by CJ Birch
He’d tried to twist at the last second and catch his fall, but instead, he landed on his shoulder. He clamped his mouth shut. He didn’t want Dan to hear how much pain he was in. But he was sure he’d broken something.
It took Dan all of thirty seconds to climb out the back window and come down the cellar stairs. EJ tried to back up to the farthest, darkest spot in the cellar, but the moon, at a low angle this time of night, cast its glow to the back wall, illuminating most of the cellar.
“So you going to kill me like you killed Jessie?”
Dan stopped on the bottom step. “You trying to get me to confess? What? You got your phone set to record? I didn’t kill Jessie.”
“Yeah, right. You said he was stabbed to death and they found my knife. The only person who could’ve taken it was you. That night we had the keg party. It must have dropped out of my pocket.”
Dan shrugged. “Tell yourself whatever you want to believe, but I didn’t kill Jessie.”
“No? Then why you running?”
Dan stepped down into the cellar and walked toward EJ. “I’m not running. This place is a shit hole and I don’t want to be here anymore. When I make some money, I’m going to come get Lisa and we’ll finally be able to live our own lives without anyone telling us what to do.”
“Lisa’s better off here where your parents can take care of her.”
“Are you saying I can’t take care of my own sister?” Dan seized one of the old water pipes running along the ceiling and wrenched it down. “If I were you, I’d worry about your own sister and what she gets up to.” The pipe popped free. Dan swung it a couple times. It whistled as it whizzed through the air.
“You’re a lying sack of shit who doesn’t care about anyone but yourself. I bet Lisa never sees you again.”
Dan’s first swing landed on EJ’s shoulder. EJ tried to block the second, but it was no use. Dan landed blow after blow, screaming the whole time. Each strike was more damaging than the last. Blood from EJ’s nose splattered the brick, Dan’s shirt, the floor surrounding them both. He lifted the pipe above his head when he heard Elle.
“Drop it, Dan. Or I’ll shoot.”
He froze and turned. Elle was silhouetted at the top of the cellar stairs, her gun aimed at him.
“You woul—”
The shot echoed through the small space. It missed Dan’s head by a foot.
“You missed.” He smirked.
“Throw the pipe into the corner.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.” Dan took a step toward Elle, adjusting his grip on the pipe.
She didn’t budge. Instead she kept steady aim at Dan. “You think I’ll have a problem proving just cause? You’ve got a sealed record, which probably establishes a history of violence. I’ve got plenty of witnesses that can testify to your violent temper. I’ve got EJ to back up anything I say. No one’s going to blink an eye if I shoot you right now. So please, go ahead. Test me.”
Dan chucked the pipe and raised his hands in the air. The pipe clanked as it hit the stone. Only once he was unarmed did Elle descend the stairs. She stopped when she saw EJ crumpled in the back corner with his face and clothes covered in blood.
“What the hell did you do to him?”
Elle dropped to her knees next to EJ and felt for a pulse. He was alive, but he didn’t look good. She unclipped her radio. “Neil, come in.”
“Go ahead.”
“Call an ambulance to the Maverty house.”
“You okay?” There was panic in his voice.
“I’m fine. EJ’s hurt, though.”
“I’ll call it in. It may take a while. There’s been reports of flash flooding in Hardin.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Elle turned to Dan, her eyes dark. “He was supposed to be your friend.”
“Yeah? Well, things change.” Dan studied his nails, picking at the cuticles.
She wanted to strangle the indifference out of him. She’d never been so sorry to be right. But she’d pegged Dan the second she met him. He didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. EJ had been a distraction for him while he passed the time until he could get out of here. As much as she wished she’d been more adamant about EJ staying away from him, about keeping a closer eye on him, the truth was, she couldn’t have done a thing. The harder she pushed against Dan, the stronger his hold on EJ would’ve become. What she should’ve done was kept him locked up tonight. But even as she thought it, she knew that was ridiculous.
“Why’d you do it, Dan?”
“Do what?”
“Jessie Forrester.”
