An Angel for Emily Read online

“I, ah, I hit him with my car,” Emily managed to say, even though her throat was horribly dry.

  “And afterward he conned you,” the woman said. “What’d he do, tell you he was gonna go to the police if you didn’t do what he said?”

  “Yes,” Emily said, her eyes wide in surprise. “That’s exactly what he said.”

  “Mmm, I wasn’t sure it was him but now I am. So what con story did he use on you? He’s innocent, of course, but he always has a long list of things he is, like a typewriter salesman. That was my favorite. He got lots of sympathy for that one. Every woman with a computer felt sorry for him. What was his line to get to live with you?”

  “He says he’s an angel,” Emily heard herself saying.

  “Bloody hell,” the woman said under her breath. “That’s a new one. Did you fall for it?”

  “Pretty much,” Emily answered, giving the woman a tentative smile.

  For several long moments the woman looked at Emily, her perfectly made-up eyes narrowed. “My father always said schooling was wasted on girls. Guess he was right, if you’ve read all these books and still believe a killer like Mike is an angel.” She leaned forward. “So how did he explain his missin’ wings? Or did he grow some?” This last seemed to amuse her a great deal and she laughed hard, showing what had to be artificially white and unnaturally perfect teeth.

  “Real angels don’t have wings,” Emily said and was amazed at her own calmness. But then, what else could happen to her? In the last few days she’d encountered ghosts, angels and a bomb. “Are you planning to kill me?” she asked.

  “No.” The woman seemed offended that Emily would think such a thing of her. “I just want you to take me to Mike so I can turn him over to the cops.”

  “But he’s your husband,” Emily said.

  “You ever live with a man who was nectar to every female under the age of ninety? Even little girls like him.”

  “They run to him and sit on his lap,” Emily murmured.

  “Right. Well, it got to me seein’ all the twenty-five-year-olds running to him, so to speak. It wasn’t the losers he killed, the world didn’t need the likes of them anyway, but I sure minded all those girls!”

  “Then he is a hit man? The FBI didn’t seem to be sure.”

  “Of course he is and they know it. Who do you think killed him? Or rather, tried to. I can tell you that I was shocked when I heard he was still alive. So, you ready to go?”

  Emily was caught off guard by the woman’s abrupt change of subject. “Go?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go get Mike and get this over with.”

  “Over with?” Even to Emily she sounded like a broken tape recorder, just repeating what she heard.

  “Look, honey, let’s get real. Who do you think turned him in in the first place? I got sick of him and his women so I told a few people where he was and they were real grateful, if you know what I mean.”

  Emily knew the woman had turned her husband in for money and now she wanted Emily to lead her to Michael so she could turn him in again. Would she be given a second reward?

  The woman misinterpreted Emily’s hesitation. “Look, maybe we can share this reward. You lead me to him and if I can take him with no trouble, I’ll give you twenty percent.”

  “Take him?”

  “Yeah, as in kill him,” the woman said as though Emily were a simpleton. “You wanta get rid of him, don’t you?” She narrowed her eyes and her hand tightened on the gun. “Or have you fallen for him? Maybe you really do believe he’s an angel.”

  “No…I…” A degree in library science didn’t prepare one for dealing with angry wives with guns. And it didn’t prepare one for making life and death decisions.

  “Whose side are you on, anyway?”

  “Yours,” Emily answered immediately while she tried to think of something to divert this woman. Could she persuade her to meet her somewhere neutral?

  “I think you better go with me. He at that house of yours?”

  “No, I think he went out with the boys. He likes football and video replays.”

  For a second the woman stared at Emily as though she’d lost her mind. “Mike? Like football? Like the boys?” The woman abruptly stood, her hand firmly on the gun as she pointed it toward Emily’s head. “All right I get it now. You’re a plain little librarian and you like the excitement of harboring a killer. It’ll probably be the only exciting thing that ever happens in your life.”

  “Of all the presumptuous things I’ve ever heard,” Emily said angrily, also rising, “that is the worst! Where do you get off thinking you know anything about my life? Just because I live in a small town doesn’t mean—”

  “Were you ladies looking for me?”

  They both turned to see Michael standing in the doorway, his hair rumpled as though he’d just been roused from sleep.

  “She has a gun!” Emily screamed as she made a leap toward the woman.

  But the gun went off before Emily could do anything and Michael was directly in the line of fire. She landed in a heap on the floor at the woman’s feet, then turned to look up at Michael as he reeled backward toward the doorway. For a moment he put his hand to his shoulder and Emily was sure he’d been hit, but the next moment he was standing upright and walking toward the woman.

  “I don’t think there’s any need for such violence,” he said softly, advancing toward her.

  “So what new act is this, Mike? Trying to impress the little girl? She’s not your usual type, is she? Or are you preying on innocents now that every bimbo in the country has been to bed with you?”

  Michael kept walking toward the woman, his hand outstretched. “I think you should give me the gun,” he said softy. “I don’t want you or Emily to be hurt.”

  “I’ll give you hurt,” she said, then lifted the gun slightly as she tried to pull the trigger. But Michael was too fast for her. Even as she watched from her place on the floor, Emily didn’t see him move. One minute he was standing on the far side of her office and the next he was in front of the woman and the gun was in his hand, not hers.

  “You bastard!” she shouted, then lunged at him. He caught her in his arms and held her tightly as she attacked him with her fists and her pointed shoes and her teeth.

  “Get out of here, Emily,” Michael said as the woman grabbed his hair then sank her teeth into his shoulder.

  Emily could tell that Michael was in pain and she looked about for something to hit the woman with so she’d stop her attack, but she saw nothing.

  “Go!” Michael ordered. “Now!”

  Emily didn’t hesitate again as she ran from the office into the dark library, then out the front door and into the night. As the cool air hit her she calmed down enough to think, What now? She couldn’t very well leave that woman with Michael, but then she couldn’t call the police either, could she?

  Before she could make a decision, the heavy door to the library burst open and the woman ran outside, past Emily without so much as a glance in her direction. Emily plastered herself against the wall, hoping the woman wouldn’t see her. She thought the woman no longer had the gun but she wasn’t sure.

  It wasn’t until Emily rounded the corner that indignation overcame her. The woman was carrying Emily’s handbag! Visions of credit cards and keys and the pillbox her father had given her danced before her eyes. Without thought, Emily started running after the woman.

  As Emily rounded the corner and saw that the woman was heading straight for Emily’s car and her keys were already in her hand, Emily shouted, “You’re not stealing my car,” then made a giant leap toward the woman.

  Later, Emily couldn’t remember clearly what happened next as everything seemed to happen at once. She leaped just as Michael appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her and threw her backward toward the building. Emily hit the outside wall of the library with a force that almost knocked her unconscious. Dazed, she looked up in time to see Michael running after the woman as she opened the car door and got inside.

  But