Once a Widow Read Online Free Page A

he was entertaining a prospective customer, or making a contact. He was ambitious, he wanted to get ahead, make a lot of money. Rose Ann said she understood, that she was proud of him.
    Their trysts were limited to the two hours between three and five in the afternoon, because Richard could not depend upon his wife sleeping past five. Rose Ann returned to duty at seven in the evening and worked until midnight, or after, depending upon business. Only twice had Richard dared to sneak out in the evening. Both times Karen had complained of restlessness, which, in view of her habitual afternoon naps, was understandable, and Richard had persuaded her to take some sleeping capsules. When she was asleep, he’d picked up Rose Ann at the drive-in, but it had been unsatisfactory. He was jittery, thinking of the scene with Karen if she awakened and found him gone, and Rose Ann was tired from her night’s work. They kissed hastily and embraced, and he wondered wildly what in hell had happened to him.
    As he was driving home from their second midnight meeting his plan for murder took sudden form. He’d been stupid not to think of it before. And he knew that he could not go on with Rose Ann, not like this. He wanted her badly. She was in all his thoughts. He was like a schoolboy in the throes of first love, which indeed it was for Richard Barry. Nothing in his life had prepared him for what was happening to him. With Rose Ann he was a different person, gentle, considerate, really happy for the first time in his life. It awed him that she loved him also, without guile or pretense. He was young, but he’d known many women, but none like Rose Ann.
    Richard’s love for Rose Ann did not change his character; it had merely added another facet to it. To him, unselfish love was something new. It troubled him a little, but he did not react as a normal man might have who had found himself hopelessly in love with a woman other than his wife. He never thought of divorce as a solution. That was for suckers. He wanted to continue to enjoy the life Karen had given him, but without Karen. He had decided that before he’d met Rose Ann, but she had fanned the flames. He still wanted Karen’s money, but he wanted Rose Ann, too. And time was running out. His “vacation” would soon be over, and he did not want to risk Rose Ann’s suspicion by inventing a reason for prolonging it. He’d lied to her too much already.
    Richard’s plan blossomed and bloomed. This was Thursday, he thought. He’d do it on Saturday, in the afternoon. He’d figured it all out, to the last detail, just as he had figured the jobs for Alex Kamin, except that this time he would not need the gun. He was glad, because for some odd reason he hated to think of using the magnum on Karen. It was hidden in the garage, and he must not forget to take it with him when he left Erie Cliffs after everything was over.
    He had told Rose Ann that he was staying at the Perry Hotel in Harbor City, and had taken a room in the hope that some afternoon she might accompany him there. He learned quickly that this was a vain hope, but kept the room for the short duration of his “vacation.” This was fortunate, because once Rose Ann had telephoned the hotel and left a message telling him not to pick her up at the drive-in because she had to work overtime. He called the hotel every morning, when Karen was out, to check on such things.
    On Friday afternoon he picked up Rose Ann and said immediately, “Honey, I’ve got to talk to you.”
    She smiled and patted his hand. “All right. Shoot.”
    “Not here. Let’s go to my room.”
    A small frown appeared between her smooth black brows. “Dick, please. We’ve been all over that.”
    “It’ll be all right, I promise. I’m tired of talking to you in the car, or in a joint with people all around. I just want to talk to you alone for once. It’s important.”
    She gazed at him gravely. “All right, Dick.”
    He drove quickly to the