Soulless (A Tanner Novel Book 43)

by Remington Kane

  “Thank you for the compliment. Now, do you want to know how to meet Tanner?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s simple. You hire him.”

  “Hire him? You mean to kill somebody?”

  “That’s what he does, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yeah, but I mean, I don’t want anyone dead.”

  “I can think of someone who deserves it.”

  “Who?”

  “Soulless.”

  “Soulless? Yeah, he’s a sick bastard all right. That thing in Mexico. That wasn’t a hit, that was more like wiping out an entire family.”

  “You’re right. And I bet Tanner would love to kill Soulless.”

  Elliot was nodding in agreement. “It’s just a matter of time before they clash.”

  “Why wait? Why not hire Tanner to kill Soulless and do the world a favor?”

  “It would be cool, but I don’t have that kind of money.”

  “I do,” Dana said. “I’d put up the money if you’d set up the contract.”

  “Why me?”

  “You’re his biggest fan. It’s only right that you hire him. And I don’t know how to hire him, but I bet you do?”

  “There’s a site on the dark web. I’ve seen it. You post contracts and assassins will respond. With Tanner, you have to request him, and maybe he’ll get back to you.”

  “Let’s send him a request.”

  Elliot thought it over. “It would be cool to hire Tanner. And maybe I’d get to meet him too somehow.”

  “I’ve thought of a way. Maybe we won’t meet him, but we can see him in action.”

  “How?”

  “I know a way. What do you say, Elliot? Will you help me?”

  “I don’t know; it sounds risky.”

  Dana grinned. “It’s risky to meet a perfect stranger in a hobby shop and have lunch with them, but you did that today.”

  “You’re not dangerous. You’re pretty, but not dangerous.”

  “Thank you. I think you’re cute too. By the way, do you live around here?”

  “Um, yeah. It’s not far.”

  “Why don’t I follow you home and we can talk some more? Unless you have something better to do.”

  “You want to come to my house?”

  “You’re not married, are you?”

  “Me? No.”

  “Do you have anything to drink at home?”

  “I like a little rum with my soda sometimes.”

  “I like rum too. Let’s go.”

  Dana spent an hour at Elliot’s house. Not only did she not have to sleep with him to get him to agree to attempt to hire Tanner. She never even had to kiss Elliot.

  When Dana returned to her hotel room, she wrote an email to Lorraine telling her of her progress. Lorraine told her to make contact with Tom Curry. Dana was dreading that. The more she learned about Curry, the creepier he seemed. She had read his posts on the website’s forum and some of it made her flesh crawl.

  The next day, Dana donned a T-shirt that had the face of Ted Bundy on it. Beneath the image of the serial killer’s face were the words, Lady Killer.

  Tom Curry lived in a house on a hill in Indiana that had been in his family for five generations. Dana had driven past it and thought it reminded her of the house in the movie, Psycho.

  Maybe growing up in the house was part of the reason Curry was so creepy. Aside from his admiration of Soulless, Curry also had a fascination with serial killers.

  To reach Curry’s home, you had to drive up a winding road. At the bottom of that road and across the street, there was a donut shop, a laundromat, and a nail salon crammed together. The rest of the small lot was dedicated to parking.

  Dana decided it was the best place to watch the road to see when Curry left his house. Knowing that she’d be noticed if she sat in one of the limited parking spaces for too long a time, she squeezed her car along the side of the building near a dumpster and an air conditioning compressor.

  The dumpster stank and the compressor was noisy. Fortunately, after only four hours of waiting, she spotted Curry come rolling down the hill in the black Mercedes she’d been told he drove. Dana got her car moving to follow him and lost him right away.

  Curry had made a green traffic light that she missed. She was telling the red light to, “Come on, come on, change already,” when she noticed a police car had pulled up behind her. Instead of peeling out in pursuit of Curry when the light changed as she had planned to do, Dana took off at a normal speed.

