Random Revenge (Detective Robert Winter Book 1)

by William Michaels

  But scaring off and punishing a teenager was one thing; a grown man, even a loser like Lenny, was something else. He outweighed her by fifty pounds at least. So she’d bring the knife.

  The exit to Greenhill was dark, no cars getting off. She drove slowly through town, everything seedier than she remembered it, if that were possible. The place was a dump, an old manufacturing town with no factories running. The main drag was lined with fast food restaurants that hadn’t been remodeled in years, interspersed with boarded up stores and vacant lots. It was hard to imagine a city of almost five million people was less than an hour away.

  The Toyota bounced across a set of rails, except there was no bad part of town, the entire town was across the proverbial tracks. Melanie knew the motel because she’d once been offered a hook up there with one of the first men who promised her he’d help her make it big, years back when she believed that shit. She’d pulled into the lot, taken one look at the motel and drove right back out, her instincts telling her that any man who wanted to meet up with her at a dive like the Greenhill couldn’t have much going for him in his head or his pocketbook.

  But she remembered enough about the place to know it was a good spot to meet Lenny. If nothing had changed, and it was hard to imagine it would have, the back of the Greenhill was bordered by a vacant lot and an old industrial warehouse. She could flash the knife at Lenny if she had to and no one would be around to see.

  She drove slowly past the front of the motel, an old fashioned neon light promising vacancy, no doubt the place practically empty. A few stores along the street, all closed. Beyond that, old houses, some with lights on, mostly upstairs, working stiffs going to bed early.

  Melanie pulled the Toyota into an apartment complex lot. An old guy was getting out of his car, he didn’t even glance her way. Melanie waited until he disappeared into the complex. She sat there for a few minutes, even though she wanted to be early to meet Lenny, running her fingers over the tip of the knife. It wasn’t especially sharp, but Lenny wouldn’t know that.

  Melanie got in role and slipped out of the car. From the backseat she pulled on a thin leather jacket, dropping the knife in the pocket.

  A door slammed somewhere in the complex, but no one came toward the parking lot. Melanie headed back toward the motel, a whisper in the darkness, a black spider on her way to ensnare an unsuspecting prey.

  Lenny got lost looking for the Greenhill Motel even with the help of his phone GPS. He was squinting through the windshield, searching vainly for signs, the streets so close together he missed the turn. The houses didn’t even have driveways to turn around in, cars parked on the streets, even on the small front lawns.

  Was this really where Melanie wanted to hook up?

  No more after this. Lenny was tired of this shit, getting jerked around by Melanie. He’d make it clear tonight who was calling the shots. They’d meet at her place next time, he certainly knew how to sneak in the back without getting caught by the press. Lenny laughed, he was the Marburg celebrity photographer, or used to be, that gig was thankfully over. Soon he’d be walking in the front door of Melanie’s apartment, maybe even have some photographer shoot pictures of him for a change. Manager Lenny Gruse on his way to see Melanie Upton. Or better yet Melanie Upton Lands Lenny Gruse. She’d be known by her association with him, not the other way around.

  He finally got the Caddy on the right route. Even though the GPS was flashing he drove right by the Greenhill Motel without noticing it; he was looking for a new chain building, not an ancient inn. Maybe it was romantic inside, that’s why Melanie had picked it. She’d said she knew the desk clerk. Lenny would have to find out why, he didn’t want to be comped by some old boyfriend of hers.

  Melanie had so much to learn about how he wanted to be treated.

  Lenny turned around again, giving himself one last look in the visor mirror. He hadn’t shaved, women loved that two day beard look. He’d worn his best dark blue silk shirt, black jeans, short boots. The shirt was open three buttons, showing off a little chest hair and a gold chain, understated, he wasn’t a pimp. He’d stolen some of Tom’s cologne, not the best, but he’d run out of his own.

  Looking good.

  A small sign said Parking and he pulled around the back of the motel. The lot was bigger than he expected, a half dozen cars clustered by the back entrance of the motel, lit by a dim spotlight over the door. Across the lot another bunch of cars parked near what looked like a warehouse, illuminated by an even dimmer yellow floodlight.

