The more that I thought about what Francine had done to me, the angrier my mood became. If she had been in front of me right now, I would bash her skull to pieces for having the nerve to get me in trouble over a little smack in the face. Well, it had worked out better than expected and luckily nothing more had happened or I might be facing a prison term. No other woman was going to ever get me arrested again, even if it meant her death. I had killed before and doing so again would not be a difficult act to undertake. Now because of what that bitch did, I had to pay a lawyer and go to court again where they might impose additional sanctions on me. What a goddamn nuisance this was turning out to be and it certainly was interfering with my other important jobs. The first thing I wanted to do was to find another place to live that was miles from here and thereby reduce any chance of running into Francine ever again. Seeing her might incite my rage and more violence might ensue which was not in my best interest. I bought the newspaper and looked in the housing section for apartments which were far from here. I circled several of them that were one bedroom with similar rents and headed out to inspect their condition. I spent the next few hours at several complexes before deciding to see the manager at one of them. There was no problem in securing the space except for the usual rent in advance and non refundable fees. I told the manager that he would have my answer in a few hours and went to my apartment building office to notify them of the move. Since I was not on a lease, all they could keep was a few fees and the remainder of the rent for the month which had just began. I was free to leave anytime and only needed a truck to move my furniture and personal effects. I phoned the new place and told the manager that my decision was to move in and they said any time since the apartment was vacant. I didn’t even have to undergo any type of background checks.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luckily, I had Bart’s help and by the next day, the move was completed and it had all been done without seeing a glimpse of Francine. I had wanted to be done with Bart but always seemed to need him which to me seemed like a cruel twist of fate. Now I had a new environment to become familiar with and different traffic routes to learn. The new place was also a one bedroom with a similar layout as the last except for being larger. There were three buildings in the complex comprised of sixty apartments so that the chance of meeting a desirable young woman from the area was good. Looking for a suitable companion was not my first priority although it was important. Instead I concentrated on learning where the stores were and how to get from one place to another. I was so glad to have a car since it would have been impossible to do all this running around without one and the best part was in not having to ask anyone to help other than Bart. I spent a few days acclimating myself to the new area and it now seemed as comfortable as the last place. The complex had a swimming pool for tenants and I decided to sit there and see who showed up and how they looked. The weather had been very warm and the pool area was crowded with all kinds of people and a few children. It was my understanding that the complex was for adults only so any children present were probably visitors. I sat by the pool for a few hours and noticed several nice looking girls come and go but none of them really piqued my interest. Viewing all of the prospects might take some time so there was no reason to make a move until many more of the female tenants were seen.
Between going to the pool and figuring out my next career move, I had to take care of the court matter and that necessitated a visit to the attorney which meant spending more money. I had an appointment with Mr. Burns at his suburban office and while it only lasted twenty five minutes, the meeting was very productive. He had good news having to do with Francine willing to drop the charge in return for me paying her medical bills which amounted to three hundred and fifty dollars. If I did so, the court would discharge the case and I would not have to appear again. I jumped at that offer and gave Louis cash then and there for the bills and his attorney fee of one hundred and fifty dollars. Leaving his office gave me a good feeling since by paying the sum of five hundred dollars; I had avoided a potentially harmful incident. Now that the legal matter was out of the way, I could concentrate on the more important tasks on my agenda. Every time that I was out and about, my attention was riveted to different types of businesses and their locations. I did not want to hit a place close to my apartment but learning about the types of firms that one person could knock over was very essential to my success. Ideally, I was looking for a small business that was on the edge of a mall or standing alone and conducting a brisk amount of cash transactions which would make the job worthwhile. It was not going to be easy to find what I wanted but plenty of time was available for looking.
My life seemed to consist of looking for a place to rob and hanging out at the pool. Some of the girls came to the area almost every day and had started to become a little familiar with me. I was zeroing in on a few of them as very good prospects and watching to see if any of the girls had an unusual interest in me. The warm weather held up and I was able to visit the pool daily and see the same females in their bathing suits. I enjoyed the view and frequently had casual conversations with a few of the more appealing tenants until it became evident that one of them was showing more of an interest in talking to me than anyone else. It didn’t take long before I began to pair off with Allison and spend time having long discussions about our lives. She was an airline stewardess who at this moment, had lots of time off to enjoy the summer. Her history was fairly predictable and it told of her coming from a small town where she was a high school cheerleader and had been voted prettiest girl in school. Allison had gone to a community college and after trying a few unsatisfactory jobs had decided to fly the skies. She liked the work and the salary was about the same as other skilled jobs. Traveling was the most fun for her although it was often tiring and hectic to be in a different city each day. The one thing she regretted was that flying didn’t really allow for a stable home life and permanent socializing but many of her married high school friends had already been divorced so her life may not have been so bad after all. I was very interested in someone who didn’t want a long term commitment and may have only wanted a companion for fun and games. If we did hook up, it could turn into an ideal situation that would not bring me problems at a later time.
