by Mark Gilleo
Dan cranked his neck all the way to the left and he grimaced. Sue was seated slightly behind him, restrained in her own chair. There was blood on her lip. Her right eye was swollen shut. The reddish-purple flesh gruesomely on display. A thick strip of duct tape ran around her head horizontally. The thick gray adhesive matted her hair to her ears and ran completely across her mouth. Her hands were bound in front of her, on her lap. In turn, the zip ties that held her wrists were affixed around the belt on her jeans, like a prisoner in transport. She turned her neck towards Dan and mumbled something unintelligible through the tape across her mouth.
Dan looked up as the man he knew as Clyde Parkson smiled down at him.
“You like beating up on women?” Dan asked.
“I don’t. But Major here has an infatuation with it. Ridge, on the other hand, has no emotional attachment or ideological affiliation. He simply does things for money. Doesn’t talk much. Follows orders. A perfect soldier.”
“There is no need to use names, even nicknames,” Major replied.
“Oh, I don’t see the harm in it,” Clyde Parkson responded slowly. “It provides a level of conviction that you won’t let Dan here walk out the door with that knowledge.”
“So we have Ridge and Major,” Dan echoed. “Ebony and Ivory. And what is your name? I think we all know it is not Clyde Parkson.”
“For the next couple of hours, you can call me Reed Temple. By the end of the evening, I will jettison that identity for another.”
“I liked you more when you were an attorney. And I typically hate lawyers.”
“Oh, I think you are going to like me even less in a few minutes.”
“I must say you were pretty convincing as an attorney. You obviously rehearsed. I see your teeth were real. I assumed the hair was fake. Wasn’t sure about the faint southern accent.”
“Nice place you have here,” Reed Temple said, looking around, ignoring the assessment of his previous disguise. “Of course when most people buy a house like this, they tend to live in it.”
“The carriage house is smaller. Less upkeep. And there are tax advantages to the historical residence.” Dan flicked his head in the direction of Sue who was fully conscious and listening. “Why the girl? She has nothing to do with this.”
Sue shook her head and grunted.
“She was my insurance policy. At first, I thought I would simply use her to get to your attention. Now, well, I have other plans. A murder-suicide.”
“You mean a murder-murder. I don’t think either of us is going the suicide route.”
“Semantics. Murder-suicide. Murder-murder.”
“It does explain the choice of location. People are far more likely to commit suicide in a familiar location. So for my part in the murder-suicide fantasy you have in mind, this location would make sense. Not so much for a murder-murder, though.”
Reed Temple nodded. “That’s right. No one is going to question a man who kills himself in his own home. Especially one who is mourning the death of his last living immediate family members. But regardless of semantics, when we are done here, authorities will have a hard time proving anything definitively.”
Dan tried to stall and changed the subject. “Temple, was it? Let me ask you a few questions while I have your attention. After all, you will be moving on with a new identity in short order.”
Reed Temple pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket and checked the time. “I have a few moments. What can I help you understand?”
“Did you kill my nephew?”
“Your nephew was already dying. I simply changed the direction of his death.”
“Did you shoot him full of heroin? Drag him under an underpass? Leave him to die?”
“Your nephew was a group effort. As you know, he had unique capabilities that made subduing him potentially difficult. Took all three of us to do it without causing undue injury. But yes, the injection, the overdose, I delivered it.”
“Manly of you. I guess you have a thing for needles.”
“It is simply my job.”
Dan choked back a sudden flood of emotions, his mind returning to his nephew. His last moments, alone, enduring the horror of physical restraint. Physical violation. Helplessness. Dan shook his head, hoping the welling tears would not break the confines of his eyes. “Which one of you killed the police detective?”
Reed Temple nodded perceptibly in the direction of Major. Major’s posture straightened and he stepped forward to speak. “Based on ballistics and fingerprints, you killed him, Mr. Lord.”
“That was a good effort,” Dan replied. “But you couldn’t shake my alibi. Good thing I needed a drink that night.”
“Forgive us for our failure,” Reed Temple added.
“Do we have any bomb makers in the room?” Dan asked. Major pointed to his own chest. “Right here. I made the bomb. I set the charge. Ridge here was the trigger.”
Reed interjected again. “We are still not sure how you managed to escape the blast.”
“I had help from a canine friend.”
Major locked eyes with Reed Temple who shrugged his shoulders unknowingly.
“Which one of you strung my sister-in-law up in the closet?”
Neither Reed Temple nor Major moved. Dan’s eye’s bounced off each man’s face before landing on Ridge, who stood still, half-standing, backside resting on the old wooden table.
Dan focused his eyes on Ridge’s, squinting to see the large man’s pupils. “It would probably take someone your size to pull that off. Getting a belt around someone’s neck and lifting them off the ground without wounds to both the victim and perpetrator would not be easy. Hell, even you probably needed help.”
Ridge refused to respond.
