The Devil You Know

by Mary Monroe

  I needed a woman and I didn’t care what I had to do to get one. Not only did I need her for sex, I needed her to help get Lola off my mind for a little while so I could concentrate on Sylvia.

  It wouldn’t be hard to find sex in Vegas. Escorts advertised their services on the sides of shuttle buses, and scruffy people lined the Strip’s sidewalks passing out “business cards” with hookers’ working names and telephone numbers. I didn’t care what tonight’s woman looked like—as long as she wasn’t too plain or fat. I didn’t even care how much money she wanted. I’d give her every dollar I had on me, because she wouldn’t live long enough to keep it anyway.

  Chapter 10

  Joan

  FOR THE PAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS, REED HAD BEEN TALKING about buying us a big house in the hills, having more children, and taking month-long vacations in some of the most glamorous countries in the world. A few months ago, he abruptly stopped talking about his big plans for our family. And it was just as well. As far as I was concerned, our marriage was over. Unfortunately, he didn’t think so.

  One reason we still lived under the same roof was because I was literally afraid to leave him. I was not afraid that he would hurt me physically, because he was not the violent type. And he knew better. For one thing, he was well aware that my three older brothers, my stepfather, or some (or all) of my other ferocious male relatives would never let him hurt me and get away with it.

  We were still together because I was afraid that he would hurt himself if I left. “I will not live without you, Joan.” He had been singing the same song for years. A couple of years ago when he realized our marriage was in big trouble, he’d attempted suicide. No matter how many times I tried to get his parents to talk some sense into him, they refused to believe there was anything to worry about. “Just be good to him and he’ll be fine,” his mother told me each time. “Don’t do anything to upset him,” his father added. I eventually stopped bringing up the subject with them.

  Mama and my stepfather, Elmo, were even less supportive. They constantly reminded me that I was doing so much better than any of the other women in our family because I’d married one of the most successful dentists in town. One of their favorite “tunes” was, “We didn’t raise no fool so we know you ain’t going to walk away from all that prestige, not to mention all that damn money.”

  Reed’s constant whining, suicide threats, and accusations of my seeing other men made me so miserable, I wanted to kill him myself. However, I had found another way to comfort myself: online dating. It involved a lot of maneuvering and lies, but it was worth it. Besides, it was the only way I could stay married to Reed and not go off the deep end.

  I’d started searching for love on the Internet a couple of years ago. Most of the men I encountered were looking for somebody they could have an exclusive relationship with. Some were even looking for wives. One married businessman I met on Plenty-OfFish fell hard for me after only two dates. He wanted to marry me so badly, he offered to commit bigamy. I was willing to do a lot of stupid things, but marrying another man while I was still married to Reed was not one of them.

  It didn’t take long for me to get tired and bored with guys who wanted more than sex. One lonely night while I was randomly Googling for sites that catered to people who were interested only in casual relationships, I discovered Discreet Encounters. It was a dream come true. And not just for me. Lola eventually joined. I had no idea how much longer she planned to remain a member, but I had no desire to end my membership anytime soon.

  After only three encounters, John Walden had become my favorite date. We had a good thing going, and I wanted to keep it going. I had never seen him even remotely annoyed until today. Lola’s telephone calls had upset him as much as they’d upset me.

  “Next time we get together, don’t let your friend know the name of our hotel,” he snarled when Lola and I ended our second conversation.

  “I won’t,” I mumbled. I placed the hotel telephone back into its cradle, and John immediately pulled me into his arms again. We were still in bed.

  “Is everything okay, m’dear?” he asked as he raked his fingers through my tangled hair. “Your friend sounded thoroughly distressed. What seems to be the problem?”

  “It’s Reed,” I mumbled.

  “Again? For the love of Jesus H. Christ! What a bloody bummer!” John grumbled.

  “He went to her house looking for me and asked all kinds of nosy questions in front of her whole family. They already think I’m crazy, and so there’s no telling what kind of rumors they’ll start spreading about me now. That man has turned my life into a nightmare!”

