by Tracy Sharp
He smirked and opened his mouth to tell me something, but the ring of his cell phone, a groovy, jazzy ring tone, cut him off. He lifted his index finger to me. “One moment, please.” He flipped open his phone.
Good manners even when he’s about to commit murder. Hell of a guy.
“This isn’t a good time,” he said in a singsong voice.
It had to be Susan. Otherwise he would’ve just said “hello”, or “Big Dick here”.
I could hear a woman’s voice even from where I was lying, several feet into the metal trailer or whatever it was. I strained my ears to hear what she was saying.
Big Dick’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. No. NO! NO! NO! NO!” He flipped the phone closed and looked back at me, his face growing deep red. He was almost panting.
I held my breath.
“No time!” He reached into the back pocket of his gray slacks and pulled out a switchblade. He clicked the button and it sprang open.
Oh, Jesus. This is it. I kicked at him but he easily moved out of the way. He sighed, looked at me like I was the class dunce. “I’m not going to kill you in there. I have to bring this thing back.” He gestured to the trailer, kind of flicking his fingers at it. “I only have it for a few hours.” He shook his head. He just couldn’t believe what an idiot I was. “I need you to walk. I’m not going to carry you into the woods. Now stay still.”
Moving my legs down, I watched as he slid the switchblade under what I now saw was electrical tape and ran it back and forth until it cut through. He tore the tape off my jeans and balled it up, throwing it behind him onto the road.
“You really are a lot of trouble. You know that?” He spoke to me as if he was scolding a child. “See where it’s gotten you?” He grabbed my arms and yanked me to a sitting position.
The tape cut into my wrists, but I didn’t feel the pain. Adrenaline was racing through me, keeping me from hurting any more.
I bobbed my head up and down. Keep him talking. “Yes. I do. You were going to tell me what really happened. You guys really got me. Wow. I didn’t see it coming at all.”
“We’ll talk on the way.” He studied me from head to foot. “You’re too tall to lift out of there. You can get out on your own. Just move forward a little.”
Doing as I was told, I stepped onto the road. I swayed a little, feeling dizzy.
“Well don’t pass out here.” His voice dripped with irritation and impatience.
“I’ll try not to. But you gave me a hell of a knock on the head, there, Big Dick.”
He nudged me forward and I began walking. He stayed a step behind me, and I heard the safety click off on his gun.
Christ. I was going to die out here in the woods, and nobody would find me for months. Years, maybe.
“Good girl. See? This isn’t so hard, is it?” He sounded pleased, but his words were edged with sarcasm.
There was no damned way I was getting killed by this fruit loop. Not by a guy who, like Jack said, wore more hairspray than any girl ever would.
Jack. Could that be the reason for Susan’s call?
“Sounds like something went wrong with your plan, Big Dick. Was that your lady love on the phone?”
“Your friend is just as much a meddler as you are. He’s quite the problem, it seems.”
I chuckled, hoping it sounded real. “What’s he done now?”
“Apparently he’s quite the hero, your friend. He must’ve went looking for you and found your mutt lying dead in the park. He called the police. Said Martin had something to do with it. So off to Martin’s house they went, where they found him lying dead in his hallway.”
I almost tripped. “Martin is dead?” I turned to look back at him but he shoved me forward.
“Yes, Martin is dead.” He didn’t sound pleased.
“I guess you got the money he owed you before you killed him.”
A gleeful laugh behind me sent shivers up my spine.
“Christ, you really are dense, aren’t you?”
“I guess I am, Big Dick. Not all of us are blessed with the same brilliance you have.”
“Evidently. Why would I kill him? That would be stupid. I don’t want the police sniffing around asking me questions.”
“So who did kill him then?”
He sighed, long and heavy. “Muriel.”
“Muriel? Why?”
He grabbed my arm so hard I almost fell backward. “That’s far enough.” He pointed the gun at my head.
