Three Times a Lady

Chapter 25

Nicholas hit the flashers and sirens again and backed the ambulance carefully down Dinah Leach’s driveway, turning on the windshield wipers full-blast to whisk away the torrential rain. God, it was a mess out here.

And he f*cking loved it.

Nicholas pursed his lips and concentrated on navigating the road in front of him while the frenetic sound of the wipers filled his brain like a million swarming mosquitoes. The only other vehicles on the streets right now belonged to emergency responders on their way to various points of trouble all around the besieged city, exactly the reason that he and his mother had chosen to put their beautiful game plan into action under these very specific conditions and on this very specific night. With law-enforcement officials and emergency responders already stretched to the point of snapping dealing with all the fallout from Hurricane Allison, Nicholas could really take his time here and get everything exactly right. Not only was he a kid in a candy store right now, he was a kid in a candy store with what amounted to an unlimited budget.

He could take whatever he wanted.

An Atlanta PD patrol car whizzed by in the opposite direction at seventy miles an hour, its blue-and-red lights flashing and its powerful sirens screaming, letting everyone in the vicinity know that the men inside the vehicle were in a goddamn hurry here.

Nicholas smiled until his jaw began to ache.

Hey there, officers! Got some pretty interesting cargo in the back of my rig here if you’d care to take a look. No? You’re too goddamn busy right now? What about a murder? Would something like that pique your interest at all? How about if the victim is famous? Still no? I see. Well, I understand. Have a nice day, officers. Thank you so much for your service to our community.

Nicholas shook his head and adjusted the police scanner to the correct frequency, listening in joyfully as the reports crackled in over the electrified airwaves.

‘Flooding at 187 Mockingbird Lane. Infant trapped in an upstairs bedroom. Mother’s frantic, crying and screaming that she can’t get to her baby.

‘Broken leg and multiple contusions at 23 Jamaica Way. Address belongs to City Councilman Bryan Manlow. If you’re a Republican, head over that way.’

Nicholas winced at the joke. There went somebody’s job.

‘Call regarding a ninety-one-year-old man having trouble breathing at 19420 La Serena Drive. History of heart problems. Better hurry.’

Twenty minutes later, Nicholas pulled the ambulance over to the side of the road about half a mile away from the hospital. Stooped over in a half-crouch, he made his into the back of the vehicle and unzipped the body bag. A hot rush of adrenalin bolted through his veins at the sight of her face.

There she was, just waiting for him.

The woman was conscious now, but just barely. The reality-television star gasped for air through the soiled panties covering her face, but was too woozy to do much of anything else.

Nicholas slid up the panties onto Dinah Leach’s forehead. She widened her bright green eyes in confusion. ‘What’s happening?’ she breathed. ‘Who are you? Where am I?’

Nicholas smiled down at her. She looked so goddamn beautiful in this state that he couldn’t resist the urge to lean in for a quick kiss, tasting her expensive lipstick on his tongue. Once again, much like the woman’s jeans and perfume, she’d obviously bought the good stuff. Estee Lauder, judging by the flavour of it.

Nicholas broke the kiss and slid the panties back over her face, zipping shut the blue body bag constructed of industrial-strength rubber once more. No need to make a big show over their good-byes, right? Didn’t want anyone to feel embarrassed here.

Making his way back into the driver’s seat up front, Nicholas traded in his bloody clothes for a pair of brand-new scrubs. He needed to the look the part here, after all. Hell, that was half the battle.

Ten minutes later – having given Dinah Leach sufficient time to suffocate inside the body bag – Nicholas wheeled the vehicle up to the emergency-room entrance of the hospital and took his place waiting in line.

The scene around the hospital was an absolute madhouse, but it wasn’t very long before three EMTs hustled up to meet him.

‘What do we have here?’ one of the EMTs asked, shielding his eyes from the pounding rain that was pouring down from the heavens.

Nicholas shook his head sadly and told the man the bad news. ‘I’m afraid this one is just a drop-off for some post-mortem work. Forty-two-year-old female. It’s that Dinah Leach chick from the Real Housewives show.’

The EMT lifted up his eyebrows on his forehead in surprise. ‘Holy shit. You’re kidding. How’d she die?’

‘Overexposure.’

‘To what?’

Me, Nicholas thought.

Out loud, he said, ‘Hell, I don’t know, pal. Too much excitement, I suppose. Heart gave out on her, is my guess. Anyway, the docs are going to have to cut her open to find out for sure. They don’t pay me enough to make those kind of calls.’

The EMT laughed. ‘Yeah, I hear ya there. Me either.’

The man paused and studied Nicholas’s face. ‘You new around her? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.’

Like everything else in Annabeth Preston’s exquisite plan, Nicholas had prepared his lie well in advance. ‘Just helping out,’ Nicholas said, another good ol’ boy commiserating with a colleague deep in the heart of Dixie. ‘Studying to become an EMT at the community college. They wanted me to get some real-time experience, lend a hand because of the storm and all. Pretty exciting job you’ve got, huh?’

The EMT nodded. ‘Yeah, too exciting sometimes. Anyway, pop the locks on the back doors here and we’ll take her off your hands.’

Nicholas did as he was instructed. The other two EMTs extracted Dinah Leach’s body and slammed shut the doors before wheeling her into the hospital.

The remaining EMT pounded once on the ambulance’s roof to let Nicholas know he could take off. ‘Thanks a lot, buddy. Good luck in school. I guess I’ll see ya around when you graduate.’

Nicholas nodded and pressed down his foot against the accelerator. Heart thrumming gleefully in his chest, he pulled away from the absolutely perfect final act of his absolutely perfect first murder.

See me around? Nicholas thought.

Not if you’re lucky, pal. Not if you’re f*cking lucky.