good the words made
her feel—coming from him. Similar words, spoken that night by Barry
Undermine, had made her feel like a prostitute. “Thanks for saving
me. But how did you know I was in trouble?”

“
Well, I heard you when you
got home. And then I heard somebody knock. And you never have
company—except me. So I snuck into the hallway and put my ear up to
your door.”

She grinned. “Well,
aren’t
you
the nosey one.”

He blushed. “Sorry about that.”

“
No—I’m so glad you did.”
She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

He was in heaven. She had
never kissed him
anywhere
before. Her soft,
smooth, warm, moist lips felt so…

“
Excuse me?” They were both
startled by the man’s voice.

They had forgotten her door was wide open.
In fact, her door was completely destroyed.

Two men and a woman were standing in the
doorway.

“
Uh, sorry to bother you,
but are you Chaucey Reed?”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, my name is Greg
Tenorly, and I’m looking for Larry—I mean
Barry
Undermine.”

“
Is he a friend of yours?”
said Chaucey. She got up, grabbed an afghan from the couch and
wrapped it around herself.

“
No. He abducted my
fiancé.”

“
Oh, no,” she
said.

“
What?”

“
I met Barry at a motel
tonight and he tried to force me to have sex.”

Crow felt an overwhelming urge to hunt down
Barry and smash his skull.

“
But then a woman yelled to
him from the adjoining room. So he went in there—to shut her up, I
think. He was definitely upset with her.”

“
Then
what did he do? Did you
hear anything?”

“
No. When he went into the
other room, I took off. He was going to rape me.”

Greg was heartbroken. Had the savage already
raped his Cynthia? And maybe even killed her?

Chaucey went on. “And then he followed me
here. He would have raped me or killed me if Crow hadn’t come to my
rescue.” She smiled at Crow.

Rebecca jumped in. “How long has he been
gone?”

“
Five minutes or so. He took
the stairs.”

“
What motel? What’s the room
number?” said Rebecca.

“
The Lovelong Motel. Room
109.”

“
I saw it on our way in,”
said Sandy.

“
Thanks,” said Greg to
Chaucey. “And I’m glad you’re okay.”

Crow and Chaucey heard the trio run down the
hall and out to the stairs.

**********

Larry had been denied the luscious Chaucey.
He had hungered for her body. He had longed to devour her. Had his
hot streak of luck finally gone cold? Impossible, he thought. He
had been lucky his whole life.

And after all, he had
escaped unharmed. He should have been dead—or at least have had
some broken bones. Any mere mortal would have. But
he
had walked away
unscathed. So, no—he hadn’t lost his luck. He had just been barking
up the wrong tree. Barking up the wrong
she
, he thought. Oh, how clever
he was.

Larry parked the Jaguar, hopped out, and
went into Room 110. “Hope you got a nice nap.”

“
I need to go to the
bathroom,” said Cynthia.

He took the cuffs off and she went into the
bathroom.

“
Hurry it up,” he said
through the door. “We’re getting out of here—now.” He knew there
was a possibility that big Chaucey’s friend would come after him.
No need to
press
his luck.

Cynthia walked out. “Where are we going
now?”

“
Oh, you’re gonna love it.
It’ll bring back old memories.”

She had no idea what he was talking about,
but she knew it couldn’t be good.

They got into the Jaguar and drove away.

Cynthia wondered where Larry had gone and
what he had done. She hoped Chaucey was okay.

**********

“
I don’t see his car,” said
Rebecca.

“
Maybe he parked it in
back,” said Sandy.

Greg jumped out of the Bonneville and ran to
Door 109 and started banging.

Sandy was close behind, banging on the door
right next to Greg’s—110.

After they had made a lot of racket for
thirty seconds or so, a woman wrapped in a sheet came out of 108
and started to scream at them. “Stop it, you idiots!”

They stopped and looked at her.

She walked over closer to them and spoke
confidentially. “I’ve got a client in there.” She nodded at her
room.