The Spirit Survives (17 page)

“I really appreciate it, sir,” she said. “To be honest I’m a little strapped for money right now. I’m past due on my rent and the bills are pilling up. This will certainly help me.”

Bo grinned and said, “I think I may be able to help you out.” He peeled off eight of the hundred dollar bills and held them up. “What do you think?”

Bo saw her reluctance, she had probably never taken money for sex, and said in as composed and reassuring a voice as possible, “Okay, I’ll add another two hundred for the rest of the night, if you have a place where we can go.”

Gina nodded. “I get off at ten. My apartment is about two miles from here. You can follow me.”

“I’ll meet you in the parking lot,” Bo said. “I’m driving an SUV. What about you?”

“I’m driving a grey Malibu,” she replied.

Bo handed her five hundred. “This is your advance. I’ll give you the rest when we’re at your apartment.” He smiled at her and left the lobby.

Gina walked to her car precisely at 10:00 p.m.. Slow-moving clouds covered the moon. The feel of rain was in the air as she waved at Bo when she started her vehicle. After only a few minutes, they arrived at her apartment building. It was located in a large complex of about ten separate structures. Gina’s apartment was in the second building on the left. All the structures were painted yellow with a white brick trim. Her place was on the ground floor, apartment 109. She got out of her car, walked to the door of her place, unlocked it and waited for her escort.
 

Bo was very cautious and looked around to make sure that he wasn’t seen. Satisfied that the parking lot was empty of people, he got out of his SUV and joined his Strawberry Shortcake and they entered the apartment. As they went into the small foyer, Bo looked around. Directly in front of the foyer was the living area, all decorated in pink and white. There was a white leather couch with pink throw pillows. Pink and white upholstered chairs were on each side of the sofa. The end table held white lamps with pink shades. It looked like Disneyland. To the right of the living area was a small kitchen area with pink curtains on the windows and a small white dining table, two chairs, the seats covered with pink cushions.
 

Strawberry Shortcake walked to the kitchen area
.
“Do you want anything to drink,” she asked.

“You got any hard stuff?” Bo replied. To his surprise, she opened the cabinet and took out a bottle of vodka. “Straight up with ice,” Bo said. Gina grabbed two tea glasses and filled both of them half full, opened the fridge and filled the glasses with ice. She handed Bo one glass and took a long pull out of hers.

Strawberry Shortcake is going to be fun
, Bo thought. “Why don’t we get started?” he said, “Where’s the bedroom?”
 

Ms. Shortcake led the way through the living area to the bedroom. Bo grunted when he saw the décor. The walls were painted pink. On the left wall was a white dresser with a large mirror above it. Against the wall facing the bed was a white chest with a stuffed pink elephant sitting on top. The king-sized bed was covered with a white comforter decorated with pink stars. Pink lace throw pillows were carefully placed at the head of the bed. White end tables were on each side if the bed. Above the bed hung the only picture in the room. It was stark in contrast to the rest of the room. The painting showed a close-up of Gene Simmons of Kiss in full garb, dressed in black with his pink tongue poking out.

“What in the hell is all this pink crap?” Bo asked.

Strawberry just smiled a big smile, showing her perfect white teeth, “What can I say, I love pink. I think it is sexy, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “I don’t give a shit if the sex is good.”
 

“Give me the other five hundred,” she said as she took another long pull of her vodka.
 

Bo retrieved his wallet, counted out the money and handed it to her. She laid the money on the dresser, went to the bed and sat down. Gina placed her drink glass on the end table and leisurely took off her shoes and threw them to the corner of the room. Her dress was next to join the shoes in the corner. Bo ogled the gorgeous red-haired girl sitting on the bed in her pink bra and panties. The freckles around her nose were matched by freckles on the white skin of her chest. She looked up at him and beamed. She picked up her vodka and took another drink. She appeared to be getting high from the straight liquor. As Bo gaped, she reached around her back, unhooked her bra and dropped it to the floor. Freckles extended about halfway to her large pink nipples, which were erect. Bo couldn’t stand it any longer. He removed his jeans, shorts, and shirt, almost tearing them off. Ms. Shortcake watched him and when he was naked, she impetuously removed her panties. She was a true redhead as the hair between her legs verified. She lay back on the bed, opened her legs and laughed.

