“I think my cousin is too dangerous to keep around. I’ll pay you double your usual fee to whack him but it’s got to look like an accident, and it has to be soon.”
“I’ll get right on it, as soon as I finish off Manning.”
“What’s this about Manning? I thought he was dead.” Marco says.
Parker grins. “He will be, as soon as he shows up to get June.”
“I’m gonna get outta here. I don’t want to be around for any trouble. Girls I’ll be back soon for that loan, a hundred K should do for now.” Marco then speaks to Mr. Parker. “You can pick-up your money from Aldo when the job’s done on Al, and remember, it has to look like an accident.”
Parker nods his agreement and Marco leaves.
As Marco heads out the front door he’s grabbed and knocked to the ground, the man then takes the gun out of Marco’s ankle holster.
April stares at Mr. Parker. “What fate did you have in mind for June?”
“Nothing, unless Salvatori gets stupid. Why, do you have a suggestion?”
“Well, our little sister did threaten to throw herself into the river a few weeks ago. You could just make it look as if she succeeded this time.”
Parker hoists an eyebrow in surprise. “Interesting, and you don’t mind if I kill her?”
May smiles. “You’d be doing us a favor, we’re the only ones in her will.”
Mr. Parker chuckles without humor. “You two have any other family you’d like me to bump off for you? An aunt maybe, a cousin twice removed perhaps?”
“Very droll Mr. Parker, no I think killing father and June will be quite enough. Oh and let us not forget David, our wannabe brother-in-law, you still have that to do.” April says.
From the sofa comes the sound of moaning as Dr. Rowlands wakes up.
“What the hell happened?” Rowlands slurs.
Parker goes over to the sofa and unties him. “What’s his name?”
“Dr. Rowlands,” May answers.
“This guy’s a doctor? Listen doctor, I am letting you go. I don’t care where you go, just leave this house. If I ever see you again I will kill you. Do we understand each other?” Rowlands nods his head affirmatively and starts toward the door. He then returns and searches the liquor cart for an unbroken bottle. Finding his treasure in the form of a bottle of sherry, he stumbles out of the house. Parker watches him. “Phone the guard and tell him to call that guy a cab, he’s so drunk he might kill someone.”
“That’s funny Mr. Parker. You’re concerned about someone killing someone. That’s positively ironic. But don’t worry, the doctor doesn’t have a car, he arrived in a taxi.” April says.
“Back to business girls, I killed your father for you and Manning is one I owe you, but killing June will cost you.”
“Fine Mr. Parker, we’ll give you another thirty thousand dollars. But really, after doing such a bad job of killing David you should let us have June for free.” April complains.
“Also, don’t forget all of the extra money we told you to keep from father’s floor safe.” May says. “That money should have been payment enough for killing everyone.”
“I guarantee you that I will take care of David Manning, have no worries.”
Off in the distance an air horn blows loudly three times.
“How can you be so sure that David will come here today?” May asks.
“He’s not only coming, he’s already in the house.” Parker says.
April and May stare at him in shock and Parker smiles wickedly at them.
Mr. Parker knows that David Manning is in the house, because quite simply,
Mr. Parker is David Manning.
37
David looks out past brown contact lenses, while encased in the theatrical make-up artistry of one Frank Brooks. April and May glance around nervously and rise from the sofa. May closes and locks the rear doors to the huge room while April does the same to the room’s front doors.
“How long have you known David was in the house?” April asks.
“Since the moment I arrived.” David says.
“Why didn’t you do something?” May pleads. “Why didn’t you hunt him down or at least warn us?”
“Girls if I had warned you I never would have gotten you confessing on tape to contracting your father’s murder.”
“What?” April and May say in stereo.
David points to his tie clip. “Smile for the camera ladies.”
“You mean everything we said…everything is on tape?” May asks.
“Yes thank God, now you two will go to prison where you belong and June and I can get married.”
“What the hell are you babbling about Mr. Parker? Why would June ever marry yo—and what’s happened to your voice?” April says.
“Oh, I’m sorry you still don’t know. Hello ladies, I’m not Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker is dead. Behind these contact lenses and beneath the wig and the latex is your old friend David.”
David smiles happily at the two women as realization sinks in.
“David?” May says in a voice filled with amazement. She reaches over and strokes David’s latex enhanced chin.
“Hello May, April, I hope this tape puts the two of you away for the rest of your rotten lives.” David takes the gun out again and holds it on April and May. The girls instinctively hug each other in their fear.
“Don’t worry ladies, the gun’s a fake. I was just getting a vicarious thrill. You should thank God it’s not real. After what you planned to do to June, I’m not sure I could keep from shooting both of you. I think I really could kill you.”
April and May relax upon learning the gun’s a prop and then immediately tense up again at the sound of the front doors being smashed open.
“I see your escorts have arrived.” David says. “You’ll soon be having a nice chat with Special Agent Robert Morgan of the F.B.I. Oh, in case you didn’t know, hiring Mr. Parker to kill Blake and I breaks some sort of federal law. You’ll be two dried-up crones by the time they let you out of prison, if, they ever let you out of prison.”
