Page 87 of Slow Burn

She moved her foot back an inch, out of his grasp.

When he fell sideways to the carpet, Ming turned to look over her shoulder.

“I got here as fast as I could,” Paolo said. He looked blankly apologetic as he came toward her. “I’m sorry I took so long.”

“That’s quite all right,” she said. There was something broken in her now, something not even Paolo’s violent intervention could fix. All the fear was out now, battering down her defenses, sweeping her screaming with it.

So much fear. She looked at her hands, gripping the arms of the chair, and forced them to let go; they trembled violently and would not stop.

“Paolo, you know they’ll never let us leave here alive,” she said. “You know that.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know.”

She looked at him with a sudden quiet feeling of tenderness, her ugly rabid dog, and reached out a hand. He came over to stand next to her.

Outside the window, clouds boiled like gray cotton. It was a long way down, she knew.

She took the gun out of Paolo’s hand and calmly shot him three times in the chest. He looked vaguely surprised, but there was no pain. She sat down next to him cross-legged, while the thick carpet swallowed his life, and put the muzzle of the gun under her chin.

With her eyes closed, the cold metal felt like the kiss of a dead man.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Velvet

The clothes Parriott had sent were second-rate. Velvet stood in the neon blue bedroom and stared at her image in the mirror, turned right, turned left, and shook her head.

“Just wear them,” Robby said wearily from where she sat rubbing her temples. “For god’s sake, if you’re going to do it, get it over with.”

He’d sent over a leather skirt and jacket and a full-body Spandex bodysuit, but the leather was cheap and the jacket was too tight and the Spandex felt scratchy. Velvet stripped it off and tossed the stuff on the bed, fished her own Spandex suit out of her suitcase, and yanked it on. No underwear. This was a no-underwear kind of guy.

If he wanted leather, she’d give him leather. She put on the fringed jacket, the butter-soft skirt, and modeled for the mirror.

“Much better,” she said. “First-rate. Worth the money. Hey, Robby, when I get back, you want to go out to lunch or something, just for old times’ sake? Kind of a goodbye?”

“I don’t think so. I’m going to scrape up a stake tonight if it kills me, and tomorrow Jim and I will be gone.” She swallowed hard. “We’ll have to leave everything.”

“Tonight?” Velvet turned to stare at her. “You’ve gotta be kidding. It’s two-thirty, you’ve got the shakes, and you’re so tired you’re ready to go face first in the concrete. You can’t go out.”

“I’m going. I don’t have a choice. They’re looking for you, Velvet. They’ve gotten to Jim, they’ll get to me. I have to go.” Robby stood and started picking up clothes Velvet had scattered in piles on the floor. “I just have to find something to wear. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, yeah, sure you will. You’re gonna spend the night in jail, is what you’re gonna do.” Robby hesitated over the leather Velvet had dumped on the bed. “Want to wear it?”

“What? Oh, no. No. I never—”

“Come on, live a little. Jesus, I never met anybody so fucking restrained. You’ll look great, and you’ll blend in a hell of a lot better at three in the morning wearing the leather than you will in a damn suit. The Spandex has long sleeves, it’ll keep you warm. Put a big coat on top of it, man, you’ll be beating off the guys with a club.”

“I can’t.”

She wanted to, though. Velvet leaned over, locked eyes with her, and said, “Can’t or won’t?”

Robby shook her head and walked away, arms full of clothes. The leather stayed dumped on the bed. Velvet shrugged, wiggled her shoulders, checked her thick makeup, and slid on a pair of dark glasses.

“Fabulous.” She fluffed her hair. “Hey. You’re gonna be okay. Really.”

Robby, gone off down the hallway, didn’t answer. Velvet blew one more kiss at the mirror, tugged on her bright technicolor coat, and didn’t look back until she was at the front door, unlocking deadbolts.

Robby was crying somewhere in the back, lonely racking sounds. Velvet closed the door quietly and tried to pretend she hadn’t heard. As she waited in the hallway for the elevator, she felt her mother’s wide, tear-filled eyes on her, heard the quiet sobs.

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