A Dizzying Balance

by Harriet E Rich

  “All set and ready.” He chuckled again, deep in his throat. “Goodbye, Jennette Colson. I’ll see you in Hell.”

  There was no time to plan or even think. Planting her feet, she flexed her knees, pushed back against the wall and jumped. In mid-air it seemed impossible, but she landed on feet, knees and hands, clutching the ledge to keep from falling. Balanced precariously on the narrow strip of earth, she felt the dull thud of the exploding charges vibrating through the cliff face and watched as the studio slowly slid from the hillside, turning and gathering speed as it crashed into the ravine below.

  “NO!!”

  Jen twisted her head quickly over her shoulder to look up.

  Colleen stood on the cliff edge. “You’re dead!” she screamed. “You have to be dead! You can’t still be alive! How many times do I have to kill you?” She picked up a sharp pointed rock and threw it at Jen, hitting her leg and drawing blood.

  Jen cried out in pain as she scrambled to shelter beneath the overhang. Colleen … that’s why no one else has come to look for Anna. Both of them! Tony and Colleen together. She was stunned. Huddling into the cliff, she threw her arm up to protect her face as rocks and stones bounced around her.

  “You’ve got more lives than any two cats.” Colleen was raving. “I’ve waited and worked and planned. You can’t escape now!”

  Jen was desperate. She was trapped with nothing but a dizzying drop to the ravine below her. “Colleen, please –” she cried, but another rock hit beside her taking a piece of the ledge with it as it fell.

  “Shut up, shut up! I won’t listen to you.” A shower of stones and pebbles rained down.

  Then suddenly, mixed with the noise of the strengthening wind was the sound of an engine on the dirt road beyond the path. A car! As Jen heard it brake at the overlook, she leaned out and screamed for help. Footsteps came up the trail and started down the path, but before she could scream again, she heard a shout. It was Tony. Pulling herself quickly back under the overhang, she felt her breath catch in her throat. Tony.

  “Colleen,” he called as he ran. “I’ve been looking for you. I thought I heard someone yelling. What’s going on?” He stopped beside her at the edge of the path. “What are you doing with that rock?”

  She dropped it. “Nothing. Nothing at all. I … I hadn’t even realized I’d picked it up.”

  He looked at the ragged gouge in the cliff face where the studio had been. “It’s gone! My God, that was the crash I heard. All this rain … the ground must finally have given out. We gotta go back to the house and tell Jen and David. Someone might have been hurt.”

  A wave of sheer relief washed over Jen’s terror. Not Tony! Colleen, but not Tony! He had no idea what Colleen was doing.

  “Go away, Tony,” Colleen was saying. “Everything’s fine here. I’m fine. I’ll be back soon but you’ve got to go away.”

  “Don’t be silly, we have to tell the others. Come with me.”

  “You go, honey. I want to stay here for a while.” Her voice was coy as she took his arm. “I’m just a little nervous. Wedding jitters, I guess,” she giggled. “Go on now, I won’t be long.”

  “Well, if you think you’ll be okay?” She was persuading him.

  “Of course, I will.” Colleen kissed him and patted his cheek. “I’m your wife and I’m going to be just fine. Go on now.” She shooed him away.

  His wife, dear God. Poor, sweet, lovable man … but Jen couldn’t think of that now. He was leaving. “Tony!” She yelled over the wind. “Tony, help me.”

  At the sound of her voice, he stopped and turned around. “Jen, is that you?”

  “Yes, help me!”

  He started back. “Where are you?”

  “I’m here. Down here!”

  Colleen pushed at him, trying to hold him back, but he stepped around her and hurried to the edge of the cliff. “Jen? What the hell is going on?”

  “She’s trying to kill me! She rigged an explosion to make the house collapse.”

  “No, no, don’t believe her.” Colleen pulled at his arm.

  “She’s been throwing rocks at me, trying to knock me off this ledge.”

  “Tony, you mustn’t believe her. She’s lying. Tony baby, you can’t believe her.”

  “Ask her about your consolation prize. It’s not fifty thousand anymore.”

  “What do you mean? Of course, it is.”

