by Kim Pritekel
“Amy,” she murmured, fingertips running over the laminated card. She set the two items back into the tin and, with renewed vigor, she grabbed the third, fourth, and fifth buckets, smashing them to the floor. “Jesus.” It was a prosecution’s wet dream: Anastasia Luhan’s driver’s license, a bright yellow child’s Lego—large size for tiny hands—with a tiny spot of blood on it. There was a pair of sterling silver dangly earrings, and Megan Murphy’s driver’s license with a large blood smear on it. There was also a very small clear bottle with a white plastic cap. The contents were a clear, water-like liquid. There was no label, but she had a feeling she’d found his stash of GHB.
She looked at all the evidence around her, astounded, disgusted, unsettled, and deeply fearful for Ally. She reached up and grabbed the final bucket and, about to smash it, she realized it actually was made of wood. Looking inside, she saw a thin plastic covering. Though it looked similar at a quick glance to the blue candle gel, it was nothing more than a filler.
Lifting it out, she tossed it aside to see a simple brass key. Plucking out from the bottom, she looked at it in the light of her flashlight. It didn’t look like a house key and wasn’t large and bulky enough to be a car key, so she began to look around.
She gasped, startled as she heard a woman’s voice. Getting to her feet, key still in hand and a mess at her feet, her gaze was drawn to a strange blue light coming through the holes in the pegboard that lined the wall behind the workbench. It was about a three-foot section that she realized there was no wall behind. It was impossible to see in the light of day, but now in the darkness it was clearly visible.
Walking over to the workbench, she looked around, trying to see if there was any way behind the pegboard. She looked under the bench, nothing. She pushed on the bench, no give. She glanced at a spot where a hammer was housed between two pegs and was about to look away when she noticed something peeking out behind it. Taking a closer look, she saw a keyhole.
“Bingo,” she whispered.
The key she’d found was a perfect fit. Turning it, she heard something click and she felt the workbench give a bit. Setting the pistol and flashlight on the workbench, she used both hands and pulled. Feeling as though it were rolling on casters, the three-foot section of workbench and pegboard pulled free, swinging on unseen hinges to reveal a room beyond.
Reclaiming her gun and flashlight, she headed inside and looked around, making sure she was still alone. The room was no more than the size of a small walk-in closet. Along the wall to the left was a rough, thick wood slab bolted into the wall that served as a desk. On it were two large computer monitors. The tower, speakers, and other equipment was set up on wire shelving above.
Her attention was drawn to the one monitor that was aglow. She realized where the woman’s voice was coming from. She slowly lowered herself to the chair that was placed before the desk, her eyes wide with shock and horror.
Megan Murphy lay handcuffed to a cot in a cement room. She was naked, hands cuffed above her head, ankles shackled spread-eagle at the foot of the cot. She was crying, begging for her life as Jason entered the scene, in one hand a large hunting knife, the other empty, simply his large, calloused hand.
“Which is it going to be, hmm?”
“Please, Jason. Please. I’m sorry! Please!”
The video quickly disappeared and a new one appeared. Catania’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head as a hand went to her mouth. She was watching herself and Ally making love. It was as though someone was standing behind the shelving where Ally kept her beloved snow globes. She remembered that strangely placed nail hole.
“Oh my god,” she whispered.
“Hey, Sis.”
Startled again, she looked at the second monitor, which had come to life. It was obviously a live feed as she saw “LIVE” at the bottom left of the screen. Jason’s face was at the center of the frame, making it nearly impossible to see anything else or where he was.
“Being the nosey bitch you are, I know you found my stash, and that’s fine. That was the point. So, now you see what I’ve been up to for the last bit.” He grinned, and in that moment Catania knew she was absolutely looking into the face of evil. “See, if you continue watching my Greatest Hits that I made for you, you can see the beauty of true vengeance.”
Her gaze drifted to the first screen and again, her hand went to her mouth.
