by M A Comley
“Good idea.”
Lorne made the call and spent the rest of the journey searching for other angles they could try. In the end, the trip to see Jordan’s partner turned out to be wasted time. The house was empty, and enquiring with the neighbours proved fruitless. No one had seen the woman since the night before.
• • •
The restless women started to bicker amongst themselves. Felicity clearly hadn’t thought this side of things through well enough. She was on the verge of pulling her hair out. What is wrong with these women? Have they had all their decision-making skills knocked out of them by the male gender?
What should have been simple decisions took hours of debate—hours and hours. And still no conclusion. When the mission had commenced, Felicity hadn’t intended on losing her self-control. However, the women’s constant mithering was doing her head in. Unlike the others, who had taken the opportunity to catnap when the men had finally calmed down and shut up, Felicity hadn’t slept a wink the previous night—she couldn’t. Her mind was more active than a million worker bees collecting nectar from a thousand flowering shrubs.
Because of the women’s arguing, Felicity had decided she was in the mood to dish out some punishment, and as they had two men wearing fetching ironmongery, they were a good place to start. The morning had started out well—not for the men but for her. Jordan had refused to eat the cereal she’d offered. So Felicity had forced it down his neck, bending his head back and covering him with the breakfast when he clamped his mouth shut. Dara had pleaded and pulled at her arms to stop her, but Felicity had shrugged off the pathetic woman. Things had progressed and had gone too far for any misgivings or changing of minds to take place. If Felicity had her way, she would kill the two men and move on to the next man on their list.
Dara and a couple of the other women had taken her aside and beseeched her to return the men to their loved ones. Felicity was certain if they let the men go, then the police would be at the cottage before anyone could wave a magic wand and cast a spell over the men. Around three a.m., she had watched the smug-looking Jordan goading her, blowing kisses in her direction. His attitude made her seek out further torture techniques to try out on him. She aimed to see the man squirm and to suffer unimaginably sadistic things, but there was little chance of that occurring if the group’s behaviour was anything to go by. She would have to put her foot down and show them who was the boss. Though her role was clear, a timely reminder wouldn’t do any harm.
She clapped her hands, interrupting the chatter, and called everyone to gather around. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the stupefied expression rebounding between the two brothers. David shook in the confines of his shackles.
“Ladies, I’ve decided to have a little fun with our guests. Who’s with me on that?”
Not a peep came from the women, although she did hear a few audible gasps from Dara.
“Dara, you’re the nearest to the kitchen. Can you bring me a small sharp knife and the large carving knife please?”
The woman remained rooted to the spot. Even Julie giving her a friendly nudge with her elbow didn’t shift her.
“Dara? Did you hear me?” Felicity’s voice dropped into a gruff tone, clearly insinuating that she was not pleased with the woman’s defiance. She scowled at the woman, and the crowd parted so that the quivering wench no longer had a hiding place.
Avoiding eye contact, Dara looked off to the left. “I can’t. I won’t do it. You’ll have to ask someone else.”
“Are you defying my orders?” Felicity boomed, loudly enough to split the stone walls of the cellar with the vibrations.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I’ve had enough. We’ve been talking, and a few of us want to set the men free. We think it has all got out of hand. Don’t we, girls?”
As Felicity expected, the rest of the women remained tight-lipped. “Well? Speak up. Do we need to hold a vote?”
A few of them shook their heads whilst the others avoided eye contact with Felicity. She huffed and puffed inside, but on the surface, she continued to stay calm, allowing only her unrelenting annoyance at Dara to show. From the research she’d carried out before setting up the group, the odd person speaking out in defiance of the leader went with the territory. “Mags, how about you? Are you in or out of this next stage?”
“In, for sure.” The woman had hesitated for only a split second. This pleased Felicity, especially after Dara’s betrayal.
“Good. Julie? What about you?”
“I’m in,” Julie replied, her mouth stretching into a somewhat grudging smile.