  John let out a loud groan and abruptly sat up. “Then why don’t you end your nightmare and start a new life in Phoenix with me. You can pick out a smashing new condo, a set of wheels, a completely new wardrobe, the most exclusive private school for your boy that my money can buy, and more. I keep telling you that my offer is still open.”

  “And I keep telling you that I can’t end my marriage and move to Phoenix. I’ve lived in California my whole life, so it’s not that easy for me to pack up and move to another state. Besides that, I don’t know if I would like being the other woman.”

  John gasped so hard he choked on some air. “What? You are ‘the other woman,’ my dear! And not just with me. A lot of other chaps fancy you and vice versa. I read the club reviews on a regular basis, so I know what a busy little bee you are!”

  I dropped my head and stared at my hands for a few seconds. When I looked back at John, he had the most pitiful look on his face I had ever seen.

  “In spite of our relationships with other people, I love you, Joan. We’ve been open and honest with each other since our first encounter. So is it fair for me to assume that you trust me?”

  “I guess,” I said with a shrug. “I trust you as much as you trust me.”

  John rolled his eyes. “That’s a can of worms I’m not ready to open yet.” He laughed. Then he got serious again. “The thing is, I’d do anything in the world for you.”

  “Anything but leave your wife.”

  “That is absolutely out of the question. Don’t even think about that.” John had told me from the get-go that he would never divorce his wife. For one thing, he was in love with her. Breaking up the marriage would devastate her, not to mention the impact it would have on his children. He had admitted that a major reason he couldn’t leave his wife was because she was from a powerful Italian family with a shady reputation. It had taken years for them to accept a black man into the family. I didn’t ask for any explicit details, but I had a pretty good idea what he was up against. “You know how much you mean to me, and I never want to give you up.”

  “And you don’t have to. We’ll just have to keep working around my husband. Ooooh! Sometimes he makes me so angry I wish he’d just disappear!”

  “I can arrange that. . . .”

  This time I gasped. “I don’t even want to think about what you mean by that!” I boomed. I suddenly felt so uneasy, I couldn’t remain still. I literally jumped off the bed. “Um, I need to get home. We have guests coming this evening.” I skittered across the floor to the dresser where I had dropped my clothes. “I’m going to take a quick shower and then be on my way. Call me when you get back to Phoenix.”

  “You can count on that.” John leered at me until I closed the bathroom door.

  Chapter 11

  Calvin

  THE ONLY THING I HATED ABOUT LAS VEGAS WAS DRIVING ON THE Strip after dark. With so many lanes and bumper-to-bumper traffic, it was a nightmare. It took forty minutes just to get from my hotel to the freeway, less than a quarter of a mile away.

  I didn’t want to waste too much time, so I exited after about two miles and stopped at the first gas station I saw. It was in a pretty rough-looking neighborhood. I handed the attendant on duty a twenty and asked him where to find the street hookers. He directed me to an area four blocks away, and I took off like a rocket. The closer I got to my destination,
the seedier the surroundings looked, so I didn’t expect to find any beauty queens.

  Surprisingly, the girls on this particular stroll were quite attractive and frisky. They began to grin and wave at me as if I were the only trick who had approached them all night. I felt like a kid in a candy store.

  It didn’t take long to make up my mind. I saw what I wanted right away. She was one of the most innocent and fragile-looking females I’d ever seen, and the only Asian sharing a corner under a streetlight with half a dozen other hookers. I parked at the curb, lowered the window on the passenger side, and gave her a nod. She approached with a huge smile on her small, heart-shaped face and poked her head in the window. She was very tiny, so I could control her with one hand tied behind my back.

  My rage was increasing with each second, but I smiled back. “What’s your name, cutie?” I asked.

  “Tell me yours first.” She sounded even younger than she looked, and she was obviously still in her teens.

