Bumstead's Well

by R E Swirsky

  "I also think your Grams and Gramps would want you to hear her out. Why else did they ask her to come back to see them anytime? Maybe they forgave her."

  Was she was right about his Grams and Gramps? Was that the reason they sent him to school out here in the first place?

  He looked at Anna. "Maybe."

  "Well, I think it's what your grandparents would want."

  The thought of purposely reaching out to his mother still almost sickened him.

  "I'll think about it."

  CHAPTER 76 Day Fifteen - Friday 9:10 PM

  "Anita?" Chris yelled.

  His voice echoed through the dark halls of the large home. There was no reply. He thought that maybe she already retired for the night. She wasn't in the great room or the kitchen, and the rest of the house remained completely unlit with the exception of the one light she always left on for him in the stairwell. He climbed the stairs, popped his head slowly through the first door on the left and found her awake and reading in bed. He wasn't sure what to say to her, but he knew he was going to have this discussion with her tonight.

  Anita looked up at Chris. "What is it?" she asked.

  "I need to ask you something."

  She smiled. "Of course. Come sit." She patted the bedsheet beside her.

  Her smile caught him off guard. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and hesitated. He hadn’t expected her to welcome him so readily and wondered if the dementia had returned.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

  “I’m feeling fine, Chris,” she replied. She stared at him. Chris chuckled uncomfortably.

  “How’s your book?” he asked.

  Anita tilted her head at him.

  “You didn’t come all the way up here to ask me about my book. My book is fine.”

  Chris exhaled heavily. “No, I suppose I didn’t.”

  “So what is it? Are you going to ask me something or are you coming to bed now?”

  He chuckled nervously again. She certainly didn’t seem to have been taken away by the dementia, so he asked his question: “Tell me. How is Arlene?”

  CHAPTER 77 Day Fifteen - Friday 9:15 PM

  Joey was all smiles as he entered the room. He smothered Arlene with a huge embrace. "It's done, babe. It went off without a hitch."

  Arlene pushed Joey away. She was as equally angry as she was pleased to see him. "You were supposed to be back days ago! I've been worried sick!"

  Joey laughed and closed the door behind him.

  "You could have at least called me, Joey!"

  “Relax. This kind of work is delicate. It takes cunning and patience. I sat there watching his apartment for four days. The payoff was today watching them remove his body."

  "Body?" She knew immediately what Joey meant, and she hated that he hadn't discussed this with her in advance. "Hanging around out there was a stupid thing to do. I thought you had been caught."

  "Caught? Me?" He burst a hardened laugh. "No one had a clue I was even out there."

  She set aside her angst with Joey and led him into the living room where he promptly plopped his middle-aged, sagging body down on to the couch. He lifted his feet one at a time and dropped them hard onto the scuffed up coffee table. "I am so tired.”

  "I am too, Joey. I’m tired of sitting here sleepless and worried to death about you," she replied.

  "Aw, c’mon, babe.” He reached out and ran his hand up her thigh. “Go grab me a beer and I'll tell you all of the details," he said.

  Arlene released a disgruntled sigh and headed off to the kitchen.

  “Gee, thanks, babe. You know, I sure never saw this one coming before we left. I mean, really… What were the odds of that asshole officer moving out to Bluffington, huh? That was un-fucking-believable.”

  Arlene returned with Joey's beer and shoved it at him. "Both of them moved out there. How was I supposed to know Bluffington is where both Wu and Daly transferred? I just wish I hadn't freaked out at the cemetery like I did when I saw Daly standing there on the path.”

  "Oh yeah!" Joey screeched. "Did you ever! I thought you were gonna piss yourself right there. Game over. Drop your shorts and leave a trickle of piss running down the path.”

  “Screw off, Joey!”

  “You are such a puss.”

  “I haven’t seen him for years, Joey. I was surprised.”

  Joey continued to laugh.

  "But, do you think he recognized me? Did Daly recognize me?”

