Mercedes' Dirge

by Belle Zimet

  She nervously looked behind her as she grabbed the box and scurried back to put her back up against the door while she searched the contents of the container. She was deeply afraid of what may manifest behind her if her back was turned, but figured the possibility of what would happen is she didn’t take Mercedes’ direction was worse.

  The box was filled with now antiquated documents. All seemed to be somewhat official in nature, such as insurance statements and house appraisals. She looked at each paper painstakingly, but found nothing unusual until she was halfway through the box.

  She unfolded a yellowed paper and her heart sank as she began to make sense of the document. It was a report from her high school campus, of a complaint filed against Bryan. It detailed a time only weeks before Mercedes died of Bryan harassing her off and on school grounds with unwelcome sexual overtures and declarations of love. It stated that the resolution was that Bryan stay away from her on school grounds and a recommendation that she file with the police department for a more serious restraining order.

  She sighed and thought back, but couldn’t remember anything of that nature. Surely that kind of gossip would have spread like wildfire and Bryan would have been under greater suspicion as a result. She hadn’t been at the mansion nearly as much near that time because of her experience with Nick not long before, so she wouldn’t have been privy to any fights that Mercedes may have had with Bryan.

  Despite what she wanted to believe, she knew this supported the idea that Mercedes may have slept with Bryan causing him to go into an obsessed tail spin when she wouldn’t give him more. Of course this meant that he had lied to her multiple times, and while she could imagine it wasn’t a pleasant thing to admit to a possible girlfriend, it was scary how easily and convincingly he had lied.

  If this is what Mercedes had wanted her to find then she knew that his problems went far beyond lying and possibly into murder. He was extremely intelligent, and if anyone in Mercedes’ life could have gotten away with murder through methodical planning and thought, it would have been him.

  It would also explain his inability to believe in Mercedes haunting the property. The Macbethian twist would have weighed on his guilt, if he had any. What type of person would murder his friend and then agree to stay in the house years later with a new girlfriend?

  Someone who was scared that new evidence may come to light, she told herself. He’d probably been afraid I may find something and was tickled pink when he could use my fear as an in to come to the house and scavenge the place, she thought quickly. He’d already spent time in the attic and if he’d been the one who had put the peephole there than she was sure he’d been angling for a way to repair it before anyone was the wiser. He had mentioned that he wanted to clean up the glass up here and he knew she would never have followed him for fear of Mercedes.

  Suddenly it all seemed to make sense and again she began to kick herself for her naiveté and for not listening to everyone’s opinions regarding him and especially for believing him when he told her he hadn’t slept with Mercedes despite the list Mercedes had popped into her lap and Alexa nonchalantly mentioning that it had happened.

  As she sat there she realized that Mercedes was the least of her worries and that Bryan coming back may be her biggest. What would he do to her if he suspected that she knew? Was he willing to kill again? Could she possibly be convincing enough to pretend she didn’t know anything? Could she get to her phone or make up an excuse to leave the house and go to the police?

  And tell them what? She asked herself miserably. That she had circumstantial evidence that they possibly already knew about and the word of a ghost? She felt herself start to cry at the implausibility of the situation she’d found herself in.

  “Mercedes, if you don’t want me to end up like you, you have to open the door.” She cried out in desperation. There was cruel silence in answer and she let her head rest against the door in anguish.

  She tried to regulate her breathing and refrain from panicking as time marched on. She sat there for an unknown amount of time with her eyes closed when she heard a car in the driveway. Her stomach jumped uneasily and she hoped blisteringly that it was Troy back early, and not Bryan. She knew it was a futile hope and it was confirmed when she heard Bryan calling out for her. She stayed silent, hoping that he would assume that she had left rather than looking in the attic for her. She looked down the peephole in time to see him stalk into the room and look around for her before leaving again, all the while calling her name.

  She heard him close the front door and she wondered if he’d left, only to again hear him bound back into the house soon after. His voice was a little bit more frantic.

  “Mercedes’ car is still here, Ella. You have to be home!” He yelled out gruffly. “Tell me where you are.”

  She knew there was no going back now, if he found her in the attic he would know she’d been ignoring him. She took off her flip flops and crept silently across the room to hide behind a large area of boxes. She settled uneasily and found a musty, decrepit blanket and grabbed it to put over herself if he got near, ignoring the mildewed odor.

  “Are you in the attic, Ella?” He shouted out. “Is this hide and seek?”

  Her breath caught in abject fear as she heard his footsteps approach the stairs and heard him start to ascend and try the locked door, with no success before she heard a timely new clamor. It was another car entering the driveway and she nearly sighed in relief as she heard his footsteps retreat back into her room.

  Her relief waned quickly as she soon realized that her brother, best friend and unborn niece or nephew were now in a house unaware of a murderer in their midst.

  She slid over to the peephole with bated breath and saw Bryan sitting on her bed just waiting patiently until Troy strode into the room instead of her.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Troy immediately demanded angrily as he lumbered across the floor.

  Bryan stood up defensively. “I was invited here.”

  “Where is my sister?” Troy demanded as he grabbed Bryan by the shirt with both clenched fists.

