Hooked

screws, but they wouldn’t talk anyway because they didn’t want their wives to know. ’Course, most of them kept their peckers in their pants after they paid up. A few didn’t, and they were fair game for another phone call. But there are always others. We were careful who we chose.” She glowered at Colin. “Except when shit-for-brains over there decided to go after Martell without consulting me. I could have told him the fat man wasn’t a good choice.”
    Colin appeared visibly ashamed.
    “But we took care of that,” Eileen continued. “Actually, it was brilliant. We pinned both Cindi’s and Serena’s murders on Martell. Two birdies with one big stone. Should have done Melody, too, but the woman disappeared. Locked her apartment and took off. That’s a pity. She’s the one who could put us all in prison.”
    “I don’t believe this,” Benny said, apparently forgetting his sore dick. “You’re all crazy. You can’t kill off people, Eileen. You just can’t.”
    “I did it for us, Benny.”
    Tawny listened as Eileen unloaded everything, sealing Tawny’s fate. She’d be one more prostitute, dead at the hands of some nutcase avenging his twisted history. But at least now, she couldn’t be lumped in with the other two women.
    A chime sounded from the closet. Tawny’s phone.
    “What’s that?” Colin said.
    Tawny acted like she didn’t hear because she knew who it was.
    “It’s coming from the closet,” Colin said. He opened the door and removed Tawny’s satchel and dug the phone out of an inner pocket. He checked the readout. “Private number. Who is it, Ms. Dell?”
    “How do I know? You’ve got the phone.”
    “Answer it,” Eileen said.
    “No.”
    Eileen thrust the phone at her. “Answer it. If you don’t, I will.”
    Perfect! “Go ahead.”
    “Reggie,” Eileen said, her gaze never leaving Tawny.
    Reggie put two fingers on either side of Tawny’s neck and pressed. She thought she was going to pass out.
    “Answer the phone,” Reggie said.
    Eileen was right at her ear. Tawny took the phone and opened it. “Hello.”
    “Are you all right?”
    Eileen nodded at Reggie, and he increased the pressure on Tawny’s neck. His fingers felt like ice picks sticking in her. She gasped. “Yes, I’m…I’m all right.”
    “Martell was murdered yesterday, and witnesses put you at the scene. But that’s not what I’m worried about. There’s a black guy—”
    “I’m all right. Don’t worry. Gotta go.” And she snapped the phone shut.
    “Bitch,” Eileen said. “She cut him off. Who was that?”
    “A friend.”
    “He sounded like a cop.” Eileen said.
    “A cop! Your friend is a cop? What did I ever do to you? I paid you more money than I ever paid anyone, and you called the cops?” Benny was pulling on his boxers and shrieked, “Ouch!” when they touched the raw blister. “Jesus. I’m ruined forever, out of commission.”
    “Enough with your cock,” Colin said. “Knowing you, it’ll be back in action by tomorrow.”
    “More money?” Eileen said. “You paid this scrawny bitch more money than anyone?”
    Tawny was getting pissed. They weren’t going to let her go, so what difference did it make. “Because I’m worth it, Eileen. Like Dane Phillips preferred me over you. That’s just a fact. There were others who said the same thing. Good thing you lassoed Benny when you did, because your days were numbered. Why, even your boobs are falling. That’s the end, when a girl’s boobs forsake her. Poor Eileen. And what did you wind up with? That.” She pointed at Benny, limping and moaning. “He’s probably had more women than the two of us together have had men. Pitiful.”
    Eileen went rigid and Tawny thought for the third time she was going to hit her. Then, Eileen deflated, and her eyes filled with tears. “That’s not true. I had plenty of good years left. And my tits are still where they always were, isn’t that right, Benny?”
    “Right now I don’t give a shit about your tits. And, Colin, Eileen paid you with my money. And this is what you both do for me? Kill my girls?”
    Eileen put on a little girl voice and puckered her lips. “Only Serena, baby. I was protecting you.”
    “And what about Dirk Hansen? Did you give Reggie the order to do him, too?”
    “If they ever found Cindi’s body, the police would have zeroed in on him. Then he would have told them all about Upper Eighties. He was another loose end we couldn’t let unravel.”
    Benny