The scene was Anastasia Luhan’s bedroom. Both she and Aaron had already been attacked, and it looked like Aaron was already dead. Anastasia lay on her back, her throat slit and she was gurgling. She hadn’t been mutilated…yet.
Heavy breathing could be heard, and it was coming from behind the camera, which was being carried and getting closer to the dying woman.
“I bet you wish you hadn’t decided to throw away your baby now don’t you, you fucking bitch?” His laughter was dark. “Stupid cunt. You and that piece of shit, another father who threw away his son, his own blood, thought I really wanted to adopt your brat. Stupid bitch. Yeah,” he said, camera shifting to Aaron, the blood stain centered directly over his chest. “You broke my heart, so weak.” The shot shifted back to Anastasia one last time. “I’m going to fix you, fix you so you can never throw away another baby again. You can never leave your son with that piece of shit you live with. He’ll never have to worry about being bent over his bed like I was, no. I set him free. But now…” A knife, covered in blood, entered the frame. “Now it’s time to fix you.”
“You see, Nia,” Jason said on the first monitor, catching a shaken Catania’s attention again. He was on the move, walking down what looked to be a cement tunnel. “Karen never understood why I wanted to buy this place. I mean, I was dead set on it.” He stopped, a grin spreading across his lips. “No pun intended. Anyway, the people who lived here before, I guess they had quite the wine collection. It took some time, but the wine cellar came in handy.” He stopped walking for a moment and looked directly into the camera, directly into Catania’s soul. “Do you think you can find us?” he asked.
“Oh, god!” Catania exclaimed, watching as the camera panned over Ally’s naked body, which was chained to the same cot as Megan’s had been. Her face was bruised and she fought against her restraints.
“Nia!” she screamed. “Please! Nia!”
Catania shoved away from the desk and nearly ran headlong into the wall in her haste to get out of the computer room. She wasn’t sure what was more soul-shattering: the fact that she could still hear Ally’s screamed pleas in her head, or the fact that she hadn’t been able to hear it outside of the speakers connected to the monitor. She was becoming more and more frightened that Jason was off the premises after all. He obviously had no issue playing games, why not one last one?
Ignoring the monitors and Jason’s Greatest Hits, she went on the search to find a way into the area where he claimed to be. If it was in fact a wine cellar, she figured it would likely be underground. She searched every square inch of wall and floor, looking for a door, a hatch, anything to get her down below.
She found herself in the garage portion, grateful for the little bit of light coming in from the frosted glass in the large garage doors, though it was fading fast as the sun went down. She noted Jason’s truck and a couple antique cars that he seemed to be in the process of restoring, as well as lots of cabinets and a riding lawnmower parked against the side wall. There was nothing more, no doors, not even a hatch for attic space above.
She opened the doors of a few cabinets, only to find typical garage items inside: bottles of oil for cars, a replacement filter of some sort, and, interestingly enough, a large jug of antifreeze.
Slamming the door in frustration, she looked around, running her hand through her hair as she felt the sweat beginning to gather under her arms and between her breasts as she felt the heat building. Finally, a cabinet tucked over by the entrance into the large garage caught her eye.
Hurrying over to it, she noted it was twice as wide as the others, and the doors, though pai
nted roughly the same light gray color, seemed to be made out of a stronger material than the thin metal of the others.
She looked down at the double handles, long and metal like the others. Gripping each, she turned them downward at the same time and the doors gave, opening to reveal a door in the wall.
“Bingo, you son of a bitch,” she whispered, a smile spreading across her lips.
Stepping inside the confines of the large cabinet, she turned the knob on the door and pushed inward, a wide set of stone stairs immediately meeting her. She was glad she hadn’t just stepped in or she would likely have broken her neck in a nasty tumble.
Flashlight beam leading the way, she scurried down the staircase. Surrounded by the cement walls and stone stairs, she felt like she was heading into the bowels of a castle. The deeper she got, the danker the air got. It was chilly and decidedly uncomfortable.
