A Short Time to Die

by Susan Alice Bickford

  She found the dropped box cutter and returned to Elaine and cut their hands free, starting with her own. Now calmer, she surveyed the site and noticed two large coolers in the shade of an oak tree. Inside the first cooler she found ice, water bottles, a Costco-sized half-empty bottle of vodka, a bottle of cheap sparkling wine, and a container of orange juice. The second cooler held more ice, a six-pack of Coke, four bottles of beer, chocolate bars, and two containers of onion dip. A grocery bag behind the coolers contained several bags of potato chips and a pile of granola bars.

  “It looks as though Louise and Troy were going to toast our deaths with mimosas, beer, and potato chips. A real classy celebration. Now let me clean you up a bit.” Marly handed Elaine a Coke and a granola bar. She planted a soft kiss on Elaine’s forehead and swabbed her friend’s face with paper towels and bottled water. “Your right eyelid is swollen with blood. You should still be able to see once that goes down.”

  Elaine moaned. “But I’m blind now.”

  Marly studied Elaine’s right eye. “I don’t think a doctor would approve, but I could make a cut along this bone, just below your eyebrow.” She traced the line with her finger on Elaine’s face. “I learned this from Del, believe it or not. I had to do it for him after a fight at the Rock. It’s a trick boxers used to do when their eyes swelled up so much that they couldn’t see to fight. The blood will release and the swelling will go down a bit.”

  “Do it.”

  “Are you sure? I’ll put some butterfly bandages on it, but you’ll need proper stitches and you may need to see a plastic surgeon.”

  “Jeez. Don’t second-guess yourself, Marly. If Del didn’t complain, I won’t. Just do it.”

  “Okay, wait a sec.” Marly gave Elaine ice wrapped in paper towels. “This will help make you numb. Hold it on your eye.”

  In the back of the van, she found a small first-aid kit and a package of new box cutter blades.

  “Are your hands steady?” Elaine asked.

  “Steady as a rock.” Marly decided that this was no time for candor. She cleaned the area and her hands with vodka and made a short, clean slice with a new blade, following the line of the eyebrow. Blood gushed out into a clean paper towel but subsided with pressure. By the time she had applied her handcrafted butterfly bandages, Marly could see that Elaine’s eyelid and surrounding area still looked terrible, but the swelling had gone down enough to reveal Elaine’s blue iris.

  Elaine sniffed and gave a short sob. The two hugged and slumped back onto the van floor, holding each other in a tight embrace.

  “I can see,” Elaine said. “I was so scared. I felt so helpless not being able to see.”

  “You were amazing with that shovel. I can’t believe you were so deadly even blind as a bat.”

  “I was so terrified that I peed myself.”

  “I was so scared that my body forgot how to pee.”

  Elaine cleaned up with some of the bottled water and changed into a pair of Louise’s stretch pants, held up by a bungee cord belt.

  Marly rummaged in the back of the van and found Elaine’s bag with her computer and cell phone. In the front, she found two more cell phones belonging to Louise and Troy. She had left her own phone along with her laptop back at the office.

  She tried to call 911 on each of the cell phones. She uttered a low growl of frustration and tossed the phones into the footwell of the van. “No coverage. I guess we’ll have to walk or drive. I have no idea how far we’ll have to go.”

  Elaine scowled. “I’m in no condition to walk a long way. If we drive, I guess we just leave all this?”

  The two looked around. Marly jumped up. “Shit. Those cameras are still shooting video.”

  Before she turned off the second camera, Marly inched toward the edge of the cliff and held the camera on its tripod to check over the sheer face.

  “Damn. It must be at least two hundred feet down to that first level,” Marly said as they squinted at the playback. “I think that white spot there might be Louise in the trees.”

  Elaine gazed around the clearing and out over the horizon. “You have to admit, it’s a beautiful place to die.”

  “Yeah, well. I like it better as a place to be alive.”

  Elaine watched as Marly dug through Louise’s clothing for the keys to the van. “You know, it’s not that much to clean up. Just that body over there.”

