City of Prey by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Suspense, Police Procedural, Women Sleuths, Thrillers
ISBN: 9781094372891
Google: ndUREAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Blake Pierce
Published: 2021-08-10T09:03:07.074549+00:00

***

Theresa’s mother had warned her about taking the job at such an early age. She’d told her about the sort of men that “those clubs” attracted and the trouble that came with them. Theresa supposed her mother had been right, but then again, her mother had no idea the sort of money she made.

Sure, she was just a cigarette girl at the Big Riff, but for an eighteen-year-old young woman to make this sort of scratch…it was sort of unheard of. All she had to endure were older drunk men calling her “baby doll” and “sweet thing,” as well as the occasional squeeze on her ass. And for that inconvenience, she had more cash tucked into the front of her shirt for one night’s work than her mother would make all of next week.

And when she’d put the trays away and started for the doors to go home, a very intoxicated man had come up to her, hugged her just tight enough to press her breasts against his chest, and thanked her for her hard work—whatever that meant. And for that alone, he’d passed a crisp dollar bill her way. In his drunken stupor, he’d even offered to walk her home. She declined, though she loved the idea of what her mother would say if a fifty-something drunken gentleman escorted her little girl home.

The thought of this put a smile on Theresa’s face as she headed home. The night was quite beautiful, right after midnight when the summer nights carry a coolness that, in her opinion, rivaled even the nicest of breezes on cooler mornings.

She had a seven-block walk home, and though she’d made it many times before, she’d only covered it at this time of night three times before. This was the first time, though, that she’d been walking with thirty-two bucks stuffed securely into her brassiere. Theresa was busy thinking about how to present the money to her mother (did she gloat, or offer her mother a bit to help pay for this month’s utilities?) when a man’s voice called out to her from the right.

“Hey, there,” was all the voice said.

She turned and saw a man coming out of an alley between two small apartment buildings. “Hello,” she said in a low voice, mainly because she’d been raised with the instruction to never be rude to anyone.

“It’s awful late, little girl,” the man said. “I can walk you home if you want.”

“No thank you.”

She thought that was the end of it but then he started moving. She was also quite sure he was muttering something under his breath.

“Oh, not like that,” the man said with a laugh. He stepped out of the alley and slowly walked slightly behind her. “I’m not one of those men. Honest. I just know how things can be in this city and want to make sure pretty girls like you aren’t in danger.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Theresa said, now a little nervous as the man continued to follow her.

Again, that muttering came out of his throat.

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