Dan shrugged. “He was already dead.”
Elle took a step back, stunned by the justification. “So that makes it all right in your mind?”
“I wanted to know what it was like. He was dead when I found him. It’s not like I killed the guy.”
“Let’s go, Dan. I’m placing you under arrest.”
“For what? He was already dead,” Dan shouted. He took a step toward her but Elle stood her ground.
“What kind of sick justification is that? Half his organs had been ripped out of him and just left there. Who does that? What kind of a sick fucking person does that to another human being?” As she said it, Elle tried not to picture the scene in her mind, but it was too late. The nightmare jumped out at her.
“I already told you, he was dead. He wasn’t human, he wasn’t anything anymore.”
“And that gives you the right, to what? Use him as a science experiment?”
“Have you ever seen inside a dead body? The intestines are supposed to be like over twenty feet long. I wanted to see if that was true.” He shrugged. And that was the most chilling part for Elle. The shrug. The fact that he still couldn’t grasp how horrible his behavior was. “But then I heard someone coming and took off with the money before anyone saw me.”
Elle shook her head, disgusted. This was not a battle she needed to fight. Dan was just as warped as she’d suspected. But it didn’t make her feel any better to confirm it, only scared for what might have happened if she hadn’t shown up in time.
As if to remind her of this, EJ groaned. She looked over to see if he was waking up, but he was still out cold.
The shift in her attention was a mistake.
Dan punched her in the stomach. Winded, she bent over and as she did he elbowed her in the jaw. Stunned, she stumbled back, lost her footing, and fell with a thud on the hard stone floor. Dan pivoted and lunged for her gun.
He landed on top and gripped the gun with both hands. Elle twisted to wrench it out of his grip. As she did he punched her three times in the ribs. The same side that had been injured with a tree branch a few days earlier.
“You son of a bitch.” What had only been a hunch before was now as good as confirmed in her mind. She sucked in a couple breaths, steeling herself against the pain, and pulled her knee up to wedge it between her and Dan. He forced her knee down and straddled her, putting all his weight on her stomach, making it hard for her to breathe. With the new height advantage, Dan slammed Elle’s arms down above her head. She held tight to the gun.
His face was only inches from hers. This close, she could smell his breath, a mixture of Certs and cigarettes. There was the tiniest hint of stubble on his chin. It was so light it almost blended in with his skin.
The cellar went dark as the approaching storm clouds swallowed the moon. Elle used the distraction to rotate herself and tug the gun from Dan’s grasp. The victory didn’t last long. He grabbed her hair and smashed her head into the hard stone floor. She blanked for a moment as everything went white then black. The important thing to remember was to hold on to the gun, but she could no longer feel it in her grasp. A second later, she felt the barrel against the back of her head.
“I wonder what the splatter would be for something like this?” Dan’s voice was loud in the small cellar.
It sounded so close to Elle’s ear. She rested her forehead on the stone floor, afraid to move. She didn’t e
ven dare close her eyes. Was this what it felt like to face death? She thought she’d feel terrified, instead she felt panic. She’d let this town get the best of her, the same as when she’d been younger.
“I guess I got the last laugh now, huh?”
But when the shot came, it sounded far away. Before she could figure out where the shot came from, she felt Dan’s weight slump forward and roll off her. She scrambled out from under him and reached for her gun.
“I wouldn’t.” Jennifer stood at the top of the stairs with her Beretta pointed at Elle. “Pick it up with two fingers and toss it into the corner over there.” She pointed her chin into one of the darker corners.
Elle obeyed. Dan groaned next to her. She flipped him on his side. Blood had soaked his T-shirt and was dripping onto the floor.
“I didn’t aim to kill. But that doesn’t mean he won’t die if he doesn’t get help soon.” Jennifer shrugged her left shoulder. “Throw up your radio.”
“I’ll radio for help myself, thanks.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t offering.” She held out her free hand, wiggling her fingers.
Elle unclipped her radio and tossed it up to Jennifer. “Now what?”
