Paint It Black by Nancy A. Collins Read Free Book Online Page B

fashioned of gold and platinum.
    Kitty staggers back, staring in disbelief as I heft the heavy silver cross. She is waiting for my hands to burst into flames.

    ' What the hell did you think you were going to solve, clobbering me with this piece of junk?' I snarl.

    Kitty's eyes are huge, the pupils swimming in madness. 'You can't have him! I won't let you take his soul!'

    'Who said anything about me stealing--'

    'Monster!' Kitty launches herself at me, her fingers clawing at my face. 'Monster!'

    I hit her with the crucifix.
    Kitty drops to the alley floor, the top of her skull resting on her left shoulder. The only things still holding her head onto her body are the muscles of her neck

    Way to go, kiddo! You just killed lover boy's bug-shit ex-girlfriend!
    You're batting a thousand!

    'Damn.'

    I toss the crucifix aside and squat next to the body. No need to check for vital signs. The girl is dead.

    What to do? I can't just toss the corpse in a dumpster.
    Someone is bound to find it, and once the body is identified, New Orleans Homicide will no doubt bring Judd in for questioning.
    Which means they'd be looking for me, sooner or later. And I can't have that.

    I've got an idea, croons the Other. Just let me handle it Stealing the car is easy. It's a 76 Ford Ltd with a muffler held in place with baling wire, and a Duke for Governor sticker on the sagging rear bumper. Just the thing to unobtrusively dispose of a murder victim in the swamps surrounding New

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) Orleans during the dead of night.

    I take an exit off the Interstate leading out of New Orleans East Originally it was to have connected a cookie-cutter housing development built on the very fringes of the marshlands to the rest of the world. The contractors got as far as pouring the concrete slab foundations before the recession hit. The condos were never built but the access road remains, although there is nothing at its end but an overgrown tangle of briars and vines that has become a breeding ground for snakes and alligators.

    I drive without lights. Not that I need them. I can see just fine in the dark. Having reached my destination, I cut the engine and roll to a stop. Except for the croaking of frogs and the grunting of gators, everything is quiet.

    I climb out of the car and open the trunk with a length of bent coat hanger. I stand for a second, silently inventorying the collection of plastic trash bags. There are six: one for the head, one for the torso, and one apiece for each limb. I've already burned Kitty's clothing in the warehouse's furnace and disposed of her jewelry and teeth by tossing them into the river.

    I gather up the bags and leave the road, heading in the direction of the bayou. I can hear things splashing in the water, some of them quite large. I pause for a second on the bank of the bayou. Something nearby hisses. I toss the bag containing Kitty's head into the murky water.

    'Come and get it!'

    The assembled gators splash and wrestle amongst themselves for the tender morsels like ducks fighting for scraps of stale bread.

    I am tired. Very tired. After this is over I still have to drive the car I stole to a suitably disreputable urban area and set it on fire. I look down at my hands. They are streaked with blood. I absently lick them clean.

    When I am finished, the Other looks through my eyes and smiles.

    The Other isn't tired. Not in the least.

    From the diaries ofSonja Blue.

    It hadn't been a very good night, as far as Judd was concerned.
    He'd been chewed out concerning his attitude at work, Arlo and the others treated him like he had a championship case of halitosis, and, to cap the evening, Sonja pulled a no-show.
    Time to pack it in.

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) It was four in the morning by the time he got home. He was in such a piss-poor mood he didn't even bother