Hot Revenge Box Set 4

Klempner

My resources: The clothes I’m wearing. A notebook and the stub of a pencil: A book on herbal toxins. A small supply of sweet water. An infinite supply, for any practical purpose, of foul water, slime and garbage. And of course, one small potato.

I’d like to give in to despair. There’s something alluring about despair, something seductive. Perhaps I should simply not play Juliana’s game; let her kill me.

But if I’m dead…

Mitch…

My beautiful green-eyed Mitch.

So alive. So energetic.

So full of courage.

So vital.

Vitale

…

Stay alive...

So, eat the fucking potato…

I prise it out from its bed of sludge and slime with a slight sucking sound. It’s small; perhaps half the size of my fist. On the other hand, adhered muck aside, it seems sound; firm, mid-brown, no sprouts or green parts. I have a vague idea that I’ve read that green potatoes are unsafe to eat.

Hauling myself up from my concrete seat, lifting my chain in one hand, with the other, I hold my meal under the water inlet, thumbing away the dirt under the clean water.

Time to live…

And I bite in.

*****

With no warning, the light blinks on and without meaning to, I groan, hiding my eyes behind my hands.

the darkness. “Good afternoon, Larry. How are you? I

long and clingy, with a low cut neckline; designed to show off a figure which

streaming eyes, I don’t reply and she awards me a polite little smile, then sits, on her fold-up chair, hands neatly folded. She could be in school, waiting for a favourite teacher to begin the lesson. Or perhaps in the audience at some small town hall, for a talk on jam-making or how to grow dahlias. At least she could if

“What are we going to talk

struggle upright. I’m fucked if I’m going to let her look down at me while we talk. She watches me, a touch of wariness in her eyes. Momentarily,

I fold my arms, lean

to get off the

guessing you have a selection of choice topics.” I pace a

right.” She gives me a bright little

Fake…

Extensions?

down here if you don’t move about more than I’ve seen you doing

Two days?

Is there anything

I pause…

Seriously?

“How about a cup?”

snorts. “What? And give you something to turn into a weapon or a tool? Finchby and Baxter were stupid, letting your little bitch daughter get hold

get a real

to do with your time? Lick it off the wall if you have to. I’m not

by your concern for my

Larry. I’ve won and you’ve lost. You’re

me, the police. By now they'll

nose. “’Fraid not. You see, Harry Hughes isn't missing. What’s left of him has been found dead in his hotel suite after the explosion. And I made sure the police found some clues about you being near my apartment. With the number of bodies they’ll have found around there recently, I’m

My chest tightens…

“What clues?”

your passport not too far away, close enough to link you to the spot.” She sighs, stroking a hand over her hair. “I suppose they might decide you were involved with the gangs. But I think it's more likely they'll say you got

knees, her smile widening. “Either way, Larry, they’re not looking

so you could plant a corpse to

you are, could I? That would spoil our fun

“Juliana…”

“Sola!” she snaps.

spit back. “How many have you murdered? There were scores of people caught in that explosion. All innocent. All nothing