Jennifer hurled it into the backyard. “Now you have a choice. You can find the radio and call for help or find your gun and come for me.” Jennifer turned to go then stopped. She looked like she wanted to say something. An apology? A good-bye? Elle wasn’t sure, but she never got to hear it. Jennifer changed her mind and turned to leave.
That was the last straw.
“You fucking bitch.” Elle pulled herself up. “That’s it? You rampage through this town with your lies and deceit, ruining lives, and you have nothing to say for it?”
“I didn’t lie about everything. I didn’t lie when it came to you.”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t give a shit about that. You killed Jessie. You killed Stan. He was twenty-four fucking years old. He had a whole life to live and you killed him for no reason.”
Jennifer backed up off the top stair. “Listen, I could debate this with you and that would be fun, but he’s dying.” She pointed to Dan. “And I have somewhere to be. I could’ve just grabbed my bike and left you to die, but I didn’t. I saved your ass.”
“And what? You want my thanks?”
Jennifer shrugged. “A little gratitude would be nice.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Well, it’s been swell. You’ve got a radio to find and I’ve got places to be.” And just like that, she sprinted away.
Elle rushed toward the corner she’d thrown her gun in but couldn’t see it in the dark. After a few seconds, she gave up and charged the stairs, taking two at a time. She climbed through the back window, ran through the living room, and crashed through the front door. Jennifer was already on her bike, about to start it.
Elle lunged for Jennifer. She smacked into her, toppling them both to the ground. Jennifer tried to crawl away, but the bike had pinned her leg.
“Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how much this bike is worth?”
That was the moment the clouds above decided to break open and dump their contents. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Rain drops pelted the dirt, kicking up dust. The onslaught was so intense the world blurred. After a minute, the Maverty house had dulled behind a curtain of water.
Jennifer shoved Elle hard, pushing the bike up as she did. Elle slipped in the mud and her knee hit the clutch. Hard. Jennifer pressed the advantage and slammed Elle back into the ground. Her head smacked and bounced back into Jennifer’s fist. She lay there stunned for a few moments.
Jennifer picked the bike up and gunned it. The back tire spun in the mud as she took off down the drive.
The rain slapped the side of Elle’s face. She groaned and turned in the mud, slipping as she stood. She stumbled to the edge of the drive, but it was impossible to hear Jennifer’s bike over the powerful rain. Elle made a split decision and headed right. With the roads shut down for the festival there was only one way out of town, and she was guessing Jennifer wanted to get the hell out as fast as she could.
The back roads of Turlough were misleading. They zigged in one direction only to curve around and zag in the next. If Elle was lucky, she could catch Jennifer before she made it over the Potawatomi bridge. And she had the weather on her side. Jen would have to be suicidal to go too fast in this rain. It would be next to impossible to see the potholes dotting the road. But then Elle realized she didn’t even know Jennifer. She knew Robin Oakes, who was a figment of Jennifer’s imagination. While Robin might have been calm and rational, Jennifer might be the complete opposite.
Elle sloshed through the forest, the mud sucking at her boots. She picked up her pace just in case Jennifer was the suicidal type. By the time she made it to the hill leading down to the road, she was soaked through and covered in mud. Her boots looked twice their size. Giant chunks of mud had attached themselves as she slogged over the forest floor. She kicked them against an old oak tree before cautiously skidding down the side of the hill. There was one frightening moment when she lost control and began to free fall. She tilted forward, her momentum carrying her headfirst toward the road. She grabbed onto any brush her fingers could reach. Just as she was about to go ass over teakettle, she snatched some vines and yanked herself to a sudden halt. She cried out as her arm was almost wrenched from its socket.
“And I’m worried she’s suicidal.” Elle lay there for a moment, panting. After a few more seconds, she reached for the tree the vines were connected to so she could haul herself to her feet, but she heard a sickening crunch and the tree began to lean toward the road. She stopped immediately.
