Will J.T. kill again!

   Reed put his feet up on a stool, leaned back on the couch and picked up the Dallas newspaper.  He had been a guest at Betty's the past week recuperating from a gun-shot.   
    "I have to take off tomorrow and get back to my office up north," he had said to her last night.
    "Are you sure you're well enough?" she asked. Her face saddened.
    "I'll make it." he had remarked.  As he sat this next morning with the paper a small piece listed under out of state events caught his eye. His feet hit the floor and the paper crackled as he pulled it closer. 
   "Prisoner on the loose," he read. Then sat up, and winced at the sudden pain that burned through his arm and shoulder. "John Thomas, a convicted murderer escapes while serving a life sentence. Spotted, possibly heading south!" 
   Reed sucked in his breath and slumped back against the couch.
   How could this happen?  He read it again carefully word for word. His heart pumped furiously then as he grabbed the phone and called an acquaintance in law enforcement in the Dallas Police Department.
    It was confirmed, John Thomas, alias J.T., alias Jud Thurman had escaped from his prison guards. Reed sat stone-faced as the memories of what the man had done came back to haunt him.
    It had started when his law school buddy, Tanner Burk had represented Reka Holms in a divorce case.  Her husband was John Thomas.  She'd charged him with physical abuse, adultery, theft and deception. While the court date was pending, Tanner's secretary Sierra Ames had been killed in a  mysterious car accident. That case was never solved. After the divorce was granted John Thomas served a short term in jail and was released.  He then gained access into an insurance company using false ID.  Reed's comapny.  About the same time Reed got orders to re-investigate a claim that had been paid out to a woman named Lindy Lewis. He was thunderstruck when he realized it was the same Lindy Lewis he had known in college. He'd also gotten orders to check out a new employee by the name of Jud Thurman. It had all come to a halt when Tanner had gotten shot and killed.
   Reed reached for the cup of coffee as a stab of lonliness crept through his chest and he wondered, had Tanner figured it out just before Thomas shot him! Thomas had been in the same red car that had forced Sierra Ames off the highway.
   Now the whole goddamn case was wide open again! Thomas was on the loose and Lindy's whereabouts were unknown, but if Thomas was headed south that meant she was still here in the area somewhere!


  

  

Baby, its mine!

   "Where's the money?" the man growled. He was young; somewhere around twenty. A baseball cap covered his hair. Dark glasses hid his eyes and a full mustache decorated his pockmarked face.
   "Where's my car?" I asked matching his tone of voice.
   "In the lot across the street!" He drummed his fingers on the table and barked again, "Where is it?"
   I raised the convas bag and opened it just enough for him to see the neatly stacked bills. I motioned for Jenny, the waitress to come over. I had talked to her for a minute when I'd ordered the manhatton.
   "We're going outside to check on something, could you put my bag somewhere safe for me.  Just make-up and things," I asked her now.
   "Oh sure, I'll put it in  my locker with my purse. It'll be safe." She took my bag to the back, not realizing what she was carrying. The man's face reddened as he watched her walk away.
   I stood up, "Now I want to see my car. You didn't wreck it did you?"
   "Oh fuck!" he mumbled.
   We went outside and across the street and there in amongst a row of cars strood a black BMW. My heart lurched and my breath caught. The license plate was mine!
   "Open it, I want to see the inside."
   "For Christ's sake lady, it's yours!"
   "You don't think I'm going to give you thousands of dollars until I'm sure it's mine and everything is still in it, do you?" Asshole, I thought, although I was terrified I needed to put on a fearless front.
   "Okay, okay." He opened the door with the keys. "Check it out. I put a few  miles on it, but that's all." He stepped back and pulled his cap lower on his forehead.
   "Well, I don't believe you. Let me see," and I slid into the seat and pulled the door shut. My heart thudded as I looked around. The inside looked the same, the same air freshener hung on the mirror, and my lipstick and some change lay on the console. I leaned over and quickly ripped open a corner on the passenger's back rest. And there it was! Stacks of my money, just as I'd hidden it monthsagao!
    I took a quick breath and tried to calm myself. I couldn't let him see this and I whipped the upholstery back as I turned in the seat and checked the back.  I got out then and slammed the car door.
   "I want to see the trunk. You didn't take my spare tires, did you?" I demanded then to cover my nerves.
  The man was sweating and yelled, "Lady, you got your fucking car, I don't have all night!"
   "Well, I do," I bluffed. "Well okay, I'm satisfied," I said then and we went back inside the bar.
    "I'll take my bag when you have a minute," I said to Jenny, as we stood at the bar.  My underarms were drenced as she returned with it a few minutes later. I handed it to the man and said, "It's all there, but you can go in the restroom and count it if you want.  I'll wait here for the keys!" 
   The man looked uncertain, then turned and hurried off. The second he disappeared I raced for the door, my extra set of keys in my hand. And in seconds I was out of the parking lot. My hands shook on the steering wheel and my heart thumped fierciely in my chest but I had my car and my million.
and he had a measly hundred dollars. It had been one chance in a million and I had hit the jackpot!
   Back at the hotel I threw my clothes in suitcases and raced down the stairs. I was on my way to an island on the southeast coast. And the first thing I was going to do, was find a bank and and a safe deposit box for my million.
  

