Page 84 of Sheltered by the Lawman

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Jonesy unlocked the door and stepped inside of the musty smelling room. The woman was curled up on the bed and asleep. Now that the lawman was dead, they no longer needed her for leverage. He would be more than happy to take care of her right now so he could get the hell back home, but the boss lady asked that he not make a mess. He guessed that meant no blood, which meant no using his gun. With his large hands he could strangle her dead and there wouldn’t be any mess.

But no, boss lady wanted her to disappear without a trace, not like the other botched up jobs.

He crossed the concrete floor and shook her by the shoulder. It took him several attempts until she finally jumped up, her worried eyes got big and round. She hurried to the top of the bed and brought her knees up to her chest as if protecting herself.

“Get up,” he ordered, but she just stared. He reached over, fisted her hair and dragged her like a rag doll off the bed and onto the floor. She scrambled to her feet like a scared deer and he laughed. “Oh, little girl. You look so frightened.”

“Fuck you!” she spat.

He pulled her wrist hard. “Now be a good girl and let’s do this the easy way.”

Before he knew what was happening, she chomped down on his hand, drawing blood. He used his free hand and hit her sharply across the face. She fumbled backward and fell to the floor. “That’s not how this works, bitch. Don’t push me or I’ll show you what I like to do with misbehaving women.”

She was silent.

“So, let’s do this again. Behave yourself. You hear?” He shook his head in agitation. “I have a visitor coming and I’ve got plans for you. I hope you don’t mind small, dark places.”

He needed to get this over with so he could prepare to take care of the detective. The man actually thought he’d come to the warehouse for the money. He didn’t have a clue that he too would be buried in the ground after Jonesy got the evidence, of course.

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