The stairs curved around to a main hallway that ran straight down. Overhead, a straight line of naked light bulbs led the way, though none were lit. At the bottom of the stairs and directly to the left was a small room. The swing of the beam gave her chills when she saw a large chest-type freezer. Moving on, she saw a second door coming up a bit farther down. She went to peek her head in when suddenly a light that seemed to be as bright as the sun was shining right in her face from down the hall.
Stumbling backward against the wall, she didn’t have time to think or react when there was a bang and she cried out in pain, feeling as though her left arm had exploded.
“Ouch,” Jason’s voice said from beyond the incessant bright light.
Before Catania could respond, before she could even breathe, there was a second bang and she felt the fire of that sun burn into her chest. She lost her footing from the pain and fell to the floor, a second cry erupting from her at the white-hot pain that lanced through her arm and shoulder like a lightning bolt. She had no time to reach for her pistol, which had flown from her hand after the first shot struck her.
A black figure appeared in front of the spotlight, turning it into a silhouette walking toward her. As she watched, gritting her teeth against the pain, she couldn’t help but think of the shadowy figure from her dream. She went to reach for her .38.
“I don’t think so,” Jason said, kicking the pistol away with the toe of his boot. He stood over her, his 9mm pointed directly at her forehead.
“Why are you doing this, Jason?” she asked, refusing to look away from his eyes, dimly visible now with the closeness of his bulky frame blocking the spotlight. “I know why you did what you did with Anastasia, Aaron, and Eric. Why Ally? Why Liv? Why Amy—”
“That,” he said forcefully. “Was an accident. I never meant to kill Amy. She should have kept her mouth shut.” He squatted down in front of her so he was more on her eye level. He looked down at her left arm, the splintered cast quickly dyed crimson from the bullet wound which had surely shattered the already fragile bones of her forearm, before his gaze traveled to her chest and the blood on the material of her shirt.
“Mouth shut about what?” she managed to ask, voice nearly breathless as she was doing her best to keep control of her pain and stay conscious.
“The same thing Megan did wrong. You see,” he said softly, lightly, shaking his head as if what he was about to say was obvious to all. “Even you, a woman who loves other women, I’m sure that a woman, of all people, never, ever questions a man about what he’s capable of doing for them.”
“Jason,” she gasped, blinking rapidly as her blood pressure continued to plummet. “Jason, you’ve gotta get me a doctor, bro.”
He studied her for a moment. “You don’t get it, do you? None of us are leaving here tonight, Nia. You asked why Ally? Well.” He smirked. “How the hell else was I going to get you to come over and play?” He pushed to his feet, his gun never wavering in its aim at her head even as he backed away from her, once again the light blinding. “It’s all about the bucket list, Nia. I took care of the past. Karen is fine in the present with her family, not a clue what’s happened back here.” His voice was getting farther away and then stopped.
She had no idea where he’d gone, or if he was standing down the hall behind the light watching her, waiting for her to make a move. She knew reaching for her .38 wasn’t an option so, with the strength she had left, she slowly slid her right hand toward her back.
She snapped to attention when she heard the rattling of metal chains and muffled cries of distress. Again, the large silhouette headed toward her, though this time he wasn’t alone. “Ally.” She released a breath she didn’t know she was holding, so relieved.
“It’s time to take care of the final bucket list,” Jason said from where he held Ally back against him. From the sound of the chains, Catania assumed Ally’s wrists were still bound, though it seemed her ankles were free.
“What is that, Jason?” Catania asked, wishing so badly she could see beyond the intensity of the light that cloaked the figures before her in midnight.
“I’m taking your future from you, Nia,” he said. “The way my past was stolen from me.”
Ally gasped as her head was forced back. The silhouette of Jason’s hand appeared, a large knife in his grasp.
“Ally,” Catania called, her voice weak. “Ally…” She knew Ally could see her, and she prayed she’d get it. She dropped her gaze quickly to the floor.
