Laced by Carol Higgins Clark

Author:Carol Higgins Clark [Clark, Carol Higgins]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781416544647
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2006-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

24

Knuckles white from gripping the arms of Dr. Sharkey’s dental chair for dear life, Bobby was planning his revenge on the security guard who knocked out his teeth after he and Anna had stolen an antique necklace from a department store in Nanuet, New York, last Christmas. They had made it out the door and into the dark snowy parking lot before the salesclerk, momentarily distracted, realized one of the estate collection necklaces she had shown them was gone. Hearing someone shout “Stop them!” Bobby and Anna began to run toward the car. Anna flew into the driver’s seat, but a burly guard caught up to Bobby and grabbed his arm as he was getting in the car. Bobby hit the hulking man in the face with his free fist, and the guard returned the favor with a punch that landed squarely on Bobby’s mouth. Enraged, Bobby pushed the guard as hard as he could, which normally wouldn’t have been effective, given the guard’s size, but the man slipped on the icy pavement and fell. Bobby jumped into the car, Anna floored the gas pedal, and the car screeched out of the parking lot, slipping and sliding.

Stealing that necklace was a stupid, impulsive thing to do. They certainly hadn’t planned it. They were shopping for a special present for Anna’s mother, who had been complaining that they didn’t visit her enough. The salesclerk made it too easy for them to walk off with the sapphire and diamond necklace. Being who they were, they couldn’t resist.

And for their trouble, Bobby ended up minus four front teeth. Each of the carefully planned jobs they had pulled off before that provided them with jewelry worth a couple of hundred grand, and not a scratch on them. The Nanuet necklace was valued at $10,000 retail, which, after paying off Dr. Favorman, left enough for an ice cream soda.

Anna’s mother lived in upstate New York. They had promised to visit her and stopped at the mall to buy her Christmas present. Explaining to her why they suddenly couldn’t make it home for Christmas had been a challenge, but explaining Bobby’s missing teeth would have been harder. They decided to head across the country and put as much distance as possible between the scene of the crime and a trip to the dentist. They dropped off their rental car at the after-hours lot in New York City and boarded a bus to Pennsylvania, where they rented a four-door sedan. Christmas dinner was eaten in a truck stop. Bobby dined on soup and apple sauce. They arrived in Los Angeles to find everyone gone for the holidays and spent a week in a hotel waiting for the highly touted Dr. Favorman to return from St. Bart’s.

All for a necklace that meant so little to them.

Bobby really wished he could turn the nitrous back on. He was feeling depressed and scared. There was nothing remotely cheery in the harsh little treatment room, nothing at all to lift a patient’s spirits—except, of course, the tank of nitrous, that was now off-limits.

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