A Fine Mess

Chapter 33

Tillman waited in the car, watching the front doors of the office building. The large coffee and the triple burger sat cooling on the floor of the passenger's side, forgotten in the focus of his concentration. When the lights came on outside, the street changed in character, making the waning daytime colours flat and slightly sinister as they mixed with deepening shadows. Tillman saw the Brighton woman emerge and walk around to the parking lot next to the building.

He knew she wouldn't have the tapes any more; they would be in the lawyer's office—probably in a safe. Pity, he thought, questioning her might have made an otherwise routine exercise much more interesting. He shifted his bulk in the seat, remembering past operations where women were the subjects of his interrogations; one in particular always aroused vivid memory of violence and lust...mostly lust. He loved the lust. Seconds later, the Mercedes rolled out into the street and away into the encroaching night, breaking into his fantasy.

A few minutes later two more people came out, the man turning to lock the door before stopping to talk to the woman. Tillman studied them both with an appreciative nod for the lawyer's taste in women. He saw her shake her head and point up the street before waving goodnight to the man and striding off purposely.

Gil pulled his car out into the street and drove past Deborah, giving a little toot on the horn as he did. Perfect, Tillman smiled, starting his engine and following the direction of the woman. This could be just what the doctor ordered. He moved slowly up the street and braked almost to a stop when he saw her step from the curb and cross to his side of the street. Better and better! Tillman checked his mirror and the rest of the area, pleased to see that he was alone and he accelerated up alongside the woman, jumped out of the car and in a few short seconds, Deborah was lolling dazed in the passenger seat as Tillman sped around in a u-turn and roared back down the street.

He pulled into the lot beside the lawyer's office and coasted slowly to the shadows of a massive oak at the back. Deborah pushed herself upright and shook her head. The smell of onions filled the car and she felt her shoes stuck in something on the floor. The side of her face burned from a scrape where Tillman's hand had roughly grabbed her when he tossed her in the car. She heard the engine quit and she looked over at the driver. Tillman face was sharply defined in the shadow; one eye glistened malevolently. He bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile and leaned toward her.

"Noise of any kind will be immediately dangerous to your health. Understand?" She nodded. "What's your name?" She cringed back and tears began to form. "Your name."

"D-Deborah..."

"Good. Listen, Deborah, we're going upstairs to your office and you are going to give me all the material you have on the WesCat case, okay?"

I can't," she pleaded. "Some of it is locked in the safe. I don't have—" The sudden pain in her upper arm made her yelp and she began crying in earnest. Tillman released the skin from between his fingers and immediately the spot turned a dull red and began to bruise.

"Excuses are not an option, Deborah. You will do exactly what I say, now get out and no tricks." He grunted with disgust as he saw she had stepped into his forgotten dinner and smeared it all over the floor carpeting.

Deborah cried all the way up the stairs and all the time she fumbled with the key in the office door, Tillman intimidated her with a series of ugly gropes to keep her off balance. Inside he shoved her toward the inner office and stood in the doorway with his arms folded.

"Get the stuff, Deborah."

She sniffled and reluctantly took the files from the cabinet and the telephone logs that were sitting on Gil's desk. "That's all I can get, honest. You have to believe me." Her chest shuddered as she watched his face close.