Bo mounted her with a fury that took her breath away. She moaned as he drove deeper and deeper. When she cried out with both pain and pleasure, Bo slapped her, hard. He always did love the rough stuff while doing it.
 

She stopped moving and her eyes filled with fear. “Please don’t!” she cried.

Bo punched her again, and she attempted to squirm out from under him. He grasped her arms and held her down as he pumped harder. Just as he was about to explode, he wrapped his powerful right hand around her neck. He squeezed with unrelenting pressure as he finished and his mind went blank with pleasure. Bo took a deep breath and rolled off the limp body, panting. He lay on his back for a moment savoring the feeling of satisfaction. Ms. Strawberry Shortcake, Gina from the hotel, lay dead beside him.

After resting a few minutes Bo retrieved his drink from the end table and drained it. He looked over at Gina and placed his finger on her neck to check for a pulse. Her heart was silent. Bo felt no remorse, he felt nothing. Killing her was no more to him than killing a roach. He took his pleasure from her and her usefulness was finished. He couldn’t take the chance that she would report him or tell anyone about him, so of course he knew from the beginning that she had to die.
 

Bo got dressed and took his five hundred dollars from the top of the chest and went to the living area. He found her purse and grabbed the rest of his money. She had thirty dollars of her own in the purse. He seized that and put the money in his pocket. He picked up a dish cloth from the kitchen sink and wiped his prints from the door knob and all the other areas he had touched. To be certain, he put the vodka glass in his pocket, it surely had DNA on it.
 

After cleaning up, Bo took the bottle of vodka from the counter and left. “Sex and vodka and all free, what a great night,” Bo said aloud to himself. Maybe after he killed Ben Harris, he would do the same thing to Leah Hamilton. Now that would be a good piece.

Chapter 40

The day was cloudless and sunny with only an infrequent gust of wind as Petrov followed Bo Lopez to Lookout Mountain, keeping a safe distance behind him. Petrov didn’t give a shit if it was fair or raining like hell. He was a focused guy. That’s why they sometimes called him “The invisible man,” because of his uncanny talent to follow people without being noticed. When he and Lopez turned on the only road up the mountain, Petrov let some distance get between them. He turned into the first small parking area on the side of the road, which was set up for tourist viewing of the mountain side. He got out of the car, crossed the road to get a better angle and followed Bo’s progress with his binoculars. He saw Bo turn into the next parking area, get out of his car, and began searching for something. He focused the field glasses and watched when Bo picked up what appeared to be a cell phone. He saw the lady cop come out of the woods and say something to Lopez. Petrov started to leave, but then he saw Bo quickly knock the cop down and apparently break her neck. Petrov had used that same maneuver many times and was impressed that the big man was so efficient at it. He made a mental note to be careful if a confrontation with the guy came about.
 

Petrov realized that soon the mountain would be crawling with cops, so he got into his car and left. He pulled into the convenience store parking lot at the entrance to the mountain to wait for Lopez’ SUV. That damn cell phone must be very important for Lopez to risk going to the mountain to get it.
 

Within minutes the SUV sped by with Bo behind the wheel. Petrov pulled in behind him and as usual kept his distance. He was surprised when Lopez drove straight back to the hotel. Petrov parked his car, went to his room and continued to watch Lopez, discreetly looking out the front window. In about an hour he saw Bo leave his suite and proceed to the lobby. Petrov moved to his car to keep sight of him. At about ten o’clock the redhead came out and waved to Lopez. She left with him following her car. “I’ll be damned,” Petrov said aloud. “That lucky son of a bitch has worked him up a piece.” Petrov was a little jealous because he wanted to tap the redhead himself. However, he decided to stay at the Residence Inn and take this opportunity break into Lopez’s room to try to determine what he was up to and to locate that cell phone.

