Twist

The answer came to her in a flash: She could disguise herself as a prostitute. Sylvia remembered that last Halloween she had dressed as a streetwalker for a costume party, and she still had the blouse, skirt, fishnet stockings, and wig stashed away somewhere in her closet. A little makeup and the disguise would be complete.

"Well, now to get to work," she told herself cheerfully.

First she placed a plastic bag over John's head to prevent any blood from getting on anything as she moved him. Then she emptied out his wallet and removed his ring. The money she'd keep; the ring she'd toss away during her ride home.

John's body proved to be much heavier than Sylvia had anticipated. In a moment of inspiration she placed it on their toboggan. That not only made it easier to move John out of the living room, but it also gave her a simple way to get him down the stairs and into the garage.

After quite a struggle, Sylvia managed to get John into the front seat of his car. She lay his body on its side and covered it with the raincoat she planned to wear.

Slowly, and without turning on the headlights so nosy Blanche wouldn't see anything, Sylvia pulled out of the garage, down the driveway, and onto the street.

For the next fifteen minutes, Sylvia drove more carefully than ever before. She didn't want to do anything that might get her stopped by a policeman.

Finally Sylvia came to a seedy section of town dominated by X-rated bookstores, sex shops, and adult theaters. Fortunately for her there was a narrow alley between a movie house and a bookstore.

Sylvia pulled to the curb and parked. After waiting a sufficient length of time to be sure no one was around, she got out of the car and removed John's body, dragging it as quickly as possible about halfway down the alley. She then turned his pockets inside out and tossed his wallet on the ground where it was sure to be seen.

Then, after removing the plastic bag from John's head, she returned to the car, locked the doors, and strode briskly away from the area. Three blocks from the alley she hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take her to the town's largest mall.

Sylvia sat in the back of the cab and smiled. She was retaining her poise and calm quite well, and that, she told herself again, was the key to success.

At the mall Sylvia paid the cabbie and waited until he had driven out of sight. Then she walked to the rear of the mall where the employees parked. In this lonely area she rapidly removed her wig, loud blouse, slit skirt, and high heels. She quickly donned a sweater, jeans, sneakers, and raincoat and stuffed the prostitute costume into the bag which had held the other clothes.

Returning to the front of the mall, Sylvia caught a late night bus.