My heart drilled against my chest but I had to keep him talking. “Why would Muriel kill Martin?”
“Christ. I’ll be happy to shoot you just to stop these endless questions.” He was getting pissed, waving his gun around.
With nothing to lose, I decided to push it. “But why? Why would she kill him?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He jerked his hands upward, exasperated. “Because she’s crazy? But she’s a stupid cow and now she’s brought the police to us!” He was raving, his eyes devoid of reason. There was definitely nobody home.
It’s now or never.
I brought my foot up and slammed him between the legs. I made it good, because I knew it might be the only chance I got, and when my foot found his balls and landed with a solid whump, I felt unbridled joy.
His eyes widened but he didn’t drop the gun. His breath went out of him and he bent over, grunting and moaning. He made guttural sounds deep in his chest.
I got ready to give him another kick, this one in the head, but he straightened out enough to look at me and swing the gun back in my direction.
I faked left, then moved right. A bullet slammed into a tree next to me. I ran, zigzagging and weaving an uneven trail through the woods, my tied hands making it hard to keep my balance. Each time I managed to avoid his bullet, and I counted my lives off in my head. I was sure I didn’t have any left. I was already cutting into the next ones.
A quick glance behind me told me that he was still coming after me, but he wasn’t running. He was doing his own weaving and zigzagging, but it was because he was still bent over, trying not to puke as he jabbed the gun at the air and shot at me.
How many bullets can he have left? I kept going, running from tree to tree, missing the bullets. I heard the click, click of the empty chambers moving around as he pulled the trigger. Did he have any other bullets?
I hid behind a tree and leaned against it, studying the tape around my wrists. Big Dick had been sloppy. The edge of the tape was at the side of my right hand, and I could pull it up toward me. I brought my wrists to my mouth and my teeth found the edge of the tape, pulling a long strip of it off. I used my knees to pull the end back around. Within a few seconds my hands were free. I peeked around the tree and tried to focus on him. My vision went blurry and I gagged.
But he could see me just fine. “Not doing very well over there, Leah. Looks like I might be getting the best of you.”
I heard him pushing bullets into the chambers.
Oh, you haven’t gotten my best yet, asshole. I closed my eyes for a moment and took deep breaths, my lungs burning in my chest. When I opened my eyes again my vision had cleared. My ears picked up the sound of something that made hope bloom in me. The high-pitched cries of birds. Seagulls. Turning, I looked around me. My eye caught the color of dark blue between the trees. A new energy pushed me forward and I ran toward the water.
Breaking through the trees, I ran across the sand and toward the lake. Hundreds of seagulls swooped over the water, fishing for their lunch. The smell of dead fish assaulted my nose as I ran into the lake, icy water splashing all around me. The May temperatures weren’t fit for swimming in. It would be only a matter of time before my limbs went numb. But bullets don’t go through water all that well, and I’d take my chances.
I swam out several yards and turned around, treading water and facing the beach as Big Dick stood watching me on the sand, one hand on a hip and the gun hanging at his side.
“I don’t think you’re that good a shot, Big Dick. You’r
e going to have to come in after me.”
“I’m not going in there!” He sounded disgusted.
My vision blurred again and nausea caught hold of my stomach. Disoriented, I went down and swallowed some water. I came up coughing and kicking.
Big Dick chuckled from the beach. “I won’t have to kill you at all. You’ll drown in there!”
When I caught my breath I turned slowly around in the water, looking for anything I could grab on to. My eyes caught several white shapes moving on the surface of the lake. No. I squinted. Seagulls on a gray, uneven shape. A rocky area jutting out just slightly, about fifteen yards out. I could make that.
My vision blurred as I swam toward the tiny island, blurring and coming back into focus. A couple of times I found myself swimming to the side, toward the beach, instead of forward.
Focus! Damn it!
I thought of Buddy, lying there in the park. His eyes rolling up to find my face. I’ve failed you.
No, Buddy. I’ve failed you. But not this time.