  The two stared at each other. Elaine spoke first. “You’ve walked away from bodies before.”

  “That’s been my secret for a long time. It eats into me every day. If we clean this up and say nothing to the cops, we can never talk about it. Not to lovers or best friends or families. It’s forever.”

  “Marly, I’ve known about Del and Zeke for years. Mrs. Haas came to our house to talk to my mother right after I started working with you at the library. You know how parents talk when it’s a secret—all whispery, nod, nod, wink, wink. I hid at the top of the stairs and heard every word.”

  “Mrs. Haas? How did she know? I never told her.”

  “She told my mother it was obvious to anyone who paid attention and didn’t look away from what was under their noses.”

  “Shit.” Marly brushed away new tears.

  Elaine laughed. “I was kind of envious. I was so tired of being a victim. The pity didn’t help or change a damn thing. Going to the police wasn’t a fix. Sure, Rosie and the rest went to prison for a little while, but it just made her angrier and more crazy.”

  Seeing Marly hesitate, Elaine persisted. “We aren’t murderers, Marly. All we’ll get is a world of hurt and no help from the police.”

  “What if they track us down?”

  “Marly, think of how many people Louise and Troy killed. And then there’s Zeke and Del and Rosie and Larry. Think of the ones they eliminated. We know how terrified and scared all those people were. The cops here will be the same as in New York. If push comes to shove, we’ve got those videos Louise shot. Besides, we have money. Money buys good lawyers and good PR.”

  Marly offered Elaine a slug on the vodka bottle and took two herself. “Not exactly what the doctor would order,” she said to Elaine. They repeated the procedure.

  “I think we’ll have to tell my mother,” Elaine said. “She’s waiting at home.”

  “And don’t forget that Rosie is waiting for final word back in Gateway to Hades, New York. I’d love to see the police scoop her up again.”

  “Think big picture, Marly. That didn’t help before. If we call attention to this, we’ll be on the lookout for Harris henchmen from now to eternity. You heard Louise. They were sent out here in secret. Keeping it secret hurts Rosie more.”

  Marly did not need much persuading. Hearing Elaine’s arguments convinced Marly to pay attention to her own instincts and agree.

  They set to work. Louise and Troy had provided helpful items, including several boxes of disposable latex gloves and an enormous roll of plastic bags. Tools were packed away first, followed by clothing, bloodied items, cell phones, wallets—all went into separate bags.

  At last only Troy remained—a very large item of final business.

  “Convenient that he undressed for us,” Elaine said.

  Marly removed an earring from his left earlobe and put it on the bed of the van, next to his watch and ring. Despite Louise’s instructions, he hadn’t removed those.

  “Don’t pull out the screwdriver until the last moment,” Elaine said. “More blood might leak out.”

  They pulled on new gloves and rolled Troy’s body into the middle of his tarp, and wrapped the edges over him like a blue shroud. That was the easy part. Lugging Troy to the edge of the cliff was trickier than they had anticipated, given his weight and bulk. Marly remembered how the soft soil had crumbled under Louise and wanted to stay a safe distance from the edge.

  Marly laid down a new tarp, sliding it forward so that the far end drooped over the edge of the cliff. She popped open the sparkling wine and—after a few swigs—emptied the contents onto
the tarp.

  “Lubricant,” she said by way of explanation.

  They strained to position Troy, headfirst, at the top of the blue sluice. Marly removed the screwdriver, keeping her eyes averted. Elaine lifted Troy’s feet and pushed forward as Marly tried to move his upper body. Troy seemed reluctant to go, but with additional encouragement from the shovel, he slid onto the wine-slickened tarp, twisted to his left, picked up speed, and tumbled over the edge of the cliff.

  “Bon voyage,” Marly said with a wave.

  Elaine offered Marly a high five. “I hope he landed on Louise.”

  Fortified by granola bars and bottled water, Marly found new energy to finalize the cleanup. Elaine tried to help but struggled to stay on her feet. Her face was the color of sour milk, sending a pang of worry through Marly’s gut.

  “Go sit in the van, Elaine. Drink another Coke and put any papers you find into this bag.”

