Read Online Close Encounters by Sandra Kitt - Free Book Online Page B

she urged.
    She sank onto the cushions, positioning her body to make it easy for him, watching as he stood above her, lewdly massaging himself. Barbara knew exactly what he wanted, but she wanted something from him first. She leaned back until her head rested on the back of the sofa, her butt on the edge. She slowly spread her legs.
    Mario went to his knees. He grabbed her thighs and held them open with his forearms. He bent toward her. Barbara sighed and closed her eyes, blood throbbing in her temples as she waited for the contact of his mouth. Her stomach muscles contracted when it came, and her hands combed through his hair as she felt herself succumbing to the absolute bliss of his darting tongue.
    She offered herself up willingly, totally forgetting her oath of duty, her pledge of loyalty… the threat of ruination. For the moment she and Mario were complicit and in sync. Their coupling was not pretty or romantic, but that wasn’t what they wanted from each other.
    And neither was disappointed.

Chapter Four
    “S O, THEN, YOU’RE SAYING that you just happened to be on Tenth Street when the… ah… the incident happened?”
    “That’s right. I was out with my dog,” Carol said softly.
    She stared at the man sitting opposite her in the hospital’s visitors lounge. She didn’t like it that the three police officers were making her feel as if she was being held suspect.
    So far the questions had been very specific, and sometimes repetitive, as if the men were hoping she would trip up and forget an earlier answer. Both Matt and her father had urged her to have a lawyer present, but she still didn’t think she would need one. After all, she was the one who’d been shot. She had no intention of being difficult or evasive. She had nothing to hide. Besides, there was a lot about those few hours that she simply didn’t remember.
    “Do you always walk your dog at four-thirty, five o’clock in the morning?”
    Carol tried not to take offense. “I walk Max when he needs to be walked. When you gotta go, you gotta go.”
    The officer returned her stare with blank acceptance.
    “What I’m trying to get at, Ms. Taggart, is whether it was usual for you to take your dog out at that hour.”
    “No, it wasn’t. But I woke up suddenly. I think Max took it as a signal.”
    The officer lifted his recorder from the side table to check on the amount of tape remaining. Carol glanced at the two other officers, who were standing like sentinels near the door.
    “Now, what can you tell us about the men that night?”
    “The men?” she asked blankly.
    “You said you were grabbed. By whom?”
    Carol remembered only one man that night … someone in blue. Bending over her while she lay on the ground. Telling her to stay still, that she was going to be okay. She frowned in concentration, trying to conjure up the rest of the men, the rest of the scene.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything about the men who grabbed me. I … never saw their faces.”
    “We have just a few more questions. Have you ever walked your dog in that block before?”
    “Sure. But I usually pretty much stayed within a two- or three-block radius from my apartment. My dog is … was old. I didn’t like making him walk far.”
    “I understand. Now about the two men you were seen with…”
    “What did they do with him? After he was taken to the ASPCA, I mean?” Carol asked, staring at the official.
    “Well, the body would have been disposed of, ma’am. You know, the dog was dead, so…”
    “So no one thought it mattered what happened then, is that it?”
    “Ms. Taggart, perhaps I can try and get some more information for you about that. Maybe you can be compensated.”
    “No, thank you,” Carol said, angered by the suggestion. “It’s not like replacing my leather parka because it had a bullet hole in it. You can’t make up for my dog. You can’t make this wound go away.”
    “Yes, ma’am, we understand that. I have a dog myself.” He