a person, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said. “They read about people getting robbed and all, and they just drive on by.”
He stole another glance at her. It took a lot for a girl to look like that in men’s clothes. He pictured her in a dress, in a bathing suit, and finally in nothing at all. He turned his eyes back to the road as the perspiration began to form on his forehead.
If only he could have a girl like that! Then he wouldn’t mind those damned trips all over the country, not if he had something like that back at his room, waiting for him to come home. But he couldn’t have luck like that, not him. He never had.
He was forty-one, and his hair was starting to go. Slowly but surely, his life was slipping by, without anything real or important ever happening to him. The only love he ever had he bought for three dollars in a little room over Randy’s Bar. And he knew that he would go on like that, coming home every night to an empty room and passing three dollars to a prostitute every Saturday. And someday he would die without ever doing anything.
“Mind if I smoke?” Her voice broke into his reverie and stopped his train of thought.
“Go right ahead,” he said. He took a lighter from his pants pocket and turned toward her, offering her the flame.
She leaned forward to take the light. The shirt fell away from the front of her body, and Frank got a quick glimpse of smooth white skin and rounded flesh.
Again the desire surged through him. He replaced the lighter in his pocket and gripped the wheel as tight as he could in his large hands. He was breathing fast, almost panting.
“Thanks,” she said, softly.
The sun dipped lower, and he passed a sign which indicated that his town was only two miles further on down the road. Just two more miles, then three or four to Milford, and she would be gone from his life. She would leave, and he would be left with her memory and nothing more.
He looked at her again. She seemed so soft, so warm and peaceful. She yawned and stretched her lush body before him. And then he decided that he was going to have her.
The decision came in a flash. He couldn’t let his whole life disappear without doing something about it. He would take her, swiftly and violently; and the freshness of her would let him live again like a full man.
The realization of what he was going to do calmed him. At the same time, he was tense with anticipation. He could practically feel the soft pressure of her body against his, could picture her nude in his arms.
“Just a few more miles,” she said.
“Won’t be long now.” He turned and smiled at her.
“I really appreciate this. It’d be terrible out on the road at night.”
I’m glad you appreciate it, he thought. You’ll get a chance to show just how grateful you are. A good chance.
He didn’t really want to hurt her. He glanced over at her again. Hell, he thought, she was no virgin. It wasn’t as though he were taking something away from her. She might even like it. He chuckled inwardly, remembering the old saying, “If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it.”
Well, it was inevitable. He was going to take her, and nothing was going to stop him. He wouldn’t hurt her anymore than he had to, of course. Maybe she would tell the police, but he was willing to take the chance. He couldn’t stop himself now, even if he wanted to.
Besides, there was little chance that she would tell. He had read somewhere that ninety percent of the rape cases were never reported, because the girls involved were ashamed of it. And he could always say that she let him—no one could prove otherwise.
“It’s a nice day,” he said.
“Very nice.”
He spotted a turnoff, a rutted, two-lane road that went nowhere and was rarely used by anyone. He slowed down the car and cut over onto it.
“Where are we going?” she asked. There was a touch of alarm in her voice.
“A shortcut,” he replied.
“I never went this way before.”
“It cuts out Herkinsburg. Not many people know about it.”
He was amazed to hear himself lie so easily. He had always had difficulty in lying, but now he was so set on his goal that the words came from his lips with no trouble at