  Marly pushed a large pile of brush and wood over the edge of the cliff. She suspected that Louise and Troy had assembled the pile to bury her and Elaine down below. Now she would return the favor.

  As her final step, Marly shoveled any shit, pee, or blood she could find over the edge of the cliff and smoothed out the open dirt area with the shovel.

  That was when Marly found Louise’s pendant—a small Iroquois mask, matching the design of Troy’s earring and ring. There were no Native Americans living in Charon Springs that Marly knew of, and she had never heard Louise speak a kind word about folks from the nearby Onondaga Reservation. She had also heard that the Onondaga didn’t approve of making copies of sacred masks. She had never had the nerve to ask Louise about this affectation, and now she never would know. She put the pendant into the same baggie with Troy’s bling.

  By the time Marly slid into the driver’s seat and started the van, the sun had dropped down behind the ridge and the shadows were long and deep, although the sky was still light. The fog hovered at the tree line to the west like a crouching animal and would soon shroud this section of road in a gray blanket. The clock on the dashboard read 7:37.

  “I couldn’t find a map,” Elaine said. “And GPS isn’t working.”

  Marly executed a cautious K-turn, mindful not to send the van over the cliff to the east or down the steep mountainside to the west. “It’s a good thing it’s June and the days are long. Getting out of these mountains will be slow going, but at least I know how to start. The tire tracks end a few yards the other direction.”

  Tightening her grip on the steering wheel to keep her hands from shaking, Marly focused on the rutted road. The shadows were gaining on them. Minutes after leaving the site, she saw a mountain lion cross the road in front of her. Elaine gasped.

  “Dinner down below,” Marly said, realizing that bodies might not last long up here.

  Navigating by trial and error, Marly headed northeast and downhill when the roads allowed. She made several wrong turns that led to dead ends or slide areas. Three times she had to back up before she had room to turn around. According to the dashboard clock, after twenty-two minutes, they merged with a tame dirt track, which led to a one-lane tarmac road. She went the wrong way again, but self-corrected and paused to check Elaine’s phone. At last. GPS.

  Elaine kept nodding off despite the cool air flowing through the open windows and Marly’s efforts to keep up a conversation. She recalled that for a person with a head injury, falling asleep could be dangerous. Is that true? From time to time she would shake Elaine awake. Once awakened, Elaine would try to dial her mother on her cell phone, but she couldn’t make out the display and would start to cry.

  Marly patted her friend’s leg. “I’m driving. Hold on, Elaine. We’re almost there.”

  At eight fifteen she found the highway leading down out of the mountains. Shortly after nine, they reached Mountain View as the last bit of indigo daylight faded.

  The closer they grew to home, the harder Marly cried. She made a brief stop as she pulled off of El Camino, the main commercial strip, to dump a bag with Louise’s and Troy’s smashed cell phones into a public garbage bin in a tiny park. Even with the batteries removed, she feared the phones’ locations could be tracked, and she didn’t want them in her house.

  Marly pulled into her driveway, hopped out, and found a hidden set of keys in a combination box under the front porch. She pressed the numbers on the numeric keypad to open the driveway gate and pulled the van into the empty slot in her garage.

  Elaine snapped awake. “We’re here? Where is my mother?”

  * * *

  Helen Fardig picked up her phone on the first ring. “Marly. I’m frantic. I haven’t heard from Elaine and we were supposed to have dinner.”

  “Elaine is here. Come to my house right away.”

  “Is she okay? What’s going on?” Helen’s voice quavered.

  “Helen, please shut up and get over here. Bring your emergency medical kit.”

  Marly had already guided Elaine to the guest room and helped her into a pair of Pammy’s pajamas. After she hung up, Marly put all of Elaine’s clothes and her own into a new plastic bag and went to pull on clean sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “Mom?” Elaine asked as Marly tried to force her to drink more water.

  The doorbell rang and Marly rushed to open the door.

  Helen pushed by Marly, scanning the front room for Elaine. “What’s going on? I—Oh my God! Marly. What happened to you?”

