Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner Read Free Book Online

car, the clothes, the hourly rate. Not just any shlub can afford that.”
    “Describe his voice.”
    “Ummm, a guy’s voice?”
    “Accent?”
    Delilah considered the matter. “Southern. A drawl, but not too deep.”
    “Where are you from, Delilah?”
    But the girl wouldn’t answer.
    “Accent? Vocabulary? Do you think he’s educated?”
    “He knows a lot about spiders.”
    “So do you.”
    Delilah flushed. “My brother had one as a pet, long time ago. Named her Eve. I used to help him catch crickets for her. She was really pretty. Spideyman…he’s not just a pet owner. He had this white spider, I once called it a tarantula and he got all mad at me: ‘She’s not just some tarantula, she’s a
Grammostola rosea
…’—some Chilean kind of tarantula or something like that. He got pretty angry I didn’t know the difference. He kind of…”
    “He kind of what?”
    “He scared me.”
    “How?”
    “Just, the look on his face. I don’t know.” The girl shrugged. “For a moment, I kind of thought…maybe I was a specimen, too. You know,
Slutto hookeroso
.” Delilah smiled wanly at her joke, but her eyes weren’t in it.
    “Did he threaten you?”
    “No. He didn’t have to. You could see it on his face. Some guys are like that, you know. They want you to see it coming.”
    Kimberly didn’t comment on that. She’d been involved in law enforcement long enough to know Delilah had a point. “So how does he approach girls? In his car?”
    “Not always. I mean, it’s not exactly a street corner kind of game out there. It’s more, you go to the right places, hang out, maybe you’ll meet the right man.”
    “You go to a club,” Kimberly filled in. “You make a move, he makes a move. Then what happens?”
    “You follow him. Maybe to a car, or someplace…quieter. You work out the details along the way. Get the money up front, do what you gotta do, then bada bing, bada boom, it’s all done, and you’re outta there.”
    “And in the case of Mr. Dinchara, where did he lead you?”
    “His SUV.”
    “Did you ever have a problem getting back out?”
    “No, but I make it quick. If you get the money up front, then you can make your exit while he’s still…happy. Makes for a better getaway.”
    Kimberly arched a brow. “So basically, while the guy’s pants are still down around his ankles, you’re exiting stage right.”
    “Works like a charm.”
    “So you know Mr. Dinchara, and Ginny Jones knows Mr. Dinchara. Now why do you think Mr. Dinchara had something to do with Ginny going away?”
    “Because the last time I saw her, she was with him. I saw them walking down the street, away from a club. I was actually a bit pissed, you know. I mean seriously, he paid half a night’s work.”
    “And?”
    “And that’s the last time I saw Ginny.”
    Kimberly took a moment, organizing the information in her head, composing her next statement. “Delilah, this is all very interesting, but I can’t do anything with it.”
    “Why not?”
    “No evidence of a crime.”
    The girl looked at her funny. “Don’t you believe me? I’m telling the truth. Ginny was my friend. He hurt her. He should pay!”
    “In the last three months,” Kimberly asked bluntly, “have you seen Spideyman again?”
    Delilah’s gaze slid away. “Maybe.”
    “Did you conduct any business with him?”
    Barely a whisper now. “Maybe.”
    “Like you said,” Kimberly murmured, “money’s good. You’re still willing to be alone with him, Delilah. How bad can he be?”
    The girl didn’t answer for a long time. When she finally did, Kimberly had to lean forward to catch her words. “Last time I was with him, I was on my knees. Doing, you know. And right at the final moment, his hands suddenly wrapped around my neck, squeezed. I couldn’t breathe. I was choking, hitting at him. And I heard him…I heard him whisper,
Ginny.
Then all of a sudden, he released my neck and I got the hell out of there.
    “Thing is, I don’t think he