  Aware that Curry might have made a left or a right onto a side street, Dana continued going straight; it seemed the best bet to her. The police car behind her did make a right three blocks later, and at the next traffic light, Dana spotted the black Mercedes.

  “Yes!”

  She was five cars behind Curry and kept her distance. Curry didn’t speed and they had reached a section of road where there were few cross streets, and thus, few traffic lights. When they did reach another traffic light, it was green, and Curry made a left. Dana followed and saw Curry make another left into the parking lot of a restaurant that also served alcohol. Judging by the cars in the parking lot, the place was upscale. Parked near Curry’s black Mercedes was another Mercedes, a green one, two Lexus SUVs, and a Ferrari. Her rented Ford looked like a poor relation come to visit.

  Not only was Dana probably too dressed down for the place in her Ted Bundy T-shirt and faded jeans, but she felt like a fool wearing the shirt.

  Oh well, she thought, One way or another I’m sure to get Curry’s attention.

  She entered, expecting the interior to be fancy, but was surprised to find it simple and with a country décor. The clientele wasn’t as stuffy as she thought they might be either. Other people had on jeans and tees, and there were a number of kids of various ages sitting in booths with adults that Dana thought must be their parents.

  Curry was seated at the bar. He had a copy of a financial newspaper in front of him and was sipping on some type of dark beer. Dana took a seat, leaving a stool between them. She also made sure to sit so that Curry could make out the image on her shirt.

  She thought he was handsome in the photo she’d seen of him, up close, he was even better looking. A flash of gold caught her eye and she saw that Curry had expensive tastes. The watch on his wrist was a Patek Phillippe and worth about as much as the Mercedes he drove. Dana knew from the bio of him that Curry was fifty-three, but he looked ten years younger, despite the wisps of gray in his hair. Curry was tall, good-looking, and rich. He had to attract women all the time, but he had never married.

  Other than the legal trouble he’d had for tying up the woman when he was twenty-eight, there was no record of him ever being arrested or even ticketed for anything else illegal. His love of serial killers and admiration of Soulless were likely unknown to any of his friends, if the man even had friends. Like Elliot Lipson, it appeared Curry spent much of his time online in forums, hidden behind screen names.

  When the female bartender asked her what she was having, Dana pointed at Curry’s glass. “That looks good; I’ll have what he’s having.”

  If Curry heard the exchange, he showed no sign of it. When the beer was brought over to Dana, she took a sip and found it to be strong. It was a lager, a rich one, and Dana wondered if it was expensive. She placed a twenty on the bar and the bartender went off to make change.

  Instead of turning his head to look at her, Curry eyed Dana by using the mirror behind the bar. After staring at her reflection for a few moments, he went back to his newspaper. The bartender brought Dana her meager change, gave her an odd look because of the shirt, and left the bar to bring a fresh pitcher of beer to one of the tables.

  Curry still didn’t look at her, but Dana thought he might be stealing glances at her by using the mirror again. When she looked at herself in the mirror, Dana could see that the image on her shirt wasn’t easy to make out. You could obviously tell it was a man’s face, but it could be any number of people. Along with that, the wor
ds, Lady Killer, were hidden from view beneath the level of the bar.

  She tried to think of a way to get Curry to turn toward her when she felt pressure building in her throat. A moment later, an unladylike burp erupted from her because of the lager she had consumed.

  That caused Curry to turn his head and look at her with an amused expression. When he realized whose image was on Dana’s shirt, amusement turned to surprise.

  Curry grinned, revealing a nice smile. “That’s an unusual shirt bearing the image of an unusual man. That would make you an unusual woman.”

  “Most people call me odd, but I don’t care what they think.”

  “That’s a good trait to have,” Curry said. “What is it about Ted Bundy that attracted you to him?”

  Dana put on a dreamy smile. “He was a hunk, smart, and he did whatever he wanted to do. I like a man who doesn’t bow down to what society wants.”

  “I admired him too. I often wonder what he would be like if the authorities had never caught him.”

  “He’d be old, real old, like eighty or so.”