  Marly grimaced and cleared her throat to hold back tears. “A run-in with Louise and Troy. They got to Elaine first. Take a big breath.”

  Helen stared. “They came here? From New York?”

  “They’re dead, Helen,” Marly said. Her lips fluttered and she sobbed. “Now we need you. Elaine needs you. She’s in the guest room. We got away. Come on.”

  Helen let out a howl when she saw Elaine, and Elaine wailed in return.

  Elaine choked and gagged, her voice muffled in Helen’s shoulder. Marly picked up the tale as Helen examined her daughter.

  “Where are they?” Helen asked when Marly finished. “You drove the van down here and left them up there?”

  Marly wiped her eyes. “I managed to shove a screwdriver up Troy’s nose and Elaine used a shovel to get Louise to back up until she went over the edge of the cliff. We dropped Troy over the edge too. I suppose . . .” She paused to regain a shred of composure. “I suppose we should call the police now. Elaine needs to get to the hospital. We’ve destroyed the evidence, but we have the videos. It will be messy, but we’ll hire lawyers—”

  “Shut up, Marly,” Helen said. “Go clean up and get some food ready for us. I’ll come check you out in just a bit, but I think you’re fine. I don’t think Elaine will need to go to the hospital, but I need to make a closer examination.”

  Relieved that Helen’s experience as a nurse had kicked in, Marly stumbled to her bathroom and climbed into the shower. She was amazed that she wasn’t more banged up. She had a small bruise over her left eye, another on her right cheekbone, and a big one forming on her left shoulder. She could feel a few more bruises on the back of her head, hidden by hair, as well as a number of welts rising on her shins and legs. Her left wrist was rubbed raw from the plastic ties, as were both ankles, but her right wrist was clear. She would be wearing long-sleeved shirts and socks for a while. And forget shorts or a bathing suit.

  Helen met her in the hallway. “Back to your room and strip. Let’s take a look at you.”

  “How’s Elaine? Why is she so sleepy? She was very alert for a while.”

  “My diagnosis is shock, dehydration, and possibly a mild concussion,” Helen said. She sniffed. “But no sign of brain hemorrhage. I’ll stay here to watch her tonight. Broken nose, cracked ribs. Her right eye is fine. I stitched up your cut. Good work on that.”

  Helen wrapped Marly in a long hug. “Thank God for you.”

  * * *

  Half an hour later, the three women grouped in the kitchen for dinner. Marly kept track of the frozen lasagna hea
ting in the microwave while Helen set the dining room table. Elaine wobbled in on unsteady feet and she spoke in coherent sentences.

  Lasagna had never tasted so good. This is a meal I almost missed. Marly blinked back tears and forced herself to eat.

  “We must have a story in case Elaine needs to go to the hospital,” Helen said. Her lips were compressed into a straight line, her eyebrows pulled together in a scowl. Elaine must have filled in her mother on the decisions made at the top of the cliff.

  Marly set down her fork. “If Elaine has to go to the hospital, we’ll come clean and hire good lawyers. We have the videos. We’ll plead shock and my terrible family history.”

  Helen clenched her knife in her right fist and her fork in the left, pointing them straight up, ready to attack. “If we go to the police, Louise and Troy will get a proper burial. That just sticks in my craw when I consider how many decent people like my Ollie will never get that privilege.” Helen glared at her placemat. “I’ve decided it’s best if we leave you out of this part, Marly. If it comes to that, Elaine and I will make sure our stories work for the police.”

  Helen put down her utensils with a clang. “Time to go clean that van. Elaine, I know you’re tired, but you should come help. You can sit if you need to.”

  Inside the garage, they all pulled on latex gloves and Marly covered the floor space with tarps. Elaine’s assigned task was to attach the video cameras to a small LCD TV and screen Louise’s cinematic efforts.

  Marly and Helen unrolled the sleeping bags and turned them inside out, just in case they held any secrets. Once that was done, Marly rolled them up, put them back into their sleeves and into white plastic bags as Helen checked the air mattresses and rolled them up and into a bag along with the two pillows. They looked almost new.