Read Online You Make Me Feel So Dead by Robert Randisi - Free Book Online Page B

was?’
    That’s when she said, ‘Billy Reynolds is – was – an old boyfriend …’
    â€˜Showed up when?’ I asked.
    â€˜A couple of weeks ago.’
    â€˜So you’ve been seeing him since then?’
    â€˜No, no,’ she said, ‘that’s not it.’ Penny was wearing a drawstring top and pulled it tightly around her slender frame. She shook her head so that her black ponytail kept bouncing up and down. ‘I wasn’t seeing him at all. I mean, not like that.’
    â€˜Then how?’
    â€˜He was forcing me to see him.’
    â€˜Forcing you how? And why didn’t you just tell Danny about it?’
    â€˜You know Danny, Eddie,’ she said. ‘If I told him that Billy was blackmailing me, he would have killed him.’
    â€˜Blackmail?’ I asked. ‘What did he have to blackmail you with?’
    She chewed her bottom lips, dug her hands into her pockets.
    â€˜I can’t say, Eddie,’ she replied, ‘but if I had told Danny … he would have killed Billy, for sure.’
    â€˜Well,’ I said, ‘somebody killed Billy, anyway. What happened when you went into that house?’
    â€˜Nothing,’ she said. ‘I found him and I ran. That’s when I bumped into Jerry.’ She looked at Jerry. ‘And he saved me.’
    â€˜For now,’ I said.
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜They let Jerry go because he has no motive to want to kill Billy Reynolds,’ I said. ‘He doesn’t even know the guy. That means they’re gonna be looking for somebody – somebody who lives in Vegas – who does know him.’
    She bit her bottom lip again – chewed it, actually.
    â€˜When they check into this guy’s background, are they gonna come up with you, Penny?’
    She turned abruptly and walked away from us, pacing around her living room.
    â€˜Penny?’
    She looked at me, her brow knitted, her eyes filling with tears.
    â€˜Come on, Penny,’ I said. ‘I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on. When the police check into Billy Reynolds’ background, are they going to come up with you?’
    She stopped pacing and faced both of us, her hands still deep into her pockets.
    â€˜If they check up on him,’ she said, ‘they’re gonna find out that we were arrested together – twice.’

TWENTY
    â€˜A rrested?’ I asked.
    â€˜Some of my best friends’ been arrested,’ Jerry said to her. ‘Ain’t no shame in that.’
    â€˜There’s shame in what I was arrested for,’ she said.
    â€˜Was it murder?’ Jerry asked.
    â€˜What? No!’
    â€˜Then there ain’t no shame, miss.’
    â€˜Penny,’ I said, ‘for us to understand, you’ve got to tell us the whole story.’
    She rolled her eyes, fought back the tears.
    â€˜Starting with why you were arrested.’
    She closed her eyes, which caused a large tear to slip from both. They quickly trickled down her face and dripped off her chin.
    â€˜Can we sit down?’ she asked, sounding exhausted.
    â€˜Of course,’ I said. We’d been standing right there in the middle of her living room since we entered.
    â€˜Do you want somethin’ to drink?’ Jerry asked.
    She sat on the sofa and touched her forehead. ‘Water, I guess.’
    â€˜I could make you some tea,’ he said. ‘Do you have tea?’
    â€˜Yes, I have some.’
    â€˜Would you like a cup?’
    She took a deep breath and let it out. ‘That would be nice, Jerry.’
    Her place had a kitchenette rather than a kitchen, so Jerry was able to make her the tea and still listen to her story.
    â€˜Penny?’ I prodded her gently.
    She took another deep breath, one that made her shoulders rise all the way up and then down again.
    â€˜I was seventeen,’ she said, ‘and homeless. And I met Billy. He was older –