  Colleen pulled at him again. “Don’t listen to her. She’s crazy!”

  “Three months ago, Tony. She had it raised to five million.”

  “Five mil … Colleen, is that true?”

  “No.” She shook her head and clung to his arm. “No …”

  “It’s the truth, Tony. The papers are in the office.”

  “Not true. It’s a lie, just a silly lie. You know I wouldn’t do anything like that. Go back to the house, Tony.” She tried to push him along the path. “Go on. We have people waiting for us. I’ll be right there.”

  But he stopped her. “I don’t understand any of this and we can sort it all out later. Right now, we have to get Jen off that ledge before she falls. You’ve got to go for help, Colleen.” He turned to take her arm but she wrenched away and screamed at him.

  “You stupid, stupid man! Go away! I’m making us both rich and you can’t be here. Now, go away!” She picked up a rock but before she could throw it, Tony grabbed her from behind. Struggling to break free, she swung wildly over her shoulder and he fell, dazed and bleeding from a gash on his forehead.

  Out of his reach, Colleen started to climb down the cliff face. “I’ll kill her. I will kill her. The great Jennette Colson. I’ll smash you, push you off that ledge, kill you. I’ll be rid of you forever!” As she yelled, she worked her way down the steep hill, all of her hatred and envy and greed spilling out. “I despise you, you spoiled, worthless bitch.” Her fingers dug into the earth. Her feet found impossible toeholds in the cliff face. “You’re only good to me dead. Millions of dollars-worth of dead!”

  Jen screamed for help, calling for Tony, for Rick and David, for anyone who might hear and get there in time. The ledge and overhang had protected her from above but now escape was impossible. She couldn’t climb up. Down was an almost straight fall to the shattered wreckage below. Her leg was bleeding. There was no strength in her damaged shoulder. How long could she defend herself against this madwoman?

  “Screaming won’t help. Begging might, but I don’t think so.” Colleen’s yelling had changed to a steady mutter that was more frightening than her rage had been. “All I ever wanted was to be an actress. I begged, you know … for parts, for any kind of acting work, but nobody cared. ‘Don’t need you. Haven’t got what it takes. Dime a dozen’.” Her breath was coming in gasps and moans. “Then it was ‘Too old. No style. No experience. Can’t use you.’ Her voice was almost pleading. “You were my last hope, Jennette. I thought you’d be different, an orphan like me. Amazing Jennette, the brilliant star,” her anger was back, “but you didn’t care either. No, you said you only needed backstage work, technical stuff. Well, I learned your technical stuff and then I waited for my chance to use it.” She was working her way recklessly along the earth wall, moving closer and closer. “Technical stuff, yes, and I was very good at it. My little accidents. But somehow you escaped them all, even my beautiful, beautiful mud slide.” Her frightening voice rose. “It was glorious … the house falling and tumbling … crashing … crushing you. But you weren’t in it!”

  She was close enough for Jen to see the madness in her eyes.

  Inching forward, Colleen’s feet found the flat surface of a projecting rock and she stopped, staring down at Jen from no more than twenty feet away, her face twisted. “How I hate you, with your fancy house and your snooty husband, your shooting-star career. You have everything I always wanted and never got.” Her voice was harsh. “The luckiest woman in Hollywood, that’s you, Jennette. But your luck has finally run out. I’ll kill you and nothing will stop me this time.”

  At
the cliff top, Tony had struggled to his feet. Jen heard his anguished shout. “Colleen, don’t do this!”

  “I will, I tell you. I will kill her. I will!” She was standing within jumping distance of the end of the ledge. Her muscles were tensing, and Jen watched in terror.

  “Damn you, Jennette Colson!” Colleen shouted the curse as she leapt.

  She landed – triumphant – but the earth crumbled beneath her as she hit hard against ground weakened by rain and Jen’s own jump.

  Tony screamed, “Colleen!” but she couldn’t hear him. She clawed the air trying to throw herself at Jen but there was no time. “Damn …You…!” She shrieked as she fell.