Focusing with everything left in me, my arms and legs leaden in the chilled water, and found myself scrambling up the rock, the birds scattering away from me.
Finally I was able to lay on my stomach for a moment, my chest heaving in and out, trying to catch my breath. My heart thudded against my rib cage.
“BITCH!!”
My eyes snapped open. I’d almost fallen asleep. I turned over and squinted toward the beach. “You gonna stand out there all night, Big Dick?”
“YOU FILTHY BITCH, I’LL KILL YOU!” He punched the air with both hands, one still gripping the gun, having himself a full-on temper tantrum.
He had no choice. He’d have to come in after me.
I watched as he stomped through the water. When he was submerged up to his chest he began his slow, steady swim out toward me.
I sat up, wrapping my arms around myself. My teeth chattered and I was shivering uncontrollably as I watched him. I had nothing left. If he made it close enough to the rock to shoot me, then he would kill me. The rock was too small to be able to try dancing away from his bullets again, and my body was exhausted. I couldn’t move if I wanted to.
My vision blurred again, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw the face of my little sister Susie. She sat beside me on the rock, her blonde hair lifting in the wind. She smiled at me, and a sense of calm filled me. I smiled back at her and reached out to touch her face, but she blew me a kiss and faded away.
Somebody was coughing. I looked down at the water, squinting. Big Dick was no more than five feet from me. This was it, but I wasn’t afraid anymore. Somehow it seemed okay if I left this world now. But he sputtered, water and mucus running out of his nose. He went under the water, then came back up again. Panic lit his eyes. His arms came up and splashed wildly. The gun was no longer in his hand. He went down again.
This time he didn’t come back up. He was just gone. Like he’d never been there at all. The surface of the water became smooth as glass, and the seagulls continued swooping.
I lay back and watched the sky for a few moments, letting the sun warm me, and thought what a gorgeous day it was. Something warm and gentle brushed my cheek, and just before everything went black I heard Susie whisper, “I love you”.
Chapter Seventeen
“I love you, too,” I heard Callahan say.
He held my hand in one of his and caressed it with his other so gently that I began to cry. Tears slid from the outer corners of my closed eyes and my chin trembled. I hated feeling so exposed, but I was stripped of all my defenses. My emotions were raw and close to the surface. I’d been telling Susie that I loved her too, but she was already gone. A part of me felt disappointed that I’d made it back. I was so tired. Exhausted. It would’ve been nice to just ... slip away.
“Hey,” Callahan whispered. I felt the backs of his curled fingers brush the tears from my cheek. “It’s okay now. You’re okay, baby.” He kissed my forehead.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. The concern in his hazel eyes opened a wound in my heart that hadn’t quite healed since we had broken up. I was so glad to see his face. I lifted my hand and touched his cheek, and he leaned his face into my hand and covered it with his own. We stayed like that for a long time, not speaking. I didn’t want the moment to end. I just wanted to stay like that forever, with Callahan resting his face in my hand, looking at me like I was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. He closed his eyes and brought my hand to his lips. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“You almost did.” My throat hurt. I reached for the water glass next to the hospital bed.
“I know. You’re going to kill me one of these days with all the scares you give me. You know that?”
I sipped the water, my throat burning as I swallowed. “No way. You’re tougher than that.”
He took the water glass from me when I was finished with it and placed it back on the table. He leaned over me, brushing the hair from my forehead. “Leah, I...”
The door opened and Jack and Jesse came walking through it. Both their faces etched with worry.
“I wondered where you two were,” I rasped. “Thought you’d given up on me.”
“Nah,” Jack said. “Not yet.”
“How are you feeling, sis?” Jesse leaned over me to plant a kiss on my cheek.
“Like I’ve been run over by a truck.”
“The doc says you’ve got some hypothermia and a slight concussion, but you’re going to be okay,” Jack said. “You are one tough chick, you know that?”
“I know. I can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.”