  A figure in a baseball cap was leaning against one of the cars by the door. Lenny started to park but the figure crossed in front of the Caddy and tried to get in the passenger door. Lenny had the doors locked and the figure peered into the window.

  “Are you going to let me in or what?”

  Lenny responded slowly, not expecting to see Melanie in a baseball cap and a leather jacket, he was hoping for something sexy. He hit the unlock button and Melanie slid in.

  No slinky dress, but she still looked fine, her legs slim in the tight jeans. Melanie looked at him and Lenny was hoping she’d lean over for a kiss, but all she said was, “Did you tell anyone?”

  “No. Not yet. Where were you tonight?” That wasn’t how he wanted the evening to start, already jealous, and still a little pissed that she hadn’t dressed up for him, what was that under the jacket, some kind of man’s shirt? Who gave her that?

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was at my sister’s.”

  Lenny pulled into a parking space and shut off the engine. “You have a sister?”

  Melanie frowned at him. “I thought you knew.”

  Lenny shrugged. “It’s news to me.”

  “We see a lot of each other, she lives right near me.”

  “At Lakeview?”

  Melanie’s faced changed, a hardening, an intensity Lenny had never seen in her before. The look was so severe he cringed back against the door. He’d felt disdain from her, but never anything like this. What had he said? Was she really that pissed just because he didn’t know she had a sister?

  “What?” he said.

  Melanie turned away from him, looking through the windshield, nothing there but darkness. Even in profile she was alluring, that perfect nose, her slim figure. Lenny had seen a lot of beautiful women, lusted over hundreds, but he’d never wanted one as much as he wanted her.

  And now he’d pissed her off. He tried to think of what to say. He was so smooth with women, everyone except Melanie. He’d have to fix that. She just twisted him all around.

  Melanie seemed to be composing herself, Lenny praying he hadn’t messed up, women were so sensitive.

  Melanie finally turned back to him, her face relaxed, but the steel still in her eyes. “Nothing,” she said. “Just family stuff. Hey, about those photos . . .”

  “Are we going to go inside?”

  “Let’s get this other thing straightened out first. I don’t want to be talking shop in there, you know what I mean?”

  That was more like it. “Look, Melanie, like I told you, I’m impressed by what you are doing. The whole Jason thing, it’s working. But you got to play it just right, you don’t want to come out of this looking like some desperate third wheel now that Ashley Hanna is in the picture.”

  “So if you are so impressed, why are you holding this over my head? Threatening to blow my story?”

  “I didn’t mean anything by that. You just kept jerking me around. I just wanted to get your attention, take me seriously.”

  “I want to believe you, I do. But you got to admit, I don’t have much to go on.”

  Lenny leaned over toward her, he wanted to take her in his arms and console her, but she spun on the seat and set her back against the far door, out of reach, her legs tucked under her lap. “I don’t want to ruin your story. But you got to let it go at some point, you have to become known as someone other than Jason Ayer’s other woman.”

  “Gee, I never would have thought of that! You�
�re so smart.”

  Just when Lenny thought he was softening her up, Melanie fell back into her bitchy mode. “It’s talk like that that pisses me off, makes me say things I might not mean.”

  “Like having proof I wasn’t with Jason?”

  “I’ve seen the proof alright. I didn’t really mean I’d use it. Unless you forced me to.”

  “So you don’t have it?”

  “I’ve seen it.” Lenny knew he sounded like a little kid, but Melanie turned his crank.

  Melanie’s voice softened. “Lenny, if we are going to work together—be together—we need a little honesty here.”

  “You answer me a question first and then I’ll tell you.”

  Melanie sighed theatrically. “Okay.”

  “What’s with you and Tazik?”

  “That’s what’s bothering you?”

  “You said honesty, right?”

