Triple Cross, excerpt 1

She’d had enough of being alone… she didn’t even have a cat.  But then one of her friends had mentioned an app.  She tried it out but had spent a week sliding guys off the screen. She swore she would give the first guy that seemed halfway serious a shot. 

Bill had potential.  He was certainly good-looking.  Between his picture and his profile, she figured him to be a bit over six feet tall, and if the pictures were recent, he was trim and had a full head of close-cropped hair.  Clean shaven and tan, she thought he was physically her type. 

She assumed they would just meet for coffee, but he’d insisted on dinner and drinks.  And the restaurant he mentioned was one she’d been dying to try since they’d opened just a few weeks ago.  They were almost impossible to get into.  As soon as he mentioned it, she was onboard. 

She moved around her apartment, getting ready.  She had been thinking all day about what she would wear, wanting to look her best without making it look like she was trying too hard.  And if he was nearly as nice as he had been on the phone, it was shaping up to be a pretty good evening. 

She decided to wear her dark hair long, brushing over her shoulders.  She had a maroon mid-length dress she thought would be perfect… tight in the right places to accentuate her generous curves.  She wasn’t twenty anymore, but at thirty-two, she still attracted looks.  At five-six, she was slender, busty and had legs that she thought looked pretty good.  She sure had a lot of time and sweat invested in them. 

She slipped a pair of pumps with a four-inch heel onto her stocking clad feet.  Not that Bill would ever know that she was wearing thigh-high stockings, but in addition to being the perfect shade, they made her feel sexy.  She pulled on her jacket and headed downstairs to meet the Uber driver that was dropping her off at the bar just up the street from the restaurant. 

She stepped out of the backseat of the Lexus she had ordered up on Uber and walked across the sidewalk toward the front door of the trendy neighborhood bar.  As she reached out to grab the door, Bill stepped out to greet her and hold it for her. 

Wow, his pictures don’t do him justice, she thought to herself.  He was easily six-three, and she loved tall men.  And she could see the muscles rippling under the tight dress-shirt he was wearing.  She also noticed that his smile was very friendly.  He was going to have to work hard to turn this into a bad date. 

“Wow, Mary,” he said, “you look fantastic.  Your profile pictures looked good, but you look better in the flesh by a mile.”  He flashed her a million-dollar smile and she blushed. 

“You look pretty good yourself, Bill,” she replied. 

He led her to a small table by the window and pulled out her chair for her. 

“I ordered a nice blush for you,” he said casually, handing her a glass of wine as he slipped into the seat across from her. 

“Thank you, that’s perfect,” she said, taking a sip. 

They engaged in some small talk over the next thirty minutes.  She barely realized that she’d polished off three glasses of wine.  But when it was time to walk down the street to the restaurant, she realized she had a little more than a pleasant buzz.

As she stood, she wobbled a little before he steadied her and helped her with her jacket.  He firmly but gently took her arm and guided her through the small bar. 

“I hope you don’t think I’m a lush.  I normally don’t drink much; I can’t believe I had three glasses of wine.”

He flashed her that smile again, reassuring her that it was ok.  He even leaned over and pecked her cheek. 

As they walked through the front door, he put his arm around her, slipping his hand to her waist.  She was having more trouble balancing and was starting to think something might be wrong. 

“I don’t feel very good,” she whispered.  She was looking around to see if there might be a police officer around.  She tried to turn back toward the bar, thinking she might be able to get help, but his grip tightened.  “Please, let me go,” she said, her words slurring.  She was starting to panic on the inside, but the fog in her mind was getting thicker.  She wanted to run, but she couldn’t will herself to do anything.  She couldn’t have stood on her own if he had let her go. 

“It’ll be ok,” he said gently.  “I’ll help you and you won’t feel a thing.” 

A van pulled up next to them at the curb.  He turned her and, as the side door slid open, lifted her into the van.  He followed her in and closed the door as the van pulled away. 

As the van drove away, he reached into her purse and pulled out her phone.  He took her hand and used her finger to unlock it and went through to delete the app they had met on, as well as check to see if there were any other mentions of him.  He didn’t want there to be a trace of him in her digital wake.  Then he looked to see if her keys included the one to her office… it was there.