The Killing Kind

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

March 27

The twenty-four-hour Walgreens on South Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach wasn’t exactly jumping at two in the morning. The three fugitives arguing in the hair-products aisle became the only customers in the store after an old lady with rollers in her pink hair hobbled out with her Geritol purchase.

“You’re going blond and that’s final.”

“You know, you keep saying ‘that’s final’ about things. You sound like a fucking dictator, Roxie.”

“That’s what I am.”

“I just don’t think blond is the way to go. It’s too obvious.”

Roxie snorted and rolled her eyes.

“I’m totally serious. My hair is very dark, almost black. A lighter shade of brown would be more subtle, less likely to draw a second look. You could even put in a bit of gel, I guess. How’s that for a compromise?”

Roxie smacked his chest with a box of Clairol Born Blonde. “Fuck your compromise.”

Rob stared aghast at the package pressed against his chest. “Come on, Roxie. This is for chicks. I’ll look ridiculous.”

Roxie seethed. “Rob. Pay attention. I’m starting to get pissed. Now think about that a minute. You really want me to lose it right here in the middle of this store?”

Rob groaned.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Julie couldn’t take it anymore. The scream just came out. It was a full-volume blast of rage and exasperation. Probably not the brightest thing she’d ever done, given that they were supposedly trying to avoid attention. But the nearly identical shocked expressions on her companions’ faces were totally worth it.

A lean black man in spectacles and a Walgreens vest poked his head in the aisle and said, “There a problem?”

Roxie summoned a high-wattage smile and batted her eyes at him. “No, sir. Just having a little disagreement. We’ll keep the volume down, I promise.”

His expression conveyed doubt, but after a pause he gave a terse nod. “If you need any help, let me know. My name’s Tod and I’m the manager.”

Roxie kept smiling. “Thanks so much.”

Tod turned and left them without another word.

Roxie sneered. “Gay.”

Rob shook his head. “Let me guess. Any guy who doesn’t fall down drooling at your feet is queer, right?”

“Obviously.”

“What about the frat boy you’re planning to-”

Roxie slapped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up. Fuck’s sake, Rob, you know not to talk about that shit where people might hear.”

Rob pushed her hand away. “And why should I care? Like it matters. Like there’s any way this thing ends in anything other than total disaster.”

Their voices had been rising again and Julie was unsurprised to see Tod the manager reappear at the end of the aisle. “Ladies. Sir. Please keep it down. You’re disturbing the other customers. If it continues, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Roxie’s brow creased. “What? Seriously? There aren’t any other customers.”

Tod’s expression remained stern. “Nonetheless. This is my store. So, respectfully, please be quiet. I won’t ask again.”

He retreated again.

Roxie scowled. “That miserable little-”

“Fuck this shit.”

Julie started walking away from them.

Roxie called after her. “Hey! Where are you going?”

Julie stalked quickly down the aisle and soon saw the automatic doors at the front of the store come into view. “Outside for some fresh fucking air. Problem with that?”

The door opened and she stepped out into the cool night air. The door whisked shut behind her, mercifully blocking the sounds of the ongoing feud. She moved a few yards down the sidewalk and dug into her purse for a pack of Marlboro menthols. The cop car pulled into the parking lot just as she was lighting up. The headlights hit her and she felt frozen to the spot.

Aw, shit. This just fucking figures.

She lit the cigarette and inhaled as the cruiser pulled smoothly into the spot directly facing her.

Well, this is it. Game over. Time to go home.

Or to jail.

Whatever.

The car idled there for more than a minute. Julie squinted against the headlight glare and was able to make out the shape of a big man behind the wheel. He didn’t appear to be doing anything other than just staring at her. She smoked the cigarette down to the butt and thought about lighting another. But she was too spooked to reach into her purse again. Too afraid to move at all. Finally, after several minutes, the driver-side door opened and a big man in a uniform stepped out. He was really buff, filling out his striped trousers and crisply pressed shirt in interesting ways. He saw her looking and smiled, an expression that lit up a face that was just shy of handsome. His eyes were a little too close together and his lips were too thin, but he had a strong jawline. Given the rest of the package, the face was more than passable.