“OK. No one manly enough to answer that question. I can understand that. After all, there is nothing manly about killing a defenseless woman in her own bedroom. I don’t think I would confess to that, either. Anyone want to confess to killing Haley Falls?”
Reed Temple approached Dan with a slow gait. He took one lap around Sue and Dan, running his hands over their shoulders as he passed. Dan shifted his weight in the chair and felt the old frame rock in response. He pulled on his wrists without success.
Reed Temple checked his phone again and cleared his throat. “Q and A is over. But in the interest of being fair, yes, I killed that whore friend of yours. Did you a favor if you ask me. You should know better than to be hanging out with trash. Women like that will give you a bad reputation.”
“I’m sure she would have said the same about you.”
“But she can’t now, can she?”
“Asshole,” Dan said pulling on his wrists until the restraints cut his skin.
“You know, Dan, I was under orders to let you be. Not to intrude. To let sleeping dogs lie, as it were. But you just kept digging. Kept poking around. Kept sticking your nose into places you shouldn’t have.”
“I do have that problem.”
“Yes, you do, and this time it killed innocent people. And it is going to kill you and your intern here.”
“Actually, she is not my intern,” Dan said, glancing over at Sue whose eyes opened wide in a look of betrayal. “I’m not sure who she is,” Dan added, focusing on Reed Temple’s face to measure any reaction to Dan’s admission.
Dan watched intently as Temple reached into his suit pants pocket and pulled out the car keys to Dan’s security-laden Mercedes SUV. Temple jingled the keys slightly as he stepped forward. Dan strained to listen as Temple leaned into Sue and whispered directly into her ear. “I know exactly who you are. But it will be less messy if I pretend I don’t.” Sue thrashed and yelled something unintelligible into the duct tape over her mouth.
“Are we keeping secrets, now? I thought we were having a forthright conversation,” Dan said.
Reed Temple checked the time again
and then wrung his hands. “You will have to excuse me. I have a business meeting to attend. I will be taking your car, Dan. Those diplomatic tags can be a godsend when it comes to parking . . . So without further ado . . .”
“What’s the rush, Temple? Not man enough to shoot me yourself?”
“Outsourcing is the American way.”
“Pussy. Go ahead. I’ll take care of these guys and meet up with you later.”
“I appreciate your spunk. But you are in an earthen cellar with no windows, in a very big house, on a very large lot. It is also raining outside. Sound will not travel far.” Reed Temple walked to the table and moved his hand across the tools and weapons. “Scream if you must. But make it a good one. I now leave you in the very capable hands of Major and Ridge here. Enjoy.” He blew a kiss in the direction of Dan and Sue before heading towards the stairs. “Call me when you are done with them,” he yelled down as he reached the top of the staircase.
Dan listened and looked upward as the floorboards above creaked with the weight of Reed’s steps. He felt both relief and failure as Reed Temple pulled the front door shut with a resounding thud.
Major let the echo of the door run its course before coming to animated life. He walked deliberately across the room and pulled the duct tape off of Sue’s mouth, uprooting a wad of hair in the procedure. Sue spit and tried to swallow. She coughed, gagged, and then finally spoke through raspy vocal chords. “You’re an asshole,” she said.
“The two of you share the same vocabulary,” Major replied, amused.
“Fuck you,” Dan and Sue said simultaneously.
Major walked back over to the table and looked down at the options at his disposal.
Dan glanced over at Sue. “How’s the eye?”
“I’ll survive.”
“You have some explaining to do.”
“I’m sorry. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Impressive, by the way. I’m usually good at spotting liars. I’m beginning to think, however, that it may be a perishable skill.”
“It wasn’t an even playing field. You were in mourning.”
“What is your real name?”
“My real name is Sue.”
“Convenient.”
“You have a plan to get us out of here?”
“Working on one.”
“You want to share it with me?”
“Nope.”
Chapter 38
—
Major picked a stun gun off the wood table and smiled at the arc of electricity as it jumped between the two conductors protruding from the top of the handheld device. He returned the stun gun to the table, smiled, and rubbed the knuckles on his hand, alternating between fists. Still grinning, he slowly walked over to his subjects, restrained in their respective chairs, and continued his deranged rendition of foreplay.
“Pathetic really,” Major said. “I expected so much more from you, Dan.”
“Sorry to disappoint. I didn’t know there was a level of expectation.”
Major stepped in front of Sue and slapped her across the face with an open palm, her neck snapping violently to the side.
“Any other smart comments, Dan?”
Dan looked at Sue as she straightened her head, a large red handprint on her cheek. “Keep your teeth together. You won’t bite your tongue,” Dan whispered.
Major looked down at Sue and smeared the blood that was on Sue’s lip with his finger. Sue pulled her head away in disgust.
“You know, killing people is really overrated. The warm-up, the foreplay, that is where the joy is,” Major said. “Men have been killing each other since the beginning of time. There is no creativity left to it.”
“I agree. I am sure I speak for both of us when I say we can skip the killing part of the show,” Dan replied.
Dan grunted as Major landed an elbow to the side of his head.