  That horrible mad wail, cut off so suddenly, and the noise of that battered body crashing down into the ravine … Jen knew beyond certainty that the memory of those sounds would echo in her mind for the rest of her life. She laid her head back against the cliff and wept.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The rain began softly and through her tears, she imagined that the gods were weeping with her, weeping for the sad tormented woman who had been both her friend and her enemy.

  Then, she heard Tony’s desperate cry. “Jen, are you all right? Jen! Answer me!”

  “Tony, I’m here.” Her voice was weak and shaky. She called again. “I’m okay.”

  “Thank God!” She could hear his relief. “Can you climb up?”

  “No, I can’t.” The rain was shining slick on the cliff. “I’ve hurt my shoulder again. I don’t think I can use my arm.”

  “But you’re safe where you are?”

  Safe? The raw wound in the earth was just inches from her feet. “There’s not much left of the ledge but I’ve got enough room and the overhang is keeping the rain off.”

  “Okay, you sit tight. My cell phone’s in the car.”

  She heard him running down the path. Sit tight? Feeling a hysterical giggle rising in her throat, she swallowed, fighting it, then swallowed again. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, look down so she leaned into the cliff. As she waited for Tony to return, she gently flexed the fingers of her hand to ease the throbbing in her shoulder.

  Tony was still on the phone as he hurried back. “… wait, let me look … yes, a few good-sized trees but they’re pretty far … what? … more than a hundred feet, closer to two …no, no she’s hurt, she can’t … who’s still there? … then two men on each, three would better… bring lights. And blankets. Get Luke, he knows where … yes, yes, and hurry!” He put the phone away and ran to the edge of the cliff. “Jen, please tell me you’re still there!”

  “I’m here.” She leaned forward as far as she could without moving her legs. “Can you see me?”

  “Just barely.” For a moment he swayed and then sank to the ground.

  “Tony!” Jen shouted. “Are you all right?”

  Although he was breathing heavily with his head in his hands, she saw him nod. “I’m okay,” he gasped, “but I now know the real meaning of weak in the knees.” She tried to laugh but couldn’t quite manage it.

  “Rick – and David,” she asked, “– and the others?”

  “They’re on their way.” He looked down at her and said sternly, “You lean back and stay still.”

  “Yes sir, as still as can be. I’m almost afraid to blink.” She settled in against the cliff again.

  Tony’s breathing slowly quieted and the rain continued. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it fell steadily. After a long silence, he spoke quietly. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Tony, I can’t. Please don’t ask me.”

  “You have to, Jen.” His voice broke. “I can’t hear it from someone else. Tell me.”

  Oh, my dear, good friend … But he was right. It had to be she who told him, now while they were alone.

  “She’s … she’d …” Jen tried to relax. She couldn’t see his face and that made it a little easier. “I’ve known for weeks that somebody was trying to kill me.”

  “What?” He was startled. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because I knew that it had to be someone in my life. Someone close to me. I couldn’t trust anyone.” She shook her head. Not even you, Tony. “There were several accidents, but nothing had happened for a while, and I was beginning to think that whoever it was had decided to stop. Then tonight, Col–” it was hard to say her name, but she went on. “Colleen came rushing into the office to tell me that Anna was out in the woods looking for Mugsy. She said she’d bring the others, so I left to search the hillside. When I got here and saw the studio door open, I knew it could be a trap, but it never occurred to me that she was … that it was she.”

  “What happened?”

  “She must have gotten here first. She tricked me with some sort of sound effects, and I was sure that Anna and the puppy were inside, but they weren’t. She locked me in. If I hadn’t been able to climb out and jump to this ledge ….” Jen shivered.

  “It doesn’t seem possible. She tried to murder you.” His voice was harsh. “What do you mean accidents?”

  “The light that fell and just missed me on the stage and the catwalk railing. The cabin. The car. The boat.”

  “Good God! Wait, the cabin? You weren’t here when it exploded.”

  “Yes, I was,” she said. “I barely got out in time. That’s why I left the house so suddenly.”

  “I can’t believe it.” He shook his head trying to understand. “My special girl, my little Daisy … how could you do this?”

