Cold Kitten by Thomas Cox

Author:Thomas Cox [Cox, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781468508895
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2012-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

38

Nick knew that Beth Zellmer had a copy of the previous year’s yearbook, so he asked her for it. He wanted to refresh his memory about the girls on his list.

He looked at the pictures of the four names Walter Boddecker had given him, two of them in the junior class last year, and the other two seniors at that time. All were gorgeous young women, each with that little secret-is-mine tantalizing smile. LaTanya Boyd, Sandra Holmes, and Shanika Cromer were African-American, Margie Reiner the remaining white girl besides Rhonda. Margie was a beautiful blonde, photographed in that alluring peek-over-the-shoulder pose.

Nick’s next stop was the office of Brady Carlson, the young, black, assistant principal. Brady was hanging up his phone when Nick entered. Nick shut the door and sat in the chair across the desk from Brady. As soon as Brady saw Nick’s face, his own expression took on the look of a condemned man.

“Got your master key?” Nick asked.

Brady allowed a slight nod.

“You found it in an envelope on your desk, courtesy of LaTanya Boyd.”

Brady’s tongue moistened his lips, but he said nothing. His eyes looked even more pained.

“How long have you been allowing Kitten and her friends to sneak in the building?”

“Nick, please—”

“Look, all I care about are the girls, Brady. How you screwed up yourself is not my concern.”

Brady bit his lip.

Nick said, “They weren’t paying you for use of the key. They were blackmailing you.”

Staring down at the top of his desk, Brady shook his head. “I wanted to tell you the other day, when we heard about Rhonda. I knew then I was pretty fucked. It made me physically ill. I can’t keep food down. My wife wants me to see a doctor.”

“Did you loan your key to more girls than LaTanya?”

“No. Only her. I had no choice. I gave her the key and gate pass, Nick.”

“Your wife knows?”

“No. No way. We were having problems, we separated a little while, Tanya came to—sympathize with me—she said. I didn’t know that Teddy Pick sent her. Two days later he shows up with a tape and plays it for me. There was Tanya and me—calling each other by name—yelling what a great fuck it was. I was furious that she taped us, but she said she had to. Teddy threatened to hurt her if she didn’t. Anyway, it was Teddy who got his hooks in me.” Brady drew in a long breath and exhaled slowly, clenching his fingers on the rim of his desk. “Will you tell the police?”

“Not unless I have to.”

“My career’s shot.” Brady puckered his lips to blow out the rest of his pent-up breath. “No more than I deserve.”

“How much blackmail are you paying?”

“Two hundred a week. I’ve been paying it ever since and hiding our sinking bank account from my wife. I tell her I play high-stakes poker. If I’m exposed, I’ll probably do jail time because the girl’s a minor. I’ll be in the sexual predator registry, Nick.”

Nick waited and watched Brady Carlson weep big tears.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.