Intrigue (Stories of Suspense)

by Aaron Patterson

  Reluctantly Susan nodded. She would be at the dry cleaners at five so she could pick up his suit and bring it to him. She was too worried about upsetting their newfound peace to do anything else. Craig was able to play her perfectly. The promise of a little kindness was all it took. Susan carried the tray of cups and plates to the kitchen so she could put them away and they could spend the rest of the evening cuddling on the sofa. As soon as she left the room any semblance of humanity evaporated from Craig. He could’ve been a lump of clay sitting there.

  It wasn’t too hard to figure out what he had in the works. Someone would be waiting for Susan when she arrived at the dry cleaners and either put a bullet in her head or bash her brains in with a pipe. She’d become another statistic; a warning to other suburbanites to keep out of that part of town. Craig would play the heartsick widower and quietly collect the insurance money. That’s what was in the works, but I wasn’t going to let it happen. I decided then that I was going to kill him. Best “buds” or not, if he was going to try something like this then he was going to have to pay the price. Over time Susan would forgive me. Even if she didn’t, at least she’d have a shot at some happiness.

  I jumped off the loveseat and padded over to the sofa before leaping onto the armrest. I wanted Craig to know what I was going to do. I stared intently at him, trying to transfer my thoughts into his brain. He noticed me, gave a feeble smile and reached out to scratch behind my ear. He stopped in mid-motion. His smile faded quickly. Maybe my thoughts were seeping into his brain, maybe they weren’t, but he knew that I knew. Just as badly, though, I wanted him to know about that old wives’ tale—the one about cats being able to steal your breath away while you sleep. I wanted him to know about it because there’s quite a bit of truth to it as I’ll be proving tonight. After he goes to bed I’ll be sucking the air out of his throat and he’ll be dead by morning. Maybe I’ll even get his tongue while I’m at it. There’ll be no reason for Susan to go to that dry cleaners tomorrow night. Craig made his bed and now he was going to have to die in it.

  From the alarmed look spreading across Craig’s face I decided it would be best to keep up the pretense a little while longer. I pushed my head into him and purred.

  The End

  Also by Dave Zeltserman:

  Fast Lane

  Bad Thoughts

  Small Crimes

  Bad Karma

  Pariah

  Killer

  The Caretaker of Lorne Field

  Outsourced

  Blood Crimes

  Dying Memories

  Julius Katz and Archie

  A Killer's Essence (Fall 2011, Overlook Press)

  www.davezeltserman.com

  Aaron Patterson

  Aaron was homeschooled and grew up in the west. He loved to read as a small child and would often be found behind a book, reading one to three a day on average. This love drove him to want to write, but he never thought he had the talent. His wife Karissa prodded him to try it, and with this encouragement he wrote Sweet Dreams, the first book in the WJA series, in 2008. He lives in Boise Idaho with his family, Soleil, Kale and Klayton.

  The Craigslist Killer

  For all the singles out there…

  THE DARE

  I dare you.

  BILL LOOKED OUT OVER the club with a mixture of distaste and comfort. The Lobby was Boise’s hangout club, but that wasn’t saying much. Boise, Idaho was a college town, and it was all about Boise State football. They made headlines with their winning record, and the topic was always about the rankings and standings.

  “Really? I think the BCS is full of overpaid thick heads that wouldn’t know a football from a basketball.” Andrew said as he took another long drag from his beer.

  “The polls are all wrong, whatever happened to winning? If you win the game then you win the game.” Dan and Andrew went on and on about why Boise State should be in a better conference and all the other things that went along with it.

  Bill could care less about football or what conference Boise State was in. He liked to hang out and try new things. He went to college to watch the girls and party. Boise was the place to be, in both categories.

  “So, you hear about Dan’s new fling?” Andrew was saying. Dan gave a look that said more than words ever would.

  “No, what now?” Bill knew that every few weeks Dan had a new lady friend. He went through them like candy. They were never more than fun and someone to suck him dry of all his cash, but he had a silver spoon thanks to Daddy’s trust fund, so what was it to him?

  “Tell him Drew.”

  “Look, it’s not like it sounds. She is great—hot, tall and single.” Andrew leaned back on his bar stool and looked out over the mass of bodies gyrating to the loud music.

  “And you met her online!” Dan punched Andrew in the shoulder and made him spill his drink. Andrew cursed and glared at him.

  “What? Are you kidding?” Bill didn’t understand why he would go online to find a girl; Andrew had good looks, money and could pick up anyone he wanted. “Please don’t tell me you went on Craigslist.”

  “No, what do you take me for? That place is full of scammers and creepers.”

  “No, he went to a dating site… which one, meetarichsinglegirl.com?” Dan was enjoying himself.

  “Doesn’t matter. It may be funny to you guys but being who I am, it is hard to find someone who wants to be with me for me. I don’t have to tell them online that I have money, we start things off simple and it seems to work.”

  “Have you met her in person?” Bill watched a girl on the dance floor dip low and toss her hair back. I wonder how she can do that without hurting her neck, he thought. He always seemed to be able to read people and as he watched the moving bodies, one person would always jump out at him as the spark. The one that just seemed to be on stage, stealing the show and if this one person would leave, the room would somehow lose some of its magic. This girl doing the hair flip thing was the spark.

