The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

Author:Ted Dekker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Thrillers, Suspense, Fiction
ISBN: 9781599953090
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2010-04-12T22:00:00+00:00

19

THE APARTMENT WAS nice enough on its own, but now Quinton had transformed the back bedroom into something majestic. A temple of sorts. The inner courts complete with his own altar.

Due to his change in plans, he’d decided not to use the barn east of Parker, which might still come in useful for the seventh, most beautiful bride. Instead he had set up in the apartment, hoping that the Rain Man’s idiots would soon crack his jack and find the hole.

He’d brought the sedated sixth here and injected her with half a dose of benzodiazepine, a psychoactive sedative that would help her accept the truth with less fuss. Then, working efficiently yet quickly, he’d prepared the room, covering the brown carpet with thick clear plastic that could easily be rolled up when he was finished. A gurney with a white mattress sat in the middle of the room. He would take the gurney with him, dressed in the same white smock he’d worn when wheeling the bride in. No one had seen, but the precaution was necessary.

His case and the tool he would need rested atop a folding table along the right-hand wall. Two posts that he’d secured with drywall anchors protruded from the adjacent wall, precisely five feet from the ground. The body had to be positioned evenly, not cockeyed, so he always measured the height of each peg.

Once the bride hung in place and was glued to the wall, Quinton would arrange each and every appendage for optimal beauty. Like adjusting the bride’s dress just right before she walked down the aisle. He removed all of her outer clothing, leaving her only in her underwear, facing the ceiling. Using a gauze pad, he cleaned the blood from the wound on her cheek where she’d crashed into the door. He used superglue to seal the gash, a trick that worked surprisingly well.

The makeup took him another half hour, beginning with a foundation that matched the color of the soles of her feet. With meticulous care he applied eye liner and mascara. Then a hint of blush. When he was finished, her face looked lighter than the rest of her body, but that would soon change.

Quinton stood back and looked at her, awed at God’s handiwork in creating such an exquisite being. If he could be reincarnated, he would certainly wish to come back as a woman. As a bride. And he would grow up dreaming of one day being chosen in this exact manner.

Normally he had no need for electricity, preferring battery-operated devices that were just as functional, but since he had power, he plugged in a fluorescent strip lamp with yellow plastic over the bulb and set it on the table. It filled the room with an atmospheric golden hue that she might appreciate when she awoke.

Quinton’s final preparation was to prepare himself. Having already bathed earlier in the day, he now stripped off his clothes except for his black leather shoes, his socks, and his black Armani Exchange underwear.

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