“The predator struck again Sunday night, this time in Kirkwood. The victims were two women found naked together in bed late Monday morning. The two women were of the same graduating class and had the same tattoo hidden under their class rings as the four men killed on Saturday night. According to police the individual is not only a well trained assassin, but an expert cat burglar as they have found no fingerprints or DNA evidence at any of the crime scenes.”
With a smile and some pride at being referred to as a well trained assassin Wren leaves the paper sitting on the table and heads to the undressing room. Her shift is pretty much like the evening before alternating between stripping and table waiting. When they close up at eleven she is nowhere near as tired as the night before, having only had to work a single shift.
At eleven thirty Wren drives past Harvey’s house, the red Escort sitting in the driveway right where it should be. From Harvey’s it’s a short drive to Bob’s where as expected the orange pacer is sitting in the driveway. Twenty minutes later she has verified Jim Estepp’s address and is on her way home. It is one in the morning when Wren finally gets to bed.
Once she is up she takes her morning run and grabs the mail on her way back in again. A letter from a college in Ohio catches her eye as she heads back up the driveway.
“Dear Miss Robbins, We are sorry to inform you that at this time we have filled the position you were applying for. However with your permission I would like to forward your resume on to a colleague in Lima, Peru who is seeking someone with your skills. Again I would like to …”
She calls the phone number and speaks to them giving them permission to forward her information to their colleague. She looks out of the kitchen window and decides that the lawn really needs to be mowed. Slipping into an old pair of jeans and a work shirt she heads out to the garden shed and pulls out the riding mower. It takes a couple of hours to mow the lawn and she is left wondering how single parents find time to take care of a house and raise kids if she can’t find time to mow her lawn. After lunch she showers, shaves, slips into a pair of running pants and a tee then heads for work.
Her night goes well as she is really getting the hang of stripping and table waiting. Her tips are getting better as she gains more confidence and learns to flirt with total strangers in nothing but an apron and heels. Late into the evening she sees another guy that bears a striking resemblance to Norman sitting on the other side of the club staring in her direction. But with the smoky room it makes it hard to tell and she just marks it off as a trick of her mind. She leaves just after eleven and heads for home knowing that tomorrow night will be a lot longer.
Wren is up early for her run and to do some grocery shopping. Driving into Fenton she grabs an early lunch, washes the car and does her shopping then heads for home. She carefully packs her car with her special packages, placing the batteries in separately. She puts the remote under the front seat then adds a few snacks to her backpack for the night. When all is packed and she is cleaned up she heads into work.
Work is going well though the Norman man is there again and this time a little closer to her section so she can steal a glimpse of him from time to time. He seems to talk to his waitress more than flirt and doesn’t really drink all that much. His looks and his actions make Wren believe it could be Norman but if it is Norman why doesn’t he ask to see her?
At eleven Wren is leaving for the day and heading toward St. Louis. Driving to within two streets of Bob Gristmond’s house and parking her car on a darkened street. She quietly removes one of her packages and a battery then crossing through yards and over fences makes her way toward his house.
It is just after midnight when the shadow once again slips through the darkness towards Bob’s house. Fortunately it is dark on this part of the street so it is easy to slip up beside his car. Inserting the battery into the package she slips under the drivers side as far as she can and finds she can just reach the transmission tunnel. With a deep clunk the magnet catches hold of the car as she places her present.
Crossing a different set of yards and fences she goes back to her car and heads over to Harvey’s. She knows this one is going to be more difficult though as the street is well lit. Again she parks a street over and walks back to his house. As she walks up his driveway in a low crotch she is startled by a motion sensing light on the side of his house. She ducks beside another car until the light goes out. Once the light is back out she carefully creeps through what shadows there are to the Escort. Slipping under the back end of the car where she can’t be seen she places her present right next to the gas tank. She surreptitiously makes it back to her car and heads for Jim’s.
“Two down and one to go.”
Once again she parks a street over and slips through the shadows to Jim’s. This is by far the trashiest house of any so far. There is an old burned out bug in the driveway, an old sports car on blocks in the yard and general refuse piled all around the house. She finds the beetle and opens the trunk, pulling back a piece of carpet she places the present directly on the gas tank and puts the carpet back.
When she makes it back to her car it is four in the morning. She figures Jim, being a landscaper will probably be heading for work soon so she drives around the block to a position where she can see Jim’s car.
At five-fifteen he gets in his car and starts down the street. Wren pulls out the remote, extends the antenna and follows from a safe distance until he gets on the ramp for highway forty-four. When he is halfway down the ramp she hits the remote and drives past the ramp. The old bug goes up in a huge fireball with an explosion so loud Wren can feel the blast inside her car.
“Maybe I should’ve made those a little smaller? Well so much for Bob being first and I’ve just got time to take care of Harvey.”
Wren pulls on to Harvey’s street just as he is coming down it. She picks up the remote and watches him in her rear-view mirror as he enters the intersection. No one else is around him so now is the time. She hits the button and doesn’t look back as the car goes up with such force it takes the pavement underneath it with it. At this point Wren heads for home and to bed as there is just too much light out to conceal her work. She gets home about seven-thirty, turns on the television, gets out some cereal and starts watching the news.
“A bizarre pair of traffic problems this morning: two car explosions. One on the ramp to eastbound forty-four at Lindbergh, and the other at the intersection of Chippewa and Jamison. There as yet is no known cause for the explosions but on the scene investigators say they look similar as both cars and their occupants were completely destroyed.”
“Well, maybe they weren’t so big after all.”
Wren finishes her cereal and goes to bed.
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