But then she had an idea. Slipping and sliding, she righted herself with another nearby sapling and moved behind the listing tree. The ground around the roots had eroded over time, probably from rainstorms like this one. The roots on the top half were fully exposed. It wouldn’t take much to topple it over. If she gave it a little help and aimed it right, she could send it toward the road and create a formidable gate. Her only hope was that Jennifer hadn’t passed this way yet.
She braced her feet as best she could and heaved with her left shoulder. The tree swayed but didn’t budge. She pushed harder. Nothing.
“Come on, you stupid piece of wood. Fall over.” Elle stopped for a second to listen. She wasn’t sure, but it sounded like a motorcycle in the distance. “Shit.” She couldn’t panic. That would be the end of this.
Elle dropped to her knees and began scooping out heaps of mud and earth from under the tree. When she thought she’d gotten enough, she stood and pushed as hard as she could. It gave an inch. She pushed harder. It gave another. She gritted her teeth and gave it everything she had. After a few seconds, the tree tottered out of reach and Elle had to push herself back to stop from going over with it.
Elle scrambled back up the hill and wrapped her arms around a sturdy oak higher up as the tree toppled onto the road. It wasn’t a silent affair, which surprised the hell out of Elle. The storm was already so loud, yet the cracking and snapping of old wood tore through the night like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Elle even jumped as the tree crashed in a spray of splintered wood, bounced once, and lay still across the road right before the Potawatomi bridge. It was going to be a hell of a mess to clean up tomorrow. But if it stopped Jennifer, it was worth it. Elle scrambled the rest of the way down the hill, picking out a spot to ambush Jennifer when she came through.
She didn’t have long to wait. Less than a minute after the tree collapsed, Jennifer’s bike skidded to a stop a few yards from the barrier. She flipped up her visor and dismounted. She pulled off her gloves and tucked them into her jacket pocket while she surveyed the tree. There was no way to get the bike around it and it was far too heavy to lift over. Her only option now was to go back the other way, through the town.
But Elle wasn’t going to let it come to that. She’d hoped that Jennifer would take her helmet off. But it didn�
�t look like that was going to happen. She didn’t really want to have a punching match with someone who had armor covering their most vulnerable body part. But there was no way it could be helped. Without her gun, all she had was her fists, which weren’t going to do much damage to someone in a bulky leather jacket and a helmet. She looked around her hiding spot for anything that could be used as a weapon. There wasn’t much, a couple of stones and wet soggy leaves. She dug the toe of her boot into the earth looking for anything under the blanket of leaves. Her foot hit on one of the tree’s branches. She scraped the leaves aside and pulled at the branch. It was jammed under the tree. She yanked as hard as she could, but it still wouldn’t come out. Jennifer kicked the tree, then walked back to her bike. She grabbed the handle with her right hand and lifted her left leg to mount it.
This was it. Now or never.
Elle jumped from her spot and tackled Jennifer. She had the element of surprise, but it wouldn’t last long. And it didn’t.
Jennifer twisted, pulling her knee up to wedge between herself and Elle. She pushed as hard as she could. Elle went flying backward and her head smacked the rough road.
Jennifer scrambled to her feet. “You couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” She pulled her Beretta from her ankle holster and aimed it at Elle. “I would’ve let it go. But you’re too fucking stubborn.” Jennifer shook her head and rain droplets flew off her helmet.
The rain was letting up. Instead of the curtain that closed around them, Elle could see farther down the road now. The sound of sirens behind her made her turn her head. On the other side of the river, she could see the faint glow of red. The EMTs. Too late, she realized that while she might have stopped Jennifer from escaping, she’d also blocked any help from making it to her and EJ.
Elle turned back to Jennifer, who still had her gun pointed at her. There was a strange look in her eyes. Pity? Fear? Regret? Had she been telling the truth earlier when she’d hinted that she’d felt something for Elle? It was the only way to explain her hesitation. Seeing her now, like this, tainted by murder, she looked like a different person. But how different was she really from the person Elle had gotten to know over the past week? If none of it was a lie, what did that say about Elle? Jennifer stepped forward and ripped her helmet off. Her hair, which was still dry, fell.