Free Little Death by the Sea by Susan Kiernan-Lewis Page A

someone
standing there, watching her. Within seconds the light changed and
the half-seen figure dissolved into the deepest shadows until she
wasn’t sure she’d seen anything at all. Slowly, she turned into the
nearest parking area of Lenox Square.
    Her eyes darted to the full width of the
parking lot as she drove cautiously to the building entrance. There
were only a few other cars in the lot, the mall having closed two
hours earlier.
    She decided she was too nervous to park very
far away from the mall itself. Even as a darkened, abandoned hulk,
it seemed to serve as a source of security to her, perhaps from
years of mindless, depression-solving shopping junkets there. She
peered closely at the nearest car—about a hundred yards away—as she
parked her Mitsubishi. There didn’t appear to be anyone in it, but
of course, he could be hiding, crouched down on the floor
boards.
    A cold wave of fear fluttered over her.
Carefully, while scanning the dimmed parking lot, her fingers
fumbled for the small leather-encased tube of mace she kept at the
end of her key chain. The parking area was almost quiet. Only the
faint hum of traffic from Piedmont came filtering down to her in
the little cement valley.
    Don’t these places have mega security ?
But there seemed to be no activity, no movement anywhere, as if,
when the doors had closed at ten and the last shopper had finally
been expelled, the whole shopping arcade had been vacated by
managers, restaurant workers, maintenance and clerks as well.
    She had tried to call Brownie earlier but
there was no answer. Probably on one of those “sexless” dates he
insists he has, she thought. She was sorry now she hadn’t left a
message on his machine. She gripped the steering wheel tightly and
felt the knots in her stomach clench and unclench and clench
again.
    Would this be the end of it? Would he just
take the money and fade away? Was Roger okay? What about Laurent?
Does Gerard know Laurent too? Her stomach tightened again.
    She heard the car before she saw it. Sitting
bolt upright, clutching her mace tightly, she held her breath as
the car approached. It crept slowly towards her, its headlights
turned off. Inside, Maggie could see two people, one
head—considerably lower than the driver’s—looked like it belonged
to a small child. For one irrational moment she thought: my God,
he’s taken Nicole ! The dark-colored car pulled up next to her
and stopped.
    Maggie gaped at the car’s driver. His face
was illuminated by one foggy streetlight overhead and Maggie could
see, with surprise, that Gerard was handsome. She was stunned that
the man who would destroy her sister, torment her niece, and
blackmail her entire family—could actually be something other than
physically repulsive. Even reminding herself of Ted Bundy’s
precedent didn’t change the mixed feelings she now had as she
looked at the man.
    “ Mademoiselle ?” His voice broke the
silence. High and ugly, it distorted his pleasant face and created
a leering visage of wickedness. “Gerard is here, n’est-ce
pas ? You have the money?”
    Afraid to take her eyes off him, Maggie
fumbled for the packet of bills in her purse and tossed it through
her window into his hands. Instantly, she started her car and
pushed the gear into place, ready to peel out and away from the
man.
    “ Attendez !” he shouted at her and she
thought for a moment he was going to get out of his car. The form
next to him, huddled in the shadows, hadn’t moved at all.
    “You don’t have to count it,” she said
breathlessly. “Now, leave us alone, do you understand?” Maggie knew
her voice sounded frail and she hated herself for it.
    He laughed, a shiny web of spittle forming on
his lips. How could Elise have loved this? Slept with this? Maggie
shivered, the hand on her stick shift still holding her tube of
mace.
    “I give you a little something too, eh?” He
pushed his face through his driver’s side window, so close that
Maggie could smell