“He cheats on me, too.”
“Seems like the person you should be getting mad at is yourself, not me.”
There was a pause, and Serena took a deep breath. “Sorry, Mandy. I was out of line.”
“This hasn’t been the best weekend. You want some eggs? I just went for a swim, and I’m starving.”
“Sure, that’d be good.”
Mandy got to work scrambling eggs while Serena made a pot of coffee. The house was eerily quiet save for the hiss of eggs sizzling and coffee brewing. Mandy plated the eggs, and the two girls sat at the table.
“So, I guess everyone’s at the beach?” Serena asked, shoveling egg into her mouth.
“Oh, you weren’t awake for all of that.” Mandy sipped her coffee.
“Awake for what?”
“Chet and I had a huge fight last night. He admitted to cheating on me, and I told him to leave. I offered to drive him to town, but he just stormed off. I told Desmond, and he tried to call him. Chet didn’t answer, so he went after him. Luke, Glenn, and Sarah are still upstairs sleeping.”
“Why didn’t he tell me he was leaving?”
“Serena, I have some bad news. Desmond told me he planned on dumping you. In fact, and I really shouldn’t say this, he came on to me this morning. Said we need to screw to get revenge on you and Chet. Silly, right? I swear, I can’t wait until I start dating college guys.”
Serena dropped her fork, devastated. “He…he was going to break up with me?” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Honey, no, don’t cry. You’re too good for him anyway.” Mandy rushed over and hugged her. Serena hugged back. “Look, screw them. We can still have fun. How about you go change? We can go for a swim and lay out. Let’s try to enjoy ourselves. Besides, I know you and I won’t stay on the market for long. Hell, Desmond probably went after Chet because they’re banging one another.”
Serena laughed, and Mandy joined her.
“Okay,” Serena said. “Let me go change, and I’ll meet you on the beach.”
She got up and walked up the stairs to her room. Mandy sighed and cleared the table. She needed to get back to the boathouse and do a few things before Serena was ready to meet Grey.
*
With each step she took, Serena grew angrier. That asshole could have at least told me bye. He owed me that much. She entered the guest room and headed straight for her phone. Sure enough there were no missed calls. She was surprised Chet hadn’t tried to call her, but she figured he was doing his best to keep it cool. She’d make it up to him when she got home.
She sat down on the bed and plotted her next move. Swimming with Mandy sounded okay, but they weren’t even that good of friends. She really only hung around her because of Desmond and Chet. What other options did she have? Leave the poor girl? That’d be pretty messed up. Even though she still blamed Mandy for ruining the weekend, it wasn’t totally her fault.
Desmond wasn’t going to get away free and clear. She needed to get a word in at least. She opened her text messages, and something strange caught her eye. She had one from Chet, and it had been read. That’s why it never sounded on her phone. She clicked on the message, and her blood ran cool. I told him to meet me in the boathouse? When? Confusion set in, and she read his message: CAN’T WAIT Sent: 4:38 A.M.
Mandy! It had to be, but it didn’t make sense. She needed an explanation, and she was damned determined to get one. She didn’t bother to change into her suit, knowing that swimming was probably not going to happen. She’s messing with us, but why? Serena debated waking Luke, Glenn, and Sarah; but decided to let them sleep. This wasn’t their fight, and she didn’t want anyone standing in her way when she tore that bitch’s hair out.
Serena ran down the stairs and headed for the door. She checked the kitchen, and then the rest of the house, making sure Mandy wasn’t still inside. She wasn’t, and as Serena made her way out, she saw the doors to the boathouse open. Perfect, there’s no running from me now.
*
Mandy removed Sarah’s foot from the cooler and plopped it down on the cleaning station. Selecting a filet knife, she cut off the toes, taking care to remove each digit with precision. She tossed them in the water and watched smaller fish go for them. She threw one in the grass and smiled when two seagulls wrestled over Sarah’s pinkie toe. And this little piggie was eaten by a seagull. She laughed, and the birds flew away.
