by Blake Crouch
"Let’s go. You’re burning moonlight." He set the flashlight on the dresser and yanked the covers off me. Glancing out the window, I saw the moon high in the sky. Still exhausted, I didn’t feel like I’d been asleep long.
Orson tossed me a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt from my duffel bag, which lay open in a corner. Impatient, almost manic, he resembled a child in an amusement park as he paced around the room in his navy one-piece mechanic’s suit and steel-tipped boots.
The waning moon spread a blue glow, bright as day, upon everything — the sagebrush, the bluffs, even Orson. My breath steamed in the cold night air. We walked toward the shed, and as we approached, I noticed the Buick parked outside, its back end facing us, the front pointed into the double doors. The license plate had been removed.
Something banged into those doors inside the shed, followed by a brief lamentation: "HELP ME!" When I stopped walking, Orson spun around.
"Tell me what we’re doing," I said.
"You’re coming with me into that shed."
"Who’s in there?"
"Andy…"
"No. Who’s in —" I stared down the two-and-one-eighth-inch stainless steel barrel of my .357 revolver.
"Lead the way," he said.
At gunpoint, I walked along the side of the building. The shed was bigger than I’d originally thought, the sides forty feet long, the tin roof steeply slanted, presumably to protect it from caving under the crippling winter snows, if we were, in fact, that far north. We reached the back side of the shed, and Orson stopped me at the door. He withdrew a key from his pocket, and as he inserted it into the lock, glanced back at me and grinned.
"You like buttermilk, don’t you?" he asked.
"Yes," I said, though I couldn’t fathom the possible relevance.
"Did you always like it?"
"No."
"That’s right. You drank it ’cause Dad did, but you came to love it. Well, I think it tastes like shit, but you have an acquired taste for buttermilk. That’s sort of what’s gonna happen here. You’re gonna hate it at first. You’re gonna hate me more than you do now. But it’ll grow on you. You’ll acquire a taste for this, too, I promise." He unlocked the door and put the key back into his pocket. "Not one word unless I tell you." Smiling, he motioned for me to enter first. " ‘Inhuman cruelty,’ " he whispered as I opened the door and he followed me into the shed.
A woman lay blindfolded and handcuffed in the middle of the floor, a brown leather collar around her neck, a five-foot chain running from the collar to a metal pole. The pole rose from the concrete floor to the ceiling, where it was welded to a rafter. When Orson slammed the door, the woman clambered to her feet, wobbling awkwardly around the pole, attempting to gauge our location.
She must’ve been about forty-five, her blond hair losing a perm. Slightly overweight, she wore a red-and-gray bowling shirt, navy pants, and one white shoe. Her perfume filled the room, and blood ran down the side of her nose from a cut beneath the blindfold.
"Where are you? Why are you doing this?"
This isn’t happening. This is pretend. We’re playing a game. That is not a human being.
"Go sit, Andy," Orson said, pointing to the front of the shed. I walked past tool-laden metal shelves and took a seat in a green lawn chair near the double doors. A white shoe rested against the doors, and I wondered why the woman had kicked it off. She looked in my direction, tears rambling down her cheeks. Orson came and stood beside me. He knelt down, inspecting the shiny tips of his boots. Suddenly, something clenched around my ankle.
"Sorry," he said, "but I just don’t trust you yet." He’d cuffed my ankle with a leg iron, bolted to the floor beneath the lawn chair.
As Orson walked toward the woman, he shoved my gun into a deep pocket in his mechanic’s suit.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she asked again. Orson reached out and wiped the tears from her face, moving with her as she backed away, winding the chain slowly around the pole.
"What’s your name?" he asked gently.
"Sh-Shirley," she said.
"Shirley what?"
"Tanner." Orson crossed the room and picked up two stools that had been set upside down on the floor. He arranged them beside each other, within range of the woman’s chain.
"Please," he said, taking hold of her arm above the elbow, "have a seat." When they were seated, facing each other, Orson stroked her face. Her entire body quaked, as though suffering from hypothermia. "Shirley, please calm down. I know you’re scared, but you have to stop crying."
"I wanna go home," she said, her voice shaky and childlike. "I want —"
"You can go home, Shirley," Orson said. "I just want to talk to you. That’s all. Let me preface what we’re going to do by asking you a few questions. Do you know what preface means, Shirley?"
"Yes."
"This is just a hunch, but when I look at you, I don’t see someone who spends much time in the books. Am I right?" She shrugged. "What’s the last thing you read?"
"Um…Heaven’s Kiss."
"Is that a romance?" he asked, and she nodded. "Oh, I’m sorry, that doesn’t count. You see, romance novels are shit. You could probably write one. Go to college by chance?"
"No."
"Finish high school?"
"Yes."
"Whew. Scared me there for a minute, Shirley."
"Take me back," she begged. "I want my husband."
