Greg Iles - Third Degree

“Baptists drink grape juice at Communion.”

Warren barked a laugh. “That’s in public. In private they do it all, don’t they?”

Crying was making her throat swell, and that made it still harder to breathe. “Please take this off my neck,” she gasped. “I really can’t breathe.”

“I will take it off,” he said, smiling strangely. “You know why? Because you’re about to make a phone call.”

“Who am I going to call?”

“Kyle, of course.”

“Kyle? What do you want me to say?”

Warren thought about it for a moment. “You want an afternoon quickie. You’re horny. You can’t go another minute without it.”

Laurel couldn’t believe his words.

“You were watching your porn, but it’s not enough. Use your imagination. I’m sure he’s fucked you right in our bed and loved every second of it. As much because of me as you, probably.”

Warren left the guest room, then quickly returned with two cordless handsets. He must have the phones hidden somewhere, she thought. Laurel lay still as he unlocked the cable, loosened it a little, and then, to her horror, shut the lock again. He had no intention of releasing her from this torture device.

She watched him dial a number on one of the handsets, then hold the phone up to her face. He put his head against hers, crushing the phone between, so that he wouldn’t miss a word Kyle said.

With his other hand he stuck his pistol against her ribs.

When Auster’s cell phone rang, he assumed it was Vida returning his call to her cell, but the LCD said WARREN SHIELDS. Auster breathed a heavy sigh of relief, though he wasn’t sure why talking to Shields should calm him down. Maybe because they were both in the same boat, even if Shields didn’t understand how leaky the boat was.

“Warren?” he answered. “Where are you, man?”

“Kyle?” said a female voice that Auster thought might belong to his girlfriend, but then he decided against it. This woman sounded more mature.

“This is Kyle. Who’s this?”

“Laurel.”

Laurel Shields? What the hell? “Laurel? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’ve been thinking about you, that’s all.”

Auster sputtered in confusion. “You have?”

“Mm-hm.”

“What about me?”

“You know. What we’ve been doing together.”

“What we’ve been doing?”

“Yes. You know.”

“Ah, I’m a little confused, Laurel. I like your tone, but why don’t you help me out here?”

“I want you to come over and fuck me. Now. The kids have a birthday party, and they’re not here now.”

Auster was stunned speechless.

“I want you to do me the way you did the last time. Can you handle that?”

The last time? “Laurel…this is some kind of joke, right? Like Candid Camera or something. Punk’d or whatever?”

“No joke, Kyle. You know me better than that.”

“What I know is that I’ve dropped hints for years, and you’ve kept me at arm’s length the whole time. What’s changed?”

There was a long pause, during which Auster sensed a hand pressed over the mouthpiece on Laurel’s end. He’d downed several shots of Diaka, but through the vodka-generated fog it struck him that since Warren had not come in to work today, he might be home now. He might even be on the phone with Laurel, though Auster couldn’t imagine what they might be playing at.

“Kyle?” Laurel said plaintively.

“I’m here.”

“What do you think? Don’t you want me to suck you off?”

Auster was about to hang up when a new scenario struck him. What if Warren had been cheating on his wife? God knew he’d been acting screwy for the past couple of months. Longer, really. If he was cheating on Laurel, and she’d found out about it, maybe she was out for a little revenge. This wasn’t the best time for it-with Biegler on the way, it would be insanity-but he’d had his eye on her for a long time. Laurel Shields was a thoroughbred. She made his latest girlfriend look like a plow horse (despite Shannon’s being ten years younger than Laurel) and Vida Roberts like something destined for the glue factory. Laurel had class, and there was nothing better than a woman with class looking in the gutter for revenge.

“Ah…I can’t say I would turn that down. What do you have in mind?”

“Just drive over here. Pull into the garage, and I’ll be waiting for you. Bring some Viagra with you. I need a serious workout.”

The mention of Viagra pushed back the fog a little. Then he thought he heard another voice, heavily muffled. “What about Warren, babe? Where is he?”

“Warren’s not at work?”

“He never came in today.”

“Huh. I don’t know, then. And I don’t care. I know what I want.”

Auster felt his sluggish blood pumping faster.

“Don’t worry about Warren,” Laurel said. “He never comes home during the day. Maybe he’s playing golf.”

Auster closed his eyes and forced himself to think beyond the moment. Biegler was driving hell for leather from Jackson to shut down the office. Vida would be getting back any second. Yes, nailing Laurel seemed like the ideal escape from all that, but what it really amounted to was professional suicide. He would have to walk away this time. For once in his life, he would leave money sitting on the table.

“I sure appreciate the offer,” he said. “But I have to pass, Laurel. There’s just too much going on, and I keep thinking of something my daddy taught me early on.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t shit where you eat.”

She gave a feminine snort of contempt. “You’ve broken that rule too many times to count.”

“Yeah, I know. But Warren’s my partner. Maybe I’ve finally learned something. Be careful, honey. You’re too sweet to waste it, you know?”

He hung up before his darker instincts could betray him.

Warren slammed the phone against the guest room wall. Laurel cringed, but hope was surging through her. She had been sexually explicit, as Warren had instructed, but that strategy had backfired, as she had known it would. The more forward she was, the more confused Kyle was bound to be. Her only worry had been that he would ignore the absurdity of her offer and accept it on the outside chance of getting sex from a delusional woman. He had certainly lusted after her long enough. At one drunken Christmas party Kyle had confessed that he often thought about Laurel while having sex with other women. She’d shoved him away, but what more could she do? How could she prove he’d said something like that? The only upside of this unsavory history was that Kyle knew her well enough to know she’d never be the pursuer, even if she decided she wanted him.

“I told you someone was messing with your head,” she said softly. “Kyle had no idea what I was talking about. Do you believe me now?”

“You’ve got some kind of code!” Warren shouted. “Something you say if I’m around. Or something you don’t say. That’s it, isn’t it?”

A Kafkaesque dread descended in her soul. “Warren…the kids. Please keep your voice down.” She took a deep breath, then spoke with utter sincerity. “If you don’t believe what you heard with your own ears, I don’t know what I can do. The only place I’ve ever cheated on you is inside your head.”

“Are these in my head?” he cried, snatching up a bundle of bearer bonds.

“I can’t explain those,” she said with conviction. “But I’m not involved with Kyle Auster in any way. I’ll take a lie detector test, if you want.”

Warren was staring at the bonds, not at her.

“Think,” she said. “Use that big brain of yours. Who could have told you where to find this stuff except the person who put it there?”