After that, Felicity directed one question to the rest of the women—one simple question: “In or out?”
One by one, each woman agreed.
Felicity’s gaze dropped to Dara again. “You were saying? I have an awful lot of aye votes there. I didn’t hear any nays. Did you, Dara?”
Dara looked crestfallen. Tears sprung to her eyes, and her head dropped. She turned on her heel, went into the kitchen, and returned with the two items Felicity had requested five minutes earlier. She walked through the crowd and placed them into Felicity’s open palm.
“Thank you. Now that wasn’t too difficult, was it? This might be, though. You have my permission to leave the room if you don’t want to see Jordan hurt.”
“Stay, Dara. Please stay,” Jordan urged, out of view behind the crowd.
“He’s only pleading with you for selfish reasons. He thinks I’ll go easier on him if you’re in the room, but I won’t. I’ve thought long and hard about this situation. Remember why we agreed to go down this route, girls? To get revenge for the way these SOBs have treated us over the years. God made us equals in life, and equality means being treated fairly by both men and women, correct?” Felicity didn’t wait for the response she knew would come. Instead, she pushed Dara aside and came face to face with David.
“No, please. I haven’t done anything wrong. Spare me.”
“Shut the fuck up, bro. If I get it, then so do you,” Jordan vehemently told his pleading sibling.
Felicity turned to face Dara. Jabbing Jordan’s temple, she asked, “Is that how he used to speak to you? In that tone? With that scowl carved into his face? Well? Is it?”
Dara gave an ashamed nod.
Felicity cupped her hand to her ear. “I can’t hear you.”
“Yes. Every day until he got his own way,” Dara finally conceded under her leader’s persistence.
“Oh, did he now? And what were the consequences if you said no?”
“It only happened the once. He beat me over the head with a broom.” Dara’s voice trailed off; she realised she’d just assigned her former husband’s torture schedule.
“I see. Is that right, Jordan? Did you like to beat Dara?”
“Like she said, it was only the once.” His brow furrowed when she clicked her fingers.
As if by magic, Julie appeared beside Felicity, holding a broom. Felicity took the wooden implement, and without even considering the consequences, she smashed the handle over his skull twice in quick succession.
The man whimpered as a lump rapidly grew through the bald patch on the top of his head. “Don’t do it again. I’m begging you to have mercy on me. I apologised to Dara when I treated her so badly all those years ago. I swear I never did anything like that again.”
Felicity spun around to face Dara again. “Did he?”
“No…but he did…”
“Yes, what did he do? Let me hear about all the deplorable things this man put you through. We all want to hear it. Don’t we, girls?” Felicity scanned the room until everyone agreed with her.
“Thinking about it, there was one other time he really hurt me…”
“Go on, we’re all listening, Dara,” Felicity insisted.
“It was during sex one day. He thought it would be fun to see what it would be like to insert the end of the broom in my…”
Felicity gaped at the woman, who had buried her head
in her hands. “He didn’t?” She turned back to glare at the man.
Jordan appeared to be equally shocked by his former wife’s confession.
Felicity suspected he knew exactly what Dara was talking about. “Did you? Did you do such a despicable thing as that, Jordan?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Bullshit. I can see it written on your face. Okay, I’ll save that one up here.” Felicity pointed to her head. “I have enough torture techniques of my own I want to try out before I get revenge for Dara on that score. Julie, are you noting this down?”
“I am. In capital letters, emphasising the severity of his crime,” Julie responded, a mixture of amusement and disgust in her voice.
“Please. Dara told me she forgave me years ago for that error of judgement. All young couples experiment during sex, don’t they?”
Felicity raised an eyebrow. “Only ones with warped minds like yours.” She picked up the large carving knife and inched nearer to him. She tickled the soles of his feet with the cold blade. Jordan tried to pull his foot away, but the shackles around his ankles held his foot firmly in place. Felicity twisted the blade so that the edge made contact between his toes, then she pushed the point into his middle toe and dragged the blade down the length of his foot, ignoring the pitiful scream coming from his big mouth.
