JaMEs PATTERSON
“we're here to see Jeff,” says Wendy. The guard nods— of course you are—and leads them to the
side door.
They're in the kitchen now. Mary, Wendy, some middle-aged man. The man has a long face, bushy eyebrows, and thick silver hair—and he’s fit. As fit as the jocks that Mary goes to school with, Not attractive, exactly. He’s way too old for that. But confi- dent, in a way that makes an impression.
Standing behind the man there’s a woman. She’s blond, very pretty, much taller than Wendy.
What a strange scene, Mary thinks. She can’t shake the feeling that the man is studying her. Then he nods, and he and Wendy walk out of the kitchen. A little while later, they're back.
“Sarah,” the man says to the tall woman. “You can take Mary
upstairs.”
Sarah takes Mary up a wide winding staircase carpeted in pink. Together they walk down a hall that’s got photographs on the wall—naked women. Long curtains cover windows and don't let in much light. In the air, there's a strong lavender fragrance.
Then they come to a room containing a green-and-pink sofa. There’s a large bathroom off to one side and doors on either side of the sofa. There’s a wooden armoire with sex toys on it. There’s a massage table, too, and a mural of a naked woman.
“wait here,” says Sarah. “Jeff will be up in a moment.”
Mary’s too freaked out to do anything else. Fidgeting with
her belt loops, she sits on the sofa, jumps up again.
16
Then she sees the pictu
All the girls in the pho’ just a baby.
Much younger than Mz
The, girl’s smiling, bu else—some sort of anxiet face. And what she’s doin; off to the side. Flashing or
ee ee Neel cae
toward the camera.
Mary gasps. She turns in front of her, wearing not
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