  Melanie crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. I slept with him because he took those photos at the press conference. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  Lenny swallowed hard, his gut twisting. He had assumed as much, but hearing Melanie admit it was tough to take. “That should have been me,” he said. “I gave you that idea.”

  “Tazik is nothing to me. I’m here with you now, aren’t I?” Melanie cocked her head. “Is that why you thought I wasn’t with Jason? Taz showed you the pictures he took that night?”

  Lenny nodded glumly. “He said he was doing a book on tattoos. I recognized yours from a picture I saw on the web. Plus, you know, you wouldn’t have had time to be with Jason.”

  Melanie gave him an enigmatic smile. “Me being with more than one man in a night you mean?”

  Lenny looked away, he couldn’t face this now, not if he didn’t know how she felt about it. “Something like that.”

  He thought Melanie was going to press him, but instead she said, “I was pretty drunk that night, do you have copies of the pictures? Taz never showed me.”

  “Yeah, you were out of it alright.” It made sense now, her reaction in the bed, she must have been stoned. He softened, maybe she was the one who couldn’t perform that night. “I don’t have copies, Taz showed them to me on his phone.” He thought of something. “Hey, he said he was going to do a book, no way he’d use camera shots for an art book. Did he use a better camera? Or did you promise him a real shoot?”

  “You’re sitting outside a motel with me, and that’s what you want to talk about? Another guy?”

  “If we’re going to be partners you have to listen to me when it comes to your image,” argued Lenny. “This is what I can help you with.”

  Melanie dropped her eyes into her lap, her voice hollow, resigned. “Tell me exactly what you mean by partners.”

  Lenny had been thinking a lot about this. “First, it’s the business stuff. Think of me as your manager. I’ll give you guidance on your publicity, what roles you should take.”

  “I already have an agent.”

  “You need more than an agent. You’re going to be a star. You need someone to manage all the details. You want to waste time doing paperwork, going to meetings? You’re going to be acting, doing interviews.”

  “And I expect you want to be paid for all this.”

  Lenny was ready for this too. “You’d have to pay someone, why not me? I can manage all your money too. You want to be worried about all that while you’re on television, in movies?”

  “I guess so,” said Melanie, her voice subdued.

  “It’ll work out, you’ll see.” Lenny hesitated, waiting for an argument, but Melanie just kept looking in her lap. He forged ahead. “And if we are going to be working so closely together, you know, I think it’s only natural that we are together all the time.” Shit, that sounded so lame. She needed a forceful guy, he’d seen proof of that.

  “About that.” Melanie finally looked up, her eyes still not matching her vibe. “If you and I—get together, we have to keep it quiet, at least for now. I have to keep the Jason thing going for a while, you said yourself it was a good play.”

  Lenny felt a flush of heat, she was his for the taking, this was as close as Melanie would ever get to saying it, at least right now. “Sure, but we can still hook up, like here, tonight. You know what I mean?”

  Melanie glanced around the parking lot, then stretched catlike against the door, slipping her hands into the pockets of the jacket, the leather separating to reveal her chest. Lenny felt her eyes on him, really looking at him, but it was just an impression, his own eyes were focused elsewhere.

  “Maybe if you had played your cards right that night you were with me, we wouldn’t have to do this, sneaking around at a motel.” Melanie’s voice was a sigh, a promise.

  Lenny wasn’t thinking straight, it was all happening just as he planned, he didn’t care what Melanie was wearing, he didn’t care about the dark motel or the baseball cap or the man’s shirt. “Melanie, about that night, you know, in the bed, I just wanted to show you what I could give you . . .”

  Melanie’s lip quivered, she sucked in a breath Lenny could hear. “Shit, shit, shit,” she said, her eyes glazing over. “Why did it have to be you?”

  “I just wanted to change your opinion of me, surprise you. Hey, it must have worked, you’re here, right?”

  She stared at him for a long time and then slowly slipped out of her jacket, a striptease just for him, the leather pooling in her lap. She moved across the seat, getting on her knees, leaning over to him, close, Lenny hadn’t been this close to a woman in forever. Her musk filled his nostrils, the brim of her cap hit his forehead and fell off, her face filled his vision, her eyes wide open, magnetic even in their hardness. Lenny felt the heat, he’d won, he’d impressed her, he didn’t have to apologize, the break-in hadn’t been a mistake after all . . .