“Damn you David!” April screams. “Damn you to hell, you and June. God how I wish she had just stayed dead!”
David rises from his seat. “Careful what you say. This gun might be a fake but it’s taking all my self-control not to strangle you two with my bare hands.”
Morgan pounds on the doors. “OPEN UP! IT’S THE F.B.I., WE HAVE A WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST!”
May looks at April as if she’s about to cry. “What do we do?”
April looks around the room desperately and then she smiles as her eyes light on the closet door. “May, remember when we used to play hide and go seek?”
May looks perplexed at first but then gets the picture and smiles at the closet.
David is headed toward the doors to let Morgan in when they suddenly reverberate from the impact of a battering ram.
A large chunk of one door breaks apart and David can see the agents outside. April and May open the closet and go inside, while David unlatches what’s left of the broken doors.
Morgan, along with Jack and Kelly, enters the room with two female agents.
David points toward the closet and everyone walks over and looks inside. The women are gone.
The closet has no back wall, its other side is actually the foyer’s closet. Pushing aside garments, the agents spot April and May rushing out through the demolished front doors that lead to the huge driveway.
In the circular drive there’s a limousine going around and around. April and May wave to the driver as if hailing a taxi and the driver slams on his brakes. The girls scramble into the rear, and the limo continues its aimless driving around the great fountain.
Morgan scratches his head. “I don’t know what the hell that limo driver thinks he’s doing, but he can’t get out. We’ve got the gate locked down.”
They stand on the front steps of the mansion and watch as the limo goes around again.
David looks in at the driv
er and smiles. “That’s not the chauffer, that’s Dr. Rowlands, he’s drunk. They’re not going anywhere.”
The limo breaks from the circle and heads toward the front gate. When it reaches the gate, two agents come out of the guard shack with their guns drawn, the long car suddenly turns left and heads back toward the house.
Rowlands drives onto the wide lawn at the right side of the mansion and is picking up speed. The car smashes into a wheelbarrow and sends the object flying into the air like a missile. The wheelbarrow slams into the side of a tree and disintegrates into splinters.
Rowlands continues to gain speed as David realizes that the limo is headed for the brick wall that borders the river. David shouts as he and the rest of the women’s pursuers chase after the car.
“Slow down you idiot, slow down, turn the damn wheel Rowlands!”
The limousine is going forty-eight miles an hour with less than a hundred feet separating it from the wall when Rowlands makes a sharp right.
The massive car is unable to gain traction on the dew-saturated grass and begins to flip over. After three thundering flips, the car smashes through the safety railing and comes to land atop the four-foot high fieldstone wall. It wobbles on the wall like some insane car manufacturer’s idea of a teetertotter as its back end sticks out over the water.
David reaches the car first and looks inside. Rowlands lies across the front seat, dazed, and bleeding from his forehead. David stares through the broken glass partition and sees that both April and May are still alive. They lie in a rear corner of the limo in a tangled heap.
“Ladies, remain very still. The limo is balanced on the wall and any slight movement could tip it.”
The women don’t answer but only look back at David with terrified eyes, their faces are so devoid of their usual haughtiness that David thinks they’ve never looked so much like June as they do right now.
Behind David, Morgan gets on the radio and calls for Emergency Services.
“How long will that take?” David asks.
“Could be ten or fifteen minutes until they get here.” Morgan says.
The car lets out a scraping noise from its undercarriage and sways slightly higher at the front end. It is so precariously balanced on the wall that a strong wind could tip it over the edge, thankfully for its occupants, the day is still and no gusts are blowing on the usually windy precipice.
“We’ve got to put weight on the front end.” Morgan shouts. “This thing’s getting ready to drop.”
April and May plead from the back of the car. “Help us please!”
David watches them sneak horrified glances at the water below through the limo’s shattered side window. The car lets out another sound and the massive machine begins to slide backward. David grabs onto the front bumper and scrambles onto the dented hood.
Kelly shouts, “No David don’t!” as the car begins to oscillate wildly.
The limousine goes up and down in decreasing height and then settles on the wall in almost perfect balance.
David lets out a deep breath as he sits atop the hood with his feet resting on the car’s front bumper.
“Jesus! Manning are you trying to get killed too?”
“No Morgan, but I had do to something. I couldn’t just stand here and watch them die.”
“Well, just stay put for awhile, she looks to be nicely balanced now with you on the hood like that and E.S.U. should be here soon. You girls hang on back there and we’ll have you in a nice safe jail cell in an hour.”
“No it’s not safe back here.” April pleads. “We could still fall in, somebody help us.”
Morgan opens his mouth to calm April and May, when Dr. Rowlands speaks first. Rowlands shouts, “Don’t worry girls I’ll save you.” and leaps into the back seat.
The sudden shift in weight throws the front end of the car skyward as the limousine slides noisily along the edge of the wall. Sparks and bits of stone fly from the undercarriage and the limo heads backward toward the river hundreds of feet below.
