Read 82 Desire for Free Online

had to do was step out on the sidewalk. Someone would see her, or at least hear her if she screamed.
    But she opened her mouth too late. A broad ham of a hand smacked against it; the hand was gloved. The man caught her by the elbow and forced her back into the office. He shoved her against an old green sofa that Allred had probably gotten from Goodwill.
    “Scream and I’ll kill you,” he said.
    Rage enveloped her like a blanket. She had been the despair of her mother all through Catholic school, always getting in fights and kicking the boys in the shins.
    “Fuck you,” she shouted, and hurled her body at him headfirst, butting him in the stomach. She heard something crack, probably his head hitting the wall. He started to fall and she righted herself, turned, and split, at more or less warp speed. Sure enough, there was someone there to save her—an elderly white woman was walking toward her.
    “Help!” she shouted, and the woman screamed herself, obviously terrified at the sight of a wild-haired black hellion hurtling toward her—probably afraid she was about to be caught in the middle of a shoot-out. Talba couldn’t have guaranteed that she wasn’t.
    The woman froze. “Dial 911,” Talba hollered, and kept running. Her car was two blocks away.
    She stole a glance behind her and saw that there was indeed a man behind her, though not running. She hadn’t noticed anything about the man in the office except his ski mask—though she thought he’d been wearing jeans. This one was also wearing jeans, and he was white. She hadn’t a clue if he was the intruder.
    About a block further on, when she was nearly to her car, she saw that the man was still walking toward her, and fast, she thought. She still couldn’t see his face. She kept running.
    She fumbled for her key, glancing around now and then to see if he was close. He was getting into a tan van.
    I’ve got to get calm , she thought. There were lots of cars, plenty of businesses, dozens of people on the streets. Surely she was safe. Surely she could just walk in someplace and ask to use the phone to call the police.
    But panic seized her as tightly as the rage of moments ago. What the fuck am I into? she thought. What’s the deal with Russell Fortier disappearing?
    The thing was, she had committed a few little illegalities in the course of her work for Allred. Maybe someone was upset about something.
    Could she outrun this dude or not? It was worth a try.
    Once again, she felt in her purse for the key, and this time her hand closed on it. She saw that the man was already out of his parking spot. She shoved the key in the ignition, but her fingers were so slick with sweat she didn’t trust them on the steering wheel.
    Still, at this point there was no choice. He could drive up beside her and shoot her through the window.
    Instead, he drove past her. Could it be that this was a different man? Maybe he wasn’t chasing her. He stopped at the stoplight. She was four cars behind him.
    As he went through the intersection, she turned right, wondering how this could be so easy.
    Yet she drove around a few random blocks, and still the van didn’t follow.
    Damn , she thought. Why didn’t I get his license number?
    But it was obvious why. She was too scared.
    Nothing to do but go home. She stopped at Schwegmann’s on Elysian Fields, as she’d promised Miz Clara, and was approaching calm as she got back in the car and went home.
    But there, in the center of her modest block, smack in the middle between Desire and Piety, was a tan van.
    Oh, Jesus Christ , she thought, what now? My mama’s in the house.
    She got out of the car warily, looking around her, wishing she had a gun.
    Someone seized her from behind, clamping a hand over her mouth. She felt the roughness of his beard as the man leaned close to her ear.
    He whispered, “Open the door,” and she realized he meant her own car door.
    She worked it.
    “No. The back door.”
    He pushed her in and slid in beside