The cop slammed the cruiser’s door shut and stepped up onto the sidewalk. The car’s engine was still running, the key still in the ignition. How arrogant was that? Fucking cops.

“Evenin’.”

Julie smiled. “Hey.”

The cop stroked his chin with a thumb and forefinger as he walked in a slow circle around her, looking her up and down. “Mmm…”

Julie swiveled her head but didn’t turn as he circled her again. “See anything you like?”

He moved in close behind her, leaned down some, and pushed his crotch against her ass, letting her feel his enormous erection. His hands gripped her by the waist. “Feel something I like.” He chuckled, his breath warm and stinking of whiskey. “Like to break me off a piece.”

Julie did a slow grind against his crotch. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll let you. Mmm…but what about the surveillance equipment in your cruiser?”

He kissed the back of her head and slid rough fingers under the silky fabric of her halter. “The…what?”

“You know. The video camera. Like on Cops?”

“Um…”

“Isn’t this the kind of thing you could get in trouble for?”

“I don’t know. Is it?”

His hands moved to her breasts and gave them a none-too-gentle squeeze. She faked a groan of pleasure and said, “Yeah. Like that. I don’t know. I guess I just thought soliciting a prostitute was still a crime in most places.”

“That what you are, girl? A whore?”

Julie wiggled against him. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

The cop laughed. “Yeah. Knew you were a pro. Can spot ’em a mile away. You’re fresher meat than I usually see, though. You can’t be any more than, what, seventeen?”

She giggled. “Almost.”

He made a low sound deep in his throat. A hungry sound. “Don’t worry about the, uh, surveillance equipment. I turned that shit off the second I saw you.”

“Oh, good.”

Julie had slipped a hand back inside her purse while he was preoccupied with the task of molesting her. She turned around as her hand came out of the purse and thrust herself against him, half-feigning lust again as she got her right hand up and ready to strike. Half-feigning, because she actually was sort of turned on. He did have a dynamite body. It was kind of a shame, really.

He grabbed her ass and pulled her tighter against him. “Gonna tear your pussy up, girl.”

Julie slammed the big hunting knife into his side, jerked it out, and slammed it in again.

Then again.

And again.

The strikes were rapid, all happening within a few seconds, too fast for him to react efficiently. He shoved her away, causing her to stumble backward on the sidewalk and land hard on her ass. She bounced up and came back at him cobra fast, jamming the knife into his neck as he fumbled for his gun, his weakening fingers unable to get a good grip on the holstered weapon. She pulled the knife out and a gout of blood splashed her chest.

The cop wobbled a moment before crashing to the sidewalk, where he convulsed and spilled blood all over the white concrete. Julie wiped the blood-soaked knife on her shorts and put it back in her purse. The cop was clearly dying and no longer a threat. Julie got down on her hands and knees and rolled him off the sidewalk. She gripped him by his thick ankles and tugged him around so that he fit lengthwise inside the parking space to the immediate left of the cruiser, adjusting his feet so the toes didn’t point straight up. She had to hide the body, at least temporarily, and there was only one way to do it. He was too damn big to drag off behind the building. Someone else would surely come along and see what was happening before she could manage that.

She reached for the handle on the driver-side door.

Mouth agape, she stopped and stared at the emblem on the door.

In the middle of a seal were two words in bold letters:

MALL SECURITY

Julie couldn’t believe it. “Oh. My. Fucking. God!”

The guy she’d just killed wasn’t a real cop at all. She suddenly felt very stupid. There had been some obvious subtleties that should have tipped her to the truth of the situation. The bit about the surveillance equipment seemed particularly telling. At some point the guy realized she’d mistaken him for a real cop and decided to take advantage of that.

Motherfucker!