  “You’re very sexy, but you look kind of young to be out here.” Despite the monster I had become, I still had a few scruples. I refused to victimize pregnant women and minors. Even though Glinda had claimed to be pregnant the night I killed her, she had told me too late.

  “I am kind of young, but I’m old enough for whatever you have in mind. Now, what’s your name?”

  “My name is . . . um, James.”

  “Yeah, right. And my name is Snow White. Look, sweetie, I don’t care what your real name is. The only man’s real name I care about is Mr. Benjamin Franklin. For a homely man, that old dude sure makes a hundred dollar bill look pretty.” The hooker wagged her finger in my face. “But I’ll accept smaller bills with other men’s mugs on ’em too, as long as you give me enough.” She paused and gave me a pensive look. Then she added in a very dry tone, “My name is Hyeon.”

  “That’s a pretty name.” I kept the smile on my face as I caressed my chin and squirmed in my seat. I wanted to look as awkward and nonthreatening as possible.

  “In Korean it means virtuous.”

  This was the first time I had come across a virtuous whore. I had to hold my breath to keep from laughing. “I like you a lot, Hyeon. Are you pregnant?”

  “Huh? That’s a weird question! What the fuck difference does it make if I’m pregnant or not?” She didn’t look so fragile and innocent now.

  “Please don’t bite my head off, baby,” I protested with my hand in the air. The only reason I didn’t grab this pit bull by the throat now was because I wanted to fuck her first, and because those other whores were still looking. “I was just asking a simple question. My last date was with a pregnant girl, and she couldn’t do all the things I wanted her to do.”

  “I ain’t pregnant and never will be if I can help it. I hate kids! Now, do you want to buy some pussy tonight or what, dude?” she yelled.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, I do.” I snorted and looked her up and down. She wore a plaid miniskirt and a white blouse with the tails tied into a knot up under her perky breasts. In addition to her four-inch heels, she had on a pair of white ankle socks.

  Hyeon suddenly looked back toward the other women. One motioned with her finger for Hyeon to rejoin the group. She ran back to the curb and they had a brief, animated conversation. A few seconds later, she returned to the car with a concerned look on her face. She looked around before she poked her head back in the window. “You a cop?”

  “Nope. Do I look like one?”

  “Honey, looks ain’t got nothing to do with it. I know cops who look like priests. My homegirl was just reminding me that I have to ask. I ain’t been working the streets long, so I’m still learning the ropes.”

  “Oh? Then you don’t have much experience, huh?”

  “Pffft!” Hyeon gave me a dismissive wave and an exasperated look. “I’ve had ten dates since I got on the block at noon, and the night is still young! I’ve been getting paid since I was fifteen. I used to work in a brothel near Reno until another bitch ratted me out to the head honchos that I was underage. They fired me on the spot. But you don’t have to worry, I turned eighteen last week.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “Do you mean to tell me you wouldn’t deal with me if I wasn’t of legal age?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Honey, you got some nerve worrying about what’s legal. In case you didn’t know, buying pussy off the street ain’t legal in this state.” Hyeon snickered. To put her more at ease, I snickered too. “Anyway, I’m new at doing my business outside of a brothel, that’s what I meant. Now let’s stop yip-yapping about bullshit nonsense and talk business.”

  “Why don’t you get in and we can talk while I drive.”

  I couldn’t rent a motel room—which was the reason I had not called an escort service—because I didn’t want to leave a paper trail. I drove toward the outskirts of town.

  “What do you want?” Hyeon asked. “I can take it up the butt if that’s what you’re into, and I give a mean blow job. A lot of my black tricks like shit like that.”

  “Not this black man.” I gave her a mild frown. “Just straight sex will do tonight. How much?”

  “The more you give me, the better time I’ll show you.”

  “Don’t you girls generally have a set price?”

  “I don’t do nothing ‘generally’ when it comes to my money, but like I just told you, the more you pay me, the better time I’ll show you. Now I could sit here and ask you for five hundred bucks but—”

  “That’s fine.”

