Tommy hadn't come here to kill women but sometimes it was so hard to resist. The beaches of the gold coast lay just an hour from Brisbane, twenty miles of gorgeous golden sand backed by huge condominiums, fast food stores, souvenir shops and restaurants of every description. Garish and glitzy, breathtaking and exciting. Like the women
Tall, petite, slim, voluptuous, muscular, blondes, brunettes, and redheads - he had never seen so many striking women and on day three he discovered the best of them all.
He woke from half slumber in the afternoon sun to a vision like that of Venus emerging from the sea on a surfboard. At least six feet tall, with glorious breasts, a dancers legs and a butterscotch tan everywhere not covered by the tiny silver swimsuit.
She walked with and easy grace and confidence, casually ignoring whistles and invites of the men she passed to head toward a small group of girls talking and lounging by the steps from the beach. Their welcome seemed normal but with his acute, almost psychic, perceptions he thought he detected a slight undercurrent of hostility for the splendid surfer girl. If they were jealous he could see no reason. None of them had a physique like his Venus but all were attractive and one, with a baby face, and hair that ran like a river of silver down her back caught his heart with her nervous innocence and fleeting smile.
Gathering his towel and sun block, he walked leisurely past them. He gazed at from his Venus to the baby faced blonde and back again. He wasn't here to kill women but if they were here tomorrow, it would be a Sign.
They were not there. But he did see the baby-faced blonde again - she was on the cover of his morning paper: 'Beach Babe Killer, Victim No. 4'.
For a moment he was angry, red spots invaded his vision and he gripped the paper till it was ripped and his knuckles were white. How dare this man kill one of his women?
He fetched his razor. He would not be cheated his rightful prey.
Two days of searching and he saw his Venus again - she was alone and now wore a fiery red bikini. It didn't suit her but that didn't stop the leering stares. She wasn't surfing today but swimming; powerful, smooth strokes effortlessly drawing her through the water. He watched her for about an hour before emerged from what looked like the final swim of the day. He stood in front of her, blocking her path to the monster towel that lay waiting.
'I watched you the other day.'
Her reaction was neutral, sizing him up.
'Where are your friends' he asked, pressing her silence.
'Why?' Her response was almost a slap in the face, her words pitched low as if she could kill with merely the tone 'Do you fancy one of them? Want to use me to get to her? Well if its Jessica then you're to late. She's dead!"
Her voice was thick with emotion and she turned away, back toward the sea. He gripped her bicep and pulled hard 'til she turned back. Still cool from the water he could nonetheless feel the glorious heat of her body. The look on her face was a challenge.
He stared into her eyes, deep blue into almost icy silver, not the best looking of men he nonetheless had a magnetism that women found hard to resist.
He lowered his voice and she had to almost strain to catch his words 'I don't want the others, I want you. But I see you are beyond persuading' He released her arm and walked off. He was sure he had her now.
'Stop', her voice was less sure as she called him back 'What did you have in mind?'
'Why not join me for dinner?'
She had an apartment in a condo off William Street. Minutes away from the beach it was a luxurious three-bedroom suite with a view of the sun bleeding slowly into the sea. Red light like a tide of blood. She had kept him waiting nearly half an hour now and he was becoming restless, nervous for the first time he could remember. He pulled the straight razor from his boot. It was so sharp it could cut a leather strap. Scarlet flashed compulsively from it as he waved it in the light of the dying sun. He didn't think he'd use it but sometimes it pleased him to think how much the blade terrified them before they learned what real terror was.