On Tenterhooks (23 page)

Back at
her desk
, she
re-read Steve’s business card
, then
opened her
center
drawer and dropped
it
onto a pile of other cards
still waiting to be organized
.

Chapter
2
7

A few hours
after
the two men had
left
Veronica
’s
office,
her phone rang
.
She
answered
on the second ring.

“Ms. Ryder?” said a familiar voice
. “This is Officer Roth
again
, with Security.”

“Yes,
Officer. H
ow can I help you?”

She expected him to say that M
artin and Steve had returned
.
For a moment, s
he saw them in her mind’s eye, camping out in the lobby
,
refusing to take no for an answer.

“Sorry to bother you again ma’
am,
b
ut you have
another
visitor.” He stressed another as if it
were
an inconvenience
for
him to coordinate the building’s visitors.

“Really?
Who is it?”

“Well ma’am, i
t’s a preacher
,
I think.”

Veronica
felt the gooseflesh run up her bare upper arms. She shuddered.

“A
preacher?” she
gasped and
fumbled her words
. “Is he
. . .
right there next to you?” she whispered.

“No ma’am.
He’s uh
. . .
he’s
. . .
I think he’s talking to himself actually
.
I thought he was on a cell phone, but it looks like he’s just standing there
talking to the wall.”

“What does he want? Did he give you a name? What does he look like?
”

“
He won’t give me a name
.
He said to t
ell
you
that
‘
the true Lord’s messenger has arrived.
’
I can’t seem to get much else out of him.”

“Ok
ay, fine.
What does he look like?”

“He looks like a preacher.
He’s got on a b
lack suit
with the white collar, big
,
wide
-brimmed
black hat,
and he’s
carrying a Bible
.
He’s r
eal tall,
super skinny and has
really white skin
- - -
a
lmost like an albino,
ya know
?
This guy’d have to run back and forth in the shower to get wet.”

Roth pa
used to chuckle at his own joke.
“He’s got real white hair.
Not real long, but a little scruffy
-
looking for
somebody who spends his time in a pulpit,
if you ask me
.”

Veronica
opened her purse and pulled out her gun. The rough, cool grip was reassuring. Something was wrong. The air around her felt heavy, harder to breathe
either from or into
. It
was
6
:50 on a Friday night
.
The office was nearly deserted
and almost dark
.
She had to leave,
now
. She
wanted people. She needed
warmth and light.

“Uh, Ms. Ryder?” asked Officer Roth. “Look, ma’am, I am getting ready to close up
.
Should I send him up, or do you want to come down or what?”

“No.
Please, Officer Roth, do me a favor. Please keep him there for a few more minutes and then send him away.”

“Ma’am?”

“K
eep him occupied for a few minutes and then tell him that I am not available
.
Take a message or something, but tell him I am busy.”

“Ma’am, i
f you are concerned for your safety, I
—“

“Officer Roth?
Look, I sincerely appre
ciate your concern for me today
.
But no, I am fine
.
Please just do m
e
this
favor
—
keep him there for a few
minutes
,
and then tell him I am gone, please?”
It came out more pleading than she had intended.

Roth hesitated.
“Okay, ma’am.
Will do.”

“Thank you, Officer Roth,” she replied
.
“Take care.”
She shoved the gun back in
to
her purse.

“You too, ma’am,” he said, hanging up the phone.

As she locked
her office
,
Veronica
remembered Steve’s card
.
She
ran back
in, snatched it out of the drawer,
and jammed it into her purse
.
She
re-locked her office door
,
took off her heels
and
jogged across the stillness of the darkened office,
feeling
terribly exposed.
She pressed the call button
on the wall
, stepped
into the elevator when it arrived
,
and quickly pressed
“
P
”
for the
parking garage
under the building
.

The elevator
seemed
painfully slow to her
.
The only sound
s
were
the hum of the overhead motor and the soft tone
s
of arrival
as the car passed each
floor
.
Veronica
felt
the
sweat
forming on the small of her back
. Her breathing
came
in short gasps
,
and she felt her heart thumping in a tight staccato rhythm
.
She was confident that the sides of the elevator were moving
toward
her
.
Dropping
her briefcase on the floor and put
ting
her back to the wall
, she
reached her hand down into her purse
again
and closed
her
fingers around the grip of her .
45 caliber
.
The cool steel felt good to her overheated body
.
She tried to relax, breathing deeply and exhaling slowly.

When
t
he elevator opened
,
she found a garage
nearly empty of vehicles and deserted
.
She
picked up her briefcase and
jog-walked to the exit and out onto the city street
.
The evening was cool
,
but
very
inviting
.
As always, the traffic was jumping and people were
moving
up and down the block
.
It was a welcome change for her after the agonizing moments
alone
in the elevator.
She hailed a taxi.

As she settled
into the safety of the cab
,
the cabbie turned and greeted her. “Evening, sweet thing,” he said in southern drawl
.
He smiled at her
,
and she noticed he was wearing dark
sunglasses
.
He was tall
—
that much
she could see from
the
back
seat.

S
he gave
him
her home address. “Please swing around the fro
nt of the building first.
I want to check on something.”

She watched his long reddish-blonde
ponytail
bob as he nodded
.
Then he
turned around and smiled at her
.

“Sure thing,
darlin
’
.
”

When he
pulle
d up to the corner of the block
, she couldn’t stop herself.
“You al
ways wear sunglasses at night?”

“Ma’am,
it’s a bright road that I travel on.”

Veronica
let the conversation drop. They reached the corner and turned to the right.

“Go slow
ly
past the lobby
,
please.”

He did as he was told, and as
they
inched past
the
plate glass windows that made up the walls of the front lobby
,
Veronica
felt her anxiety grow
.
She saw the security desk
,
but Officer Roth was not behind it
.
The preacher was there
, crouched
down over the desk, with his back to
Veronica
. He was tall and skinny, as Roth had described
.
From this direction,
his height and the black suit
reminded
Veronica
of a pale, wispy imitat
ion of Abraham Lincoln
.
Without warning
,
he spun around and stared right at
Veronica
through the windows.
Sh
e
slammed her head back against the car seat, out of sight. She was trembling.

“Okay, go, please, go!”

The driver sped up,
silently
nodding, ponytail bobbing again.
He stopped short at the next traffic light.
Veronica
caught a glimpse of Officer Roth
,
as he sprinted out of an alley and launched himself at her door.
The impact rocked the cab. Instinctively
,
she locked her door
,
Officer Roth tried the handle. He had his tazer out and smashed it against the glass of her window. His eyes had rolled back in his head
.
All
she could
see
was a white lifeless socket. Spittle splashed from
his
mouth onto the cab’s window
,
as he tried to force his way in.

“Go, please God, go!” she screamed at the driver, kicking the back of the seat. Without hesitation, the driver sped across the intersection, but Rot
h grasped the edge of the trunk
and
held onto the cab
as
it carried
him across the intersection. Less than a block later,
he
lost his grip
,
and
Veronica
saw him fall into the street. The cab behind
hers
bounced heavily
,
as it rolled over Roth and stopped.
Veronica
watched through the rear window until the scene was obscured by traffic. She turned back to the driver.

“
S
hould
n’t we stop? Or at least call the cops
?” she
demanded,
as the driver wove through traffic.