In the span of a heartbeat, Ally collapsed, the unexpected move leaving Jason unprepared as she slid out of his hands as Catania reached to her lower back and grabbed her Derringer, swinging it around. Bang, bang. Both .22 slugs hit him in the neck, the stinging pain enough to make him stagger back and grab for his bleeding wounds, which gave Catania time to use the last of her strength to lunge over to her .38, sliding on her right shoulder as she gritted her teeth, firing off all six rounds into the black mass that was the perfect spotlighted target.
Jason’s body jerked with each shot before he fell backward, the double neck wounds causing him to gurgle as blood flooded his throat.
The pain was overwhelming her and the spotlight was growing dim. Vaguely, she felt a warm touch to her face, Ally’s voice a thousand miles away as it echoed through the darkness that was closing in, the beloved darkness…
Epilogue
Slowly, oh so slowly, reality began to kiss each of her senses. She felt a soft touch wrapped around her hand, smelled the fragrant scent of roses, could hear soft murmurings of two voices that sounded familiar, and she could taste the bitter, stale taste in her mouth of the thick saliva that covered her tongue and teeth.
She let out a soft sigh and lightly squeezed the fingers wrapped around hers. She heard the soft gasp that earned her.
“Look, Mamma,” Ally’s soft, angelic voice murmured. “She’s coming to.”
Opening her eyes, she saw the most amazingly beautiful sight she could imagine. She returned Ally’s smile, so much love in those deep, dark blue eyes.
“Hi, baby,” Ally said softly, her fingers trailing through Catania’s hair.
“Hi.” She closed her eyes and happily accepted the gentle kiss that was left on her lips. Opening her eyes again, she turned to see a surprised Antonia d’Giovanni watching the two. Deciding to ignore the question in her dark eyes, she smiled. “Hey, Mamma.”
“Hello, sweet girl,” the older woman said, leaning over and leaving her own kiss on Catania’s forehead.
“How are you feeling?” Ally asked.
“Like I’ve been run over by a truck…twice,” Catania said, trying to take stock of her body and all its parts. She saw her arm was in a fresh cast and felt the tightness of a bandage on her chest.
“Well, close,” Ally said with a small smile. “You were shot in the arm. They had to put another plate in there and do bone grafts. The second shot, on the other hand…” She reached into her pocket and removed the angel pendent. It was deformed, only one side of the wings still visible. She smiled. “Guess she saved your life after all.”
Catania looked at the p
endant, chuckling. “That’s a seriously determined angel.”
“The bullet still hit you, but its path was altered when it hit this. Minor flesh wound.”
“Seriously determined, and seriously lucky. I’m never taking her off when I get out of here.”
“Speaking of, I’ll be right back,” Ally said, rising from the chair she sat in. She gave her a second kiss before leaving.
Left alone with her mother, Catania studied the older woman’s concerned face. “How long have I been here?”
“Almost a week. There’s been a cop here off and on wanting to talk to you,” she said. “Jason is dead.” Though her voice kind, it was very matter-of-fact. “Karen is distraught.”
“God, I can only imagine,” Catania said, grimacing at the taste in her mouth. “Mamma, can I have some water or something? I need a toothbrush.”
Antonia smiled and poured a cup of water from the plastic pitcher on the bedside table. Helping her daughter sip, she studied her. “You love her, don’t you?”
Catania studied her mother, confused. “Who?”
“Ally. You love each other.” A statement, not a question.
“Yes,” Catania said slowly, nervous that even lying in a hospital bed, her mother would still kill her. “I do love her.”
Antonia played with the cup in her hands for a moment before she nodded and met her daughter’s worried gaze. “Okay.”
Catania didn’t have time to think about the calm response before the door to her hospital room opened and Ally pushed someone in a wheelchair into view. Instantly tears came to her eyes when she saw Oscar’s smiling face. Ally wheeled him over to the bed, where, with her help, he pushed very slowly to his feet.