  “Yes, we went on two dates, she is really cool. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to marry her.”

  “Well… I DARE you ten bucks that you couldn’t get one from Craigslist.” Andrew ran a hand through his dark black hair and Bill knew by saying this single word, something bad was about to happen.

  “What does that mean?” Bill asked, not really wanting to go down this road. He was not good at dares. They all used to dare each other as kids and Bill was the one who always had to take it one step farther.

  “I mean, Craigslist is full of fake people or hookers and I bet you can’t find a real person of any value on there. In fact, I bet you money you couldn’t even get one date on that hole of a site.”

  “One date? Come on. I am sure there are some real people posting, sometimes people just are looking for a conversation or are desperate. You can’t just lump the whole thing as a loser site just because some scammers are on there.” Bill said.

  “Whatever, I read how some girl on there got raped by the guy she met on Craigslist. All I said is I bet you can’t get a date. And if you do get a date it will be with some fat, overbearing chick that can’t get a boyfriend to save her life.”

  “I could get a date from Craigslist.” Andrew said without looking away from the dance floor. Bill wondered if he was looking at the spark girl. He would bet money that he was.

  “How much are we talking?” Bill was a good talker and figured this was going to be easy money. All he had to do was be nice, tell her the right things and bingo. One date and he would score some spending cash.

  Dan looked over at Bill and back to Andrew. Now Andrew was looking at his friends with a look of mischievous evil all over his tan face. “Who is going to do it?”

  Dan and Andrew both looked at Bill.

  “Really? Come on, that’s not fair.”

  Dan smiled. “You’re single, I am kind of going out with… uh… Kim. And Drew just got someone online so it wouldn’t be fair for him to do it, he has experience.”

  And
rew nodded his approval and Bill knew that he would do it, so there was no use fighting the inevitable. “What are the rules?”

  Over the next hour, the rules for project “Craigslist Dare” were set.

  Bill took a long drink and stretched, popping his back. “Okay, I have 30 days starting tomorrow and I have to take this person out and get a second date. I don’t have to go on the second date, I just have to set one up?”

  “And she can’t be a dog. No fatties or uglies.” Dan never had any tact. To say he was shallow would have been an understatement.

  Andrew said, “No cheating either, like telling her this is a dare or splitting the money. You can lie to her about who you are or what you do. Just get her to go out with you.”

  Bill smiled and looked at his two friends. “Now down to business, what kind of bet is this going to be? I could be put in a bad place if this chick turns out to be needy or something.”

  “I’ll put up a hundred bucks.” Dan said.

  Andrew shook his head. “No, one thousand.”

  Bill gasped. “Come on, really? I don’t have that kind of cash just lying around.”

  “Well if you don’t think you can do it…” Andrew had a mocking sneer plastered across his face. Bill could feel his face grow hot.

  “Five thousand. If you think I will fail then put your money where your mouth is.”

  “Whoa guys… I was thinking this was a small bet, I only got a few hundred—”

  Andrew cut in, face red. “—Fifty grand, and if you lose you owe me for life! If you’re too chicken to do it… then fine.”

  The three grew quiet and Dan looked from one to the other with a tight lip stare. “Guys,” His voice was soft, almost pleading.

  “Deal.” Bill was not going to let Andrew push him around. He knew he could get any girl, and with a fifty grand pot, he would pull out all the stops. He had no way of paying Andrew back but this was about more than money now.

  Andrew reached across Dan’s lap and Bill shook his hand. Dan let out a nervous sigh. The deal was done, the dare made and now fifty thousand dollars was on the line. Bill could feel a knot ball up in his gut. What was he doing? How did he get roped into these childish things?

  STAGE ONE: THE AD

  Bill lived in a studio apartment in the Idaho building in downtown Boise. It was sort of clean and just enough room for him and all his crap. Thanks to Mom he didn’t have to worry about rent for the next few months. He liked to collect things. Not just things but weird off-the-wall stuff like Wheaties boxes. He had over one hundred in all, in protective plastic. He had all the athletes, and on one wall, shelves held them side by side from one end of the wall to the other.

  The other thing Bill liked was wind chimes; all different shapes and sizes. Hanging from the ceiling in every room were wind chimes, from bamboo to long stainless steel, which transformed the small apartment from boring white paint to a field of chimes. Bill felt as if he lived under some sort of science fiction tree of the future. They spoke to him, kept him sane.

  Turning on his laptop, he Googled Craigslist Boise. He had never actually been on the site before, and he was amazed at how many different things were being sold and looked for. He browsed the want ads and then looked for a mountain bike. He found one that looked good and emailed the owner.

  He was a little nervous to look through the ads in the personals. Some of the categories were crazy. Casual Encounters was one that he would not even try. Opening the next page, he found the one that indicated a woman looking for a man. He was, after all, a man.

  At the top, he saw an option to only view the profiles of women with pictures. He clicked this option so he could at least narrow down and weed out the uglies, and then Bill called them.