Mandy snatched the toeless foot off the plastic sink and tossed it in the water. She didn’t know if Grey would get it, but that didn’t matter. The best part was her plan was working. No one suspected a thing. She saw Serena walking down the path to the boathouse and was dismayed that she wasn’t wearing her bathing suit. Serena walked with a purpose, an attitude evident in her stride. Her fingers tightly clutched a cell phone. Mandy’s eyes widened.
She had stolen Serena’s phone and replaced it. I forgot to delete the texts. Stupid, Mandy. Just stupid! Her plan was going to unravel and over something so simple. Serena suspected, and Mandy knew that yappy bitch would scream and run as soon as the truth was revealed. She couldn’t let it get that far.
Mandy exited the boathouse and walked toward the beach, pretending not to see Serena. She heard the footsteps behind her click and clack on the wooden walkway and knew they’d soon be muffled by the sand. A desperate plan formulated in her head, but she didn’t know if it would work. All bets were off if Serena attacked her. She hoped it didn’t come to that.
“Mandy, wait up,” Serena called. Mandy came to a halt, her back still turned to Serena.
Serena came closer. The crashing of waves mixed with heavy breathing. Mandy couldn’t determine if they were breaths of exhaustion from pacing on the sand, or Serena trying to control her breathing from going into a rage.
“How could you? How could you do this to me? To Chet?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Serena.” Mandy turned and faced Serena.
Serena’s hand shook as she thrust the phone in Mandy’s face. “Really? This doesn’t look familiar?”
The text message was barely visible in the sunlight, but Mandy knew what it said. She threw her arms up, a what-do-you-want-me- to-do-about-it gesture, and Serena’s face grew the darkest shaded of reddish black Mandy had ever seen.
“Why, Mandy? Why would you do this to us? I thought you wanted us out here to have fun.”
“Seems like you’re the one who’s been having the fun. You, and Chet, and Sarah. Well, all that fun is over. I loved him, Serena. And I wasn’t good enough. He had to have others. You, Sarah, and Katy. Guess who’s next?”
Serena gasped and placed a hand over her mouth. She shook uncontrollably and thin streams of tears made their way past her eyelids and down her face.
“Katy?” she asked, unsure if she’d heard correctly.
“Oh, yes.” Mandy smiled. “Katy.”
Serena turned and attempted to run, making the biggest, and last, mistake of her young life. Unable to gain traction in the sand, she left her back exposed. The knife concealed in Mandy’s shorts slid through Serena’s back and into her lung. The air rushed out, and Serena fell to her knees on the beach. Mandy retracted the knife and stabbed into the other side. Serena let out a timid squeak as her other lung was punctured. She collapsed on her back. Mandy took hold of her hair and began to drag her toward the water. Serena’s eyes stared up at the blinding sun. Her mouth croaked open, and bits of sand landed on her tongue.
“You couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut. We couldn’t just have a nice day at the beach. God, you are such a bitch.”
Mandy grunted as she dragged the girl to the water’s edge. She knew once she got her in it would be easier to float her to Grey. She saw the dorsal fin cut the surf and knew the shark was getting impatient.
Serena gasped, pleading, and Mandy laughed at the pitiful attempt at begging. The water was cool on Mandy’s legs as she waded into the surf with Serena in tow. Water rushed over Serena’s face. Mandy felt a large shape press ag
ainst her and searing pain as the shark’s rough skin brushed her thigh. The pain was glorious.
“Bye, Serena. Say hi to Chet for me.” She pushed her farther into the water.
Serena’s body floated on the surface, bobbing like a lifeless doll. As her lungs filled with water, Serena stared up into the brilliant blue sky for the last time.
Mandy saw Grey burst from the surf and strike. There was an explosion of water and blood as Grey twisted and turned, severing Serena’s head and most of her right arm. The shark struck the other half and shredded the torso and legs until the water was flecked with bits of human debris. Mandy swam to shore.
She checked her thigh and saw the large red mark. Needle point droplets of blood formed and ran down her leg. The white sand was stained a horrible shade of crimson. Mandy kicked and moved the sand around to hide the evidence.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked.
Mandy recoiled and almost fell over. She’d thought she was alone the entire time, but Luke and Glenn stood on the beach, staring at her. Did they see? The knife was lost, mixed somewhere in the sand. Could she take them both if she had to? Time was running out.