  “Nah,” Joey replied and pointed at her with one finger. “Probably a damn good thing you wore that veil.”

  “You think so? The veil was enough? He did stare at me a lot.”

  “He was too busy with that kid out there.”

  Arlene was suddenly irritated as she remembered the scene. That kid as he put it was her son who everyone thought was in the casket up top of the hill. “But what the hell was the matter with you out there? Why the fuck did you jump out from the trees and offer to drive us back to the house? That was so stupid, Joey!”

  Joey took a long swig of the beer and followed with a manly burp. He laughed again. "Relax already. No one out there knows me. You flip out at the first site of a cop and you’re yawing at me? I saw what was going on, and I gave you an out. You were shittin’ yourself!”

  “I wasn’t shitting myself. And that was a stupid thing to do."

  Joey shrugged and chugged back on his beer. He continued to smile. He was quite pleased with himself.

  "You didn’t know that cop out there at the cemetery was that bugger, Daly. I told you about him a few years ago when he worked here in Vancouver. He used to haul me in every chance he got when he worked the East side.”

  Joey shuffled in his chair. He nodded at her. “I remember you talking about him. Another pig. You seem to attract them.” He cackled and reached for her crotch, but she batted his hand away.

  “I spent more than a half a dozen nights in lockup because of Daly,” she said. “He said he was just encouraging me to get off the streets. Then one day, he was gone. I was just glad he was off my street.”

  Joey sniggered. "Your street, huh? It was always the Candy Street. Where was I headed when I crossed into Cannuck country? Down to the East side to get some fresh, sticky candy on Candy Street." He grinned and released a contented sigh.

  "It was the only street I ever worked, so I call it my street. Daly was out there patrolling the street on my very first time.” She frowned as if she was reliving the fear and uncertainty of that night. “And all of the way until Wu showed up, I only ever looked out for Daly. He was always on the hunt for me every other night and well… You know the rest."

  “Funny little guy, that Officer Wu.”

  Arlene frowned and sighed heavily.

  "He was!" Joey insisted. “And I wanted to break that mother fucker's face every time you told me he'd been sniffing around again. And who names their kid Jet anyways?"

  "That's exactly why I stopped telling you about him."

  Joey suddenly became highly agitated, jumped up out of his chair, and paced about. He seemed overly anxious but was still pleased with himself. "Well, he's not going to bother you anymore." He laughed again. "That fucking pig just got porked."

  Arlene stayed seated, and although she felt disgusted and dirty even mentioning Jet Wu's name, she found it hard to share in Joey's exhilaration.

  "You want to know how I did it to him?"

  She could tell he wanted to talk about it. It reminded her of when she first met Joey; all he talked about during sex was means and methods of killing his wife. At first she believed it was just part of some strange fantasy that accompanied the sex he paid a handsome fee for. She always played along, encouraging him each time and offered her own ideas and twisted suggestions. As the months progressed, he added very specific details that soon made her uncomfortable. When Joey finally gave her a name, Wendy, she realized it was no fantasy. Strangely, it turned her on, and she couldn't wait for Joey to return with more sordid detai
ls and plans. In his absence, she immersed herself into researching how to get away with murder and studying poisons, forensics, autopsies and court trials.

  "Did you use the rope I gave you?"

  Joey's excitement rose even higher. "Did I use it?" he snickered.

  " You asked me to find you a rope, and I found you one. Did you use it?"

  "Oh yeah, I used it all right. I just came along for the ride, and I ended up being the life of the party. I am so glad I came. So glad. I would do anything for you, babe. You know that. And meeting like that twice a day along the river was brilliant.” He shook his head. He was truly proud of himself.

  "The only reason I asked you to come was because I didn't know how my family was going to react when I went back there. I didn’t bring you along to hurt anybody.”

  Joey smirked and shrugged. “I gotta do what’s best for you, babe.”

  “And you didn't believe me when I told you I saw Officer Wu drive by out on the road in front of my dad’s place."

