Page 57 of Kill For Me Kill For You
Amanda listened at the door and heard nothing from the outside. Only the thumping of her own heart.
The closest apartment to Naomi’s was down the hallway, maybe twenty feet away. Naomi’s was the corner apartment, and that meant a little space from the neighbors. She figured anyone who could afford to live in the building needed a good salary to pay for it. Maybe even two salaries.
Chances were that Naomi’s closest neighbors were not in the building, having already left for work.
The hallway curved before revealing the rest of the apartments. On the wall, before it turned into a longer hallway, a red firehose was mounted to the wall. Below the firehose reel sat two large fire extinguishers. Amanda approached, lifted one of the extinguishers and tested it for weight.
It felt heavy enough.
She went back to Naomi’s apartment, held the extinguisher by the handle with one hand, her other on the base, and she swung it like a battering ram at the spot just below the door handle.
The first hit shot the extinguisher out of her hands and it fell to the floor with a loud metallicthunk. Her left wrist felt as if someone had tried to tear it off. She shook it, then picked up the extinguisher before it rolled away. Stood back. Took a run at the door. The base of the extinguisher struck the door an inch below the handle, and the frame gave a loud crack. One more. This time the door opened.
She went inside, dropped the extinguisher. When it hit the floor, there was another loudclang. She looked down, confused. The extinguisher should’ve landed quietly on the apartment carpet.
But the carpet was gone.
Amanda moved quickly through the apartment. Lounge, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, second bedroom.
There was nothing but a toilet and a tub.
No pictures on the walls, no furniture, no bed, no desks, no corkboard with photos of Quinn, no carpeting, no drapes, no blinds, not even a lightbulb.
It was as if Naomi had never been here. Amanda returned to the front door of the apartment, double checked to make sure this was the right place.
And it was.
Amanda shuddered. Naomi had lied about everything. She had tricked Amanda into killing someone and she had no idea why.
Before panic robbed her of her senses, Amanda ran out of the apartment, and into the elevator. As the lift descended, she tried to think. She had to understand what had just happened.
Crone would have to wait.
Amanda had put herself at huge risk. One that might get her a life sentence. There were questions that had to be answered.
Who was Naomi?
The second question put a lump in her throat – who was the man Amanda had murdered last night?
27
Ruth
Scott got them a cab from Red Hook ferry port to Jamaica Station, and then a train to Huntington, Long Island. Ruth never let go of Scott’s arm while they moved from the station to the train, and then disembarked at Huntington station.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked as they stood on the platform.
‘We’ll get a train to Port Jefferson. With everyone heading home for Thanksgiving, they’ve put on a late-night crossing – we’ll take the midnight ferry to Bridgeport and another train to Hartford,’ said Scott, hefting his backpack onto his shoulder.
‘Why are we going to Hartford?’
‘Because I lived there for a while with my parents before they moved to Florida. I know the place, and it’s far enough out of the way that no one will ever look for us there.’
Ruth felt a chill at the thought of someone looking for them.
There were a dozen people on the platform, all walking in the same direction towards the main concourse. Ruth noticed that Scott kept his head down, hiding his face under his baseball cap.
‘If we were going to Hartford, couldn’t we have gotten another train from Grand Central?’ asked Ruth.