“There’s somebody else who can, too.” Jack smiled.
I frowned. Then a lump grew in my throat. “Buddy?”
Jack nodded. “You’ve got it. The bullet just missed his heart. It’s still in there, though. It was too dangerous to take it out. But he’s going to be fine.”
“Oh, thank God,” I said, relief making me want to cry all over again.
“He’ll be taking it easy for awhile,” Jack said. “But they said he’s going to be okay.”
“When can I take him home?”
“A week, maybe?” Jesse said. “They said he’s strong, but they want to see how it goes. He might not be able to climb the stairs to your room for awhile, so I’ll make a bed for him down in the living room.”
“He’ll never stay down there without me. I’ll sleep on the couch,” I said.
Jack sighed and shook his head.
“Hey, if I wasn’t so tough I wouldn’t be here right now.” I remembered Big Dick sinking down into the water. I shoved the image away. “What happened? Big Dick said that Martin was killed. Muriel shot him.”
Jack nodded. “I decided to go out and find you and Buddy, and when I saw Buddy on the ground and you missing I called 911. I told them what had happened and that Martin Nolan was behind it.” His words came rushing out, his eyes glowing. He was reliving it. “I said I was on my way to Martin’s and then I called Jesse to stay with Buddy. When I got to Martin’s I kicked the door in, and there Martin was, lying dead in the hall right in front of the door.”
It was starting to come together. “Muriel shot him right after we left last night.”
Jack nodded. “She must’ve been standing right behind the door while we were talking to Martin. She heard you accuse Martin of having Tyler killed because of blackmail. Martin must’ve confronted her right away, but she was already holding the gun in her hand.”
“So Martin didn’t know about the blackmail?”
“No. Phil blackmailed both Susan and Muriel, thinking neither would tell the other out of embarrassment. But Susan went to Muriel for more money to give to Phil. Turns out her cash flow is a little tight, on account of her and Big Dick spending it all.
“Muriel being the appearance oriented lady she is couldn’t possibly risk the sordid details of her son’s affair with a teenaged boy, a prostit
ute no less, getting out. What would people say, after all?” Jack said.
“Yeah, it was bad enough her daughter became a stripper instead of Miss America.” Jesse shook his head. “The shame of it all.”
“Martin must’ve reacted badly, as you would expect,” Jack said. “She couldn’t take a chance of him turning her in, and shot him.”
That part didn’t make sense to me. “But then why leave him lying in the hallway?”
“Because she’s loony tunes,” Jack said. “When I went into the house she was in the kitchen baking cookies and singing.”
“Baking cookies?” I said.
Jack nodded. “And singing. Happy as a clam. As if Martin’s corpse wasn’t lying in her hallway stinking up the place.”
I crinkled my nose. “Maybe the baking helped cover up the smell. Did she confess?”
“Yeah. Right after she offered milk and chocolate chip cookies to me and the cops.”
“Were they any good?”
“Fantastic. But her peanut butter ones were to die for.”
We all started laughing at that one. There was no way anybody would take a bite out of Muriel’s cookies when she’d just killed her husband. God only knew what she’d put in them. I glanced at Callahan and caught his solemn expression.
“Cal, I’m okay. This isn’t a funeral.”
“I know. But...” He didn’t finish the sentence.
I finished it for him. “It could’ve been. I know.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Leah.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I’ll be back later, okay?”
“I won’t be here. I’m getting out of this joint.”
This time he did chuckle. “You’re something else.”
“So everybody keeps telling me. I’ll call you, okay?”
He nodded, his eyes holding mine, telling me he still loved me.
He’d heard me tell Susie that I loved her, and had thought I was saying it to him. I wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. No. I’d leave things just as they were.
* * *
They released me the next day. I was supposed to call Callahan as soon as I’d gotten settled at home. I’d been home for four days but I hadn’t called him yet. He wasn’t pushing, and I appreciated him giving me some space.