  "I'm sorry about that, babe, but I thought you were just being paranoid after you told me you recognized that cop, Daly, the day before at the cemetery."

  "Paranoid? I wasn't paranoid, Joey. It was Daly. You still sound like you still don’t believe me.”

  Joey laughed again. "You're always so paranoid. Scared like a little kitten. My little pussy." He reached over to pinch at her crotch, but she blocked his hand.

  Arlene grunted. She didn't like it when he teased her.

  “You still don’t know for sure if that even was Daly out there.”

  “It was him, Joey!” she snapped. “I’ll never forget that face. Why would I lie about that? Huh?”

  “Well, it’s a good thing I believed you about Wu, huh?”

  “Wu was a creep,” she uttered. “I still don’t understand why he showed up at my parent’s house. I opened the door, and there he was. I was petrified. But I could see he was shocked too. It took a moment for him to recognize me, but he broke into a huge grin and began gloating as soon as he did. He got real mean and even threatened me. He said he was going to make me pay for turning him in. He threatened to tell my parents, Joey. I pushed him outside. I didn’t want mom to hear anything he had to say. I was so upset. I expected him to do something right there and then, but he just pointed his finger in my face and told me I was dead.”

  “How’d he find you?”

  “Did you hear what I just said, Joey?”

  “I heard you. He said you were dead. But how’d he find you?

  “He just showed up at the door. I have no idea how he found me. I opened the door and there he was. What was I supposed to do? ”

  “You told me they were keeping your identity a secret. That's what they do. And Wu didn’t even have your real name. Candace Youngman. That’s the name he knew you by."

  Arlene glared at Joey. “And that’s also what he called me when he showed up. He called me Candy. He didn’t call me by my real name. He said I was the only one who could have squealed because I was the only girl who went down on him in his patrol car."

  "You serious?"

  “That’s what he said, but I don’t believe him. Cassie said she’d been giving him some too. I should have left it alone.”

  “I don’t share with pigs.”

  “This is your fault. You were the one who talked me into pointing the finger at him.”

  "Of course I did. You didn't need to put up with that shit. Why does this cop think he’s above the law? Just because you’re turning tricks doesn’t mean he can get it for free.”

  "He told me I was the only one who was in his car, so it had to be me. And they told me he was transferred.”

  "He had to be stopped. Bad is bad."

  "I only wanted you to make him stay away from me until I left town. That’s all I wanted, Joey.”

  “Yeah, right. You also told me he said he was going do you in your daddy's bed. Isn’t that what you told me he said to you? What the fuck else was that supposed to mean to me? He wasn’t done with you.”

  "Joey," Arlene replied. "I was only out there for Vincent’s funeral. I was leaving in a few days. Jesus. I didn’t tell you to hurt him.”

  "For the last three months, that fuck has been out of your life and you haven't had to suck his yellow dick."

  "I didn't want any trouble."

  Joey laughed. "Trouble? There's no trouble now. He's never going to bother you again."

  Arlene became uncomfortable as she listened to how pleased Joey was with himself. She tried not to encourage his enthusiasm.

  "There's nothing on the news about it," she said.

  Joey laughed and rubbed his hands together. "And there won't be."

  "What did you do to him, Joey?"

  "Thallium," he replied and laughed again. "Good old thallium."

  "Thallium?"

  "Rat poison. It's been banned for over a decade, but I still have a small stash from when I started in the pest control business over twenty years ago. It's not much, but I brought it all with me when I crossed the border to set up shop. It's tasteless, odourless, and dissolves easily into any liquid."

  Arlene frowned at his mention of poison. She wasn't sure why she was bothered at the moment, but there was something not right about what he was saying.

  “But what about the rope?"

  Joey chugged back the rest of his beer and pointed at her as if he was mentoring a pest control intern. "Aah. That's the best part. I gave him just enough thallium to make him sick. After you and I met out along the river, I had an idea. I went back to the hotel to prepare myself and then I tracked him down just like you asked me to. I followed him. I followed him all afternoon. Wherever he went, I went. You got me the rope in the evening, and when he stopped in at Timmy's the next morning I went too. It's easier to slip something into someone's drink than you may think. It was so easy. He sat reading his paper, chowing down on one of them breakfast sandwiches, and I chatted him up."

