Page 117 of Working for the Mob

Lucy’s hurried footsteps next to me turned into scrapes and bangs as they forced her behind me. Sounds of a scuffle broke out, accentuated by a muffled thud and the unmistakable sound of a palm on the face. A high-pitched cry ended the scuffle, but Lucy wasn’t done.

“You brutes don’t know what you’re doing! Just wait until you find out who her boyfriend is!” Lucy shouted, and I audibly groaned in between sneezes. If they didn’t know what valuable hostages we were before, they definitely did now.

A thin, reedy voice responded. “I think the boss knows exactly who her boyfriend is.”

He emitted a wheezy chuckle that made the hairs on the back of my neck up. I recognized the voice from the parking lot of the train station.

“I think he knows exactly what to do with youse as well,” he said, and chuckled again. “It’s been a while, Genevieve.”

He caressed my name like it was honey dripping from his mouth.

A coarse finger ran along my cheek and I recoiled at the touch. I immediately felt like I needed a bath. Not because I smelled, but because if I didn’t wash his touch off my face, I would feel tainted forever.

“Maybe it’s time we took those off. I suppose you don’t need them anymore.”

His hands ripped the blindfold from my head, yanking half of my hair with it. I tried to hold in a whimper of pain.

My eyes struggled to adjust to the poorly lit room they held us in. A single bulb hung from a chain dangling from the ceiling above our heads. Our steps left footprints in the layer of dust that covered the room.

Besides the three of us, a table by the door, and graying bricks that covered the walls, it was empty.

Our captor leered in front of me, with his blonde mustache and crooked nose.

Amazed as I was, his eyes were what drew my attention. He stared at me with a hunger that made me wish I wore even more clothes.

“Well, ain’t it beauty and the beast now,” he said, and chuckled at his joke. “I ought to thank you.”

“For what?” I spat back.

He pulled out my Sears-brand clutch and held it in my face.

“First you gimme me eight hundred dollars on that platform, and then you got me a new job,” he cackled.

“I didn’tgiveyou eight hundred dollars. You stole it,” I said, crossly.

“And it’s not even that nice of a clutch,” Lucy said from behind me.

“Finders keepers,” he said, smugly. “After Valuncia found out you were lookin’ for me, he decided to find me first. Play a little game of cat and mouse. Only you was the mouse, hehe.”

The mention of a cat punctuated my sneeze.

The drifter cut off and narrowed his eyes at the footsteps coming down the hall next to us. Then Lawrence Valuncia walked in the door.

Fear twisted my stomach into knots. This man held a vengeance against the entire town of East Lannington, and knew that I outsmarted his brother just a couple weeks ago. I didn’t want to imagine the things he could do to us.

“I’ll take it from here, Lem,” Valuncia said, and the blonde man’s face fell. He quickly recovered and his leery smile returned.

“Don’t you want me to stick around? You know, in case they try somethin’?” Lem asked with an eager glint in his eye.

“You think I can’t handle myself with a couple girls?” Valuncia barked, in a tone that sent Lem’s tail between his legs.

“Of course not, boss, that’s not what I was implying,” Lem said, stumbling over his words.

“Then get out,” Valuncia said, and Lem nodded in submission before scurrying out the door.

Valuncia stopped a few paces away and appraised us. His gaze put me on-edge. He was staring at us like one of my mom’s bunco friends admiring her winnings for the night. Lucy broke the silence.

“You let us out of here,” she shrieked, and struggled against her bonds. Her chair rumbled against the hardwood floor.

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