"Stop whining," he said, and tears trickled down her face again, but Orson let them go. "My brother’s here tonight," he said, "and that’s a lucky coincidence for you. He’s gonna ask you five questions on anything — philosophy, history, literature, geography, whatever. You have to answer at least three correctly. Do that and I’ll take you back to the bowling alley. That’s why you’re blindfolded. Can’t see my face if I’m gonna let you go, now can you?" Timidly, she shook her head. Orson’s voice dropped to a whisper, and leaning in, he spoke into her ear just loudly enough for me to hear also: "But if you answer less than three questions correctly, I’m gonna cut your heart out."
Shirley moaned. Clumsily dismounting the stool, she tried to run, but the chain jerked her to the floor.
"Get up!" Orson screamed, stepping down from his stool. "If you aren’t sitting on that stool in five seconds, I’ll consider it a forfeiture of the test." Shirley stood up immediately, and Orson helped her back onto the stool. "Calm down, sweetheart," he said, his voice recovering its sweetness. "Take a breath, answer the questions, and you’ll be back with your husband and — do you have kids?"
"Three," she said, weeping.
"With your husband and your three beautiful children before morning."
"I can’t do it," she whined.
"Then you’ll experience an agonizing death. It’s all up to you, Shirley."
The single bare lightbulb that illuminated the room flickered, throwing the shed into bursts of darkness. Orson sighed and stood up on his stool. He tightened the bulb, climbed down, and walked to my chair. Putting his hand on my shoulder, he said, "Fire away, Andy."
"But…" I swallowed. "Please, Orson. Don’t do —"
Leaning down, he whispered into my ear so the woman couldn’t hear: "Ask the questions or I’ll do her in front of you. It won’t be pleasant. You might close your eyes, but you’ll hear her. The whole desert’ll hear her. But if she gets them right, I will let her go. I won’t rescind that promise. It’s all in her hands. That’s what makes this so much fun."
I looked at the woman, still quivering on the stool, felt my brother’s hand gripping my shoulder. Orson was in control, so I asked the first question.
"Name three plays by William Shakespeare," I said woodenly.
"That’s good," Orson said. "That’s a fair question. Shirley?"
"Romeo and Juliet," she blurted. "Um…Hamlet."
"Excellent," Orson mocked. "One more, please."
She was silent for a moment and then exclaimed, "Othello! Othello!"
"Yes!" Orson clapped his han
ds. "One for one. Next question."
"Who’s the president of the United States?"
Orson slapped the back of my head. "Too easy, so now I’m gonna ask one. Shirley, which philosopher’s theory is encapsulated in this quote: ‘Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’?"
"I don’t know! How the hell should I know that?"
"If you knew anything about philosophy, you’d know it was Kant. One for two. Andy?" Hesitating, I glanced up at Orson. "Ask the question, Andy!"
I deliberated. "On what hill was Jesus Christ crucified?" I looked up at Orson, and he nodded approvingly.
"Golgotha," she said weakly.
"Two for three," Orson said, but he didn’t sound as happy this time.
"Fourth question. When —"
"I’ve got one," said Orson, interrupting. "You can ask the last one, Andy. Shirley, on what continent is the country of Gabon?"
She answered quickly, as if she knew. "Europe."
"Oh, no, I’m sorry. Africa. Western coast."
"Don’t do this anymore," she begged. "I’ll give you money. I have credit cards. I have —"
"Shut up," Orson said. "Play fair. I am." His face reddening, he gritted his teeth. When it passed, he said, "It all comes down to this. Andy, hope you’ve got a good one, ’cause if it isn’t, I have a perfect question in mind."
"The subject is history," I said. "In what year did we sign the Declaration of Independence?" Closing my eyes, I prayed Orson would let the question fly.
"Shirley?" he said after ten seconds. "I’m gonna have to ask for your answer."
When I opened my eyes, my stomach turned. Tears had begun to glide down her cheeks. "1896?" she asked. "Oh God, 1896?"
"EEEEEHHHHH! I’m sorry, that is incorrect. The year was 1776." She collapsed onto the concrete. "Two for five doesn’t cut it," he said, walking across the floor to Shirley. He bent down and untied the blindfold. Wadding it up, he threw it at me. Shirley refused to look up.
"That’s a shame, Shirley," he said, circling her as she remained balled up on the floor. "That last one was a gimme. I didn’t want my brother to have to see what I’m gonna do to you."
"I’m sorry," she cried, trying to catch her breath as she lifted her bruised face from the floor. Her eyes met Orson’s for the first time, and it struck me that they were exceptionally kind. "Don’t hurt me, sir."
"You are sorry," he said. He walked to a row of three long metal shelves stacked piggyback against the wall beside the back door. From the middle shelf he took a leather sheath and a gray sharpening stone. Then he strolled back across the room and pulled his stool against the wall, out of my reach and Shirley’s. Sitting down, he unsheathed the knife and winked at me. "Shirley," he coaxed. "Look here, honey. I want to ask you something." Again, she lifted her head to Orson, taking long, asthmatic breaths.
"Do you appreciate fine craftsmanship?" he asked. "Let me tell you about this knife."