  



  

Would she find the million dollars?

   Lindy had gaped at the man who lay bleeding on the stretcher.  My God, it was Reed! He had found her!
   Running out of the Dallas Hospital, she found the taxi she'd called for and whispered hoarsly, "take me to the Regency Hotel."  Reed  had been shot, she'd heard them yell in the emergency ward. She remembered the blood. What if he died? The following day she called the hospital and told a little fib. She was his sister she said.  He was out of danger and would recover baring no complications they ressured her 
   Should she go to him? She wondered what he would say if she told him the million dollars was gone!
   She gimaced then at that thought. And she remembered she needed to check the post office again. And after being laid up for days in the hospital herself, maybe, just maybe the thief had seen the ad in the paper by now.
   Lindy showered and dressed and another taxi was there in minutes. When she opened the post office box, she gasped. A plain white envelope lay there.  Her hand shook as she reached in for it,  then ripped it open. It read; Russel's Bar and Diner. October 4th-9:00PM. Wear red. Bring money.
   My God, could it mean she'd get her car and money back after all these months? The date was two days away. Back in her hotel room she paced. Could this be a set-up of some kind?  But she'd know her BMW anywhere and she had to take a chance and find out.
   October fourth came finally, and she opened the room's safe and counted out some of the cash she had gotten  from the sale of Dade's ring then grabbed another taxi. It was eight-forty-five.
   She'd dressed in a red shirt and her knees shook as she opened the door of the bar and walked in. Cigarette smoke and stale beer greeted her. The place was so dark she stumbled over someone's foot as she made a beeline to an empty booth. She put her purse and the canvas bag with the money down on the seat beside her and looked around cautiously. It was a workingman's bar. Most of the customers in work boots and dusty jeans she saw. Couples swayed to the music of Roy Orbison. A waitress came by carrying a tray of burgers and fries and her stomach did a flip over the smell of grease that it left in its wake.
   Would she recognize the man?
   She ordered a brandy Manhatten, although it didn't appeal to her, but maybe it would settle her nerves. Right now she had to take small breaths to still the nausea that threatened to well up in her throat. She lit a cigarette with shaking hands and of course, that tasted awful. She sipped some of the Manhatten and looked at her watch. It was nine o'clock with on the dot. Her heart thumped in her chest as Vince Gil's voice come on in a love song. The air was damp and hot. She willed her nerves to be still. Just then a man slid into the seat across from her.
   As she looked into his cold hard eyes, he whspered, "Where's the money?" 