  ““My sister’s name is Gigi,” whispered Melanie.

  “What?” croaked Lenny.

  “Gigi. This is for her.”

  Lenny held his breath as she leaned in, he prayed she was going to kiss him. Her body pressed against his, her hand blissfully dropping to his crotch. A sharp pain, she was grabbing him, too hard, he squirmed, another sting, even sharper, Lenny’s eyes widening in shock, she was too rough, his hands flailing, trying to force their way between them, but his muscles didn’t respond, his whole body weak, she was sucking every bit of his energy. Melanie pushed relentlessly down, down, Lenny not comprehending, his expectation of pleasure confused by the excruciating pain, his mouth finally opening to scream. Melanie covered his mouth not with hers but with her hand, the pain unbearable, jagged invasions repeating over and over, rising up into his gut, Melanie’s eyes inches from his, so big, how could her eyes be so big, he was falling into them, numbed by her beauty, numbed by her touch. She must have come closer, his vision filled with her very pupils, nothing but blackness.

  Melanie looked out over the reservoir, slivers of dancing reflections from the streetlights far across the water on the causeway. The water lapped against the wall below her, the only sound except for an occasional car passing on the other side of the reservoir.

  She used to come here in high school. The far reaches of the reservoir on the outskirts of Marburg, a small road, barely wide enough for a car, pounded through the woods from decades of kids looking for a place to smoke their first cigarette, light their first joint, have their first kiss. She’d done all of that here, and more.

  No one here tonight, and it didn’t look like anyone had been around for a long time. The beer bottles were dusty, the condom wrappers crushed. Melanie felt suddenly very old, high school kids these days didn’t sneak around, they hooked up at parties in front of everyone else, it wasn’t a big deal anymore.

  Acts that ten years ago were shocking, acts that would get you all kinds of publicity. Easier days. Look what she had to do just to get on television now.

  She should have felt some remorse over Lenny. Perhaps it was that she had protected Gigi and gotten revenge; Melanie had taken car
e of things as she always had. Lenny would never bother her sister again. Gigi wouldn’t have to know anything other than she was safe. Melanie would find a way to convince Gigi of that without telling her the details. Gigi was just too sensitive to learn the truth.

  Lenny had given her no choice. He was never going to let go, he would always be her albatross.

  Melanie had pulled out the knife from the jacket pocket, Lenny so full of himself he hadn’t even noticed. She hadn’t planned on killing Lenny, just scare him, but once he admitted he’d been in the bed with Gigi, that he’d put his hands on her, she had to punish him. Just waving a knife and warning him not to do it again, or getting him to admit he was sorry, was not enough. She wanted to hurt him, cut his balls, but she lost control even while her mind was sorting through her options. How can you threaten someone to not do what they were already guilty of? Gigi had been so out of it, Lenny might have raped her . . . and to make matters worse, Melanie had tried to make light of it to Gigi.

  She’d stabbed him deeper than she had realized, the blood gushing out from his leg, Lenny stunned, staring at her in disbelief, not fighting or trying to escape, frozen in her deadly embrace. And once he was bleeding Melanie was stuck, what was she going to do, call an ambulance? Say she was defending herself? Make an anonymous call from where, her own phone? How would she explain why she was there? And if he survived, he’d bury her for sure, the photos he had seen would be nothing compared to this.

  In the end she had held him down and watched him bleed, feeling no remorse, she was just doing what she had to do. Even if she could have found a way to free herself, he had defiled Gigi. That she could never forgive.

  Maybe she’d always known it would end like this, that one day she’d have to pay a horrendous price in order to make it big. If it hadn’t been Lenny, it would have been someone else she’d have to step over. Perhaps that was why she had had taken the knife, a part of her deep down inside aware of the steps she might have to take.