April and May’s screams can be heard above the grating rasp of metal scraping against stone as they rush with sickening speed to a fate similar to the one they envisioned for their sister.
When Rowlands dived into the back seat, David had a split second to act.
He leaped off the car’s bumper as far as his legs would push him, unfortunately, at the moment of his jump the limo was nearly perpendicular to the wall, and so David’s leap took him straight up over the wall instead of away from it and toward the grass.
At the apex of his leap, David looks down and sees the grill of the limousine hurrying away from him and toward the water. For just a moment, he has the illusion of floating. Then gravity makes itself known and he finds himself following the limousine’s path.
David has just enough time to realize that he is not going to land on the grass or the wall, below him lies only water. David’s mind fills with thoughts of June and the realization of his own death.
Inside the house, June awakens with a start. A sense of dread courses through her mind and competes mightily with the sleeping pills flowing through her system. She drags herself up and sits on the edge of the bed, listening for any signs of trouble.
As he falls toward the water, David stretches out his right arm in hopes of snagging the edge of the wall. Jack leans as far over the wall as he can and grabs hold of David’s grasping right hand with his own. David’s weight, combined with the momentum of his fall, pulls Jack over and toward a fatal impact with the water below. The fingers of Jack’s left hand scrape, scratch and grasp at a crack at the wall’s edge. When David’s right shoulder slams against the side of the cliff the resulting jolt nearly loosens Jack’s tenuous grip on the wall.
Jack realizes his fate as he looks down at David’s panicked “Mr. Parker” face staring back at him in horror. With time still left to release David and scramble onto the wall, Jack tightens his grip on David’s hand.
At the same time, David, horrified at the thought that he may cause Jack’s needless death, releases his own grip, while with his left hand he vainly searches for purchase among the slight weather worn crevices that mark the cliff wall. Jack is now only grasping David’s four right hand fingers.
Jack’s weakening left hand is the only thing holding them to the edge of the wall as Morgan reaches down and grabs Jack under his arms and begins pulling both men up.
Jack yells. “David grab my hand again! Morgan’s got me now.”
David reasserts his grip on Jack’s hand with both of his own and the two men are pulled to safety, they crawl over the wall to collapse on the ground.
David speaks through labored breaths. “Jack…you…saved my life.”
“Morgan…saved us both.” Jack says. “I’m not sure how much longer…I could have held onto that wall.”
Kelly rushes over to Jack and hugs him fiercely where he sits on the grass.
Morgan peers over the wall. “There she goes.”
David rises onto his knees and looks over. All he sees is the corner of a car bumper as it sinks beneath the water, and an increasing amount of bubbles coming from below the surface.
April and May are gone.
“Goddamn that drunken fool Rowlands. We could have saved them.”
“What are you so pissed about Manning? Those two tried to have you killed remember?”
“Morgan, June came here to find her family and now they’re all dead. I have to go back into that house and tell the woman I love that I couldn’t save her sisters. Goddamn it what a waste, what a goddamn waste!”
David rises, rubbing his sore right shoulder. He then removes the tie clip camera and the battery pack and hands the equipment to Morgan.
“I hope to God you got everything. I heard you blow the air horn three times like we planned.”
“We got them dead to rights on the tape, sound and pictures. The equipment only went dead when they were talking to that gay guy Simon.”
“Must’ve been a glitch
, nothing important was said then anyway.” David says, while not looking Morgan in the eye.
“…Right,” Morgan says. “Anyway, Marco Salvatori really stepped in it. He basically implicated himself in Davenport’s murder and we’ve also got him on tape ordering his cousin’s hit. We sent an agent in over the wall to arrest him when he left the house, he’s probably being booked by now.”
“Yeah, that’s a nice bonus. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a long overdue date with my fiancée. I’d also appreciate it if you would allow us a few hours of privacy. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“Manning, after what you’ve just been through, take the whole day. We’ll sort through this mess tomorrow.”
David shakes Morgan’s hand and starts running toward the house to be with June.
David makes his way up the staircase and opens the bedroom door.
June sits on the side of the bed in a near stupor and looks up at David with eyes that can barely maintain their focus. David, still wearing his Mr. Parker disguise, takes a step toward her, and it is then that he sees the gun.
June speaks in a groggy voice. “Whoever you are…stay away from me or I’ll shoot.”
David stares down the barrel of the loaded gun.
Mr. Parker certainly leads an exciting life.
38
“June honey it’s me David, please put the gun down.”
June struggles to keep her eyes open. “You’re not David, but whoever you are you’d better leave. David is very near. He’s coming back to me.”
“I am back June. Baby it’s me, wait, let me take off this mask.”
David slides the brown contact lenses from his eyes and then reaches behind his head and gives a gentle tug. Something gives way and David begins to peel off the wig. Using both hands now, David slowly strips the Mr. Parker face off of his own clammy face that lies beneath it.
June sits awestruck as the stranger disappears and her David returns. She places Simon’s gun back into the drawer and flies into David’s arms. All effects of the drug in her system are submerged by her sudden and boundless joy. The two lovers hold each other in simple silence, basking in the joy of their reunion.
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