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V
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Copyright © 2015 by Burt Weissbourd.
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Set in Goudy Old Style
Distributed in the US by Publishers Group West
ePub ISBN: 978-1940207841
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Weissbourd, Burt.
Teaser : a Corey Logan thriller / by Burt Weissbourd.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-940207-36-0
1. Homeless children—Fiction. 2. Runaway children—Fiction. 3. Private schools—Fiction. 4. Seattle (Wash.)—Fiction. 5. Suspense fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.E4593 T43 2014
813.6—dc23
For Dorothy Escribano
Contents
All of the characters and events in this story are imagined, as are many of the Seattle and Seattle-area locations. Seattle is, of course, real, though the author has created an imaginary landscape in and around Capitol Hill.
Special Acknowledgement
In creating the character of Teaser, I drew from Dr. James Gilligan’s excellent book, Violence. His understanding of violence, violent criminals (“the living dead”), and of the realities of prison life—that is to say of “the violence that prisoners routinely inflict on one another”—led me to understand Teaser.
PROLOGUE
November 2011
Star hated waiting. Airport security lines made her arms itch and her stomach cramp. In the past year, Star had to visit her doctor twice. The first time, she had fled the waiting room after twenty-six minutes with hives on her forearms the size of wine grapes. Thirty-four minutes into her second visit the hives reached her chest, and Star upended a tropical fish tank sitting on a Plexiglas plank attached to the waiting room wall. “See how long your fucking fish can wait,” she snapped at the stunned receptionist.
So the fact that she was waiting outside the gates of the Western Corrections Center—had been waiting for almost an hour—was like a very big deal, she was thinking. She’d done some downers, and she’d bought Milky Ways to eat in the car. And Tomb Raider, to keep her mind busy—smooth it out when it wouldn’t slow down. She had her iPod, too, screaming out Liquid Red, a Seattle band she liked. And stuff to read. Star was rockin’ on Tomb Raider when Teaser came out, slow, even lazy, moving like a jungle cat. He turned toward her, still pretty as a man could be. So fine, so fine it was unnatural. His long black hair was gone, but his eyes were the same. When you looked at him it just caught you up, like looking at fire. She felt something good inside when he found her eyes.
He was in the car then. She could feel his fingers touching her now, and she felt better. He was gentle, playing with her the way she liked. He knew just how to do it, Star was thinking. And then she was gone, riding the wave. “Thank you,” she finally whispered.
She looked at him, watched his thin lips twist into a faint smile.
They were driving down Broadway when he finally asked, “You make the connection?”
“That red-haired guy you sent, Luther, he was a dick.” She tensed up, turned enough to face him.
“You make the connection?” he asked again, so soft she could barely hear him.
“Yeah. Sure. There’s two of ’em: big boss Maisie and Aaron, her itchy Chinaboy.” She watched him smile—nice—with Teaser, she wasn’t always having to explain what she meant. “They’re like little puppies.” Star took a bite of a Milky Way as he turned down Pine. “Tease, they like how I move…silky smooth.”
“Perfect.” He continued west toward the water. “I’ve got something going.”
She knew he would, he always did. “Tell me.” She watched him looking out the side window, like he was somewhere else. Teaser was the only one she could wait for—he slowed her down. Something about the way he was with her. He was the only one who could do that.
He pulled over and stopped, quiet, still looking out. Star saw a building, a lighted window. “We’re going to take this girl to the moon,” he whispered.
CHAPTER ONE
Corey