  “I don’t know, but we need to find her.” Bryan said as he calmly pulled away from Troy who continued to advance upon him.

  She wanted so badly to cry out and warn Troy, but did not want to jeopardize any chance he may have of getting away by convincingly not knowing anything. She presumed, hopefully not in vain that multiple murders had to be a last resort for Bryan.

  Where is Alexa? She wondered fearfully.

  “Where is she?” Troy hollered aggressively. “Why are you here alone?”

  “I have no idea. I left for a few hours and when I came back, her car was here but she isn’t.” He told him coolly, holding a defensive stance.

  “She better not be hurt.” Troy threatened. “I heard about you stalking Mercedes.”

  Oh no, she thought. She knew he was quickly losing the ability to get away from this unhurt. She wondered if he’d found that report before she did, or if Alexa had remembered and shared it with him. Perhaps that was why he was back early.

  “Troy, I’m up here!” She yelled quickly, before thinking clearly about it. All she knew was that she wanted out of the attic to warn him, and this was the only way that she could comprehend at the moment.

  They both looked up and she stuck her finger down and wagged it about to signal to Troy about the peephole.

  “What the fuck?” Troy said as they both sprinted for the door to get to the attic. They were out of view so she could not see what happened but she heard the door close with purpose and they came back to the bed and looked up in confusion.

  “The door just closed and we can’t open it.” Troy told her, face red with exasperation. “Is there someone else here?”

  “Where is Alexa?” She called out.

  “She’s at the doctors, she felt cramps.” Troy told her quickly as he glanced sideways at Bryan who was clearly doing his best to look innocent.

  “Is something wrong w
ith the baby?” She called out frenziedly.

  “Hopefully not. I needed to get here to check on you since you weren’t answering your phone.” He said moving away from Bryan with suspicion.

  “I’ve been locked in the attic.” She said with trepidation, keeping a close eye on Bryan’s movement, in case she needed to warn Troy of any impending harm. Bryan stood passively by the bed while he looked up at her expressionlessly.

  “Did Bryan lock you in there?” Troy bellowed, clearly priming himself for attack.

  “I’m sure I got locked in here by the same person that locked you in.” She said flatly.

  “Who?” Troy demanded.

  “Mercedes.” She answered.

  “Oh Jesus.” Bryan said disgustedly.

  Suddenly Ella heard the attic door click open and she turned quickly to see Alexa standing there motioning with one hand for her to come there while putting her pointer finger in front of her lips to signify silence. Her eyes were alight with panic.

  She went over to Alexa all the while ignoring Troy calling her name questioningly.

  “We have to get Troy out of there.” She said in a hushed voice.

  “No!” Alexa rasped, her face frantic. “He killed her, Ella.”

  “Yes, I know about Bryan now.” She said putting her hands on Alexa’s shoulders and looking into her eyes. “We have to get Troy away from him.”

  “No, Troy killed her.” Alexa moaned lowly, eyes moist.

  “What?” She asked in swirling confusion.

  “Come with me,” she said pulling her hand insistently down the stairs. “I’ve called the police and I’ll tell you about it while we wait.”

  Ella continued to batter her with questions that fell on deaf ears until they got into the kitchen.

  “What is going on?” She finally yelled impatiently, spurred by adrenaline.

  “Oh god, Ella,” She cried. “Last night in his sleep he started talking about how he was sorry and he hadn’t meant to kill her. I woke him up from his nightmare and he immediately looked at me guiltily and confessed the whole thing.”

  “What did he confess to exactly?” Ella asked disbelievingly.

  “He said he couldn’t lie anymore and that he’d been sleeping with Mercedes and when she rejected him for Nick he killed her in a fit of rage.” She sobbed, tears streaking down her distraught face.

  “What did you do?” Ella demanded, still unable to parse this new, disturbing information.

  She held up her wrists which were riddled with raw, red marks. “He tied me up and cried until I could convince him that I still loved him and wouldn’t tell anyone. He still didn’t want to untie me so I told him I had cramps and had to go to the doctor. He was so deluded that he actually let me go and then came here to take care of you.”

  “What do you mean take care of me?” Ella asked, voice rising in distress..

  Alexa’s tears began anew. “He said you were on to him and it was only a matter of time until you knew for sure. He said he’d told you about the sex and you were piecing it all together. He was going to kill you.”

  “No.” Ella whispered disbelievingly. Her brother had done something stupid and possibly immoral in not telling the police about his affair in an attempt at self preservation, but she could not accept that he’d killed Mercedes and now wanted to kill her. It defied every feeling and belief in her body, crafted by long years of sibling support and love. Yet, Alexa knowing about Troy’s affair with Mercedes gave the story an air of truth that she couldn’t ignore.

  “He said it was the only way we could be together happily.” She insisted. “I did the only thing I could think of and called the police and then came here secretly to try and warn you. I heard him and Bryan arguing and shut them in there together.”

  “If what you say is true, we cannot leave Bryan in there with him.” She said starting to get up.

  “You can’t go in there! Troy has gone mad. He will kill you.” She begged.

  “Bryan is a fully grown man, I’m sure he can defend himself and me if need be.” She said attempting to walk away but Alexa grabbed her arm in a surprising iron grip.

