The Sleeping Beauty Killer

69

Charlotte was pulling against Angela’s grasp as Angela guided her toward the broken elevator.

“I didn’t tell you,” Angela was saying in that same giggly voice. “The elevator’s stuck on the first floor, but the doors will still open on this floor. It’s a fifty-foot drop.”

She let Charlotte, whose breathing was labored, collapse against the wall next to the elevator.

“I don’t understand,” Charlotte gasped. “Why are you doing this?”

Angela tucked her handgun into the waist of her suit pants and slipped the box cutter from her jacket pocket. Charlotte flinched when she saw the blade. “No!”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Angela said. “Not with this anyway.” She cut the workout top from her ankles first. In a reflexive action, Charlotte began to wiggle each foot once her legs were freed.

Angela pushed the call button for the elevator. The doors eased open, but there was no sound of the car moving up from the first floor. Angela was reaching for Charlotte’s wrists to drag her toward the shaft when Charlotte jerked away. Steeling herself against the dizziness, she fought for time. The words could barely escape her lips. “Please, before I die, tell me the truth. You killed Hunter, didn’t you?”