Read Online FOR THE BABY'S SAKE by Beverly Long - Free Book Online Page B

with one of her swimsuits. She left her legs bare and stuck her feet into high-heeled, open-toed black sandals.
    She teased and sprayed her hair, put on three times the amount of makeup she normally wore and walked her body through a mist of perfume. For the finishing touch, she applied two temporary tattoos, one on her breast, just peeking over the edge of her bra, and the other on the inside of her thigh, low enough that it would show when she crossed her legs. She’d remembered them at the last minute. They’d come in a box of cereal. One was a snake and the other a flag. Not exactly what she’d have chosen but better than nothing. Every girl she met had some kind of tattoo or body piercing.
    When she got finished and looked in the mirror, she wasn’t too dissatisfied with the effort. She didn’t look eighteen, but she thought she could pass for her mid-twenties. At least they might not guess she was thirty-two—so far into adulthood, from their perspective, that she couldn’t possibly even remember what it was like to be young.
    She grabbed a small black purse, stuck her cell phone in it as well as two hundred bucks. She remembered Sawyer’s advice from earlier in the day. Everything had a price. She needed to be prepared to pay for information.
    She waved down a cab and ignored the guy’s look when she told him the address. Thirty minutes later, when he pulled up to the curb, she sat still for a minute, for the first time wondering if she had made a big mistake.
    Music poured out of the small, old building. Ten or fifteen teens gathered around the door, lounging against the cement walls. Everybody had a cigarette and a can of beer. More boys than girls. And the few girls who were there were clearly taken. One straddled a boy who sat on a wooden chair. He had his hand up her shirt. Another girl, plastered from lips to toes to her boy, his hands possessively curled around her butt, almost blocked the doorway.
    “You getting out, lady?” The cab driver raised one eyebrow at her. “I don’t like sitting still in this neighborhood.”
    Liz swallowed. This morning, the neighborhood had looked gray. Gray buildings, gray sidewalk. The sky had even seemed a little gray, as if it were a reflection of the street below. But tonight, the street seemed black and purple and red. Violent and passionate, the colors of sex and sin. Firecrackers popped, music blasted, the air almost sizzled.
    “Yes, I’m getting out.” Liz threw a twenty at the driver and stepped from the car.

Chapter Five
    “Oh, baby, I do like blondes.” The voice came from her far left. Liz couldn’t see him until he stepped away from the corner of the building. He looked older than the other teens, probably in his early twenties. He cocked a finger at her. “Come here. Let’s see if they really do have more fun.”
    A couple of the other teens pushed each other around, laughing, but nobody else said anything. Liz ignored them all and walked into the club.
    If it had been loud outside, it was mind-blowing inside. It made her head hurt. She managed to make her way through the crowd and got up to the bar. She stood next to a group of girls, most of them looking about Mary’s age. Where the hell were the police? These kids couldn’t be old enough to drink. Liz wanted them all busted but just not until she got the information that she wanted.
    “I was talking to you outside, baby.”
    Liz felt heat crawl up her neck. She turned around. It was Creepy Guy from outside. She knew immediately that ignoring him wasn’t going to work.
    “I heard you.” She smiled at him. “But I got to find my friend before I can have my own fun.”
    He stared at her breasts. Liz resisted the urge to slap him and tell him to get cleaned up and get a job. “I’ll help you, baby. Who you looking for? I know everybody here.”
    She debated for all of three seconds. “Annie Smith. She likes to dance here.”
    “Don’t know her.” The man grabbed her arm and pulled her