Another good lead and another one dead as well. Only Karen didn’t deserve it.
Why kill her? What few personal effects Karen had were still on her body. Robbery wasn’t the motive.
Maybe the killer wasn’t after what she carried but what she had in her head: information. And with her dead, that information was gone forever.
If this was an assassination, why kill her like this and leave evidence of a professional hit? Why not run her down, or break into her house and make it look like a burglary gone bad? Or did she have to be shut up immediately?
Now I knew what she had known. Did her killer realize that? And if so, was I next?
Karen had been dead less than a few minutes. The killer had to be close by.
My kundalini noir coiled like a snake in its den-wary, suspicious, prepared.
Pedestrians gathered to gawk at the body. Was one of them the murderer? I could take out my contacts and read their auras but that would give away my vampire nature. There were about a dozen people around me, too many to hypnotize.
A waiter appeared in the back door of the restaurant, the same Asian guy who had served us. A busboy mumbled to him and motioned toward the Metro. The waiter’s expression went from concern to shock. He walked to the Metro and halted to stare at Karen’s body. His face turned ashen-white. He looked at me and pointed a finger. “She was with you.”
The crowd gave a collective accusing gasp.
The wail of an approaching police siren told me this attention was only going to make it worse for me.
I backed away toward the alley. I wanted to turn and run, but if I did that, then everyone would presume I was guilty of something.
“Where are you going?” The waiter scowled. He stepped around the Metro and followed me.
What was up his tight ass? He was no cop.
The waiter jabbed a finger toward Karen’s body. “What happened to her?”
The siren echoed within the walls of the alley.
The waiter trotted after me. “The police will be here. They’ll want to talk to you.”
Maybe this guy was the assassin. He grabbed for my arm. I moved at vampire speed and was instantly out of his reach.
He stared dumbfounded. He yelled over his shoulder in Chinese and chased me, changing his shouting to English. “What happened to your lady friend? Why are you leaving?”
I turned away to remove my contacts. Where the alley emptied onto the street, I whirled about and faced the waiter.
The pupils of his dark brown eyes gaped like tiny mouths. His aura pulsed once. I zapped the waiter hard to keep him out for a full minute at least. I lifted him into a Dumpster and dropped him on a pile of yesterday’s fried rice and peanut sauce.
I returned to my car and sped off. Even though I had an open ticket back to Chicago, I wondered if flying was the safest bet.
In the rearview mirror, I could see people run onto the sidewalk. A police car flew past me and skidded to a stop in front of them. People ran to the driver’s door and gestured after me.
The police car raced from the curb and U-turned to pursue me. Going to the airport was out of the question.
I mashed the gas pedal and the Monte Carlo catapulted forward.
A second police car shot from the next intersection and swerved into me. His front left fender crunched against my right rear. My car spun ninety degrees and I faced the wrong direction down a one-way street.
I gave the Monte Carlo more gas and bolted down the one-way. The second cop car swung around the corner in pursuit. Cars and trucks juked around me, horns blaring like shouted curses.
A city bus lurched into the next intersection. I jerked the wheel and cut in front of it. The cop behind me tried the same maneuver only to have his cruiser T-bone the bus.
I zigzagged through the city and wound up on State Highway 210 going east. A helicopter shadowed me. Blue and red lights flashed in my mirrors. The noose tightened. No way could I escape by car. Maybe I should crash into a building and disappear on foot.
Up ahead, patrol cars blocked the highway. Cops scrambled out of their cars and readied weapons.
The pursuing cars slowed and let me approach the barricade by myself. I would be the only one in the field of fire.
Well, if they wanted me, I’d make them work for it.
I gunned the engine and steered to the right. The Monte Carlo flattened sign posts and rumbled over the shoulder and across the rough grass toward the Missouri River.
The engine revved into a scream. The Monte Carlo bounced over a small cliff. The front of the sedan angled toward the water. For an instant I was airborne. The brown water of the Missouri River filled my windshield. I braced for the impact.
My front bumper smashed into the water. The airbag detonated and slapped my face.