She was angry as hell, but she knew she had to chill and start dealing with the situation before it got even more out of control. She got inside the still-idling car, found the gearshift, and put it in reverse. She backed up and glanced in the rearview mirror. Some light traffic moved along South Kings Highway, but no one was approaching the drugstore. That wouldn’t last. She backed the car up and began to move it into place. She felt the body catch on the undercarriage and slide forward some, but that part didn’t go as badly as she’d feared. Turning the feet so they lay almost parallel to the ground likely had helped with that. She managed to get the cruiser parked nice and square in the space. Then she opened the door and got the hell out. Another car pulled into the lot just as she was slamming the door shut.

Her heart started trip-hammering again.

Shit! Not now!

The car was a very old and beat-up Oldsmobile. It moved slowly across the lot, almost painfully so, and eventually pulled into the handicapped space right outside the front door. Julie watched the car carefully and quickly became impatient. The driver was taking his or her sweet fucking time getting out. But a door finally creaked open and a stoopedover old lady emerged.

Julie wanted to scream. What was it with old women and their late-night trips to Walgreens?

Don’t these bitches ever fucking sleep?

The old lady shut the car’s door in slow motion and began to hobble toward the store. When the automatic door opened, Julie dropped flat on the pavement and reached under the cruiser. The rent-a-cop was dead as fuck. And was sort of all fucked-up after being run over and dragged a little bit with his own car.

She’d wanted the man’s gun, but a closer look at his holster made her screech in frustration. He didn’t have a gun. Of course not. He wasn’t a real cop. He was just some minimum-wage douche bag out for a joy ride on company time. The thing in the holster was some kind of electronic device. A Taser, maybe? Well, shit, it was better than nothing. She grabbed the device, got to her feet, and hurried back into the store.

Roxie and Rob were still arguing in the hair-products aisle.

Of course.

Roxie ceased berating Rob in midsentence and frowned. “Is that a gun?”

Julie sneered. “No, it’s not a fucking gun. It’s a fucking Taser.”

“Where’d you get a fucking Taser?”

“From the fucking guy I killed in the parking lot just now.”

Rob groaned. “Fuck. What is it with you two? Look, murder isn’t the answer to everything. Just once-”

He broke off and stared at something behind Julie. She turned around and saw Tod the manager staring at them from the end of the aisle again. But his air of smug superiority was gone. He was shaking. He held up his hands and started backing away.

Roxie laughed. “Looks like somebody heard something they shouldn’t have. I hate eavesdroppers. Don’t you, Julie?”

“Yes.”

She put her head down and charged the man. He back-pedaled faster a few steps before turning to run, but the soles of his loafers slid on the slick tiles and he fell awkwardly to the floor. His left hand hit the floor at a bad angle and snapped at the wrist. He howled in agony and rolled onto his back in time to see Julie leaning toward him. He opened his mouth to scream again, but by that time she’d already pressed the Taster to his chest. She pressed a button and thousands of volts of electricity poured into his body, making him froth and convulse. When he was done shaking, she zapped him again. And then again.

Someone grabbed her by a shoulder and pulled her away from him. “Stop that before you kill him.”

She pushed the hand away and whirled around. “That’s the point, asshole.” She pressed the Taser against Rob’s chest and savored the way his face paled. “You want some?”

Rob opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Julie pressed the Taser harder against his chest. “I hate you. I’d be having so much more fun with just Roxie.”

Roxie approached them, getting close enough to snag Julie’s attention while still keeping a safe distance. “Julie. Don’t. Okay? I know you’re upset, just…please don’t hurt him.”

“Can’t you see how weak he is? We’d be better off without him.”

The poor bastard looked like he was about to crap his pants. She came very close to shocking him in that moment. The thing that stopped her was a sudden, jarring mental intrusion. It was the recognition of what her life had become, what it was in this very moment, on the edge of this act, versus what it had been a week and a half ago. Within that very short span of time she’d gone from slightly troubled teenager studying for exams to being a person on the verge of murdering her new best friend’s lover.

It was somewhat disorienting.

She lowered the Taser and looked at Roxie. “Sorry. I know I get…out of control sometimes.”

