Iris Johansen - Eve

“Picking the lock.”

“Something your uncle taught you?”

“No, something I learned when I was running with a gang when I was fourteen. I told you I wasn’t a good guy.” He frowned. “Oh, that’s how he did it.” He pulled on the knob, and it came off in his hand. “He smashed the knob off.” His gaze narrowed on the lock and then he took out his pocketknife and started to work on the tumblers. “And then he stuck in something metal to jam the lock and put the knob back. I don’t think this is the first time that he did something like this. Your mom should be more careful with her friends.” He worked for a minute and straightened. “That should do it.” He pushed and the door swung open. “There we go.”

“Sandra?” Eve pushed ahead of John into the room. “It’s Eve. Are you-”

“Eve!” Sandra came running out of the bathroom. Her hair was mussed, her pink dress torn, her face bruised and washed clean of makeup. “I knew you’d find a way, honey.” She gave Eve a hug. “It’s been positively terrible for me. Men like him should be arrested.”

“Then stay away from men like him.” Eve pushed her back and looked at her. Yeah, she was definitely on something, but Eve didn’t know how deep. Deep enough for her not to realize that she’d been beaten worse than she’d thought. Four bruises marked her fair skin, she had a black eye, and her lip was cut. “He worked you over, Sandra.”

“I told you he wasn’t nice to me.” She lifted her hand to her lips. “See my cut? He didn’t have to do that.” Her gaze wandered to John Gallo. “Who is this, honey?”

“John Gallo,” John said. “I’m a friend of Eve’s.” He looked around the room. “We should get out of here. Do you have anything you need to take with you?”

“My purse.” She gestured vaguely. “On the bed.” She was studying John as he got her purse and handed it to her. “What a good-looking young man. Have you been keeping him from me, Eve? And he’s so polite. I wouldn’t mind you having a young man like him. A woman needs a man to take care of her needs. You’ve never seemed to understand that.”

“We have to go, Sandra.” She took Sandra’s elbow and pushed her toward the door. “Try to walk straight. When we get to the lobby, you have to move fast if you don’t want to attract attention.”

She nodded. “Mustn’t do that. Hotel people are so suspicious…” She looked back at them over her shoulder. “How did you get in the door? I didn’t ask-”

“What’s this?” A big, muscular man in a tan sport coat was standing in the doorway. “Where do you think you’re going, Sandra?”

She stopped. “Hello, Jimmy.” She moistened her lips. “I’m going now.”

“The hell you are. You promised me a party.”

“Party’s over.” Eve took Sandra’s arm and pushed her forward. “And parties don’t usually start with assault and battery. She’s leaving.”

“This is my daughter, Eve,” Sandra said. “And she’s right, you didn’t treat me right. I didn’t like you-”

The man she’d called Jimmy grabbed Eve’s arm as she passed with Sandra. “You can stay. I’ve never had a mother and daughter together before. But you don’t take her anywhere.”

“Yes, she does.” John was suddenly between them. He grabbed the hand that was grasping Eve’s arm. His thumb was pressing into Jimmy’s wrist. “Let her go.”

Jimmy gasped with pain, his hand releasing Eve’s arm.

“Get your mother out of here,” John said. “I’ll be right with you.”

Eve grabbed Sandra’s arm and hustled her out of the room and down the hall.

“Should we leave him?” Sandra asked. “I don’t want Jimmy to-”

“I don’t think you have to worry about John Gallo.” Eve punched the elevator button. But she didn’t like the idea of leaving him, either. The situation was her responsibility. When the elevator door opened, she pushed Sandra inside and hit the lobby button. “Go outside and get in the tan Chevy at the far end of the driveway.”

“But I want you to come with-” The door closed on her protest.

Eve was running back down the hall to the hotel room.

The door was still open. The big man in the tan sport coat was lying on the floor unconscious.

She hoped he was unconscious. Jimmy was lying very still. As she drew closer, she saw his face. His jaw and left eye were already starting to swell, his nose was smashed, and his lips were cut and bloody.

John turned to face her. He didn’t have a mark on him, she realized in astonishment. “I told you to take off.”

“He’s not dead?”

“He’ll be okay.” He shrugged. “I bloodied him up a little. I don’t like guys beating up women. I thought he should see how it feels.” He took her arm and led her out the door. “It’s been a frustrating night. I thought I deserved to enjoy myself.”

“And doing that to him made you enjoy yourself?”

He glanced sidewise at her. “Are you surprised?” His smile was chilling. “Oh, yes, I enjoyed the hell out of what I did to him.”

SANDRA WASN’T GOING TO BE able to climb the four flights of stairs at the development, Eve realized, after her mother almost fell twice on the first few steps. She moved to stand on the step beside her and put Sandra’s arm around her shoulders. “Hold on to the banister and lean on me. We can make it.”

“Sure we can,” Sandra said. “I just feel a little wobbly…”

“I’ll do it.” John was suddenly beside them, pushing Eve aside. “It will take you half the night to get up those stairs. What floor?”

“Four.”

“Go on upstairs and unlock the door.” He was picking Sandra up in his arms and starting up the stairs. “Come on, Ms. Duncan. This will be much easier for you.”

“Call me Sandra.” Sandra smiled. “Like I said, nice and polite, Eve. A real Sir Galahad, like I saw in that movie.”

“Wrong.” John smiled down at her. “But I make a good packhorse.” He was moving quickly up the stairs. “We’ll get you into your place in no time.”

Eve had the door unlocked and thrown wide by the time he reached the fourth floor. “Take her to her bedroom. It’s the door on the right.”

She went to the bathroom and got a damp washcloth and some salve.

John was looking down at Sandra lying on the bed. “I think she’s fading fast. Do you want me to help you undress her?”

“No, it won’t be the first time she’s slept in her clothes.” She turned on the lamp by the bed. “When I was younger, there was no way I could manage to help her.” She carefully bathed the cuts and bruises on Sandra’s face. “Bastard. Why would he want to hurt her like this? All he’d have to do is treat her nice, and she’d do anything he wanted.”

“He’ll think twice about doing it again.”

Yes, the beating John had given him had been brutal and merciless. She had been a little shocked at how merciless at first. She wasn’t shocked after getting a closer look at Sandra’s face. “Do you think he’ll call the police?”

“No chance. Not if he had heroin in his pocket. He’ll just cut his losses and get out of Dodge.”

“Good.” She was gently rubbing salve on Sandra’s cut lip. “I just hope he doesn’t try to look up Sandra again.”

“I’ll be around for a while. Let me know if there’s a problem.”

“I’ll handle it. She’s my mother.”

“Hurts, Eve…” Sandra was opening her eyes. “What are you doing, honey?”

“Just putting some salve on your lip. Go to sleep, Sandra.”

“I was bleeding… and there were bruises.”

“Yes, but they’ll go away.”

“I’ll be just as pretty as ever?”