“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to spin it innocently.
“You’re alone…and kicking sand all over the place,” Glenn said. They both eyed her suspiciously.
She turned the waterworks on and collapsed onto the beach, grabbing handfuls of sand and sobbing.
“I just wanted this to be a nice weekend, and it’s ruined!” She blubbered into the warm sand as her forehead made contact with the ground.
Luke rushed to her side to comfort her. Glenn stayed back, suspicious.
“It’s okay, Mandy. Really. Everything’s all right.” Luke reassured her as Mandy cried into his shirt.
“Everyone left. Chet left. Desmond went after him. Serena followed him. Sarah went for a boat ride with someone she knew. They all left me.”
“We’re still here, and we aren’t going anywhere,” Luke said, doing his best to comfort her. “Glenn, can you go back to the house and grab Mandy some water.”
“Sure, why not,” Glenn grumbled. He turned and made his way back to the beach house.
*
The water filled the glass, and Glenn sighed. Some weekend, he thought as he tipped the glass back and drank in long swallows. He had no intention of being Mandy’s errand boy and fetching her a drink like he was some kind of slave. Those days of being nice for the sake of it were over. The weekend was a bust—a major one at that. Sarah was off somewhere with someone she wanted to be with. He hadn’t even gotten a fair shot at her. It didn’t matter.
Soon he’d be off to college, and he could put this amateur bullshit behind him.
He thought about going back to sleep, or rubbing one out, or both. What was there to do anyway? He was happy Luke was finally getting to spend some time with Mandy, but for as hot as she was, the girl was clearly a beacon of bad luck. Parents dead, friends all gone. Sure, she had a ton of money, but what good was it?
He’d never had the chance to really explore the sprawling beach house. He walked from room to room, looking at the various pictures on the wall. Mandy’s parents looked happy enough in the photos. Her stepdad posed with a variety of fish he’d caught on what looked to have been expensive charter trips. Mandy was in a few of the pictures, but she never smiled. The closer her looked, he noticed the little girl and young woman in the photos all wore the same flat expression. Glenn shook his head and moved on. He found a game room, equipped with a pool table, foosball, and an air hockey game. He wished he’d have found this place the other night. Playing a game of one-man pool didn’t sound like such a bad idea. There was really no one around to hang with anymore.
The walk up the stairs was quick, and he looked through each room. Everyone’s bags were still in their respective rooms, and he found that to be a bit odd. Why would they just leave their stuff? I guess they’ll come back and get it. He figured in their rush to leave, they just didn’t care about some overnight clothes and toiletries.
It was the room at the end of the hall that caught his eye. The secret room they weren’t allowed to go into, and one that’d slipped his mind with all the distractions going on. Mandy wasn’t around now to police the house. That just made him want to check it out even more. He touched the door and felt the thick wood. He pressed on it, and the door rocked back gently, enough to slip a credit card behind the lock. He took out his wallet and used his student ID to prop the door open. It swung with a creak, and Glenn stepped into darkness.
Heavy drapes covered the windows, blocking any sunlight from entering. He made out the shape of a long desk and felt his way toward it. He debated flipping on the main lights but decided against it. This room was locked for a reason, and he was determined to find out why. He flicked on the desk lamp and was disappointed to see the room plain with the exception of a few tacky paintings on the wall of water birds in flight. He opened the desk drawers, but they were empty, as well.
There was a door behind him. It opened into a huge walk-in closet. He entered and pulled the light cord overhead. His blood chilled as the room illuminated.
The writing and pictures on the wall were the first things he noticed. Ugly scrawled drawings of sharks and people in the water covered the two sides of the closet. Words surrounded them. Nonsensical sentences written with an unstable hand. Glenn’s eyes focused on, KILL THEM ALL, RAPIST, MOLESTER, and SLIPWAY GREY. The word ‘Grey’ had been written over and over again. Torn pages from colorful oceanic books were glued to the wall. All of sharks. Of bull sharks and lines drawn under the various names they were known by across the globe. Slipway. Grey. Slipway Grey.
