She drew back, "I'm sorry, it's late and you need to rest. Thank you for the good time tonight."
I kissed her and said, "Likewise. Good night Anna. I'll be here in the morning to help you move."
She nodded and saw me to the door. I glanced over her to the boy still at the old computer.
"Doesn't he go to bed?"
She shook her head exasperatedly, "He won't sleep! I've tried everything! He'll be awake for days! He doesn't seem to need sleep the way I do." She said on a defeated note.
I nodded and looked back at her. The way she was looking at me as she leaned with one cheek against the half open door was a clear testament of love that she wouldn't have been able to deny if she had wanted to.
"Thanks for everything Mr. Tyre!"
I couldn't help it. I pulled her onto the hall and kissed her again for a long moment. I stepped back reluctantly from her and started down the hall.
"Sweet dreams Mr. Tyre. I know you'll certainly be in mine!"
She said calling out after me. To me she was a dream, a dream come true. I turned the corner in the hall and stepped into a deep shadowed alcove and waited.
Two hours went by. A little before two o'clock in the morning I heard the sound that I'd been waiting for. The rustling of keys told me that I had hit my mark. I'd seen the look the desk clerk had given to the jewels on Anna. It had been a look of utter greed.
He was fumbling with a set of keys outside Anna's door and the fool even had a knife clutched in one hand. That was his big mistake!
I shoved my pistol into his back, "Walk!" Startled he dropped both the keys and the knife, with a cry of fear. I picked up both of them. We made our way downstairs and I gave him back the keys.
"Put them on the desk. He reached out to comply and I nailed his hand to the desk with the knife. He shrieked like a girl and I began to pistol whip him savagely with my gun.
When I left he was unconscious his hand still fixed to the front desk by the knife. He was lucky I hadn't killed him for threatening what I held most dear.