  He was silent for a long moment. Jen looked up and saw him sitting at the edge of the cliff, rain dripping from his hair. His head slowly fell forward and his shoulders began to shake. Feeling her own tears start, she leaned back again. His grief was heartbreaking, and she couldn’t bear to watch.

  A few minutes later he rubbed his sleeve across his eyes. Wearily he stood up, then stopped to listen and walked quickly back to the path. It was still raining but the wind had dropped enough for them to hear the sound of engines whining as they climbed the steep dirt road. With gravel flying, the cars braked to a halt at the overlook.

  “Jen!” Rick was shouting her name.

  “Jennette!” It was David.

  “Here!” Tony yelled. “Over here. Jen’s okay, but we’ve got to work fast!”

  The two men came running down the path.

  “Where is she?”

  “There! On what’s left of that ledge.” He grabbed Rick’s flashlight and aimed it toward Jen. “We’ve got to get her up before the rest of it goes.”

  “Jennette,” David shouted. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  She leaned forward so they could see her. “Yes, David, but hurry, please.”

  “How did this happen?” Rick had swung around and was towering over Tony.

  “There’s no time now. Did you bring everything?” The light wobbled and Tony tried to steady its beam on Jen’s face. He was near exhaustion and his hands had begun to tremble.

  Seeing the wound on his forehead, David took command. “Roger and Luke are bringing the ropes. No, you stay here,” he said as Tony started to move. “You’re in no condition to do anything more right now. They can carry it all. Which trees?”

  Tony pointed. “That one there. And that one.”

  He nodded. “Go sit on the bench and rest until we need you.” He turned to Rick. “The trees are strong, but are they close enough to the cliff?”

  “I don’t think so.” He measured the distance with his eyes. “Once we’ve tied off the ropes even with only one turn around the trunks, they’ll still fall short and this is all the gear I have with me.”

  Luke had hurried up with Rick’s duffel bags. Roger was right behind him carrying everything else. While Rick stooped to unzip one of the bags, David pointed.

  “Luke, give one of those blankets to Tony. Roger, set the lanterns around so we can see what we’re doing … there and there, that’s good, and one over here.”

  Rick had lifted a thick coil of rope and moved to the closes
t tree. “Roger, bring a flashlight,” he called. Tying one end waist-high around the trunk, he took the other and walked toward the cliff, stretching the rope out behind him. Even before he’d reached the edge, it was clear to them all that it wouldn’t be enough. “And this is the longer of the two,” he said. “We’ll have to do it the hard way. Luke, give Roger a hand untying that end, then the two of you lay out the other rope.” As they worked, Rick took a climbing harness from one of the duffel bags, shaking it free and checking it carefully. Then he did the same with a second one.

  David was at the cliff edge. “Jennette, we’re almost ready. Are you okay?” And hearing her muffled yes from below the overhang, he hurried back. He had thrown off his suit jacket and picked up one of the slings when Rick stopped him.

  “You haven’t done this in years, David. It’s my job.”

  “No.”

  Rick held out his hand, saying quietly, “Give it to me.” He could see the struggle on David’s face and thought he would insist.

  Finally, handing back the harness, he agreed. “Do whatever it takes to get her up here safely.”

  “Whatever it takes.” Rick looked at the gaping, jagged edge of the ravine where the studio had been. “If you can’t hold her, if she starts to fall, shift one of the men onto her rope.”

  “You can’t –!”

  “Do it.” Rick stripped off his coat and buckled himself into the harness. He shrugged his shoulders, settling the straps over his thin shirt and clipping the chain to the link at the end of one rope. David handed him gloves and hurried to tug on the chain of the second harness, making sure that it was securely hooked into place.

  Rick walked to the top of the cliff and turned around. He was forty feet directly above her and she heard him say, “Roger and Tony on my rope. David and Luke on Jen’s.” He’d put the younger, stronger men on hers. “Lower me slowly. I don’t want to push the earth at the edge down on top of that overhang.” The two men held his weight as he backed down the steeply sloping cliff face, feeling with his feet for solid footing. It was agonizing work and the men strained to keep the rope steady. Inch by inch, it slid over the edge as his head disappeared from view. “I’ve run out of ground,” Rick yelled. “I’ve got to swing free.”