  Suddenly what bothered her about the poison came clear.

  "Poison?" she blurted out. Arlene was confused. "You brought poison out there with you? On the plane? Why would you bring poison with you?"

  Joey shrugged and grinned. "I've been keeping a vial of thallium in my travel bag for years ever since I first thought about taking care of Wendy. It's a good thing I had it, right?"

  Joey leaned towards her for a kiss, but she pulled away.

  “What?” she shouted. “You carry poison with you wherever you go? Really, Joey?"

  "Not right on me in my wallet or pocket. That would be stupid. It's a tiny vial… less than an inch long. It's been in my travel bag with my tooth brush, deodorant and all that for years. It looks like a small grey stone. No one would even know what it was unless I told them."

  “The only reason I asked you fly out there with me was because I didn't know how my family was going to react after all of these years.”

  Joey stopped pacing and turned toward her. “But I have to look after you, don't I?”

  The strange question confused her.

  “And now that I see you got a rich daddy with a big house, it looks like you will need even more care,” he added.

  The followup comment confused her even more. It was such an odd comment, and she knew she would think about it later.

  "Lookit. Just scrape a few shavings into the neighbour dog's dinner and he'll be dead in hours." He cackled in delight. "Don't like the cat that's been shitting in your flowerbed? Neighbours’ pigeons keeping you awake at night? I can take care of that too. It's my fucking job to kill things. I'm Mr. Pest Control. Wu was just another pest."

  Arlene felt a wave of nausea cover her.

  "And I also know how this stuff needs to be handled. They don't even test for this poison anymore these days unless someone points a finger. Who’s going to point a finger? Wu was still alive and kicking when he went over the balcony.” He paused and frowned. “Seeing his feet kick about for so long was something I didn’t expect, though.�
�

  Did he really did get his kicks from killing things? Was there more about Joey she didn't know?

  “Ingest a bit of thallium, and in a few hours it feels like you've got some bad flu bug. Your gut aches and the diarrhea starts. It gets worse over the next day or so. Soon you start to sweat and get dizzy and disoriented. Sounds so much like a bad flu bug, or even plain old food poisoning, but it ain't."

  "You made him sick?"

  "Oh, he was sick. Four days later, he was still sick. This stuff just keeps eating away at you. I hunkered down in the trees along the ridge and watched his apartment, and when I was sure he wasn't coming out anymore, I buzzed him.”

  “Days?”

  Joey nodded. "Oh yeah. Four days actually. I slipped back to the hotel after his lights went out each night, and was back watching his place well before daybreak. I couldn’t risk meeting you out at the river in case he stepped out. After four days, I buzzed him and told him that I was a nurse from the local clinic. I told him his boss called and said he was sick and I came to check on him. I said I had something that could help him."

  Arlene listened. She was grotesquely captivated by the sinister persistence Joey expressed.

  "He didn’t recognize me from Tim Horton’s. He was just pleased to hear my voice and my offer of some respite to his bad situation that he let me up without the slightest hesitation."

  Joey went into the kitchen and grabbed another beer as he continued to tell his tale.

  “Ha! Respite,” he cackled. “He got his respite all right. I could see right away how weak he was the moment he let me in. He exhibited all of the signs: hunched over, barely able to stand, let alone walk. He was suffering. I spotted the railing that stretched across the second floor behind him, and I knew exactly what I was going to do.

  I insisted he should lie down and that I'd get something to help him to recover. I helped him back up the stairs to his bedroom and into bed. I went back down stairs, grabbed the bag with the rope I set by the door when he let me in, and tied one end of the rope good and tight to the railing. I led him out from his bedroom, easily wrestled him to the floor, wrapped the rope around his neck, and threw him over the balcony. It looked like a suicide and nothing more."