Nightmares and Dreams is Now Available as an E-book

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God the pain, the pain!

   The next day lumbered by as Reed bitched continually about not being out there looking for the killer. Manny from the police department came just as his breakfast arrived the next morning.
  "Buddy, I got your message, but I just got back in from Houston. What the hell happened?" His long hair was pulled back in a pony-tail. His faded denin shirt matched the jeans he was wearing. The scent of his heavy cologne preceded him as he came in the door.
   Reed sat up in the hospital bed, his face anxious as he said, "Goddamn Manny its good to see you. I was blasted the minute I opened my motel door. My room had been ransacked."
   "You didn't get a look at who was in there?" Manny asked and then took out a book and started writing.
   "Man, I didn't get a chance! The asshole got my gun too." Reed pushed his tray of food out of the way. God awful stuff they pass off as nourishing!" 
   "Think man," Manny said.
   Grudgingly, Reed replied, "when I stepped in I saw my room had been tossed. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor. Shot!"
   "Jesus. Anything new on Lindy Lewis?" Manny asked curiously then.
   "Not a clue. I lost her after she left the job at the Steakhouse." Reed adjusted himself in the skinny bed. His hair fell over his forhead. "But Manny listen to this," he said, "at first I thought it was from all the drugs, but sometime that first night when I came in here I saw her."
   "Are you sure?"
   "Manny, I know for sure. Have you got some time to check out something?"
   "Yeah, now you've got me intrigued." Manny ran his fingers over his mustache.
   "Thanks, can you get her picture and then see if she was here visiting someone? She's a blonde now."  After Manny left, Reed slept and awoke to see Betty sitting by his bed.  "When did you get here?" he asked.
   "Just now. Listen, I talked to the doctor and he said you can leave today if you have someone with you for a few days. And since you don't, you can stay with us."
   Realizing he didn't have a choice, he said, "Thanks Betty, I'll try not to be a nuisance."
   Later he called Manny. "I'm out. Have you found anything?"
   "Yup, been waiting to hear from you. Lindy was a patient in the Dallas Hospital for three days. Looks like you ran in to her just as she was leaving."
   "What was wrong?" Reed asked alarmed at the news.
   "Seems she had something called hysterical amnesia. Didn't know who the hell she was! From stress."
   "Did her memory come back?"
   "Apparently it all came back and she split in the middle of the night."
   Reed guiltily felt an immediate sense of relief. "What else?" He asked.
   "Oh yeah, she's going by the name of Lorna Lee. And she's holed up at the swanky Regency Hotel in  downtown Dallas."
   Reed stood up then from his bed and groaned. His steps were slow and he hurt like hell,but he was determined.
   Lindy Lewis, he muttered as the Corvette roared into action on the freeway, I'm going to get you yet!
  


  



  