She disintegrated into hysteria, but Orson paid her sobs and pleadings no attention. For the moment, he’d forgotten me, alone with his victim.
"I acquired this tool from a custom knife maker in Montana. His work is incredible." Orson slid the blade methodically up and down the sharpening stone. "It’s a five-and-a-half-inch blade, carbon steel, three millimeters thick. Had a helluva time trying to explain to this knife maker the uses to which I’d be putting this thing. ’Cause, you know, you’ve got to tell them exactly what you need it for, so they’ll fashion the appropriate blade. Finally, I ended up saying to the guy, ‘Look, I’ll be cleaning a lot of big game.’ And I think that’s accurate. I mean, I’m gonna clean you, Shirley. Wouldn’t you consider yourself big game?"
Shirley hunched over on her knees, her face pressed into the floor, praying to God. I prayed with her, and I don’t even believe.
Orson went on, "Well, I’ve got to say, I’ve been thrilled with its performance. As you can see, the blade is slightly serrated, so it can slice through that tough pectoral muscle, but it’s thick enough to hack through the rib cage, too. Now that’s a rare combination in a blade. It’s why I paid three hundred and seventy-five dollars for it. See the hilt? Black-market ivory." He shook his head. "An utterly exquisite tool.
"Hey, I want your opinion on something, Shirley. Look up here." She obeyed him. "See the discoloration on the blade? That comes from the acids in the meat when I’m carving, and I was wondering if it’s scarier for you, knowing I’m getting ready to butcher you, to see those stains on the blade and realize that your meat will soon be staining this blade, too? Or, would it be more frightening if this blade was as bright and shiny as the day I first got it? ’Cause if that’s the case, I’ll get a crocus cloth and polish it up right now for you."
"You don’t have to do this," Shirley said, sitting up suddenly. She gazed into Orson’s eyes, trying to be brave. "I’ll give you whatever you want. Anything. Name it."
Orson chuckled. "Shirley," he said, perfectly serious, "I’ll say it like this. I want your heart. Now if you get up and walk out that door after I’ve cut it out, I won’t stop you." He stood up. "I’ve gotta piss, Andy. Keep her company." Orson walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped outside. I could hear him spraying the side of the shed.
"Ma’am," I whispered, breathless. "I don’t know what to do. I am so sorry. I want —"
"I don’t want to die," she said, begging me with her stormy eyes. "Don’t let him hurt me."
"I’m chained to the floor. I want to help you. Just tell me —"
"Please don’t kill me!" she screamed, oblivious now to my voice. She rocked back and forth on her knees like an autistic child. "I don’t want to die!"
The door opened, and Orson cruised back in. "Well, you’re in the wrong place," he said, " ’cause it’s that time." He held the knife by his side and moved deliberately toward her. She crawled away from him, using only her knees because her hands were still cuffed behind her back. The chain always stopped her. Orson giggled.
"No!" she screamed. "You can’t do this!"
"Watch me," he said, bending down toward her, the knife cocked back.
"Stop it, Orson!" I yelled, my heart beating in my throat. With the woman cowering at his feet, a puddle spreading beneath her, Orson looked back at me.
Think, think, think, think. "You just…you can’t kill her."
"Would you rather do it? We can’t let her go. She knows our names. Seen our faces."
"Don’t cut her," I said. The lumpiness of tears ached in my throat.
"I do it to all of them, and I don’t make exceptions."
"While they’re alive?"
"That’s the fun of it."
"You’re out of your mind!" Shirley screamed at Orson, but he ignored her.
"Not this time, Orson," I implored, rising to my feet. "Please."
Shirley screamed, "Let me go!"
"Bitch!" Orson screamed back, and he kicked her in the side of the head with the steel tip of his boot. She slumped down on the floor. "Open your mouth again, good-bye tongue."
He looked back at me, eyes blazing. "It’s perfect with you here," he said. "I want to share this with you."
"No," I begged. "Don’t touch her."
Orson glanced down at his victim and then back at me.
"I’ll give you a choice," he said. Walking to the stool, he set down the knife and pulled out my .357. "You can shoot her right now. Save her the pain." He approached and handed me the gun. "Here. Seeing you kill her painlessly would be as good to me as killing her the way I like to." When he looked at Shirley, I glanced at the back of the cylinder. The gun was loaded.
"Shirley, get up. I told you it was a lucky coincidence for you that my brother was here."
She didn’t move.
"Shirley," he said again, walking toward her, "get up." He nudged her with his boot, and when she didn’t move, Orson rolled her onto her back. Her temple smashed in, blood drained out of one ear. Orson dug two fing
ers into the side of her neck and waited. "She’s dead," he said, looking incredulously at me. "No, wait, it’s there. It’s weak, but it’s there. I just knocked her out. Andy, now’s your chance," he urged, taking several steps back from the woman. "Squeeze off a few rounds before she comes to. Aim at the head."
I pointed the gun at Orson. "Slide me the keys," I said, but he didn’t move. He just stared at me, sadly shaking his head.
"This is gonna set us way back in the trust department."