A row of white mannequin heads set on a dresser, each wearing a different color wig. Black, brown, and red hair draped over the vacant faces, and Glenn felt his heart rush. He opened one of the drawers and sorted through a number of wallets and a few small purses. He read some of the names, recognizing them from newspaper articles. Missing persons? Glenn didn’t think so. Something horrible had happened to them. And all signs pointed right to Mandy. The other drawers revealed assorted knives, mace, makeup, and other accessories. It was like looking into a costume shop. There were accessories for every occasion. He sorted through a row of outfits and dresses, each one different than the last. Dried brown stains were visible on most of the outfits.
A small backpack set on the floor, and Glenn picked it up. He felt a bead of sweat drip down his forehead, and he hurried to cram it with as much evidence as the backpack could handle. He grabbed the wallets and some IDs, the wigs, and a few of the dresses with the dried blood on them. Mandy was sick. What about Chet, Desmond, Serena, and Sarah?
He slung the backpack over his shoulders, closed the closet door, and then the one to the office on the way out. He knew the keys to Mandy’s SUV were on the bar countertop, and he needed to get out of there in a hurry. He ran downstairs and looked out the bay windows, seeing Mandy and Luke talking on the dock. Mandy pointed at something in the water. Shit, Luke!
“I can’t leave you buddy.”
He put the keys in his pocket, made his way out the door, and then up the walkway to the boathouse and pier. He needed answers, and even if he had to do something awful to Mandy, he was going to get Luke and himself out of there.
Chapter 15
Mandy’s hair hid her face as she stared at the white sand. “Maybe it’s all been for the best.” She brushed it aside and gazed at Luke, eyes glistening. Her mouth parted, and her tongue rolled across her lips. A breeze kicked up, and a gull dove in the water catching a small fish. Time had frozen.
“For the best? I don’t know what you mean,” Luke said. “We’ve known each other for a long time, right?”
“Well, yeah. We’ve been going to school together forever. But you never really had much to do with me until I started tutoring you.”
“Well, we did hang out in different circles. You know, I always thought you were cute.”
“Really?” Luke unleashed his exuberance.
“Yes, but you are on the shy side. I usually go for guys with more…personality.”
“You go for jocks with bulging muscles and chiseled good looks. Guys like Chet and Desmond look like men. I look like I’m still twelve years old.”
“You’re still a cutie.” Mandy smiled.
Luke blushed, and then tightly closed his eyes. “Don’t…”
“What’s the matter?”
His hand rapidly patted his thigh. “Uh, don’t be so nice to me. It kind of hurts my feelings. I feel like you’re leading me on.”
She stepped closer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way. Tell me, what’s wrong?”
“Mandy, I like you. I like you a lot. In fact…” Luke paused and inhaled deeply. “I love you…and I know there’s no way you could ever feel that way about me.” He closed his eyes as if waiting to be punched. Instead, soft lips pressed against his cheek. He popped his eyes back open.
Mandy endearingly gazed back. “I’m sure that wasn’t easy for you to say.”
“No. Because I don’t want to push you away. I’ve only got a few weeks before I head off to college, and I at least wanted to be your friend until then. But, then again, if I don’t tell you now…well…”
“I understand. I was about to share some of my feelings with you. Feelings that I started having while you tutored me. I saw something in you. Something that you hide. You hide it because you’re afraid what others will think, but it goes deeper than that. You hide it because it scares you. Because you’re ashamed to admit the darkness within. Like me.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“When you talk about Chet or Desmond, I see you ball your hands into fists and clench your teeth. You’re angry. You’ve been the odd guy out most of your life. If it weren’t for Glenn, none of the cool people would even know your name. You’d love to get even with them, wouldn’t you? Make them beg. Make them bleed.” Mandy’s eyes blazed with fire.
Luke tensed and nodded. “It’s true. Sometimes. I want them to pay. Pull a Columbine or poison them all...” He shook his head and slumped his shoulders. “But that’s all just fantasies. I couldn’t do things like that in real life. I’m just too chicken-shit.” Luke looked up at Mandy, returning that fiery blaze. “I want revenge, satisfaction.”
Slipway Grey: A Deep Sea Thriller Page 8