Read Online Watch Them Die by Kevin O'Brien - Free Book Online Page A

promises. But it was a very nice offer.” She handed him the bag.
    He glanced at his receipt. “Are you working Thursday?”
    “Yes. Why?”
    “Well, I might see you when I bring the movie back. Hey, you know, I never got your name.”
    “I’m Hannah,” she said.
    “You’ve got a terrific smile, Hannah. You know that?”
    As he strolled out of the store, Craig Tollman glanced over his shoulder at her. Hannah met his gaze, and he grinned.
    Through the front window, Hannah watched him walk away.

    She took her break at three o’clock on Mondays. Alphabet Soup Day Care was a short walk from the video store, and at three-fifteen, they had snack-time. Parents were welcome to join in. Hannah was there every Monday afternoon for Guy—usually with some kind of special treat.
    At five minutes to three, Hannah went to the store’s break room, where she fetched her coat and purse. She noticed Scott’s newspaper on the desk.
    Nearly an hour had passed since Scott had shown her the article about Cindy Finkelston’s death. Hannah hadn’t given her any thought since then. She’d been too busy with customers. Now she felt a little guilty for not caring more. Of course, Scott had a point: Cindy wasn’t a very nice person. Had she really taken her own life, or was it an accident?
    Hannah tried to shrug it off. Maybe there would be an update about it in tomorrow’s paper.
    She stopped by the mall’s food court and bought a couple of fruit shakes to go. The banana shake was Guy’s favorite.
    As she walked the five blocks to Alphabet Soup Day Care, Hannah gazed up at some of the taller apartment buildings along the way. She stopped in front of one, figuring it was as tall as Cindy Finkelston’s building. She could almost see Cindy falling from one of those windows near the top story. Then, like a dream, the images in her mind took a strange turn. She pictured Mia Farrow and John Cassevetes walking along the street below to discover a throng of onlookers and police. Hannah remembered how Mia reacted when she saw the bloody corpse on the pavement.
    The bag with the fruit shakes slipped from her grasp, and hit the sidewalk with a splat. A dark stain bloomed on the brown paper bag.
    It dawned on Hannah that the videotape of Rosemary’s Baby was someone’s way of telling her what would happen to Cindy Finkelston.
    This person had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure she saw the tape. It had even been cued to that scene. Hannah tried to make some sense out of it all. She’d found the video in her apartment on Thursday night. Cindy Finkelston had taken that fateful fall yesterday morning, Sunday. Why would someone choose to forecast Cindy’s death for her? She barely knew the woman.
    There had to be some connection to the Goodbar video. But what? She didn’t really know the victim in that one, either. Someone was singling her out to preview these “movie” deaths. But why?
    Ever since the second break-in three nights before, Hannah had been sleeping on the sofa—with a hammer on the floor beside her. Even after changing the locks, she didn’t feel safe.
    She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her every move. She was constantly looking over her shoulder. She didn’t let Guy out of her sight, and they’d spent most of the weekend inside—with the door locked.
    This morning, she’d told Joyce that someone had tried to break in, and warned her to be on her guard.
    “It’s those darn crack-heads ruining the neighborhood,” Joyce had lamented. “Well, don’t worry about Guy while he’s with me. I keep pepper spray and one of those electric-shock zap’m things in my purse. I’m armed and dangerous, hon. No one’s gonna tangle with this grandma.”
    Just the same, on her way to work, Hannah had a hard time convincing herself that Guy was safe. After a few hours in the store, she’d almost felt as if things were back to normal. But then she’d learned that over the weekend, someone had been there