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.Glancing around, I saw no one.I grasped the doorknob, gave it a gentle twist.The knob turned.There was also a deadbolt.Could rattling the door make enough noise to alert Kirk Rottman? This was no time for debate.I pulled on the knob.The door came open.Crossing the room quickly, I passed near the range.In my rush, I failed to notice a pan with a long handle that stuck out from the stovetop.My hip brushed against it.As I looked around, the pan toppled off the stove.I grabbed at the handle but hit it instead.As I watched in what seemed like slow motion, the pan careened toward the floor.The clatter made enough noise to wake a corpse.I knew I’d lost the element of surprise, but I hesitated only for a moment.Maybe I could still catch him off guard.Throwing caution aside, I ran through the doorway into the living room like a rookie cop on his first crime-in-progress call.A gunshot inside a small house makes a hell of a racket.And when the sound is accompanied by a stinging sensation in your arm, you know you’re in big trouble.Especially if it’s your right arm, and you’re a right-handed shooter.My Glock fell to the floor as I looked down at the blood and grabbed my arm.Chapter 40Fortunately, I hadn’t squared my body into a two-handed stance, or I’d have taken a bullet in the chest.It appeared to be only a flesh wound to my upper arm.I flexed my hand.The fingers still worked okay.But I now stood defenseless as the young man I recognized from Friday night stood in the doorway to a hall.He aimed what appeared to be a.38 revolver directly at me.I took a deep breath to calm the thumping in my chest.“You must be Kirk Rottman,” I said, hoping I sounded calmer to him than I did to myself.I eased toward the back of a nearby chair.My Glock had landed beside it.“Stay where you are, Mr.McKenzie.I recognize you, too.My mother told me about you.”I tried to muster a smile.“I went by to see her yesterday afternoon, Kirk.Do you know what she wanted?”“Man, I got no earthly idea.”He wasn’t a trained shooter.He held the gun in one hand, his finger on the trigger.At this range, I figured he got me with a lucky shot.I wondered if Casey Olson had been the victim of worse luck.More likely he was shot close-up as he turned to flee.I decided my best defense was to keep Rottman talking.It would also take my mind off the pain in my arm.“Camilla wanted me to take on a private investigation for her.She wanted me to snoop around and find out who your dad has been sleeping with.”He broke out laughing.“Son of a bitch.That sounds like her.Hell, he wouldn’t know what to do—”While his attention was distracted, I dived behind the chair, reaching out to grab my pistol.He fired two quick shots, one burying itself in the lower part of the large upholstered chair, the other hitting the floor at least a foot to one side.I gripped the Glock, flexing my trigger finger.The arm hurt, but I had apparently suffered no ligament or muscle damage.With as fast a move as I could manage, I stuck my head and arms out almost at floor level and fired where I knew he should have been.I heard the sound of something falling.As I raised my head just above the chair, a wild burst of laughter came from the hallway.“Damn! You almost got me that time.Why don’t you come on back in the bedroom? I have your friend in there.If you don’t get rid of that gun, I’m gonna do something gross to her.”Rottman’s footsteps hurried up the hallway, and I wondered where the hell Fought and Sheriff Driscoll were.Help should have been here by now.I pulled out my handkerchief and tied it around my bleeding arm.Walking cautiously, I held my gun out, arcing left and right, and approached the doorway.I made a quick move through the opening, ready to fire.The hall was vacant.As I edged toward the door to the back bedroom, I kept the gun in front of me.I strained to catch a glimpse inside the room.The head of the bed suddenly came into view.Kirk Rottman stood with the long knife I had seen through the window.He leaned over Kelli’s body, holding the blade against her chest just below the sternum.Even if I succeeded in killing him with a single shot, which was unlikely, he could fall and plunge the knife into her heart.“Throw your gun on the bed,” he said in a voice as icy as a glacier.“Unless you want to see this woman’s guts all over the place.”I didn’t see any alternative.As I tossed the Glock onto the bed, I thought of Jill out in the car.She must have heard the shots.Would she follow my advice and stay put, or would she be as hardheaded as me and wander into harm’s way?I turned my attention back to Kelli.She had been stripped to bra and panties.Her skin appeared white where it had been hidden from the sun.I’m sure her assignment hadn’t given her the time to lounge around the pool like Camilla.Her face showed several bruises.She still wore the red hair we had heard about.A strip of duct tape covered her mouth.The bed was a four-poster.Strips of duct tape secured her arms to the head posts.Her brow furrowed as she looked across at me.What I saw appeared more loathing than fear.She was one tough lady.