I told her some things about myself including my early incarceration and lied about having inherited a large amount of money that made me financially secure. My eyes carefully watched her reaction to my words and I did not see any sign of disapproval from her. We seemed to be hitting it off and I asked if she would like to have dinner with me which was answered with a quick “yes” We decided to meet about six and go to a nearby restaurant that Allison liked and then see what the rest of the evening brought to us. I went back to my apartment with a feeling of accomplishment and looked forward to starting up a new romance that could be the best one yet. With that matter pretty much taken care of, I could now turn my attention to narrowing down the choices of the next target to hit. I still was not sure but it was either going to be a small diner that was located at the end of a strip mall about six miles from here or a free standing kiosk that sold coffee drinks all day. I had watched both of these businesses from a short distance away over several days and thought that each did a good amount of trade for cash. There were advantages to robbing each one and deciding on which was just a matter of timing and opportunity. The diner closed about seven while the coffee shop seemed to be done about five. Most likely, the coffee sold better at breakfast and lunch while the diner stayed open for dinners and could possibly take in a lot more money by the day’s end. I liked the idea of knocking over a free standing business but the early hour that it shut its doors might create a problem with witnesses and escaping since that was the hour that many people were on the streets. By the time the diner closed, there were fewer pedestrians and autos in the area although the daylight was still bright. I could see problems with each one and wanted to take a few more days to work out any doubts in my mind before making a move against one of
them.
I had been racking my mind over this problem and thought it was time to stop and get ready for the dinner. It was not hard to push the matter to the back of my mind and start thinking about how good Allison looked in a swim suit. It had been a while since I had sex and for a young guy like me, that was not appropriate. I hoped to rectify the situation tonight but had to make sure that my manners were not offensive or that would certainly turn Allison off. It was almost six when I put on my nicest casual clothes and walked to the next building where she lived. When the door opened, Allison greeted me with a big smile and a hug which certainly reinforced my romantic tendencies. After a few words, we headed for my car and drove to the restaurant. I wondered if she would think that my car was a loser but nothing was said about it until we reached the restaurant. When asked why I drove this particular model, my response led her to believe that the car was part of the inheritance and had sentimental value to me. That answer seemed to make sense to her and nothing was said about the car again. We had a nice dinner and then went for a drive in the cool evening air with lots of silence and occasional music from the radio. I didn’t want to do anything as corny as park and make a move on her and thought that showing restraint would act in my favor. After all, in this day and age, females are as aggressive as men and if they want to do something romantic, nothing stops them.
As we were driving through a park, Allison asked me to park and go for a walk among the trees. That seemed like a nice idea to me and within minutes we were standing near a small pond watching ducks swim by. I could tell that she still had small town ways about her and probably missed the rural life at times. We stared at the pond for awhile when I felt her hand touch mine very gently which caused me to hold her smooth skin with tenderness. I was feeling the strong stirrings of sexual arousal but kept my cool as one would expect a gentleman to do while hoping that she became bolder with her touch. We held hands for several minutes and she smiled at me warmly but nothing further happened to reinforce my desire. I wanted to pull her close to me but decided against doing so at this time until she felt a little more secure with my presence. A short while later, we drove back to the complex without saying much to each other but I thought that some kind of romantic connection had been made. When we arrived at her place, she asked me to come in and have coffee or a drink since it was still very early. I sat on the couch while she puttered around in the kitchen before returning with two glasses of red wine. I normally didn’t drink wine but thought that this was an appropriate moment to have a taste. We toasted to our fortuitous contact and imbibed in a few more glasses which began to make me feel a little heady. I didn’t know how much Allison normally drank but it was probably a good deal more than my intake and it was all I could do just to maintain a respectable image.
I don’t know why it was at that particular instant that Allison acted but she reached over and pulled my head toward hers until our lips were touching in a very sweet embrace. I had never felt so good in a woman’s arms before and could only hope that she had the same reaction to me. We kissed a number of times until my sexual desire was getting too strong to control but as luck would have it, her desire was equally as powerful and in what seemed a matter of seconds, our bodies were lying on her bed and clothes were flying off at a rapid rate. This was the greatest sex I ever had and it seemed that there would never be enough of it to satisfy me. From the way Allison moaned and groaned, I knew that she was having a great time with me and would want to have many more liaisons. We stayed in that bed for hours until I was able to move. When I looked at her face, she was staring right back at me and it was then that I knew that this was going to be the start of a wonderful affair. We got up and dressed before sitting on the couch when Allison asked if I wanted to eat something. I did feel hungry and after nodding my head she quickly whipped up a wonderful soup and salad that surpassed anything I could prepare. She was not only beautiful and great in bed but could cook too. Today was one of the greatest days in my life and if I had anything to do with it, every day would continue to be exactly like this one.
