Sylvie's Cowboy: Cinderella In Reverse

CHAPTER 14: ICE WATER

Across the garage, Dan Stern was leaving his car, carrying a sack of groceries, walking toward the elevators.

Outside on the street, Harry Pace, wearing his windbreaker, boots, and Stetson, sauntered down the sidewalk toward the condominium parking garage. He was carrying a bag of takeout burgers and whistling "Your Cheatin' Heart."

Dan Stern let himself into the condominium formerly occupied by Sylvie Pace. He went to the kitchen and stocked the refrigerator with the contents of his grocery sack. Then he crumpled the sack and stuffed it down the refuse chute. The kitchen -- and indeed the entire apartment -- remained fully furnished inasmuch as Sylvie had been permitted to remove nothing but her clothing and personal articles.

Noticing a cutlery rack on the wall, Dan removed an ice pick, contemplated it, then stowed it in his pocket. He had plans for an ice bucket and a champagne bottle later, but the ice maker in the apartment had been idle while the apartment was vacant. The ice bin was a solid block that would have to be chipped apart when it was time to chill the wine.

He looked around the apartment and decided he was pleased with his preparations. He palmed his keys and left.

When the elevator doors opened in the parking garage, Dan stepped out and headed for his car. He stopped when he heard whistling. Wary, he stole forward using the garage's concrete pillars as cover until he could see if the whistler was whom he suspected it was.

Harry Pace was standing in the open door of the red pickup truck, unloading takeout food onto the seat and whistling "Your Cheatin' Heart." From Dan's point of view, however, the man in boots and Stetson looked exactly like Walt McGurk.

Dan looked at his watch, then he slipped the ice pick out of his pocket, muttering to himself. "You made good time, Dogpatch. But your time just ran out."

Dan crept up behind Harry. The whistling stopped abruptly when Dan jabbed the ice pick through the back of the man's head, beneath the brim of the Stetson, directly into the brain.

Harry fell forward, face down, across the takeout food on the truck seat. Hastily Dan shoved the booted feet inside and closed the truck door. Still thinking he had killed Walt, Dan said to the corpse, "They won't find you until the smell gets bad, and I'll be long gone by then."

Dan hurried to his car and left the garage with the greatest possible speed.

....

That afternoon at Clarice's Beauty World, Sylvie tightened the screws on the electrical plug of a blow-dryer. Then she reached across the appointment book, knocking the desk telephone off the hook, and poked the plug into an outlet. She turned the dryer on. It made a satisfying whirring-whooshing noise, and she turned it off.

Sylvie unplugged the dryer, without noticing the askew telephone, and carried the appliance across the room to Clarice. The shop was only moderately busy, and Clarice was giving a facial to a lady who seemed to be asleep in the chair. Sylvie placed the dryer on Clarice's station with a flourish.

"There you are," Sylvie announced. "I can't believe you were going to throw that out when all it needed was a new plug. These things cost money, you know."

"And I can't believe you fixed it! Where did you learn to do that?"

"Walt. Walt can fix anything." Sylvie's tone became apologetic. "You know, if I weren't here, he would've fixed that dryer for you."

"I know nothing of the kind." Clarice reached into a drawer nearby and produced an electric curling iron, which she handed to Sylvie. "Why don't you take this home tonight and see what you can do with it. It shocks me so bad it like to knocks me down ever time I try to use it."