  Curry offered his hand. “My name is Tom.”

  Dana took his hand and gave him the same phony name she’d given to Elliot Lipson. “I’m Megan. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Curry pointed at her lager. “Were you planning to have something to eat with that?”

  “That depends, is the food good here?”

  “It is. They make a fine steak. Why don’t you join me for an early dinner? It will be my treat.”

  Dana cocked her head. “Are you trying to pick me up?”

  “Why don’t we share a meal and see where things go from there? It’s not often I meet a fellow fan of Bundy, and especially a woman. You intrigue me, Megan.”

  Curry followed those words up by smiling at Dana again. If she didn’t know how weird he was, she would have thought him interesting. She never dated, not since her marriage ended. For her, sex was business. She was sure many women had fallen for Curry’s charm.

  She smiled back at him. “We’ll have lunch and see what happens.”

  “That suits me,” Curry said.

  They moved to a booth where they ordered food. Dana made sure to steer the subject around to the assassins website. As they were eating salad and waiting for their main course to arrive, Dana told Curry that she had recently discovered the website and began posting on there, a knowing look entered his eyes, and he used his salad fork to point at her.

  “Let me guess, your screen name is Ted’s Girl?”

  “That’s right. You’re on there too?”

  “I’m Soulless Fan #1. We’ve already spoken on there, in a way. You were one of the few who agreed with me that Soulless’s latest assassination was brilliant. To bomb the cemetery was a surefire way to kill his target.”

  Dana smiled. Being a call girl, she was an expert at hiding her true feelings behind a smile that appeared genuine. She detested what Soulless had done in Mexico. The man had slaughtered several generations of a family in order to kill one man. There were children included in that death toll, two of which had been less than a year old. And yet, Curry thought of the act as a brilliant move. The man was almost as twisted as Soulless.

  Dana reminded herself of the money she was being paid and kept playing her part. “Soulless is the best. I don’t know why more people can’t see that. He’s much better at the game than Tanner.”

  Curry made a face at the mention of Tanner. “That man is so overrated. And I don’t believe most of what they say about him. The day is going to come when Soulless and Tanner clash. When that happens, Tanner will die.”

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe you said that.”

  “You disagree?”

  Dana looked around, as if making sure that no one was too close to them. “Of course I agree with you. It’s just that I have something in mind, a plan that will settle the question of who’s better, Soulless or Tanner.”

  Curry leaned in and lowered his voice to match Dana’s hushed level. “What plan?”

  “I want to hire Soulless to kill Tanner. Once he kills Tanner, then no one can ever again say that he’s second best.”

  Curry raised an eyebrow at the revelation. Their food arrived seconds later, T-bone steaks. When the waitress left them with their food and fresh drinks, Curry spoke as he cut into his steak.

  “That idea of yours is interesting. It would be expensive as well. I imagine that hiring Soulless these days isn’t as economical as it used to be when he only charged twenty thousand dollars.”

  “I have money. I inherited a fortune from my grandfather.”

  “I see,” Curry said.

  The two of them ate in silence. Dana wondered if she had brought up the subject too soon. Curry had been quite talkative before that. Then again, it was hard to talk and eat at the same time. As she was about to bring a forkful of garlic mashed potatoes to her mouth, she recalled something Curry had said, and the implication of the words struck her. She lowered her fork and stared at Curry.

  “How do you know Soulless used to charge twenty thousand for a hit?”

  Curry swallowed the food he’d been chewing, wiped his mouth with a napkin, took a sip of his drink, then smiled at her.

  “How do you think I know?”

  Dana opened her mouth in surprise. The reaction was genuine. “Are you saying that you’ve hired him before?”

  Curry nodded. “It was seven years ago.”

  “If you don’t mind my asking, who—”

  “Who was it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Someone from my past. A high school bully who used to make my life miserable. I hadn’t thought about him in years, decades, and then one day I saw him at a diner out on State Road 212. He looked about the same. Still a big lummox with a bigger mouth and a small brain. He hadn’t changed a bit.”