  Hyeon’s jaw dropped. “Five hundred bucks! Woo-hoo! Dude, I was just talking off the top of my head. I wasn’t going to ask for nothing even close to that, especially if all you want is straight sex. Are you one of them rich black celebrities, or a drug dealer or something like that?” She narrowed her eyes and stared at the side of my head.

  “Nothing like that. I’m just a plain old waiter.” I chuckled.

  “You’re just a waiter? Shiiiit! Honey, you must make some damn good tips if you can afford to pay big money like that for a piece of ass.”

  “Oh, I do quite well. I serve some of the most famous celebrities in the world.”

  “That’s what I figured. Guess what? I ‘serve’ some of the most famous celebrities in the world myself.” We bumped fists and laughed at the same time. “You must work in one of the Strip casino restaurants.”

  “Yup. Now if you don’t mind, can we cut to the chase?” I glanced at my watch. “I have to get to work soon.”

  “Okay then. Point-blank, for five hundred bucks I’ll fuck you inside out. You got a room?”

  “Oh, no,” I said quickly. “I don’t take long to get off, so we don’t even need a room. I’ll find a spot where we can have some privacy.”

  “I know a cool place not far from here. Just me and a couple of other girls know about it. We do most of our quickies there.”

  I looked at my prey again. She was still staring at the side of my head. Less than a minute later she said, “Turn right at the next street and pull behind that old building at the corner and stop.”

  “What? Did you change your mind?”

  “No, I didn’t change my mind. I just want my money now. This is the place I was talking about.”

  I pulled behind the dilapidated building and parked, and then I took out my wallet. Hyeon gave me another smile when I handed her five crisp hundred-dollar bills. She hummed as she stuffed the money into her bra. “We don’t even have to go into that dusty old warehouse. Your backseat will do.”

  “That’s fine with me,” I muttered. I pulled out a pack of condoms from my back pocket.

  Before I could even unzip and get a condom on, Hyeon crawled into the backseat, removed her panties, and stretched out on her back. She lifted her skirt and spread her legs open. With my door still open and the interior light on, I got a good look at her almost bald little pussy and got excited even more.

  “I’m good,” she whispered as I climbed on top of her. Sh
e was so tiny, it felt like I was mounting a pillow, but once I got my equipment in place and started slamming into her, I realized I was with a well-used, well-experienced woman. She probably had sex with more men in a day than some women had in a lifetime! I came in less than a minute, which was unusual for me. I could hump a woman for an hour or longer if I wanted to, but I needed to do my business and be done as soon as possible because I had other plans for this bitch.

  “Oh my God,” I croaked. “Baby . . . that was so damn good.” I shuddered and took a deep breath. My adrenaline felt like it was about to burst out of my veins.

  “See. I told you I was good.” Hyeon gave me a smug look. Her legs were still wrapped around my waist. “I make all of my other tricks come real quick too.” It was the last thing she said before my hands went around her throat.

  Chapter 12

  Calvin

  I LEFT THE RENTAL CAR’S INTERIOR LIGHT ON, EVEN THOUGH IT wasn’t necessary. The light coming from the moon was bright enough for me to see what I was doing.

  I had come to Vegas dozens of times, but this would be my most unforgettable visit. It was nowhere near the big city people thought it was. I was only about three miles from the Strip, but I could still see the bright lights that lit up the casinos and hotels. I couldn’t think of any location in the world that deserved to be nicknamed Sin City more than Las Vegas. It was a damn shame how some of the millions of people who came here ended up losing not only their money and dignity but their lives too.

  The average person had no idea how complicated murder was. I didn’t know any killers personally, so I didn’t know what their experiences were like. Mine varied from one victim to the next.

  The things I liked the most were a challenge and a deserving victim. I enjoyed having sex with a seasoned whore like Hyeon. Because of her “career” choice she deserved to die. She was as easy to overpower as a paper doll, so the challenge was a major letdown.