CHICAGO - May 1982 CHAPTER 26 - Chicago, October 30, 2019 CHICAGO - May 1982 CHAPTER 27 - Chicago, November 1, 2019 CHICAGO - May 1982 CHAPTER 28 - Chicago, November 1, 2019 CHICAGO - May 1982 CHAPTER 29 - Chicago, November 1, 2019 CHICAGO - May 1982
CHAPTER 30 - Chicago, November 2, 2019 CHAPTER 31 - Chicago, November 3, 2019 CHAPTER 32 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 3, 2019 CHAPTER 33 - Chicago, November 3, 2019 CHAPTER 34 - Chicago, November 3, 2019 CHAPTER 35 - Chicago, November 3, 2019 CHAPTER 36 - Chicago, November 4, 2019 CHAPTER 37 - Chicago, November 4, 2019 CHAPTER 38 - Chicago, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 39 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 40 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 41 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 42 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 43 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 44 - Starved Rock, Illinois, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 45 - Chicago, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 46 - Chicago, November 5, 2019 CHAPTER 47 - Peoria, Illinois, December 5, 2019
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ebook Exclusive: Creating Atmosphere in Some Choose Darkness
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Copyright © 2019 Charlie Donlea
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-4222-7
ISBN-10: 0-7860-4222-2
First Kensington hardcover printing: June 2019
First Pinnacle premium mass market printing: June 2020
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Printed in the United States of America
Electronic edition:
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-4224-1 (e-book)
ISBN-10: 0-7860-4224-7 (e-book)
For Cecilia A. Donat
Great-aunt, old lady, friend
I fear I am writing a requiem for myself.
—Mozart
THE RUSH
Chicago, August 9, 1979
THE NOOSE TIGHTENED AROUND HIS NECK, AND THE OXYGEN DEPRIVATION spun his head into a splendid mix of euphoria and panic. He allowed the nylon to take the full weight of his body as he eased off the stool. Those who did not understand “The Rush” would consider his pulley system barbaric, and no one but him fully knew its power. The Rush was a sensation more formidable than any narcotic. There was no other vector of life that could provide an equal experience. Quite simply, it was all he lived for.
As he lowered himself off the stool, the rope to which the nylon noose was tethered creaked with the strain of his body as it slithered through the grooved rim of the pulley while he sunk toward the floor. The rope curved over the winch, ran down to a second pulley, then back up and around the third and final crank to form an M.
Attached to the other end of the rope was another strap of soft nylon, which was wrapped around his victim’s neck. Every time he lowered himself from the safety of the stool, the nylon around his neck took her weight as she levitated like magic off the ground six feet in front of him.
Her panic was finally gone. There was no more kicking or flailing. When she rose now, it was dreamlike. The Rush saturated his soul, and the image of her floating in midair enraptured his mind. He took her weight as long as he could bear, bringing himself to the brink of unconsciousness and to the edge of ecstasy. He closed his eyes briefly. So tempting was the lure to continue toward the high, but he knew the dangers of allowing himself to wander too far down that lurid path. To travel too long on its trail would prevent return. Still, he couldn’t resist.
With the nylon tight against his throat,