EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 45

BETRAYED

enough this time to bruise her. “I shouldn’t give you crap, but
okay, it probably was my fault. I promised you guys fifty
percent of her take for the first two nights.”
He glanced at the battered body, then twitched like a
jitterbug dancer. “Trust me. Creed will pay. Lots!”
He paced again, punching one fist into his open palm again
and again. Finally he said, “Dump her body. I can’t see it any
other way. Put her in the car and ditch the body somewhere on
the South Side, far away. Sherry, make it look like you and her
wandered into the wrong part of town and got into the worst
kind of trouble. Look for a side street or an empty lot or
something out of the way. That way, it’ll look like she died from
a beating there. After they find her, they’ll keep searching but
will never find your body.”
Still in shock, Sherry and Tommy nodded agreement. Sal
rubbed his chin. “They say it’s supposed to go down to about
twenty tonight. The kid’ll be frozen as stiff as a carp when they
find her. That part of town, they’ll figure the sooner they close
the case, the better. It all works. When your body doesn’t turn
up, they’ll let the whole thing go into unsolved murders. I
musta been crazy to buy into this.”
Sal strode to the door and held it open, pointing into the
hall. “Tommy, get her out of here. Sherry, stop at my office on
the way down. I’ll give you some money.” He charged out of the
room, muttering under his breath, “Friggin’ Creed. Never
should have taken his word. Damned pervert. No more. Never
again.”
Sherry headed down the stairs first so she could pull the car
around the back and have the trunk lid open by the time
Tommy Boy got there. At the bottom, she turned and looked up.
Tommy inched down the narrow treads carrying the limp body.
His vacant expression made him look like a robot. She
shuddered and rushed off to get the car.
It had been snowing. Sherry’s high-heeled pumps sunk into
the soft new drifts. She opened the trunk for Tommy to lay
Laurel’s body on an old tarp they kept in the car, cursing about

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