“I thought you were smarter than that,” Major said.
“So did I,” Dan mumbled.
“Here is how the next few minutes are going to play out. We are going to get to know each other a little better. Then, I am going to take that rope over there and hang Dan from one of these ceiling beams. We will all watch as he unceremoniously shits and pisses himself. Then he will die.”
“Good thing these aren’t my dress pants.”
Major stepped in with his left hand and Dan gritted his teeth through the effects of a punch to face.
“Once you stop twitching, your face gruesomely contorted, frozen in the effort for another breath that will not come, I will put the semi-automatic .45 in your hand, aim it at the princess’s head, and pull the trigger. That will provide good crime scene evidence. A nice little murder-suicide. Man takes girlfriend to his secret little abode. Man gets violent. Man shoots girlfriend. Man hangs himself.”
“I already told you, technically it would be a murder-murder.”
Major reached down and grabbed Dan’s wrist. He slowly undid the rubber strap, pulled sharply upward, and removed Dan’s new watch from his tied arm. He eyeballed his latest souvenir, flashing the timepiece for his limited audience.
“You won’t need this. I have a nice spot for it on my mantle. Right next to a police detective’s badge and a very cool alligator-skin wallet.”
“It was Australian crocodile, asshole. And I am going to want that wallet back.”
“You know, your nephew was also a little upset when I took the wallet. Now I understand why. A personal gift from Uncle Dan. I may have to put it in its own little showcase.”
“Fuck you.”
Major moved behind Sue and gently massaged both shoulders. Then he ran his hand up to her hairline and yanked on the gold chain around her neck, pulling off her necklace in one quick motion. He looked at the cross with the silver metal beams of sunlight streaking from the sides.
“You piece of shit,” Sue said.
“I think she is going to want that back, too,” Dan added.
Major dropped his latest acquisitions off at the old wooden table and then pulled a large knife from his pocket. He looked at his prized captives and smirked as he cut the packaging off the thick rope. He whispered something to Ridge and the large man’s hands moved to the .45 semiautomatic on the table. Ebony removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and then began a full weapons check and wipe down.
Major continued. “How much rope do you think we need here, Dan? We have low ceilings and you are probably six foot one or so. We may have to move to the other side of the main support column. I think the ceiling is a little higher on the other side of the room. Tough to hang someone with their feet hitting the floor.”
“We could try,” Dan replied.
“Oh, I am sure you would appreciate that.”
Major used his arms to measure off a length of rope suitable to the task at hand and then stepped to the other side of the room, his eyes focused upward in search of an appropriate location to hang a noose. “I haven’t lynched anyone in a while. Probably a couple of years. Ridge did your sister-in-law, but I was busy with your nephew at the time.”
Major set the rope on the ground and jumped upward with extended hands. He hung momentarily from a large floor-support beam and then lowered himself back to the ground. “That one should work.”
Major threw the rope over the top of the beam and pulled the noose downward. He admired his knot-tying skills and adjusted the opening on the noose. Looking through the circle shape at the end of the rope, Major smiled at Dan. “Think your head will fit?”
“Try it out.”
“I think not,” Major replied. “Ridge, could you prepare Dan for his demise?”
“Just a moment,” Ridge replied wiping his fingerprints off the handgun on the table. He tossed a white towel to the side and swiped a loaded syringe off the table as he turned.
Dan’s
pulse increased as he alternated glances between death by hanging to the left, and mysterious drug injection on the right. On the other side of the room, Major began describing the sequence of the body’s reaction to being hung as he searched for an appropriate location to affix the non-business end of the noose.
Ridge, syringe in hand, passed behind Dan first and then Sue. Major, relishing his expertise in incessant speech and the systematic shutdown of organs, didn’t take his attention off the rope or his pontification until Ridge had sunk the syringe into his neck and depressed the plunger.
Dan glanced at Sue, who returned the look of surprise.
Ridge looked over at Dan and Sue as he dropped Major’s body to the floor. “Orders,” Ridge offered, taking the pulse of his partner. As Major’s chest rose and fell in slowing increments, Ridge turned away from Dan and Sue. He grabbed the end of the rope and pulled it in the direction of the far wall.
Chapter 39
—
Dan glanced at Sue and nodded.
Ridge was twenty feet away, tying the support end of the rope to a vertically running cast-iron pipe. Major was on the floor, the syringe in his neck still slowly twitching.
Now or never. Dan took a deep breath and stood, his lower legs still attached to the chair, his wrists tied to each other behind his back. Before Ridge looked over, he threw himself forward, headfirst.
The somersault and resulting break-fall had the desired effect as the old chair Dan was sitting on splintered into pieces. Ridge turned, registered what he was seeing, and started to move as Dan struggled to get his hands over his feet and back in front of his body.
Using Dan’s gravity experiment as an example, Sue leaned over in her chair, falling at Ridge as he passed, momentarily tripping the big man and providing enough time for Dan to get his hands in front of him.