  “Here we go,” Bill began to look though all the messages that ranged from women looking for a friend to hang out with to ones looking for love. He looked at the napkin that he had written down the rules and noticed that the subject had to be between the ages of 20-32. He typed in this number into the search bar and that took the list down to thirty ads.

  It only took Bill a few minutes to take that list down to five possible dates. They were in the age range, and from their pictures, they fit the rules for looks. Three were divorced, and the other two were new to the area.

  The other rule was he had to post his own ad with a picture, as well as search out women on his own. Bill thought a moment and clicked the Post Your Ad button. After a series of pages and security codes, Bill briefly considered creating a different Hotmail account just for this dare but didn’t think it would matter. It was secure, and his email would be hidden anyway, he reasoned.

  His ad read:

  Single white male looking for a woman who is fit and loves to try new things. I am 24 and go to Boise State. I am fit, good looking and love to hike and be in the outdoors. No spam please and no creepers. Email me if you want to chat.

  He posted it and sent the five possible candidates a short email with his picture attached. He closed down the laptop and turned on the TV. He was watching the TV show V. He had the first season on Netflix and was halfway through. He was not sure what he thought of the series. Fringe was way better, but he was waiting for the next season to come out on Netflix.

  Bill’s cell rang, and he picked it up and saw Dan’s face on the screen. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Did you do it?”

  “Yeah, I am officially looking for love on Craigslist. I sent a few chicks an email too.” He muted the TV but let it keep running.

  “Oh man… this is going to be cool. You could make fifty grand! I mean you could lose it too, but I think you can do it. You didn’t use your personal email address did you?”

  Bill felt his chest tighten at the question. “Uh…”

  “Dude! Rule number one with online dating is never, and I mean never, use your real name or email address. What, are you crazy?”

  “Whatever, it will be fine. They have it all protected.” Bill was now wondering if he had made a big mistake. He had all his contacts and personal stuff in one email account. He had had the thing for over six years now.

  “It is your funeral. I am just sayin’, you should set up a different account under a fake name. There are a lot of crazies out there.” Dan switched subjects. “You want to do anything this weekend?”

  “Not sure, I might be on a date.” Bill smiled and Dan grunted. “I’ll let you know, take it easy.”

  Bill hung up and sat looking at the TV that hung on the wall. He could smell the day old pizza sitting out on counter and got up and took a slice. He looked at the clock and yawned. It was three minutes past midnight and he wasn’t even tired.

  He thought about this dare, and for the first time, wondered if he was in over his head. But how hard could it be to get a stupid date online? He was a good-looking guy, not a model, but not a hunchback either.

  Bill looked in the mirror as he passed the small bathroom and rubbed a hand through his dirty blond hair. He needed a haircut and his neck looked like a rat’s nest. He had dark blue eyes and a clean jaw line with a goatee. He smiled, showing all his white teeth and shoved the last of the pizza into his mouth. Yeah, he had this. And by the end of the month he would have a huge party to celebrate his victory.

  ***

  Sunlight filtered into Bill’s bedroom and cast a thin trail of light across his face. He blinked and rubbed his eyes and looked over at the clock radio. It was ten in the morning, and he thought of one thing. The ad.

  Pulling the covers off his shirtless body, he shuffled into the living room and over to his desk. Papers, litter and other junk were strewn all over and like the rest of his apartment, it looked like someone had tossed in a trash grenade and the damage was never cleaned up.

  He pushed some bills off his chair and opened up his Mac. He logged on and opened up his email. What he saw made him sick to his stomach.

  234 new emails.

  His inbox had so much spam in it that it took him thirty minutes to cle
an it all up. The junk folder had even more but must have given up, or they came in too fast for the program to keep up. Bill cursed himself for being so stupid. He should have created a different email account.

  After looking though the real emails he found that two of the women he emailed wanted to talk more. One was new in town and the other one was divorced. He looked again at their profiles and answered them both back.

  He did get one real email, or at least it looked real, from his ad. It said:

  You seem like a nice guy, want to chat?

  She attached a picture, and she was a bombshell! He looked at the picture for a few minutes and saw that the photo was taken in front of the Capitol building. So she was local and looked tall, thin and had beautiful blonde hair. He enlarged the photo and saw that in the background was another girl who seemed to be with her… maybe a girl’s night out? She was wearing a short skirt and a top that had little shiny things all over it.

  “Well, this is going to not only be easier than I thought, but I might even have fun. If this picture is real, I will be one lucky dude.” Bill leaned back in his chair and responded.

  Sounds like fun, you want to IM or talk on the phone?

  Bill lifted his arms above his head and about gagged. His BO was rank. “Oh man.” He shut his Mac and went to take a shower. He was feeling good about the dare. It was day two, and he had three fish on the line. Yeah the spam was a pain, but he could block most of that.

  He turned on the hot water and undressed. Andrew didn’t know who he was messing with. Bill would take any dare and he would win any dare. He prided himself on his stubbornness and determination. He would win, and then he would rub it in.

  STAGE TWO: CONTACT

  It was that easy. Girl number one, the hottie who found his ad, agreed to meet him for coffee at Tully’s down in BoDo. He gloated to Andrew on the phone and didn’t mind pushing his buttons.