Petrov waited until no one was around. The full moon lit up the courtyard as he made his way to room 101. He donned his latex gloves and expertly grasped his Visa credit card and slid it beside the door knob. Within seconds he heard the click and opened the door. The suite was set up exactly like his. He walked into the living area and saw a cell phone lying on the coffee table. He picked it up and turned it on. He quickly discovered that the phone was the property of a Leah Hamilton. He took note of the most recent calls placed and noticed the majority of the calls were made to a Ben Harris. Petrov got out his note pad and wrote down both the names and numbers of Leah’s recent calls. He carefully placed the phone in the same position that he found it.
 

As he entered the master bedroom, he heard a noise coming from the loft area. He quickly pulled the knife from his belt and plodded to the stairs. He slowly advanced one step at the time up the stairs. Petrov heard movement again and glanced toward the bed. As hardened as he was to anything in life, he was astonished when he saw a naked woman tied to the bed with duct tape over her mouth. She looked at him with wild, fearful eyes. He walked to the bed and looked down at her. Her full heaving breasts and white flawless skin titillated him. From top to bottom, she was a looker and an extremely sexy one at that. She was grunting, trying to say something but the tape muffled it. He walked to the side of the bed and ripped the tape from her mouth.
 

“Help me please!” she pleaded as tears streamed down her face.

“Who are you?” Petrov asked.

“Leah Hamilton, the big man kidnapped me and is looking for my fiancée, Ben Harris. I don’t know why. Please help me!”

Petrov put the tape back over her mouth and said, “Don’t tell the man I was here, or I’ll come back and kill you both. Do you clearly understand me?” Leah nodded and lay back on the bed weeping.
 

Petrov turned and left the loft. He had enough information to work on, and he needed to get out before Lopez returned. He went back to his suite to call Sergey with the new information.

When he arrived at his room, he flipped open his cell and punched the button to speed dial Sergey’s private phone.

“Have you found the man who murdered my daughter?” Sergey hissed into the phone. “I’m damn tired of waiting.”

“I’m getting there,” Petrov replied. He watched his tone with Sergey because he didn’t want his arm shoved in that damn aquarium for the poisonous jellyfish to feed on.

“Bo Lopez is acting strange, and I’ve been watching him 24/7. I damn well think he knows something. I saw him kill a cop because she said something to him about a cell phone he found. When I was able to break into his apartment, I found a naked woman tied to his bed. Her name is Leah Hamilton, and it was her cell phone that Bo took from Lookout Mountain. She had been calling a man named Ben Harris, and I need you to get information on both of them so I can put it together on this end. I think it has something to do with Veronika’s death.”

“I’ll call my crony at the police department and get the information. This better lead to something with Veronika. Keep watching the bastard and I’ll call you back tomorrow.”
 

Petrov wasn’t surprised when he heard a click on the other end of the phone.

Chapter 41

Leah was beginning to believe that she wasn’t going to make it out alive. She understood that the big man wanted Ben, and that she was being used as bait. She still wondered if Ben was alive, but refused to let herself believe that he might be dead. Ben was strong, tough, and certainly a survivor. She recognized that when he discovered what this big man had done to her, he would most likely kill him. However, things were looking more negative as each day passed. It was obvious that the big man didn’t want her dead right now. He fed her once a day, usually fast food and a coke. He led her to the bathroom every three hours or so and got his kicks watching, but when she fought off what she perceived was an attempted rape, he stormed out very angry and left her tied naked to the bed.
 

Then the strange-looking bald man with scars on his face entered the picture. She didn’t know who he was, but he undoubtedly was up to no good. Maybe he was an enemy of the big man and was there to kill him. Her head ached trying to solve the dilemma.