The Anastasia syndrome and other stories by Mary Higgins Clark

Author:Mary Higgins Clark [Clark, Mary Higgins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9780671701239
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1991-03-01T19:11:59+00:00

Nevertheless the day started pleasantly enough. By ten-thirty, the time her assistant, Edna, arrived, the store was bustling and the cash register jingling.

At three-fifteen there was a lull and Vina and Edna managed to have a peaceful cup of coffee. Edna promised that her husband would surely be able to stretch the leftover wallpaper to replace the damaged area in the dressing room. A visibly cheered Vina had a warm smile on her face when the door of the shop opened and a couple came in, a pretty young woman of about twenty-six or -eight in a cheap-looking T-shirt and skirt and a gaunt-looking man about the same age whose arm was tightly around her. His dark red curly hair looked as though he'd just left a hairdresser. His china-blue eyes glittered. There was something spacey about the two of them, Vina thought. Her smile tightened. There'd been a series of drug-related robberies in the area lately.

"We want a long white dress," the man told her. "Size eight."

"The prom season is over, "Vina said uneasily." I don't have much of a selection in long dresses."

"This one should be suitable for a wedding."

Vina addressed herself to the young woman. "Have you any particular style in mind?"

Desperately Kay tried to find a way to communicate with this woman. From the corner of her eye she could see that the clerk at the cash register was sensing something odd about Donny and herself. That wild-looking red wig he was wearing. She also knew that Donny's right hand was touching the gun in his pocket and that any slight effort on her part to alert these women would become their death sentence.

"Something in a cotton," she said. "Do you have eyelet? Or maybe a sheer jersey?" She had spotted the curtained-off dressing area. She would have to go in there alone to change. . . . Maybe she could leave a message. The more dresses she tried on, the more time she would have.

But they had only one size-eight long white eyelet dress. "We'll take it," Donny said.

"I want to try it on," Kay said firmly. "The dressing room is right there," she pointed out. She walked over and pulled back the curtain. "See."

It was barely large enough for one person. The privacy curtain did not go down to the floor. "AH right, you can try it on," Donny said. "I'll wait right outside." He firmly vetoed Vina's offer to assist Kay. "Just hand the dress in to her."

Kay whipped off the T-shirt and skirt. Frantically she glanced around the small cubicle. A narrow shelf held a box with a couple of straight pins. But no pencil. No way to leave a message. She pulled the dress over her head, then grabbed a pin. The wallpaper on one side of the cubicle was stained and shredded. On the other side she tried to scratch the word HELP. The pin was light. It was impossible to move it quickly. She managed a large jagged H.

"Hurry up, sweetheart.

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