I had really made a great connection with this woman and didn’t have to worry about her having ideas of settling down. She was as comfortable with the single life as I was and it seemed likely that we would be together a long time. Now that I had taken care of my social life it was time to get down to business and bring in some good hard cash. The more I thought about the strip mall, the better it was looking to me and all that was needed was a glitch free escape route. That was always Bart’s strong suit and now it was going to be my responsibility to find a way of leaving the area without anyone seeing me or obtaining a description of the car. I spent a number of twilight hours during the next few days going over the routes to and from the diner. It was still light at that time so I did nothing that would make people remember my appearance or the car. I had to be a stealth robber who could commit a crime without being seen and that was going to take some doing. It was a real challenge and if it could be pulled off, my esteem would shoot sky high and reinforce the belief in my great criminal ability. Doing these kinds of crimes and getting away with them would rank me up with the great master criminals and while no one would know my identity, the impetus to greatness would be mine. I continued to look over the area and determine where the best streets were for making tracks and decided on a few routes which seemed feasible. The next day, I took practice runs on the escape routes and chose the one that seemed to get me away from the diner in record time without speeding. Another day of practice and I would be ready to take action and start my new solo career. I could hardly contain my excitement while waiting for the next day to begin.
I had a fitful night of sleep punctuated by ruminations about the heist and periods of feeling some anxiety. My alertness had to be top notch so to make up for not getting adequate sleep, I stayed in bed until two in the afternoon. Even with that much rest, I was still a little groggy when up and about and hoped that drinking copious amounts of coffee would bring me up to par. I took it easy that afternoon and mentally went over my plan several times particularly the part where the pistol is taken out and shown to people in the diner. I had never fired the gun and hoped that it would work if the situation called for a show of force. There were bullets in the magazine and I had to make sure that the safety switch was off so nothing would prevent me from firing it if necessary. I would keep the gun in my belt and carry a bag into the restaurant to hold the cash while wearing the usual mask. A very good spot on the side of the building had been picked to park the car which kept it out of the view of most passer bys. I couldn’t leave the engine running since it would attract attention so it was imperative that the car start as soon as the key was turned. That was the only unpredictable aspect of the plan but it couldn’t be helped and all I needed was a little luck to make everything flow smoothly. It was now late afternoon and the time was approaching to pack up my stuff and get ready. I had planned ahead by filling up the gas tank and checking the tires so there was nothing more to do before leaving at six thirty. At this time of day, traffic was not very heavy but plenty of cars were still on the road when I arrived near the target. It was not quite seven so I waited in my car until the diner was just about to close and then drove to the parking spot and turned off the motor before getting out with my bag and mask. I had already noticed that the diner was almost empty except for three customers who were still eating while the cashier, cook and server waited impatiently for them to finish their meal. I could not be sure but it was highly probable that someone was in the back area counting the days’ receipts before depositing them at the bank. My appearance and demeanor had to be menacing and convincing if everyone inside was going to obey my slightest command without any resistance. I was sure that seeing the gun pointed in their direction would convey a powerful message that my actions were to be taken seriously. A customer had gotten up and was paying the cashier so I decided to wait another minute and have an easier time of it with one less person to have concern
over. I watched the man as he left the premises and walked quickly away before donning my mask and entering the door with the gun in plain view. The cook was the first to see me and immediately froze while the server opened her eyes very wide as if in a severe shock. The eaters had not yet seen me when I barked in a very loud and threatening voice that they should sit on the floor and not move. I ordered the cashier to empty the register into my bag at once and asked the server to tell me who was in the backroom. At first she didn’t speak but when I waved the pistol in her face she let me know that the assistant manager was attending to business matters. I told her to call him out to the front and when he appeared, told him to bring out the days’ receipts or someone was going to get hurt. He hurried to the back and came out with a bank deposit bag in one hand and a revolver in the other. I didn’t even waste a second thinking about it but shot him in the chest and watched his body fall slowly to the ground. The people in the restaurant were gasping in disbelief as I told them to remain quiet while picking up the deposit bag from the floor and grabbing my backpack from the cashier. I told everyone to lie on the floor and not move for ten minutes or they would be shot. With great haste, I left the diner for my car while removing the mask so people outside would not become suspicious. Luckily, no one was on the street so the noise of the gun firing had gone unnoticed. I got into the car, turned the key and the engine came to life with a hearty roar that allowed me to breathe easier. I headed up the side street and turned toward the downtown area where traffic was heavier and the car would blend in with dozens of others. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of sirens but keeping my cool, continued to follow the stream of cars as they headed away from the area.
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