“What do you want from us?” I asked.Glancing around the room, I saw a small chest next to the bed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Glancing around, I saw no one.I grasped the doorknob, gave it a gentle twist.The knob turned.There was also a deadbolt.Could rattling the door make enough noise to alert Kirk Rottman? This was no time for debate.I pulled on the knob.The door came open.Crossing the room quickly, I passed near the range.In my rush, I failed to notice a pan with a long handle that stuck out from the stovetop.My hip brushed against it.As I looked around, the pan toppled off the stove.I grabbed at the handle but hit it instead.As I watched in what seemed like slow motion, the pan careened toward the floor.The clatter made enough noise to wake a corpse.I knew I’d lost the element of surprise, but I hesitated only for a moment.Maybe I could still catch him off guard.Throwing caution aside, I ran through the doorway into the living room like a rookie cop on his first crime-in-progress call.A gunshot inside a small house makes a hell of a racket.And when the sound is accompanied by a stinging sensation in your arm, you know you’re in big trouble.Especially if it’s your right arm, and you’re a right-handed shooter.My Glock fell to the floor as I looked down at the blood and grabbed my arm.Chapter 40Fortunately, I hadn’t squared my body into a two-handed stance, or I’d have taken a bullet in the chest.It appeared to be only a flesh wound to my upper arm.I flexed my hand.The fingers still worked okay.But I now stood defenseless as the young man I recognized from Friday night stood in the doorway to a hall.He aimed what appeared to be a.38 revolver directly at me.I took a deep breath to calm the thumping in my chest.“You must be Kirk Rottman,” I said, hoping I sounded calmer to him than I did to myself.I eased toward the back of a nearby chair.My Glock had landed beside it.“Stay where you are, Mr.McKenzie.I recognize you, too.My mother told me about you.”I tried to muster a smile.“I went by to see her yesterday afternoon, Kirk.Do you know what she wanted?”“Man, I got no earthly idea.”He wasn’t a trained shooter.He held the gun in one hand, his finger on the trigger.At this range, I figured he got me with a lucky shot.I wondered if Casey Olson had been the victim of worse luck.More likely he was shot close-up as he turned to flee.I decided my best defense was to keep Rottman talking.It would also take my mind off the pain in my arm.“Camilla wanted me to take on a private investigation for her.She wanted me to snoop around and find out who your dad has been sleeping with.”He broke out laughing.“Son of a bitch.That sounds like her.Hell, he wouldn’t know what to do—”While his attention was distracted, I dived behind the chair, reaching out to grab my pistol.He fired two quick shots, one burying itself in the lower part of the large upholstered chair, the other hitting the floor at least a foot to one side.I gripped the Glock, flexing my trigger finger.The arm hurt, but I had apparently suffered no ligament or muscle damage.With as fast a move as I could manage, I stuck my head and arms out almost at floor level and fired where I knew he should have been.I heard the sound of something falling.As I raised my head just above the chair, a wild burst of laughter came from the hallway.“Damn! You almost got me that time.Why don’t you come on back in the bedroom? I have your friend in there.If you don’t get rid of that gun, I’m gonna do something gross to her.”Rottman’s footsteps hurried up the hallway, and I wondered where the hell Fought and Sheriff Driscoll were.Help should have been here by now.I pulled out my handkerchief and tied it around my bleeding arm.Walking cautiously, I held my gun out, arcing left and right, and approached the doorway.I made a quick move through the opening, ready to fire.The hall was vacant.As I edged toward the door to the back bedroom, I kept the gun in front of me.I strained to catch a glimpse inside the room.The head of the bed suddenly came into view.Kirk Rottman stood with the long knife I had seen through the window.He leaned over Kelli’s body, holding the blade against her chest just below the sternum.Even if I succeeded in killing him with a single shot, which was unlikely, he could fall and plunge the knife into her heart.“Throw your gun on the bed,” he said in a voice as icy as a glacier.“Unless you want to see this woman’s guts all over the place.”I didn’t see any alternative.As I tossed the Glock onto the bed, I thought of Jill out in the car.She must have heard the shots.Would she follow my advice and stay put, or would she be as hardheaded as me and wander into harm’s way?I turned my attention back to Kelli.She had been stripped to bra and panties.Her skin appeared white where it had been hidden from the sun.I’m sure her assignment hadn’t given her the time to lounge around the pool like Camilla.Her face showed several bruises.She still wore the red hair we had heard about.A strip of duct tape covered her mouth.The bed was a four-poster.Strips of duct tape secured her arms to the head posts.Her brow furrowed as she looked across at me.What I saw appeared more loathing than fear.She was one tough lady.“What do you want from us?” I asked.Glancing around the room, I saw a small chest next to the bed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]