Rob let out a shuddery sound somewhere between a laugh and a terror-stricken moan. “Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. You could say that.”

Roxie stepped between them and steered Rob away from her. “Shut up, Rob. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

The three of them started moving toward the exit.

A metallic click stopped them in their tracks. Julie turned around and saw the old lady from the beat-up Oldsmobile. She clutched a little revolver in her gnarled hands. The hammer was cocked and the barrel was aimed right at Julie’s chest.

“Y’all ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

Julie imagined a bullet ripping through her body, could almost feel the searing agony. It was too easy to imagine the messy aftermath. Those last dreadful moments as her life drained away. It was easy to imagine because she’d caused it to happen to several people now.

The old lady nodded. “Drop that zapper, you mean little bitch.”

Julie forced her fingers to open and the Taser hit the floor with a clatter, just out of reach of the grasping fingers of Tod, who’d just begun to recover from the jolts he’d received. Right now he didn’t have the strength to sit up and reach for it, but that wouldn’t remain the case for long.

Holy shit, we are as fucked as fuck can be.

The old lady smiled. “Done called the cops. We’ll just stand right here and wait for ’em, I reckon.”

Then something came sailing past Julie’s head, making her flinch. The object hit the old lady square in the center of her face and she staggered backward a few steps before letting go of her cane and crashing to the floor. Julie giggled when she saw the Clairol box hit the floor.

Robin to the rescue. It’s a miracle!

Rob had been holding the package throughout their contentious exchange moments earlier. And now he dashed forward to scoop up the old lady’s gun before she could recover it. Still giggling, she shoved Rob aside and kicked the woman as hard as she could in the stomach, eliciting a pained wheeze. “Take that, you ancient bag of fuck.” She swung her leg back and brought it forward again, driving it hard into her chest. The woman was mewling now, holding her hands up and trying to beg. Julie kicked her a few more times.

Rob’s hand on her shoulder. Again. “Maybe you could stop now.”

She pried the gun out of his hand and shot the old woman in the face.

She smiled. “Okay. Done with her anyway.”

She walked over to Tod, who had just gotten his fingers around the grip of the Taser. A bullet through the top of his head took him out of the game. She dropped the gun in her purse. “Ready to go whenever you guys are.”

She strutted outside and stood in the cool air again. She smiled at the mental image of Roxie’s shell-shocked expression. Roxie was one crazy bitch. When you had shocked the likes of her, you’d really done something noteworthy. Rob and Roxie followed her out of the store seconds later. They all got in the Tercel, with the usual seating arrangement-Rob and Roxie up front, Julie in the back.

Roxie started the car and drove away from the Walgreens at a fast clip. Julie was glad to see it recede and then disappear in the rearview mirror. As over-the-top as her behavior had been, she remained fearful of being caught by the authorities. The video from the Walgreens security cameras would soon be all over the network and cable news outlets. The chances of them eluding the cops much longer, already small, had just grown significantly dimmer. It was looking more and more like Rob was right. Going down in a blaze of glory was the best they could hope for at this point.

So why did she feel so good, with doom at hand?

“That was a hell of a throw, Rob.”

Rob stared straight ahead, refusing to look back at her. “Yeah. I guess.”

“You saved our asses. Were you a major-league pitcher or something in a former life?”

“I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“Well, it was mighty fucking brave of you.”

He didn’t reply to that.

They rode on in silence for several moments. Julie watched the headlights of passing traffic and thought about some things, including the likely imminent end of her life. “Roxie?”

“Yeah?”

“I haven’t been laid in, like, forever.”

More silence. Then Roxie said, “What about it?”

“Could you send Rob back here?”

An even longer silence. Roxie sighed. “Rob, get back there.”

“But-”

Roxie’s voice turned hard. “Now.”

Rob climbed through the gap between the seats. Julie reached for him and pulled him down on top of her. She could feel how ready he already was.

It was hard to be surprised.

She got her mouth real close to his ear and made her voice as soft and quiet as she could. “It turns you on when you watch us kill.”

He didn’t say anything.

He didn’t need to.