Turd Fingers turned to the doorman. Sparks were shooting out of the rod in his hand.
"Oh, boy, I didn't expect it to do all that. Is she dead?"
Turd Fingers peered at her. To be fair, he'd been peering at her anyway.
"No. I can see her breathing. Get her purse."
"What for?"
"Trust me, we're not going to want that sitting around." Turd Fingers gestured at the sparking implement in the doorman's hand. "What the fuck is that?"
"It's a stun rod, so I guess she'll come to in a minute. I might be in big trouble. I'm not sure I should have used it just now." Suddenly repulsed by the thing, he laid it on one of the bed's pillows. Meanwhile, its sparks finally subsided.
Turd Fingers saw an opportunity. "I got an idea. Get her feet."
"What do I do with this?" The doorman indicated Mercedes' purse.
"I dunno. Put it on your fuckin' shoulder." The doorman complied, making himself look like a little bitch in the process, and together the two criminals carried the unconscious girl back to her own boudoir and laid her on her canopied bed. Turd Fingers fished the syringe out of his raincoat. The doorman, who'd stooped to drop her, let go of her ankles. The purse slid off his shoulder onto the bed. "No, no. Keep hold of her. Case she comes to."
The doorman complied, nodding at the needle in the meantime. "What's that?"
"This stuff called Relaxa. I stole a bunch off a shoplifter earlier today."
"Relaxa? What's it do?"
"Deidra said it was a compliance med. Here, just hold her ankles. I'm thinking we don't have a lot of time."
Suppressing his nervous fear and excitementβMercedes looked intoxicatingly tempting, slim, exquisite in dress and form, angelic in slumberβTurd Fingers fondled Mercedes' waist. The sheer crinkly leather of her luxurious three-hundred-dollar dress cooled his palm. He knew how much it cost since he'd been stalking her the day she'd bought it, too.