A thud behind her made her halt the torture. A few of the women rushed to the aid of Dara, who was lying prostrate on the stone floor. “Get her some water. Wake her up. I want her to see what I have in store for this one. I’m doing this for her benefit, after all.”
Julie, a former nurse, shoved a nearby box under Dara’s legs and tapped her cheeks lightly. “Wake up, hon.”
“What? What went on…oh!”
“Remembered now, have we, sweetheart? You might have passed out, but Jordan sure didn’t. Shall we try and address that?”
“No please! Look, I have money. I’ve been stashing it aw…” He closed his eyes, condemning his foolish loose tongue.
“Go on, don’t stop there. Maybe I can take a stab at finishing that sentence for you? Let me wrack my brain and see what I can come up with. Ah yes, I’ve been stashing it away for years. How did I do, Jordan? By the pained expression on your face, I’d say I was spot on.” Felicity’s glance darted from Dara to her ex.
The woman looked on the verge of needing hospital treatment. Her cheeks had lost all colour, and her eyes were again moist with tears.
“He’s not going to admit to it, Dara. I know I hit the nail on the head, though. Are you aware that he hid money from you? My guess is it’s a substantial amount, too.”
“No, I wasn’t aware.” She held out her arms for Kaz and Mags to help her to her feet. She walked over to Jordan, picked up the broom lying on the floor, and battered him over the head with it. He cried pitifully, like a child wanting his mum to come along and make everything perfect again.
There are two hopes of that happening—Bob Hope and no fucking hope.
“You disgust me. I lived hand to mouth for years with you pleading poverty at every opportunity. So, where is it? Tell me where the money is stored, and I’ll plead your case with our leader to go easy on you.”
“Your leader? What kind of set-up is this?”
“Don’t change the subject.” Dara poked his cheek.
He winced. “Don’t hit me there. You know that tooth has been bad for years.”
Proud of Dara for no longer taking shit from her ex, Felicity grinned, pleased another torture technique had revealed itself. She went to the pantry into the kitchen, and took out a set of her father’s pliers.
“Kaz, Lenora, hold his arms. Mags, you hold his head still. Dara, do you want to do this?”
The woman’s bravado faltered.
“Dara, stay strong. You can do it. Just think of the money.”
That was the nudge Dara needed. She snatched the pliers from Felicity’s outstretched hand and moved menacingly towards her ex. Felicity ran around the other side and rammed the end of the broom in Jordan’s mouth, much to his amazement.
“Nnnnoooo!” the word came out muffled and indecipherable; it didn’t take Einstein to know what the man had meant. The nearer Dara got to his open mouth, the harder it was to keep him still.
A chant broke out amongst the other women. “Do it. He deserves it. Do it. He deserves it!”
A devilish glint sparkled in Dara’s eye as she lowered her head over his mouth to locate the troublesome tooth. “Well, after I’ve finished with you, dearest Jordan, you’ll never have to visit the dentist again, except to obtain dentures maybe.”
Felicity closed her eyes and stifled the laugh that caught in her throat. Lenora rushed forward to help Dara with the extraction. The crowd was silent as Dara pulled Jordan’s teeth from his head and deposited them into a metal dog bowl. His cries no longer mattered. Even David’s pleas for help went unnoticed.
Whether out of fear for himself or for his brother, David looked petrified and on the threshold of crapping himself. Good job he was naked. Scream after scream filled the room then faded into oblivion. Felicity took a moment to admire Jordan’s resilience. He hadn’t passed out during what must have been unbearable pain. Everyone knows there’s nothing worse than toothache. Still, he won’t have to suffer any more after Dara has extracted his rotten teeth. I wonder what she’ll move on to next, if I let her. I don’t want her being greedy, spoiling all my fun!