Did she do it

   The man in the orange prison suit jumped up and took a deep drag on his cigarette. Sweat poured down his forehead as he stood in the recreation room at the Kansas prison. It was late fall, the weather hot and humid. His contacts had finally come through with what he needed to know. Reed Conners was in Dallas,Texas and wherever he was, Lindy Lewis would be close by. Time was of the essense. John Thomas had patiently waited and now everything was in place, just watiting to be put into action.
                                                                      *****
    Reed Conners lay in the Dallas hospital and when the morning sunshine finally awakened  him, he knew instantly where he was and that someone had tried to kill him. He raised his hand and felt the bandage covering his right shoulder and a sling around his arm. God, his mouth tasted like a tin can.  He winced as he tried to sit up to reach a glass of water on the bedside table, then fell back down on the pillow, pissed when the pain immobilized him.
    "Where the hell is everybody," he grumbled and the door opened and Betty, the waitress from Tony's Steakhouse, stepped into his room.  She came over to his bedside and kissed hin on the cheek.
    "What are you doing here?" he muttered.
    "Well, someone has to worry about you." She was still wearing her black uniform from work.
   She looked him over critically. "The doctor said you were lucky, if the gun-shot had been an inch lower, you'd be in real trouble."
     A sheen of sweat broke out over Reed's face and he punched the coarse cotton blanket that covered him with his good hand.
   "Here's the water," Betty said and held the glass to his lips, and as he drank she added, "Now Reed, you've got to rest so you can heal."
   "Yeah," he said, depressed and hurting. "Aren't you supposed to be at the coffee shop for you day job?"
   Betty sat down in a nearby chair. "I called in and took the day off."
   Reed looked at her and realized it felt damm good to have a woman worrying about him. "How did you know I was here?" He asked curiously.
    "I was feeling blue last night knowing this was your last night here, so I called your room at the motel and they said there had been an accident."
   "You mean you've been here all night?"
   "Well I guess," Betty said.
   "Thanks," Reed said a few minutes later, "Now I want you to go home Betty and get some sleep." And after she left, he finally got some coffee and when the caffeine cleared his head, he remembered it again. It had been plaguing him all night, but in his drugged state he wondered if it had actually happened?
   He had seen Lindy!  Had she been the one who had shot him? The million dollars she'd collected from his insurance company after her house fire couldn't mean that much.   
   Would all that money be worth it?  A murder charge?
   He exhaled and closed his eyes. God the pain, everything hurt!
 

Who am I?

    "Miss Lee, I can call the authorities and see if there's a missing person report out for you.  And perhaps we'll find someone to come for you!"
   But as soon as Dr. Horton mentioned that, a tremer shot through my body.  And seeing that, he said kindly, "let's take another look at that picture."  And I handed him the red billfold and slid under the blankets as I lay in the Dallas hospital bed. He studied the picture for a few minutes then said, "Miss Lee, this is you. Your eyes are blue, you know. You had them covered with brown contacts, and your hair has been lightened. And it says here, your name is Lindy Lewis, and you are from Minnesota!" 
   Bewildered,  I reached for the picture and looked again. And seeing my sudden fear, he said, "I want you to stay another night and we'll see how things are tomorrow. I think when you're well rested, things will right themselves." He smiled reassuringly and left my room.
  I slept the day away and well into the next night and awoke as someone said, "Miss Lee, I just need to check your blood pressure." I wondered, why she was calling me Miss Lee?  Then I remembered everything. I knew imediately who I was and why I had changed my identity. And Lordy, why I was in the hospital!
   But had Doctor Horton notified the police and the authorities?  I had to leave, and get away fast! I found my clothes and dressed and ran a hand through my hair. I peeked out the door of my room and not seeing anyone around, found the stairs and ran down. Then I found myself in the emergency part of the hospital, in the same place in the hospital I had come into a few days ago. Finding a handy phone I called a taxi and stepped around a corner to stay out of sight. Sirens screamed then as an ambulance flew up to the door and the paramedics brought a wounded man in on a stretcher.
   "Gun shot," they yelled to the medical staff who ran to meet them. And in the seconds that followed, before jumping out of sight, I recognized the man.
   "My God, it was Reed  Conners!" 
                           ***
   Reed had been in Texas for three weeks and Lindy's trail had gown cold. Frustration deepened the lines on his face tonight as he went back to the motel room. His gut told him I had left Dallas and he was wasting his time hanging around any longer. He'd hit the road in the  morning and get back to Minnesota and relax and wait for the ice to thicken on his lake so he could ice-fish.
   He unlocked the door to his room, stepped in and immediately sensed something was wrong! Chills went up his spine as he stood still, silhouetted in the doorway. Monnlight filtered into the room through the thin shades. As his eyes adjusted to the gloomy interior, he saw his clothes had been torn off hangers and lay on the floor, and the dresser drawers had been pulled open and its contents strewn about.
   "What the hell--," was all Reed Conners could grumble before the world exploded and a million stars crashed through his head.