  “Exactly, he is a grown man and can take care of himself.” Alexa spat harshly.

  “He doesn’t know he’s in there with a murderer.” Ella argued, looking down at Alexa’s hand coiled around her bicep.

  “Troy may be delusional enough to think you don’t know yet and haven’t told Bryan anything. He may want to get Bryan out of here so he can kill you and keep it simple.” She held up an angry red wrist again. “Look what he did to his pregnant wife, Ella. He’s insane.”

  “I have a hard time just sitting here, Alexa.” She said, trying in vain to move away.

  “I called the police.” She chanted with fear etched upon her face. “We just need to be calm, just be calm.” She let go of Ella and busily started moving around the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” She asked Alexa as she quietly sighed, deciding that she would wait three more minutes for the police before she would formulate a plan to help Bryan.

  “I’m getting us some iced tea to help us be calm.” She could see Alexa was cracking at the surface and whatever had been switched in her psyche was agitating her in a bizarre way.

  She kept talking to herself while she got them both tea and then sat in front of Ella and nervously sipped the tea, motioning for Ella to drink from her own frosted glass.

  “I can’t drink tea right now, Alexa. I have to do something.” She looked at Alexa’s vacant stare. “You aren’t thinking rationally, Alexa. I know how scared you are and I know this is all a shock.”

  Alexa’s glazed over eyes twitched and she kept talking to herself passively as she got up and began pacing around. She was behind Ella when she said in a clear voice. “I offered you the tea.”

  Suddenly she heard a sickening crack and felt a searing pain exploded on her scalp as her vision greyed and she faded into darkness.

  Chapter 17

  Ella’s head pounded terribly and her ears buzzed as she came to, her vision blurred. She went to lift her hand to her head to assess the damage but was stopped by rigid restraints on her wrists. She looked down through bleary eyes and saw her feet were tied together, she couldn’t see her wrists, but knew they were bound helplessly to the back of a chair’s slender wood strips, with what felt like could be rope.

  She struggled to see the rest of the room, but it was dimly lit and she knew that she must have been out until dusk, at least. Her eyes were still fogged and she hoped that she didn’t have a concussion, but was discouraged by her grayed vision and jumbled thinking.

  The last thing she remembered was being in the kitchen, but now she appeared to be in the formal living room across from the stately old liquor cabinet she had known so well as a teenager.

  After she’d dazedly taken in her surroundings, she began to wonder how she got here. She knew she’d been hit purposely and she didn’t have to wonder much longer by whom. Her eyes focused enough to see Alexa sitting across from her staring at her patiently.

  “I’m glad you’re up,” she said winsomely. “It’s my fault you were out so long, I’m afraid. I didn’t want to hit you, but you wouldn’t drink the tea and you were getting unruly.”

  “What was in the tea?” She mumbled groggily.

  “Just some heavy anti-anxiety and sleep meds. I get all kinds of good stuff from my psychiatrist.” She smiled as if this exchange were the most normal thing in the world. “I gave you some after I knocked you out. You were coming to within a few minutes and I needed you out. I hadn’t intended for it to be hours though.”

  “Where are Troy and Bryan?” She rasped through her cotton mouth.

  “I gave them some meds too, so they are passed out in Mercedes’ room.” She answered with an inappropriate, blithe shrug, leaning back casually in her chair.

  “How did you get them to take the pills?” She asked, unbearably afraid that they weren’t OK.

  “I threatene
d to kill you if they didn’t take them.” She said bluntly, with a peel of laughter. “I guess they must love you because they gulped them right down.”

  “Why are you doing this?” She asked, still trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head. It was as if she was hearing in echoes and the world was still melting around her in a drugged haze. She knew she needed to be sharp and alert, but her muddled brain refused to cooperate with her.

  “I just needed some time to think,” she said absently. “Just some time to think, that’s all.”

  “Think about what, Alexa?” She asked as she began subtly moving her wrists to feel how tightly she was restrained. Every slight movement ached and she knew that Alexa had tied her up tightly and the chafing would only worsen quickly if she continued. She also had to note dispiritedly that it didn’t seem like there was any give in the rope for her to even work with.

  “What to do,” she sighed. “I know I probably can’t get away with this.”

  “Get away with what?”

  “I suppose I could attempt to make it look like Troy killed you and Bryan and then killed himself, but I probably bungled Troy’s autopsy with all the pills I gave him. They’ll wonder why he would have dosed himself with the same stuff that was in your bodies.” Alexa said thoughtfully, staring at the ceiling.

  Ella winced at Alexa referring to her and her brother as bodies. A foregone conclusion of a corpse. It was frighteningly eerie how casually she was speaking of a triple murder.

  “Maybe you should just run,” Ella suggested. “They wouldn’t find me tied up here for a long time.”

  “But the boys will wake in a few hours and they were already getting ready to scale down the balcony when I gave them the pills.” She sat back. “It wouldn’t give me enough time. Plus, I don’t think I want anyone around to tell this story.”

  “So you’re just going to kill us all?” Ella asked, horrified, searching Alexa’s face for any sign of her former friend, but her eyes were blank.