They would all need a rest after this exertion. David’s punishment could wait until another day. The mental castigation he’d suffered would be enough to keep him in line for a few days yet. Finally, as the last tooth hit the bowl, Jordan succumbed and passed out, flopping forward and allowing the blood filling his mouth to run down and stain his legs.
Felicity chuckled. “He’s going to think we’ve got rid of something else when he wakes up to the amount of blood in that area now.”
Dara’s lip curled up. “Give me time. I never thought I would ever enjoy myself inflicting pain on another human being.”
“Now, don’t you start feeling bad. Just think of all the times he’s mistreated you over the years. Don’t worry, we’ll get the whereabouts of that money before…”
“Before what, Felicity?”
“We’re finished with him.”
Dara laughed. “Or finish him off completely. I could, you know.”
“Hey, no one could ever doubt you after that performance, dear lady.”
The group erupted into laughter then, and Felicity glanced sideways at David’s reaction. He was quivering harder than a petrified jellyfish. Bless him. We’ll have our fun with you, buddy. Mark my words.
She clicked her fingers to gain everyone’s attention. “Our plan just grew, ladies. You’ve seen the fun Dara had tonight seeking her revenge. Now it’s your turn. Tomorrow, I’m going to hire a minivan, and we’re going to round all the men up—let me rephrase that. We’re going to round up all our ex-significant others and bring them back here. How about it?”
CHAPTER NINE
Once Lorne arrived home from work that evening, she and Tony sat down at the kitchen table after dinner and sifted through the calls they’d received since the TV interview had aired. There were over forty of them. Interestingly, a couple of the callers had given the same name for Onyx’s owner.
“What are the odds on that? Two different callers pointed the finger at this Gary Metcalfe. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?” Lorne asked. She looked towards the back door as it inched open. “Come in.”
“Hello, you two, not interrupting anything, am I?” Their psychic friend, Carol Lord, entered the room and closed the door behind her.
“Hi, Carol. Not at all. What brings you out here at this time of day? Have you eaten?”
“Don’t fuss now. Yes, I’ve eaten. Well, I wanted to come and see if I could lend a hand. I have a feeling you could do with some extra help right now. Not sure in what respect, though.”
“You’re not wrong there. Did y
ou see me on TV?” Lorne got up to turn on the kettle.
“I did. That poor pup—she looked absolutely petrified. Any news from the appeal?”
“Yes and no. We’re going through what information came in now. How are things with you, Carol? Are you busy?”
Carol’s eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you just come out and ask me, Lorne?”
Lorne sniggered and poured boiling water into the mugs. “You’re living up to your name of being one of the best psychics in the area, Carol.”
“Come on, out with it. Then I’ll tell you why I’ve come over here.”
“That sounds ominous. You first.” Lorne placed the three mugs on the table.
“No way. You first. The answer will be yes anyway. I just want to hear you ask me.”
“You mean grovel,” Tony corrected her then gave a laugh that earned him a dig in the ribs from Lorne.
“How much are you aware of?” Lorne asked, calling her friend’s bluff.
“That Tony isn’t satisfied about spending time around here rather than chasing criminals. Am I right?”
Tony eyed Lorne then winked at Carol. “Correct, Carol. So…”
The psychic held up her hand to stop him. “So, let me guess, you’d like me to help out around here. All right, I buckled under the strain, Lorne. I should have waited for you to ask, but I’m just too excited not to jump right in with both feet. I’d love to help out more. Plus, I believe Charlie and I would make a great team.”
“Seriously? You really wouldn’t mind? We couldn’t afford to pay much to begin with, although you have my assurance that we won’t see you go short, either. With both Tony and I working full time away from here, in the future, I’m sure that situation will be rectified soon enough if you bear with us a short time.”
“Nonsense. Take your time. For now, I’ll be more than willing to do it for free. You know how much I adore working and playing with dogs.”
Lorne laughed. “I’ll remind you about that at the end of the first week. I hear Charlie can be a harsh task master where cleaning out the kennels are concerned. Isn’t that right, Tony?”