  “You spoke to him?”

  “No. he was picking on a man who had accidentally spilled coffee onto his newspaper at the counter. Given his reaction, you would think the other man had slapped one of his children. He threatened to hit the man who’d spilled the coffee, a man who was half his size and twenty years older. The hate I once felt for that bully roiled up inside me again. When he left the diner, he walked toward me. We were looking at each other, but I could tell he didn’t recognize me. He did talk to me, he asked me what the hell I was looking at. When I didn’t answer, he shoved me aside and left the diner. I watched as he climbed into the cab of a tractor-trailer. He was a truck driver. Seeing him brought back all the old memories and degradation he had heaped upon me in high school. A day later, I contacted Soulless.”

  “Whoa, Tom. What did Soulless do?”

  “He killed him.”

  “I guessed that much. I mean, how did he do it?”

  “He must have waited for him at that diner, since it was probably a regular stop for the man. Soulless poisoned him with something wicked that made him cough up blood, but the poison didn’t take effect until he was back behind the wheel of the truck.” Curry smiled, as he remembered the outcome. “My former bully was choking on his own blood and caused a crash that involved sixteen vehicles. He died and took seven other people with him. That was Soulless. He never gives a damn about the consequences; all he cares about are results.”

  Dana forced a smile, as a chill ran down her spine. Curry spoke of the deaths of seven innocent people as if they were a bonus. Like he had received more for his money than he paid for. She had to smile and act pleased by it as well, to stay in the role she was playing.

  “A crash on the highway with sixteen vehicles. That must have been a sight.”

  “It was. It even made the news, but there was no mention of the cause until weeks later. The police arrested a guy for it, but he wasn’t charged, and Soulless’s name never came up. Like I said, that was years ago. Now, everyone knows who Soulless is.”

  “Well, if you hired him once, it should be easier to hire him again. He’ll remember that truck driver and won’t
suspect that you’re a cop out to trap him.”

  “True, but I gave a damn about killing that truck driver. I really don’t care what happens to Tanner.”

  “Aren’t you sick of Tanner being at the top of the list? I know I am, and I’m new on the website.”

  “Maybe Soulless won’t want to go after Tanner. Everyone who has tried to kill the man has wound up dead themselves. There’s also the problem of locating Tanner.”

  “There’s a way around that. I happen to know someone who is a huge Tanner fan. He’s planning to hire Tanner to kill Soulless. When he does, he’ll tell Tanner where he thinks Soulless will be. I’ll give the same location to Soulless, and then the two are bound to clash there.”

  “What’s the location?”

  Dana told him, and Curry nodded with approval. “It should be suitably isolated. What’s the name of this friend of yours?”

  “He’s just an acquaintance, and he’s on the forum too. He calls himself Tanner Fan #1.”

  “He’s a dolt.”

  “I know, but he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is and hire Tanner. When Soulless kills Tanner, then he’ll know that he backed the wrong man.”

  “Soulless may refuse the contract.”

  Dana waved that concern aside. “Well, if he refuses to take the contract then we haven’t lost a penny, but if he does, then Tanner’s days are numbered. How can we lose? And anyway, we’ll let him know that Tanner is coming for him. He’ll be sure to accept the contract from us then.”

  “Us? As in we?”

  “I pay half and you pay half. What do you say?”

  Curry squinted as he stared at her. “Let me think about it for a day or two. Do you live nearby?”

  “I’m here visiting my brother.”

  “Does he share your interest in Bundy and Soulless?”

  “No. And his wife, the bitch, won’t allow me in the house. She makes me sleep in the room over the garage.”

  “As I said earlier, you are an unusual woman.”

  “I hope you mean that in a good way.”

  “I do.”

  Curry invited Dana back to his home. She really didn’t want to go, but she also wanted to get a commitment from Curry about hiring Soulless. If she could talk him into doing it, she wouldn’t have to stay in Indiana for another day.